thomas edison's remain today. america never succeeded by thinking small. america never thrived by giving up. thomas alvan always thought big, delivered big, and he always tried just one more time. his genius moved america forward. now the oldest democratic republic on the face of the earth, despite being one of the youngest nations, and we are still the largest and most dynamic economy in the world. thank you, thomas alva edison, for leading america forward. now let us follow his example. congratulations to all. [applause] >> united states senator from ohio, the honorable robert portman. [applause] senator portman: wonderful to be here. i love having all these distinguished buckeyes in town to celebrate thomas edison. mr. speaker, leader mcconnell, leader pelosi, speaker rosenberger, a surprise guest with us here today, came all the way from columbus for this occasion, and to my colleagues in the ohio delegation who i see here in the front row, my colleague in the senate, it's great to have everyone together on a bipartisan effort here to hold up a great ohioan and great american. pat teaberry was unabl

, we welcome to the capitol the statue of one of the greatest inventors who has ever lived, thomas alva edison portman talked about the work ethic that was so essential to his success. senator brown talked about the connection between that voting card and the cleveland brown's football player named ryan who was a physicist at stanford who installed the voting card here many, many years later. so i'll make another california connection. as a californian, i take special delight in the connection between menlo park, new jersey, and menlo park, california. the wizard of menlo park. how fitting that menlo park, california, named years before the new jersey development made famous by edison's labs, is now home to the wizardry of our own time, silicon valley. none of that would have happened, though, without thomas edison. again and again, the world was transformed by edison's genius, the diligence that powered discovery. he was about two things. he was about invention, and he was about discovery. discovery of what works and what doesn't. creativity. the heroic work ethic that brought his ideas to fr

lord, we praise you for the laudable labors of thomas alva edison, who illuminated our world with numerous contributions and inventions. we're grateful that you brought him from humble beginnings, using him to leave the world better than he found it. lord, thank you, that you permitted edison's setbacks to provide him with stepping stones to greater usefulness and service. as we dedicate this statue, give us the wisdom to permit our reach, to exceed our grasp in courage, perseverance and creativity. we pray in your great name, amen. >> please remain in your seats for the departure of the official party. >>> after i came up with an idea of reproductive rights, i went and researched. with the recent events i'd heard about in our news, i knew i could find information on that. and that would also help me figure out what points i wanted to say about it. and how to form my outline for my piece. >> i don't think i took a very methodical approach to this process. you could if you wanted. but i think that really with the piece as dense as this, i would say, it's really just a process of reworking a