Steve Scalise full address to Congress since his Attempted Murder
US Representative Steve Scalise full address to Congress since his Attempted Murder
Attest to the Power of Prayer, Thanks God, and Capitol Police
Transcript
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the gentleman is recognized for as much
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time as he may consume
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Wow Thank You mr. speaker
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you have no idea how great this feels to
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be back here at work in the people's
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house
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[Applause]
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as you can imagine these last three and
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a half months have been pretty
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challenging times for me and my family
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but if you look at the outpouring of
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love of warmth of prayer my gosh
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Jennifer and I have been overwhelmed
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with all of that outpouring and it's
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given us the strength to get through all
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of this and to get to this point today
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and it starts with God
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[Applause]
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when I was laying out on that ball field
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the first thing I did once I was down
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and I couldn't move anymore as I just
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started to pray and I will tell you it
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gave me an unbelievable sense of calm
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knowing that at that point it was in
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God's hands but I prayed for very
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specific things and I'll tell you pretty
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much every one of those prayers was
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answered and and there were some pretty
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challenging prayers I was putting in
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God's hands
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but he he really did deliver for me and
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my family and it just gives you that
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renewed faith in understanding that the
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power of prayer is something that you
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just cannot underestimate
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[Applause]
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so I am definitely a living example that
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miracles really do happen the first
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place I want to go to to thank true
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angels along the way starts with the
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United States Capitol Police
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[Music]
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when I was elected Majority Whip as you
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know the elected leadership has a
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security detail and if anybody ever
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wondered why we're signed security
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detail
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I surely found out that day and let me
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tell you I want to specifically mention
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crystal Greiner and David Bailey
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[Applause]
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crystal and David were signed to my
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security detail that morning and day in
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and day out they're they're part of our
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family Jennifer I truly do treat him as
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part of our family because they're with
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us everywhere we go and on that day it
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was no different On June 14th
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they came 6 - 30 in the morning we arrived
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at the baseball field just to play in
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practice for a game of charity baseball
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and nobody would have suspected what
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ensued and yet as soon as those shots
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were fired I'll tell you when I was
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laying on the ground one of the things I
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prayed for is that David and Krystle
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would be successful in carrying out
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their duties and both David and Krystal
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are incredibly well trained incredibly
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for professional but when I was laying
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there not long after the first couple of
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shots were fired
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I could hear a different caliber weapon
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and that told me that they had
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immediately engaged the shooter and let
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me tell you if they didn't act so
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quickly and even after being shot both
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themselves continued to engage the
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shooter and ultimately got him down
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which not only saved my life but saved
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the life of a lot of other people that
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are here in this chamber today Krystle
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couldn't be with us today but David
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Bailey is with us David you are my hero
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you saved my life and everything thank
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you so much
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Tiger blood I also think those thanks to
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a lot of the people that run the field
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with me right after the shooter was down
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a lot of my colleagues came and ran to
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come check on me and one I want to
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mention in particular is one of those
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things that Jennifer and I call the the
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little miracles that happened that day
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and throughout the next few months of
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our recovery happen to have Brad
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Wenstrup on the field that day and he
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was one of the first to come to my side
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and as you know Brad's not only a doctor
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but he's a decorated Army Ranger who
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served in combat in one of his roles and
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missions was to take care of people that
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were wounded before they went off on the
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helicopter to go get prepared who would
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have thought that God would have put
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Brad out there on that field with me
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because the tourniquet he applied many
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will tell you saved my life so that I
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can actually make it to the hospital in
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time with all the blood loss so Brad
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where you at
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[Applause]
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once I arrived at MedStar Hospital I was
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a little bit out of it at that point but
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luckily I ended up in the trusted hands
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of dr. Jack Sava and his great team over
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at MedStar they gave me a second chance
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at life and through many many surgeries
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where my life was truly in the balance a
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few of those they did a wonderful job at
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making sure that I was well taken care
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of and ultimately made it through that
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point so I could get to dr. golden and
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his team who actually put me back
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together again which was quite a task to
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the point where I'm actually able to
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relearn how to walk again
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so I doctored dr. Sava dr. golden thank
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you for being here and thanks for your
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team
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above all else I want to thank my lovely
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wife Jennifer
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[Applause]
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those you know or know how strong
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Jennifer is she's an incredibly warm and
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loving wife and she's an incredible
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mother to our children and somehow
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through the late nights and the
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surgeries and all the other things she
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managed to hold our family together to
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make sure that Harrison and Madison were
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cared for as well and still to this day
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she's not only by my side but she's also
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serving as a great mother I am lucky to
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have you thanks for being here love you
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sweetheart
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[Applause]
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and while it's been a challenge in time
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for my family the thing that really
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overwhelmed us from the start was the
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outpouring of love and warmth and
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prayers from Southeast Louisiana the
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district that I represent we saw blood
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drives at st. Catherine we saw prayer
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groups at First United Methodist Church
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in Slidell but what we also saw were
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prayer groups and well-wishes being
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given from people that we'd never met
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before throughout all of your districts
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and you shared it with me and it was one
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of those things that was hard for us to
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completely comprehend that you had
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people from all walks of life that had
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never met me before and yet they saw
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what had happened and they just wanted
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to offer prayers and let me tell you -
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each and every one of you and please
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convey it to your constituents and I
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sure convey it to my constituents back
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home that warmth and love gave us just
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incredible strength that you can't
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imagine during some really really
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difficult times and so that is one more
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example of the power of prayer something
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else I saw firsthand wasn't a surprise
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to me but it was the outpouring of love
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from you my colleagues both Republican
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and Democrat I know right after the
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shooting we were practicing on the
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Republican side the Democrats were
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practicing too and my colleague and
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friend and sometimes archrival in
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baseball from back home in New Orleans
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unfortunately the star of the game too
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many times Cedric Richmond somehow
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figured out which hospital I was sent to
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and got there probably the first person
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there on the scene in his baseball
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uniform to check on me so many others of
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you again both Republican and Democrat
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reached out in ways that I can't express
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the gratitude and how much it means to
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me Jennifer and our whole family it
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really does show the warm side of
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Congress that very few people get to see
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and so I want to thank each and every
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one of you for that you don't know how
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much it meant to me and when I come back
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into this chamber here today it just
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seeing the faces of all of you
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it just means more to me than you can
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imagine so thanks for all of that love
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and support
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Oh
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a lot of people ask did this event
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change you and I think those even know
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me no I'm a I'm an optimistic person I'm
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you know just a fun-loving person I'm
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from south Louisiana and we believe you
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work hard and you play hard and Jawad
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2 - v is an event like this gonna really
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change that and and the first thing I
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can tell you is yes it changed me but
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not in the ways you might think it's
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it's only strengthened my faith in God
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and it's really crystallized what what
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shows up as the goodness in people I got
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to see that goodness in people and so
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while some people might focus on a
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tragic event and an evil act to me all I
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remember are the thousands of acts of
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kindness and love and warmth that came
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out of this and kept me going through
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all of it and again just re-emphasize
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just how wonderful most people are and
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how how much compassion there is out
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there and finally I want to talk about
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something that I guess hit me and
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probably struck me more than anything
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that I was not expecting and that was
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the outpouring of love and support from
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world leaders people I've met and have
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known Benjamin Netanyahu and I have had
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some incredible conversations from the
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hospital the Theresa Mamie reached out
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the King Abdullah of Jordan who so many
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of us have met reached out but other
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world leaders also reached out people I
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had never met before and that touched me
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in a different way because each and
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every one of us we come here and we
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fight for the things that we believe in
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I have passionate beliefs for some
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reason some of you don't agree with all
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of those
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but it's so important that we come up
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here we are the people's house this is
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the place where these ideas are supposed
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to be debated and we fight through those
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issues but ultimately we come together
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on whatever the board shows is 218 if
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you can put the majority together
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that's what rules the day it's so
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important that is we're having those
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political battles we don't make them
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personal because one of the things I saw
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and I guess this is the thing that that
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really kept coming back to me as I tried
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to to make sense of all this and
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comprehend the outpouring of love that I
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saw it kept coming back to those world
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leaders you know why would leaders from
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around the world that I'd never met
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before reach out and say Steve we hope
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you can get back to work we hope you can
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come through this and what it says is
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sure they cared about my well-being but
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more than that they saw this as an
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attack on all of us they saw this as an
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attack on the institution of the United
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States Congress and our government and
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they really count on us to be successful
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look we all know the United States is
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the leader of the free world it's
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something that we've frankly had the
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honor as a country to hold as a
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distinction for generations and yet when
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you look at that title what it really
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means is that there are people all
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around the world that want freedom maybe
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that have freedom but they know the
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United States being strong is critical
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to the rest of the world having the
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opportunity for freedom
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[Applause]
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[Music]
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but that's why I'm so excited to be back
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because as we're fighting through the
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issues of the day let's just keep in
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mind that we rise above the challenges
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of the day and understand that it's not
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just us in our constituents in the
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country the United States that's
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counting on us being successful people
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all around the world that believe in
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freedom are counting on us as well and
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we will deliver form that's why I am so
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honored to be back here in the house
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serving with you god bless each and
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everyone of you and God bless the
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The United States of America
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[Applause]
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- speaker with that I yield back the
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balance of my time
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[Music]
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[Applause]
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