Congratulating the Grand Valley State University Lakers for winning the 2002 NCAA Division II Football National Championship.

Mr. Speaker, pursuant to the order of the House of March 4, 2003, I call up the bill (H.R. 13) to reauthorize the Museum and Library Services Act, and for other purposes, and ask for its immediate consideration in the House.

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. 13.

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

Mr. Speaker, today the House will consider H.R. 13, the Museum and Library Services Act of 2003, which authorizes Federal assistance to museums and libraries through fiscal year 2009.

H.R. 13 maintains the modest, but essential, Federal support for museums and libraries across the country. It authorizes funds for the one Federal agency, the Institute of Museum and Library Services, devoted exclusively to museums and libraries, and encourages model cooperation between museums and libraries.

Last Congress, the Committee on Education and the Workforce reported a bipartisan authorization bill that had 94 cosponsors. It was supported by the administration and was endorsed by the American Library Association, the chief officers of State library agencies, and the American Association of Museums.

To complete our work from last Congress, I introduced H.R. 13, the Museum and Library Services Act of 2003. H.R. 13 has 126 cosponsors, makes several modifications to current law to streamline and strengthen museum and library services, and will help build on the bipartisan progress made by the committee during the 107th Congress.

Generally, this legislation authorizes the Federal Library and Museum program under the Institute of Museum and Library Services. More specifically, H.R. 13 requires the director of the Institute of Museum and Library Services to establish procedural standards for making grants available to museums and libraries which will prohibit projects that are determined to be obscene from receiving funding, ensures that library activities are coordinated with activities under the No Child Left Behind Act of 2001, consolidates Museum and Library Advisory Board activities under a single statute, authorizes the director of the Institute of Museum and Library Services to present national awards for library service and national awards for museum service, and ensures that administrative funds are also used to conduct annual analyses of the impact of museum and library services in order to evaluate and identify needs and trends of services provided under IMLS-funded programs.

I believe there is broad support for this reauthorization legislation, because museums and libraries are a vital part of our society. Attendance at America's museums is now at more than 865 million visits per year, and today's 21st century library is not merely a provider of books. Instead, the typical library coordinates a complete and comprehensive approach to community development and services.

The Library Services and Technology subtitle is the only Federal program solely devoted to supporting libraries. This legislation assists libraries in providing crucial services to the communities they serve. Throughout our Nation, libraries are at the forefront of reading and family literacy programs; and importantly, libraries serve as essential links to the business community, assisting with job creation and training programs, and assisting with business development initiatives as well. They are also critical for many people with disabilities, providing them with specialized materials and resources that are obtainable in a single location.

For older Americans, libraries provide a place to interact with others, use the Internet, and receive services. For those persons of limited resources or who live in remote areas, libraries provide access to books and reference materials, computers and the Internet, and community-based social services that are often available nowhere else.

The Museum and Library Services Act also supports museums in their educational role and assists museums in modernizing their methods and facilities so they are better able to conserve the cultural, historical, and scientific heritage of the United States.

Museums play an important role in its education of people of all ages. Specifically, most American museums provide K through 12 educational programming, with most using local and State curriculum standards to shape their programs. Additionally, museums increasingly partner with libraries to offer joint educational opportunities for adults, as well as children.

The Museum and Library Services Act of 2003 makes commonsense reforms to authorize museum and library activities, includes provisions important to Members on both sides of the aisle, and reauthorizes a program that should be supported by this Congress.

I would like to thank all those who participated in this process, including the ranking Democrat on the committee, the gentleman from California (Mr. George Miller), the Institute of Museum and Library Services, the American Library Association, the chief officers of State library agencies and the American Association of Museums. They deserve a great deal of the credit for this bipartisan bill before us today.

I look forward to moving this legislation through the House and working with the Senate to complete an authorization bill that President Bush will support, so that we can ensure that our Nation's museums and libraries are getting the best assistance we are able to provide from the Federal level.

I would also like to thank the staff that has worked on this bill.

I look forward to working with the gentleman from Texas (Mr. Hinojosa) on other legislation that will come through the subcommittee. We really did not work on this, we took a lot of what we did in the last Congress on this bill, but I really appreciate starting off in such a positive way on this bill, and also on the Child Abuse Prevention and Treatment Act that the House will consider sometime in the next couple of weeks.

I think it is a great start for this subcommittee. I look forward to working with my colleague on other legislation that will come before the subcommittee and am sure we will have the same kind of bipartisan effort on that legislation, especially the Corporation for National Community Service which our subcommittee will consider this year. I think this is a great start.

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

Mr. Speaker, I yield 2 minutes to the gentleman from Georgia (Mr. Burns), a new member of the subcommittee.

Mr. Speaker, will the gentleman yield?

Mr. Speaker, excuse me for interrupting, but before the gentleman continues with his remarks, I think it would be appropriate that the House recognizes that the gentleman from New York (Mr. Owens) is well-versed in this area, I believe being the only librarian, professional librarian, as a Member of the House of Representatives.

I would like to congratulate the gentleman and make that reference before the gentleman continues his remarks. I thank the gentleman for being down here.

Mr. Speaker, I yield 2 minutes to the gentlewoman from New York (Mrs. Kelly).

Mr. Speaker, I thank the gentleman for yielding time to me.

Mr. Speaker, I would like to thank and congratulate my colleagues who worked on this legislation. I also thank my colleagues in general for appreciating the role of libraries and museums.

I also would like to issue a new, repeated challenge to the Members of Congress to take a hard look at libraries and see that we have certainly shortchanged them or overlooked their importance as an institution that gives us the greatest bang for the buck. Our cost- benefits ratio with libraries is probably greater than any institution that we fund anywhere.

I yield to the gentleman from Michigan.

Mr. Speaker, I thank the gentleman very much. Now that my objectivity has been established, I would like to say that we have been slow to recognize it, but I hope that this bill will help to concretize in our minds the value of libraries and museums to work together.

I happen to live across the street from one of the greatest museums in America, the Brooklyn Museum of Art. I also live one block away from one of the greatest public libraries, the Central Library of the Brooklyn Public Library, where I worked for 8 years as a librarian. I got a master's degree from the Atlanta University School of Library Science, and was a librarian for 8 years before I went into another line of work that led to politics.

But in the history of Federal funding of libraries, everything we have done for libraries, of all the years there has been some kind of Federal assistance it would not equal the price of one aircraft carrier. I think that is unfortunate, because we do get a great deal of cost-benefits ratio, a good cost-benefit ratio from libraries.

I am particularly interested in the library service as the technology section of this bill. That section recognizes that libraries are moving with the mainstream in terms of digitalized and computerized learning, and that it is probably in the forefront. Long before other institutions were utilizing computers, we had a cataloging system that came out of Ohio where we could catalog any book in the Nation and put it through a computer system, and that one cataloging process could serve all the libraries throughout the Nation.

Cooperation among libraries of various kinds has gone on for a long, long time. One of the reasons libraries were able to deliver so much with so little is that they have always had those networks where they cooperate among libraries in a given system, among libraries across State borders, among local libraries and the Library of Congress. They are models of cooperation and collaboration.

We should also realize that in times of recession when we have difficult economic times, the libraries are used more than ever. This is a pattern that started certainly in the Great Depression. It has not changed.

I understand from my colleagues now in library service positions, especially public libraries, the use of libraries has gone up as the recession has set in. People go for very practical purposes: They are looking for books that will deal with changes in their occupations, or for various reasons; it is not recreational reading they go for when times are hard. So we should bear that in mind also, that it is an instrument by which people are able to change their own lives.

We also have had demonstrated over and over again, despite the fact that people who make budget decisions at

the local level often cut libraries first, that surveys in several cities and localities have established the fact that if the public is given the choice, would you pay more taxes for a particular service, libraries are right at the top in terms of individuals are willing to pay more taxes in order to keep their libraries open and keep their libraries operating at a quality level. That has been proven again and again. So in our reluctance to fund libraries, we are running counter to the perception of the public in terms of an institution where we get our money's worth.

Museums, of course, now serve so many different kinds of purposes. When we say ``museum,'' we are not necessarily talking about an art museum. There are museums of all kinds. I have three grandchildren, and my oldest grandson is 5 years old. He has dinosaur books, but when he went to a library and saw an exhibit, he came back and wanted to be a paleontologist. That big word certainly had meaning for him.

I hope that in the future we would be more generous and would be willing to authorize higher sums for these institutions that have proven their worth over and over again.

Mr. Speaker, I move to suspend the rules and agree to the resolution (H. Res. 13) congratulating the Grand Valley State University Lakers for winning the 2002 NCAA Division II Football National Championship.

Mr. Speaker, I ask unanimous consent that all Members may have 5 legislative days in which to revise and extend their remarks on H. Res. 13.

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

Mr. Speaker, I rise today to congratulate the Grand Valley State University Lakers Football Team. On December 14, approximately 3 weeks before the Ohio State Buckeyes became national champions, the Grand Valley State University Lakers Football Team set the national standard by winning the NCAA Division II Football National Championship by defeating Valdosta State University.

In all seriousness, as a Wolverine from the great State of Michigan, just north of the State of Ohio, congratulations to our colleagues of the Big Ten, the Ohio State Buckeyes. It was a great year for the Midwest. My sympathy to my colleagues in other parts of the country who did not enjoy the same type of success the Midwest had this year during the football season.

This game also was an exciting game that pitted the number one ranked Grand Valley State Lakers against the number two ranked and perennial football powerhouse Valdosta State University from the great State of Georgia. Ultimately, the game was won by the Lakers when quarterback Curt Anes threw a 10-yard scoring pass to wide receiver David Kircus with 1:04 left in the game to lift the Lakers to a 31-24 victory.

In addition to the national championship victory and the second consecutive trip to the national championship game, Grand Valley captured its second consecutive Great Lake Intercollegiate Athletic Conference Football Championship with a perfect 9-0 record, and going through the playoffs and concluding the season with a perfect record of 14-0.

Head Coach Brian Kelly, who has been with the team since 1991, has led the team to a 104-34-2 overall record and has much to be proud of. Coach Kelly assembled an extraordinary football program and a stellar coaching staff.

Led by senior quarterback Curt Anes, who on the evening before the championship game was awarded the 2002

Harlon Hill Trophy as Division II Football's most outstanding player, the Grand Valley State Football Team was an example of resiliency and determination as they strived to meet their team goal of a national championship. This triumph was truly a team effort.

Finally, I would like to also offer my thanks and congratulations to the extended family of Grand Valley State University, the alumni, the faculty, the fans, and of course the students who supported this team.

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

Mr. Speaker, I yield such time as he may consume to my colleague from the State of Michigan (Mr. Ehlers), who also represents a number of Grand Valley State campuses in his district.

Mr. Speaker, I yield myself the balance of my time, and I would once again like to congratulate the Grand Valley State University Lakers. They have had an awesome year. Today we recognize them and congratulate them for that performance.

Mr. Speaker, as we pass this resolution, I would extend to the President a request that he invite the Grand Valley State University football team to Washington, D.C., to a White House ceremony that the White House traditionally hosts for Division II national championships of all sports; and we look forward to that happening.

Mr. Speaker, I congratulate the extended Grand Valley State University family.

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

Mr. Speaker, I thank the chairman for yielding me this time, and I can only echo the words of congratulation that he has offered.

Just to give a little more information about Grand Valley State University, it did not start until 1960, with 223 students. If they fielded a football team that year, it would have consumed 10 percent of the student body. And in 42 short years, they went from that to a rather large University of 20,000 students, more than 48,000 alumni, and winning the national championship in the NCAA. It is an astounding record.

Also, I might mention that the main campus is in the west Michigan area, represented by the gentleman from Michigan (Mr. Hoekstra), from whom we just heard; but the downtown campus is in my district. That consists of many graduate studies programs, engineering, and post- graduate course offerings.

It is a remarkable record of success. I have to pay tribute to the former president, Arend (Don) Lubbers, who served from 1968 through 2001 and did an incredible job of taking a fledgling university and building it into a full-grown university. In fact, the football stadium at Grand Valley is named after him, and is called Lubbers Stadium. The current president, Mark Murray, succeeded Lubbers in 2001. He has been there a short time and has done a great job of continuing the work there.

Football and sports are not the be-all and end-all of the university experience, especially in Michigan, where we have a strong orientation towards academic performance. But President Lubbers understood that successful sports teams are a source of pride for the students, staff, administration, and alumni of the schools they represent. In this respect, Grand Valley State University Lakers have ably represented their university and all of west Michigan in their march to the national championship.

The opportunity of playing on national television in the Division II championship game in each of the past two seasons has given Grand Valley State University national exposure it never would have received otherwise. I wish to congratulate the team for their tremendous performance this year. They came within one game of winning the national championship last year. They came back determined to win it this year, and they did.

Congratulations are also due to Coach Brian Kelly, who was named last night as the American Football Coaches Association's Division II National Coach of the Year. He has done an outstanding job there. I also want to congratulate senior quarterback Curt Anes, who received the Harlan Hill Trophy, which is Division II's equivalent of the Heisman Trophy. He is also a First-Team All American.

Senior wide receiver David Kircus, also a First-Team All American, set numerous NCAA Division II and school records throughout his career.

In addition, congratulations are due to offensive lineman Dale Westrick and defensive lineman Keyonta Marshall, both named First-Team All Americans.

Also, I have to congratulate not only the school, not only the team, the coach and the players, but also the supporters of the Grand Valley State University Lakers, who set a conference attendance record. That shows their loyalty and their support for the university and for their sports teams.

So I am very pleased that the gentleman from Michigan (Mr. Hoekstra) has offered this resolution. I am very pleased to join him in commending Grand Valley State University and their football team for their very, very, very fine performance.

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

Mr. Speaker, I rise in strong support of this legislation that means so much to our Nation; and I, too, want to thank the gentleman from Ohio (Chairman Boehner); our ranking member, the gentleman from California (Mr. George Miller); and my good friend and colleague, the gentleman from Michigan (Chairman Hoekstra), the chairman of the subcommittee, for their work in bringing this bill to the floor today.

We have experienced an economic downturn over the past 2 years; and as

a result, the continuing vitality of our museums is in question. Many have had to close their doors to the public, staff has been laid off, budgets for curriculum materials has been reduced, and the general public wonders about our national priorities.

With our present economy, we have fewer contributions from corporations in support of vital library and museum functions. I support the reauthorization of the Museum and Library Services Act because all of us realize the vital importance of these institutions for our national fabric.

The bill provides modest, but essential, support for museums of all sizes to help them continue their operations, ensure equity of access, and foster culture and education for all our people.

In addition to operating expenses, the act elevates the role of these institutes of lifelong learning. Libraries are essential to parents and community organizations as they look for innovative ways to educate our children, our youth, and adults. The business community also has a big interest in excellent libraries, since the knowledge base for job creation, training programs and business development is a significant portion of library holdings.

In the past 5 years, libraries and museums have received hundreds of millions of dollars under this act to address a wide range of needs, including assessment of museum operations, conservation projects, staff training, technology upgrades, electronic linkages, resource sharing, and outreach programs.

I know that my own State of Texas has benefited from this act, and there is a project in Weslaco in my congressional district which is doing very good work with the resources provided by the Federal Government.

As the need for lifelong learning becomes even greater in the coming decades, this act will become increasingly vital. We have before us a good example of Federal, State, and local partnerships that deserves our continuing support.

I applaud the leadership for bringing this bill to the floor and urge all of my colleagues to support H.R. 13.

I also want to say that I look forward to working with our subcommittee chairman, the gentleman from Michigan (Mr. Hoekstra), because there are many things on the Committee on Education and the Workforce that we need to address. I hope we can work together in calling hearings so that we can get the input from the community nationwide as our States are facing big deficits in their respective governments and legislatures. I know that access to higher education at the community colleges and universities is going to be a serious problem because of the cuts that they have to make.

Mr. Speaker, I look forward to looking at that, and many other issues that are going to be very important to us here in our Nation's capital.

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

Mr. Speaker, I yield 5 minutes to the outstanding gentleman from New York (Mr. Owens).