Monday, August 24, 2026

Mr. Speaker, I rise today to honor Fire Chief Latosha Clemons and celebrate a remarkable career dedicated to public service. For 24 years, Chief Clemons served the Boynton Beach Fire Rescue Department, where she broke barriers as the first African American woman to join its ranks. Throughout her career, she has exemplified courage, integrity, and an unwavering commitment to protecting the health, safety, and well-being of her community. Her record of service reflects the very best of public leadership. Recruited by then-Fire Chief Floyd Jordan, Boynton Beach's first African American Fire Chief, Clemons began her career as a probationary firefighter and quickly established herself as a leader. Through hard work, determination, and exceptional performance, she rose through every level of the department--serving as Paramedic, Operator Engineer, Lieutenant, Captain, and Battalion Chief before taking on senior leadership roles as both Deputy Chief of Administration and Deputy Chief of Operations. At every stage, Chief Clemons earned recognition as one of the department's top candidates for advancement. In a profession where women make up only about 9 percent of firefighters nationwide--and Black women represent an even smaller share--Chief Clemons has opened doors for others while demonstrating what is possible through perseverance, skill, and leadership. She continues to serve as a powerful role model for women and girls considering careers in public service and emergency response. In addition to her extensive work in the field, Chief Clemons volunteers her time by hosting a free camp for girls to get them interested in the fire service. Her commitment to service reaches beyond the firehouse. As Interim City Manager for the City of Forest Park, Chief Clemens also oversees the daily operations of municipal government and brings the same steady leadership, sound judgment, and dedication to excellence that defines her firefighting career. The confidence placed in her reflects both the respect she commands and the breadth of experience she brings to every challenge. Today, I am proud to recognize Chief Clemons for her extraordinary contributions, her groundbreaking achievements, and her enduring commitment to serving others. Her leadership has strengthened every community she has touched, and her example will continue to inspire future generations of public servants.

Mr. Speaker, I rise today to honor the life and memory of Dawn Marsonoski, a longtime resident of Bristol Borough, Bucks County, Pennsylvania, who passed away on August 13, 2026, at the age of 54. Born at Lower Bucks Hospital, Dawn was a proud Bristol Borough resident and a graduate of Harry S. Truman High School, Class of 1990. She went on to earn her master's degree from Holy Family University and built a successful career. Dawn was a member of St. Mark Church and was well known throughout her community for her generous heart, kindness, and unwavering support for those around her. She found great happiness in caring for her beloved pets and took great pride in making her home warm, welcoming, and beautiful. Above all, Dawn was a devoted mother whose children and family were the center of her world. Her love for her family brought her tremendous joy, and her kindness and dedication will be remembered by all who had the privilege of knowing her. Her loved ones will continue to cherish her memory. I extend my deepest condolences to Dawn's family and am honored to recognize the lasting impact she had on her family, her friends, and the Bristol Borough community.

Mr. Speaker, I rise today to honor and pay tribute to my dear friend Dan Hollingsworth who passed away on Sunday, July 26, 2026. Dan was a leader in Riverside County's agriculture industry, a former staff member for Representative Victor Veysey, and a dedicated patriot who was involved in Republican Party politics for most of his life. He will be deeply missed. Dan was born in Grand Junction, Colorado. At a young age, his family headed west and moved to Pomona, California. Dan graduated from Pomona College in Pomona High School in 1953 and attended Cal Poly San Luis Obispo, where he earned a Bachelors Degree in Dairy Science. During college he also met Joan Clark, who he would marry on December 11, 1955. Just last year, Dan and Joan celebrated their 70th anniversary. Dan started working on a dairy farm near San Luis Obispo while he was in college, then worked at various dairies in the Central Valley and Chino before buying a small dairy in San Jacinto in 1960. "Dan's Dairy" was a cash `n' carry dairy where Dan milked fifty cows and Joan helped bottle the milk. In 1969, Dan went to work for U.S. Representative Victor Veysey, the first of many roles he would fill in service to his conservative beliefs and the Republican Party. Dan served as Chairman of the Riverside County Central Committee twice and joined me as a founding director of the Lincoln Club of Riverside County. Dan volunteered in leadership roles in agriculture as well. He began serving on the Riverside County Farm Bureau Board of Directors in the mid-1960s, a position he filled until his passing. In 1978, Dan bought another dairy in San Jacinto, milking over 600 cows. In 1986, he left the dairy business again, and he and Joan bought land in Murrieta and started a wholesale tree nursery, which supplied large trees to the region for 39 years. Dan is survived by his wife, Joan; his daughters, Tina Spurgin, Marcy Preston (Larry) and sons, Lennie (Heidi) and Dennis (Natalie) Hollingsworth. He is also survived by his brothers Bob and Charles Hollingsworth, seventeen grandchildren and step-grandchildren, and twenty-seven great-grandchildren and step-great grandchildren. Although he may be gone, the many contributions Dan made to our region and his family will have a lasting impact.

Mr. Speaker, I rise today to honor a man who has spent half a century doing the hardest and holiest work there is--the Reverend Ronald G. Toney, who retires after fifty years in the gospel ministry, thirty-three of them as pastor of the historic Lizzie Chapel Baptist Church in Macon, Georgia. An event to celebrate his remarkable ministry was held on August 22, 2026, at the Tubman Museum in Macon, Georgia. Mr. Speaker, when we mark a man's retirement in this Chamber, we usually recite a list. I want to do something different, because a list will not hold what this man has done. Ronald Toney is a son of Milwaukee, Wisconsin. Now, Mr. Speaker, I want the House to sit with that for a moment. For the better part of the last century, the road out of Georgia ran north. Our people packed what they could carry and rode toward Chicago, Detroit, and Milwaukee looking for wages and dignity that this State would not give them. That was the Great Migration, and it emptied a great deal of talent out of the South. Ronald Toney ran that road in reverse. He was born up North, where our people had gone for refuge, and he came back down here--to Georgia, to the Black Belt, to the small cities and the working neighborhoods--and he gave this State fifty years of his life. He came back to the place his generation was told to leave. That is not a career decision, Mr. Speaker. That is a calling. He came by way of Morehouse College, where he graduated cum laude with a degree in religion. As a Morehouse man myself, I know that house does not hand out that Latin honor lightly. He went on to study at the Interdenominational Theological Center and at Columbia Theological Seminary, both in Atlanta. He believed--rightly--that a called man still owes God a trained mind. His ministry began in Milwaukee in 1976 at Greater Galilee Baptist Church, and continued at Damascus Baptist Church, where he served as assistant pastor. He came to Georgia in 1981 as an associate minister at Antioch Baptist Church North in Atlanta. In 1985 he was called to his first pastorate, Mt. Pleasant Baptist Church in Thomson, Georgia. And in April of 1993, he was called to Lizzie Chapel Baptist Church in Macon, where he has stood ever since. Mr. Speaker, thirty-three years in one pulpit is a rarer thing than this body may realize, and I want to say plainly what it costs and what it builds. Thirty-three years means he baptized children who came back and asked him to marry them and then brought him their own babies to bless. It means he stood over the caskets of the mothers of that church--the women who fed him, corrected him, and prayed him through his first years--and he preached them home one by one. It means he sat in hospital rooms at two o'clock in the morning with families who had nobody else to call. It means there are men and women walking around Macon today who made it through the worst season of their lives because a preacher would not stop calling the house. A pastor who stays that long stops being a hired man and becomes family. That is what Ronald Toney became to Lizzie Chapel. And he never confined the ministry to the sanctuary. In McDuffie County he served as president of the Ministerial Association, president of the County Health Coalition, and president of the NAACP branch--because he understood that a shepherd who will not fight for the flock outside the gate is no shepherd at all. In Bibb County he served on the board of Citizens Advocacy and on the Economic Opportunity Council. He gave his time to the General Missionary Baptist Convention of Georgia as an instructor in the Congress of Christian Education and later as president of the Tenth District Congress, and he served as Second Vice Moderator of the Union Baptist Missionary and Educational Association of Middle Georgia. Mr. Speaker, two of his services tell me the most about the man. He sat on the board of the Crisis Line and Safe House, and on the board of the Family Counseling Center. Any pastor who has been at it long enough knows the truth those two boards represent: that some of the people singing in the choir on Sunday morning are going home to houses that are not safe. Ronald Toney did not merely pray about that. He got up and took a seat at the table where something could be done about it. And he founded the Gifts of Grace Foundation--a name that tells you everything about how this man understood his own life. Not gifts he earned. Gifts of grace. Mr. Speaker, none of this was done alone. For all of these years, Reverend Toney has been supported by his wife, Patricia, whose name appears on no program and in no minutes, but without whom none of this record exists. And it was done alongside their four children--Jason, Ronald D., LaTai, and Erika--who shared their father with a congregation for their entire lives, and who gave up Sunday dinners and family evenings and a father's undivided attention so that other people's families could be held together. The pastor's family pays a bill that nobody itemizes. Let this Chamber itemize it today. Mr. Speaker, a man can retire from a pulpit. He cannot retire from what he has already built. The counseling he gave is still working. The children he baptized are still standing. The church he served is still open. Fifty years of that does not stop when a man steps down; it simply keeps walking around Middle Georgia in the shape of other people's lives. Charles Haddon Spurgeon, whom the world still calls the Prince of Preachers, once said of his own life's ambition: "I know of nothing which I would choose to have as the subject of my ambition for life than to be kept faithful to my God till death, still to be a soul winner, still to be a true herald of the cross, and testify the name of Jesus to the last hour." Mr. Speaker, that was Spurgeon's ambition. By the grace of God, it has been Ronald Toney's record. Therefore, Mr. Speaker, I ask my colleagues to join my wife Vivian and me along with the more than 765,000 people of Georgia's 2nd Congressional District in honoring the Reverend Ronald G. Toney for fifty years of faithful service in the gospel ministry, for thirty-three years of devoted pastoral leadership at Lizzie Chapel Baptist Church, and for a lifetime given to the people of Georgia and beyond. We wish him and Patricia every blessing in this new season, and we say to him what he has spent a lifetime helping other people become ready to hear: Well done, thou good and faithful servant.

Mr. Speaker, I rise today to honor the life and memory of Ian Frank Tortorici. Ian lived a life defined by service, courage, and an enduring willingness to stand with others in their time of need. A decorated wrestler at Laguna Hills High School, Ian went on to serve his country as a United States Marine, attaining the rank of Corporal. He later continued his commitment to public service as a federal law enforcement officer. When Russia invaded Ukraine, Ian chose once again to answer the call to serve. He traveled to Ukraine in March 2022 and joined the International Legion, where he fought alongside Ukrainian forces for more than a year. Serving first as a machine gunner and ultimately as a team leader, Ian repeatedly placed himself in harm's way for the people beside him and for a cause he believed was worth defending. On June 27, 2023, Ian was killed in a ballistic missile attack in Kramatorsk, Ukraine. He was 32 years old. Ian's sacrifice was the culmination of a life spent serving others. He had already dedicated himself to protecting his fellow Americans, yet when faced with a distant war and people fighting for their homes and freedom, he was willing to go once more into danger. He should be remembered not simply for how he died, but for how he lived: with courage, conviction, and a profound sense of duty. His sacrifice is a lasting testament to the kind of person who chooses to stand beside others when standing with them comes at the greatest cost. His memory continues to be honored by those who knew him, served alongside him, and remember his dedication to his country, his fellow service members, and the people of Ukraine.

Mr. Speaker, I include in the Record the following cost estimate for H.R. 2870, Working Families Flexibility Act of 2025, prepared by the Congressional Budget Office, and was not made available to the Committee on Education and Workforce at the time of the filing of the legislative report. H.R. 2870, WORKING FAMILIES FLEXIBILITY ACT OF 2025, AS REPORTED BY THE HOUSE COMMITTEE ON EDUCATION AND THE WORKFORCE ON FEBRUARY 12, 2026 ------------------------------------------------------------------------By fiscal year, millions of dollars-------------------------------------2026 2026-2031 2026-2036 ------------------------------------------------------------------------Direct Spending (Outlays)........... 0 0 0 Revenues............................ 0 0 0 Increase or Decrease (-) in the 0 0 0 Deficit............................ Spending Subject to Appropriation * 3 ** (Outlays).......................... ------------------------------------------------------------------------* = between zero and $500,000. ** = not estimated.

Mr. Speaker, I rise today to recognize the Old Glory Retirement Foundation, a veteran-founded nonprofit in Franklin, Ohio dedicated to ensuring that our Nation's flag, "Old Glory," is treated with dignity and respect throughout its entire life of service, while also honoring the Veterans, first responders, and families who have sacrificed in service to our Nation and communities. On July 4, 2026, as our Nation celebrated its 250th Anniversary, the Old Glory Retirement Foundation brought together Veterans, volunteers, civic leaders, and members of the community at Horsepower Farm in Middletown, Ohio, to conduct an extraordinary American flag retirement ceremony. During the ceremony, 17,169 unserviceable American flags were respectfully retired in a single event. The foundation believes this event to be the largest American flag retirement ceremony ever conducted. This remarkable community effort demonstrated the deep respect and patriotism that Americans continue to hold for our Nation's flag. The foundation's mission extends beyond flag retirement. Through its ceremonies and educational programs, the Old Glory Retirement Foundation works to teach proper flag etiquette, preserve the stories of Veterans, recognize first responders, and inspire younger generations to understand the meaning behind the flag they proudly see every day. It is also fitting to recognize September 12 as Old Glory Retirement Foundation Day. Following the tragedy of September 11, 2001, September 12 became a powerful reminder of the unity, compassion, and patriotism demonstrated by Americans across the country. People from every background came together, setting aside their differences and standing united under one flag. The City of Middletown has officially proclaimed September 12 as Old Glory Retirement Foundation Day, recognizing both this spirit of unity and the foundation's commitment to preserving the dignity of the American flag and honoring those who have served our Nation and communities. I am proud to recognize Old Glory Retirement Foundation, its dedicated Veterans and volunteers, and the countless members of the Middletown community who came together to honor the American flag. Their commitment to service, patriotism, and community serves as an example of the enduring values that unite us as Americans.

Mr. Speaker, I rise today to recognize Magne Gundersen for decades of dedicated service to Scouting America and The Washington Crossing Council, transforming lives of young people, families volunteers, and communities he has served throughout his distinguished career. For 40 years, Mr. Gundersen has devoted himself to the mission of Scouting and to helping young people develop the character, leadership, confidence, and sense of service that will guide them throughout their lives. As Scout Executive and CEO of the Washington Crossing Council, he has provided steady and principled leadership to a council serving communities across Pennsylvania and New Jersey. Those who have worked alongside Mr. Gundersen describe him as someone who leads by example. His career reflects not only professional excellence, but a genuine commitment to the people and communities entrusted to his care. Mr. Gundersen's impact will be measured not simply by the years he has served, but by the countless Scouts, families, volunteers, and fellow leaders whose lives have been strengthened by his dedication. His leadership has helped preserve and advance an institution responsible for supporting the next generation of leaders in their communities. As Magne Gundersen concludes this remarkable 40-year chapter of service, we extend our sincere gratitude for his dedication, leadership, and commitment to America's youth. His legacy will continue through the generations of Scouts and volunteers whose lives he has touched I congratulate Mr. Gundersen on his retirement and wish him every success and happiness in the years ahead. Our Nation is stronger because of citizens like Mr. Gundersen.