 This year, the National Trust for Historic Preservation is pleased to honor Senator Bill Cassidy with the 2018 John H. Chafee Trustees Award for Outstanding Achievement in Public Policy. This award recognizes an individual or organization that has made a remarkable contribution to preservation in the public policy field at the federal, state, or local level over a sustained period. In recent years, this award has been given to Heritage Ohio and the Texas Historical Commission for their leadership in advancing historic tax credits on the federal and state level. This year's Chafee Award recognizes Senator Cassidy's steadfast leadership in ensuring that the federal historic tax credit was included in the 2017 Tax Cut and Jobs Act. As the nation's most significant investment in historic preservation, the historic tax credit since 1981 has leveraged more than $144 billion in private investment, created more than 2.5 million jobs, and preserved more than 43,000 historic buildings. Senator Cassidy continues to support preservation as the sponsor of the Historic Tax Credit Enhancement Act, which would encourage greater investment in rehabilitation projects and maximize the impact of the historic tax credit. Senator Cassidy, we thank you and applaud your leadership on behalf of Historic Preservation. Congratulations on this well-deserved honor. Hello, I'm Louisiana Senator Bill Cassidy, and I am so honored to receive the John H. Chafee Award today from the Pass Forward National Preservation Conference. But I feel like I should share this with you, because it truly was an example of representative democracy, where the issue was brought to me, I happened to be on the Senate Finance Committee. On the other hand, it was a partnership with you, in which we educated my Senate colleagues and through that process of education built the support necessary to preserve this historic tax credit. Now, what do we educate them to? We educated them to the transformative possibilities of using historic tax credits. As I was once told by an advocate for them, you want buildings which are historic, iconic, and catalytic. Catalytic for a community or a section of a community that might be in decline, but because of the historic tax credit is renewed, rejuvenated. And in that rejuvenation of a building, it contributes to the rejuvenation of a neighborhood, a community, a people. You can come to my state in Louisiana and see wonderful examples of this. Many people have visited New Orleans. When I went to medical school there in the early 80s, there were buildings which were beautiful, but clearly past their heyday. Now you walk by those same buildings, they are beautiful, and they clearly are on the advent of a new heyday. That is the power of the historic tax credit. So, let's celebrate. I celebrate receiving this award. Thank you again very much. But let's also celebrate a victory for representative democracy, bringing facts to people on Capitol Hill to build support for an historic tax credit, which for so many communities has preserved the historic, the iconic, and has been catalytic. Thank you again.