Honoring President Ronald Wilson Reagan

Floor Speech

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Mr. WALBERG. Thank you, my friend and colleague from California. I am delighted to be here.

Mr. Speaker, I rise today to remember a great man and a great President, Ronald Reagan. Although President Reagan's 100th birthday would have been celebrated this year, I am reminded how clear and timeless his principles of limited government and individual freedom remain. Many of his ideas ring as true today as they did when I first heard him speak so many years ago.

Beginning in 1984, I had the pleasure of meeting President Reagan several times as a member of the Michigan legislature. The first time I met him was when I had the honor of welcoming him to Michigan on behalf of the House of Representatives and the Republican caucus. Though I forgot most of my planned speech in greeting him, he treated me as a colleague and expressed a genuine interest in our agenda for the State.

His warmth and disarming kindness is what I will always remember about him personally. I always left, after subsequent meetings, believing more strongly in America's exceptionalism and knowing that his commonsense principles would always succeed here and abroad when attached to character, courage, and grace. I am certain that his timeless principles when followed will endure for many, many years to come.

May God bless the history and memory of Ronald Reagan and the country he loved.

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