Architect of the Capitol Tom Austin welcomes attendees to the 61st annual lighting ceremony, featuring Nevada’s first 53-foot red fir, Silver Bell, a 3,000-mile journey from Humboldt Toyabe National Forest. Over 22,000 handmade ornaments—the most ever—celebrate Nevada’s culture, while Lieutenant Governor Stavros Anthony honors Grady Armstrong, the essay-winning Youth Lighter. Senator Catherine Cortez Masto ties the tree to Nevada’s 2024 wildfire recovery, calling it a symbol of resilience. Grady’s essay praises his state’s forests and landmarks, underscoring how Silver Bell embodies both civic pride and national unity in shared traditions. [Automatically generated summary]
So you learn as much as you can, you make the best decision you can based on the information you have, and the society as a whole gains from that.
A knowledgeable electorate is the foundation of any functioning representative democracy.
And that's what we do.
We have loads of programs for civic education, civic involvement, particularly among the young or youth, the leadership initiative.
It has programs in thousands and thousands of high schools and middle schools and elementary schools.
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And live now to the annual U.S. Capitol Christmas Tree Lighting Ceremony.
Cortez Masto.
Senator Jackie Rosen.
Representative Mark Amade.
Representative Dina Titus.
Representative Stephen Horsford.
Representative Susie Lee.
Lieutenant Governor Stavros Anthony.
Chief Tom Schultz of the U.S. Forest Service.
Architect of the Capitol Thomas Austin.
And youth tree lighter Grady Armstrong.
fourth grade student from Virginia City, Nevada.
Well, good evening.
Welcome to the 61st annual Christmas tree lighting ceremony here at the United States Capitol.
I am Tom Austin, the 13th Architect of the Capitol, and I am honored to be here this evening as Speaker Mike Johnson lights the 2025 Capitol Christmas Tree with the help of our special guest, Grady Armstrong, this year's Youth Christmas Tree Lighter.
We are so pleased to have Grady and his family here all the way from Virginia City, Nevada.
It is a pleasure to welcome Speaker Johnson, the Nevada delegation, Secretary Brooke Rollins, Chief Tom Schultz, Lieutenant Governor Stavros Anthony, and all of our distinguished guests this evening, including our Capitol Hill neighbors and those of you who are visiting from Washington, D.C.
Lighting the Capitol Christmas Tree has been a festive holiday tradition since 1964, when former Speaker John McCormick asked one of my predecessors, the eighth architect of the Capitol, J. George Stewart, to place a Christmas tree on the Capitol grounds.
We have partnered with the United States Forest Service for this event since 1970, and we truly appreciate their assistance in finding and providing the perfect candidate each year to serve as the people's tree.
I'm thrilled to say that we have made a beautiful selection this year, a 53-foot red fir tree from the Humboldt Toyabe National Forest, our first ever Capitol Christmas tree from the great state of Nevada.
I want to express my gratitude to the Forest Service and especially the team at the Carson Ranger District for all of your hard work in providing this tree, aptly named Silver Bell, after the Silver State.
Silver Bell made quite an impressive journey, traveling over 3,000 miles by truck to get from the largest national forest in the continental United States to the west front lawn of the United States Capitol.
Thank you to everyone who helped this tree make such a trip.
We truly appreciate your efforts to bring the holiday spirit to Washington, D.C.
I want to extend my heartfelt thanks to Jim Kaufman and the Capitol Grounds and Arboretum team here at the Architect of the Capitol, who have spent several days and some nights since the tree's arrival decorating it with thousands of lights and handcrafted ornaments from communities across Nevada.
I'd also like to thank the members of the Capitol Power Plant team for providing the power to the tree and the sound system to help us celebrate her.
We are grateful for your efforts and can't wait to see the people's tree lit up in all of its splendor.
We are delighted to have a beautiful tree that Nevadans and all Americans can be proud of.
Thank you all for coming to celebrate this wonderful time of the year here at the United States Capitol.
Ladies and gentlemen, Chief Tom Schultz of the United States Forest Service.
Good evening and Merry Christmas.
Mr. Speaker, Senator Cortez-Masto, Senator Rosin, Representative Amadei, Secretary Rollins, and other distinguished guests, my name is Tom Schultz, and I'm honored to serve as the 21st Chief of the U.S. Forest Service, where I have the responsibility of overseeing the management and protection of 193 million acres of national forest and grasslands across this great nation.
Today is an exciting day, not only for me but for our entire agency, especially the mighty and talented team from the Humboldt Tyobe National Forest.
The Forest Service has a long and beautiful tradition of providing and delivering a fresh-cut tree to our nation's capital going back to 1970.
This is the 55th year and the first year for the Silver State to hold this incredible opportunity and sacred responsibility to provide the U.S. Capitol Christmas tree.
This majestic red fir behind me is Silver Bell, nicknamed to symbolize the Silver State to celebrate this holiday season.
More than 22,000 handmade ornaments and dozens of tree skirts representing Nevada's iconic places, wildlife, and culture were created to support this effort, the most ever submitted.
They beautified the tree standing behind me and dozens of other fresh-cut and fragrant trees throughout the many federal buildings here in Washington.
For those visiting Nevada, I challenge you to go beyond the bright neon lights and you'll discover that it's a recreator's paradise and has everything you could possibly desire when enjoying the great outdoors.
From riding the ski trails on Mount Rose to exploring the ponderosa pine forest and hiking scenic vistas across all corners of the state.
This year's campaign theme, Starry Skies to Neon Lights, Spirit of the Silver State, is a fitting tribute which captures Nevada's natural beauty, the history of the land, and the brightness of its residents.
Before I conclude, I want to extend my deepest congratulations to the Forest on a job well done getting this important milestone.
Your careful planning, your collaborative spirit, and your impressive teamwork are a great credit to you and represent the greatness of the Forest Service employees.
I also want to share my appreciation to the many sponsors and partners who believe in the spirit of this campaign and the spirit of Christmas and have dutifully donated their time, their finances, and services to make this project happen.
Thank you especially to the Society of American Foresters, Sierra Forever, and our presenting sponsor, 84 Lumber.
Thank you for allowing me to celebrate and recognize a piece of the great work the Forest Service is doing to serve the American people.
Merry Christmas.
Ladies and gentlemen, the Honorable Stavros Anthony, Lieutenant Governor of Nevada.
Thank you.
Again, my name is Stavros Anthony.
I'm honored to be Nevada's Lieutenant Governor.
And I just want you to know how excited our Nevadans are to have this Christmas tree for the first time here on the Capitol grounds.
So thank you, Speaker Johnson.
Thank you, Secretary Rollins, for hosting us tonight and all our great Nevadans for coming out.
It was about six months ago when the U.S. Forest Service contacted me and told me that Nevada for the first time was going to get picked for the Capitol Christmas tree and they asked me to be part of the process.
And this has been quite a journey, quite an exciting journey to get where we are today.
And first of all, I just want to say how professional the U.S. Forest Service employees are.
These are some of the most dedicated, professional people I have ever met, and they take this process very seriously.
So please give a nice round of applause to all the U.S. Forest Service employees that are out here.
They are absolutely wonderful.
And it started with we had to create 10,000 Christmas tree ornaments.
And I said, that's a lot of ornaments.
We ended up creating over 20,000 ornaments for this tree.
That's how excited Nevadans were.
Next, we had to pick a kid from Nevada who's going to read an essay talking about the great state of Nevada.
And we had around 250 kids submit essays.
The U.S. Forest Service and some other folks went through them, selected three that they thought were the best, and they gave those three to me to pick the finalist.
And once I read all three, all three were great, but Grady Armstrong was the one that stood out the most.
Grady is here.
You're going to hear from him tonight.
His family's here.
They live in Virginia City, Nevada.
Virginia City was one of the wealthiest cities in the world at one time because of the gold and silver mines.
Today, the mines aren't as productive as they used to be, but Virginia City is still a great place to live, great place for a kid like Grady to grow up, and a great tourist destination.
So if you ever come out to Nevada, please visit Virginia City.
And next, obviously, the tree was selected.
It was selected from northern Nevada.
It started its journey on the Nevada Day parade a couple of weeks ago, and then it went down through Winnemucca, through Ely, down to Las Vegas for its last stop in Nevada, and then it went across the country.
And I want to give a little shout out to the truck driver.
I don't know where he is, but this truck is massive, absolutely massive.
And he treated this tree like it was a diamond that would not be chipped.
And I want to thank him for bringing it out here safely.
So thank you for all of you coming out.
Nevada is proud to have their tree here on the Capitol grounds.
Merry Christmas to all of you.
Ladies and gentlemen, the Honorable Mark Amade, United States Representative from the 2nd District of Nevada.
Good evening.
Is there anybody here from Hugh Gallagher Elementary?
Home of the miners?
Anybody from Virginia City High School, the home of the muckers?
All right, that's a little bit better.
Come on, we've got the weather just right for 6,200 feet in Virginia City.
You guys ought to be going.
Grady, thank you for bringing your parents along.
We're absolutely proud of you.
Your mom is actually an alumna of Virginia City High School, so that's great.
You're like a legacy guy, good man.
Your dad, Douglas Tigers, not so much.
Yeah, yeah, there you go.
There you go.
So listen, I want to thank you for your efforts at what you wrote.
I've read it several times.
Pretty darn good, strong stuff.
You can hang with anybody floating around here.
But hey, folks, look around you where you're at.
This is a Nevada night, looking down the mall with the Capitol in the background.
The speaker's shivering a little bit, but he'll warm up by the time he has to give his talk.
So don't worry about that.
It's not Gulf Coast weather.
The people from southern Nevada, great job on this sunset here.
They were in charge of the eyewash.
Northern Nevada's in charge of the temperature, so enjoy it.
At least it's not wet again.
Grady, congratulations.
Congratulations to the state of Nevada.
Go Virginia City Muckers.
Ladies and gentlemen, the Honorable Catherine Cortez Masto, United States Senator from Nevada.
Well, good evening.
All right, we do have to do a shout out.
Where's our Nevadans?
Let me hear you.
Yes.
I have to say we are all honored to be here celebrating the first ever Capital Christmas tree, the people's tree from the great state of Nevada.
And don't you think it's about time?
So excited.
I also want to thank the men and women of U.S. Forest Service for making sure that Silver Bell arrived here safely and for the often thankless work they do to protect our forests.
I also want to thank the Speaker, our Secretary of Agriculture, Secretary Rollins, our entire delegation, and our Lieutenant Governor as well for being here.
Let me say, this isn't the only tree, as this tree isn't the only one who's traveled a long way to be here.
I have to thank also, and you've heard a shout out to him, but to Grady Armstrong.
You're going to hear from him.
He's an incredible young man and so articulate.
And I'm telling you, I've done some interviews with him.
He gives better interviews than I think most of our delegation.
He is amazing.
He knows everything about this tree and the holiday season.
And that's why I understand he was picked to be here today.
So this year's People Tree is, as you have heard, is beautifully decorated with 23,000 unique ornaments, many of them provided by Nevadans throughout the state.
To get to Washington, D.C., Silver Bell traveled throughout the Silver State, as you've heard, then across the country, and this tree really has been on a journey.
It comes to us from one of the largest national forests in the lower 48 states, Nevada's Humboldt Toyabe National Forest.
To many people that don't understand Nevada, yes, we have forests.
There's more than just the wonderful neon lights of Las Vegas.
And that's why as Nevadans, we are so proud to be here to join in this evening.
Last year, however, I want to say why this is so special for us.
Last year, a patch of the Humboldt Toyabe National Force was the site of the Davis Wildfire, which ravaged 5,800 acres of land over 18 days before our incredible firefighters contained it.
Those are our firefighters, our wildland firefighters, our Forest Service men and women who work in the Forest Service fighting fires, as well as some of our National Guard.
But you may not know this.
One of those firefighters and one who is out there every single day is Grady's dad, Brent.
And I want to thank him and our forest, U.S. men and women of the Forest Service and our firefighters for everything they are doing.
They are keeping our communities safe.
The Davis fire destroyed homes and devastated local families, leaving behind an ugly burn scar.
But over a year later, the community is stronger than ever.
Students are planting new trees in the forest.
And Silver Bell, standing tall in one of our country, in our country today, is actually a symbol of that resilience and perseverance.
Perseverance.
I can't think of a better story to represent the American spirit.
In times of hardship and suffering, we find a way to forge ahead and prevail.
That is the story of our country.
And as the People's Tree illuminates our nation's capital this month, may it serve as a reminder to all Americans that there is always light and hope, especially during the holiday season.
Merry Christmas to everyone.
Ladies and gentlemen, the Honorable Brooke Rawlins, United States Secretary of Agriculture.
I'm Brooke Rollins, and I'm just so pleased to be here.
I'm going to keep this super short because I know we're all a little chilly and we want to hear from Grady and we want to see him light this tree.
But a couple of quick things.
First, on behalf of my boss, President Donald Trump and our entire cabinet, to all the Nevadans in the audience tonight, welcome to Washington, D.C.
We are so happy to have you here.
This morning we celebrated at the U.S. Department of Agriculture, the People's Department, we like to call it, founded by Abraham Lincoln in 1862, and had a lot, probably the same crew of Nevadans in with us just down the mall on the left.
And I will say the people that I met from Grady, his two beautiful little sisters, Hadley and Paisley, their amazing parents, as we talked about, a firefighter and a teacher from beautiful Nevada.
I mean, this is real America and the opportunity to be here with all of you, but especially with you, Nevadans, as we celebrate the very first tree in a 55-year history from your beautiful state.
The final thing I want to say is how privileged and honored and proud I am to serve all of the amazing people in the United States Forest Service, a part of the U.S. Department of Agriculture.
One of the great unexpected joys and blessings of my work over the last year at USTA has been getting to know these incredible people who put their lives and their work and their passion and everything they have every day into protecting our beautiful forests across this great country.
As we move toward the lighting of this tree, may we never forget the reason for the season and what this light represents behind us, the light of the world.
And we first, of course, want to thank Chief Schultz and Mr. Austin for making this night possible, as well as the man who did journey across the country to bring this beautiful tree to the Capitol.
His name is Michael Porter.
And I would ask you to stand, but it's so dark, we can't even see where you are.
Now behind me stands the great state of Nevada's very first Capitol Christmas tree, as we've all heard.
It stands at a proud 53 feet, and even in this dark season, this tree shines bright, not from just one light, but from thousands shining together.
And in much the same way, the strength of our nation is found in the individual, in the small towns and neighborhoods, in places like Elko and Incline Village and Henderson and Virginia City.
But all of us know that America, not unlike this tree, is strongest when we stand together as one nation under God, and we can never forget that.
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We also know that great trees take generations to grow.
Like the fir, the work of preserving this grand experiment in self-governance is also generational.
And it falls to us to steward and protect it so that our children may inherit all the blessings that we enjoy today.
So next year, as we look ahead, we'll be celebrating our nation's 250th birthday.
And we want to remember that sacred responsibility and to renew our commitment to this essential task that we have together.
Christmas is a fitting time to do just that, to look beyond our material blessings and to lift our gaze on high, just as the wise men once did on their journey to Bethlehem.
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As we approach the end here, I want to wish you all a Merry Christmas from our family to yours.
And I know that we look forward to this time every year.
It is about 20 degrees warmer than it was last year with a brisk wind, so you're blessed.
We all are.
And I now have the privilege of inviting the man of the hour we heard so much about.
And hi, my name is Grady Armstrong, and I am nine years old in the fourth grade at Hugh Gallagher Elementary School in Virginia City, Nevada.
My grandpa worked at Mount Rose Ski area for nearly 50 years, and my dad is a firefighter at Lake Tahoe.
My mom is a teacher right here in Virginia City.
They have shown me the love for the forest, nature, and the outdoors.
I want the country to know how special Nevada's public land and national forests are.
These lands are full of wonder from big animals like elk, mule deer, bighorn sheep, and even moose to smaller animals like fish, lizards, and birds.
Hiking with my family, I have seen water bubble out of the earth in places that look super dry.
These springs give life to so many plants and animals.
Sometimes you can find arrowheads near these springs, a reminder of the life they gave tribes that lived off the land.
We also love seeing ancient petroglyphs carved into rocks by people who lived here long ago.
My favorite wilderness areas are Mount Rose and Ark Dome.
We've also visited the Sheldon Antelope Refuge and the Massacre Rim Dark Sky Sanctuary, where the night sky is so dark you can see millions of stars.
One of my favorite things to do is when our family takes what my mom and dad like to call Nevada highways, which are nothing more than dirt roads in the middle of nowhere.
We've found ghost towns, abandoned mines, and the most amazing untouched landscapes.
You don't have to go far to enjoy Nevada.
Right from my school playground, you can look east for hundreds of miles over the mountain ranges that make up the Humboldt Tiobe National Forest.
Last month, we went to the top of Mount Davidson and watched the sunset over the Sierras and at the same time howled at the full moon as it rose over the Nevada landscape.
Nevada is not just a desert, it's full of life, history, and beauty.
And I think everyone should know how important it is to protect and enjoy these amazing places.
And also, you have a future as a speechwriter here on Capitol Hill, okay?
We always need improvement in the comm shop, so you can come help us, okay?
Okay, I want to invite the Nevada Congressional Delegation and Lieutenant Governor Anthony and Mr. Austin and Chief Schultz for the lighting of the tree.
Ladies and gentlemen, the Honorable Thomas Austin, architect of the Capitol.
Well, it's hard to follow a Christmas tree right at the end, so I'll make this very brief.
Thank you for coming to tonight's ceremony and joining Speaker Johnson, the Nevada delegation, Secretary Rollins, the Forest Service, the U.S. Coast Guard Band, and our youth tree lighter Grady Armstrong in lighting the U.S. Capitol Christmas tree.
This tree will be lit from dusk until 11 p.m. each night.
Now until January 6th, we encourage you to come back and see it again in all of its splendor.
Have a good night and a safe and joyful holiday season.
Ladies and gentlemen, this concludes the ceremony.
Thank you for attending the United States Capitol Christmas Tree Lighting Ceremony.
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On Wednesday, the House Homeland Security Committee will examine threats and violence against law enforcement officers with leaders from the National Sheriffs Association and the Fraternal Order of Police.
This, in the wake of a September attack on an ICE facility in Texas, and last week's shooting of two National Guard members in Washington, D.C. We'll have live coverage of that Wednesday, starting at 10 a.m. Eastern on C-SPAN 3, C-SPAN Now, our free mobile video app, and of course, online at c-span.org.
On Wednesday, British Prime Minister Kier Starmer appears before members of the House of Commons to discuss domestic and foreign policy issues during Prime Minister's Question Time.
Watch it live from London starting at 7 a.m. Eastern on C-SPAN 2.
C-SPAN Now, our free mobile app, or online at c-span.org.
Now to an announcement from President Trump on federally backed investment accounts that's part of the tax and spending package he signed into law this summer.
President Trump mentioned that billionaires Michael and Susan Dell were donating $6.25 billion to so-called Trump accounts designated to give every U.S. citizen child born between January 1st, 2025 and December 31st, 2028, an initial deposit of $250 to grow up until they turn 18 years old.
Both Adele spoke about their desire to help American children in poverty have the opportunity to To save money.