Floor Statements

Today, we remember our Nation's 40th President, President Ronald Wilson Reagan. He would have been 100 this year. President Reagan hails from my home State of Illinois. He spent much of his childhood growing up in the Dixon area and also worked with WOC Radio in Davenport, Iowa. And our area, we believe, had a little bit to do with forming the Great Communicator.

Ronald Reagan was famous for saying, Government is not the solution to our problem. Government is the problem. Reagan stared down the Soviet Union and demanded that they tear down the wall. He nominated the first female Supreme Court Justice in Judge Sandra Day O'Connor.

President Reagan is one of my heroes because he showed what can be accomplished when the best interest of the country are placed ahead of party affiliation. And we need more of this.

Mr. Speaker, I am proud to be standing here today to celebrate President Ronald Wilson Reagan's 100th birthday.

Thank you, Representative Smith, for the opportunity to speak during this Special Order subject of life. Today I stand to speak for those who can't speak for themselves. As a father of 10, life is a big issue at my house. After the Presidential election, my daughter, Rachel, came to me and my wife and looked at me with tears in her eyes and said, hey, Daddy, who is going to protect the unborn children? That was a big part of why I chose to run for Congress, along with all the other things.

Today, I was proud to become an original cosponsor of the No Taxpayer Funds for Abortion Act. When we look at the taxpayer funds that are going to be available for abortion, even some of my pro-choice friends disagree with taxpayer funding of abortion.

This bill is very important. It makes permanent the Hyde amendment, the Helms amendment and the Dornan amendment. One of the things one of my colleagues spoke about a little bit, Tim, earlier was speaking about looking at adoption as an alternative to abortion.

A story that sticks in my mind today is I went to a crisis pregnancy center in Boling, Illinois, and these are folks who encounter crisis pregnancies. And the lady was telling me the story of a young lady who was going in for an abortion. She thought she would come in and get a little more information. They did a sonogram, and the baby was laying still. It was down towards the end of the sonogram, and all of a sudden that baby just came to life and put on a show for mom. That brought a tear to my eye when I heard that story.

When you look at life, without life, we have nothing. A big reason that I am pro-life is that when we look at all of the doctors, all of the people who could invent something for this great Nation, I remember growing up in 1973 when this became legal, it was considered a blob of tissue. Today we pull them out by their feet first to save the life of the mother when the mother's life is in danger. And I just can't even imagine what transpires there, and sometimes don't want to.

But I believe that as Americans, we need to defend life to its fullest. I believe life begins at conception and it ends at our natural death. I have talked to people who have had an abortion. The hurt goes on with women who have had abortions. I think we need to focus in on educating folks and giving them that alternative. And maybe every Planned Parenthood out there should have to do sonograms maybe even in a 3D series.

I really do appreciate an issue that is near and dear to my heart, and I really do thank the Congressman here for putting this event together and look forward to serving in the House of Representatives with him.