Honoring the young victims of the Sixteenth Street Baptist Church bombing, recognizing the historical significance of the tragic event, and commending the efforts of law enforcement personnel to bring the perpetrators of this crime to justice on the occasion of its 40th anniversary.

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

First of all, let me rise to give overwhelming support to the gentleman from Alabama (Mr. Davis), my friend and distinguished colleague from the 7th Congressional District, and thank him for his leadership in bringing this important resolution to the Committee of the Whole today and to my colleague. Let me also thank his cosponsor, the gentleman from Alabama (Mr. Bachus) for this important legislation.

It is important to note that the gentleman from Alabama's (Mr. Davis) leadership was exhibited even in his freshman term. Coming from Birmingham, Alabama, he knew the important crucialness of this particular legislation.

This is, in essence, way before we were calling it such, a hate crime that occurred in Birmingham, Alabama, 40 years ago. In 1963, four young African American girls at the age of no more than 14, their names being Addie Mae Collins, Denise McNair, Carole Robertson and Cynthia Wesley, were bombed senselessly at the Sixteenth Street Baptist Church, and this day is considered the darkest day of history in Birmingham. This happened because there were those who felt the hatred of color was more superior than the respect for human life and human dignity.

This resolution not only pays respect to the young ladies who lost the many years remaining in their lives, but it encourages good law enforcement. It is a testament that there is good law enforcement and that it helps people when it is done thoroughly and with integrity.

The act perpetrated in Birmingham was what we consider a terrorist offense, and the actors were rightly brought to justice some 13 years later. It is important to note that all around the country we look to the depth of the work of law enforcement that occurred after the tragedy of the bombing in Birmingham in that church one Sunday morning as a testament that no act of violence, violation of civil rights or murder of innocent persons should go uninvestigated, no matter how long it takes.

This resolution congratulates all of those who persisted to bring the perpetrators to justice, and it pays tribute to these young girls and their families.

So I ask my colleagues to support this legislation, and I thank the immediate cosponsor, or the author of this legislation, the gentleman from Alabama (Mr. Davis), and his cosponsor.

Mr. Speaker, I reserve my time.

Mr. Speaker, it gives me great pleasure to yield 7 minutes to the distinguished gentleman from Alabama (Mr. Davis), for his leadership and for his vision, allowing us in its 40th year, coming to honor or to acknowledge this historic tragedy in the resolution.

Mr. Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may consume to thank the distinguished gentleman from Alabama and to say to him that I am glad he has reminded this House of the history of Alabama but as well the progeny and the fruits of Alabama that cross America's leadership landscape.

I thank him for paying tribute to these young girls and these families who have long suffered, as well as the law enforcement who did their job.

The gentleman mentioned one of our colleagues, and needless to say, whenever we have the opportunity to introduce the gentleman from Georgia (Mr. Lewis) in any affiliation with the movement, as we called it, we can say nothing more than to be so grateful that he has graced our presence in this institution by his presence and membership in this body. He speaks the truth, but he has lived it as well.

Mr. Speaker, I am delighted to yield 4 minutes to the distinguished gentleman from Georgia (Mr. Lewis).

Mr. Speaker, may I ask how much time remains?

Mr. Speaker, I am delighted to yield 2 minutes to the distinguished gentleman from Illinois (Mr. Davis), and to thank him for his commitment to these issues of civil rights and justice and this resolution.

Mr. Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may consume, and let me just say that we hope in this body that tragedies like the bombing in Birmingham would never have to occur again. We thank the gentleman from Alabama (Mr. Davis) for honoring us by bringing this to our attention and to the attention again of the Nation.

Just a few years ago, in Texas, something that we now define as a hate crime, occurred in Jasper County. James Byrd, an African-American male, was murdered and, ultimately, his body dismembered. As I close my remarks, I want to insert in the Record the words of his daughter, Frances Renee Byrd Mullins, in support of the James Byrd, Jr. Hate Crimes bill passed in Texas and authored by Representative Senfronia Thompson.

I will not read her statement at this time, but I would simply say that this commemorative resolution and statement being made today is not only to pay tribute, as I have already said, to these murdered young girls but to be able to remind us that we must be ever vigilant and diligent in fighting against hatred, hateful acts, murderous acts as we have done today by this statement, continued into the history of the United States, that we never repeat the past.

I ask my colleagues to support H. Res. 389.

Mr. Speaker, I rise to give overwhelming support to my distinguished Colleague from the State of Alabama, its 7th Congressional District, Artur Davis, and to thank him for his leadership in bringing this important resolution to the Committee of the Whole today.

He will come to the Floor to remind us of the act of terrorism that occurred in Birmingham, Alabama years ago--in 1963. Four young African- American girls, at an age of no more than 14, were murdered in a senseless bombing of the Sixteenth Street Baptist Church, and this day is considered the ``darkest day in the history of Birmingham.''

This resolution not only pays respect to the young ladies who lost the many years remaining in their full lives, but it encourages good law enforcement. It is the testament that there is good law enforcement and that it helps people when it is done thoroughly and with integrity. The act perpetrated in Birmingham was what we consider a ``terrorist offense,'' and the actor(s) were rightly brought to justice some 13 years later.

In my Congressional District in Houston, I am no stranger to the heinous perpetration of hate crimes and similar terrorist offenses.

On June 7, 1998 in Jasper County--minutes from Houston in Southeast Texas, James Byrd's throat was cut before he was dragged to bits along a lonely country road. I would like to share an excerpt from testimony given by Mr. Byrd's oldest daughter, Francis Renee (Byrd) Mullins in support of the James Byrd Jr. Hate Crimes Bill 87-60 authored by Rep. Senfronia Thompson, D-Houston:

As I come before you today it still sends chills through my

body just knowing the reasoning behind my being here. I find

it difficult to speak today because moments like these let me

know that the fact of the matter is that my father is gone

and has been for almost a year. I feel in my heart I am doing

the right thing by supporting this bill so that no other

family will have to suffer my tragic fate. I do not want to

sound rhetorical, but I feel as if I have to tell the story

in this way. For a moment, I want you to imagine, if you can,

walking home from an anniversary party, when three

individuals pick you up, take you to a remote area, beat you

repeatedly, then while you are still alive chain you by your

ankles to the back of a truck and then proceed to drag you

for about two and a half to three miles down a logging road.

The point in which you actually die after enduring a

tremendous amount of pain and broken bones is when your head

and arm are ripped from your body like a piece of paper is

torn. Now stop imagining. After coming back from the road my

dad was dragged to death on, how can we not want to do the

right thing and pass this bill? What if it was your father,

mother, sister, brother or even an animal that you love? An

animal should not have to undergo what my father went through

on the early morning of June 7, 1998.

Mr. Speaker, hate crimes are real, and they affect the lives of real people. This is why I have co-sponsored the Local Law Enforcement Hate Crimes Enforcement Prevention Act 2004.

We must prevent hate crimes from occurring and we must bring justice in a timely fashion. Mr. Speaker, I thank the gentleman from Alabama.

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

Mr. Speaker, let me thank my good friend from Texas for yielding me time, and let me begin, as is customary, by certainly

thanking the Chair of this committee and the ranking member of the committee, the gentleman from Michigan (Mr. Conyers).

I am well aware that in these last several days of the session there are a lot of bills competing to make their way onto this floor. There is a lot of potential legislation that could have been offered and put before this body, and I want to certainly thank them for allowing this bill to move forward.

Let me thank my good friend and my colleague, the gentleman from Alabama (Mr. Bachus), from Alabama's 6th District, for making this commemoration a bipartisan cause.

Finally, let me thank my colleagues from the Senate side, Senator Shelby and Senator Sessions, who have agreed to do everything in their power to move this resolution promptly through the Senate.

Let me begin, Mr. Speaker, by talking for a moment about that day, because it seems so distant and so far away as we stand here in this civilized capitol. It is hard to imagine, as people watch this on the television screens or in the gallery, that we were once a country where four little girls got up one Sunday morning, went to Sunday school wearing their Sunday best and never had a chance to make it home. It is hard to imagine, standing in this civilized place, that we were once a country that was so raw and so full of hate that this kind of crime could happen and that years and years would go by without it being prosecuted.

September 15, 1963, was a very different place. America was a very different land. And it is fitting that we come here today to call attention to these four little girls. Their names, Addie Mae Collins, Denise McNair, Carole Robertson, and Cynthia Wesley, echo across these last decades, and the violence that was inflicted on my city of Birmingham, Alabama, rings across those decades as well.

After I speak today, my good friend and colleague, the gentleman from Georgia (Mr. Lewis), will stand here, and I am reminded every time I see him of the journey we have made in America in the last 41 years. We have gone from a place where four little girls could not find safety in the sanctuary of a church to the House of Representatives where 40 of us who proudly sit here are African-Americans, and to a U.S. Senate that will soon host another African-American.

We have come a long way from a time where four little girls could not find sanctuary in a church to a place where a native of Birmingham, Alabama, an African-American, is now our National Security Advisor, and another person with Birmingham ties, an African-American, is now our Secretary of State.

But it is still fitting that, as far as we have come, that we take the time to think about the tragedy. And I am pleased that my colleagues will have an opportunity to pass this resolution that writes this violent act in stone so that all future generations can see it.

Another important part of this resolution is that it honors the law enforcement personnel. The reality is, it took 14 years for the Alabama Attorney General William Baxley to bring the first of the killers to justice. It took 31 years, to 1994, for the Federal Government to reopen its investigation, and it took until the spring of 2001 for the final killer who still lives to be brought to justice.

Without the work of the former United States Attorney Doug Jones and the former Alabama Attorney General William Pryor, this justice would not have been achieved and the indictment and prosecution of these killers would not have occurred. Honoring them is an important part of this resolution.

Let me end with just these two observations. Whenever we think of this kind of sadness in America, we should also still look to the promise in our country. Whenever I hear the eloquence of the gentleman from Georgia (Mr. Lewis), as this chamber will in a few moments, it ought to remind us of the promise that exists.

It so happens that this September 15, 2004, the gentleman from Georgia (Mr. Lewis) and I were at this church at a commemorative event. He was there as the keynote Speaker. I was there to introduce him. And during the course of that service something enormously profound happened. We looked up in the balcony, and there was a choir of little black girls from Sixth Avenue Baptist Church in Birmingham, Alabama, and they were standing there singing America the Beautiful, and they were waving American flags as they did it.

I looked over at my colleague and my friend from Georgia, and he had a tear in his eye, as did many people who were in that church. And I have to say to my colleagues today, Mr. Speaker, that to stand in that place, 41 years after four little girls could not even manage to leave there alive, and to see those little black girls singing about the beauty of their country and waving the flag that we so proudly salute, if that does not make you feel proud to be an American, then I do not know what will.

So I conclude today simply by saying that memory is enormously important. Commemoration is enormously important. But the real power of this institution is to take those memories and translate them into contemporary good works; to take the power of those memories and to translate them into an enduring commitment to make this country as just as possible. So in their spirit, I offer this resolution and, in advance, thank this House for passing it.

Mr. Speaker, I move to suspend the rules and pass the bill (H.R. 389) to authorize the use of certain grant funds to establish an information clearinghouse that provides information to increase public access to defibrillation in schools.

Mr. Speaker, I ask unanimous consent that all Members may have 5 legislative days within which to revise and extend their remarks and insert extraneous material on H.R. 389.

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

Mr. Speaker, what I have before me is an emergency external defibrillator, and that is the purpose of the bill we have on the floor as we speak. It is an incredible device that saves lives, and that is what this legislation is a means to address.

As one of the original co-sponsors of this bill and as a proud member of the Committee on Energy and Commerce, I would like to commend all of those who have worked to bring this legislation to the floor.

This is a training model of an AED, an acronym that stands for Automatic External Defibrillator. While the training device cannot save a life, AEDs can and have in every corner of the States. While many know about our Chicago airports which have lead the Nation establishing public access to defibrillation programs, I would like to tell you the story about Sean Morely. Sean is a 13-year-old boy from Buffalo Grove, Illinois, whose life was saved because of an AED. While playing baseball Sean was hit in the chest by a fastball. He went into sudden cardiac arrest, a condition where the victim's heart most commonly flutters in the chest, but does not provide the body with oxygenated blood. Within 10 minutes, there is nearly zero chance of saving a cardiac arrest victim's life. But Sean was lucky. A passing police officer from another district used the defibrillator in the trunk of his car to restore a normal heart beat for the young athlete.

It is important to realize that defibrillation is the only way to restart a sudden cardiac arrest victim's heart. Without that defibrillator, this story would have had a much different ending.

Stories like these have driven State governments to pass bills requiring AEDs in numerous locations. The Adam Act will help our local communities by setting up a national clearinghouse to provide schools with how-to and technical advice to set up public access defibrillation programs. It will ensure that schools have access to the appropriate training, successful fund-raising techniques, and other logistics involved. This is particularly helpful to smaller school districts that do not have the local resources such as a major hospital that often exist in more urban areas.

The clearinghouse will also collect data on a large scale, an effort to allow for research with issues related to cardiac death in children and adolescents.

Over 200,000 Americans die each year of sudden cardiac arrest including children. The American Heart Association estimates that about 50,000 of these victims' lives could be saved each year with a strong chain of survival. The chain of survival includes an immediate call to 911, early CPR and defibrillation, and the arrival of early advanced life support.

Please do not think that your community does not need this type of assistance. Consider that the average emergency response time is about 12 minutes. That is 2 minutes after a cardiac arrest victim is beyond help. The small cost in supplying this technology to our schools will be returned in full and by the length of service of years to the community for each young life saved.

Mr. Speaker, I appreciate all my friends and colleagues who have worked on this legislation.

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

Mr. Speaker, I yield such time as he may consume to the gentleman from Louisiana (Mr. Tauzin), chairman of the full committee.

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

I, too, want to mention the support from my colleague who just spoke, the gentlewoman from California (Mrs. Capps), who has really become a champion on a lot of health care-related items, and so when we get her on our team that is a good teammate to have, and I do appreciate that.

There is a health care crisis in America. There is a health care crisis in rural America. I think the point that 10 minutes, the response time being 12 minutes for the response time from most paramedics, 10 minutes is too short of a time. They cannot get there. That poses this need for this bill. That chain of survival, the E-911. We had the E-911 Caucus that helped us locate individuals, CPR, defibrillation and other life support measures.

This is an important bill and I appreciate the committee and my friends on the Democratic side for helping move this expeditiously to the floor. I ask my colleagues to support this bill.

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

Mr. Speaker, on that I demand the yeas and nays.

Mr. Speaker, I move to suspend the rules and agree to the resolution (H. Res. 389) honoring the young victims of the Sixteenth Street Baptist Church bombing, recognizing the historical significance of the tragic event, and commending the efforts of law enforcement personnel to bring the perpetrators of this crime to justice on the occasion of its 40th anniversary.

Mr. Speaker, I ask unanimous consent that all Members may have 5 legislative days within which to revise and extend their remarks and include extraneous material on H. Res. 389 currently under consideration.

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

Mr. Speaker, I rise in support of House Resolution 389, a resolution honoring the young victims of the Sixteenth Street Baptist Church bombing, recognizing the historical significance of the tragic event, and commending the efforts of law enforcement personnel to bring the perpetrators of this crime to justice on the occasion of its 40th anniversary. This resolution expresses the sense of the House and of all its Members that the bombing brought shame and sadness to the American community.

As we all know, our country has had a difficult history in the struggle to end racial discrimination. Nevertheless, there are some events in our history that are so awful that we must never forget them, even after the racial situation has vastly improved.

We are here today on one of these occasions. On Sunday, September 15, 1963, four little girls, Denise McNair, Cynthia Wesley, Carole Robertson and Addie Mae Collins, went to Sunday School to worship and were senselessly murdered by those who practice hate and bigotry.

In 1977, 14 years after the crime, Robert Edward Chambliss, one of the four suspects, was convicted of murder. In 1994, 31 years after the crime, another of the suspects, Herman Frank Cash, died before he could be prosecuted. In 2001, 39 years after the crime, Thomas Blanton, Jr., was convicted of murder, and in 2002, the last of the suspects, Bobby Frank Cherry, was also convicted of murder.

The law enforcement community deserves to be commended for this 39- year-long investigation that brought justice to the families and friends of Denise, Cynthia, Carole and Addie Mae.

The Sixteenth Street Church bombing did lead to the passage of the 1964 Civil Rights Act. As we remember that tragic bombing, let us also work to meet the goals of the Civil Rights Act so that the deaths of those four girls are not in vain.

I would like to thank the gentleman from Alabama (Mr. Davis) and the gentleman from Alabama (Mr. Bachus) for introducing this resolution. I ask for Members' support in passing it.

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

Mr. Speaker, I yield the balance of my time to the gentleman from Virginia (Mr. Goodlatte) and ask unanimous consent that he be allowed to yield time as he deems fit.

Mr. Speaker, I want to thank my colleague and my friend, the dear gentlewoman from Texas, for yielding me this time. I want to thank my friend and colleague, the gentleman from Alabama, (Mr. Davis), for bringing this resolution before us.

Mr. Speaker, 41 years ago last month, domestic terrorists bombed the Sixteenth Street Baptist Church in Birmingham, Alabama, claiming four innocent lives and changing the course of American history. On that Sunday morning, four beautiful young girls, Addie Mae Collins, Denise McNair, Carole Robertson, and Cynthia Wesley went to church and never came home. Four young lives, so full of promise, cut short by hatred.

Church is usually a safe haven, but it was anything but safe when segregationists who opposed the integration of Birmingham schools, lunch counters, and restaurants targeted the Sixteenth Street Baptist Church on Sunday, September 15, 1963.

As long as I can remember, I will never ever forget that Sunday. It was one of the most painful and one of the darkest hours of the Civil Rights movement. Within 3 hours of the bombing, I made my way to Birmingham. I stood in front of the church and witnessed the devastation, the pain and the hurt. I kept asking myself: What is it, what is it in human beings, what is it in our makeup that would make us so mean, so hateful, and so vicious toward our fellow human beings? What is it, what is it in us that would drive human beings to plant a bomb in a church on Sunday morning knowing that others will be killed?

I recall attending the funerals later that week. There was so much pain, so much sorrow, so much sadness, so much hurt. As horrible and tragic as their deaths were, those four young girls did not die in vain. Their blood has liberated not just the Nation, but a people. Their murders did not stop integration, as the terrorists had planned

it. Instead, their deaths shed new light on the struggle for civil rights and spurred support for the movement.

While we in the Civil Rights movement were profoundly saddened by the loss of four precious flowers from God, we did not despair. Rather, our resolve to continue to fight was solidified. In the words of my friend, my brother, my colleague, and mentor, Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., their deaths called us to ``work passionately and relentlessly for the realization of the American Dream.''

In their honor, we persevered. And in their honor, we celebrated the passage of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 and the Voting Rights Act of 1965.

So, Mr. Speaker, I think it is fitting that, today, we honor the memory of these four young lives and recognize the importance of this tragedy in the cause of civil rights for all Americans. Like all my colleagues who have spoken before, I ask each of you to join in supporting this long overdue recognition by passing this resolution.