Pres. Trump thank you, very much. Thank you. Thank you. [cheering and applause] thank you very much. Please, lets enjoy ourselves. This is a tremendous moment for jim and your family, and lets just enjoy ourselves for a little while. We will ask jim to say a few words. I want to hear what he has to say about his great talent, his great running ability. I find it to be extraordinary. I love it. Today, it is my privilege to present our nations highest civilian honor, the president ial medal of freedom, to a legendary athlete and legendary runner, olympian and true american patriot, former congressman, jim ryun. Jim, congratulations. Fantastic. Jim thank you very much. [cheering and applause] pres. Trump we are joined by jims wife anne. Thank you very much. And various family members. Where is ned . Ned, thank you very much. Catherine, thank you very much. I will ask both of you to come up and say a few words, so you better be prepared. I dont use the other word in front of the word news. With as journey started prayer. After being cut from his church baseball team, i cant believe thats, that must have been a bad day. [laughter] that, that must have been a bad day. [laughter] balls junior basketball team. Jim wanted to know gods plan for him and he only wanted one request, that it was something to do with sports. That was answered when jim joined the High School Track team. He joined in and had no experience whatsoever. He said he didnt know what he was doing. In his first mile race, he came in second place to the reigning state champion and a real talented person. Do you ever see him around . [inaudible] pres. Trump that is pretty good. He is still saying, what happened announcer what happened . There is something genetically that is pretty good. Four minutes 32 point four seconds, first time he ever in the mile. That was the last time he ever came in second in a school race. After that, jim was always first. The next year, jim ran a three minute 59 second mile and became the first athlete in history to smash the fourminute barrier. That summer he competed in the 1964 Tokyo Olympics as the youngest middle distance runner in the world. By quite a bit actually. In jims senior year of high school, he ran against pete snell, threetime olympic medal winner, he was good. But that was a bad day for pete. [laughter] before the event, snell reported he did not think jim would have much of a chance or be much of a factor. Withoon proved him wrong 300 meters left in the wrong. With 300 meters left in the race, jim swept across the finish line in a fraction of his time. What was your time . Three minutes 55. 3 seconds. Thats not bad, right . Jim thats ok. Pres. Trump not bad. What did pete say . Was he gracious . Jim very gracious. Pres. Trump i bet he was a great runner. He was a great runner. School as it stands in high school, a record 35 years to break that record. When espn ranked the greatest High School Athletes, listen to this, this is incredible. When espn ranked the greatest High School Athletes of all time , all sports, they listed jim ryun as number one. Thats not bad for a guy that couldnt make his baseball career, right . [applause] an amazinglly achievement. That is incredible. Jim continued his extraordinary athletic career at the university of kansas in 1960. He said his first world rec 1966. He said his first world record of a mile, becoming the First American to do so in three decades. After the race, a young man asked for his a young fan asked for his autograph. That would turn out to be his future wife. That was a great autograph. [laughter] you guys are lucky that happened. I wonder where you would be if that didnt happen. [laughter] in 1967, jim ran an incredible 3. 11 mile 3. 511 mile, which would stand for the record mile almost a decade. Jim still describes it as the easiest race he ever ran, is that right . It was just magic. Jim amazing. Pres. Trump it was magic. To this day, it is the last time an american set the world record in the mile. What is the world record right now . 51, so at three minutes 343 or so three minutes 43 seconds or so. Would need to do some training or something. Jim some of the things are not so good. [laughter] pres. Trump we have breaking news. This could be the big story. Thats great. [laughter] that is some long period of time he held the record. In 1968, jim represented team usa at the mexico city olympics and he competed in 1972 at the munich olympics with great distinction. A few years later, he retired from running. He had been on the cover of Sports Illustrated seven times, was ranked horseman of the year in 1966, was inducted into the kansas hall of fame, and received the immortal nickname master of the mile antiwas. I remember a lot of your races, they werent even close. In 1975, he founded the jim ryan running camp jim ryun running camps. He has taught many people to reach their fullest and farthest potential. He is very devoted to christianity. In 1996, jim was elected to the house of representatives we have some great people in there though, i tell you. We have some great, dedicated hard workers and they have done it terrific job, right . Wouldnt you say . I think. Some really great ones. But he served five terms from kansas second district. He was a principled, committed, very tough, and beloved lawmaker. Thats what they said, tough yet beloved. That is a rare combination. Jim has personified the greatness of our country throughout his life. Whether he was running on a track race or whether he was doing anything there was, running for office, he was always the top person. People respected him more. I have heard it for a long time. I desk about him and they would say when he was in washington he was a respected person. Hes a giant of american athletics, a dedicated public servant, and a man of great charity, generosity, and faith. Hes a great man, actually. Jim, thank you so much for your unfailing devotion to our country and congratulations on a lifetime of incredible success, not only athletically. That was obviously a big deal. What you have done in life and even with your family has been just incredible. Id like to congratulate you very much. Before we present you with the incredible, beautiful medal id like to ask maybe katherine and ned to come up and say a few words if you would like and talk about your father, please. [applause] thank you, first of all, for giving us a couple of minutes. Dad, thank you for being the man that you are. I know that today it is all about your accolades in the public eye, not you have been such an amazing dad and a wife of more than 50 years to mom. Just a man of character. This is a man who loves the lord with all his heart. He has been such an amazing father to all of us. Thank you, im proud to be your daughter. Mr. President , thank you for having us here today. I want to leave you with my favorite verses from numbers. It is the lord bless and keep , may you, may he make his face to shine upon you and give you peace. [applause] pres. Trump thank you. Mr. President , thank you. This means a great deal to me. Im not going to get choked up. I got choked up last night, i told myself i wouldnt do that again. I just want to tell everybody, you know my dad as the miler, as the master of the mile, as the world record holder, as the threetime olympian. And i want to tell a story real quick of one of his former colleagues, jay dickey, out of arkansas. He pulled me aside one day and said ned, there are a lot of people in congress who think theyre all that. Theyre drunk on power and arrogant. Your dad walks the halls as the most humble, gracious person i know. The thing about your dads, there are very few people can say they were the very, very best at what they did. In a world of billions of people you are the absolute best. And your dad was. But youd never know that because he is so gracious, kind, and humble. I tell people this all the time. The sacrifice, everything that went in to being the very best in the world and yet you would never know it. You could have a conversation with my dad and when he talks with his fans and gives autographs an shares a few moments with them, the graciousness that is displayed is an example to me, as his son, and i tell people this all the time, the integrity and the honesty, the nobility that he has shown in life. If i can be half the man that he is, itll be a triumph. Thank you. [applause] pres. Trump thank you both. Ryun mr. President , i learned a long time ago when you have such great introductions, thank you for the comments, and you have your children saying wonderful things, its probably a good idea to find the exit while youre ahead. I am considering that however i want to make a few remarks. Mr. President , thank you. On behalf of my family, including my wife of 51 years, an yes, she did chase me down. Our children and grandchildren. Our dear friends who have traveled far and wide. Thank you for bestowing on me the high honor of the president ial medal of freedom. On behalf of them, i accept that an thank you for this privilege. These achievements we are celebrating began with a simple prayer. You talked about that a moment ago. After being cut from the church baseball team, Junior High Basketball Team i never made the track team. I began ending each day with a simple prayer. I throw out there for you, if you are looking for something this is a good way to start. Dear god, i would like my life to amount to something. I believe you have a plan for my life. Id appreciate your help in figuring it out. If you could help me out, make a plan that includes sports of some kind, id really appreciate it. Thank you and good night. [laughter] god indeed did show up in a huge way, answering my simple heart felt prayer. I finally made my first athletic team, wichita crosscountry team, my sophomore year in high school. God gave me a former marine to coach me. I wasnt supposed to be in his high school. If i didnt have plans to go to college, i instead across the school to be a draftsman so i could follow my father and brother and work at going. God works in mysterious ways. In my first year of running i became the National HighSchool Record holder. One month after starting to run seriously in 1964, i became the First High School boy to run a mile in under four minutes, a feat which many thought impossible until coach timmons , who we affectionately called timmy, had me sit with him on a bus ride from kansas city back to wichita my sophomore year. He told me, jim i think you could be the First High Schooler to break four minutes. Being perfectly honest i thought he might be just a little crazy. Every reality begins with a dream. A seed of inspiration. And timmy planted that seed and i wanted to believe him that maybe, just maybe, it was possible. I committed to it. Took ownership. And in the blazing hot summer, and in the bitter cold winters of kansas, began running 100 miles a week, week after week, month after month, many of them run in the dark after school, all to impress those countless hours into running four laps in less than four minutes. Not only what i break the fourminute mile my junior year of high school, months later i would find myself pouring every ounce of strength down the homestretch in the olympic team, taking the olympic meaning by winning by a mere feet at the age of 17. It was the beginning of an amazing eight years. I set the american record in a mile at 18 and followed timmy to the university of kansas wearing the famous pink and blue colors, winning ncaa titles. I can still hear our beloved pat timmons cheering me on today. Pat and timmy would become godparents to our children and ned would become let me try that again. They were grandparents to our children and ned would be godfather. Let me try that one more time. Godparents to our son ned. I would make two more olympic teams. World record for 1500. The world record in the half mile. The indoord world record for mile and half mile. The american record in two miles. And help set numerous World Records for various relay teams. And thats after being cut from the church baseball team. [laughter] this boy from wichita, kansas would one day have written his name on a piece of wood and bury and buried it in hopes someone would find it and remember him, would make the cover of Sports Illustrated seven times. All of that before the age of in 25. A day and age when many people think its appropriate to dishonor our flag, i will tell you it is one of the greatest privileges of my life to where the stars and stripes on my chest while racing in the 1960s and 1970s. There was such pride and love of country. I cannot tell you, mr. President , how much i appreciate your full throated championing of this great country. [applause] the accolades in my life have exceeded anything i could have imagined. And now mr. President , with the medal of freedom bestowed on me by truly one of the greatest republican president s is such a great honor. Mr. President , you have big dreams for america. Ones that echo for me, my old coach. Instill a dream, what could be, and pursue it with everything you have. Your dream of keeping america and the American Republic great and making her greater is an epic and noble pursuit. My wife ann, our daughter katherine, my son ned, and our four grandchildren and dear friends present today join you in the pursuit of helping make this a reality. Mr. President , it may surprise you, time diminishes us all. I no longer run fourminute miles. In fact, im not sure i could run a fourminute half mile. [laughter] and while the applause and cheers of men fade nothing can take away from me the moments when i was young and full flight down the final backstretch, the wind in my face, wings on my feet, powering away from my opponents. There was a period in those times when my mind overcame a tired body and for those few glorious moments i would slip the bonds of the physical and i was free. I had won and i look back now realizing my running career was a celebration. Theres no doubt in my mind we were all made for a purpose. I was made to run. I was also made to glorify god in all that i do. So in my words and actions, i celebrate that purpose and will do that always to his glory. What ann and i cherish very much is having had the privilege of raising four beautiful children. In addition, we have been blessed with the opportunity to give back to the sport of running. Weve had thousands of runners attend the camp through the years, instilling in them this truth. God loves you and has a plan for your life. And then we challenge them with the work to become balanced human beings. To become mentally and spiritually fit. Andceive this metal it is an incredible honor i will close by saying this. To god be the glory, great things he has done. This day and all of my achievements, this is the lords doing and is marvelous in his eyes. Mr. President , thank you for your loving and serving this great republican country. May god continue to bless you and your family with his peace. Thank you again for this great honor. [applause] jim ryan is a worldclass athlete and highly respected former member of congress. As one of the best middle distance runners of all time, he is the last american to hold the world record in the mile run. He proudly represented the United States at the 1968 summerx, earning a olympics, earning a silver medal. Following his success, he channeled his patriotism into a career in public service, representing kansas for more than a decade, distinguishing himself as a principled conservative. The United States proudly recognizes jim ryan for his meritorious contributions to our nation. [laughter] [applause] [inaudible] [applause] [inaudible] [applause] [laughter] rep. Ryun i would like to do a little bit more. All of you in some way are deserving of this metal because you helped in some way. Whether it was prayer or putting up with dad. [inaudible] [laughter] but you all contributed. So, on behalf of the president ial medal of freedom, i accepted it on your behalf as well, because its a country that no one ever does or sees the accolades i have. Im thankful for those. So, thank you very, very much. [inaudible] [applause] media people, you have in the room a couple of olympians. I want to point them out. Max. Max is a gold medalist. [applause] webb, who broke my high School Record. [applause] [inaudible] in the coming days, Funeral Services for john lewis will take place in alabama, washington, dc, and georgia. Our coverage continues tomorrow as his funeral procession crosses the Edmund Pettus bridge in selman alabama. Selma, alabama. 11 00s live starting at a. M. On cspan. Watch our live, unfiltered coverage of congress, the white. Ouse on issues that matter to you. To meet the needs of our states, our health care workers. Along with briefings on the coronavirus pandemic, Supreme Court arguments and decisions. And the latest from campaign 2020. Your calls and comments welcome. You part of the conversation with washington journal. And if you missed any of our live coverage, watch anytime on cspan. Org or listen on the go with the free radio app. Next hearing on safely , a reopening schools during the coronavirus pandemic. A house subcommittee heard from School Leaders in tennessee and dallas, texas. A pediatric Infectious Disease specialist and the president of the National Parent teacher association. This is 2. 5 hours. The subcommittee on Early Childhood elementary and secondary education will come to order. Welcome, everyone. Del. Sablan the subcommittee on Early Childhood elementary and secondary education will come to order. Welcome, everyone. I note that a quorum is present, and i note for the subcommittee that mr. Courtney from connecticut, ms. Mcbath of georgia, ms. Underwood of illinois ms. Lee of nevada, ms. , trahan of massachusetts, mr. Wahlberg of