[Congressional Record Volume 170, Number 78 (Monday, May 6, 2024)]
[House]
[Pages H2855-H2858]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                              {time}  1730
                    LUKE LETLOW POST OFFICE BUILDING

  Mr. LaTURNER. Mr. Speaker, I move to suspend the rules and pass the 
bill (H.R. 7423) to designate the facility of the United States Postal 
Service located at 103 Benedette Street in Rayville, Louisiana, as the 
``Luke Letlow Post Office Building''.
  The Clerk read the title of the bill.
  The text of the bill is as follows:

                               H.R. 7423

       Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of 
     the United States of America in Congress assembled,

     SECTION 1. LUKE LETLOW POST OFFICE BUILDING.

       (a) Designation.--The facility of the United States Postal 
     Service located at 103 Benedette Street in Rayville, 
     Louisiana, shall be known and designated as the ``Luke Letlow 
     Post Office Building''.

[[Page H2856]]

       (b) References.--Any reference in a law, map, regulation, 
     document, paper, or other record of the United States to the 
     facility referred to in subsection (a) shall be deemed to be 
     a reference to the ``Luke Letlow Post Office Building''.

  The SPEAKER pro tempore. Pursuant to the rule, the gentleman from 
Kansas (Mr. LaTurner) and the gentlewoman from the District of Columbia 
(Ms. Norton) each will control 20 minutes.
  The Chair recognizes the gentleman from Kansas.


                             General Leave

  Mr. LaTURNER. 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 this measure.
  The SPEAKER pro tempore. Is there objection to the request of the 
gentleman from Kansas?
  There was no objection.
  Mr. LaTURNER. Mr. Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may consume.
  Mr. Speaker, I rise in support of this bill, which would name a post 
office in Rayville, Louisiana, for Congressman-elect Luke Letlow.
  Letlow was a native Louisianan who attended Louisiana Tech 
University, where he was a member of the Louisiana Tech College 
Republicans and the Louisiana Federation of College Republicans.
  As a young college graduate, Letlow was a staff member for former 
Congressmen John Cooksey and Ralph Abraham as well as Governor Bobby 
Jindal.
  In 2020, Letlow launched a successful bid for Louisiana's Fifth 
Congressional District seat. He was set to be sworn in to the United 
States House of Representatives on January 3, 2021. Sadly, he passed 
away from complications due to COVID-19 on December 29, 2020.
  I support naming a post office in memory of Congressman-elect Letlow, 
and I encourage my colleagues to support this bill.
  I would say on a personal note that I consider it a loss to me and to 
my colleagues to not have the opportunity to serve with Mr. Letlow. We 
would have been sworn in to Congress on the exact same day.
  I am grateful, however, to get to serve alongside his wife, Julia, 
and to get to experience him through her memories of him, and their two 
beautiful children, Jeremiah and Jacqueline.
  I am honored to have the opportunity to manage the Republican time on 
this bill today, and I reserve the balance of my time.
  Ms. NORTON. Mr. Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may consume.
  Mr. Speaker, I rise today in support of H.R. 7423, to designate the 
facility of the United States Postal Service located at 103 Benedette 
Street in Rayville, Louisiana, as the Luke Letlow Post Office Building.
  Congressman-elect Luke Letlow was poised to represent Louisiana's 
Fifth Legislative District after winning the special election seat when 
he tragically passed away from complications of COVID on December 29, 
2020.
  He is remembered by his congressional colleagues for his staunch 
commitment to public service. I encourage my colleagues to join me in 
honoring the life of Congressman-elect Letlow by naming the post office 
in Rayville, Louisiana, after him.
  Mr. Speaker, I reserve the balance of my time.
  Mr. LaTURNER. Mr. Speaker, I yield such time as she may consume to 
the gentlewoman from Louisiana (Ms. Letlow).
  Ms. LETLOW. Mr. Speaker, I rise today to voice my support for this 
bill and also to express to the House the heartfelt gratitude of Luke's 
family, his friends, and all who loved him.
  My husband was someone I knew to be a truly exceptional and gifted 
individual. Luke's purpose was always driven by people, and his passion 
was public service. Luke was the kind of person who would meet a 
stranger and just a few minutes later could walk away, having 
established an enduring friendship with them.
  Mr. Speaker, I can't even begin to count the number of people who 
called, texted, emailed, or wrote me letters in the days after we lost 
Luke telling me how he had touched their lives.
  Throughout his career, I saw so many times when he would spend hours 
on the phone talking to local mayors and police jurors about the 
problems in their communities, showing them the same care and attention 
that he would give if it had been the Governor of Louisiana or the 
Speaker of the House on the other end of the line.
  As I travel the Fifth District to this day, I still meet many of 
those same people who fondly remember those times that he helped them.
  What was different about Luke and one of the incredible things that 
set him apart was the fact that his mind was like an atlas, 
encyclopedia, and historical narrative of our little corner of 
northeast Louisiana. He not only knew the people and their concerns, 
but he knew their stories.
  He could drive through those little, small towns all over our region 
and show you where Ulysses Grant and his troops had prepared for the 
attack on Vicksburg, where Theodore Roosevelt had gone hunting for the 
famous black bear, and where Huey and Earl Long played as young 
brothers and later campaigned for votes as Governors.
  There is no place that Luke loved more than his own Richland Parish, 
the home of the Letlow family for eight generations. His story was 
deeply rooted in the fertile soil of the delta, which gave name to his 
pet project, Richland Roots, a website he created to tell the stories 
of Richland Parish and its rich history.
  He would spend countless hours researching the past of the towns and 
villages of the parish, the landmarks, the churches and, yes, even the 
post offices. You see, Luke understood that all over Richland Parish 
there were these little pieces of the past that were left with us, 
containing both the stories and the lessons from those who came before 
us. Now he will receive his very own landmark, a little piece of 
Richland Parish to help tell his story.
  It is my hope, Mr. Speaker, that one day another history-loving kid 
from Richland Parish will see that post office and learn about Luke's 
story.
  I hope they will learn about how his journey took him from the back 
roads and small towns of northeast Louisiana to the corridors of the 
United States Capitol in Washington.

  I hope they will learn about how he dedicated himself to the people 
of our region, working every single day to make their lives better.
  I hope they will learn about the fact that even though he was never 
able to serve as a Member of this House, the men and women who served 
here thought so highly of him that they bestowed this high honor.
  Mr. Speaker, when Luke's light would shine on you, it was impossible 
to feel anything other than his warmth and love. He had a way of making 
you feel exceptional, and I know that to be true for every person in 
his life. It is what I miss the most.
  Luke may be gone, but his light will never leave us. I see it every 
day in the faces of our children: our son, Jeremiah, and our daughter, 
Jacqueline. I see it every time I go home and drive those back roads in 
Richland Parish and see the places that he loved so much.
  By bestowing this honor on him, you are ensuring that his name and 
his legacy will live on long after all of us are gone. I ask my 
colleagues to join our majority leader and our Louisiana delegation in 
supporting this bill on behalf of Luke's family and his friends and all 
who loved him.
  Ms. NORTON. Mr. Speaker, I reserve the balance of my time.
  Mr. LaTURNER. Mr. Speaker, I yield 1 minute to the gentleman from 
Louisiana (Mr. Scalise), our majority leader.
  Mr. SCALISE. Mr. Speaker, I thank my friend from Kansas for yielding. 
Especially having Julia Letlow, our colleague, here, it is bittersweet 
for us in the Louisiana delegation, for all of us in Congress, those of 
us who knew Luke--I got to know him so well over so many years--and 
those who didn't know him but were getting ready to serve with him. He 
literally passed away days before getting sworn in after being elected 
as a Member of Congress.
  It is Luke's journey. It is Luke's story that we are here to 
celebrate today and ultimately which will live on at the Luke Letlow 
Post Office in Rayville, his hometown. He was born in Start, Louisiana, 
in Richland Parish, and it is there in Richland Parish that this post 
office that we are dedicating is, hopefully, going to be enjoying a

[[Page H2857]]

formal ceremony with all of us and the whole family.
  When I think of how I first met Luke, it was when he was working for 
Bobby Jindal. As Julia said so eloquently, Luke's whole life was 
dedicated to public service. When he graduated, he immediately was an 
intern for Congressman Cooksey and came up here. I think that was when 
he probably got the bug a little bit.
  He ultimately got the bug to serve other people. Luke did it so well. 
He served other people with joy in so many different roles. After he 
worked for Congressman Cooksey, he then worked for candidate Bobby 
Jindal. That is when I got to know him.
  There was no harder worker than Luke Letlow, but also no happier 
person. He was always happy, always had a smile. He always just wanted 
to do the best he could. ``Win the day'' was Luke's term, and he would 
just work incredibly hard for whoever he worked for.
  Bobby ultimately won that seat in Congress, and Luke became his 
district director. The district director is the person who covers the 
district, does so many of the unheralded things that those of us 
Members of Congress deal with and the people who call us. We just call 
our district director and say: Can you take care of this, and can you 
see if we can help that person out? That was really where Luke thrived 
the most.
  Then, ultimately, he went into the private sector but was called back 
yet again when Ralph Abraham ran for Congress, and Luke served as his 
chief of staff. Ralph had set a term limit on himself, and when the 
term limit hit, Ralph stepped down from Congress. At that point, that 
is when Luke made the decision: Here is my moment. Do I do this? 
Ultimately, he decided to run.
  I remember, he and I spoke when he chose to get into the race as a 
candidate. I knew he was going to do well. I could just tell because he 
was a natural. He was a natural with people. He actually cared about 
people. It is hard to be in this line of work without caring about 
people. He had done it in so many roles for so many other people. 
Finally, when it was time to run himself, he did it with the fervor 
that you would expect. He never slowed down. Every single day he worked 
so hard.
  I know for those of us who have gotten to know Julia so well, the 
family is what always came first to Luke. He wanted to be known really 
first as a husband and a father, and he did both of those jobs 
incredibly well; exceeded, I am sure, what anybody would have expected.
  The legacy that I think we all really remember of Luke here is that 
of a public servant. When you hear all of the things that he did in his 
life, he was somebody who just wanted to serve other people, and he did 
it so well.
  I think the hardest part for me is after he had gotten elected, we 
talked a lot because he was so eager to get ready for this new role, 
this new career, to come up to Congress and do something that he had 
thought about doing for so long, a role he had played helping so many 
other people who served in Congress, but now this was the time where he 
was going to start his new career.
  He was talking about what committees he wanted to get on. In fact, 
you know, in the days before he passed, the last conversation I had 
with him was about him talking to me about what committees he wanted to 
be on and how he wanted to best serve that district and all of the 
parishes. It was a very large, sprawling district, and yet he couldn't 
wait to serve in that capacity. That was the conversation that we had.
  You never thought someone so young and so vibrant could leave us so 
early. I tell you, for Julia, we are all so proud of her and just the 
strength that she has shown in these years since. We call Julia our 
steel magnolia because she has represented the family incredibly well. 
She has represented Luke's legacy incredibly well because while he 
never got the opportunity to serve as a Member of Congress, he served. 
He served the State of Louisiana, and he served the United States of 
America in so many different roles.

                              {time}  1745

  I consider him a colleague because we talked about what that would be 
like so much, and I just think this is one way we can pay tribute to 
Luke's legacy of service, to name this post office so that people, when 
they are carrying out their daily chores and going to check their mail 
or send an important note to somebody, they can just look up and think 
about what Luke meant and what they meant to Luke because he really did 
care about the people that ultimately he worked for and that he was 
going to represent in Congress.
  I say this on behalf of the whole delegation, and I know others are 
going to be speaking as well, the legacy of Luke Letlow will shine on 
for a long, long time.
  It is what he represented and that spirit, that strong, positive 
energy every single day to win the day, is what I will always remember 
about Luke Letlow.
  I urge all of my colleagues to pass this bill and look forward to 
that ceremony where we get to truly be in front of the whole family, 
paying tribute to a man who lived a life of public service.
  Mr. LaTURNER. Mr. Speaker, it is my great honor and privilege to 
yield 1 minute to the gentleman from Louisiana (Mr. Johnson), the 
Speaker of the House.
  Mr. JOHNSON of Louisiana. Mr. Speaker, I thank the gentleman for 
yielding.
  I rise today in support of H.R. 7423, a bill to designate the United 
States Post Office in Rayville, Louisiana, after our dear friend and 
our former Louisiana Fifth District Congressman, Luke Letlow.
  In December of 2020, Luke tragically passed away just days before 
taking his oath of office and serving here with us in Congress.
  We were all devastated. He was in the prime of his life, 41 years 
old, with two beautiful children and a lovely wife, Julia, who is one 
of Kelly's and my favorite people in the world.
  He had spent his entire professional career serving the people of 
Louisiana in the Governor's office and our congressional delegation.
  There was no greater ambassador of Louisiana culture and values, and 
I have no doubt he would have been a leading Member of our delegation 
and of Congress.
  Luke was a native son of Start, Louisiana, a town of just a few 
hundred people nestled outside of Monroe in northeast Louisiana, and it 
was there that he developed what was truly a servant's heart.
  He had a peaceful, easygoing nature. Everybody loved him. Whoever 
held his attention was the most important person in the world at that 
moment.
  Luke listened first, and then he acted--a quality this town could use 
a lot more of. He was passionate about Louisiana, about our issues like 
agriculture and energy and, more than anything else, his beautiful 
family.
  I don't remember having many conversations with Luke that did not 
involve his family because he was so proud of them.
  I know he is smiling down upon his wife, Julia, our extraordinary 
colleague who has been such a tremendous asset to this institution and 
a great champion for our State.
  Their two beautiful children, Jeremiah and Jacqueline, who have 
become fixtures around here, are blessed to have incredible role models 
as parents.
  I am grateful to our entire Louisiana delegation for joining together 
in this effort, and I am grateful for the idea that we have had here. I 
am grateful for the comfort of knowing where he is.
  By passing this legislation, the Rayville community will continue to 
honor the life and legacy of a great American and a great Louisianian. 
I look forward to its swift passage.
  Mr. LaTURNER. Mr. Speaker, I yield 3 minutes to the gentleman from 
Louisiana (Mr. Higgins).
  Mr. HIGGINS of Louisiana. Mr. Speaker, I thank my colleague for 
yielding time. I had prepared remarks, but let me just speak from my 
heart.
  It is a beautiful gesture that this body can name a post office after 
our friend and colleague, Luke Letlow, in honor of his service and his 
dedication to his State and his community and his country, to children 
of God across the world.
  Luke was a very special man. It is a gesture to the American families 
from sea to shining sea, which has suffered loss, including my own.
  Today, we stand in support of the love of family, and we extend the 
heart

[[Page H2858]]

of our Nation by naming one of our oldest institutions, a microcosm of 
what America is, the Postal Service.
  To name a post office after Luke is to honor not just his family and 
his wife, our colleague, Julia, but it is to honor all American 
families.
  I thank my brothers and sisters of this august body for allowing this 
moment where we cherish what it is to be an American, to serve our 
country and our fellow man, to be part of a family, and to remember 
those that we have lost.
  Mr. LaTURNER. Mr. Speaker, I thank the gentleman from Louisiana for 
his comments. I have no further speakers, and I am prepared to close.
  Ms. NORTON. Mr. Speaker, I have no further speakers, and I urge the 
passage of H.R. 7423, and I yield back the balance of my time.
  Mr. LaTURNER. Mr. Speaker, I encourage my colleagues to support this 
bill, which rightly honors the life and legacy of a great man, 
Congressman-elect Luke Letlow.
  I yield back the balance of my time.
  The SPEAKER pro tempore. The question is on the motion offered by the 
gentleman from Kansas (Mr. LaTurner) that the House suspend the rules 
and pass the bill, H.R. 7423.
  The question was taken.
  The SPEAKER pro tempore. In the opinion of the Chair, two-thirds 
being in the affirmative, the ayes have it.
  Mr. LaTURNER. Mr. Speaker, on that I demand the yeas and nays.
  The yeas and nays were ordered.
  The SPEAKER pro tempore. Pursuant to clause 8 of rule XX, further 
proceedings on this motion will be postponed.

                          ____________________