[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 163 (2017), Part 3]
[House]
[Pages 3307-3308]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




                        HAPPY BIRTHDAY NEBRASKA

  The SPEAKER pro tempore. Under the Speaker's announced policy of 
January 3, 2017, the Chair recognizes the gentleman from Nebraska (Mr. 
Fortenberry) for 30 minutes.
  Mr. FORTENBERRY. Mr. Speaker, for 150 years now, Nebraska has held a 
special place in the history of America. We Nebraskans rightly pride 
ourselves on the values of hard work, on the values of community life, 
on the proper value of the good stewardship of our precious resources. 
The mystique of the Great Plains, the nobility of the family farm, and 
the vibrancy of our people create the conditions for the good life.
  Our story is one of strength, it is one of dignity, and I am proud to 
celebrate our 150th anniversary.

                              {time}  2030

  Mr. Speaker, a number of years ago, a gift of land donation enabled 
the expansion of the Homestead National Monument, which is near 
Beatrice, Nebraska. Run by the National Park Service, their personnel 
were kind enough to invite me to the dedication ceremony; and during 
that event, a young woman who was from a seventh-generation farm 
family--in high school at that time, as I recall--got up to speak. She 
gave a beautiful talk about our Nebraska values, our connectedness to 
the land, the deeper meaning of living on the plains, and the ideal of 
maintaining the continuity of family life.
  Her remarks, Mr. Speaker, moved me so much that I literally tossed my 
own speech aside and spoke off the cuff, and I said something like 
this: Perhaps it was on a day just like this where that settler family 
came over the hill there, and they looked at the great expansion of the 
plains before them.
  Perhaps that day they felt the warm, spring sun on their cheeks, and 
they heard the chirp of the western meadowlark in the air, and they 
watched as the beautiful bluestem prairie grass swayed in the wind. 
Perhaps it was then that they made their decision: We stay right here. 
Nebraska will be our home.
  Mr. Speaker, when I finished that, I was very proud of myself, so I 
sat down. And then the next speaker came up, another political figure, 
and he had this to say: Well, my family came here because they were 
horse thieves. We all shared a little laugh, but really, Mr. Speaker, 
Nebraska's colorful history and droll wit were simultaneously captured 
in that moment.
  Nebraska's official motto is ``Equality before the law,'' but our 
unofficial motto is ``Nebraska nice.'' It is true. Nebraskans are 
generally nice. But beneath that friendly veneer is an unmistakable, 
unvarnished realism.
  Nebraskans have a unique ability to look at a situation and size it 
up accurately, if often humorously. ``Git r done'' is an often-used 
phrase that I think can be safely attributable to us.
  Now, sometimes, Mr. Speaker, Nebraska has been pejoratively described 
in the popular imagination of our country, first as the ``Great 
American Desert'' because it was thought that nothing would grow there. 
Today, we have the largest amount of acreage under irrigation in the 
country, including the fact that we are the largest grower of popcorn 
in America. We are a leader in livestock production and multiple types 
of commodity production, as well as specialty crops.
  We were sometimes castigated as ``flyover country.'' I hear that 
around here sometimes, that is, until you come to Nebraska and realize 
that it is a wonderful place to live and to work and to raise a family 
relatively free from crime, except even horse thieves, congestion, as 
well as pollution.
  Nebraska has, routinely, the highest graduation rate in the country 
and the lowest unemployment rate in the country.
  And, though, in true Nebraska fashion, self-effacing Cornhuskers 
would cringe at the term, we have had our fair share of celebrities as 
well, including Father Ed Flanagan, who founded Boys Town, now known as 
Boys Town and Girls Town; Civil Rights pioneers, Chief Standing Bear 
being one of the most prominent; Malcolm X; authors Mari Sandoz and 
Willa Cather; professional athletes Bob Gibson and Gale Sayers; and 
entertainers, Henry Fonda, Marlon Brando, Montgomery Clift, Johnny 
Carson, and Dick Cavett.
  Moreover, Mr. Speaker, our singular, unicameral legislature is a 
model for bipartisanship and frugality. And I would be remiss if I 
didn't say our run-it-up-the-gut offense with a few option twists, it 
may not have been flashy, but it helped the University of Nebraska's 
football team win five national championships.
  I am proud to serve in the United States congressional seat once held 
by Williams Jennings Bryan, who along with Senator George Norris 
perhaps are the most famous, though controversial in some ways, 
politicians in our State's history.
  As we celebrate the 150th anniversary of Nebraska's admission to the 
United States of America--by the way, the first State admitted after 
the Civil War--I recall Representative Bryan's

[[Page 3308]]

words from over 100 years ago. It is a quote that actually is outside 
of our football stadium, known as Memorial Stadium, on Tom and Nancy 
Osborne Field. It says this: ``Destiny is no matter of chance. It is a 
matter of choice. It is not a thing to be waited for, it is a thing to 
be achieved.''
  And perhaps, Mr. Speaker, we can add to that quote today: And that 
the choice to be good makes the destiny arrive well.
  Happy birthday, Nebraska.
  Mr. Speaker, I yield back the balance of my time.

                          ____________________