The Consumer Product Safety Commission Reform Act -- Continued

Floor Speech

THE CONSUMER PRODUCT SAFETY COMMISSION REFORM ACT--Continued -- (Senate - March 04, 2008)

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Mr. BARRASSO. Mr. President, years from now, young people in Wyoming will talk about the many events that have helped shape their lives--people such as their parents, their friends, and their teachers, places such as the Tetons, Devil's Tower, and the Wyoming Range, and some will say that Craig and Susan Thomas helped change their lives. They will say there was a foundation. Almost out of the blue they will say that it gave them a scholarship, that it encouraged them to succeed, and that it helped them back into school. And one of those individuals will be able to say: I now have a great job, I have a family, and I get to keep living in Wyoming. These young people will say: If it wasn't for the Craig and Susan Thomas Foundation, I don't know where I would be today.

We know the Craig Thomas who fought every day for the people of Wyoming, advocating before each of you with a Western common sense that is legendary, but on the weekends and on his time in Wyoming, for nearly two decades, the one thing our friend Craig Thomas dedicated himself tirelessly to was the young people of Wyoming. Every kid--top of the class, middle of the class or simply in the class--Craig Thomas would want to meet with them, would want to talk with them, want to laugh with them. He even played Hacky Sack with them in his cowboy boots. He would find out how they were doing, what they were thinking, what they were going to do with their lives. He would tell them to find out what it was they liked to do the best and then do it.

Craig believed everyone should be a good citizen, learn as much as possible, and then have a chance to be happy. But for economic reasons, for family challenges or just a raw deal, we know some of these kids face tall hurdles. Some kids have a harder time, and Craig was always there to help.

Many of my colleagues know Craig also had a wonderful partner in his mission for Wyoming kids, Susan Thomas. A lifelong teacher herself in developmental education, she joined him proudly in reaching out to Wyoming's youth. Together they did an amazing job. I saw them do it. I know many of my colleagues also saw it when Craig would bring members of Susan's classes through the Capitol each year. They would come to watch, to learn, and to be invited in.

Craig and Susan inspired kids across Wyoming and kids right in this area too. When Craig passed, the letters came streaming in. They came from young adults who said that when Craig Thomas told them they could do something, that they could be anything they wanted to be, when he helped steer them toward achievement, it made a difference in their lives. He inspired and he improved their lives.

Today, March 4, 2008, Susan Thomas is in Cheyenne to launch the Craig and Susan Thomas Foundation. It is a foundation that will reach out, that will search out, that will find the young Wyoming people who need, as Susan says it, a leg up in getting back on a horse after falling off.

Technically, it is a foundation that serves at-risk kids by helping them into programs--programs from cosmetology to culinary schools, votech to high tech, mechanical to anything they are interested in achieving.

The Craig and Susan Thomas Foundation is also ready to identify these young people through many avenues, through the traditional school systems but also through people active in the community. For those people who champion the causes of Wyoming's young people, the foundation will give them special leadership awards.

This is a program for kids who may not qualify for other programs, kids who deserve our attention, kids whom we should not ignore, kids whom our Senator Craig Thomas almost instinctively knew how to help, how to lift up. The Craig and Susan Thomas Foundation will continue to find them, thankfully, and to help them.

This is an exciting day, and congratulations to Susan Thomas, who, with courage and love, carries on Craig's legacy for inspiration, for hope, and for a better life for all of Wyoming's young people.

We miss Craig very much. We are still touched by his deeds. Good luck, Susan, and our very best to you.

I yield the floor.

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