What a great morning. First I met with Anne Mantarri and her husband Markku Tuhkala. Terrific individuals with a heartwarming story. After years of patiently working through the immigration system, they recently became United States citizens. I proudly presented them with a flag flown over the Capitol in honor of their citizenship. When I go back to DC and the illegal immigration debate heats up, I will remember Ann and Markku, they did it the right way. They didn’t complain or ask to be moved to the head of the line…they patiently waited their turn in line and became a citizen… I’m proud of them and proud to represent them in Congress.

Later this morning I went back to the BAE facility in Aiken to present the employees with a flag I flew over the Capitol in their honor. These guys and gals are great…I toured their facility about a month ago and was able to talk to the staff then. I thanked them for what they are doing. Everyone should know – these folks are making equipment vital to our military in the Middle East. Every day they go to work – they save lives and too often that goes unnoticed and unacknowledged, so this was my way of saying thanks. In fact I have a picture in my office of a Bradley vehicle – manufactured at this Aiken facility – the picture shows about 10 soldiers in front of the Bradley on which they hand wrote the following message – "This Truck Saved My Life as well as 5 Others – 02 Apr 08 at 2300L in Basrah, 12."