[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 163 (2017), Part 8]
[House]
[Pages 11445-11449]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




                 WOUNDED OFFICERS RECOVERY ACT OF 2017

  Mr. RODNEY DAVIS of Illinois. Mr. Speaker, I move to suspend the 
rules and pass the bill (H.R. 3298) to authorize the Capitol Police 
Board to make payments from the United States Capitol Police Memorial 
Fund to employees of the United States Capitol Police who have 
sustained serious line-of-duty injuries, and for other purposes, as 
amended.
  The Clerk read the title of the bill.
  The text of the bill is as follows:

                               H.R. 3298

       Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of 
     the United States of America in Congress assembled,

     SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.

       This Act may be cited as the ``Wounded Officers Recovery 
     Act of 2017''.

     SEC. 2. PAYMENTS FROM UNITED STATES CAPITOL POLICE MEMORIAL 
                   FUND TO EMPLOYEES SUSTAINING SERIOUS LINE-OF-
                   DUTY INJURIES.

       (a) Authorizing Payments From Fund.--Section 2 of Public 
     Law 105-223 (2 U.S.C. 1952) is amended--
       (1) in the section heading, by inserting ``AND CERTAIN 
     OTHER UNITED STATES CAPITOL POLICE EMPLOYEES'' before the 
     period at the end;
       (2) by striking ``Subject to the regulations'' and 
     inserting ``(a) In General.--Except to the extent used or 
     reserved for use under subsection (b) and subject to the 
     regulations''; and
       (3) by adding at the end the following new subsection:
       ``(b) Payments for Employees Sustaining Serious Line-of-
     duty Injuries.--In addition to the amounts paid under 
     subsection (a), amounts in the Fund may be paid to employees 
     of the United States Capitol Police who have sustained 
     serious line-of-duty injuries, in accordance with the 
     regulations issued under section 4(b).''.
       (b) Regulations of Capitol Police Board.--Section 4 of 
     Public Law 105-223 (2 U.S.C. 1954) is amended--
       (1) by striking ``The Capitol Police Board'' and inserting 
     ``(a) In General.--The Capitol Police Board''; and
       (2) by adding at the end the following new subsection:
       ``(b) Regulations Governing Payments to Employees 
     Sustaining Serious Line-of-duty Injuries.--In carrying out 
     subsection (a), the Capitol Police Board shall issue specific 
     regulations governing the use of the Fund for making payments 
     to employees of the United States Capitol Police who have 
     sustained serious line-of-duty injuries (as authorized under 
     section 2(b)), including regulations--
       ``(1) establishing the conditions under which an employee 
     is eligible to receive such a payment;
       ``(2) providing for the amount, timing, and manner of such 
     payments; and
       ``(3) ensuring that any such payment is in addition to, and 
     does not otherwise affect, any other form of compensation 
     payable to the employee, including benefits for workers' 
     compensation under chapter 81 of title 5, United States 
     Code.''.
       (c) Treatment of Amounts Received in Response to Incident 
     of June 14, 2017.--The second sentence of section 1 of Public 
     Law 105-223 (2 U.S.C. 1951) is amended by striking ``deposit 
     into the Fund'' and inserting ``deposit into the Fund, 
     including amounts received in response to the shooting 
     incident at the practice for the Congressional Baseball Game 
     for Charity on June 14, 2017,''.

  The SPEAKER pro tempore. Pursuant to the rule, the gentleman from 
Illinois (Mr. Rodney Davis) and the gentleman from Pennsylvania (Mr. 
Brady) each will control 20 minutes.
  The Chair recognizes the gentleman from Illinois.
  Mr. RODNEY DAVIS of Illinois. Mr. Speaker, I yield 1 minute to the 
gentleman from Mississippi (Mr. Harper), chairman of the House 
Administration Committee, whom I want to thank for allowing me the 
opportunity to manage this very important bill today. I couldn't ask 
for a nicer, more respectful chairman.
  Mr. HARPER. Mr. Speaker, I rise in support of H.R. 3298, which allows 
United States Capitol Police officers who have sustained serious 
injuries in the line of duty to receive payments from the United States 
Capitol Police Memorial Fund.
  The bill is just one of the ways that we, as an institution, can 
recognize the swift and heroic actions taken by the Capitol Police 
officers who put their lives on the line each and every day to protect 
the United States Capitol not just for the Members of Congress, but for 
all of the staff and all of the many visitors from across our country 
and around the world.
  Our thoughts and prayers are with those who were injured during the 
June

[[Page 11446]]

14 shooting, including Officers David Bailey and Crystal Griner, and we 
wish them a speedy recovery.


                             General Leave

  Mr. RODNEY DAVIS of Illinois. Mr. Speaker, I ask unanimous consent 
that all Members have 5 legislative days to revise and extend their 
remarks.
  The SPEAKER pro tempore. Is there objection to the request of the 
gentleman from Illinois?
  There was no objection.
  Mr. RODNEY DAVIS of Illinois. Mr. Speaker, I reserve the balance of 
my time.
  Mr. BRADY of Pennsylvania. Mr. Speaker, I yield myself such time as I 
may consume.
  Mr. Speaker, first of all and foremost, thoughts, again, and prayers 
are out for Representative Steve Scalise. I can't wait and hope to see 
him walk through these doors. I wish him well and his family well.
  An inside joke: I hope he has his beans in his pocket. Both being 
from Italian ancestry, we carry our beans with us, and I hope that he 
has them with him now for a speedy recovery.
  Mr. Speaker, I rise today in strong support of H.R. 3298 and applaud 
my colleague from Pennsylvania (Mr. Michael F. Doyle) for helping to 
introduce this measure.
  Officer Bailey and Officer Griner are American heroes. It has been 
widely reported that their swift action saved dozens of lives. Every 
Member of Congress owes them an enormous debt.
  Every day, thousands of our Capitol Police officers protect Members, 
staff, and visitors in this building. You see some at the doors, others 
working with canine dogs, but there are also many officers you do not 
see. These officers are analyzing intelligence, working with law 
enforcement, and performing many other tasks that keep this place safe. 
Should any of these officers be seriously injured performing their 
duties, this bill would provide some measure of relief and peace of 
mind for their families.
  I urge my colleagues to support the passage of this bill, and I 
reserve the balance of my time.
  Mr. RODNEY DAVIS of Illinois. Mr. Speaker, I yield myself such time 
as I may consume.
  I do want to thank my good friend, Mr. Brady, for being here today, 
managing this bill on the other side, and I also want to thank the 
coach of the Democrats, who won this year. I certainly liked it better 
when we had the trophy.
  But to be able to know that the thoughts and the prayers are with so 
many of our Capitol Police officers every single day and also, 
especially, the heroic actions of Agent Bailey and Agent Griner, what 
you and our next speaker did with this legislation makes all of us who 
were a part of this time very humble and thankful.
  Mr. Speaker, I yield 3 minutes to the gentleman from Texas (Mr. 
Barton), our manager, the sponsor of this piece of legislation today.
  Mr. BARTON. Mr. Speaker, today is the 19th anniversary, if you can 
call it an anniversary, of a shooting in the United States Capitol in 
which two Capitol Police officers, Officer Chestnut and Detective 
Gibson, were killed. They were defending the Capitol, and a gunman got 
in and was heading towards the majority leader at the time, Tom DeLay's 
office. And they, in defending that office, were shot and killed.
  The Speaker at the time and the Congress at the time established a 
Wounded Officers Fund, but they made it specific to those two fallen 
officers.
  As we all know, on June 14, we had another shooting, although it was 
at a baseball practice for the charity baseball game where the 
Republican Members were practicing out in Alexandria, Virginia. Two 
officers, Officers Bailey and Griner, were both seriously injured in 
defending the 20-some-odd Republican Members that were at practice that 
morning.
  What this bill does, Mr. Speaker, is simply take an existing fund 
that was established for two officers that were killed in the line of 
duty and open it up, now and in the future, for Capitol Police officers 
who were seriously injured in the line of duty defending the Capitol 
and defending the Members.
  I want to thank the gentleman from Pennsylvania (Mr. Michael F. 
Doyle), the Democratic manager, for being an original sponsor with me. 
I want to thank every member of the Republican and Democratic baseball 
teams who have signed on as original sponsors.
  I want to thank Paul Ryan and Kevin McCarthy, Steny Hoyer and Nancy 
Pelosi, leadership on both sides of the aisle, for making it possible 
to bring this bill to the floor. We introduced it last Thursday, and we 
are voting on it tonight; and wonder of wonders, the Senate is probably 
going to vote on it tomorrow, and there is a chance the President will 
sign it this week.

                              {time}  1700

  We are showing the American people that we can work together for a 
noble cause. As has already been pointed out, Officers Bailey and 
Griner both, at risk to their own lives, defended the Members, staff, 
and volunteers at that baseball practice on June 14.
  I watched Officer Bailey run past me directly at the shooter, risking 
his life, and two other Alexandria Police officers who had arrived on 
the scene assisted him. Officer Griner was wounded but was providing 
covering fire, and that is when they brought down the shooter.
  They are heroes. They have sustained injuries. They deserve some 
assistance. The American people have donated probably $600,000 or 
$700,000 to provide some assistance, and this technical change in the 
existing fund would allow that to happen.
  Mr. Speaker, I want to thank Mr. Davis. I hope everybody can support 
this.
  Mr. BRADY of Pennsylvania. Mr. Speaker, I yield such time as he may 
consume to the gentleman from Pennsylvania (Mr. Michael F. Doyle), my 
friend.
  Mr. MICHAEL F. DOYLE of Pennsylvania. Mr. Speaker, I want to thank my 
good friends Bob Brady and Rodney Davis and Joe Barton--not only good 
friends, but people that have been associated with the Congressional 
Baseball Game for a long time.
  Mr. Speaker, every day, thousands of people, including Members of 
Congress and their staffs, rely upon the men and women of the U.S. 
Capitol Police to protect us. Over the years, the Capitol Police have 
been called upon to respond to a number of violent attacks, selflessly 
risking life and limb to protect us and the people who visit this 
Capitol. As was mentioned, this is the anniversary where Officers 
Gibson and Chestnut made the ultimate sacrifice to protect the then-
leader of the House.
  I know that all of us here are very grateful to the U.S. Capitol 
Police for their efforts every day to keep our Capitol safe.
  Everyone pretty much knows what happened. Members of the Republican 
baseball team were attacked a little over a month ago. Each day we 
would get up at about 6 in the morning to go to baseball practice. It 
is a wonderful tradition that has been going on for over 100 years here 
in the House of Representatives, one game each year, Democrats against 
the Republicans, with the proceeds going to three charities: the Boys 
and Girls Club of Washington, D.C.; the Washington Literacy Council; 
and the Washington Nationals Dream Foundation.
  It is not a softball game; it is a hardball game. We play hardball in 
Washington. We get to play at the Washington Nationals' stadium, and we 
get to wear our home team uniforms and relive our youth. Most of us 
were just amateur baseball players in Little League and PONY League. We 
have a few guys that played at the college level. We go out there and 
we practice every day and give it our all. It is great comradery. We 
build great friendships over the years. Every year we would get about 
9,000 or 10,000 people that actually come to the Washington Nationals' 
stadium and would raise about half a million dollars for the charities.
  Well, this year, something happened that none of us ever dreamed when 
we got up every morning and went to the practice, and that was a 
shooter showed up that day at this park in Northern Virginia and 
started firing on the Republican baseball team.

[[Page 11447]]

  Our team was practicing at the same time at a different location, and 
the first text I got on my phone during our batting practice was from 
one of my staff that asked me if I was okay. I couldn't understand why 
he was asking me that question, but about a second later news came on 
our telephones that there had been a shooter at the congressional 
baseball practice. It wasn't at first said which one it was. I knew it 
wasn't ours, so I knew it had to be the Republican practice.
  When we called our players off the field, my thoughts immediately 
went to Joe Barton's son Jack, someone whom I have become good friends 
with over the years.
  Jack is, what, Joe, 11 years old?
  I think I have known him since he was much younger than that. Jack 
will come here on the floor during the baseball week, and he will come 
over and he will say hello to me, and I will try to see if I can get 
any secrets from Jack about his dad's strategy against the Democratic 
team. Jack would always say: ``I can't give you any information on 
that.'' I thought about him right away as we knew that the shots were 
being fired and that people were down.
  We called our team into the dugout, and about the only thing we could 
think to do, Joe, was to sit down and to say a prayer that you were 
safe. I prayed that Jack was safe and that nobody was seriously hurt 
that day.
  As we all know, our colleague and good friend Steve Scalise was 
seriously wounded and, to this day, is still in the hospital. We want 
to send our prayers and best wishes to Steve that he recovers fully, 
and that he and his family can get back to a normal course of life.
  But what a lot of people don't realize, had Steve Scalise not been 
there that day, his protective detail, Officers Bailey and Griner, 
wouldn't have been there that day either. Our friends on the Republican 
baseball team would have been pretty much defenseless against this guy 
with an assault rifle and an automatic pistol.
  But to their credit, Officers Bailey and Griner--this gentleman 
started over at the third baseline, and our friends were seeking cover 
in the first base dugout, which was recessed, to get some protection. 
But as the shooter started to move towards home plate, these officers 
realized that he was going to have an angle into that dugout, and there 
could have been a lot of people killed. They came out from their cover 
and literally charged at this shooter, and both of them were hit. They 
continued to fire on this gunman even after they had been hit, and with 
the help of some Alexandria Police officers, too, brought this shooter 
down.
  Thank God no one on the baseball team or staff--all the people on 
that field--lost their life that day. The shooter did, but no one else 
did.
  When you sit down and think about what it takes to make that decision 
to put your life at risk for someone else, Officers Griner and Bailey 
knew that when they came out in the open like that and started shooting 
at this guy that they very well could lose their life trying to make 
sure nobody else did. But they did their job, and they did what they 
were trained to do.
  Both of them got hurt and both are recovering from these bullet 
wounds, and they have out-of-pocket costs. Their healthcare doesn't 
cover all of their expenses. They are on administrative leave. They are 
not making the same pay they would make as a protective detail officer. 
There was no means for us to help them because of the way this fund was 
structured, only to make payments if an officer lost their life in the 
line of duty. I think Joe was correct when he said it was almost 
created specifically for the two officers that lost their lives.
  We both came to realize that there needed to be a change in the law 
if we were going to be able to help Officers Bailey and Griner and, in 
the future, if an officer was seriously wounded in the line of duty, 
for payments to be made out of this fund. That is the purpose of this 
piece of legislation that we have over 100 cosponsors for. I believe 
every member of the Democratic and Republican baseball teams has signed 
on as cosponsors. I know a lot of other Members who weren't on the 
teams have also put their names to this because we want to make sure 
that Crystal and David know that we care about them.
  I can tell you, the night of the baseball game, David Bailey was at 
our game, and if you would have seen the Members come up and hug him 
and express their appreciation for what he did, it was a very emotional 
moment. I know Crystal threw out the first pitch at the women's 
softball game.
  Those are two heroic people. Those are two people that put their 
lives secondary to the lives of the people they are sworn to protect, 
and I think it is only fitting and proper that this body pass this 
piece of legislation that will allow us the opportunity to help make 
them whole again and to let the rest of our Capitol Police force know 
that they have our backs and that we are going to make sure that we 
have their backs,
  Mr. Speaker, I am proud to join my good friend Joe Barton and the 
entire Republican and Democratic baseball teams in supporting this 
piece of legislation. I hope the Senate moves swiftly on it and we can 
get this passed.
  Mr. RODNEY DAVIS of Illinois. Mr. Speaker, the reason why we are here 
can't be stated much better than what my colleague Mr. Doyle just so 
eloquently delivered today.
  Mr. Speaker, I yield 1 minute to the gentleman from Kansas (Mr. 
Marshall), one of our pitchers, one of our newest members of our 
congressional baseball team, and a good friend.
  Mr. MARSHALL. Mr. Speaker, the morning of June 14, 2017, I elected to 
not attend the Republican team's congressional baseball practice. Had I 
been there, I would have been in the bullpen right where the shooting 
began. I thank God every day I was not there that morning.
  For my colleagues who were there, we have no doubt their lives were 
saved by the heroic response of Crystal Griner and David Bailey of the 
Capitol Police.
  In the shooting's aftermath, we should do everything we can to ensure 
they have the full support of the U.S. Government and are allowed the 
support of groups like the USCP Memorial Fund.
  Mr. Speaker, in gratitude for their bravery and sacrifice for running 
to the battle, I encourage my colleagues to support the Wounded 
Officers Recovery Act. I thank them again for their heroism.
  Mr. BRADY of Pennsylvania. Mr. Speaker, I reserve the balance of my 
time.
  Mr. RODNEY DAVIS of Illinois. Mr. Speaker, I yield such time as he 
may consume to the gentleman from North Carolina (Mr. Walker), our 
starting pitcher.
  Mr. WALKER. Mr. Speaker, I appreciate the opportunity to be here 
today. Thank you for your leadership on this, Congressman Davis.
  Currently, the United States Capitol Police are not allowed to 
transfer donations from the USCP Memorial Fund to officers injured in 
the line of duty but only to families of deceased officers. The great 
thing about this legislation is that it would allow the U.S. Capitol 
Police to transfer those donations to injured officers as well as 
families of deceased officers to help defray and cover some of the 
medical costs.
  As a former pastor, I can tell you that one of the biggest stressors 
on families is when there has been an illness or injury to these 
families that causes additional financial strain. This is common sense. 
It is certainly bipartisan, across-the-aisle of doing the right thing.
  Mr. Speaker, I am proud to support this legislation. Again, I thank 
Representative Davis for his leadership, as well as Representative 
Brady, and I am proud to support this piece of legislation.
  Mr. BRADY of Pennsylvania. Mr. Speaker, I reserve the balance of my 
time.
  Mr. RODNEY DAVIS of Illinois. Mr. Speaker, I yield 3 minutes to the 
gentleman from Georgia (Mr. Loudermilk), my good friend who was there 
with us that morning, somebody whom I watched act heroically and his 
watchful eye on the entire process, somebody who can give us his 
personal anecdotes.

[[Page 11448]]


  Mr. LOUDERMILK. Mr. Speaker, I give a special thanks to my good 
friend from Illinois for his thoughtfulness in this bill.
  Mr. Speaker, there are times in our lifetime that leave an impact on 
our lives and we never forget that place or time when we experienced 
the event or we heard of the event. For my father, it was the attack on 
Pearl Harbor. He always remembered that moment and the place and the 
feelings he had when he heard of the attack, which motivated him to 
join the United States Army. For my children, it was the attacks on 
America on September 11, 2001.
  For me, Mr. Speaker, it is Flag Day, June 14, 2017, at a baseball 
practice. Not only will I remember that event, but I specifically 
remember where I was because I was there. Not only was I there, I was 
within proximity of 10 to 15 feet from the officers who acted so 
heroically. And still, Mr. Speaker, those images of that day are vivid 
in my mind. There isn't a day that goes by--and I am sure it is the 
same thing for the other players--that I don't relive a portion of that 
moment.

                              {time}  1715

  But although those images are vivid, time heals all wounds, and at 
some point the details will be obscured by the fog of war and other 
events in our lives. But I will never forget the heroic actions of 
those two officers that day. Even at the moment when Agent Griner took 
a bullet--which I believe was destined for me, or definitely in my 
direction--which took her down and out of the fight, Agent Bailey came 
to check on his partner, and immediately put himself even more in the 
line of fire to draw the fire away from us.
  I can't express how heroic these officers acted. Some may say, well, 
that is their duty, but what I experienced, Mr. Speaker, was above and 
beyond any call of duty, setting aside their own safety, their own 
persons, and putting themselves in a situation where death may have 
been imminent.
  They were in a gunfight with someone with a more powerful, more 
accurate rifle, and all they had was a handgun. But they never let that 
dissuade them from protecting the lives of those of us. I would not be 
here today if it wasn't for those two agents.
  This is the least that we could do, as has been expressed by many 
other speakers. The cost upon the families is tremendous when someone 
is injured in the line of duty. I believe that this is all fitting, and 
it is an expression of our appreciation for what they do for us day in 
and day out.
  I hope and I pray that we never have an incident like that again, but 
as history tells us, something like this will happen again. And I just 
hope that we have agents like Agents Griner and Bailey on duty when 
that happens again.
  There were many miracles on the field that day, and one of those 
miracles was having the two right agents there doing their job, just 
like all of our Capitol Police do every day.
  I support this bill. I support the intent behind it, and I hope that 
we move forward with this in an expeditious manner and that we have a 
unanimous vote on this.
  Mr. BRADY of Pennsylvania. Mr. Speaker, I yield myself such time as I 
may consume.
  My dad was a police officer, and I know what it is like when you get 
that phone call in the middle of the night, when he would call our 
house, and we would jump out of bed, even though he was just calling to 
find out whether I was home or not. But I know the hardship it can put 
on families.
  On 9/11, when we were in our office buildings, and we were told to 
run and get out of our office buildings, our police officers were 
running in. Two days later, on this same floor, when there was a bomb 
scare and everybody cleared out, we were getting briefed, and we were 
clearing out running down those steps, our police officers--men and 
women--and first responders and firefighters were running in.
  We need to let them know every day, not just today. This is a great 
thing we are doing here today for them. We need to let them know every 
day just how much we appreciate what they do.
  When we come to work here, we are protected. We have dogs sniff our 
cars, and we go through metal detectors. Everybody goes through metal 
detectors. The Capitol Police come to work and leave their house every 
day with a vest, after they give their loved ones a kiss good-bye, the 
loved ones not knowing whether they are going to see them again.
  So make no mistake about it, we need to let them know every single 
day how much we appreciate them and tell them please to stay safe.
  Officer Bailey and Officer Griner saved many injuries and possibly 
many lives. We need to thank Officer Griner and Officer Bailey, and may 
God bless both of them.
  Mr. Speaker, I urge the passage of this bill, and I yield back the 
balance of my time.
  Mr. RODNEY DAVIS of Illinois. Mr. Speaker, I yield myself such time 
as I may consume.
  I thank my colleagues, Mr. Brady and Mr. Doyle, for the opportunity 
to come here today on this floor and show America the bipartisanship 
that we see and we witness on this floor every single day--not just 
because of a baseball game--to do what is right.
  Mr. Speaker, I want to again thank my colleague, Joe Barton, for 
leading this effort--not only leading us as a manager of our baseball 
team, leading us as somebody who brings their son, their 11-year-old 
son to practice to have fun playing with a bunch of old guys who really 
shouldn't be playing baseball as much as we enjoy doing it, but to be 
able to do it, to raise money for local D.C. charities.
  Joe, Jack, Barry, I, and the rest of us who were there that morning, 
none of us ever thought that, at approximately 7:09, we would hear the 
words: Run, he has got a gun. And it was mentioned by Mr. Doyle about 
those of us who dove in that dugout.
  Let me tell you something, Mr. Speaker. I think I could have beaten 
Usain Bolt from home plate where I was standing to that dugout that 
day. I dove in that dugout not knowing where the shooter was, what the 
shooter's motives were, and what was next.
  As I was working my way outside of that dugout, I saw Agent Bailey 
come onto that field in the line of fire to protect every single one of 
us who were there that day, and it wasn't just Members of Congress. It 
wasn't just people who this shooter may have politically disagreed with 
that morning that were there that day.
  It was an 11-year-old boy like Jack Barton. There were innocent 
people walking in that park, walking their dogs, in the line of fire 
that morning because this person may have disagreed with what we do on 
this floor.
  For those people who are watching today, understand, again, what we 
are doing here, which is what is right to help those heroes, Agent 
Bailey and Agent Griner, get access to the funds that all of America 
put forth on their behalf in less than 24 hours after that tragic 
shooting. Let us all remind them that we do get along; we do work 
together. It is not just when tragic moments like this happen. It is a 
lot more often than what you see.
  In less than 24 hours after that shooting, the American people 
stepped up, and they did what Americans do in the wake of tragedies 
every single time we witness them.
  We had already raised a record amount of money for local D.C. 
charities with this year's game, $600,000, $100,000 more than what was 
normal. And they sold, again, 10,000 seats. In less than 24 hours, the 
American people from all over this great Nation raised another $900,000 
to go to local D.C. charities and to the Capitol Police Memorial Fund, 
which was added the last day.
  They also sold 25,000 tickets. I think that game that night, we 
outsold like three major league games in attendance. We obviously 
didn't play as well as they did, but we outsold them.
  And that shows you what America is all about. It shows you what 
Republicans and Democrats are all about. It shows you that in the wake 
of a senseless tragedy, where we watched our friend lay on that field, 
not knowing

[[Page 11449]]

what the outcome was going to be for Steve Scalise and his family, Matt 
Mika, Zack Barth, Agent Griner, and Agent Bailey, that those two saved 
the lives of everyone on that field that day.
  Charging at gunfire is not something I ever thought I would do, and I 
didn't do that day. But thank God they were there, and they did. And 
those Alexandria police officers, the police officers I never saw 
arrive at that scene, thank God they were there.
  Because it is the heroic actions of all of those officers, especially 
those two who I joked with when I walked onto this House floor when I 
would see them here, not knowing that we would have ever been a part of 
something that will bind us all together, a tragedy that happens one 
morning in Alexandria, Virginia, while a bunch of old guys are playing 
baseball.
  We will forever be bound by what we saw and what we witnessed that 
day. There is not an hour in the day that goes by in my life that I 
don't think about what happened on that field that morning.
  The smells, the sounds, the fear that all of us experienced that day 
could have been, as every speaker said before, much worse without the 
heroes who ran toward gunfire, sacrificing themselves for every one of 
us, and every innocent person in that park, in that field that day.
  This is why we have got to make this technical change, Mr. Speaker. 
We are here. We are lawmakers. We write the laws. We can change the 
laws. And when this fund was set up, because of the tragedy that many 
still in D.C. witnessed that day with Officer Gibson and Officer 
Chestnut who were gunned down protecting innocent Americans in this 
building, this fund was set up to honor them, not knowing that years 
later--and today is the anniversary of that shooting--we would need to 
modify this bill to help two more of our heroes who were lucky and 
blessed enough to survive.
  Today we are going to do that because of the leadership of Mr. Barton 
and Mr. Doyle. Let me go back to that day in 1998. I was actually a new 
staffer for a new Member of Congress named John Shimkus. I was sitting 
in the district office in Springfield, Illinois, when I heard the news 
that shootings were happening in the U.S. Capitol--the fear as a 
staffer that went through me, wondering where my friend and my boss 
were. But I got to see it from out there. I never thought years later I 
would get to witness it as a Member of Congress.
  And witness it, we all did, but also we learned from it, and we 
learned what America was all about. And today is our day in the U.S. 
Congress to stand up for those heroes who protected us that day and 
say: We are going to help you.
  I, and my family, my kids, my wife, every family member who I was 
able to reach out to that morning, and all of those who I wasn't able 
to talk to, we cannot say thank you enough to Agent Griner, Agent 
Bailey, and the Alexandria Police Department for making sure we have 
the ability to make this fix.
  I urge every one of my colleagues to vote ``yes'' on this bill. Let's 
send a message back to America that we thank them for what they did for 
our officers, and we thank them for allowing all of us the privilege to 
serve in this great institution.
  Mr. Speaker, I yield back the balance of my time.
  The SPEAKER pro tempore (Mr. Lance). The question is on the motion 
offered by the gentleman from Illinois (Mr. Rodney Davis) that the 
House suspend the rules and pass the bill, H.R. 3298, as amended
  The question was taken; and (two-thirds being in the affirmative) the 
rules were suspended and the bill, as amended, was passed.
  A motion to reconsider was laid on the table.

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