To redesignate the facility of the United States Postal Service located at 1859 South Ashland Avenue in Chicago, Illinois, as the "Cesar Chavez Post Office".

Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the Committee on Finance be authorized to meet during the session on Tuesday, June 17, 2003, at 10:00 a.m., to hear testimony on the ``Implementation of U.S. Bilateral Free Trade Agreements with Singapore and Chile.''

committee on foreign relations

Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the Committee on Foreign Relations be authorized to meet during the session of the Senate on Tuesday, June 17, 2003, at 9:30 a.m., to hold a hearing on ``Treaties Related to Aviation and the Environment.''

committee on governmental affairs

Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the Committee on Governmental Affairs be authorized to meet on Tuesday, June 17, 2003, at 10:00 a.m., to hold a business meeting to consider pending Committee business.

Agenda

Legislation: S. 481, the Kurtz Bill; S. 589, Homeland Security Workforce Act; S. 610, NASA Workforce Flexibility Act of 2003; S. 678, Postmasters Equity Act of 2003; S. 908, United States Consensus Council; S. 910, Non-Homeland Security Mission Performance Act of 2003; S. 926, Federal Employee Student Loan Assistance Act; S. 1166, National Security Personnel System Act; and S. 1245, Homeland Security Grant Enhancement Act.

Post Office Naming Bills: S. 508, a bill to designate the facility of the United States Postal Service located at 1830 South Lake Drive in Lexington, South Carolina, as the ``Floyd Spence Post Office Building''; S. 708, a bill to redesignate the facility of the United States Postal Service located at 7401 West 100th Place in Bridgeview, Illinois, as the ``Michael J. Healy Post Office Building''; S. 867, a bill to designate the facility of the United States Postal Service located at 710 Wicks Lane in Billings, Montana, as the ``Ronald Reagan Post Office Building''; S. 1145, a bill to designate the facility of the United States Postal Service located at 120 Baldwin Avenue in Paia, Maui, Hawaii, as the ``Patsy Takemoto Mink Post Office Building''; S. 1207, a bill to redesignate the facility of the United States Postal Service located at 120 East Ritchie Avenue in Marceline, Missouri, as the ``Walt Disney Post Office Building''; H.R. 825, an act to redesignate the facility of the United States Postal Service located at 7401 West 100th Place in Bridgeview, Illinois, as the ``Michael J. Healy Post Office Building''; H.R. 917, an act to designate the facility of the United States Postal Service located at 1830 South

Lake Drive in Lexington, South Carolina, as the ``Floyd Spence Post Office Building''; H.R. 925, an act to designate the facility of the United States Postal Service located at 1859 South Ashland Avenue in Chicago, Illinois, as the ``Cesar Chavez Post Office''; H.R. 981, an act to designate the facility of the United States Postal Service located at 141 Erie Street in Linesville, Pennsylvania, as the ``James R. Merry Post Office''; H.R. 985, an act to designate the facility of the United States Postal Service located at 111 West Washington Street in Bowling Green, Ohio, as the ``Delbert L. Latta Post Office Building''; H.R. 1055, an act to designate the facility of the United States Postal Service located at 1901 West Evans Street in Florence, South Carolina, as the ``Dr. Roswell N. Beck Post Office Building''; H.R. 1368, an act to designate the facility of the United States Postal Service located at 7554 Pacific Avenue in Stockton, California, as the ``Norman D. Shumway Post Office Building''; H.R. 1465, an act to designate the facility of the United States Postal Service located at 4832 East Highway 27 in Iron Station, North Carolina, as the ``General Charles Gabriel Post Office''; H.R. 1596, an act to designate the facility of the United States Postal Service located at 2318 Woodson Road in St. Louis, Missouri, as the ``Timothy Michael Gaffney Post Office Building''; H.R. 1609, an act to redesignate the facility of the United States Postal Service located at 201 West Boston Street in Brookfield, Missouri, as the ``Admiral Donald Davis Post Office Building''; H.R. 1740, an act to designate the facility of the United States Postal Service located at 1502 East Kiest Boulevard in Dallas, Texas, as the ``Dr. Caesar A.W. Clark, Sr. Post Office Building''; and H.R. 2030, an act to designate the facility of the United States Postal Service located at 120 Baldwin Avenue in Paia, Maui, Hawaii, as the ``Patsy Takemoto Mink Post Office Building.''

Nominations: Michael J. Garcia to be Assistant Secretary for Immigration and Customs Enforcement, Department of Homeland Security; C. Steward Verdery, Jr. to be an Assistant Secretary of Homeland Security; Susanne Marshall to be Chairman of the Merit Systems Protection Board; Neil McPhie to be a Member of the Merit Systems Protection Board; Terrence A. Duffy to be a Member of the Federal Retirement Thrift Investment Board; Peter Eide to be General Counsel for the Federal Labor Relations Authority; Albert Casey to be a Governor for the United States Postal Service; and James C. Miller, III to be a Governor for the United States Postal Service.

Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the Committee on the Judiciary be authorized to meet to conduct a hearing on ``The Dark Side of a Bright Idea: Could Personal and National Security Risks Compromise the Potential of Peer-to-Peer Fine-Sharing Networks?'' on Tuesday, June 17, 2003, at 2:00 p.m., in the Dirksen Senate Office Building Room 226.

Tentative Witness List

Panel I: The Honorable Dianne Feinstein, U.S. Senator, [D-CA]; The Honorable Tom M. Davis, III, U.S. Representative, [D-VA, 11th District], Chairman, House Committee on Government Reform.

Panel II: Nathaniel S. Good, Graduate Student, School of Information Science, University of California at Berkeley, Berkeley, CA; Aaron Krekelberg, Lead Web Developer, University of Minnesota, Minneapolis, MN; Randy Saaf, MediaDefender, Inc., Los Angeles, CA; Alan Morris, Executive Vice President, Sharman Networks, Ltd., London, England; Chris Murray, Esq., Legislative Counsel, Consumers Union, Washington,

Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the Committee on Rules and Administration be authorized to meet during the session of the Senate on Tuesday, June 17, 2003, at 9:30 a.m., to conduct a hearing on Senate Resolution 151, requiring public disclosure of notices of objections, holds, to proceedings to motions or measures in the Senate.

Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the Committee on Veterans' Affairs be authorized to meet during the session of the Senate on Tuesday, June 17, 2003, for a hearing to consider the nominations of Mr. Alan G. Lance, Sr., and Mr. Lawrence B. Hagel, to be Judges, U.S. Court of Appeals for Veterans' Claims. The hearing will take place in room 418 of the Russell Senate Office Building at 2:30 p.m.

Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the Select Committee on Intelligence be authorized to meet during the session of the Senate on Tuesday, June 17, 2003, at 2:30 p.m. to hold an open confirmation hearing on Frank Libutti to be Under Secretary for Information Analysis and Infrastructure Protection, Department of Homeland Security.

Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the Special Committee on Aging be authorized to meet on June 17, 2003, from 10 a.m.-12 p.m. in Dirksen 628 for the purpose of conducting a hearing.

Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the Subcommittee on Consumer Affairs and Product Liability be authorized to meet on Tuesday, June 17, 2003, from 2:30 pm on Reauthorization of the Consumer Product Safety Commission.

Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the Subcommittee on Fisheries, Wildlife, and Water be authorized to meet on Tuesday, June 17 at 9:30 am to conduct a hearing to receive testimony on S. 525, the National Aquatic Invasive Species Act at 2003, a bill to reauthorize the nonindigenous Aquatic Nuisance Prevention and Control Act. The hearing will take place in SD 406, Hearing Room.

Mr. Speaker, I thank my good friend for yielding me time, and I thank the gentlewoman from Florida (Ms. Ros-Lehtinen) for her work on the consideration of this bill today. I would like to also thank all of the staff members who worked tirelessly in making this possible, and specifically I would like to thank my good friend Danielle Simonetta and Michael Layman from the majority side for all of the work they have done in making this bill. And I say to Danielle specifically that my daughter sends her good wishes. She is doing better, and she is real excited about Cesar Chavez and the opportunity for the action that we can afford his life here today.

Mr. Speaker, I rise to celebrate today the life and legacy of Cesar Chavez and to recognize his passion for empowering workers and for defending the rights of the disadvantaged.

The legislation we are considering today, H.R. 925, would designate a United States Postal Service facility at 1859 South Ashland Avenue in my district as the Cesar Chavez Post Office. The facility would serve as a permanent tribute and a lasting reminder of the selflessness and self-sacrifice that embodied Chavez's life and work.

Mr. Speaker, this is not the first time a legislative body has paused to honor Cesar Chavez, and it is my hope it will not be the last. The more buildings, the more streets, the more stamps and the more parks that are designated, the more we can keep Cesar Chavez's principles, his passion and devotion alive, and the more we will be able to encourage others to continue the unfinished business that Cesar Chavez left behind, to take up his fight and his causes and to make similar sacrifices in the name of justice and dignity.

Throughout history, there have been few individuals that have done more, that have fought harder or sacrificed as much to ensure dignity and decency for all workers than Cesar Chavez. The late Senator Robert F. Kennedy called him one of the heroic figures of our time.

Cesar Chavez remains a champion to working people around the world and an inspiration to generations of Latinos, both here in this country and abroad, and his accomplishments are an enduring symbol and a shining example of what one man can achieve in the fight for fairness.

Cesar Chavez stood up to the biggest, the most well-financed and the strongest corporate growers. He fought for farm workers who spent countless hours doing our Nation's most arduous and strenuous work.

He defended men and women crippled by despair and deplorable working conditions, so that they too could have a say in the fight for reasonable and respectable wages. Chavez fought for the most basic and the most fundamental and the most essential rights for workers. He fought so that growers would not spray pesticides while workers were in the fields. He fought so that they could have a clean water system and decent housing. And his actions and hard work were vital in achieving better pay for migrant farmers, to banning child labor abuses, and to mitigating the proliferation of sexual harassment of women workers.

Cesar Chavez's courage and his character helped strengthen the farm workers movement, and his principles of nonviolence continue to play an important role in the quest for social justice and human rights and for a world without prejudice or injustice.

Mr. Speaker, for everyone who has ever fought for fairness, Chavez is a model and a true mentor. Because he refused to let bigotry and bias go unchallenged, workers are better protected and represented today. Because he refused to respond to discrimination and intolerance with silence, we live in a better and more inclusive America.

According to Chavez, ``The truest act of courage, the strongest act of manliness, is to sacrifice ourselves for others in a totally nonviolent struggle for justice. To be a man is to suffer for others.''

At the time those eloquent words were articulated, Chavez was too weak to speak them himself. He was fasting in protest of violence against workers, and his speech had to be read by someone else.

Throughout his life, Chavez never relented, he never backed down, and he never wavered from his commitment to nonviolence. When he passed away in 1993, more than 50,000 people attended his funeral to pay homage and their respects to a man who fought so fearlessly, so tirelessly for those not always heard or even seen in our society.

A reporter wrote, ``During the vigil at the open casket on the day before the funeral, an old man lifted a child up to show him the small, gray-haired man who laid inside. `I am going to tell you about this man some day, he said.' ''

The legislation we are discussing today would ensure that countless others remember to tell their children about this man, about his life, his lessons, and his legacy. It will also help educate tomorrow's leaders about the characteristics that they should appreciate, about the achievements that they celebrate, and about the types of individuals that they should emulate.

Mr. Speaker, in the year since his passing, Chavez has been awarded many of our Nation's highest honors, including the 1994 Medal of Freedom. And the passage of this legislation, I believe, would serve as another important and lasting testament to the outstanding work of Cesar Chavez.

At the Commonwealth Club of San Francisco, Chavez said, ``The consciousness and pride that were raised by our union are alive and thriving inside millions of young Hispanics who will never work on a farm.'' And we must work to keep that consciousness and pride alive in future generations. We must work to keep the consciousness and pride alive as we advocate for a new generation of immigrant workers.

Every time someone in my community drops off a letter, goes to buy a stamp, or passes by the post office, they will be able to remember Cesar Chavez's life, remember his accomplishments, appreciate his vision and, ideally, summon the strength to embody his teaching in their daily activities. It will also serve as a focal point in a vibrant and growing Pilsen community and as a reminder of the challenges we face today.

Mr. Speaker, Cesar Chavez gave workers everywhere a reason to believe and a reason to dream. He inspired them, with his desire and discipline, to stand together and to do better and to reach farther. And in doing so, he gave so many the courage and the strength to fight for equity and equality.

That is why I urge the passage of this important legislation.

In ending, Mr. Speaker, I would like to thank my friends again, the gentlewoman from Florida (Ms. Ros-Lehtinen), and my dear friend, the gentleman from Chicago, Illinois (Mr. Davis), who I know when we finally get this legislation approved will be standing with me in inaugurating this wonderful new post office for Cesar Chavez.

Mr. Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may consume.

Mr. Speaker, I am pleased to join my colleague in consideration of H.R. 925, legislation redesignating a postal facility after Cesar Chavez, a fighter for dignity, human rights, and livable working conditions.

H.R. 925, which was introduced by my good friend and colleague, the gentleman from Illinois (Mr. Gutierrez), on February 26, 2003, has met the committee policy and has been cosponsored by the entire Illinois delegation.

Cesar Estrada Chavez, the founding leader of the first successful farm workers union, was born on March 31, 1927, near Yuma, Arizona, the second of six children. Cesar began working as a migrant worker when the family lost their land during the Depression. When he was 11 years old, the Chavez family followed the crop picking and moved to California, living in the trucks they drove.

Although working in the fields and attending school was difficult, if not impossible, Cesar managed to do both and graduated from the eighth grade. Shortly afterwards, he joined the Navy. After his tour of duty, he began teaching Mexican farm workers to read and write so that they could take the test and become American citizens. This activity marked the beginning of Cesar's efforts to improve working conditions for migrant workers.

Cesar Chavez founded the National Farm Workers Association in Delano, California, and in 1965 joined an AFL-CIO union strike against Delano Table and Wine Growers. This successful 5-year strike led supporters to the United Farm Workers, a national group of unions, churches, students, minorities and others. It became affiliated with the AFL-CIO.

Cesar continued organizing workers, strike after strike. And he produced results. Farm workers gained collective bargaining rights and under union contracts enjoyed higher pay, health care and pension benefits.

In 1984, Cesar called for another grape boycott, to protest the pesticide poisoning of grape workers and their farmers.

Cesar Chavez passed away at the age of 66 on April 12, 1993. Before he died, he received the Aztec Eagle, Mexico's highest award given to people of Mexican heritage who have made major contributions outside of Mexico. On August 8, 1994, President William Clinton posthumously awarded Mr. Chavez the Presidential Medal of Freedom, the highest civilian honor in America.

Mr. Speaker, I commend my colleague for seeking to honor the legacy

of Cesar Estrada Chavez, and urge swift passage of this resolution.

Mr. Speaker, I yield such time as he may consume to my friend, the gentleman from Illinois (Mr. Gutierrez), the sponsor of this legislation.

Mr. Speaker, I do not believe we have any additional requests for time, but I yield myself such time as I may consume to note that I was pleased to have the opportunity to be in the company of Caesar Chavez on several occasions, at rallies, demonstrations, marches, and on picket lines, even in Chicago where there were no farms. It is an excellent way of remembering the great contributions that he has made.

Mr. Speaker, I yield back the balance of my time.

Mr. Speaker, I rise today in support of H.R. 925, a bill to designate a U.S. Post Office in Chicago, IL the ``Cesar Chavez Post Office.'' I can think of no one more deserving of such an honor than the great civil rights leader, Cesar Chavez. I want to commend my colleague, Representative Gutierrez, for his leadership in bringing this legislation before the House and I am proud to join him as an original cosponsor.

Cesar Chavez was an organizer, an activist, a protestor, a farm worker, a peace-lover, a father, and a son. Raised in a family of farm workers forced to migrate throughout the Southwest, Chavez was led by his compassion, his ability to inspire others to action, and

his deep sense of fairness and equality to organize and establish what is today the United Farmworkers of America. Because of his efforts, many farm workers today enjoy higher pay, family health coverage, pension benefits, and other contract protections. While we still have a long way to go in giving farm workers the fair pay and healthy work conditions they deserve, Cesar Chavez laid the foundation toward accomplishing those important goals.

Cesar Chavez understood what it took to create a movement and he dedicated every part of his life to setting an example and leading the way. As a child and young man, he experienced firsthand the harsh working conditions of farm workers--the long hours, poverty wages, harassment, and abuse--as well as the limited access to education and health care. Understanding and addressing the roots of the problem, Chavez was able to make a lasting and significant impact. He conducted voter registration drives and campaigns against racial and economic discrimination. He led boycotts and pickets and hunger strikes. His nonviolent methods echoed those of Martin Luther King, Jr. and Mahatma Gandhi. He showed us all how critical it is to organize people, to unify them for a cause, and to help them believe in themselves and their ability to make a difference.

Cesar Chavez continues to be an example for us today. He taught us that ``Si se puede,'' or ``Yes we can.'' We can--and we must--help those with no voice, help those who are discriminated against, help those who are taken advantage of, and help those who live in poverty and are struggling to survive. If Cesar Chavez were alive today, I am sure he would still be leading the fight for fairness and equality for workers and their families. We must not let his legacy die; we must not let his great strides forward become giant steps backward. We must continue to work for what is right. I urge my colleagues to vote yes on

Mr. Speaker, I move to suspend the rules and pass the bill (H.R. 925) to redesignate the facility of the United States Postal Service located at 1859 South Ashland Avenue, Chicago, Illinois, as the ``Cesar Chavez Post Office''.

Mr. Speaker, I ask unanimous consent that all Members may have 5 legislative days within which to revise and extend their remarks on H.R. 925.

Mr. Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may consume.

Mr. Speaker, H.R. 925, introduced by my distinguished colleague, the gentleman from Illinois (Mr. Gutierrez), redesignates this postal facility in Chicago, Illinois, as the Cesar Chavez Post Office Building.

This legislation deals with an American civil rights advocate. Cesar Chavez grew up as a migrant agrarian worker after being born in Arizona in 1927. As a young adult he became involved in the Community Service Organization and ultimately rose to the position of general director in 1958.

Four years later, Cesar Chavez left the CSO to join with some of his fellow wine grape pickers and form the National Farm Workers Association. This organization was active in acquiring service contracts from major growers in California. His ambition led him to merge the National Farm Workers Association with the Agricultural Workers Organizing Committee of the giant labor umbrella organization, the AFL-CIO. The upshot group became called the United Farm Workers Organizing Committee.

In 1972, Cesar Chavez's organization became a member union of the AFL-CIO and he was named president. In this role, Cesar Chavez's influence only expanded, and he coordinated activities on agricultural issues.

Cesar Chavez will be remembered for his stands in support of workers, in support of their wages and their rights, and the difference he has made in the lives of all current and future workers. His advocacy has led to countless agreements between business and labor on a variety of important issues.

So my colleague from Illinois wants to name this post office for labor leader Cesar Chavez, and, therefore, Mr. Speaker, I urge all Members to support passage of H.R. 925.

Mr. Speaker, I reserve the balance of my time.

Mr. Speaker, I have no other speakers. Again, I want to thank the gentleman from Illinois (Mr. Gutierrez), my good friend, for introducing this measure, and I urge all Members to support the adoption of this resolution.

Mr. Speaker, I yield back the balance of my time.