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“CONGRATULATING ABIT MASSEY FOR RECEIVING THE UNIVERSITY OF GEORGIA PRESIDENT'S MEDAL” mentioning the U.S. Dept. of Commerce was published in the House of Representatives section on pages H547-H549 on Feb. 3, 2016.
The publication is reproduced in full below:
CONGRATULATING ABIT MASSEY FOR RECEIVING THE UNIVERSITY OF GEORGIA
PRESIDENT'S MEDAL
The SPEAKER pro tempore. Under the Speaker's announced policy of January 6, 2015, the gentleman from Georgia (Mr. Collins) is recognized for 60 minutes as the designee of the majority leader.
Mr. COLLINS of Georgia. Madam Speaker, I rise today to congratulate Abit Massey on receiving the prestigious University of Georgia President's Award in recognition of his extraordinary service to UGA and the State of Georgia.
Abit is an institution in Georgia. He has served as the head of the Georgia Department of Commerce, the UGA Alumni Association, and on the board of the Georgia Research Foundation, among numerous other prestigious positions.
In my part of the world, Abit is better known as the dean of the poultry industry due to his tireless commitment to and advocacy on behalf of the industry. Abit served as the executive director of the Georgia Poultry Federation for almost 50 years and now serves as its president emeritus.
One of the most amazing things about Abit is that not only does everyone know him, but everyone respects him. He is the dean of the State lobbyists at the Georgia Capitol, but he still makes time to say hello to everyone he meets and often greets them by name because his memory never forgets anyone.
Abit's service to Georgia and commitment to the State is obvious, but I am glad to see UGA recognize that service through bestowing him the President's Award. I am honored to recognize this great Georgian and hope he continues to work to improve future generations of Georgians.
English Language Unity Act
Mr. COLLINS of Georgia. Madam Speaker, I rise today in support of H.R. 997, the English Language Unity Act, introduced by my friend, Mr. King, from Iowa. I am a proud cosponsor of this important and commonsense bill.
The English Language Unity Act establishes English as the official language of the United States, requires all official functions of the United States to be conducted in English, and establishes a uniform language requirement for naturalization.
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A common language creates a shared bond. It strengthens our shared cultural fabric and identity. English as the official language does not mean other languages cannot be spoken. It simply recognizes that officially. We speak the language already spoken and shared by the vast majority of the country.
Failure to have a national language can create costly and burdensome translation requirements and create legal confusion. It can also hinder new citizens from assimilating quickly.
The diversity of the United States is one of our strengths. We should continue to celebrate the many cultures that make up our melting pot. This great country gives us the freedom to share our differences. But at the end of the day, we are one Nation and one people. And as one Nation, we should speak with one tongue when conducting official business.
Mr. Speaker, I urge my colleagues to support the English Language Unity Act.
Honoring Dan Summer of Gainesville, Georgia
Mr. COLLINS of Georgia. Mr. Speaker, it is with a heavy heart that I rise to pay honor to a friend and a colleague, Mr. Dan Summer. Dan was an attorney in Gainesville. As a young attorney just getting started, he was one of the people that I could turn to and ask questions of. He was somebody who listened. He was somebody who cared.
Dan and his wife, Chandelle, ran a firm. Everyone in Gainesville knew that if you went to them, you are going to get treated like family and have somebody that takes not only the fight for your justice and for your fairness, but makes it very personal.
When Dan passed away recently, he fought all the way to the end. ALS took him from us, but his memory is strong.
What he has meant to Georgia and the legal community will go on for many generations. He is one that stood up for rights. Many times when others may have disagreed, Dan always stood up for the rights of others. Dan was always making it his business to be the protector of those in need. Dan Summer is who make Gainesville, Georgia. It is people like Dan Summer; his character, his loving kindness, and his smile.
I remember one of the last times that I saw Dan, it was a little bit ago. He was walking across the Square in Gainesville. I pulled up, and I saw him walking across. I yelled: Hello, and the first thing he did was turn around. And I saw that smile. It is Dan's smile, his concern, and his life that will be remembered.
Mr. Speaker, I would encourage all of us to strive for what is better in us. Dan Summer is one of those people that meant the world to me. His family will experience this loss, but I know they will continue to relish the love that he gave to not only his family but to his community. With that, I remember Dan Summer.
Life, Liberty, and the Pursuit of Happiness
Mr. COLLINS of Georgia. Life. Liberty. The pursuit of happiness. Mr. Speaker, in the United States Constitution, our Founders cast their vision for our Nation whose members would enjoy unparalleled freedom because of these basic truths.
Life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness. Unfortunately, today, many have lost the pursuit of happiness in favor of the guarantee of happiness. They are mistaking what we have as a guarantee in that pursuit of happiness. These Founding Fathers believed in individual worth and individual rights. While the challenging realities faced by citizens of nations that prey on individual and economic liberties sometimes remind us of the particular blessings we enjoy, we take these rights so often for granted.
I believe one of the things that is beginning to pervade our society today, Mr. Speaker, is a society that does not value life or liberty or the pursuit of happiness. In fact, I believe there is an anti-life culture that is developing, one that does not value the personhood that comes at conception and ends at natural death, the one that says that we are made by God in His image, and we have infinite value not based on who we are, but based on the fact that He breathed life into us. It is an abortion culture, an ending culture, that we are being strangled with in the United States.
Abortion is literally killing generations of promise in our country. But yet we have some who really just want to turn their back. They believe it is a choice.
I am so glad, Mr. Speaker, that your family didn't view it that way and my family didn't view it that way. Because when you look at life, you take life as God has given it to us. And it is only up to Him, who gives life, the Maker and Creator of life, that determines the potential and the possibilities. Whatever path we go on, He has given us that hope.
In my own family, this became very real for me. I have had many years of pastoring, but it happened back in 1992. You see, there was a young youth minister and his wife excited about the news that they were going to be parents. Everything was great. Everything was moving along. They were working. They were doing everything that they thought that they were supposed to be doing, until one day my bride called me and said: Let's do an ultrasound. We have one last ultrasound. The doctor wants to do one last ultrasound.
I came running back. I was off on a business trip. I got back just in time to get there. They were doing the ultrasound. Ultrasounds are amazing because they show life--not a fetus, not a blob--they show a life in the womb. It starts when God breathes it in. If you don't believe me, just take a look.
Even back then when they started to go around, I could see my child whom I had not had a chance to meet yet. Then a little bit later, the nurse stopped. She said: I need to go get the doctor. At that point my wife looked at me, and she said: Something is wrong. Tears started coming down her face.
I said: Sweetheart, they are just going to get the doctor. He is just going to look at it. It is all good. She said: No, something is wrong.
It came back. The doctor looked and said: I need to show you something.
On a little spot, a little white spot that I could have not told the difference of, the doctor told us the words that have now rung for me for almost 23 years. He said: Doug, Lisa, your baby has spinal bifida. He actually used a big term called myelomeningocele. All I knew was something was wrong.
We spent the next few days in sort of disbelief. We knew this was not a mistake. We knew this was not anything except we were supposed to have a child, and, undoubtedly, this was just going to be a little different. We talked to doctors, and we found out it just continued on.
Then one day, Lisa went back to school after it had become known that we were having an issue and the pregnancy was now going to be high risk. One of the teachers came up to Lisa and said: You know you have a choice. Lisa looked at her and said: Well, we are going to Atlanta, and we are going to have the baby in Atlanta. She said: No, no, no. You have a choice. You don't have to keep going.
At that point, it clicked. This teacher was telling my wife that she could kill my baby. Lisa realized it real quickly. Lisa said: You realize you are talking about my child.
When I hear of Planned Parenthood cavalierly talking about a choice to kill a baby, it is horrifying.
In this body, the reconciliation is addressed that we are going to continue to because there was a choice made this week. You had a chance to vote for life, and if you voted ``no,'' you voted against life. Don't try to make it any other thing.
The country has a choice coming up this year. It can take a culture of life from conception to death, natural death, or it can continue to value life, as man does, as throwaway, as maybe not good. You see, prioritizing and saying this is what we believe is what makes this life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness worth pursuing.
They told us that Jordan would have trouble. I actually had somebody one time in a town hall say: Well, her quality of life may not be good. You may have done her a disservice. I choked back my angry tears, and I said: You don't know my daughter.
You see, it is that time of the year when elections come around. My daughter just got back home from her job skills training. She is looking for a job. She is 23 years old. She is back home. She is going out to find where she can make a place in this world. She has a smile that will light up a room. Her little chair whips around faster than you can imagine.
I was thinking about even my own election, and my wife looked at me the other night, and she said: You know, you realize you got something coming up this year. I said: What's that? She said: Your secret weapon comes home on Friday. She is daddy's girl.
You see, life is what you make it. Life is not what somebody else says your life is.
When we have a culture of life, abortion is an abomination to that culture of life. It is why we need to continue every day to put forward a culture of life on this world, Mr. Speaker. It is why we will continue to put forward a culture of life that says we value all.
When we do that, no one has to ask where Doug Collins stands. Doug Collins stands with life. Doug Collins stands with those of all. Because I am one who believes that no matter who you see in a day, Mr. Speaker, when you look into their eyes, you see someone of infinite worth, of infinite value, not because of anything they have done, but because of the life that was put into them by their Creator.
It is abortion that takes that away. It is why I will continue to come to this floor as many times as I possibly can and stand for life because that is the life, the liberty, and the pursuit of happiness that our Founders spoke of.
Mr. Speaker, I yield back the balance of my time.
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