Congressional Record, Volume 163 Issue 89 (Tuesday, May 23, 2017)

[Congressional Record Volume 163, Number 89 (Tuesday, May 23, 2017)]
[House]
[Pages H4490-H4496]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]

RECOGNIZING BOY SCOUTS OF AMERICA

The SPEAKER pro tempore. Under the Speaker's announced policy of
January 3, 2017, the gentleman from Texas (Mr. Sessions) is recognized
for 60 minutes as the designee of the majority leader.

General Leave

Mr. SESSIONS. Mr. Speaker, I ask unanimous consent that all Members
may have 5 legislative days in which to revise and extend their remarks
and include extraneous material on the topic of this Special Order.
The SPEAKER pro tempore. Is there objection to the request of the
gentleman from Texas?
There was no objection.
Mr. SESSIONS. Mr. Speaker, tonight, Members of Congress who are Eagle
Scouts are taking to the floor of the House of Representatives to say
thank you not only to the Boy Scouts of America but to recognize and to
highlight our opportunity while in Boy Scouts, and now, as Members of
Congress, to talk about how important the Boy Scouts of America is to
the youth, the young men and young women of this country, and, also, to
highlight the leadership that takes place every single day in this
country: men and women who volunteer their time to make sure that the
Boy Scouts of America are prepared and ready to meet not only the times
that we live in but the advances of young people and the challenges
that they have.
Tonight, as an Eagle Scout of the Eagle class of 1970, it is my
opportunity to introduce Members of Congress and then to follow up at
the end as we talk about how important Scouting is.
Today, there are 1,262,311 boys in Scouting from ages 6 to 10 in Cub
Scouts. There are 822,999 boys aged 11 to 17 in Boy Scouts of America
and Varsity Scouts. There are 119,268 young men and young women between
the ages of 10 to 20 who are engaged in exploring based upon programs
that may be STEM or other Scouting programs.
As you see, Mr. Speaker, the Boy Scouts of America is important to
the youth of this country.
Mr. Speaker, I yield to the gentleman from New York (Mr. Collins),
who is the head of our Scouting Caucus, and the Eagle class of 1963.
Mr. COLLINS of New York. Mr. Speaker, I thank Eagle Scout Pete
Sessions for yielding. I am very honored to be standing with him today
as the co-chair of the Scouting Caucus, along with Eagle Scout Jim
Cooper from Tennessee.
There are, in fact, 33 Eagle Scouts--23 from the House of
Representatives and 10 from the Senate--currently serving in the United
States Congress. But just as importantly, there are 150 Members of
Congress who experienced Scouting, whether as a youth, and, perhaps, in
the case of 33 progressing to the rank of Eagle Scout, or, currently as
myself does, serving as an adult Scout leader.
Scouting was important to many of us growing up. I think when a lot
of us look back on our lives and say what was one of the larger impacts
we had, I can tell you, in my case, it was Scouting.
And the same is true for my 24-year-old Eagle Scout son. I can't tell
you how many different camping trips my son and I enjoyed together--
what a great bonding experience for a father and a son coming right up
through Cub Scouts.
So for all of those Scouts today, as Eagle Scout Pete Sessions
indicated, who are currently involved in Cub Scouts and Boy Scouts and
Explorers, Scouting is changing their lives, and it is changing their
lives for the better.
We have all heard the 12 points of the Scout law. That is a compass
for the youth of America today, when they are faced with tough
decisions, to look at those 12 points and remind themselves that a
Scout is trustworthy, loyal, helpful, friendly, courteous, kind,
obedient, cheerful, thrifty, brave, clean, and reverent. Those 12
points of the Scout law are a compass for them to live their life and
make the right decisions.

{time} 1800

Many cases I referred to the first three words of the Scout Oath, and
we can't talk about them enough, those first three words, ``on my
honor.'' That is so important today for our youth to have a compass, to
understand what honor is, and Scouting introduces them to that.
But I will also tell you what Scouting is. It is young men, young
boys having fun outdoors. Some say today the problem with youth in
America is they have and they suffer from nature deficit disorder: They
don't get outside enough; they don't know how to play outdoors; they
are stuck with their electronic devices.
Well, Scouting gets the youth of America outside. It is healthy. They
get to enjoy themselves, learn all kinds of skills, but just the
friendships that they get within Scouting that, over a lifetime, will
help them as they become the future leaders of America.
There are a disproportionate number of leaders in America today who
were Scouts and, in fact, Eagle Scouts. Today, in President Trump's
Cabinet, we are honored as a country to have four Eagle Scouts: Eagle
Scout Rex Tillerson, Secretary of State; Eagle Scout Rick Perry,
Secretary of Energy; Eagle Scout Jeff Sessions, our current Attorney
General; and Eagle Scout, Ryan Zinke, our Secretary of the Interior.
I will tell you, in most of their cases, they would identify Scouting
as a major part of them growing up and, maybe they didn't know it at
the time, but giving them the life skills that have served them to the
point today they are serving our Nation.
We have 27 Members in the bipartisan Scouting Caucus; many, but not
all, are Eagle Scouts. I think all of us are proud to talk about our
past as an Eagle Scout, but we also remind people, to this day, we are
Eagle Scouts.
Once a year, our Chief Scout Executive, Mike Surbaugh, comes to
Washington, D.C., to present a report on the status of Scouting in the
Nation today. We have a great reception for our Chief Scout Executive
once a year to welcome him and Scouts from around the country as they
present to us the status of Scouting in America today.
I would be remiss if I didn't recognize the last four presidents of
the Boy Scouts of America. Our current president, Randall Stephenson,
is the current CEO of AT&T. He followed Bob Gates, who was our
Secretary of Defense; Wayne Perry, the vice chairman of AT&T; and our
own Secretary of State, Rex Tillerson, when he was CEO of Exxon, was
the president of the Boy Scouts of America.
So I think all of us today understand the importance of Scouting in
our lives and, in many cases, just reflect back on the fun that we had
as young kids and young adults.
Once every 4 years, all the Scouts in America gather, with some from
around the world as well, at our national Scout jamboree. We currently
have a permanent Scout High Adventure site in West Virginia at the
Summit.
Eagle Scout Pete Sessions and I, as well as others, 4 years ago, went
to the Summit. And you know what? We just had fun. We went down the zip
line. We went on some of the other obstacle courses. Even as adults, it
was reliving our youth. And we intend to go back later in July for,
every 4 years, as I said, they have the national Scout jamboree.
Somewhere in the neighborhood of 40,000 Scouts from around the United
States will gather for approximately 1 week and just have a lot of fun,
get to meet others from around the country.
So that is what Scouting is. I can't think of a more healthy activity
for young men to be involved in, and, I think, in many cases,
certainly, the moms of this world understand the important values that
their sons are getting, as well as the dads.
I can just tell you, I am happy to stay involved in Scouting. As the
co-chair of the Eagle Scout Caucus, I am proud to remind people I am
today an Eagle Scout. And we also have fun shaking hands with our left
hand. That's how Scouts do it, the hand closest to our heart.
I was with our Secretary of State in Alaska a week ago and went to
introduce myself. He put out his right hand to shake hands, as adults
do, and I said: ``No, sir, Mr. Secretary. As one Eagle Scout to
another, we are going to shake hands the right way, with our left
hands.'' He got a big smile on his face because he knew exactly what I
was talking about.
So Eagle Scout Pete Sessions, I want to thank you for giving me the

[[Page H4491]]

opportunity to talk a little bit about Scouting today in our Congress.
Thank you for your leadership in our Special Order tonight, and I look
forward to hearing from our other Members of Congress, fellow Eagle
Scouts. I know it impacted their life.
Thank you again for your leadership tonight.
Mr. SESSIONS. Eagle Scout Chris Collins, thank you very much.
By the way, one of those presidents of the Boy Scouts of America was
Ed Whitacre. When I was at AT&T, Mr. Whitacre led the Boy Scouts of
America, understanding how important it is.
Ladies and gentlemen, the gentleman from Texas, the chairman of the
House Financial Services Committee, the gentleman from Dallas, Texas,
is also an Eagle Scout. Jeb Hensarling not only is a bright, young,
thoughtful, articulate leader in the United States Congress, he is
Eagle Class of 1971.
Chairman Hensarling, as an Eagle Scout, not only distinguished
himself to Scouting, but also, that led him to Texas A&M University and
then, further, to the University of Texas Law School. He is a young man
who not only deeply believes in his country and his God, but he
believes in the things that have brought him forward to become a leader
in Congress.
Mr. Speaker, I yield to the gentleman from Texas, Eagle Scout Jeb
Hensarling.
Mr. HENSARLING. Mr. Speaker, I certainly thank the gentleman for
yielding.
I have had many opportunities in my career to come to this House
floor and speak about topics of great importance, but few are as near
and dear to my heart as is Scouting.
So, one, I want to thank the gentleman from New York for his
leadership and the gentleman from Texas for his leadership and keeping
Scouting alive not only in their hearts, but in the heart of the House
and in the hearts of so many young men in America today.

Mr. Speaker, as I think about my own life, I think how terribly
blessed I have been. I think about the molders of my character, and,
certainly, I thank the Lord for the blessing of being able to worship
Him in the land of the free. And I think about the impact my church has
had upon my life.
I think how blessed I am to have parents like Charles and Ann
Hensarling, who raised me in College Station, Texas, and how proud I am
to be my mother's son and how proud I was to be my late father's son.
But I also think about what Scouting meant as a molder of my character.
Mr. Speaker, that is not what originally drew me to Scouting. I was
originally drawn to the fun of it, to the high adventure, to the
camping trips, to those Capture the Flag games that went on to the wee
hours of the morning. Little did I know how long one could actually
hunt for a snipe back in the early days of my Scouting career. And so I
was drawn to Indian lore and canoeing and camping, and that was so
exciting to me.
So when I think about my Scouting career, Mr. Speaker, I think about,
you know, the fun I had. I think about the friendships. There are
people I haven't seen for decades, but, you know, I think about a
friend by the name of Dennis Gary, whom I haven't seen in decades. But
if I saw him tomorrow, I would know him because I would know him
through his heart, because we experienced Scouting together, and so
many others.
I think about the many practical things I learned in my Scouting
career. I hope I never fall into a hole and break an arm, but if I did,
even today at my ripe old age, I could still tie a one-handed bowline.
I still know how to do that.
I hope I am never lost in the forest for days on end, but, you know,
Mr. Speaker, I know that, as distasteful as it would be, I could
survive off of cattail root and dandelion leaves because that is what
Scouting taught me.
So Scouting is about fun; it is about friendship; but it was about
practical things that I learned. Mr. Speaker, there is even a far more
important aspect to Scouting, and that is values, the values that we
learned.
So even today, as a Member of Congress, I know how important it is to
be prepared, to be prepared before I come to this House floor and try
to convince fellow Members of this august body on actions that we
should take in the life of a great nation.
As we deal with so many issues about the lives of a great nation, I
also remember, for example, somebody who wasn't in the Boy Scouts--my
wife. I know back in Dallas, Texas, almost every week of her life she
is driving some indigent cancer patient to their treatments.
I reflected that, although as Members of Congress we deal with
matters of great importance that impact millions and millions of
people, I have got to tell you, my wife, back in Dallas, Texas, does a
good turn daily. It reminds me that I learned in Scouting how important
it is to help one human life at a time and to do a good turn daily.
When I look upon my colleagues here in Congress today, I think about
a certain colleague, and I am not going to mention his name, but a
colleague who at one time wasn't quite keeping up with his diet. He
wasn't quite keeping up with his exercise. Although he had young
children, he had a heart attack, and we almost lost this colleague, but
he came back. It is a reminder how important it is to keep ourselves
physically strong for our children, for our parents, for our
colleagues, and for our friends. That is something I learned in
Scouting, Mr. Speaker.
I think about another friend whose wife almost was lost when she was
diagnosed with a very serious form of cancer, stage IV. But there was
an oncologist here in this area, in the Washington area, who was on the
cutting edge of cancer research that saved her life, and she was--the
percentages against her, there was a 99 percent chance she wouldn't
make it, but she did because somebody decided to be mentally awake.
That is something else I learned in Scouting, Mr. Speaker, how
important it is to be mentally awake.
And one day, when I leave this institution, some of the finest people
I have ever met in life I know will have served in the United States of
House of Representatives, but, unfortunately, a couple of them
represent the worst. A couple of them have turned in their pin stripes
for prison stripes because somehow they lost their way.
In Scouting, we are taught to orient a map with a physical compass,
but we are also taught to orient the map of life with a moral compass.
So I learned in Scouting how important it was to be morally straight,
to have that internal compass to guide us at all times.
So I will admit, I am not proud of the fact, Mr. Speaker, but you
know what? The words, over the years, occasionally they are a little
rusty to me. I don't quite recite them as I once did. I don't always
recite the words: ``On my honor, I will do my best to do my duty to my
God and my country, to obey the Scout Law, to help others at all times,
to keep myself physically strong, mentally awake, and morally
straight.''
So, yes, Mr. Speaker, occasionally the words are a little rusty, but
the principles are as alive to me today as they were almost half a
century ago when I first entered Scouting and followed that career all
the way up to Eagle Scout, something I am so, so very proud of today.
So, Mr. Speaker, I hope anybody who is watching the proceedings at
this time will, again, understand how valuable Scouting is to all of
us. It is not just important to my own personal life. It is important
to the life of a great nation.
Our first President, the Father of our Country, said that you cannot
have a free society which is not a moral society. Scouting helps make
certain we have a moral society.

{time} 1815

So I think of the fun, I think of the friendship, I think of the
lessons, but, most importantly, I think about that moral compass for
the map of life that has guided me and, with Scouting to come in the
future, will guide the life of this great Nation.
Mr. Speaker, I thank the gentleman from Dallas for his leadership, I
thank him for his friendship, I thank him for all he means for
Scouting, and I thank him for yielding to me.
Mr. SESSIONS. Chairman Hensarling, Eagle Scout, class of 1971, thank
you very much.
Mr. Speaker, I hold a Scoutbook, something I call the second good
book. Of course, we know in Scouting, the

[[Page H4492]]

good book is the Bible; but to Scouters, also the second good book is
the Boy Scout Handbook. This was given to me in 2010 by Bob Mazzuca,
who is our chief Scout executive, and he gave it to me with really a
guide to my life to continue down that pathway of talking about
Scouting in great ways. And that is what we are doing tonight.
I acknowledge that we not only have John Garamendi, who is an Eagle
Scout, class of 1960, who will be speaking in a bit, but on a
bipartisan basis, this body has young people, young men who understood
why they got into Scouting. They understood about their life. They
certainly understand it now.
At this time I would like to bring forth Eagle Scout French Hill,
1972, from Arkansas, a relatively new Member of Congress, not only a
mature man, but a man who comes with the proxy of knowledge of what Boy
Scouting has helped provide him.
Mr. Speaker, I yield to the gentleman from Arkansas (Mr. Hill), an
Eagle Scout.
Mr. HILL. Mr. Speaker, I thank Chairman Sessions for holding this
Special Order. It means, I think, a lot not only to the Scouts that are
here in the House of Representatives and the Senate to recognize the
importance of Scouting to our country, but to all the mothers, fathers,
and Scouts that are seeing this proceeding on C-SPAN or will hear about
it to realize that they are participating in something that is very
special.
I mean, I think of Scouting, really, Mr. Speaker, as a gift to the
country for all of the reasons that the previous speakers have noted. I
can't think about Scouting without thinking about what it has meant to
me, Chairman Sessions, and influencing on my young life. Role models is
the first thing that comes to mind with Scouting.
I think about my dad--who was not an Eagle Scout. He was a Sea
Scout--and he ended up being basically a Life Scout for life, as people
say in Scouting. But nobody was more influential to me in my youth than
my dad--currently 91 years old--a Scout still at heart, and all the
experiences we had together, how we bonded as father and son, and how,
when I went off to college, Mr. Speaker, he continued to be a role
model and adult leader for young men for years to come.
That is the kind of person that is in every one of our communities
all over this country, helping mold our young people through the
Scouting program.
Mr. Speaker, Scouting was my first paid job. I worked at a Scout
camp. I earned, I believe, something like $10 a week, plus room and
board, of course. It is when I first learned who FICA was because, at
$10 a week, I wanted to know who took this $2 out of my $10 check. So I
learned my first lesson about Federal economic policy and who FICA was
as a Boy Scout working at the end of a very dusty parking lot for 7
weeks in the hot summer of Arkansas, teaching, pioneering, cooking, and
camping merit badges.
But I think of other adults besides my dad. I think about Angelo
Coppola and Fred Bean, both constituents of mine now that I serve in
the people's House who were camp directors at that camp where I was a
very happy employee and Scout for those summers in the early 1970s.
So Scouting is about role models. Scouting is about character
building, and that starts that relationship, I think, between our moms
and our dads that are involved in the Scouting program, and what we
give to kids today. And, boy, do we need that character development.
The Boy Scouts of America was formed in 1910 and was inspired by
British war hero Robert S.S. Baden-Powell of the Scouting program
started back in the U.K. A lot of people today who are involved in
Scouting, even at this moment, Mr. Speaker, don't know that the U.S.
Congress presented a law to Woodrow Wilson, who signed it in 1916,
chartering the Boy Scouts of America.
We are chartered by the United States Congress, and what a special
feeling it is for all of us who are Scouts in Congress today to
recognize that something that was so important to our youth was, in
fact, chartered by the body that we serve in today.
In the early 20th century, Baden-Powell was thinking about how to
expand army youth training with a place for all boys to dedicate their
efforts to peace, not war, and he wanted Scouting to improve boys'
lives by building their character, physical fitness, and outdoor
skills.
He put a premium on bringing boys together from all walks of life,
mixing boys from the elite prep schools and boarding schools with those
in working class homes. And we do that today, Mr. Speaker. We bring
boys from all backgrounds into the character-building exercises of
Scouting.
Mr. Collins, a few minutes ago, talked about the importance of
outdoor recreation, and that was certainly what brought me in. My
interest in Scouting was outdoor recreation. When you think about it,
in 1910, people were moving off the farm. People were urbanizing. We
were passing laws on child labor. We were trying to make sure our boys
coming off the farm away from home would have a good set of role
models. So Scouting was so important to that urban youth that they get
character and that outdoor experience.
And while that was a big deal back in 1910, I would argue, as Chris
Collins did today, that it is a big deal now. He talked about a nature
deficit. There is no doubt that we have that today, just as we did in
some people's views back in 1910.
In 2005, Leonard Sax wrote a seminal book that I urge not only all of
our Members to read, but people watching these proceedings to read,
``Boys Adrift,'' where he argued that the lack of experiential learning
and free playtime--particularly outdoors--in our childhood is
diminishing our effectiveness in learning as managers and our
interpersonal relationships.
In 2008, Richard Louv wrote a book called ``Last Child in the
Woods,'' where he argued that unstructured outdoor playtime is critical
to childhood development.
Well, that is exactly what Scouting does. It provides outdoor
recreation, something I think is essential to childhood development;
something that we have lost because of not only urbanization, but our
changing behavior.
One recent nature conservancy poll found that only 10 percent of
American teens spend time outside every day. I can't imagine on a day
where the sun was shinning when I was a teenager that I ever spent any
time indoors. My parents were always on the hunt: Where is he? He is
outside somewhere.
According to research by the Harvard School of Public Health,
American adults spend less time outdoors than they do inside vehicles;
less than 5 percent of their day.
So I think the scientific research says our boys and our girls need
outdoor recreation. They need experiential learning. This is what is
the core of the Scouting program. Like air and water, our wild places,
our National Parks are essential to the education of our children and
have greatly benefited the Boy Scouts and the Scouting experience. I
can't imagine what my life would be like without that Scouting
experience in terms of my love of the outdoors.
The second thing that attracted me to Scouting was the leadership
opportunities. Baden-Powell said he wanted to be boy-driven. And here,
101 years after President Wilson signed the Boy Scouts of America into
law, Scouting prides itself, Mr. Speaker, on being boy-driven, kid-
driven. That is how we teach responsibility, character, and leadership.
I like this famous list, Mr. Sessions, that we use at so many Eagle
Scout ceremonies called ``100 Scouts.''
Mr. Speaker, of 100 Scouts, people who participate in Scouting:
Thirty will drop out their first year, but they will remember the
program fondly.
Twelve will be from a family that has no religious organization or
religious membership, and many will begin their first contact with the
need to be morally straight and have, at their heart, a belief in God;
12 will be touched by the Scouting program.
Five will go on to earn their religious award from whatever faith
tradition they have.
One will use their Scouting skills to save a life.
One will credit Scouting skills for saving their own life.
Eighteen will develop a lifelong hobby.
Eight will find their vocation through the exploration of the merit
badge work they did as a Scout.
Seventeen will later become Scout leaders, like all of our Members
here on this floor tonight.

[[Page H4493]]

Four will become an Eagle Scout.
Four out of that 100, Mr. Speaker, will earn the rank of Eagle Scout,
and at least one will say they value earning that Eagle award more than
their college degree.
When it comes to the role that Scouting plays, it is something that I
am so proud of because I have a Scout in Troop 30 in St. Paul's
Methodist Church in Little Rock, and I am so proud of the work that he
has done on that trail toward Eagle. He is in the middle of planning
his project now to combine his love of golf and Scouting. It is a
service project at The First Tee of Central Arkansas in Little Rock,
and I reflect it on the value of these Eagle projects across our
communities in all 50 of our States and around the world.
Just in America, using 2014 data, about 150--140 people earn their
Eagle rank a day in the United States. And in 2014, they spent 8.1
million hours, Mr. Speaker, on their Eagle Scout project, benefiting
our towns, our communities, all over this country.
In the nonprofit world, if you applied a typical pay rate to that, a
project rate that the independent sector uses of about $23 an hour,
that is $188 million in public service value our Eagle Scouts have
contributed across this country.
Mr. Speaker, I want to tell Mr. Sessions how much I appreciate his
taking time to highlight Scouting, and the value of Scouting to our
town and our communities, but, more importantly, to our families at
creating that sense of character that we have talked about tonight.
I am one of those people that values my Eagle Scout award, dating
back to 1972, from Troop 27, at Our Lady of the Holy Souls Catholic
Church in Little Rock. And I am so proud that this many years later I
still have the ability to support my son who is on that Eagle trail,
and have the support of my dad that many long years after 1972 and my
Eagle award because, in our family, we believe in a good turn daily. We
believe in the Scout law. We believe in the Scout oath. And if there is
one thing you need to do to survive in Congress, you have got to be
prepared.
Mr. Speaker, I appreciate Mr. Sessions for the opportunity to share
these comments in support of Scouting. I thank the gentleman for his
service to the National Eagle Scout Association and his long service to
Circle Ten Council in Dallas, Texas.
Mr. SESSIONS. Mr. Speaker, Eagle Scout Congressman French Hill, Eagle
class of `72, thank you very much.
It is with great distinction now that I recognize Congressman Eagle
Scout Jim Bridenstine, 1991. It was about a week ago that Eagle Scout
Bridenstine came up to me and said: Pete, I want you to know that my
son is involved in Scouting, and I deeply believe in it, but I think we
ought to get together here.
So it actually is Eagle Scout Jim Bridenstine who said: Let's get
together our Eagle Scouts and talk about it.
And I hope that the gentleman will have a chance to come on July 24
or so, as Eagle Scout Members of Congress, along with Senator Mike
Enzi, and perhaps others--my Down syndrome son, Eagle Scout Alexander
Gregory Sessions, Troop 890, Lake Highlands, Texas, will join me--that
you, too, with your son, may be able to go with us to the reserve and
do that.
Mr. Speaker, I yield to the gentleman from Oklahoma (Mr.
Bridenstine), a distinguished Eagle Scout.

{time} 1830

Mr. BRIDENSTINE. Mr. Speaker, I thank Congressman Eagle Scout
Chairman Pete Sessions for his great introduction. It is an absolute
honor to be here.
About a week ago, I said I would like to get the Eagle Scouts
together on the floor of the House of Representatives and talk about
what it means to us to be Eagle Scouts, reflect on our history and our
tradition and how great this institution has been for the United States
of America for all of these years and how we must make sure that this
institution stays strong for the years to come. When I brought that to
the gentleman's attention, he said, absolutely, we will do it. I didn't
talk to him again, and today we are doing it. I didn't have to ask
twice.
As chairman of the Scouting Caucus here in the House of
Representatives, the gentleman has led in a tremendous way. We have
seen so many Eagle Scouts come to the Capitol, and he always gets all
of us together and always has us talk face-to-face with the Scouts--not
just Eagle Scouts--and encourage them from the earliest days of their
Scouting careers.
I want to thank him for his leadership, because a lot of people could
chair this committee, but he hasn't just chaired it; he has led it, and
that reflects greatly on him.
When I think about my days as a Scout, I go all the way back to my
Cub Scout days. In fact, it was even before I was a Scout. My brother
was a year older than me, so he got to be a Cub Scout before I was a
Cub Scout.
He got to participate in this new thing that was going on in the
lives of the Bridenstines called the pinewood derby. He had this little
car--a block of wood with some nails and some wheels--and we watched
that car streak from the very top of the track and come to a screeching
halt where the track leveled out. In fact, this little blue car didn't
even make it to the end of the track.
Of course, all of these other Scouts had all their fancy cars that
had their rounded wheels and graphite on the nails and all of the
weights put in the car. We didn't know to do any of that.
So my brother, John Bridenstine, who was a Cub Scout before I was a
Cub Scout, had to endure the pain of being a Scout and wanting to have
the fastest car, and his didn't even make it to the end of the track.
Well, I will tell you this. There was a Life Scout named Wayne
Bridenstine, who was our dad. He was not going to allow any of our cars
to ever again not make it to the end of the track. So we went to work
trying to learn everything we could about this pinewood derby.
We engineered a couple of what I think are the greatest cars in
American Scouting history. The next year, the Bridenstine boys won
first place and second place going forward. We won first place and
second place in--I don't remember which--but we reversed it going
backwards. So we went from having a car that didn't even reach the end
of the track to winning the pinewood derby.
Many years later, now I have my own son. He is in Cub Scouts and he
does the pinewood derby. I committed to him the same thing my dad
committed to us back in those days: We are going to win the pinewood
derby.
The first year we did it, we had great success. The second year, Dad
got a little, maybe, overaggressive in his engineering. Maybe we put
the weights a little too far back. As that car came down, it got really
unstable and it wobbled. There were a couple of times it barely made it
to the end of the track.
But I will tell you this. The relationship that I had with my dad and
that my brother had with our dad and that was necessary to pull us from
not even finishing the race to winning the race and now the
relationship with my son, Walker Bridenstine, are things that are
important in our family and will be for many years to come.
So those are some of my first ideas.
Of course, Cub Scouts led to the Arrow of Light. The very next
progression is to become a Boy Scout. So we searched a number of
different troops across Arlington, Texas, and Fort Worth, Texas. We
were in the Longhorn Council at the time. We eventually settled on
Troop 83.
I remember some of the leaders of the troop. Coach Wasden was a
football coach at Hutcheson Junior High. That was somebody who was
intense. He was serious about Scouts. Boy, if you were going to move up
in rank, you were going to prove to him that you have done what was
required.
Of course, earning merit badges was important to all of us who were
trying to move up the ranks. I will never forget the first summer camp
that we went on. My brother and I were not able to go to the summer
camp that our troop went on. So we went to this thing called the
Maverick Camp, where we went with a bunch of Scouts we didn't even
know, but we had a great time.
I am not going to lie to you; it was a challenge. I was in fifth
grade. My brother was in sixth grade. It was the middle of August in
Texas. We will just say the middle of August in Texas. It was just as
hot at midnight as it was at the noon hour.

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We sweat a lot. We worked hard. We got seven merit badges that
summer. That was intense. We didn't know you weren't supposed to get
that many. We showed up back at our troop for the court of honor and
people were shocked that we got seven. No wonder it was so hard. Nobody
told us not to get seven merit badges in one summer camp.
These are some of the memories I had. My brother and I were really
challenged and we got that done. The next summer, we did three or four
merit badges and had a lot more fun. These are some of the memories.
I was the chaplain's aid. As the chaplain's aid, one of the things
that I prayed for most was that the chaplain would show up on the
campout so I wouldn't have to do the public speaking in front of
everybody. And here I am now as a Member of Congress who publicly
speaks as a living. That is one of the things the Boy Scouts of America
gave me: the ability to stand before an audience and tell people what
was on my mind.
My leadership experience was as the chaplain's aid. My brother was
the senior patrol leader for Troop 83. I was in the Arrow of Light
patrol. He was in the Bison Patrol. He was the senior patrol leader.

Summer camp after summer camp and all the things we heard, here is, I
think, one of the important things that people need to remember: The
Boy Scouts of America is an institution that trains leaders. You might
not recognize it when you are in it because you believe you are just
having fun, but then there come those moments in life when you really
need to lean on the things that you learned as a Boy Scout, and it
doesn't even dawn on you until later that you actually learned these
things as a Boy Scout.
After I graduated from college, I joined the United States Navy. I
became a pilot. Of course, one of the things we have to do is survival,
evasion, resistance, and escape. In this process, we have to live in
the woods for a period of time. We have to figure out how we are going
to survive and evade for a week. During this time, you have to live
based on the things that you see around you. You have to be able to
start a fire.
Some of these basic things I was able to do that all the peers around
me had no ability to do because they did not have the life experiences
in the Boy Scouts of America.
We had to be able to cook a rabbit, something that I had done before
and something that my peers, also Navy pilots, had not done. We had to
able to land navigate with a map and a compass, which, to me, was
second nature because I had done it for years trying to get to my rank
of Eagle. But for so many people, it was a foreign concept to use a map
and a compass to land navigate from point A to point B.
I remember one group navigated point to point. Our group said: We
don't want to go point to point because if we miss the point, we won't
know we missed the point. So we are going to intentionally offset, hit
the river, and then we are going to know exactly where we are. Of
course, we didn't miss the point. We knew where we were going.
But some of my peers who did not have the experiences I had went well
beyond the point and didn't know they had gone down the point, then
they had to come back. I could have told you that was going to happen
because it had happened to me previously as somebody who was in the Boy
Scouts of America.
These are very real-life experiences that you look back on and say:
Why was I able to do this? I was able to do it because I was in the Boy
Scouts of America.
You also look back and say there are things that are intangible,
things that are not specific. I heard Eagle Scout Jeb Hensarling
today--chairman, Congressman, Eagle Scout--talk about tying a bowline
in one hand and how he doesn't anticipate finding himself at the bottom
of a cliff with a broken arm, but if he did, he would be able to tie a
one-handed bowline and somebody would be able to pull him out.
Certainly, that is exactly the same kind of thing that I learned when I
was going through the same program.
Just a couple of weeks ago, Walker Bridenstine, my son, had to learn
how to tie a bowline. I was trying to teach him how to tie a bowline
the old-fashioned way. I simply couldn't do it. When I tried to tie it
as a one-handed bowline, I was able to do it. It just stuck with me all
of these years.
So, again, these are specific skills. But the leadership, the ability
to lead people are things that the Boy Scouts teach you. You apply
these things every day in your life, and you don't even know you are
doing it.
I will also say that, as employers, we look for leaders when we are
trying to find whom we are going to hire. We see over and over again
employers looking to hire Eagle Scouts from the Boy Scouts of America.
So there might be somebody today who is watching this maybe on C-
SPAN, maybe on the internet; and maybe you are a Boy Scout, maybe you
are a Cub Scout, maybe you are not sure if you are going to stick it
out. I will tell you this. Every interview I have ever gone on, I had a
resume. On that resume was included the fact that I was an Eagle Scout.
Even when I was applying for college, I put on my resume and in all of
my extracurricular classes that I was an Eagle Scout. I would highly
encourage anybody that is maybe at a lower rank but working hard to
attain that Eagle, finish your Eagle Scout.
My dad was a Life Scout. He moved when he was a Life Scout. He never
finished his Eagle. His brother, Jim Bridenstine, my uncle, did finish
his Eagle Scout. Of course, my brother and I both finished our Eagle
Scout, and now our kids are in Scouts, and we are going to do
everything we can to help them finish their Eagle Scout.
Not only did I put it on every resume, not only on all of my college
applications, I will tell you, I also ran for Federal office. The first
thing I did in my campaign commercials is tell people: My name is Jim
Bridenstine, and I am an Eagle Scout. Before I told them that I went to
college or before I told them that I was a Navy pilot, I told them that
I was an Eagle Scout.
I think it is important for people to understand that some folks have
a desire from an early age to achieve. When employers look at a resume,
when voters look at somebody running for office, they want to see that.
I will tell you, there was somebody who came into my office not too
long ago wanting a job. I had a number of great candidates. It was
nearly impossible for me to pick which one. We all know this: When you
get to be a Member of Congress, you get hundreds of resumes the next
day.
I was getting down to the end, and I was trying to figure out which
one. I got down to three. When they left my office, one of the three
said this: One other thing I need to let you know; I am an Eagle Scout.
That did it for me. I knew at that point that this young man had
committed himself to something much bigger than himself from an early
age. That person now works in my office.
I look for that. I know employers across this country look for that.
It speaks volumes to the character and the training of the individual.
That will continue.

I will tell you, when you think about all of the astronauts in the
United States of America, the 316 or so of them in the history of the
United States of America, 40 of them were Eagle Scouts. That is not by
accident. I will tell you that is a much higher percentage than the
number of Eagle Scouts who are produced in the Boy Scouts of America,
and it is certainly a much higher percentage than the number of Eagle
Scouts that exist in the population of the United States of America. So
this is something that employers look for.
I took my 11-year-old son to the Air Force Academy just about a month
ago. I took some brochures about what it takes to get into the Air
Force Academy. There is all kinds of stuff in there about being an
athlete and being a great student, but one of the six criteria that
they look for is: Are you an Eagle Scout at the Air Force Academy of
the United States of America?
I would also argue they probably look for the same thing at West
Point and the Naval Academy. These are things that employers look for,
that schools look for, that the military looks for. These are the
character issues that are important.
So if you are in Scouting today, my encouragement to you is to
finish, get your Eagle Scout. If you are below the

[[Page H4495]]

age of 18 and you have still got time, I would encourage you to join
and get your Eagle Scout. It has been important for me. It has been
important for my brother. It has been important for my family.

{time} 1845

My uncle Jim's son, Shane, my cousin, is also an Eagle Scout. This is
a tradition of the Bridenstine family, and I would encourage you to
make it a tradition in yours.
Mr. Chairman, I just want to say thank you for your leadership and
thank you for leading this effort.
Mr. SESSIONS. Eagle Scout Jim Bridenstine, Member of Congress from
Oklahoma, Eagle Class 1991, thank you very much.
The Scouting stories of leadership, of character, and of opportunity
began in my life with my father, who was an Eagle Scout. His father,
Dr. Will A. Sessions, in 1947 wrote the original God and Country Award
Handbook. I wanted to be an Eagle Scout because of my dad. I have two
young sons: William Steele Sessions II, who is an Eagle Scout, age 27;
and Alexander Gregory Sessions, a Down syndrome young man, an Eagle
Scout, who is 23. Scouting is in our blood, we believe it, but it is
also in family blood. Jim Bridenstine spoke about it, and Chris Collins
spoke about the Eagle Class of `63.
This other next young man who is here will talk about Scouting and
what a difference it makes. I wish we had hours, Mr. Speaker, but the
rules allow 1 hour. He is a young man from Pennsylvania, Eagle Scout
Glenn ``GT'' Thompson. I had an opportunity to go to Pennsylvania with
the Chief Scout Executive and give GT Thompson his National and
Distinguished Eagle Scout Award and pin him.
Glenn's wife is a Scouting widow. She is proud of her Eagle Scout
sons, but she knows that the weekends are made for Scouting.
GT Thompson is a man who will be with me again at the Summit Bechtel
Reserve this year for the Scouting Jamboree.
Mr. Speaker, I yield to the distinguished gentleman from Pennsylvania
(Mr. Thompson).
Mr. THOMPSON of Pennsylvania. Mr. Chairman, I thank you so much for
this opportunity. It is great to have a distinguished brother Eagle
Scout like yourself.
Mr. Speaker, Scouting has been a part of my family--or I have been
part of the Scouting family, actually, since I was 11 years old. When I
was 11 years old, my mom and dad did an amazing thing; they did what
today I would call a good turn. It was really an amazing turn. They
actually opened their home up--and this was appropriate since we are
talking about a lot of foster youth this week, kids that grew up in
foster families. They opened our family up to a boy that was just 2
years older than I, Bob. Bob came as a foster brother, and he is still
my brother today.
Bob has some special needs. Bob had been bouncing around foster care
homes his whole life, but when he came to our house, he didn't bounce
anymore. He stuck. Like I said, he became my brother and is my brother
today.
My mom and dad made a promise to him. One of the positive things that
happened to Bob in the home he had been living in prior to coming to
our home was that he got involved in a Boy Scout Troop. That Boy Scout
Troop experience did amazing things for Bob. It really did. It was life
changing for him because it allowed Bob to have success experiences, to
enjoy the outdoors, and to flourish with things that he really
developed a passion for.
As an 11-year-old younger brother, I lucked out. When mom and dad
took Bob back over a couple of valleys to the Scout Troop where he was
associated with--there was no Scout Troop in my hometown at the time--I
got to tag along. I was 11 years old, and I never looked back.
I have been involved in Scouting since I have been 11 years old. I
went on to achieve and earn my Eagle Scout Award. I have served as a
Chapter Chief and a Juniata Lodge Chief in the Monocan Lodge in the
Juniata Valley Council with the Order of the Arrow. I went on to be a
Scout Master for 30 years.
One of the hardest parts about coming to Congress was the fact that I
wasn't going to be home to be able to work with those youth leaders who
were leading the troop for Scout meetings, campouts, and events on the
weekend. That was the hardest part about taking this job because I had
been a Scout Master for almost 30 years. I had trained Scout Masters, I
was a course director, and I had served my council as a council
president.
I am still involved with Scouting. I was back at my old stomping
ground at the Seven Mountains Scout Camp in Spring Mills, Pennsylvania,
on Sunday for an Eagle Scout court of honor. Here is the cool part of
that: at that site over 70 years ago, my father-in-law received his
Eagle Scout Award. Now, I am not saying it should be a prerequisite for
picking out a wife that her dad is an Eagle Scout, but it worked out
okay for me. It wasn't a bad thing.
So Scouting has been a big part of our family. My wife, Penny, has
been a Cub Scout leader and a committee member, and, yes, a Scouting
widow when our three sons and I, at different times, would pack up and
go off to camp and High Adventure. Sometimes she would come along,
actually. A lot of times she was left at home. Unfortunately, she was
there to accept all the dirty laundry at the end of the weekend or the
week, but she is just as much a Scouting leader. When I think about a
great Scouting leader, my wife, Penny, comes to mind with what she has
done.
I enjoy the opportunities to go out to Eagle Scout courts of honor.
It really is a great opportunity to reconnect and to be a part of
Scouting. I enjoy going to Girl Scout Gold Awards as well. So when I go
there, normally I will look at the new Eagle Scout. I will talk about
how we are there to celebrate all the merit badges they have earned,
the citizenship that has been reflected in their actions, the character
that we have seen, and the service that they have provided that now
entitles them to be able to have that red, white, and blue piece of
ribbon with a piece of metal in the shape of an eagle hang from their
chest.
I also tell them they are ready for one last test question. I will
look them in the eye and say: It has been over 100 years since Scouting
came to these shores from England, where Scouting was first originated.
So the question I give them is: Over 100 years, how many Eagle Scout
Awards have been given away?
These kids are really smart. Somehow they are trying to do the math
in their head. I stop them, and I say: Whoa. Stop. This is a trick
question. The answer is zero. They have all been earned. None of them
has ever been given away.
I talk about how now, as new Eagle Scouts, they have this tool chest
that they carry with them. They don't carry it physically in their
hands; they carry it in here. And it really is the principles of
Scouting, because we stop and we start our meetings, we start our
meetings, we end our meetings, we do our campouts and our Scouts' own
worship services. We are always using and repeating the 12 points of
the Scout law and three parts of the Scout promise. We do that because
we want these boys who start out as young boys and become men to have
muscle memory.
Muscle memory is not just on the good days where it is easy things,
where things are going well and we are all celebrating and high-fiving
each other and life is good, but on the bad days. Bad days do come.
Life will be hard at times. We want them, especially in those times, to
be able to rely on that muscle memory of those principles of Scouting.
I talk about how in this Chamber we are here voting. The chairman
knows this. There are 435 of us. It is kind of interesting if you watch
how people make up their mind to vote. It is pretty diverse sometimes.
But for people like myself--I will take the liberty. I know this man
well. This gentleman right here, Mr. Sessions, is an Eagle Scout. I
fall back on the principles of Scouting.
I ask myself four questions when it comes time to vote. The first
question is: In the decision I am about to make, what is my duty to
God? Is the decision righteous according to God's Word and my faith?
Now, I said there are four questions. But if the answer is ``no'' on
the first one, I don't go on to two, three, and four. I stop right
there. If the answer is ``yes,'' then the next question is: In the

[[Page H4496]]

decision I am about to make, what is my duty to country? What does the
Constitution have to say about this decision that is before us?
The third question I ask is: In the decision I am about to make, what
is my duty to others?
Now, that one is a little harder because that is like: How does this
impact more than 730,000 citizens that I have the privilege and honor
to represent--16 counties, 24 percent of the landmass of Pennsylvania?
Finally, the last question is: What is my duty to self?
Now, for those who maybe it has been awhile since you have been
involved in the Scouting family or maybe you just never had that
opportunity, there is still time for everybody to get involved and
support Scouting. There are a lot of volunteer jobs out there that can
be filled. What we mean when we say duty to self, it is not self-
serving. We define that by in every action we take and every decision
we make, we are prepared to do our best. That is a reflection of the
Scout motto and the Scout slogans. So those are principles as Eagle
Scouts I really do believe that, by that point, it becomes muscle
memory.
Any youth, for whatever period of time they have the opportunity to
serve in Scouting, we know based on the research division of the Boy
Scouts of America that it makes a difference in their lives.
I will finish up with this. I have said that, as a Scout Master for
30 years, I have seen this work its way out countless times, but let me
take a personal privilege and just mention three particular Eagle
Scouts: Parker, Logan, and Kale Thompson, my three sons. They are all
three Eagle Scouts. They are all adults now. They are scattered--if
anything, maybe one flaw is we made them too independent. They are now
flourishing, one in Elgin, Illinois; one in San Antonio, Texas; and one
in Trenton, New Jersey. Independent--I guess Scouting will do that. You
learn to fly as an Eagle Scout.
I will tell you what I have seen. Parker today is a great dad. What
he does with his two little guys, I see the lessons he learned in
Scouting that just come through in how he nourishes.
Logan, my second son, is a soldier. Although I worried about him, I
didn't worry as much when he was deployed in Iraq and Afghanistan
because I knew that, as an Eagle Scout, he could handle whatever came
to him.
My youngest, Kale, is a music teacher today who nourishes and just
serves youth, kids in middle school, and makes such a difference in
their lives.
In the lives of my three sons, I see how being a Boy Scout and an
Eagle Scout has made them better men and made them better in all the
roles that they serve.
Mr. SESSIONS. Mr. Speaker, I thank Eagle Scout Glenn Thompson, Eagle
Scout 1977. On behalf of Chief Scout Executive Mike Surbaugh and
Members of Congress who gathered together this evening to tell another
story, I intend to do it again next month. I intend to get John
Garamendi, who is one of our dear friends from California, Eagle Class
of 1960.
Mr. Speaker, on behalf of the Eagle Scouts of Congress who had time
to come tonight, myself, Chris Collins, Jeb Hensarling, French Hill,
Jim Bridenstine, GT Thompson, I am thankful for the hour you have
allowed us to tell the story about the Boy Scouts of America, about
exceptionalism, about the Order of the Arrow, and about the opportunity
for character to lead a great nation.
Mr. Speaker, we are thankful for the time. We will be back. We hope
that we leave our campsite better than the way we found it. That is
what we try to do every day.
Mr. Speaker, I yield back the balance of my time.

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