[Congressional Record Volume 154, Number 122 (Thursday, July 24, 2008)]
[House]
[Page H7062]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                ON ANNIVERSARY OF CAPITOL POLICE DEATHS

  (Mr. HOYER asked and was given permission to address the House for 1 
minute and to revise and extend his remarks.)
  Mr. HOYER. The Speaker has just made an announcement about two of 
those who served our democracy and our country and who served this 
Capitol. Every morning when I come into work, I pass by a plaque 
honoring Detective John Gibson and Officer Jacob Chestnut on the spot 
where they were murdered 10 years ago this very day.
  It's a quiet hallway now. Down the hall you can hear the sounds of 
visitors to the Capitol; a few feet away the work of the majority 
leader's office goes on every day. John Gibson lost his life in the 
hallway that is in my office that was then the office of the majority 
leader Tom DeLay. What a shock to think that that hallway could be 
filled with gunshots and blood, to know that our Capitol, the most 
sacred space in our democracy, could be filled with violence. But what 
a saving grace to know that every day we are surrounded by brave men 
and women who will stand in the way of violence even at the cost of 
their own lives.
  Detective Gibson and Officer Chestnut died in the defense of our 
democracy just as surely as those in harm's way in Iraq and Afghanistan 
and in other trouble spots of the world.
  Detective Gibson and Officer Chestnut deserve every tribute they've 
been given: Lying in honor under the Capitol dome; yesterday's words 
dedicated to their memory; today's moment of silence at 3:40. But we 
know that what they did, every member of the Capitol Police and every 
law enforcement officer throughout our land stands ready to do as they 
rise in the morning and put on a badge, either on their uniform or in 
their wallet or on their hip, and they attach a gun, perhaps, as well, 
prepared to defend and keep the peace.
  We honor Detective Gibson and Officer Chestnut not because they were 
unique in their sacrifice, which, however, they were, but because their 
willingness to sacrifice was so typical, typical of all of the best in 
those who wear the badge.
  Edmund Burke wrote that ``Good order is the foundation of all 
things.'' It is certainly the foundation of everything that happens in 
this building. Without peace and good order, democracy could not 
survive.
  Let us thank those men and women who risk their lives to give us 
order, safety, freedom from fear, and let us keep their families in our 
thoughts today and every day.
  God blesses America with men and women ready to defend our freedom, 
our country, and our Capitol. Without them, the work of this Capitol 
and the work of our democracy would not prevail. We thank their 
families, we remember them this day, and may God grant them continued 
peace.

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