The Caucus Blog of the Illinois House Republicans

Every year, around late March, the eyes of the nation turn to a stretch of Potomac River waterfront in the nation’s capital known as the Tidal Basin, where the beautiful blooming of a line of cherry blossom trees signals the long-awaited arrival of spring.

The trees were a 1912 gift from Yukio Ozaki, the mayor of Tokyo, to the city of Washington and the people of the United States, as a gesture of goodwill and the hope for a lasting friendship between the two countries.