[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 163 (2017), Part 10]
[House]
[Page 13931]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




                        CELEBRATING PATRIOT WEEK

  (Mr. BISHOP of Michigan asked and was given permission to address the 
House for 1 minute and to revise and extend his remarks.)
  Mr. BISHOP of Michigan. Mr. Speaker, today I rise about something 
near and dear to my heart. It is Patriot Week, which is going on this 
week.
  In 2009, while I served in the Michigan Senate, we became the first 
legislative body to recognize Patriot Week. Since then, five States and 
countless private organizations have participated in celebrating the 
great Americans and our founding documents that ensure the cause of 
liberty. Sadly, American history is no longer a priority for our 
schools, and, as a result, we are now raising a generation, for the 
most part, who have no understanding or appreciation for our country's 
brave Founding Fathers and our profoundly important founding documents.
  That is why I introduced H. Con. Res. 12 which encourages schools, 
government agencies, and private employers to pay tribute to great 
Americans from George Washington to Martin Luther King, Jr., during 
Patriot Week.
  It celebrates our values enshrined in the United States Constitution 
and other founding documents from equal protection under the law to 
limited government, and it commemorates important events like the 
passage of the United States Constitution in 1787.
  Patriot Week begins September 11 by honoring the brave men and women 
who died in the September 11 attack, and it ends September 17, our 
Constitution Day, by honoring those who risked everything to create our 
great Republic.
  Mr. Speaker, we must take time to reflect. President Reagan once 
said: ``Freedom is never more than one generation away from 
extinction.'' We must do our part to preserve what makes this Nation 
great before it is too late.
  Mr. Speaker, I urge my colleagues to support the Patriot Week 
resolution.

                          ____________________