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Today Congressman David Scott (GA-13) joined members of the Georgia delegation to pay tribute to the late Representative Charlie Norwood.   Scott issued the following statement from the House Floor:

Mr. Speaker, to my distinguished colleagues from Georgia and other Members of Congress who are here, this is indeed a sad occasion.

Charlie Norwood led an extraordinary life. He was a combat veteran. He was a dentist. He pulled himself up by his own bootstraps, truly a son of the South, a son of Georgia.

He is a person that cared about all of the people of Georgia. Let me give you an example, if I may. I remember when I was serving in the Georgia legislature as a State senator, and we needed some help for the Morehouse School of Medicine's National Primary Care Center. The person that led the fight up here to secure the Federal dollars for the Morehouse School of Medicine's Primary National Care Center was Charlie Norwood. And we thank him for that.

Mr. Speaker, as I think of Charlie Norwood, and I think of so many of the great debates and the battles that we have had up here that we have shared, I am reminded of a great conversation that took place between two great men, Abraham Lincoln and Robert E. Lee. It was at a time when this Nation was going through its great Civil War and how to fix that. That conversation went like this. Robert E. Lee said, it is not incumbent upon us to complete the task. And Abraham Lincoln said, nor are we free to desist from doing all we possibly can.

That was the essence of Charlie Norwood. We might not have to complete this task, to make America a better place, but neither are we free to desist from doing all we possibly can.

Charlie, we appreciate you. You fought the good fight. You stayed the course. And for you, God has put up an extraordinary crown of righteousness. We thank you, and we thank God for allowing you to pass our way.