John Larson

Mr. LARSON of Connecticut

Mr. LARSON of Connecticut. Mr. Speaker, I thank Representative Torres, Representative McClintock, Chairman Bishop, and Ranking Member Grijalva for all of their hard work on this. As the chairman indicated, this bill did pass on a voice vote last year. Unfortunately, our colleagues in the Senate did not take it up last year. This year they have, and I am glad that it is before us again. This is truly a collaborative effort. Especially from a small State like Connecticut, I want to thank the larger States. We just heard two Members from Oregon talking about Mount Hood. In most of the national parks in the West, you could fit the entire State of Connecticut. I especially thank the committee for understanding the historic significance of Coltsville itself, and also the work not only of Samuel Colt, who gets most of the credit for a gun that was aptly named the gun that won the West, but of who it actually was brought to market by, Elizabeth Colt. Samuel Colt died in 1862 at the beginning of the Civil War. Of course, that gun and those weapons that they produced also played a critical role in the North's victory. Elizabeth Colt, however, continued the company. While she could not vote, she was part of what back then would have been a top 10 manufacturing company in the entire Nation. They ended up being the first American manufacturer to establish a plant abroad because their production scheme was that great. She also established the concept of firewalls, which was important to a then-budding insurance industry in the State of Connecticut. She also came up with the concept of housing workers. A large number of immigrants who poured into the country, who were skilled workers from all around the globe, but mostly from Europe, who came to Hartford at that time, were able to settle in housing. The Park Service has been magnificent in setting up and reviewing this. I thank James Woolsey, who is the park's superintendent, but also the people in the area: Larry Dooley of Colt Gateway; the Church of the Good Shepherd; the Sheldon Charter Oak neighborhood groups; and, of course, the current mayor, Mayor Bronin; and Governor Malloy. Three other mayors have come before Congress and before the committee to testify on this bill, its importance, its significance, and its heritage. We are extraordinarily proud of this. I would be remiss if I didn't point out the extra effort that Chairman Bishop put into this, especially his understanding in grappling with a very small State like Connecticut and what one would consider, by National Park Service standards, a very small piece of history with an enormous impact. Henry Ford came there to take a look at the assembly line techniques that were developed there. Pratt and Whitney were both interns there, which led to, in my hometown of East Hartford, the most incredible aerospace engines, the arsenal for democracy in the State of Connecticut, a company that went on to produce 70 percent of all the engines utilized in the Second World War. All this from Samuel Colt and, of course, Elizabeth Colt, who took over and became such an incredible philanthropist. Hartford, at that time--because of all the manufacturing, including typewriters, bicycles, and even the automobile--got its start there. It also led this incredible sage from Missouri to locate there, write, and publish books, named Mark Twain. So there is quite a story that comes, and it just demonstrates the value of manufacturing. We all know here and we talk frequently about value added, a four-to-one enterprise today. Beyond that, everything else--the ideas that it spun, the innovation that it spun, and the creativity--is something that is very much worth celebrating and remembering. I thank the committee in general for all of their hard work. I am thrilled with this. I know, having worked with Speaker Ryan on a number of important issues, that he would be happy to know that AmeriCorps is also involved in the area as well. I thank the committee for sticking with this. It took over 14 years to get this passed. Now, with the passage of this legislation, it will officially open this spring. I hope the committee will come out, and we will plan a great celebration and welcome you there as well.

Mr. LARSON of Connecticut

Mr. LARSON of Connecticut. Mr. Speaker, on September 22, 2016, I was not present for roll call vote 545. If I had been present for this vote, I would have voted: Aye on roll call vote 545.

Mr. LARSON of Connecticut

Mr. LARSON of Connecticut. Mr. Speaker, on September 12, 2016, I was not present for roll call vote 496. If I had been present for this vote, I would have voted: Aye on roll call vote 496.

Mr. LARSON of Connecticut

Mr. LARSON of Connecticut. Mr. Speaker, I ask unanimous consent to bring up H.R. 1217, the bipartisan expanded background checks legislation, to honor the memory of Daquarius Tucker, who was a victim of gun violence who never received a moment of action on this House floor.

Mr. LARSON of Connecticut

Mr. LARSON of Connecticut. I thank the gentleman from Colorado, and I want to thank the gentleman from California (Mr. Takano), my colleague and the ranking member, for his work on this important issue as well. Mr. Speaker, I was disappointed to see that my amendment was not made in order. I would like to take this opportunity, really, to expand on something the gentleman from Oregon (Mr. Walden) had to say. Congressman Takano and I had simply offered an amendment that would ensure we could improve the process for removing employees for misconduct or performance that warrants removal. It is reprehensible, and it ought to take action. This amendment that we introduced mirrored legislation introduced by our colleagues Senator Johnny Isakson and Senator Richard Blumenthal. They have developed, by contrast, a bipartisan bill, the Veterans First Act, which will be a critical step to achieving true accountability that the VA so desperately needs to be an efficient agency for the men and women who serve this Nation. It has more than 44 cosponsors, including Senator Boozman, Senator Blunt, Senator Rounds, Senator Daines. All have supported language that we merely requested be in the bill to improve accountability at the VA that is sorely needed, while also protecting--and we have heard this a lot from our colleagues on the other side--due process: the due process of the whistleblower, the due process of people who are employed in the Federal Government. We have a bipartisan-supported bill in the Senate that will take much-needed steps for comprehensive due process and accountability within the VA. This is what the American people despise. Here we are in total agreement on what we need to do with veterans, but because of talking points, in the House we are at a difference for political messaging. We shouldn't make veterans the point of political messaging. We ought to make sure that the veterans get the kind of service that they need, and when we have a bill in the Senate that is bipartisanly approved and accepted and does just that, that is the kind of bill that we ought to embrace.

Mr. LARSON of Connecticut

Mr. LARSON of Connecticut. Mr. Speaker, I rise today in support of H.R. 4511, the Gold Star Families Voices Act. This bill will allow Gold Star Families to share their stories with the Veterans History Project, and to be remembered for generations to come. Gold Star families exhibit tremendous strength as they continue on without their loved ones. They deserve to have their voices heard and recorded to the Veterans History Project, to tell their children's courageous, heroic and meaningful stories for them. Our fallen should not be forgotten, and their stories must be memorialized to share with future generations. When I think of the strength that Gold Star Families exhibit, I immediately think of Ray and Leesa Philippon and their family. Their son, Lance Corporal Lawrence R. Philippon tragically lost his life on May 8th, 2005, on Mother's Day and Leesa and Ray's anniversary. Lance Corporal Philippon committed to fighting for his country shortly after the 9/11 terrorist attacks. He was a part of the Washington D.C. Color Guard, and bravely gave up his position to join the 3rd Battalion Second Marines as an infantryman. They were deployed to Al Qaim, Iraq. Lance Corporal Philippon was killed in action when he was only 22 years old. The Philippon family has taken their grief and found strength. They have founded the Lance Corporal Lawrence R. Philippon Memorial Fund, which presents awards to local high school students and has funded 200 cleft palate surgeries through Operation Smile. They have made it their mission to share their son's story, and help other families to remember their sons and daughters who were lost too soon in war. They recently helped organize the visit of the Global War on Terror Wall of Remembrance to their hometown, West Hartford, CT, to help families heal. I would also like to recognize another Gold Star Mother, Mary Kight. Mary Kight is the President of the Connecticut Chapter of the American Gold Star Mothers, Inc. She lost her son Michael while he was deployed to Vietnam in 1967. He had been a helicopter pilot and was killed in a helicopter accident, three months after being deployed. Mary struggled with coming to terms with Michael's death. The anti- Vietnam War movement made her feel like Michael had lost his life for nothing. She didn't join the Gold Star Mothers for decades, but she has now found comfort in them. Gold Star Families like the Philippons and the Kights deserve to have their loved ones' stories told, to memorialize their sons and daughters, but also to help their families heal. On October 25th, a memorial will be revealed that is dedicated to Gold Star Mothers at the Aberdeen Proving Ground in Maryland. This statue of a Gold Star Mother is joining the Fallen Star Memorial there. In addition to honoring our Gold Star Families with physical memorials, we should also honor their words and stories. I strongly support the Gold Star Families Voices Act. This bill will give the Gold Star Families the important opportunity to share their memories of our fallen. These service members have given the ultimate sacrifice, and we owe them the opportunity to have their voices heard, even though they can no longer tell their own stories. I want to thank Congressman Chris Smith for his hard work on this bill, to honor those who have fallen. I strongly support this legislation and urge my colleagues in the Senate to quickly pass this bill so it can be sent to the President's desk.

Mr. LARSON of Connecticut

Mr. LARSON of Connecticut. Mr. Speaker, in Dallas, Texas, we saw a champion. We saw a champion in Police Chief David Brown and how he conducted himself. When asked about his responsibility, he said: We will continue to do our responsibility as police officers, as we do every day out in the field. But the legislature needs to do its responsibility. The legislature needs to get its work done. Those brave police officers do their work every day, and yet this Congress has not. Roosevelt said it best about our colleagues on the other side of the aisle: They are frozen in the ice of their own indifference-- indifference to the slaughter that takes place in our streets, indifference to the more than 1,000 mass murders that have taken place, indifference to the threat of Zika and the spread of disease, and indifference to children in Flint, Michigan. It is time for us to do as David Brown said, ``Do your job.''

Mr. LARSON of Connecticut

Mr. LARSON of Connecticut. Mr. Speaker, on July 7, 2016, my vote on roll call 394 was recorded as ``nay'' due to an inadvertent error. I intended to vote ``yea'' on roll call vote 394.

Mr. LARSON of Connecticut

Mr. LARSON of Connecticut. Mr. Speaker, I ask unanimous consent to bring up H.R. 1217, the bipartisan expanded background checks legislation, in honor of the memory of Delhaun Jackson, a victim of gun violence who never received a moment of silence on the floor.

Mr. LARSON of Connecticut

Mr. LARSON of Connecticut. I thank the gentleman from Colorado. I associate myself with his remarks. Mr. Speaker, I would say to my colleague from Georgia that the disappointment that you had before the Fourth of July break pales in comparison to the disappointment of the families in the State of Connecticut and of the families all across this Nation who have witnessed firsthand devastation that defies comprehension and definition. It is that palpable feeling and their frustration for people who are sworn to serve the constituents they represent and to be denied even a vote. As for the bill for which this rule is currently being discussed, I agree with what Mr. Polis had to say, but I would say this: At least you are getting a vote. Paul Ryan has said--and I have great respect for our Speaker--``we will not duck the tough issues. We will take them head on . . . We should not hide our disagreements. We should embrace them. We have nothing to fear from honest disagreements honestly stated,'' except we don't ever get to state them because there is never a bill that comes before the floor. John Lewis and I had a candid discussion with the Speaker last night at the Speaker's invitation. The Speaker is an honorable man, and his respect for John Lewis and for John Lewis' explanation in talking about why we are here and why people are gathering outside of this building on a daily basis and throughout the social media, I think, is indicative to what is happening here in our call for a vote. Later today, on a rule and on a bill that Tim Murphy is putting forth, the Speaker said: Geez, I hope we can all come together on that. We went back to our caucus and to our people, and they all said: We understand the importance and magnitude of that bill. We understand the work that has gone into it. We will work and participate even in the midst of strong disagreement and differences because of the respect for the institution and also the work that went into that. We just ask that you respect our concerns, and, more importantly than our concerns, the concerns of hundreds of thousands of constituents all across the country who are asking for one simple thing: the responsibility, and then the dignity that comes from a vote. It doesn't matter where we sit in the final analysis. It matters where Congress stands, and we need to stand up and be counted. As has been said, the gentleman from Georgia is an eloquent debater. I have great respect for people on the other side of the aisle. It is now long overdue that we have an honest debate, whether we disagree or not, and to honestly state them.

Mr. LARSON of Connecticut

Mr. LARSON of Connecticut. Mr. Speaker, as we started what is commonly referred to as ``our 5 minutes,'' the gentleman from Florida (Mr. Jolly) talked about a proposal that he would like to bring forward to this body. We wish him well in that. He also wondered aloud why it would be that Democrats are so interested in bringing two commonsense proposals that he feels might fail--because it is our constitutional responsibility to the citizens that we are sworn to serve and represent. Speaker Ryan has said: ``We will not duck the tough issues. We will take them head on . . . we should not hide our disagreements. We should embrace them. We have nothing to fear from honest disagreements honestly stated.'' The Speaker is right. He is an honorable man. He met with John Lewis and myself last evening. John Lewis is the conscience of the House of Representatives and, I dare say, the soul of this Nation. The Speaker and John Lewis engaged in a conversation that was reverent in its tone and respectful. We stated, as no one better than John Lewis can, with great clarity about what is happening all across the Nation--the catastrophic loss of life due to gun violence and the utter frustration on the part of people on this side of the aisle and, frankly, families and people all across this great Nation, simply asking for the dignity of a vote--our constitutional responsibility. The Speaker did say to us and asked aloud in a quandary, not as a deal or not as any rationale, but today there is an important bill, the Helping Families in Mental Health Crisis Act, authored by Tim Murphy, a Republican, supported by Democrats who worked together. Democrats would have done more and felt the bill could have been more comprehensive and better funded. The important thing is that the Nation wants to see us move forward. We said to the Speaker we would take this message back to our caucus. And I say, appealing as Lincoln would, to the better angels of your side, as we embrace this issue today and support this effort bipartisanly, think long and hard about joining us. There has to be more than five of you on the other side who will come with us and support commonsense legislation. Background checks that are fundamental that law enforcement knows are what we absolutely need to assist in this goal of making sure that we keep this country safer are what is required. I hope, Mr. Speaker, that in the midst of our disagreement, in the midst of our dissent and continued presence on this floor, to articulate our deep feelings and commitment to the citizens we are sworn to serve, you will permit that the majority will allow a vote to take place on this floor which will demonstrate to this great country that this United States Congress can work. It will start today. It will happen when that bill comes to the floor. This side of the aisle joins with you to get an important piece of legislation passed and adopted as it relates to the mental health crisis in this country. As Diana DeGette said, it should not be considered a substitute, but what it should be considered is a step that we can work together in a common cause. It is what the American people expect from us. We should give them no less. Minimally, we deserve a vote, a vote on no fly, no buy and a vote on background checks.

Mr. LARSON of Connecticut

Mr. LARSON of Connecticut. Mr. Speaker, we are here with a very simple plea this morning with 5-minutes and this afternoon with 1- minutes. We know the Speaker is an honorable man. We know that the chairman of the Rules Committee, Mr. Sessions, is an honorable man. We in the minority are just asking for two commonsense, simple votes, both that have bipartisan support and sit here waiting to be discharged. But in the minority, it is the only voice that we have. This minority party represents, actually, a majority of the American citizens, and we can't get a vote on what the American people are crying out for. Mr. Speaker, 85 to 95 percent-- depending upon what poll you read--believe that there should be a bill that does not provide terrorists who are on the no-fly list with a gun. Also, people believe that there should be background checks to keep guns out of the hands of criminals. There have been more than 1,000--1,000--mass murders since Sandy Hook. We cannot be silent anymore. We respectfully ask that our colleagues in the majority who control the floor allow us the simple dignity of what we take an oath here for: a vote.

Mr. LARSON of Connecticut

Mr. LARSON of Connecticut. Mr. Speaker, we come to the floor early this afternoon knowing that later this day we have a meeting with the Speaker. It is our goal and our hope that the Speaker will provide an opportunity for the minority party to have its two votes taken up in this Congress. We prevail on the good nature of the Speaker and know him to be an honest and forthright man and an institutionalist who understands the House. We also know that he is not just Speaker for the Republican Conference, but he is indeed Speaker of the entire House. We face an extraordinary calamity, a catastrophe unlike anyone has experienced in any other country in the world, and it is the ongoing slaughter that occurs. There have been more than 1,000 mass murders since the tragedy at Sandy Hook when they took, as Senator Joe Manchin said, our babies from us. What we are asking for on this side of the aisle are very commonsense solutions; no fly, no buy. If you can't get on an airplane because you are a terrorist but you can buy a gun, doesn't it seem as though there should be regulations that would prevent that and keep guns out of the hands of terrorists, criminals, and the mentally challenged? Also, there are background checks, which most law enforcement entities have talked about on the very bill that Senators Pat Toomey and Joe Manchin introduced in the United States Senate that received the majority of votes and that Representatives Peter King and Mike Thompson introduced in the House of Representatives. We are asking for a simple vote. After all, that is what we are elected to do. We are elected to represent the people whom we are sworn to serve and cast votes. It has been more than 3\1/2\ years we have not even been allowed to cast a vote in the House of Representatives. That is why so many took to this floor in an organic movement demonstrating that we have had enough and that we deserve a vote and that we demand a vote for the countless victims and families of these tragedies. It is not enough, as respectful as it is, to stand for a moment of silence. Our caucus will not be silent anymore. We feel that silence means you are complicit with these ongoing tragedies. So we have asked for two pieces of legislation, both commonsense and, oh, by the way, supported by--no matter what poll you read--between 85 and 95 percent of the American public. They are not controversial. All we are asking for is the decency to perform our constitutional responsibility in representing our constituents and to have the ability to cast the vote that they are all asking for. We are prevailing upon the decency of the other side, their understanding of the Constitution, their understanding of the rules of this House. We are counting on their decency for the families and the victims to allow us those simple measures that we swear an oath to this office in order to perform. We are asking you for a vote. It is nothing more than what is required of us when we raise our hand and take the oath here. To deny us of that is to deny us of our basic rights.

Mr. LARSON of Connecticut

Mr. LARSON of Connecticut. I yield to the gentleman from Georgia.

Mr. LARSON of Connecticut. Mr. Speaker, I thank my colleagues. For all of America that is listening, you just heard the soul of the United States Congress speak. The soul of this Nation cries out for a vote. We are gathered here on this floor today to accomplish a single goal. We implore and we ask our colleagues--our colleague from Georgia stood on that side to appeal to the better angels on that side of the aisle-- to provide us with the simple dignity that every American is calling for: a vote.

Mr. LARSON of Connecticut. Mr. Speaker, reclaiming my time, rise up, Democrats. Rise up, Americans. This cannot stand. We will occupy this floor. We will no longer be denied a right to vote.

Mr. LARSON of Connecticut. I yield to the gentleman from Maryland, our minority whip and leader.

Mr. LARSON of Connecticut

Mr. LARSON of Connecticut. Mr. Speaker, I am delighted to be on the floor and join in this debate. I must, along with my colleague from Oregon, express frustration. This body should be about the vitality of ideas. Whatever those ideas are, in a democracy, there ought to be the willingness to express them. Mr. Blumenauer has detailed, at length, the lack of public hearings. Listen, I get it. This is a messaging opportunity. This has no force of law. All this does is say what the sensibilities are of the Congress. Now, what does the public think of the sensibilities of the Congress? What the public thinks is that we are all bluster and no solution and that we never take the time to sit down and measure twice and then cut. We just simply don't do that in our committees. And so the vitality of ideas, a very noble idea expressed by a Republican, Mr. Inglis, many sessions ago and embraced by many conservative economists in the Reagan, in the Nixon, and in the Bush administrations about providing certainty in terms of what we need to do and a revenue stream that has this at its core: tax pollution--tax pollution--at its source, and pass the savings on to the consumers. We know the volumes that are produced. We know the science behind this. There should be an open and clear-eyed debate on this; but not only a debate about the pros and cons, but how about something refreshing for the American people--a solution. It may not be the bill that I proposed or that Bob Inglis proposed or that any number of people have embraced, but you have major companies, including major oil companies that will be taxed, say, no, this is a sensible way for us to embrace this, and we are enjoined by the very people who this would tax and by conservative economists who say, yeah, we ought to take a look at this not only from the standpoint of the certainty that it will provide, but the known certainty of what pollution does. And it is not just about climate change. It is about the health of the air that we breathe, what we are poisoning in the atmosphere for our children, what happens with respect to the effects of asthma and what happens in terms of the people in coal mines from black lung disease.

Mr. LARSON of Connecticut. These debilitating diseases scream out for the Congress not to have a message opportunity that may or may not advantage one side or the other in the realm of politics, but how about a solution? How about us doing what Mike Kelly suggested, to work together in the committee to come up with a positive solution as to how to address this? Pass the savings along to the consumer. Develop a revenue system that will, in fact, allow us to rebuild our country that is crumbling around us. Let's take those steps and the responsibility that we all have to the citizens to provide them with solutions, not bluster.

Mr. LARSON of Connecticut

Mr. LARSON of Connecticut. I thank the gentleman from Louisville for organizing this Special Order this evening. I can't think of an athlete who more impacted my life and certainly the lives of people in our generation. The gentleman from Louisville started in 1960--or maybe it started when you were 16--but watching then-Cassius Marcellus Clay in the 1960 Olympics in Rome--a legendary Olympics that produced so many highlights of American athleticism, from Bob Hayes to Rafer Johnson and, of course, this young, boyish-looking, but eloquent and masterful heavy- weight that moved like nothing else I had ever seen or would ever see since. My father worked three jobs. About the only time he was home on a Friday night, we would watch the Gillette Sports Hour, which was the boxing matches that would occur. My dad loved to follow boxing. He was a big Joe Louis and Rocky Marciano fan. Of course, my dad's generation, when Cassius Marcellus Clay came along, were not happy with his poetry and braggadocio manner. As a kid, we thought it was the coolest thing. And I would always remind my dad that he never made a boast that his fists couldn't back up. And the poetry. He was ahead of his time in terms of rap, but he also was ahead of his time in terms of what he brought to the sport. As the distinguished gentleman from Louisville pointed out, when he stepped into the ring with Sonny Liston, we all feared for his life. But as it turned out, he had that speed and that endurance and his incredible skills. He did everything that a boxer shouldn't do, but he was able to do it because of the exceptional ability. How do I know this? We are fortunate to have in this Chamber somebody who was in the ring with Muhammad Ali. He was in the ring with him, Sonny Liston, and Joe Frazier. Bob Brady of Philadelphia was a sparring partner and used in the ring. As you all know, Bob Brady is a pretty big guy. And he also can move. He maybe doesn't look so nowadays, but he still looks pretty fierce. I wouldn't want to get in the ring with Bob Brady. But I asked him once to explain what that might have been like. And he was dear friends with Joe Frazier. He said: But you wouldn't get in a ring with Sonny Liston unless you had a lot of people around you. He said he was the meanest person he ever met or got in the ring with in his life. And I said: What about Muhammad Ali? He said: There is nothing like him. He said he was a freak. I said: What do you mean, a freak? He said: A freak of nature, because of what he was able to do with his speed, with his grace, and the simplistic thing of just being able to move away, from skills that, when you watch these films today, you are in awe of them. I can remember coming in and talking about the Ali shuffle when we saw him do that against Cooper in England. No one had ever seen anything like that. And when he came back and he got in the ring and he would dance, you just knew that he was going to win--the confidence that he always exuded. Then, as John Yarmuth pointed out, he became so much bigger than the sport itself because of his conviction, and he did it during a tumultuous time. The sixties will probably go down and forever be remembered as a great crucible for the history of this country when, converging at the same time were the civil rights movement, an education movement that was spawned by the launching of Sputnik, the civil rights movement that also spawned the antiwar movement, that spawned the woman's movement, that spawned the ecological movement--all came about during this tumultuous time. And who was one of the leaders? One of the most recognized faces in America, beyond perhaps John F. Kennedy and Martin Luther King, was Muhammad Ali, and he brought so much more because of his conviction. I remember my experience of meeting him for the first time in East Hartford, Connecticut, working at Woodland Auto Body, putting tire black on cars. If you ever had this luxurious duty, you would not appreciate it. All of a sudden, this gold Toronado pulled into Woodland Auto Body. Now, most of the people who worked at Woodland Auto Body were of African American lineage. I saw this Toronado pull in--and if you know anything about a Toronado, it has one long window--and when they rolled down the window, there was Bundini Brown. He said: Do you know how to get to WINF radio station? I said: Well, yes, sir. It's just up the street here. I looked in the back, and there was Muhammad Ali, and I said: The champ. I said: Wait right here. And I went inside because I knew my coworkers, who certainly enjoyed seeing me have to put tire black on cars--I came running in and I said: Muhammad Ali is out here. The champ is here. And they looked at me and said: Yeah, right, and Santa Claus is coming also. But they came out. And emerging from this gold Toronado was this unbelievably gracious human being, of course, at 6 foot 3, certainly towering above me, and even among some of the brothers who were out there talking. But we couldn't believe that he was actually there in our midst. If you believe there is a certain aura that people have around them, he had it. He was given a gift, and he used it. That picture that appeared in The New York Times, with so many athletes of the period, the legendary Jim Brown and Bill Russell all sitting at that table, understanding what this youthful but spiritual individual had done not just for Black America, but what he did for the world in terms of speaking truth to power. I will always remember that grace and elegance and rooting for him, and even being scared to death, in the Rumble in the Jungle, that George Foreman might do him harm, and said, ``Oh, my God. What is he doing, hanging on the ropes?'' which later became famous for rope-a- dope. But he was the most unique athlete that I have ever observed in my life. And beyond that unique talent that he brought to the ring, and those skills that he brought to bear with unprecedented grace and ability, he also made the world a better place, as the gentleman from Louisville pointed out, and distinguished himself far beyond what he accomplished in the ring by his simple pleas to America. I was so happy to see him, in his later years, atone for some of the cruel things he had said during his life to Joe Frazier and to other people and some of the taunts that he did. It just showed the depth and the character of someone we so admired. I thank the gentleman so much for allowing me the opportunity to share that reminiscence about The Greatest.

Mr. LARSON of Connecticut

Mr. LARSON of Connecticut. Mr. Speaker, I submit the following. Ralph Nader is a resident of Connecticut's First District, and has long been a champion for social justice, as well as a crusading consumer advocate who has had a lasting impact on consumer rights and the American political milieu. Ralph Nader Presents--Breaking Through Power: A Historic Civic Mobilization Celebrating the 50th anniversary year of Ralph Nader's book Unsafe at Any Speed, the Center for Study of Responsive Law announces four days of civic mobilization at Constitution Hall in Washington, D.C. on May 23, 24, 25 and 26, 2016. Unsafe at Any Speed unleashed fresh energies and sparked the creation of numerous advocacy organizations leading to major consumer, environmental and worker safety protections. The theme of this citizen mobilization will be elaborating ways to break through power to secure long-overdue democratic solutions made possible by a new muscular civic nexus between local communities and Washington, D.C. On these four days, speakers will present innovative ideas and strategies designed to take existing civic groups to higher levels of effectiveness. The participants will be asked to support the creation of several new organizations. One such group will work to open up the commercial media, which use the public airwaves free of charge, to serious content. Another will facilitate action by retired military, national security and diplomatic officials who want to deter unconstitutional and unlawful plunges into wars that lead to calamitous and costly blowbacks. This ``Civic Mobilization'' will involve thousands of people at Constitution Hall and around the country and connect long-available knowledge to long-neglected action for the necessities and aspirations of people from all backgrounds. Many of the presentations will feature reforms and redirections for the common good enjoy Left/Right support. Breaking Through Power: How it's Done--May 23, 2016 will feature presentations by seventeen citizen advocacy groups. Over decades these activists have produced amazing accomplishments against powerful odds. These civic leaders will demonstrate how, with modest budgets and stamina, they have improved the health, safety and economic well-being of the people and focused public opinion onto decision-makers and opponents. Through greater visibility, broader support and wider emulation, they will present their future missions and show that it can be ``easier than we think'' to make major changes. For the first time ever, this diverse group of fighters for justice will be assembled together on stage at Constitution Hall and show that the whole is greater than the sum of its parts when fighting for a broader democratic society. The presenters will appraise what levels of citizen organization is necessary to fulfill these broadly-desired missions. Breaking Through Power: The Media--May 24, 2016, brings together also for the first time a large gathering of authors, documentary filmmakers, reporters, columnists, musicians, poets and editorial cartoonists. All of these presenters have documented or depicted entrenched wrongdoing by the corporate state or ``crony capitalism''--the cruel impacts of corporate crimes and abuses, the absence of governmental law enforcement, and the harmful effects of concentrated corporate power. The speakers all seek wider audiences for their works: more readers, viewers and listeners. Unfortunately the mass media barons prefer to wallow in incessant advertising, hedonistic entertainment, sports and mind-numbing redundancy. The result is what many observers see as the stupefaction of human intelligence. A major purpose of Day Two is the creation of a ``Voices'' advocacy organization that puts forces in motion to inject serious programming into the over-the-air and cable networks under a revitalized Communications Act of 1934 and generally champion a greater life of the mind on all media. Breaking Through Power: War--May 25, 2016 is dedicated to enhancing the waging of peace over the waging of war. We will assemble leading scholars having military and national security backgrounds, veterans groups such as Veterans for Peace, and long-time peace advocacy associations, to explain how peace is more powerful than war. The speakers will address the horrors of war, its huge costs here and abroad to innocents and the weakening blowbacks of Empire amidst a collapse of constitutional and international law. One outcome of this day will be the establishment of a Secretariat comprised of current and former top-level military, national security and diplomatic officials who have spoken truth to reckless power. If organized for quick responses, their credibility, experience and wisdom can resist and prevent the kind of prevaricating pressures and unilateral policies that drove the unlawful destruction of Iraq, Libya and beyond. Breaking Through Power: Congress--May 26, 2016 will unveil a new Civic Agenda to be advanced by engaged and enraged citizens in each Congressional district. The Civic Agenda includes recognized necessities ignored by Congress for decades. The planks of this Civic Agenda will be presented by nationally-recognized advocates--a veritable brain trust for the well-being of present and future generations. Each speaker will present the substance of each demand, which will be conveyed to their members of Congress via organized ``Citizen Summons'' in each Congressional District. Revitalizing the people to assert their sovereignty under our Constitution is critical to the kind of government, economy, environment and culture that will fulfill human possibilities and respect posterity. For more details on the week's agendas, speakers and how you can attend and participate, visit breakingthroughpower.org.

Mr. LARSON of Connecticut

Mr. LARSON of Connecticut. Mr. Speaker, I want to thank my colleague from Massachusetts for yielding this time. And I say, with a note of pride, that Lowell, Massachusetts, served and continues to serve as a model for urban national parks upon which we based Coltsville becoming a national historic park. I want to thank Chairman McClintock also for his words. Both he and Representative Tsongas have outlined what this does. This has been great work by a number of people on this committee in a nonpartisan way. I would just add, Mr. Speaker, that in Chairman McClintock's brief history of Coltsville, that Samuel Colt died in 1862, and not many people realize this. So it was actually Elizabeth Colt, though she could not vote at the time, who was in charge of what was one of the top five corporations in America at that time. As the chairman alluded to, it was, as a lot of New England was, the center of the industrial revolution. It is also where Mr. Ford came to study and looked at the assembly line. And Pratt & Whitney did internships, the famous Pratt & Whitney aircraft company, and it spawned the bicycle, the automobile, and the typewriter, all of which came from the great city of Hartford at the time. I want to thank the neighborhood for the collaborative effort, but especially the Governor of the State, Governor Malloy, for his hard work; former-Mayor Segarra; Mayor Luke Bronin, the current mayor; Park Superintendent James Woolsey, who, as Representative Tsongas rightly pointed out, when they went to the site and looked at the spectacular site, in the review, realized that there was a better way to facilitate people seeing it and locating a section in this historic brownstone area, which this technical change in the legislation allows them to do. As Representative Tsongas said, this was done in an expedited manner, so I greatly appreciate the work of the committee on this, and the staff of the committee as well. Chairman Bishop has been a strong supporter of this from the start and, I daresay, as we struggled to get this legislation passed for almost a decade, it was his leadership and that of Ranking Member Grijalva that brought this to fruition. So this is, again, yet another demonstration of what can happen when everybody pulls together. And certainly, on the 100th anniversary of our National Park Service, to preserve this historic landmark and to do it in a manner that is consistent with making sure that our national treasures here, whether they be our enormous national parks in the West or on the East Coast, a number of our treasures, historic treasures. I would note that, at the confluence of a national historic river, a Blueways and Greenways national historic endeavor, that this national park is located. It is that confluence and the work of this committee in recognizing the historic achievement of Samuel and Elizabeth Colt that we are so dearly proud of, not only in Hartford, but across this Nation. I thank, again, Chairman McClintock, and I want to thank, again, my dear friend, the ranking member, Ms. Tsongas.

Mr. LARSON of Connecticut

Mr. LARSON of Connecticut. Mr. Speaker, I thank the gentlewoman from Ohio and the gentleman from New York for this opportunity to join with them this evening. I am especially proud to associate myself with the gentlewoman's remarks and all that the Congressional Black Caucus has stood for as I would generally acknowledge that I think most of Americans stand for as well. I thank them as well for pointing out a historic event that is happening and, in fact, will happen tomorrow evening at the Library of Congress. Tomorrow is March 15. As the gentlewoman mentioned, it was 51 years ago that President Lyndon Baines Johnson gave his now famous ``We Shall Overcome'' speech. It was President Johnson that recognized 8 days after Bloody Sunday what the Nation needed to do. He did this at great political risk, but he did it because of the sacrifice that so many had made. Tomorrow evening at the Library of Congress we will celebrate two American heroes with the idea that it is far more important to come together as a Nation and understand that these issues that we face and struggle with aren't Democrat or Republican, but at their very core are American. I want to commend the Bipartisan Policy Center for establishing what will be the first Congressional Patriot Award that will be presented tomorrow evening to John Lewis from Georgia and Sam Johnson from Texas. This honor will be perpetuated forever. Not only will it be a medal in recognition of their patriotic service to the country, but of their service here in the United States Congress. One person was nearly beaten to death by the Alabama police, the other nearly beaten to death by the Vietcong and imprisoned for 8 years, 42 months, in solitary confinement. It was a momentous time in our history in 1965. Both of these gentlemen serve in the United States Congress. Both of them had to overcome in their lives incredible obstacles. Both of them, after their experience in 1965 and beyond, came back to serve their country, to continue to organize, to continue, in the case of Sam Johnson, to be a flight commander. John Lewis, as we all know, is the conscience of the House of Representatives. Sam Johnson is the most admired Republican on the floor. They are both iconic and American heroes, and tomorrow evening at the Library of Congress they will be recognized. The Bipartisan Policy Center has been helped by the Library of Congress, the fortress of knowledge, an institution started by the United States Congress, and houses our great history. Tomorrow on display will be the documents of the civil rights movement and the direct participation of John Lewis and the documents about the Vietnam war and the captivity and imprisonment of Sam Johnson. Speaking tomorrow evening on behalf of Sam Johnson will be John McCain. Who better to speak about being imprisoned in the Hanoi Hilton? Who better to speak about the sacrifice that Sam Johnson made, that his family made, for people who put their country first? We will be honored tomorrow to have a former Member of this body, an ambassador of the United States, and the mayor of Atlanta in Andrew Young being here tomorrow evening. Who better to talk about all the issues that the gentlewoman from Ohio and the gentleman from New York are bringing to the forefront today than the person who was there by Martin Luther King's side, a colleague of John Lewis? John Lewis holds the seat that Andrew Young occupied in this body. Andrew Young continues to be an advocate for voting rights and is in the forefront of that continued and epic battle that goes on in this country. It will be an outstanding evening. But the point of it all is to understand that, as Members here in the United States Congress, in the House of Representatives, we must come together and, as President Johnson said 51 years ago tomorrow evening, to overcome, to overcome not only racial prejudices, but to overcome disease, poverty, and ignorance, which is the real plague on this Nation that keeps us confined. How fitting that this event takes place tomorrow evening and because of the benevolence of an outstanding person like David Rubenstein. Who better to interview John Lewis and Sam Johnson about their experience than David Rubenstein? I thank my colleagues from the bottom of my heart for allowing me the opportunity here to echo the sentiments of their purpose here this evening and to acknowledge this event taking place tomorrow evening at the Library of Congress of distinguished Americans, their history forever perpetuated. And as Webster says above us in the great quote here: Let us all, in our time here, in our service to the country, do something worthy of being remembered. Let us take to heart the example of John Lewis and Sam Johnson and note especially tomorrow that we shall overcome.

Mr. LARSON of Connecticut

Mr. LARSON of Connecticut. Mr. Speaker, on March 2, 2016--I was not present for roll call vote 105. If I had been present for this vote, I would have voted: ``yea'' on roll call vote 105.

Mr. LARSON of Connecticut

Mr. LARSON of Connecticut. Mr. Speaker, during rollcall vote No. 105 on March 2, 2016 (H.R. 3716), I was unavoidably detained. Had I been present, I would have voted ``yes.''