[Congressional Record Volume 162, Number 20 (Wednesday, February 3, 2016)]
[Senate]
[Pages S537-S538]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                        75TH ANNIVERSARY OF USO

  Mr. ISAKSON. Mr. President, I rise to recognize another organization 
that is meaningful to all of us and in particular the Presiding 
Officer. It is called the USO--the United Service Organization--a 
private organization

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chartered federally in 1941 by Franklin Delano Roosevelt and the 
Congress of the United States.
  America was on the verge of world war, and the President knew it. We 
had fragmented volunteer organizations to serve our troops but no 
organization to really give them the services they needed. The Congress 
passed a resolution creating and chartering the USO, consolidating 
those organizations into one. Since that charter 75 years ago, that 
organization has served over 10 million American soldiers in uniform 
from the time they put it on until the time they take it off.
  One need only go to their local airport, which, for me, is the 
Hartsfield International Airport in Atlanta. Last year 100 million 
passengers went through that airport. Many of them were soldiers, a lot 
of them on the way to deployment in Afghanistan or the Middle East. 
When they go through the Atlanta airport, the first thing they see is 
the USO booth, and the first thing they get is services from the USO to 
help them in their trip, their endeavors, and help them with their 
families. The USO provides invaluable help to the men and women who 
provide all of us the security we relish in this great Nation of ours 
called the United States of America.
  On this 75th anniversary of the USO, I commend the volunteers--900 of 
them in Georgia--who provide services to 150,000 Georgia soldiers a 
year, for all they do on behalf of our country and on behalf of our 
services. The USO is a great organization for a great country, serving 
the greatest of all military in the United States of America and 
throughout the world.
  I yield back the remainder of my time.
  I suggest the absence of a quorum.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. The clerk will call the roll.
  The senior assistant legislative clerk proceeded to call the roll.
  Mr. LANKFORD. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the order 
for the quorum call be rescinded.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. Without objection, it is so ordered.

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