Expressing the appreciation of Congress for the contributions of the United Service Organizations, Incorporated (the USO), to the morale and welfare of the members of the Armed Forces and their families.

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

Mr. Speaker, as co-chair of the USO Congressional Caucus, I join my colleague and good friend, Congressman Miller, on the House Armed Services Committee, who is our founding co-chair of the USO Caucus, in support of House Concurrent Resolution 322. This resolution recognizes the 65th anniversary of the United Service Organizations and extends Congress's appreciation to the USO for 65 years of dedicated service in support of our Armed Forces and their families.

I have personally seen the impact of the USO on the lives of our Nation's military during visits, as my colleague mentioned, to Iraq, Afghanistan, and military facilities around the world. I have also seen the work of the USO closer to home. The congressional care package stuffing party, which was held in the Rayburn foyer last September, helped provide care packages stuffed by Members of Congress and our staffs for soldiers deploying from the Continental United States Replacement Center in my district at Fort Bliss, Texas.

Also at Fort Bliss in December, the USO established a Wounded Warrior Room at William Beaumont Army Medical Center, providing soldiers recovering from combat injuries a place to relax during their treatment. And later this spring, the USO will open a new center on the main post of Fort Bliss to serve both those currently stationed at Fort Bliss and also the nearly 20,000 soldiers who will be coming to El Paso as part of the decision of BRAC and the overseas rebasing troop movements.

While we see every day the good things that the USO does for our soldiers, sailors, airmen, and marines, many Americans may not remember how the USO came into existence. The year was 1941, and President Franklin D. Roosevelt challenged six private organizations to take responsibility for the leave recreation of the armed services. The six organizations were the Salvation Army; the Young Men's Christian Association, the YMCA; the Young Women's Christian Association, the YWCA; the National Catholic Community Services; National Travelers Aid Association; and the National Jewish Welfare Board. These six organizations pooled their resources together and became known as the United Service Organizations, or more commonly referred to today as the USO. The USO incorporated on February 4, 1941, and remains a private nonprofit organization that is supported entirely by over 1 million American citizens and hundreds of corporations.

Back in its early days, USO facilities were opened in such unlikely places as churches, log cabins, museums, castles, barns, beach clubs and yacht clubs, railroad sleeping cars, and even some storefronts. These USO facilities were many things to so many people, a place to see movies or a place to dance and meet people, a quiet place to talk or write letters back home, a place to find religious counsel, and always a place to go for free coffee and doughnuts. By 1944, the USO had more than 3,000 clubs across the country. However, by 1947 the USO had all but disbanded.

During the Korean war, the USO eventually reopened 24 clubs worldwide; and during the conflict in Vietnam, the first USO opened in a combat zone. It is here where I can tell you, Mr. Speaker, that I have personal knowledge of just what the USO means to a young soldier far away from home, bringing a little bit of home to a combat zone.

As the draw-down in Vietnam ended, the USO began to provide new programs to help servicemembers and their families transition back into civilian life. With the current conflicts in Iraq and Afghanistan, the USO opened its first center in Afghanistan, the Pat Tillman USO Center, at Bagram Air Base in 2005. Today there are more than 124 airport and family centers worldwide, located in 10 countries and 21 States.

The USO is also recognized for its entertainment effort on behalf of our servicemembers and their families. In fact, one cannot recognize the USO and not remember that the most beloved and recognized entertainer, the great Bob Hope, was part of the heart and soul of the USO. Bob Hope began his first USO tour in 1942 and continued to entertain and support our troops for more than five decades. Bob Hope brought laughter and joy to thousands of men and women deployed around the world, and he and other entertainers volunteered to entertain the troops both in the United States and abroad, often under some of the most trying situations and conditions.

Today that same commitment and dedicated spirit lives on in the hundreds of entertainers that have volunteered and continue to support our deployed troops in Operation Iraqi Freedom and Operation Enduring Freedom, as well as other bases around the world.

Today the USO continues its outstanding achievement under the leadership of president and chief executive officer Ned Powell; chief of staff Sarah Farnsworth; and senior staff, Michael Farley, John Hanson, Keith Weaver, Bruce Townsend, and Hilary Welch; and the contributions from the USO World Board of Governors. These great people continue to help build and sustain the USO. But the most critical component of the USO and what makes it so special and what makes it so unique are the over 33,000 volunteers and paid staff members who contribute over 400,000 hours of service annually. These are people that are the heart and soul of the USO and provide direct comfort and assistance to our troops and their families, and I want to thank them all and honor them for their service to our troops and their families.

Congress also recognizes the important role that the USO plays in support of our servicemembers and their families; and to further provide support to the USO, it established the USO Congressional Caucus. As co-chair of the caucus, I am pleased that over 150 of my colleagues have joined that effort to enhance the outreach to our soldiers, sailors, airmen, marines, coast guardsmen, and their families.

So today, Mr. Speaker, I urge my colleagues to join me in support of this great resolution.

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

Mr. Speaker, I have no further requests for time, and I yield back the balance of my time.

Mr. Speaker, I rise to today in support of House Concurrent Resolution 322 to recognize the outstanding contributions of the United Service Organization (USO) to the morale and welfare of our servicemen and women in the U.S. Armed Forces and their families. I also take this occasion to commend the USO upon their 65th anniversary.

The USO has served as a source of support, entertainment, and morale for American troops since its chartering in 1941. Established at the request of President Franklin Delano Roosevelt, the USO has served our Nation's

servicemen and women ever since. I commend the efforts of those six civilian agencies--the Salvation Army, Young Men's Christian Association, Young Women's Christian Association, National Catholic Community Service, National Travelers Aid Association and the National Jewish Welfare Board--that came together in support of our troops in creating the USO, bringing about its official incorporation in New York on February 4, 1941.

The USO has strong ties to Guam. Burgeoning with U.S. military personnel following the liberation of the island, the USO first came to Guam in the early 1950s. Delivering entertainment and laughs to those serving on Guam, the USO's work on Guam was but a small glimpse of its work lifting the morale of servicemen and women around the world.

The combat zones of the past included Korea, Vietnam and Kuwait. Today the USO brings entertainment to our men and women serving in Iraq, Afghanistan and the Horn of Africa among many other places. For 65 years, wherever you found America's military, you found the USO, no matter the location or the danger.

The USO not only brings entertainment, a piece of home and a smile to troops deployed abroad through its shows, but serves as a ``home away from home'' for servicemen and women in 124 centers around the world. I am pleased to state that this proud tradition will soon be resurrected on Guam. The USO will re-open its Guam branch on March 23, 2006. With the military presence on Guam steadily growing, the USO has once more answered the call to service. With growing unease in Asia, the strategic location of Guam is increasingly valued. The men and women who serve on the island provide stability to the region and security to our Nation. The USO will once again ensure that these men and women, their families and their guests nonetheless always have the support they need. No doubt this branch will also bring to Guam many of the USO's trademark shows.

Let me take this chance to say, on behalf of the people of Guam, welcome back to the USO. As we say on Guam, Hafa Adai and Si Yu'os Ma'ase (thank you) for their work.

Our Nation enjoys a spirit of brotherhood, of service and of charity that is a reflection of a national value of selfless service. The USO embodies this national value. And the people who are the USO live this national value. Over 12,000 volunteers donate over 450,000 hours annually thereby allowing the USO to serve our Nation's greatest servants. Not to be forgotten are the celebrities and entertainers that often headline USO tours, lending their time and talents to honor those people who provide them the very opportunity to live the American dream they have realized. And providing the foundation upon which the USO can operate are countless thousands of U.S. donors, both private and corporate, who make giving a centerpiece of their lives.

I join my colleagues in commending the USO and all of the men and women who over time and who now make up this great organization for the service they provide to those who serve our Nation in uniform. Like our military men and women, you too are heroes. You are what makes America great. God Bless the USO, God Bless our men and women serving around the world today and God Bless America.

Mr. Speaker, I move to suspend the rules and agree to the concurrent resolution (H. Con. Res. 322) expressing the Sense of Congress regarding the contribution of the USO to the morale and welfare of our servicemen and women of our armed forces and their families, as amended.

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 the resolution currently under consideration.

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

Mr. Speaker, the United Service Organizations, established on February 4 of 1941, has become a national treasure. In every war and every theater of operation since World War II where Americans have been deployed, the USO has been there to entertain and to increase the morale and welfare of the men and women in the military and their families. As the chairman of the USO Caucus it is my pleasure to bring this resolution to the floor today.

When the organization was formed, the military was expanding rapidly for the impending conflict. Between 1940 and 1944 the size of our military grew from 50,000 to over 12 million. At its high point during the Second World War the USO had over 3,000 clubs and 1.5 million volunteers to provide services to military personnel. On the entertainment side, the U.S. provided 428,521 shows and performances. To put this figure into perspective around the world, the USO would do sometimes 700 shows a day. It estimates that over 7,000 entertainers were sent overseas to entertain our troops.

Today, USO facilities are visited over 5 million times a year; and although the USO does have a paid staff, the bulk of the service that they provide is through 12,000 volunteers who donate over 450,000 hours annually.

In 2005, the USO sent out over 50 celebrity entertainment tours. Almost

200,000 servicemembers in some 30 countries were visited by these tours. The USO has distributed over 750,000 care packages to deploying servicemembers, and last year they had three care package stuffing parts right here on Capitol Hill for troops deploying to Iraq and Afghanistan. I have helped stuff packages myself, as have many other Members of Congress and their staff. We have to date stuffed and sent 12,000 care packages. My goal is to increase that number to 20,000 a year. It is the least that we as Members of Congress can do.

H. Con. Res. 322 will recognize the thousands of men and women, mostly volunteers, who have made the USO possible, for without them the USO would not be half of what it is.

Every time I have the opportunity to go overseas to Iraq, Afghanistan, to Bosnia and other areas of operation around the world, the men and women tell me all the time, send us more USO shows.

Send us more of those USO care packages. To me, Mr. Speaker, that says that our USO continues to be the single most important morale booster to our men and women serving overseas. From the Second World War to Iraq, the USO has been there and is there today, and we are here for the men and women of the USO.

God bless them and the incredible work that they do.

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

Mr. Speaker, I yield such time as he may consume to the gentleman from South Carolina (Mr. Wilson), a gentleman who has three sons serving in our Armed Forces today, one of whom returned from service in Iraq last year.

Mr. Speaker, I have no further requests for time, and I yield back the balance of my time.

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

Mr. Speaker, I rise today in strong support of H. Con. Res. 322, acknowledging the contributions of the United Service Organization to the morale and welfare of the servicemen and women of our armed forces and their families.

It is with great honor I join Congressman Reyes and my fellow colleagues in supporting the United Service Organization (USO), an organization I know well as a Vietnam-era Marine. The USO was formed in response to a 1941 request from President Franklin D. Roosevelt for the purpose of providing the men and women of the Armed Forces with comfort, hospitality, and recreation. The USO continues to successfully fulfill this mission in collaboration with the U.S. government and numerous private organizations.

Since the opening of the first center in 1963, the USO has grown to over 120 centers worldwide, ranging from Seattle, Washington to Seoul, Korea. Annually, 12,000 volunteers donate 450,000 hours of their time assembling and delivering over 750,000 care packages to deployed service members. Last year, Members of Congress and their staff participated in three care package stuffing events that assembled about 12,000 packages for troops deploying to Iraq and Afghanistan.

As our military continues to grow and change, the mission of the USO also continues to expand and incorporate new ideas to better serve our servicemen and women. In 2003, the USO began ``Operation Phone Home,'' which distributed over one million prepaid phone cards to our troops, enabling them to communicate with family members while stationed overseas.

The most well-known programs sponsored by the USO are the Celebrity Entertainment shows, which have proven to be an effective morale booster. In 2005, the USO sent over 50 celebrity entertainment tours in 30 countries, which were attended by almost 200,000 service members. Longtime USO entertainer, Bob Hope, is perhaps the most memorable advocate of the USO. His legacy continues to inspire and attract celebrities, entertainers, and the American people to donate their time and talents in support of the troops.

The USO provides a channel for American citizens to express appreciation and admiration to those who bravely defend the United States overseas, and to let our military men and women know they are cared for and not forgotten. The USO embodies the generous spirit of the American people and their unwavering support for our servicemen and women. On the 65th Birthday of the USO, I, sincerely extend my thanks for providing so much support and comfort to our Armed Forces.

Mr. Speaker, I rise in strong support of this resolution and thank my colleagues from Florida and Texas for introducing it.

Established on February 4, 1941, at the direction of President Roosevelt and chartered by Congress in 1979, the USO has long provided generously for the morale and welfare of our troops. Through their various programs, events and campaigns, the USO extends a touch of home to the men and women of our nation's military. The USO benefits from the generosity of many Americans, as the bulk of the service delivery is provided by 12,000 volunteers who donate over 450,000 hours annually.

Funded through the generous contributions of the American people, organizations and corporations, the USO operates 124 centers worldwide and 6 mobile canteens. With overseas centers located in Germany, Italy, France, the United Arab Emirates, Bahrain, Iceland, Bosnia, Japan, Qatar, Korea and Kuwait; the USO has built an extensive network--with service members and their families visiting USO centers more than 5 million times each year.

Many of us in this Chamber have participated in or witnessed firsthand the good work done by the USO for many of our constituents. Since 2003 the USO has distributed over 1 million prepaid phone cards as part of Operation Phone Home. The cards have been distributed in Iraq, Afghanistan, hospitals, and even to service members impacted by Hurricane Katrina. In 2005 the USO sent out over 50 celebrity entertainment tours. Almost 200,000 service members in 30 countries were visited by these tours. Additionally, over 750,000 care packages were delivered to deploying service members. Last year the USO held three care package stuffing parties on Capitol Hill for troops deploying to Iraq and Afghanistan, where Members of Congress and Staff were able to assemble about 12,000 care packages.

More than just entertainment, the USO also provides critical services such as ``newcomer'' briefings for troops and family members and new spouses; family crisis counseling and support groups for families separated by deployments; housing assistance; and nursery facilities.

Mr. Speaker, as co-chair of the House USO Caucus, it gives me great pride to rise in strong support of this resolution and in support of the USO for all of the work they have done for our military community and our nation.