[Congressional Record Volume 166, Number 128 (Tuesday, July 21, 2020)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Pages E656-E657]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




              HONORING LIEUTENANT GENERAL TODD T. SEMONITE

                                 ______
                                 

                        HON. GRACE F. NAPOLITANO

                             of california

                    in the house of representatives

                         Tuesday, July 21, 2020

  Mrs. NAPOLITANO. Madam Speaker, we rise today to honor an American 
who has made his life's work to be of service to this country. It is 
our pleasure to honor Lieutenant General Todd Thurston Semonite, 
Commanding General and 54th Chief of the United States Army Corps of 
Engineers, on his military retirement after three decades of service. 
We would like to thank him for his dedication to this nation, and his 
family for the personal sacrifices they have made for the betterment of 
our country.
  Lieutenant General Semonite's many accolades, awards, and 
achievements are already well known. He is an engineer from the start, 
a graduate of the United States Military Academy at West Point and was 
commissioned into the United States Army Corps of Engineers upon 
graduation in 1979. General Semonite quickly gained recognition for his 
engineering skills and his leadership abilities as reflected in his 
various Command posts, domestic and abroad. Semonite's awards include 
the Distinguished Service Medal, Defense Superior Service Award, Legion 
of Merit, and a Bronze Star. There are many defining moments in his 
outstanding career. Yet it is in

[[Page E657]]

his last mission that maybe the most impactful.
  For the last few months, General Semonite has led the U.S. Army Corps 
of Engineers' work to combat the COVID-19 global pandemic. The Corps 
has helped design or construct alternate care facilities in all 50 
states and five territories, adding over 15,000 hospital beds across 
the country. General Semonite has said; ``. . . of all the things I've 
done in my career, this is a noble calling to be able to step up and 
save American lives.''
  This extraordinary act of service is but ordinary to General 
Semonite. His passion and vigor for the COVID-19 Mission is the same 
passion and vigor he has brought to every aspect of the U.S. Army Corps 
of Engineers. He is the embodiment of ``building strong.'' We would 
like to express our own thanks and appreciation and that of a grateful 
nation.
  Madam Speaker, I ask our colleagues to join Rep. Bruce Westerman and 
me in giving our very best wishes to General Semonite and his wife 
Connie on the next chapter of an already storied life. Essayons.

                          ____________________