Honoring Public Service Recognition Week

Floor Speech

HONORING PUBLIC SERVICE RECOGNITION WEEK -- (House of Representatives - May 02, 2007)

The SPEAKER pro tempore. Under a previous order of the House, the gentlewoman from California (Ms. Linda T. Sánchez) is recognized for 5 minutes.

Ms. LINDA T. SÁNCHEZ of California. Mr. Speaker, I am pleased to draw the attention of the House and the Nation to Public Service Recognition Week, which will take place May 7 through May 13.

This week is set aside to remind us all of the vital work that public employees do every day across our country and to honor that work. In many ways, public employees are the daily embodiment of our democracy. Every day they carry out the programs and services chosen by our elected government from the Federal to the State to the local level.

Locally, where democracy has the most direct impact, public employees carry out the programs of elected city councils and school districts as they teach our children, run parks and recreation programs, police our neighborhoods, and perform a myriad of other services to make our communities continually better places to live. Public employees are there for us, the public, 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. In the middle of the night when a water main breaks and floods a street, when a home catches fire, or when a terrorist threat is identified, it is public employees who respond for our communities and for our Nation.

Mr. Speaker, I am continually impressed with the creativity and innovation of public-sector employees and leaders, as they deliver better services and value to the public, whether it's creatively combining scarce government resources to improve public safety, or teaming up government resources with community volunteers to provide needed home improvements for disabled seniors, or finding new ways to reduce air and water pollution. I think the public would be impressed to know that their tax dollars do have many good stewards who take pride in bringing them the best possible service for their tax dollars. My own mother is a public school teacher, so I know from experience how gifted public servants are at providing first-class services on a steerage budget.

On May 9 in Los Angeles, public employees representing a wide variety of Federal, State and local government agencies and school districts will gather for a Public Service Recognition Week ceremony. Thirteen individuals, teams and projects will be honored as winners of the public service recognition awards for outstanding contributions and service to the public.

Over 200 individuals, teams and projects were nominated for these awards. Since I will be performing my own duty as a public servant on May 9 here in this House, I want to take this opportunity to extend my appreciation and congratulations to everyone who will attend that Los Angeles ceremony and ceremonies like it all across our Nation.

Let me conclude by urging all of my colleagues to honor their public employees by cosponsoring House Resolution 307, which would formally designate Public Service Recognition Week and to support public service recognition events in their districts around the Nation in the coming week.

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