Floor Statements

Madam Chair, I would like to thank the gentleman from Michigan for yielding me time. I would also like to thank him for his leadership on this effort, as well as the ranking member, the gentleman from Maryland (Mr. Ruppersberger).

I rise today in support of the cybersecurity legislation under consideration. As a member of the Cybersecurity Task Force, I'm pleased that many of our recommendations are included in this bill.

Cybersecurity is a very important issue. Every day there are people trying to use cyberattacks to steal our money, steal our jobs, and attack our national security.

I know as a member of the Financial Services Committee that our financial sector spends billions of dollars every year trying to protect against cyberattacks. They protect consumers by increasing controls, making sure they have encryption, authenticating customers, and protecting customer data.

That's all protecting our wallets, but we also need to protect our jobs. Unfortunately, there are folks who would like to use cyberattacks to steal our intellectual property and give it to those who compete against America, which will steal our jobs.

Not allowing information-sharing like this bill does would be like saying to the Marines and the Army, You can't share information about how the enemy is going to attack you. As a member of the National Guard for the last 26 years, I know that cyber is also a real threat to our national security.

This bill will update our information-sharing to allow private companies to share information with the government and the government to share information, and includes some important liability protection as well. It's a carefully crafted bill.

I think the gentleman from Michigan (Mr. Rogers) and the gentleman from Maryland (Mr. Ruppersberger) have been very open to working with folks to try to improve this bill. I'm looking forward to supporting some of the bipartisan amendments that I think will improve this bill.

Madam Chair, we must protect ourselves against cyberattacks, against those who would steal our money, steal our jobs, and attack our country. This bill is not a panacea, but it's a great start. I'm happy to support it, and I hope all my colleagues will vote ``yes.''

Mr. Speaker, I rise today to recognize April as the ``Month of the Military Child.''

In 1986, Secretary of Defense Caspar Weinberger established April as the Month of the Military Child. Since then, the communities that surround our military families have had the month of April as a time to focus on recognizing the important roles that military children play.

There is no doubt that we owe a great debt and gratitude to our military for the unparalleled freedom and opportunity we enjoy in this country. But, we need to pause and remember that this is also made possible through the dedication and sacrifices made by their families and children as well. While I understand it is important to show our support for the military and their loved ones every day of the year, I welcome the emphasis placed on the children of service members in the month of April.

As a way to offer my continued support and gratitude, I recently introduced H.R. 4341, TRICARE for Kids, which would help the Department of Defense and its TRICARE program develop and encourage health care practices and policies that are designed to address the specific health care needs of military children and families. The Department of Defense estimates there are approximately 1.9 million military children, and I believe we all need to work to ensure they have access to the resources and support that best meets their needs--including health care.

Without the selfless contributions our military and their families have made throughout history, our great nation would not have the freedom that it does today. Military children are a special part of that aspect of our history, as they are the young, brave, and often unnoticed heroes who have stood strong alongside their parents who have risked their lives and fought for our country and way of life. I thank every one of them for what they do, and I would like to ask every Member of Congress to join me in offering support throughout this Month of the Military Child.

Mr. Speaker, I rise today to honor the public service career of Robert Lanthorn. Robert is a teacher of American History, American Government, Economics, and Advanced Placement United States Government and Politics. Robert has served as an educator at Hamilton Township High School for the past five years.

Robert is being honored as The Educator of the Year by Kids Voting USA. The Educator of the Year award is a national award presented to a teacher who motivates their students to be civically active both through teaching and example.

Robert has used innovative teaching methods and gained the trust of his students keeping them engaged and interested in learning. His outstanding teaching methods have earned him many awards throughout his teaching career. Robert has been named Kids Voting Educator of the Month, Ohio Lottery's Teacher of the Month, and Ohio's Outstanding Teacher of American History by Ohio State Society Daughters of the American Revolution.

Robert's desire to motivate his students to not only learn but also engage in civics has had a positive effect on his students and the community alike. His students have participated in the political process and an amazing 83 percent of students participated in Hamilton Township High School's mock election.

Robert has inspired many students to become involved in their community and instilled life lessons of civic responsibility. I thank Robert for all that he has done to serve our community and educate our youth and congratulate him on being named Educator of the Year.

Mr. Speaker, today I rise to recognize Mr. Thom Haubert for his distinguished work and accomplishments as Battelle Memorial Institute's Inventor of the Year.

The American innovator has been a cornerstone of this country's culture and a key to our success. It is through these new ideas that our country has been able to prosper in the past, and how our country will work its way out of these challenging economic times. That is why I am happy to recognize Mr. Haubert for this great accomplishment. Thom joined Battelle, the world's largest independent research and development organization, in 1988, and has contributed to and led important research projects. Thom's significant impact on the world, its body of science and engineering, has resulted in numerous real world applications to help people. One of his recent and significant discoveries is in helping to detect and track cancer.

Thom is one of Battelle's ``go-to'' mechanical engineers for ideation aspects of many health and life sciences programs. Over the years, he has been able to quickly identify creative, inventive, practical, and unique solutions to difficult problems. As a result of the ingenuity of his thinking and tenacity of his work,

Thom has 20 issued patents, 21 patent applications pending, and is a Battelle Distinguished Inventor. Five of his patents are for an early screening cancer detection system where rare cancerous cells can be identified through simple blood tests. This simple blood test can also be used for tracking post cancer and remission. Thom's research in this area will hopefully lead to earlier cancer detection and eventually to tests for other diseases.

I extend my heartfelt congratulations to Thom Haubert for his work that has saved lives and made a difference to so many people. He stands as an example to young engineers across the country, and I am very pleased to thank him for all that he has done for Ohio and our country.

I would like to thank the gentleman from New Jersey for yielding me time. I would also like to thank my fellow Ohioan, Ms. Fudge, for her hard work and support on this bill, and I would like to thank Ms. Moore from Wisconsin for her hard work as I recognize that she improved the bill. I would also like to thank the chairs and ranking members of the Financial Services and Agriculture Committees and their staffs for their hard work on this bill.

Mr. Speaker, this is bipartisan legislation that clarifies the Dodd- Frank Financial Reform Act by recognizing that there is an important distinction between inter-affiliate swaps and market-facing swaps. While market-facing swaps carry risk, inter-affiliate swaps do not. They're simply an accounting practice used within corporate families to assign the ownership of derivatives inside the corporate umbrella. Without providing this distinction, corporations using inter-affiliate swaps that manage their risk in a central way would be forced to pay up to three times for the way they do business. In fact, they would collateralize their derivatives against the market on one side and then on both sides of the inter-affiliate swap, so they would actually pay three times what you would pay if you didn't manage your risk in a centralized way.

The irony of that is, in managing your risk in a centralized way, it actually provides better protection and allows for experts to manage your risk. The problem with that also is it would tie up working capital that could be used to create jobs here in the United States and get our economy moving and focusing on our recovery.

There are important protections in this bill, as well, that the lady from Ohio already alluded to. We put protections in this bill to make sure that businesses that utilize this provision are, indeed, truly affiliated. We also made sure that there were reporting requirements so that these swaps adhere to transparency in the marketplace. We also made sure that it's very clear that any attempt to use these provisions to evade provisions under the Dodd-Frank bill for someone who is just trying to evade the law and does not have true inter-affiliate swaps would not be allowed. We also ensured that regulators keep their authority to manage the safety and soundness of America's financial institutions.

The bottom line is we should not overcharge businesses for an accounting method they use that does not generate additional risk. By passing this legislation, we are preventing these internal transactions from being subject to duplicative regulations that could drive jobs overseas and increase costs for consumers.

This bill was reported unanimously in the Financial Services Committee 53 0, and it passed by unanimous voice vote in the Agriculture Committee. I urge my colleagues to vote in favor of this legislation.

Madam Speaker, I move to suspend the rules and concur in the Senate amendment to the bill (H.R. 886) to require the Secretary of the Treasury to mint coins in commemoration of the 225th anniversary of the establishment of the Nation's first Federal law enforcement agency, the United States Marshals Service.

I ask unanimous consent that all Members have 5 legislative days in which to revise and extend their remarks and to add extraneous material to the bill.

I yield myself as much time as I may consume.

I rise today to urge the House to concur in two minor amendments made by the Senate to H.R. 886, introduced by the gentleman from Arkansas (Mr. Womack) and passed by the House last December with more than 300 cosponsors.

The amendments, which are unobjectionable, merely certify that the coins produced under the program outlined in the bill will comply with existing law requiring that they be produced at no cost to the taxpayers.

Madam Speaker, 112 Congresses ago, during the first session of the first Congress, George Washington signed into law the Judiciary Act and appointed the first 13 men who formed the basis for the Nation's first Federal law enforcement agency. The Marshals Service will celebrate its 125th anniversary in 3 years. This legislation authorizes issuance of coins recognizing that anniversary.

Surcharges on the coin sales will generate funds for a number of law enforcement-related entities, primarily the U.S. Marshals Museum. I urge adoption of the bill as amended.

I reserve the balance of my time.

Madam Speaker, I yield such time as he may consume to the gentleman from Arkansas (Mr. Womack).

Madam Speaker, I have no further speakers. I urge adoption.

I yield back the balance of my time.

Mr. Speaker, I rise today to congratulate the Alvis House on its 45th anniversary of providing exceptional service to the Columbus community.

Since 1967, Alvis House has displayed a genuine commitment to its motto, ``Reconnecting Families, Restoring Communities and Reinvesting in Ourselves.''

From its programs that help individuals reenter the community after their involvement in the criminal justice system, to the assistance Alvis House provides to families affected by having relatives in jail or in prison, this facility has definitely proven its ability to have a positive impact on the community.

Alvis House also provides a range of individualized habilitation and behavioral support services to those with developmental disabilities that works to help them engage in our communities. For that, I commend the facility.

The work of Alvis House helps to brighten the future by unlocking each individual's potential and investing in the resources that attain results. Alvis House and its accomplishments benefit the communities in which we all live, and I look forward its continued tradition of excellence and service.

Madam Speaker, I've served for 26 years in the Ohio Army National Guard and had the pleasure of serving with many brave men and women over the years, including a tour of duty in Operation Iraqi Freedom. As a member of the armed services as well as a Member of Congress, I was shocked and horrified last year by reports of the Dover Air Force Base mortuary sending veterans' remains to the Prince George landfill.

The Washington Post reported on December 7, 2011, that they uncovered ``976 fragments from 274 servicemembers that were cremated, incinerated and taken to the landfill between 2004 and 2008.'' This is an outrage. It disrespects our men and women in uniform, and it can't be allowed to stand.

The first step to fixing this is creating a proper memorial for those who have served our country so well and given their last measure of devotion. I'm working on legislation to create a Tomb of the Unknowns at Arlington National Cemetery for every conflict moving forward. This plan will be paid for by taking money from the Air Force, because that's where the poor decisions were made. I plan to introduce this legislation very soon.

To those who have given their final measure of devotion in service to our country, they deserve a final resting place worthy of their dedication, commitment, and devotion, and we need to give that to them.

God bless the United States of America.

[From the Washington Post, Dec. 7, 2011]

Air Force Dumped Ashes of More Troops' Remains in Va. Landfill Than

Acknowledged

(By Craig Whitlock and Mary Pat Flaherty)

The Air Force dumped the incinerated partial remains of at

least 274 American troops in a Virginia landfill, far more

than the military had acknowledged, before halting the

secretive practice three years ago, records show.

The landfill dumping was concealed from families who had

authorized the military to dispose of the remains in a

dignified and respectful manner, Air Force officials said.

There are no plans, they said, to alert those families now.

The Air Force had maintained that it could not estimate how

many troops might have had their remains sent to a landfill.

The practice was revealed last month by The Washington Post,

which was able to document a single case of a soldier whose

partial remains were sent to the King George County landfill

in Virginia. The new data, for the first time, show the scope

of what has become an embarrassing episode for vaunted Dover

Air Base, the main port of entry for America's war dead.

The landfill disposals were never formally authorized under

military policies or regulations. They also were not

disclosed to senior Pentagon officials who conducted a high-

level review of cremation policies at the Dover mortuary in

2008, records show.

Air Force and Pentagon officials said last month that

determining how many remains went to the landfill would

require searching through the records of more than 6,300

troops whose remains have passed through the mortuary since

2001.

``It would require a massive effort and time to recall

records and research individually,'' Jo Ann Rooney, the

Pentagon's acting undersecretary for personnel, wrote in a

Nov. 22 letter to Rep. Rush D. Holt (D N.J.).

Holt, who has pressed the Pentagon for answers on behalf of

a constituent whose husband was killed in Iraq, accused the

Air Force and Defense Department of hiding the truth.

``What the hell?'' Holt said in a phone interview. ``We

spent millions, tens of millions, to find any trace of

soldiers killed, and they're concerned about a 'massive'

effort to go back and pull out the files and find out how

many soldiers were disrespected this way?'' He added: ``They

just don't want to ask questions or look very hard.''

Senior Air Force leaders said there was no intent to

deceive. ``Absolutely not,'' said Lt. Gen. Darrell D. Jones,

the Air Force's deputy chief of staff for personnel.

This week, after The Post pressed for information contained

in the Dover mortuary's electronic database, the Air Force

produced a tally based on those records. It showed that 976

fragments from 274 military personnel were cremated,

incinerated and taken to the landfill between 2004 and 2008.

An additional group of 1,762 unidentified remains were

collected from the battlefield and disposed of in the same

manner, the Air Force said. Those fragments could not undergo

DNA testing because they had been badly burned or damaged in

explosions. The total number of incinerated fragments dumped

in the landfill exceeded 2,700.

A separate federal investigation of the mortuary last

month, prompted by whistleblower complaints, uncovered

``gross mismanagement'' and documented how body parts

recovered from bomb blasts stacked up in the morgue's coolers

for months or years before they were identified and disposed

of.

The problems also transpired at a time when the mortuary

was shielded from public scrutiny. News coverage of the

return of fallen troops to Dover was banned by President

George H.W. Bush in 1991 before the first Persian Gulf War.

The ban remained until April 2009, when the Obama

administration lifted it.

The Air Force said it first cremated the remains and then

included those ashes in larger loads of mortuary medical

waste that were burned in an incinerator and taken to a

landfill. Incinerating medical waste is a common disposal

practice but including cremated human ashes is not, according

to funeral home directors, regulators and waste haulers.

Air Force officials said they do not know when the landfill

disposals began. They said their first record of it is Feb.

23, 2004. The mortuary database became operational in late

2003.

The Air Force said mortuary leaders decided to end the

practice in May 2008 because ``there was a better way to do

it,'' Jones said. The military now cremates unclaimed and

unidentified body parts and buries the ashes at sea.

Jones said the Air Force did not need to inform relatives

of troops whose remains ended up in the landfill because they

had signed forms stipulating that they did not wish to be

notified if additional remains were identified. The forms

authorized the military to make ``appropriate disposition''

of those subsequent remains.

Asked if the landfill was a dignified final resting place,

Jones said: ``The way we're doing it today is much better.''

Gari-Lynn Smith, the widow of an Army sergeant killed in

Iraq, said she received an e-mail in July from Trevor Dean,

the mortuary director, saying that incinerated remains had

been taken to landfills at least since he began working at

Dover in 1996. Dean is one of the officials facing discipline

for his role in the reported mismanagement at the mortuary.

Smith's husband, Sgt. 1st Class Scott R. Smith, a member of

a bomb-disposal unit, was killed on July 17, 2006. In 2007,

she began asking the military what happened to some of his

remains that were identified after his funeral.

After four years of letters, phone calls and records

requests, she received a letter from the mortuary in April

stating that the military cremated and incinerated those

partial remains and disposed of them in the King George

landfill.

``I hope this information brings some comfort to you during

your time of loss,'' read the letter, signed by Dean.

Smith was infuriated. ``They have known that they were

doing something disgusting, and they were doing everything

they could to keep it from us,'' she said in a phone

interview.

In May 2008, then-Defense Secretary Robert M. Gates ordered

a detailed review of policies at Dover after an Army officer

complained that the mortuary had cremated a fallen comrade at

a nearby funeral home that also cremated pets in a separate

chamber.

The review team ordered changes, emphasizing the need to

ensure the highest levels of dignity and honor.

The Pentagon would not release the report, which was

overseen by David Chu, who was undersecretary of defense for

personnel. A copy obtained by The Post, however, shows that

the landfill disposal practice was never reviewed or

mentioned. Chu, now president of the Institute for Defense

Analyses in Alexandria, declined to comment.

Private contractors hired by the Air Force to handle the

remains' incineration and disposal of the residue said they

were unaware that they were transporting the ashes of dead

troops. Records show that the Air Force hired the contractors

to dispose of medical waste and did not specify that cremated

body parts were included.

MedTrace Inc. of North East, Md., had Air Force disposal

contracts between 2004 and 2007, records show. Don Holland, a

manager for the company, said his employees picked up boxes

of sealed containers from the Dover mortuary.

``They were certified as medical waste that had been

properly treated--that's it,'' Holland said. ``We don't go

looking at what's in there. It's sealed.''

MedTrace took the items to an incinerator in Baltimore,

according to state records in Delaware, where the mortuary is

located. Holland declined to discuss the incineration and

which landfill his company used.

Lisa Kardell, a spokeswoman for Waste Management, which

operates the King George landfill, said the firm has no

record of a contract with MedTrace for the years 2003 through

2008.

She said that Air Force officials have not returned calls

over the past two weeks from her company's attorneys, asking

which haulers would have been handling the Dover materials

and the disposition of the ashes.

``Obviously, we would be opposed to taking cremated remains

of our servicemen and servicewomen and putting them in our

landfill,'' Kardell said. ``But it sounds like a lot of us

were pulled in unknowingly to this unfortunate situation with

the Air Force,'' she added.

``It's a moral thing,'' said Jeff Jenkins, the manager of

the King George landfill. ``Someone killed overseas fighting

for our country,

I wouldn't want them buried--any part of them--in the

landfill.''

Mr. Speaker, I rise today to honor and thank Dwight and Sharon Poage and the Mayan Families for their extraordinary passion for causes that have made enduring positive differences in people's lives in the Lake Atitlan region of Guatemala.

This record recognizes the Mayan Families' strong partnership with the Upper Arlington Rotary Club in jointly creating sustainable humanitarian focused projects that provide opportunities, hope and a future for the indigenous and impoverished people in Guatemala.

Your commitment to potable water, children and adult nutrition, education and improving basic essential living conditions in the underserved communities has had a profound impact. On behalf of the citizens of Ohio's 15th Congressional District I commend your dedicated efforts for the families of Guatemala.

Mr. Speaker, because government has spent money we don't have and borrowed money we can't pay back, our national debt now stands at $15 trillion. My daughter, Sarah, who is 2 years old, now has $50,000 as her share of the national debt.

Congress and the President have an obligation to make the tough decisions to reduce spending so we can provide a brighter future for our kids. That's why I was proud to support the Expedited Legislative Line-Item Veto and Rescissions Act this week. The bipartisan legislation provides a constitutional line-item veto solution and creates more checks and balances against runaway spending.

Alone it won't solve our problems; however, combined with a biennial budget and a balanced-budget amendment, it can deliver our children, like Sarah, from a future of debt to one of opportunity.

Mr. Speaker, I rise today to congratulate Marion Gray on being named Knight of the Legion of Honor by France. In the course of his service in World War II Marion Gray became the first Franklin County man to be wounded on the beaches of Normandy on D-Day.

Throughout our nation's history, courageous men and women have selflessly fought time and again to secure our liberty. Marion Gray is one of those courageous men.

A true patriot, Sergeant Gray enlisted one day after the attack on Pearl Harbor. Gray then was sent to Camp Roberts to learn Combat Intelligence. He later transferred into the Medical Corps which allowed him to serve his country with the education in pharmacology and pre- medicine that he gained at The Ohio State University.

As a combat medic, Sergeant Gray travelled as part of the 29th Division of the 116th Regiment to the beaches of Normandy, where he was part of the first wave to land on D-Day.

Sergeant Gray's regiment was one of the hardest hit and during the course of that day Gray was injured twice. Thankfully, he survived but had to spend 30 days recovering in a hospital in South Hampton, England before being returned to his original company. He later went on to help liberate St. Lo, France, and served admirably until the end of the war in Europe.

It is because of the sacrifices made by Marion Gray and those he served with, that we continue to enjoy the freedoms that we do today. I am deeply thankful for Sergeant Marion Gray's heroism and sacrifice, and I congratulate him on earning the Knight of the Legion of Honor.

Mr. Speaker, I rise today to recognize the Rotary Club of Columbus for its centennial year of providing exceptional, ``Service Above Self,'' and for truly living up to its motto throughout these past 100 years.

The Rotary Club of Columbus was chartered on March 5, 1912, as the 38th club in Rotary International. Ever since that time, Columbus Rotary has contributed a great amount to the Columbus area. In 1919, the Rotary helped to organize the Ohio Society for Crippled Children, now known as Easter Seals. The Rotary established Camp Enterprise in 1967 to teach the Free Enterprise system to teenagers, and the program went on to become a model for Clubs across the country. In 2003, the Rotary was especially instrumental in establishing the Rafiki Orphanage in Nairobi, Kenya. Columbus Rotary projects continue today and include important programs and initiatives like Adopt-A-School, Homeless Family Foundation, and annual scholarships to local students.

Without the hard work and selfless contributions of Columbus Rotary and its members our great city would not have the vibrancy and sense of community that it does today. I offer my congratulations to Columbus Rotary on its 100 years, and I look forward to many more years to come.

Mr. Speaker, I rise today to honor a true American hero, Army Specialist Christopher Kurtz of the 1st Platoon, Apache Troop, 1st Squadron, 75th Cavalry Regiment, 2nd Brigade Combat Team of the 101st Airborne Division. This month marks the one year anniversary of an IED blast that nearly took his life and left him without his legs and took from him part of his hand.

As a Lieutenant Colonel in the Ohio Army National Guard, I have had the honor and privilege of witnessing firsthand the heroism, selflessness, and dedication of those who serve in our military. We enjoy unparalleled freedom and opportunity in this country, because brave Americans like Christopher Kurtz have dedicated their entire lives to building and preserving the United States as the greatest nation on earth. I truly am grateful for this opportunity to pay tribute to Christopher Kurtz.

Mr. Speaker, I ask that this poem penned in his honor by Albert Caswell be placed in the Congressional Record.

In. . . .

All In That Fight!

Are but all of those courageous brave hearts, who must bring

their light!

Whose most magnificent hearts, must somehow reach upward but

to the greatest heights!

Who are all Airborne, with but their fine hearts so worn . .

.

Who so courageously must ignite!

While, moving all out there into that darkness of war. . . .

Armed, but only with their most courageous of all lights to

victory to insure!

To So Find That Courage . . . To So Find That Faith. . . .

All in how their fine hearts have so behaved. . . .

All with such Strength In Honor, so all in place. . . .

To so win that battle, to so win that fight!

As from out of such darkness, they so bring their light!

While, one and all are so willing to face!

That Face of Death!

And not so ask why, while there all of their fine hearts so

crest!

Armed but with only your saw gun in hand, as Chris you so

heroically went out ahead. . . .

As was heard your most courageous battle cry, all in your

stead!

As from out of such darkness as said!

As from out of all of your heartache, as your great heart so

led. . . .

With such courage and faith, all in this your most amazing

grace. . . .

Excepting this fight!

Because, from hearts of courage full like yours,

America's Sons over darkness have so shown their might!

Because with only such fine men as you Christopher, will we

so win that fight!

As on that day, when you so walked through that valley death.

. . .

Armed with but only your courage as so left, as with your

Brothers In Arms as you had all so pledged!

When, a bomb almost left you for dead!

While, lying there all between life and death!

As you had so died several times, as when you said the Lord

came to you and so said!

So said, ``don't give up, I have more work for you to do!''

As from that moment on, you began your new fight as onward

you so moved!

So on that next morning as you so awoke, so close to death. .

. .

As in that moment, your fine heart so spoke. . . .

So spoke to you about all what you had so left!

As into the future, with all of your courage our nation would

so bless!

As you had lost your two strong legs, and part of your hand.

. . .

But, somehow your great heart still found the strength to

stand!

As we so watched you Chris, so watched you grow. . . .

As you so came back from the dead, and all of that pain and

woe!

As what a fine work of art, your life to our world would

show!

To So Teach Us All! To So Beseech Us All!

As it was you who so led!

To take us to higher places, with tears upon our faces. . . .

with but your heart so pledged!

To places where only hearts of courage, have so sped!

For you will walk again my son, and you will so run!

As you rebuild your life, America's most brilliant of all

sons!

For from what you've lost. . . . far much more you've gained!

But, with your iron will, the price you paid. . . .

With your beautiful children and wonderful wife!

Oh yes you are now so winning that fight!

For heroes like you are put upon this earth, to so teach us

all what so comes first!

And if ever I have a son, I wish he could but be as brilliant

as you this one!

Who All In The Fight, so did what must be done!

And led with his heart of honor, upon battlefields so on!

And came back home, through all of this pain and heartache. .

. . as Thy Will Be Done!

Who has taught us even greater things, showing us all to what

new heights hearts can run!

And one day for all of your sacrifice, you will shine. . . .

all up in Heaven's sun!

For up in Heaven, you need not arms or legs!

And that's where Christopher you are going one day!

All for what you gave! And what you've done!

But your life here on earth, is not finished!

Is not so done, because our Lord has more work for you my

son!

All In That Fight!

Mr. Speaker, I rise today to honor the lengthy public service career of David Long, Chief of the Norwich Township Fire Department. David Long has served the Hilliard, Ohio community as a member of its fire department for 36 years, serving more than 7 years as Chief of the department.

Born and raised in the Hilliard area, David joined the Norwich Township Fire Department in 1975 as a part-time firefighter. On September 9, 1976 he earned a full-time position from which he moved up the ranks, becoming a lieutenant on July 1, 1984, Assistant Chief on April 1, 1996, and finally Chief of the department on April 2, 2004. He is a certified paramedic, fire instructor, and fire inspector.

David Long has played a critical role in keeping the Hilliard community safe for more than three and a half decades. He has literally run into burning buildings to protect his neighbors. David's willingness to put his own life at risk in service to others is truly inspiring and exemplifies the courage that makes America great.

As Chief, David has led the department during an important time for the community and has presided over some major departmental milestones, including relocating the department to the Hilliard Joint Safety Services Building. David has been a sound and stable leader, admired both by his firefighters and the community at large.

Chief David Long has touched many lives and inspired others to service at this critical time in our history when we need dedicated public servants the most. I thank David for all that he has done for the Hilliard community and congratulate him on concluding an impressive and inspiring career.

I would like to thank the gentleman from California for yielding me time and for his leadership on this issue.

I want to voice my support for the Access to Capital for Job Creators Act. This is straightforward legislation that provides a simple method for job creators to find funding for their businesses. This legislation will allow entrepreneurs to advertise their investment opportunity to accredited investors and to solicit investment without being subject to costly and burdensome regulations. This exemption would only apply to general solicitations or advertising if the buyers are accredited investors, those people that have $1 million net worth or an income above $200,000. This leaves protections in place for those who may be less sophisticated investors. Simply put, this bill helps finance job growth in America by connecting small businesses and job creators with sophisticated investors while keeping protections for less sophisticated investors.