To amend title 28, United States Code, to provide an additional place of holding court for the District of Arizona.

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

Mr. Speaker, today we are poised to pass this bill for the second time. I thank the gentleman from North Carolina (Mr. Jones) for his kind and supportive remarks. I also want to take this opportunity to thank the gentleman from California (Mr. Pombo) and the gentleman from West Virginia (Mr. Rahall), particularly, but all of the members of the House Committee on Resources and the staff on both sides for their unwavering support in getting this bill to the floor again today.

Mr. Speaker, most people in my district agree that with the passage of this bill, H.R. 62, which would create a Chief Financial Officer for the U.S. Virgin Islands, we will make an important step forward and lay a stronger foundation for our children's future. We also would restore the confidence of the public in our government.

While it has not been an easy journey, it has become very clear that the people of the Virgin Islands recognize the need for more accountability, transparency, and efficiency in the management of Federal and local funding. The implementation of an independent CFO is clearly not the only way to achieve this, but it is the only viable proposal that has come forward over the last 8 years or more of increasing deficits and narrowly averted fiscal crises, crises which have only been delayed through repeated borrowing.

Included in H.R. 62 is also funding for the planning and implementation of a financial management system. This is a critical part of the bill and the responsibility of the Chief Financial Officer this bill would create. While the groundwork has already begun under the current administration, it is my belief, given the millions of dollars that have been spent in the past on financial systems, that the only way to ensure that it is fully transparent, networked, and integrated is if it is overseen by someone who is independent and has no official territory to protect.

This is not to cast any aspersions on the hardworking public servants who currently head or work at any of our departments, including our Office of Management and Budget. Protecting one's turf is simply human nature. On the other hand, the system under which they labor is outdated, cumbersome, ineffective and cannot support the missions of their offices or the optimal functioning of our government.

I would be remiss, however, if I did not commend the Governor and his staff for the recent steps they have taken to restore our government to fiscal health. Yet our public services, our salaries, our contracting process with compliance with contracts, our infrastructure, and our accounting is not where it needs to be. And the fiscal information needed for effective planning is simply unavailable in a reliable form.

While the support for my bill is not unanimous, especially in the higher echelons of local leadership at home, it is broad. It exists at all levels of our society, and it spans all three islands.

I do not want to belabor the reasons which made it necessary for this bill to be here before this body today, except to say that major hurricanes, changes in Federal tax policy, as well as a systemic dysfunction in central government operations, have played a role.

There is no need or reason to point blame, but shame on us if we do not provide the leadership for which we were elected, and fix the problem. Pushing for passage of this bill has neither been easy nor have I taken it lightly. I understand the consequences of stepping beyond the political status quo, as I have done with this legislation; but I have also seen in other jurisdictions the consequences of acting as though everything was fine and doing nothing. And I have pursued it on behalf of and because of the strong and unwaiving support of the people of the U.S. Virgin Islands.

I want to thank my colleagues again for their support and ask for a ``yea'' vote.

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

Mr. Speaker, I move to suspend the rules and pass the bill (H.R. 62) to create the Office of Chief Financial Officer of the Government of the Virgin Islands, and for other purposes.

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.R. 62.

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

Mr. Speaker, our colleague, the gentlewoman from the Virgin Islands (Mrs. Christensen), has introduced legislation to address a potentially serious problem relating to her territory's financial future. Her legislation, H.R. 62, would create an Office of Chief Financial Officer for the United States Virgin Islands.

For over a decade now, multiple factors have led to a worsening financial outlook in this territory. Natural disasters, a gradually declining tourism industry and resulting spending decisions by the local government have left the U.S. Virgin Islands with significant annual deficits. Further, this territory now faces a debt totaling $1 billion.

This legislation uses local and Federal input to select a Chief Financial

Officer. The CFO will tackle the difficult fiscal and related political decisions with regard to spending on these islands. This position will be temporary and will be empowered to stop wasteful spending and put this territory on the track to more sound economic footing.

The financial practices of the United States Virgin Islands have taken a primary position in the minds of its citizens and thus remain of great importance to my colleague, the gentlewoman from the Virgin Islands (Mrs. Christensen). Without this legislation, one must worry that the Federal Government may have to take even more direct action if this debt continues to increase.

Finally, I would like to also point out that identical legislation, H.R. 3589, was passed by the Committee on Resources in the 108th Congress and by the whole House on September 22, 2004. We are hopeful that early action on this legislation during the Congressional session will translate into more momentum for the enactment of H.R. 62.

I hope bipartisan support of this legislation will continue, and I urge adoption of the bill.

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

Mr. Speaker, I have no additional speakers, and I yield back the balance of my time.

Mr. Speaker, in my capacity as the ranking Democratic member of the Resources Committee, I would like to register my strong support of H.R. 62, to create the office of chief financial officer for the territory of the U.S. Virgin Islands.

This Chamber passed similar legislation in the 108th Congress because of the tireless and tenacious efforts of Mrs. Christensen. Today, we are bringing up this legislation early in the Congress hoping the Senate will act on it expeditiously.

The financial condition of the Virgin Islands remains in trouble. Skyrocketing deficits coupled with inadequate fiscal controls have left the local government struggling to provide basic services to the people of the Virgin Islands.

Just last week, the U.S. Department of Education issued an order to the Virgin Islands Government to hire an independent contractor to manage approximately $35 million in annual grants because the local government did not have a financial system in place to adequately account for the grants. Regrettably, this recent order was not the first of its kind by one of our Federal agencies levied against the local Virgin Islands Government.

Clearly, the lack of financial accountability and the potential for financial insolvency of the territory did not occur overnight. Nevertheless the introduction of this measure, by the distinguished representative of the Virgin Islands, Donna Christensen, continues to be met with controversy and opposition from many local political leaders.

Donna Christensen has made it clear that this legislation is something that she would rather not have to do, but the circumstances of her territory have made the choices for her. She is a brave woman for fighting for what she believes is in the best interest of her constituents and for her island and she should be commended.

Virgin Islands history will tout this legislation as a turning point in the fundamental approach that the territory handles its financial affairs.

I have said it before, and I will say it again today: When the next chapter in Profiles in Courage is written, it will be about the gentlelady from the Virgin Islands, Donna Christensen.

I urge my colleagues to support favorable passage by this body of