[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 163 (2017), Part 14]
[House]
[Page 20435]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




                              {time}  1900
                          THANKING MATT BRAVO

  (Mr. SCALISE asked and was given permission to address the House for 
1 minute.)
  Mr. SCALISE. Mr. Speaker, I rise today to honor and thank somebody 
who has been a key part of my team since I got elected into House 
leadership. He is the floor director right now for the whip's office, 
Mr. Matt Bravo.
  Matt Bravo has been with my team and has helped us through some 
critical key legislative victories, not the least of which is the Tax 
Cuts and Jobs Act today, helping pass the bills through the floor and 
helping us get our work done as we whip the bills to make sure we can 
move the majority's agenda.
  Matt has worked for years, Mr. Speaker, not just in the whip's office 
for me, he has also worked for former whip and majority leader Eric 
Cantor. He has worked for the Energy and Commerce Committee.
  Matt Bravo has dedicated more than 10 years of his life to public 
service in this institution with honor and integrity.
  Mr. Speaker, Mr. Matt Bravo is somebody who has the full respect of 
not only our Members on the House Republican side, he is respected by 
the Democratic leadership as well and is a key part of our staff and, 
again, has helped us pass critical legislation. I would call him the 
best floor director ever.
  We are going to miss him here. Jennifer and I wish him and his wife, 
Summer, and their soon-to-be growing family all the best in their 
future life.
  Mr. Speaker, I want to thank him for the time and the public service 
he has given to this House of Representatives.
  Again, thank you, Mr. Matt Bravo, for the service you have given to 
all of us.
  Mr. HOYER. Mr. Speaker, will my friend yield?
  Mr. SCALISE. Mr. Speaker, I yield to the gentleman from Maryland (Mr. 
Hoyer).
  Mr. HOYER. Mr. Speaker, I thank the gentleman for yielding time to 
me.
  Mr. Speaker, I agree with everything the gentleman said. Maybe he is 
not the best floor director--I have got a pretty good one myself--but 
he is a very, very good floor director.
  Mr. SCALISE. Mr. Speaker, we can maybe disagree on that like we 
disagree on who has the best crabs, but we will enjoy that 
disagreement.
  Mr. HOYER. Mr. Speaker, I was going to say that one of the problems 
that I have with Mr. Bravo is that he thinks that Louisiana crabs are 
better than Maryland crabs, but loyalty is an important aspect of our 
service.
  Mr. Speaker, I am pleased to rise to join my friend, Mr. Scalise, the 
majority whip, and thank Matt Bravo for the leadership that he has 
given on this floor, and particularly on behalf of my floor staff with 
whom he has worked very closely, both when he was with Mr. Cantor, with 
whom I worked very closely, and now Mr. Scalise, with whom I work 
closely. We thank him for his service to this House.
  Every time I rise, I say, whether it is a Democratic or a Republican 
staffer who works this floor, they work with all of us, and they work 
in a way that tries to facilitate the doing of the people's business.
  They are not always as successful as they would like to be. It is the 
fault of the Members, not of the staff. They have good plans that go 
awry because the Members do not cooperate. Mr. Speaker, I would like to 
tell Matt that I understand that very well.
  Mr. Speaker, we want to thank Matt for the very collegial, positive, 
constructive way in which he has worked with my staff, with the 
leader's staff, with other staff on this side of the aisle, as well as 
staff on his side of the aisle to assure that we can, to the best 
extent possible, work in a constructive way on behalf of the American 
people.
  I am sure that Matt will be as successful in future endeavors as he 
has been here, and, if so, very, very successful indeed.
  Mr. Speaker, I thank the majority whip for yielding me time, and I 
wish Matt Bravo the very best.
  Mr. SCALISE. Mr. Speaker, I want to thank the Democratic whip for his 
kind words and for the way that our offices do work together on those 
occasions. Frankly, it is most occasions where we are working together 
on things. Obviously, there are times when we are not; but even in 
those times, our staffs have a great working relationship and a trust 
level that is really important to the House getting its business done.
  Mr. Speaker, I thank the Democratic leader.
  Mr. McHENRY. Mr. Speaker, will the gentleman yield?
  Mr. SCALISE. Mr. Speaker, I would be honored to yield to the chief 
deputy whip, Mr. McHenry.
  Mr. McHENRY. Mr. Speaker, I want to thank my friend for yielding.
  Mr. Speaker, it is a special pleasure to come and speak to the career 
of a great public servant, Matt Bravo.
  Matt has worked here in the House for 11 years in various roles. He 
started off as body guy for Leader Cantor when Leader Cantor served as 
chief deputy whip. In addition to that, he has held various roles in 
the whip operation, in the leader's office on the Republican side of 
the aisle, as well as important work on the Energy and Commerce 
Committee.
  Matt Bravo has a great sense of humor, a great love for the game of 
golf. He is much better at the game of golf than he is at his jokes. We 
love Matt Bravo. We love teasing him. We love giving him a hard time, 
but we know his true character. We know how he works intensely to see 
things through, to grind out the votes to get 218 to pass our agenda.
  Mr. Speaker, we know Matt will be successful in this next phase of 
his career. We thank him for his friendship. We thank him for his 
service to this House. On both sides of the aisle, the respect that he 
has gained is immense, and we congratulate him on this next phase.
  Mr. Speaker, we thank Matt for his service in the people's House, to 
his government, to the United States of America's people. We will miss 
him.
  Mr. SCALISE. Mr. Speaker, I would be remiss if I didn't recognize 
that Matt's lovely wife, Summer, is in the balcony, too, and I thank 
her for the time that she lent him to us and to this great institution. 
The best of luck to her family and her future with Matt.

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