[Congressional Record Volume 170, Number 44 (Tuesday, March 12, 2024)]
[House]
[Page H1100]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




             HONORING TEXAS RANGER ROBERT ``BRANDON'' BESS

  The SPEAKER pro tempore. The Chair recognizes the gentleman from 
Texas (Mr. Babin) for 5 minutes.
  Mr. BABIN. Madam Speaker, I rise today to honor the distinguished 
career of a longtime Texas lawman, constituent, and good friend, Texas 
Ranger Robert ``Brandon'' Bess.
  On February 29, 2024, he hung up his signature Stetson cowboy hat, 
and he unpinned the legendary Texas Rangers cinco-peso badge for the 
last time.

                              {time}  1030

  Brandon is a native of Kirbyville, Texas, and graduated from 
Kirbyville High School in 1990. He earned a degree in criminal justice 
from Kilgore College before attending East Texas Police Academy. After 
he graduated from the academy, he served as a patrolman for the 
Henderson Police Department and as a deputy in the Rusk County 
Sheriff's Office.
  In 1995, Brandon joined the Texas Department of Public Safety where 
he served as a highway patrol trooper from 1995 to 2005 and as a 
sergeant and special agent in criminal intelligence from 2005 to 2013.
  In July 2013, he joined the prestigious Texas Rangers, the oldest law 
enforcement organization on the North American Continent with statewide 
jurisdiction. Since April 2021, he has served as the Unsolved Crimes 
Investigation Program Ranger, ``cold case,'' for Texas Ranger Company 
A, encompassing 35 southeast Texas counties, where he has done a 
marvelous job.
  Brandon worked on countless criminal investigations throughout the 
Lone Star State for the ranger division during his distinguished 
career. He perfected the use of DNA tracing and other cutting-edge 
technologies to bring multiple criminals to justice finally, often many 
years after the case was considered cold. It has been a great privilege 
to assist him in cutting through the Federal bureaucracy for several of 
those cases.
  Brandon married his wife, Mary Beth, on March 13, 1999. Together they 
share children, Marshall, Walker, and Mattie. The Bess family are 
active members of Anahuac Methodist Church, where Brandon has served as 
a Sunday school teacher, on multiple committees, and currently chairs 
the church's board of stewards. Additionally, he is a cancer survivor 
and a veteran of the United States Army Reserve and the Texas Army 
National Guard.
  Madam Speaker, in its 200-year history, only the very finest law 
enforcement officers have had the great honor of calling themselves 
Texas Rangers. I am proud that Ranger Brandon Bess is among them.
  I wish him, Mary Beth, and their family the very best in the next 
chapter of their lives, and I look forward to working with him in the 
future as well.

                          ____________________