Cameron Gulbransen Kids Transportation Safety Act of 2007

CAMERON GULBRANSEN KIDS TRANSPORTATION SAFETY ACT OF 2007 -- (House of Representatives - December 19, 2007)

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Mr. KING of New York. Madam Speaker, I thank the gentleman from Texas for yielding, and I thank him for the support which he has given to this legislation here today.

I also want to thank Chairman Dingell and Chairman RUSH and, of course, Congresswoman Schakowsky for the tremendous leadership that she has shown on this issue, working in a truly bipartisan fashion and, most importantly, getting the job done. I just want to thank her for that.

I also want to acknowledge Senator Clinton and Senator Sununu, who are also pursuing this legislation in the United States Senate.

But most importantly, I want to thank Dr. Greg Gulbransen and his wife Leslie Gulbransen for coming to me almost 5 years ago after the tragic death of their son who was killed when the family car backed over him. I can't imagine a more horrific circumstance for a family to go through, for parents to go through. And yet Dr. Gulbransen and Mrs. Gulbransen, they took this tragedy and opportunity to save the lives of other children throughout the Nation, and they have been steadfast and they've been unyielding in their support of this legislation. And as Congresswoman Schakowsky said, so many other parents have gone through the agony of appearing at news conferences, of coming forward and lending their support and their own terrible, terrible experience to advancing this legislation.

So my heart goes out to them, but most importantly, today I thank them for the efforts which they have given. Cameron Gulbransen was a young man in my district who was tragically killed 5 years ago, and as Congresswoman Schakowsky said, every year we have more than 200 children killed, 200 children killed despite the best effort of their friends, of their neighbors. We're not talking about negligence here. We're not talking about people who are at all uncaring. We're talking about people who took every possible safety measure, and yet in spite of that, these tragedies occurred.

So I'm not going to go through all the detail of the bill. I just want to again thank Congresswoman Schakowsky for her effort, thank Ranking Member Barton for extending me this time today, and most importantly, thanking Dr. Gulbransen and Mrs. Gulbransen for, again, their unyielding courage, for their dedication, and also the people on my staff who worked on this bill.

And again, this is a great day for the children of America, a great day for the parents of America, and it's a day that all of us will look back on with pride and, most importantly, with thanks and gratitude for the lives that will be saved because of that.

And with that, Madam Speaker, I urge the adoption of the legislation.

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