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Scalise Honors the Life of Congressman-Elect Luke Letlow

February 24, 2021

WASHINGTON, D.C.—House Republican Whip Steve Scalise (R-La.) joined the Louisiana Congressional Delegation tonight during a Special Order on the House Floor in honor of the late Congressman-Elect Luke Letlow. Whip Scalise remembered Luke as a friend, and reflected on his servant's heart and unwavering dedication to his family, faith, and service to others.

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Full remarks:

"Madam Speaker, it's with a heavy heart that I stand here today to pay tribute to Luke Letlow. Just like earlier tonight when we stood out on the steps of the Capitol to pay respects to the 500,000 people we've lost from COVID-19, Luke unfortunately is in that number. He's not somebody you would have expected. He was young, he was healthy, and he had his whole life in front of him. And he had already lived a rich life.

"He'd already left such a powerful impact on people in the right kind of way. Like my colleague Congressman Graves talked about, he had a good heart. Madam Speaker, he had a servant's heart. Luke was the kind of person that you want to get into public service to do it for the right reasons, to actually believe in something and want to make people's lives better. When he would go through the rural communities of his district, which is a very rural district, he would just talk to people, strike up conversations. He'd want to hear their stories and he'd want to help people, and he had a lot of opportunities to do that, Madam Speaker. He started working for Congressman John Cooksey out of college at Louisiana Tech. He had already garnished a desire for public service. And so after he worked for Congressman Cooksey, I met him in 2004 when he was working on the campaign of my predecessor Bobby Jindal who got elected to Congress. Luke served with him there. When Bobby got elected Governor, Luke went to serve with him in the state to make our state a better place.

"And then when Ralph Abraham came to Congress, Luke spent the last six years working for Ralph as his Chief of Staff. Going around the rural parts of that district in Northeast Louisiana, just reaching out, finding out about people. He was very much into genealogy. He wanted to know not just about people, but about their history, where they came from, what made people tick, and how he could keep making a difference.

"And then ultimately when Ralph retired, Luke made that decision to run and he didn't make that decision alone. His lovely wife, Julia was all in. They were a family that were a partnership. A true love story. Two people who cared deeply about each other. And who cared deeply about their young children, young Jeremiah, young Jacqueline, who we also grieve for. It's heartbreaking when you think of the promise and what was lost. What we lost, we as colleagues, you hear Members of his own freshman class who never got to serve with him. Some have might not have even met with him, just knew about him or heard about him and miss him. That's the kind of person that Luke Letlow was.

"I got to talk to Luke a lot in those last few days. In the last few weeks, before he even got COVID, he was so excited to come up here and get sworn in as a Member of Congress and to start helping people in a different way. He had already helped so many people working for others, but now was his chance to make his own mark. He was talking about what committees he wanted to be on. He wanted to serve on the Agriculture Committee. He wanted to serve on the Appropriations Committee and he had big ideas. Ideas that inspire other people to want to do better as well.

"And so, Madam Speaker, when we remember Luke Letlow, it's that big smile that Luke had. It's that servant's heart. The heart of a person who cares about other people and wanted to make a difference for all the right reasons. Thank God we still have people like Luke Letlow who care enough to want to get into public service for the right reasons. It's sad that we didn't get that opportunity to serve with him. I so looked forward to serving with him as a colleague in the Louisiana Delegation. He was only five days away from getting sworn in when we lost him.

"So, Madam Speaker, as we remember the life of Luke Letlow, I know he's up in heaven looking down. He was a man of deep, deep faith. And that faith carried him and his family through those difficulties in the last few days when he was struggling and fighting for his life. But I know that faith is what got him into heaven and he would probably be looking down and saying, 'Y'all shouldn't be making such a big fuss.' But you know what? He deserves this kind of tribute because this would have been a richer body if we had Luke Letlow. But we all remember him and we keep him in our thoughts and in our prayers. And I yield back to the gentleman from Louisiana."