[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 163 (2017), Part 7]
[House]
[Page 9230]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




                             WE ARE UNITED

  (Ms. PELOSI asked and was given permission to address the House for 1 
minute.)
  Ms. PELOSI. Mr. Speaker, I rise to join the distinguished Speaker in 
paying tribute to the brave men and women of the Capitol Police force, 
and also, in sadness, for the assault that was made on our colleagues 
and members of the staff.
  To my colleagues, you will hear me say something you have never heard 
me say before: I identify myself with the remarks of the Speaker. They 
were beautiful remarks, Mr. Speaker. Thank you so much for the 
sentiments that they represent. Thank you so much.
  Again, we are not one caucus or the other in this House today, but I 
can speak for each other in saying that we send our thoughts and 
prayers to our colleague, Steve Scalise.
  Personally, we have our Italian-American connection, so as soon as I 
heard his name, I was filled with concern, as I would be for anyone 
here, but we have that special connection. So our hopes and prayers--
and I said to the Speaker: ``I will be asking you every 5 minutes, `How 
is Steve coming along?''' And also, for Zach Barth in Congressman Roger 
Williams' office; Matt Mika, who was a former staffer, and, of course, 
as the Speaker acknowledged, Crystal Griner and David Bailey.
  In acknowledging their sacrifice and how fortunate we all were that 
they were on the scene, because other lives would have probably been 
lost, I want us to remember that every single day the Capitol Police 
protect all of us, take risks for us. And while a day like this is a 
time where we can focus on it so sadly, it doesn't mean that other days 
aren't as challenging.
  I especially want to call attention to Detective John Gibson and 
Officer Jacob Chestnut, who, almost 19 years ago, July 24, 1998, lost 
their lives protecting the Congress, the Capitol, but not just the 
Members of Congress, the staff, the press, and our visitors, people who 
come to see this Capitol, this great edifice to democracy known 
throughout the world. So they are protecting a great deal, and it is an 
attraction, and that makes it all the more risky.
  You may not know this, my colleagues, but every time I pray, which is 
very frequently, and certainly every Sunday, I pray for all of you, all 
of you together. In the earlier years, I used to pray for your 
happiness, for the fact that we would, working together, heed the words 
of President Kennedy in the closing of his inaugural address when he 
said: ``. . . God's work must truly be our own.''
  How do we view what God's will is for us? How do we come together to 
give confidence to the American people? As our Founders intended, we 
would have our disagreements and we would debate them, and we would 
have confidence in our beliefs and humility to listen to others.
  But in more recent years, I have been praying not only for that, but 
for our safety because I, above anyone in here, and I can say that 
quite clearly, have been probably the target of more--a political 
target and, therefore, the target of more threats than anyone, perhaps 
other than the President of the United States, Barack Obama.
  And so I prayed for Barack Obama, and now I continue to pray for him. 
And I pray for Donald Trump, that his Presidency will be successful and 
that his family will be safe, because it is about family.
  We are called for a purpose to this body. It is a great thing, and we 
know what it means to each of us to serve, and we recognize that in 
others. And we also recognize that you have your constituents. We have 
ours, and we respect you and your constituents who sent you here, all 
worthy of respect.
  But we do have our differences, and so I pray. My prayer is that we 
can resolve our differences in a way that furthers the preamble to the 
Constitution, takes us closer to ``e pluribus unum.'' And today, again, 
it is in the family. It is an injury in the family for the staff and 
for our colleague and for his leadership.
  As I mentioned just a minute ago in a meeting, sports are a wonderful 
thing in our country. They are probably one of the most unifying 
things. I think the arts, we like to say music, or plays, or whatever, 
but sports really bring us together in our cities. You see, people have 
the biggest differences of opinion on politics, and yet when their team 
is on the field, people come together. People come together.
  So when this team was on the field practicing with such camaraderie 
and such brotherhood--I don't know if you have any sisters on your 
team. We have two on our team--for this person to take this action was 
so cowardly, so cowardly.
  We will learn more about motivation and the rest of that, but it 
seems particularly sad--although any violent death, of course, is sad, 
but particularly sad at a time when people want us to come together, 
and we are prepared to come together tomorrow night--that this assault 
would be made.
  But we cannot let that be a victory for the assailant, or anyone who 
would think that way. So tomorrow, we will go out on the field. We will 
root for our team. We want everyone to do his or her very best, and we 
will use this occasion as one that brings us together and not separates 
us further.
  Again, I want to thank the Speaker for bringing us together, and, 
again, with endless gratitude to our Capitol Police, and, in particular 
today, of course, Crystal Griner, David Bailey; but never out of our 
prayers, Detective John Gibson and Officer Jacob Chestnut.
  Mr. Speaker, I thank my colleagues for the opportunity to share some 
thoughts with you on this sad day. Steve, Zach, and Matt, you are 
deeply in our prayers. We count the minutes until Steve returns.
  Please convey that to him, Mr. Speaker.

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