[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 153 (2007), Part 1]
[House]
[Pages 490-491]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]

                                 PRAYER

  The Chaplain, the Reverend Daniel P. Coughlin, offered the following 
prayer:
  This Nation is still in mourning for President Gerald Ford. Today, as 
the House of Representatives pays tribute to him, we pray to You, Lord 
God, paraphrasing his own remarks in 1974 on taking the oath of office 
as President:
  ``We believe that truth is the glue that holds government together, 
not only our government but civilization itself. That bond is unbroken 
at home and abroad.
  ``In all our public and private acts as Members of Congress, we 
expect to follow our instincts of openness and candor with full 
confidence that honesty is always the best policy in the end.
  ``As we bind up internal wounds, let us restore the golden rule to 
our political process and let mutual love purge our hearts of suspicion 
and of hate.''
  At the beginning of the 110th Congress, we ask the people of this 
Nation for their prayers. With all the strength and all the good sense 
we have gained from life, with all the confidence our family, our 
friends and dedicated staff impart to us and with the good will of 
countless Americans we have encountered, we now solemnly reaffirm our

[[Page 491]]

promise to uphold the Constitution, to do what is right as God gives us 
to see the right, and to do the very best we can for America.
  ``God helping us, we will not let you down.''
  Amen.

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