[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 160 (2014), Part 3]
[House]
[Page 4150]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




        DECLARING MARCH 31 AS NATIONAL LINEMAN APPRECIATION DAY

  (Mr. MULVANEY asked and was given permission to address the House for 
1 minute.)
  Mr. MULVANEY. Madam Speaker, I rise today to extend a special thank-
you to the hardworking men and women across the Nation, but especially 
in South Carolina, who dedicate themselves to keeping the lights on 
during this difficult winter. For so many of us, switching on the light 
switch is something that we take for granted. It is easy to forget all 
the hard work that goes into making that happen.
  A couple of weeks ago, Winter Storm Pax hit South Carolina leaving a 
path of destruction in many of the smaller communities in my district 
without power, crippled by the ice and snow. It is something that was 
so dramatic that the executive director of the South Carolina Office of 
Regulatory Staff said that the storm was the most significant weather 
event in South Carolina since Hurricane Hugo. And I can assure you 
that, for us, that is saying a lot.
  To give some quick numbers as to what happened, more than 3,000 
people went to work in South Carolina. The folks from Duke Energy alone 
cleared more than 7,000 trees off of the power lines in South Carolina. 
It is these types of efforts that these folks put in every single 
winter to make sure that something that we take for granted actually 
happens when we flip on the lights.
  In recognition of those efforts, the efforts that they undertake 
every single winter, I am introducing a bill today to declare March 31 
as National Lineman Appreciation Day.
  I hope we can count on my colleagues to send this very small thank-
you. It is not much, but it is the least we can do to let these folks 
know that we don't always take them for granted.

                          ____________________