Members of the House Oversight Committee held a prayer for Rep. Gerry Connolly (D-VA) who announced that his cancer had returned and that he would be stepping down as ranking member of the House Oversight Committee.
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00:00A quorum is present. Without objection, the chair is authorized to declare a recess at any time.
00:06Pursuant to Committee Rule 5B and House Rule 11, Clause 2, the chair may postpone further proceedings today on the question of approving any measure or matter or adopting an amendment on which a recorded vote or the yeas and nays are ordered.
00:20The committee will continue to use electronic system for recorded votes on amendments and passage of the bills before the committee.
00:28Of course, should any technical issues arrive, which I did not anticipate, we will immediately transition to traditional roll call votes.
00:36Any procedural or motion-related votes during today's markup will be dispensed with by a traditional roll call vote.
00:43Before we begin, I'd like to let our departing ranking member, Jerry Connolly, know that everyone here is praying for him.
00:54Our thoughts are with him and his family.
01:00It's been a pleasure to work with Jerry Connolly.
01:04We don't always agree, but I will tell you, I think he is a tremendous legislator.
01:14I think he is sincere about governing.
01:17He is sincere about trying to identify waste, fraud, abuse, and mismanagement in the federal government, which is what this committee is all about.
01:26And I think that ranking member Connolly is a role model for what a good member of Congress should be.
01:35He fights for what he believes in.
01:39He's honest.
01:40And he tries to do what he thinks is best.
01:44And we all on the Republican side of the aisle appreciate and respect ranking member Connolly and wish him a speedy recovery.
01:54Mr. Chairman, Mr. Chairman, over here.
01:56Yes, yes.
01:57Would it be all right if I let us in a word of prayer, Jerry?
01:59Yes, please.
02:00Well, I'll yield to Mr. Burchett for a word of prayer for Mr. Connolly.
02:04Bow our heads, please.
02:05Dear Lord, we ask blessings on our dear brother, Jerry.
02:09And we ask that your healing hand is upon him and his family.
02:14And we ask that you give wisdom to his physicians.
02:18And we just ask for his healing.
02:20And thank you, Lord, for bringing him into our lives.
02:23Sometimes we don't agree on anything, but I love him like a brother.
02:26And I do, Lord.
02:27You know that.
02:28You know my heart.
02:29And I ask all these things in Jesus' name.
02:32Amen.
02:33Amen.
02:36Now I'll yield to Mr. Lynch for comments.
02:40Thank you, Mr. Chairman.
02:43Mr. Burchett, thank you for your prayers.
02:44I want to thank all the members of both sides of the aisle for your kindness and remembrance and prayers on behalf of Jerry Connolly.
02:56Jerry Connolly is still involved here, though.
03:00So he is whispering in my ear.
03:03He is, while I am in an interim position, in his absence, he is very much engaged on the reconciliation process and thereafter.
03:18His presence is still here.
03:19And I think he would have fully endorsed the part of Mr. Burchett's prayer that called upon God to give wisdom to Republicans.
03:33You know, ironically, we are here today on a hearing on federal employees.
03:45Mr. Connolly has more federal employees in his district than any other member of Congress.
03:52So I know it pains him greatly not to be part of this process.
03:56But I hope that his presence and his love and his long-time advocacy on behalf of federal employees has an impact on this hearing
04:11and on the votes that we will take during the course of this day.
04:16Jerry Connolly was not only an advocate for federal employees,
04:21he was someone who nurtured federal employees.
04:27You can see that in his own staff.
04:30He has many staff members that committee staff included that came from various parts of government
04:37that Jerry had worked with over 20 years.
04:42Jerry, as the chairman said, Jerry was legitimate and is a legitimate legislator
04:49in every aspect of that word.
04:54I've been working with Jerry Connolly for almost 25 years.
04:58Jerry and I have done CODELs to Iraq, countless CODELs to Iraq, Afghanistan.
05:03We've done investigations on the Army Hospital, Walter Reed Hospital,
05:11back in the day when we were fearful that they were not providing adequate care
05:16to our wounded military and veterans.
05:22He has been a real example, hopefully, to both sides of the aisle.
05:28And I just ask that his presence and his priorities and his spirit, you know,
05:35imbue all of us during this process.
05:38And, again, I want to thank you, Mr. Chairman, and especially Mr. Burchett,
05:43for his kind prayers on my friend's behalf.
05:45Thank you. I yield back.