Expressing the sense of the Congress that the Department of Defense should continue to exercise its statutory authority to support the activities of the Boy Scouts of America, in particular the periodic national and world Boy Scout Jamborees.

Madam Speaker, I move to suspend the rules and agree to the concurrent resolution (H. Con. Res. 6) expressing the sense of the Congress that the Department of Defense should continue to exercise its statutory authority to support the activities of the Boy Scouts of America, in particular the periodic national and world Boy Scout Jamborees.

Madam Speaker, I ask unanimous consent that all Members may have 5 legislative days within which to revise and extend their remarks on the concurrent resolution under consideration.

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

Madam Speaker, once again we find the Boy Scouts of America under attack from the American Civil Liberties Union. This time the ACLU has set its sights on the Department of Defense, challenging its longstanding support of the Boy Scouts.

In 1999 the ACLU of Illinois sued the DOD, the Department of Housing and Urban Development, and the Chicago Board of Education for sponsoring Boy Scout programs because participation in Boy Scouts includes an oath to God. Ultimately, the Chicago Board of Education suspended its sponsorship of scouting activities, and on Tuesday, November 16, 2004, the Department of Defense agreed to issue a worldwide directive to all its military facilities that the Department and its personnel may not sponsor Boy Scout units in an official manner.

Madam Speaker, it is already the policy of the Department of Defense not to sponsor any private non-Federal organization including the Boy Scouts of America. The Department does, however, provide support to the Boy Scouts with use of bases and facilities and donations and the use of surplus equipment.

Currently, the DOD spends $2 million every 4 years to prepare Fort A.P. Hill, a Virginia military base, for the Boy Scouts' national jamboree. The Department also makes an annual allocation of $100,000 to support Boy Scout units on military bases overseas and another $100,000 to improve Boy Scout properties such as summer camps. This support, and not the Department's sponsorship, asserts the ACLU, is in violation of the establishment clause of the first amendment to the Constitution, and is the basis for the lawsuit.

However, since March 10, 1972, the Department of Defense has been specifically authorized to make military installations available to, and to provide equipment, transportation, and other services to the Boy Scouts of America in support of national and world gathering, including events like their jamborees. The Department has also been given authority under title 10 of the U.S. Code to sell and in certain cases donate obsolete or excess material to the Boy Scouts.

While the Pentagon's directive will not impair their continued support for the Boy Scouts, the ACLU lawsuit quite frankly threatens it. Since its inception, millions of Americans of every race, creed, and religion have participated in the Boy Scouts of America. As of October 1, 2004, the Boy Scouts utilize more than 1.2 million adult volunteers to serve 2.863 million youth members organized in 121,051 units. With the help of agencies like the Department of Defense, many of these fine young men have gone on to become notable world figures. Let me give some examples: Neil Armstrong, Hank Aaron, Sam Walton, President Gerald Ford. And this is just a few.

Madam Speaker, the traditions of the Boy Scouts have been under attack for years by liberal groups. The DOD has been authorized to support the Boy Scouts for over 30 years, and any move to threaten this relationship is simply unconscionable. My resolution encourages the DOD to continue to exercise its statutory authority in its longstanding and successful relationship with the Boy Scouts of America.

Madam Speaker, I reserve the balance of my time.

Madam Speaker, I yield such time as he may consume to the gentleman from Tennessee (Mr. Duncan).

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

The gentleman from Missouri (Mr. Skelton) knows firsthand the impact of the Boy Scouts in the lives of a young boy, and I appreciate very much his statement.

Madam Speaker, I yield 2 minutes to the gentleman from Georgia (Mr. Kingston).

Madam Speaker, I yield 2 minutes to the gentleman from Indiana (Mr. Hostettler).

(Mr. HOSTETTLER asked and was given permission to revise and extend his remarks.)

Madam Speaker, I yield back the balance of my time, and encourage everyone to support this resolution.

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

Madam Speaker, I rise in strong support of this resolution, and I want, first of all, to commend the gentleman from Colorado (Mr. Hefley) for introducing this resolution.

The Boy Scouts emphasize God and family and country, and I will tell the Members this: there are many fine charitable religious and civic organizations in this country, but I do not see how there could be any that are finer than the Boy Scouts of America.

I spent 7\1/2\ years as a criminal court judge before I came to Congress, trying felony criminal cases. I was told on the first day that I was judge that 98 percent of the defendants in felony cases came from broken homes. I went through 10,000 cases in that time, and I read thousands of times reports saying defendant's father left home when the defendant was 2 and never returned, defendant's father left home to get a pack of cigarettes and never came back. And I know that many outstanding people come from broken homes, but I also know that there are many young boys growing up in this country today without a good male role model in their lives.

In fact, I remember one Friday afternoon going to National Airport after one of the horrible school shootings that we had in another part of the country where a junior high school boy had shot up a school, and the national head of the YMCA was on the CBS national news saying that children were being neglected in this country today like never before. I do not know if that is true and I hope it is not, but certainly it is an epidemic-type problem that the Boy Scouts are in the forefront of working against, of fighting, of trying to make sure that boys are growing up with good male role models and are growing up with good guidance in their lives and are not being neglected as never before like the national head of the YMCA said.

Also, the gentleman from Colorado mentioned the ACLU. I know in the lead case brought by the ACLU, they received $690,000 in legal fees and $160,000 in court costs, $950,000 from the taxpayers. The gentleman from Indiana (Mr. Hostettler) has introduced a bill to not make the taxpayers pay those types of legal fees. We should pass that type of bill.

But above all, the first good start is to pass this resolution, and I urge my colleagues to support this resolution and express our very strong support for one of the most outstanding organizations in this country today, the Boy Scouts of America.

Madam Speaker, I ask unanimous consent to control the time of the gentleman from North Carolina (Mr. Butterfield) in his absence.

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

Today I rise in support of the resolution introduced by the gentleman from Colorado (Mr. Hefley), my good friend. I wholeheartedly endorse this resolution, which expresses the sense of Congress that the Department of Defense should continue to provide assistance and support to one of America's most treasured institutions, the Boy Scouts of America.

The Boy Scouts of America is one of the finest organizations in our country. Countless young men have learned the values of God, home, and country as young scouts, and the Boy Scout motto, ``Be Prepared,'' has inspired generations of youths to prepare for and lead full and productive lives.

One of the most significant lessons taught by the Boy Scouts is the importance of being a patriotic American. To call into question the status of the Boy Scout organization and potentially deprive young men who are military dependents of the opportunity to participate in Boy Scout troops on their military bases, is an absolute shame.

I was fortunate as a boy, as a lad, to join the Boy Scouts when I was growing. I still remember how proud my mother and my father were when I attained the rank of Eagle Scout. I remember it as if it were yesterday. The sponsor of my Eagle Scout class was Dr. Milton Eisenhower, and as I mounted the podium with the other branded Eagle Scouts and a rose was handed to me, which I was to hand to my mother, which I did, and Dr. Eisenhower, after hearing my name called off, my first name being Ike, he leaned over to me, shook hands with me, and said, ``That is what they used to call me, Ike.'' So evidently all the Eisenhower boys were called by that name.

Madam Speaker, later I was an assistant scout master. I later was the cub master of a cub troop in my hometown. I am enormously proud of our family who also participated in the scouting program, one of our sons of course being an Eagle Scout. I am honored to have continued the association with Boy Scouts of America to today.

So I call on my colleagues to join us in voting for this concurrent resolution, for standing up for the young men, Boy Scouts of America, who are really the future leaders of our country.

Madam Speaker, I reserve the balance of my time.

Madam Speaker, I thank the gentleman for yielding me this time.

I stand in enthusiastic support of H. Con. Res. 6, which urges the Department of Defense to continue to exercise its statutory authority to support the activities of Boy Scouts of America, and particularly letting them have jamborees on military posts and bases.

When we look at the name Boy Scout, to call somebody a Boy Scout in society today, it is a term that one would say this guy is squeaky clean. This is a good kid. This is a hard worker. This is somebody who likes his family. Indeed, if we step back and see what the Boy Scout organization is about, there are strong things of God, family, and country, which of course the ACLU cannot stand. The ACLU seems to wake up in the morning and look for ways to tear down great institutions in our society; so it is no wonder they would again attack another one, with the Boy Scouts being their goal.

What do kids learn in Boy Scouts? The gentleman from Tennessee (Mr. Duncan) just talked about how it can help kids who do not have fathers, who may have had a broken home and a hard life. What does it teach them? It teaches them the value of hard work. It teaches them goal- setting. It teaches them team effort, community service. It is open to all. It teaches them respect for one another.

Boy Scouts is a good organization, and in our society in order for a representative democracy to thrive as it has, we need good civic clubs like Rotary and Kiwanis.

We need good nonprofit institutions like the Cancer Society and the Heart Fund and the United Way. We need good churches and good synagogues. But for children, young people growing up, these things start out with youth groups at church, 4-H Clubs, Girl Scouts, Camp Fire Girls, Young Life, YMCA and, of course, the Boy Scouts. This is about the United States of America and developing good citizens.

So I urge the passage of H. Con. Res. 6, so that the Boy Scouts can continue to have these important jamborees that teach the kids so many good instructional values as they grow up, and have these things hosted on military bases when practical and necessary.

Mr. Speaker, I rise in support of H. Con. Res. 6, which is on the agenda of the United States House of Representatives today, expressing the support of the United States Congress for the Boy Scouts of America.

Mr. Speaker, I also rise as a lifetime Scouter and a very proud Eagle Scout. As a matter of fact, this week marks the 95th anniversary of the incorporation of the Boy Scouts of the America. It was February, 1910 that the Boy Scouts of America were incorporated in New York. They stood for a set of values. They stood for something. They stood on a set of principles, teaching young men to be trustworthy, loyal, helpful and friendly.

If you think about it, there are not many organizations around today who were around 95 years ago that stand for the same things today that they stood for back at the time of their inception, back at the time of their incorporation, teaching young men to be courteous, kind, obedient, cheerful, thrifty, brave, clean and reverent to God. That is what the Boy Scouts of the America stand for. It is what they have always stood for.

The Department of Defense, the United States military, have always been encouraged by the United States Congress. Of course, the Congress provides one of the very few congressional charters to the Boy Scouts of America. The Congress has always supported the Boy Scouts.

They have always encouraged the Department of Defense to support the Boy Scouts of America, as well. As a matter of fact, this coming year, the Boy Scouts will hold a quadrennial national jamboree at Fort A.P. Hill in Virginia, not too far from the Nation's Capital.

This resolution encourages the Department of Defense to continue support of the Boy Scouts of America. I believe it is the sense of Congress and also the sense of the citizens of the United States of America that we continue to support the Boy Scouts.