[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 163 (2017), Part 6]
[House]
[Pages 8344-8345]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




                       A CALL TO NATIONAL SERVICE

  The SPEAKER pro tempore. The Chair recognizes the gentleman from 
Connecticut (Mr. Larson) for 5 minutes.
  Mr. LARSON of Connecticut. Madam Speaker, while I put up a couple of 
charts here, the most noticeable one is I want to make everybody aware 
that tomorrow morning at 9 a.m. we will unveil ACTION, a call to 
national service. It will be carried live streaming on YouTube tomorrow 
morning, May 25, at 9 a.m.
  The first poster that I have up here is of General McChrystal. 
Tomorrow morning, John Lewis, Doris Matsui, Joe Kennedy, our Senate 
lead Senator Jack Reed from Rhode Island, and General McChrystal, among 
others, will be at our bill introduction and rollout.
  General McChrystal has said that we need to create a culture of 
service, where we are all vested in our Nation's future and feel a 
shared sense of responsibility not only to our Nation, but to each 
other.
  General McChrystal also said, as was outlined in The Atlantic 
Monthly, that you don't have to wear a military uniform to serve your 
country. But certainly wearing a military uniform in serving your 
country is an honor, and we commend those men and women who serve for 
what they do for our country. But many among them, including reservists 
and the National Guard, are not often eligible for the GI Bill, yet 
they have done tours of duty and served their Nation extraordinarily 
well.
  This Monday, Memorial Day, would be the 100th birthday of John 
Fitzgerald Kennedy. It is hard to believe that so youthful, so vital, 
so gracious, so eloquent, and so charismatic a leader was taken from us 
at such a young age. Yet it was he who gave us this great vision when, 
in his inaugural address, he said to the citizens of this country: ``In 
your hands, my fellow citizens, more than mine, will rest the final 
success or failure of our course. Since this country was founded, each 
generation of Americans has been summoned to give testimony to its 
national loyalty. The graves of young Americans who answered the call 
to service surround this globe.
  ``Now the trumpet summons us again--not as a call to bear arms, 
though arms we need--not as a call to battle, though embattled we are--
but a call to bear the burden of a long twilight struggle, year in and 
year out, `rejoicing in hope, patient in tribulation'--a struggle 
against the common enemies of man: tyranny, poverty, disease, and war 
itself.''
  Kennedy was speaking of the Nation when he said: ``Can we forge 
against these enemies a grand and global alliance, North and South, 
East and West, that can assure a more fruitful life for all mankind?''
  Then he said to all Americans: ``Will you join in that historic 
effort?''
  ``And so, my fellow Americans, ask not what your country can do for 
you--ask what you can do for your country.''
  What we propose in this legislation tomorrow we are rolling out is 
that what you can do for your country is serve it. Whether in the 
military, the Reserves, or the National Guard, or

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whether in the Peace Corps, AmeriCorps, or VISTA, you can serve your 
country; and what your country can do for you in return is to help you 
get through college and pay off your debt that you have incurred.
  Rise with us, America, and join us tomorrow as we go on the march and 
make sure that, in the legacy of President Kennedy, we continue to move 
this Nation forward.

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