Physicians for Underserved Areas Act

Madam Speaker, pursuant to House Resolution 1018, I call up the bill (H.R. 4830) to amend chapter 27 of title 18, United States Code, to prohibit the unauthorized construction, financing, or reckless permitting (on one's land) the construction or use of a tunnel or subterranean passageway between the United States and another country, and ask for its immediate consideration.

Madam 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. 4830, currently under consideration.

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

Madam Speaker, I rise in support of H.R. 4830, the Border Tunnel Prevention Act of 2006, to prohibit the construction and use of border tunnels for the purposes of smuggling.

For over a decade, drug cartels and ``coyotes'' have used border tunnels to smuggle elicit drugs and illegal immigrants into the United States. Border tunnels range from rudimentary gopher holes to more sophisticated tunnels equipped with electricity, ventilation and even rails for electric carts. These tunnels have been used to penetrate both our northern and southern borders. Fifty tunnels have been discovered along the southwest border since 1990, and 36 of them have been unearthed in just the last 5 years.

This January, a joint investigation between the U.S. and Mexican law enforcement led to the discovery of a narcotics smuggling tunnel just east of the Otay Mesa, California, port of entry. Authorities seized nearly two tons of marijuana. The tunnel, approximately 86 feet deep and nearly three-quarters of a mile long, began inside a small warehouse in Otay Mesa, Mexico, and ended inside a vacant warehouse in San Diego, California.

In 2005, Federal agents discovered a 360-foot tunnel between British Columbia, Canada, and Washington State. This tunnel was also used for illegal drug trafficking, though DEA agents noticed that it could easily have been used to smuggle persons or to facilitate terrorism. We were reminded again of the growing problem just a few days ago when another drug smuggling border tunnel was discovered between California and Mexico.

Despite the clearly illegal purposes of these border tunnels, efforts to fully and effectively prosecute the smugglers are hampered by the fact that it is not a crime to construct, finance, or use a border tunnel. If there is insufficient evidence to prosecute these individuals for drug smuggling or alien trafficking, there are virtually no consequences for the criminal organizations that build and use these tunnels.

The Border Tunnel Prevention Act plugs this glaring loophole. The bill criminalizes the construction or financing of a tunnel or subterranean passage across our international border. An individual prosecuted under this offense faces a penalty of up 20 years in prison. Additionally, any person convicted of using a tunnel or subterranean passage to smuggle aliens, weapons, drugs, terrorists, or illegal goods will be punished by doubling the sentence for the underlying offense.

The bill also provides for the forfeiture of assets or property traceable to the construction or use of a border tunnel and instructs the sentencing commission to adopt guidelines that properly reflect the severity of this offense.

Madam Speaker, the bill is supported by Members from both sides of the aisle. This legislation provides a critical tool for protecting our national security and combating the drug and alien smuggling that plagues our borders. I urge my colleagues to support it.

Madam Speaker, I reserve the balance of my time.

Madam Speaker, I yield myself \1/2\ minute.

Madam Speaker, we hear complaints all the time about the fact that Republicans are not acting. We are acting today. We acted in December. We acted last week on the fence. We see the Democrat actions. All they do is say no, no, no, no.

They are not where the American people are. They are not where our priorities ought to be. The Senate has not messaged their bill, even though they passed it in May. We are running out of time in this Congress. The American people say border security first.

Madam Speaker, I yield 3 minutes to the gentleman from Arizona (Mr. Hayworth).

Madam Speaker, I yield myself 1 minute.

First of all, the gentleman from Michigan says that we have not had any hearings in the Judiciary Committee. Since I became the chairman, we have had 68 hearings on the need to strengthen border security and enforcement of immigration law, and I will include the list of all 68 hearings in the Record at this point.

109th Congress

Immigration, Border Security, and Claims 7-27-2006

Oversight--Oversight Hearing on ``Whether Attempted

Implementation of the Senate Immigration Bill Will Result in

an Administrative and National Security Nightmare.''

Immigration, Border Security, and Claims 7-18-2006

Oversight--Oversight Hearing on ``Should We Embrace the

Senate's Grant of Amnesty to Millions of Illegal Aliens and

Repeat the Mistakes of the Immigration Reform and Control Act

of 1986?''

Immigration, Border Security, and Claims 6-22-2006

Oversight--Oversight Hearing on ``Is the Labor Department

Doing Enough to Protect U.S. Workers?''

Immigration, Border Security, and Claims 6-8-2006

Oversight--Oversight Hearing on ``The Need to Implement WHTI

to Protect U.S. Homeland Security.''

Immigration, Border Security, and Claims 5-18-2006

Hearing--Legislative Hearing on H.R. 4997, the ``Phvsicians

for Underserved Areas Act''.

Immigration, Border Security, and Claims 3-30-2006

Oversight--Oversight Hearing on ``Should Congress Raise the

H-IB Cap?''

Immigration, Border Security, and Claims 3-2-2006

Oversight--Joint Oversight Hearing on ``Outgunned and

Outmanned: Local Law Enforcement Confronts Violence Along the

Southern Border.''

Immigration, Border Security, and Claims 11-17-2005

Oversight--Oversight Hearing on ``How Illegal Immigration

Impacts Constituencies: Perspectives from Members of Congress

(Part II).''

Immigration, Border Security, and Claims 11-17-2005

Oversight--Joint Oversight Hearing on ``Weak Bilateral Law

Enforcement Presence at the U.S.-Mexico Border: Territorial

Integrity and Safety Issues for American Citizens.''

Immigration, Border Security, and Claims 11-10-2005

Oversight--Oversight Hearing on ``How Illegal Immigration

Impacts Constituencies: Perspectives from Members of Congress

(Part I).''

Immigration, Border Security, and Claims 9-29-2005

Oversight--Oversight Hearing on ``Dual Citizenship,

Birthright Citizenship, and the Meaning of Sovereignty.''

Immigration, Border Security, and Claims 9-15-2005

Oversight--Oversight Hearing on: ``Sources and Methods of

Foreign Nationals Engaged in Economic and Military

Espionage.'' (Classified portion of hearing begins at 1 p.m.)

Immigration, Border Security, and Claims 9-15-2005

Oversight--CONTINUATION of UNCLASSIFIED PORTION of

Oversight--Hearing on: ``Sources and Methods of Foreign

Nationals Engaged in Economic and Military Espionage.''

Immigration, Border Security, and Claims 9-8-2005 Markup

Subcommittee on Immigration, Border Security & Claims--Markup

of H.R. 1219, the ``Security and Fairness Enhancement for

America Act of 2005.''

Immigration, Border Security, and Claims 7-28-2005 Markup

Subcommittee on Immigration, Border Security & Claims Markup

of H.R. 1219, the ``Security and Fairness Enhancement for

America Act of 2005.''

Immigration, Border Security, and Claims 6-30-2005

Oversight--Oversight Hearing on ``Immigration Removal

Procedures Implemented in the Aftermath ofthe September 11th

Attacks.''

Immigration, Border Security, and Claims 6-28-2005 Hearing

Legislative Hearing on H.R. 2933, the ``Alien Gang Removal

Act of 2005.''

Immigration, Border Security, and Claims 6-21-2005

Oversight--Oversight Hearing on the ``Lack of Worksite

Enforcement & Employer Sanctions.''

Immigration, Border Security, and Claims 6-15-2005

Oversight--Oversight Hearing on the ``Diversity Visa

Program.''

Immigration, Border Security, and Claims 5-12-2005 Hearing

Legislative Hearing on H.R. 98, the ``Illegal Immigration

Enforcement and Social Security Protection Act of 2005.''

Immigration, Border Security, and Claims 5-5-2005

Oversight--Oversight Hearing on the ``New `Dual Missions' of

the Immigration Enforcement Agencies.''

Immigration, Border Security, and Claims 5-4-2005

Oversight--Oversight Hearing on ``New Jobs in Recession and

Recovery: Who are Getting Them and Who are Not?''

Immigration, Border Security, and Claims 4-21-2005

Oversight--Oversight Hearing on ``October 2005 Statutory

Deadline for Visa Waiver Program Countries to Produce

Security Passports: Why It Matters to Homeland Security.''

Immigration, Border Security, and Claims 4-13-2005

Oversight--Oversight Hearing on ``Immigration and the Alien

Gang Epidemic: Problems and Solutions.''

Immigration, Border Security, and Claims 3-10-2005

Oversight--Oversight Hearing on ``Interior Immigration

Enforcement Resources.''

Immigration, Border Security, and Claims 3-3-2005

Oversight--Oversight Hearing on the ``Immigration Enforcement

Resources Authorized in the Intelligence Reform and Terrorism

Prevention Act of 2004.''

108th Congress

Immigration, Border Security, and Claims 6-23-2004

Oversight--Oversight Hearing on ``Families and Businesses in

Limbo: The Detrimental Impact of the Immigration Backlog.''

Immigration, Border Security, and Claims 6-17-2004

Oversight--Oversight Hearing on ``Families & Businesses in

Limbo: The Detrimental Impact of the Immigration Backlog.''

Immigration, Border Security, and Claims 6-3-2004 Markup--

Subcommittee Markup on H.R. 4453, the ``Access to Rural

Physicians Improvement Act of 2004.''

Immigration, Border Security, and Claims 5-18-2004

Oversight--Oversight Hearing on ``Pushing the Border Out on

Alien Smuggling: New Tools and Intelligence Initiatives.''

Immigration, Border Security, and Claims 4-29-2004

Oversight--Oversight Hearing on the ``Diversity Visa Program,

and its Susceptibility to Fraud and Abuse.''

Immigration, Border Security, and Claims 4-1-2004 Hearing--

Legislative Hearing on H.R. 3191, To prescribe the oath of

renunciation and allegiance for purposes of the Immigration

and Nationality Act.

Immigration, Border Security, and Claims 3-24-2004

Oversight--Oversight Hearing on ``How Would Millions of Guest

Workers Impact Working Americans and Americans Seeking

Employment?''

Immigration, Border Security, and Claims 3-18-2004

Oversight--Oversight Hearing on ``US VISIT: A Down Payment on

Homeland Security.''

Immigration, Border Security, and Claims 3-11-2004

Oversight--Oversight Hearing on ``Funding for Immigration in

the President's 2005 Budget.''

Immigration, Border Security, and Claims 3-4-2004

Oversight--Oversight Hearing on ``Alien Removal Under

Operation Predator.''

Immigration, Border Security, and Claims 2-25-2004

Oversight--Oversight Hearing on ``Funding for Immigration in

the President's 2005 Budget.''

Immigration, Border Security, and Claims 10-30-2003

Oversight--Oversight Hearing on the ``Prospects for American

Workers: Immigration's Impact.''

Immigration, Border Security, and Claims 10-16-2003

Oversight--Oversight Hearing on ``Visa Overstays: A Growing

Problem for Law Enforcement.''

Immigration, Border Security, and Claims 10-1-2003

Hearing--Legislative Hearing on H.R. 2671, the ``Clear Law

Enforcement for Criminal Alien Removal Act of 2003'' (CLEAR

Act).

Immigration, Border Security, and Claims 9-11-2003

Oversight--Oversight Hearing on ``Should There Be a Social

Security Totalization Agreement with Mexico?''

Immigration, Border Security, and Claims 7-15-2003 Markup--

Subcommittee Markup of H.R. 2152, To amend the Immigration

and Nationality Act to extend for an additional 5 years the

special immigrant religious worker program.

Immigration, Border Security, and Claims 7-11-2003

Oversight--Oversight Hearing on ``Immigration Relief Under

the Convention Against Torture for Serious Criminals and

Human Rights Violators.''

Immigration, Border Security, and Claims 6-26-2003

Oversight--Oversight Hearing on ``The Federal Government's

Response to the Issuance and Acceptance in the U.S. of

Consular Identification Cards.''

Immigration, Border Security, and Claims 6-24-2003

Oversight--Oversight Hearing on ``The Deadly Consequences of

Illegal Alien Smuggling.''

Immigration, Border Security, and Claims 6-19-2003

Oversight--Oversight Hearing on ``The Issuance, Acceptance,

and Reliability of Consular Identification Cards.''

Immigration, Border Security, and Claims 5-13-2003

Oversight--Oversight Hearing on ``John Allen Muhammad,

Document Fraud, and the Western Hemisphere Passport

Exception.''

Immigration, Border Security, and Claims 5-8-2003

Oversight--Oversight Hearing on ``War on Terrorism:

Immigration Enforcement Since September 11, 2001.''

Immigration, Border Security, and Claims 5-6-2003 Hearing--

Legislative Hearing on H.R. 1714, H.R. 1275, H.R. 1799, H.R.

1814, and H.R. 1685, the ``House Military Naturalization

Bills.''

Immigration, Border Security, and Claims 4-10-2003

Oversight--Oversight Hearing on ``Department of Homeland

Security Transition: Bureau of Immigration and Customs

Enforcement.''

Immigration, Border Security, and Claims 4-2-2003

Oversight, Oversight Hearing on ``Immigration Student

Tracking: Implementation and Proposed Modifications.''

Immigration, Border Security, and Claims 2-27-2003

Oversight, Oversight Hearing on ``New York City's `Sanctuary'

Policy and the Effect of Such Policies on Public Safety, Law

Enforcement, and Immigration.''

107th congress

``Immigration and Naturalization Service and the Executive

Office for Immigration Review'', 5-15-2001 Oversight Hearing

``Guestworker Visa Programs'', 6-19-2001

``United States Population and Immigration,'' 8-2-2001

``Using Information Technology to Secure America's Borders:

INS Problems with Planning and Implementation,'' 10-11-2001

``Immigration and Naturalization Service Performance: An

Examination of INS Management Problems,'' 10-17-2001

``A Review of Department of Justice Immigration Detention

Policies,'' 12-19-2001

``The Operations of the Executive Office for Immigration

Review,'' 2-6-2001

``Implications of Transnational Terrorism and the Argentine

Economic Collapse for the Visa Waiver Program,'' 2-28-2001

``The INS' March 2002 Notification of the Approval of Pilot

Training Status for Terrorist Hijackers Mohammed Atta and

Marwan Al-Shehhi'', 3-19-2001

``Immigration and Naturalization Service and Office of

Special Counsel for Immigration Related Unfair Employment

Practices,'' 3-21-2001

The INS' Interior Enforcement Strategy, 6-19-2002

Risk to Homeland Security from Identity Fraud and Identity

Theft (Held jointly with the Subcommittee on Crime,

Terrorism, and Homeland Security), 6-25-2002

``Role of Immigration in the Proposed Department of

Homeland Security pursuant to H.R. 5005, the Homeland

Security Act of 2002.''

``The INS's Implementation of the Foreign Student Tracking

Program,'' 9-18-2002

``Preserving the Integrity of Social Security Numbers and

Preventing Their Misuse by Terrorists and Identity Thieves

(Held jointly with the Subcommittee on Social Security of the

Committee on Ways and Means),'' 9-19-2002

``The INS's Interactions with Hesham Mohamed Mohamed Ali

Hedayet,'' 10-9-2002

``United States and Canada Safe Third Country Agreement,''

10-16-2002

Secondly, again, this Congress is running out of time. It is not the fault of anybody in the House of Representatives why a conference has not been created. We cannot set up a conference without the other body sending papers to us. They have not sent us the papers on the bill that they passed in May. Once the papers are here, then somebody can make a motion to send the bill to conference, but until the papers are here, there is nothing to send to conference.

On the other hand, when we passed our immigration bill last December, the papers had been sitting over in the other body. They can set up the conference merely by taking up the House-passed bill, striking out all after the enacting clause, inserting the Senate text and asking for a conference. They have not done it.

Madam Speaker, I yield 3 minutes to the gentleman from Indiana (Mr. Souder).

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

Madam Speaker, I yield myself the balance of the time.

I think we ought to get back to what this bill does so that Members are properly advised on how to cast their votes.

What the bill does is to create a criminal offense to prohibit the unauthorized construction, financing, or reckless permitting on one's land the construction or use of a tunnel or subterranean passageway between the United States and another country.

Now, if you want that to be criminal, vote ``aye,'' and if you don't, vote ``no.'' I am going to vote ``aye.'' I hope all the Members do.

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

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

I thank the gentleman for yielding. Madam Speaker, we, as we talk about conditions in Louisiana and Mississippi tonight, we don't want this Congress or the people of America to believe that we are ungrateful for the help that we have already received. We are deeply grateful for it. We appreciate it immensely, and it has been a huge help to our people.

But I think what is important to note is that the disaster that we were stricken with is so immense, so pervasive, so once-in-a-lifetime historic, that there is just so much to be done over such a long time to restore opportunity for people to have a chance to reclaim their lives.

So I want to start out by just talking a little bit so people can better understand the dimensions of our problem. If you can imagine that in your city, if your city were ours, and just to talk about New Orleans a minute, a city of 480,000-or-so people, and you woke up one morning and 80 percent of your city was underwater. Eighty percent of your schools, of your hospitals, of your playgrounds, of your homes, of your businesses were all underwater, and that the water didn't recede in a few hours or a few days or even a few weeks. It stayed there for several weeks. And it wasn't just a little water in your house, ordinarily it was 4 feet, 5 feet, 6 feet, and sometimes more than that, over the roof.

This happened in Orleans Parish, and it happened in St. Bernard Parish, where the whole place was obliterated. And it happened in Plaquemines Parish as well. And imagine that 1,000 or 2,600 of your people died from this storm and that another thousand are still missing and no one knows where they are, and families are still searching for them. Imagine that if you were in Mississippi that 200-or-so people lost their lives.

Imagine that if you counted up all the houses that were destroyed in Louisiana and this happened to you, there would be 220,000 houses destroyed, and about 61,000 in Mississippi, and that your people were trying desperately to get back home. They were looking for temporary quarters, and they were willing to live in FEMA trailers or wherever they could find a temporary abode, and there were 98,000. That is how many there are in Louisiana looking for a trailer now, and fewer than half of those requests have been filled. In Mississippi, some number in the 30,000 range were involved, and most of those have been filled.

Imagine if you had been waiting for electricity for your neighborhood for now 6 months and you didn't have it, for the most part. In Orleans Parish, a

little better than half of our folks have their places connected for electricity. A little better than that in Mississippi, but in our place it isn't true. Imagine if you were trying to figure how could you get your hands around your problem, build back your house, get yourself back together and your insurance company wasn't cooperating and they were denying claims left and right, and saying that your homeowner's policy didn't apply. If you didn't have flood insurance, then you had nothing. If you had flood insurance, then you had limits that would be much lower than would ordinarily be expected to be useful to help you build back.

Imagine you were counting on your government, FEMA, to come forth and give you some direction as to how you could build back your place, to what level you had to build back safely, and FEMA had not even given you preliminary elevations that you could use. Imagine if you now were paying rent in one place or a house note somewhere and had a house note to pay in Orleans Parish and you could not get back in your place to live and your bank was calling you at your homestead, your mortgage company saying we cannot carry this anymore; you have to figure out some way to pay it.

Imagine you wanted to get back home, and you had 5,000 hospital beds when you left, a hospital bed count, and now you only had a few hundred and you were worried about your family and your children getting back and having a place to go if they got sick or hurt or needed to see a physician. And all the physicians, a great number of them, are out of town, somewhere else themselves, victims of trying to make the place work.

Imagine if your city had, at the end of the storm, no tax base and your school board had no tax base, and your schools weren't open. That is the situation that you find yourself in not only the day after the storm or the week after the storm or a few months after, but now 6 months after. And not a whole lot has changed because the problems are just so complex and so large and so enduring.

Now, these are not problems that are going to go away overnight. Our country needs to know this. Our friends need to know that all that we have done so far is to start to address these issues, to make down payments on certain aspects of it, but it will be years and years and years before we actually get this done.

Now, imagine also that you were trying to figure how you could avoid having this ever happen to you again and you were looking for a way to secure yourself, and you knew that it would take a real commitment for hurricane protection measures to be taken. And you had taken a trip, as I have, to the Netherlands, other parts of the world, and you had looked around to see what people had done to secure themselves against hurricanes and storms. And you found out that this was technically possible; that in the Netherlands people are living and have lived for 53 years, since their last calamity with a storm there that drowned their people.

For 53 years they have lived with a system of barriers and canals and pumping stations and dikes, as they call them, we call them levees, and dunes and all the rest; an integrated system of water management for flood protection. And they have done this for 53 years now without an incident that has required them to have any loss of life or property. They have spent $18 billion over a long period of time to provide this security, and they were an economy of $485 billion.

In our country, we haven't yet made a decision to support a system in our part of the world that might cost $30 billion, $40 billion, in an economy that is not $485 billion, like theirs was, but is $12.2 trillion, the largest economy in the whole world. Twenty percent of the world's wealth in our country and we haven't been able to make a decision to step up and find a way to use the technology that already exists to support our people and to make them safe over time and to avoid large expenditures in the future.

Because we all know one thing for sure: that while there may not be another terrorist attack on our shores, we may find a way to prevent that, there is no way to prevent these storms that are brewing in the Gulf of Mexico and that are coming more frequently, more ferocious than ever before, and that will be with us for years to come. We can secure ourselves against these storms if we build the coastal barrier protections that we need and if we build our wetlands back and our coastlines back, so that when these storms come, as ferocious as they may be, by the time they reach our population centers, they will be tamped down enough such that they can be handled by a levee system and other flood protection systems that are in place.

So we have made a lot of progress, but there is a great deal for us to do. And we are here tonight to highlight for the people of our country how much there is to be done and to ask them to stand with us and stay with us over this long period of time because it is going to take years and years to bring our people back.

And, look, folks aren't asking for our government to take care of them forever. They know, though, that they can't do this by themselves. Because no one has seen this kind of damage before in this country. It is a catastrophe beyond imagination. It has never happened anywhere on the face of America ever before to this extent, to this dimension.

So we are saying, give us a chance to help ourselves. Let us get back into our home places. Let us get back to the places we live and to the places that we want to live. Recognize the right that our people have to return, to restore their lives, the right to rebuild in their places, the right to reclaim their experiences back home. We want our people back home. We need your help to get them back home, and they can live in New Orleans safely. They can live in our environment safely.

So when people ask this question of what should the footprint of New Orleans be, it is a misplaced question. The issue isn't where can we rebuild. Because we know from the experience of the Netherlands we can build anywhere. If they can live 15 feet below sea level, and in New Orleans we talk about 4\1/2\ feet at the lowest point, if they can secure themselves 15 to 20 feet below sea level, we can secure ourselves 4 and 5 feet below sea level in the lowest points.

We can have this vibrant city restored and have our people in a place to reclaim their lives, and for our city and our region to continue to be the force that it has been for our country in natural resource development and distribution throughout the country; our pipeline system, our oil and gas system that we have invested in across the gulf.

And for our fisheries, the provisions we make for our country and the work that we do with our port system that moves the goods from mid- America to the rest of the world, these are very important assets that New Orleans provides and our country cannot do without. We are extraordinarily valuable, not to mention our cultural contributions to this country.

We want to see the people of America understand how deep our problems are. That is why we have come to the floor tonight, to make that point to the people of this country and to our colleagues in Congress, many of whom we have had a chance to bring down our way, and many others we want to invite down so they can see for themselves what they need to do to help us.

I thank my colleague, Mr. Melancon, for helping to bring this matter to the attention of the American people and giving us a chance to talk about it tonight. I am pleased to join with him and soon with Mr. Gene Taylor of Mississippi and our other colleagues.

I thank the gentleman for yielding. I think it is important to make a point here that often gets lost in these discussions. We did suffer a tremendous natural disaster in our region. But so much of what happened to our people, and what really drowned our city was not the storm itself, but the deluge that came from the breakage of our levees. Our levees gave way because they weren't designed, constructed or maintained properly. This was a Federal responsibility. This was the responsibility of the Corps of Engineers. And therefore, when we talk about the responsibility of our government now to make an appropriate addressing of these issues, it is important to understand that we are asking a government that, in large part, caused the loss and devastation there to step forward now and help us to fix it.

And so our position isn't just that we are victims of a natural disaster alone, but that we are also victims of a manmade disaster made by the men and women who were responsible for building, designing and maintaining our heavy system. And so there is an additional responsibility for this government to come to our aid, not just because we are victims of a storm, but because they had a hand in bringing about the devastation and destruction that occasioned us.

Had it not been for the drowning of our city, we wouldn't be here talking about these issues today in large part. Yes, there would be some overtopping of levees and there would be some flooding, but there would be nothing like the devastation that we witnessed and our people are enduring now. So let us not forget the main reason for our being here. It is because our area was flooded. Flood water stood for many, many weeks because our levees did not hold, after the government told us that they would, assured us that they would.

As Mr. Melancon says, they told people they didn't even have to take flood insurance in many cases because the levees were going to prevent any flooding there. And they did not do that. And so I think we have a moral high ground here with respect to our demand of our government, and not just because we are citizens and taxpayers. That is enough in itself, but because the government had a big hand in bringing about the catastrophe that struck our people.

Our city drowned. Our region drowned because our levees failed. And that was the responsibility of our Federal Government.

And I think, Mr. Melancon, people are coming to realize that now. And they can't embarrass us to say you are just coming as victims asking for more and more. The government did this to us as much as anyone else did, much more than it just being a natural disaster for. We have a right to demand that our government set things right.

Madam Speaker, I thank Mr. Melancon for yielding to me. I want to say how grateful he and I are for the bipartisan approach that was made in our region just a few weeks ago when the Speaker of the House and our Democratic leader, Mr. Hastert and Ms. Pelosi, came together and worked together in that region to address some of the issues we are talking about tonight and to bring to the attention of the American people how crucial it is that all of us pull together for this region.

As Mr. Melancon has said, it is a very important region to our Nation. And so it is not just a matter of helping the folks of Louisiana, it is a matter of helping people across this country. Yes, our folks are strewn in 44 States around the country, but we are not talking about that sort of a national problem, we are talking about one where we actually, the country needs our region and we need our country to come to our aid so we can continue to supply these vital services to the rest of the people of our Nation.

I believe that if someone were to take a poll, Mr. Melancon now, and ask people of this country whether they were standing with New Orleans and with our region and wanted to see us brought back, wanted to see our country helped, I think they would all say yes to that.

We just have to get the message here to the Members of Congress that people out there want to see us rebuild, want to see us recover. And if we keep this measure in front of them, the American people will see us through this. So a part of our mission here tonight is to make sure that the American people understand how deep and abiding and enduring our issues are, and to inform their Members of Congress how much we need their continuing help on a bipartisan basis to see us through this set of problems.

I think it is good for our region, it is imperative for our country, and it is the way that we ought to address these issues. We cannot go out with credibility with the rest of the world and say we are going to fix their issues, their problems, their infrastructure requirements, and not say the same thing for our people here at home with any credibility.

So I thank Mr. Melancon for what he has done to arrange this. I thank Congresswoman Sheila Jackson-Lee for her contribution tonight, for Congresswoman Lee, and for all of our colleague who have joined us in this colloquy tonight. I appreciate the opportunity that the House has given us to bring this message to the people of our country.

Madam Speaker, I appreciate the opportunity to be here tonight. With the recent events that have occurred over the past seven, eight months, since Hurricanes Katrina, Rita and Wilma have hit the gulf coast of the United States, in the recent week, a group of us got together, and we have set up the Gulf Coast Disaster Recovery Caucus to basically try to make sure that this Congress and America and this administration do not forget the disaster and the catastrophe that has occurred and inundated people all along the gulf coast.

It is not just a New Orleans thing. It is Louisiana, across the entire breadth of the State. It is Mississippi, across the entire coastal area. It is Alabama, it is Texas and it is Florida, on the west coast this time.

I look at the news articles and such. I have had some concerns with some of the statements that have been made in the past about being below sea level, the honesty and the integrity of elected officials in Louisiana. It really bothers me because I do not see the moneys, the $85 or $87 billion that have been attested to be sent to the gulf coast in the hands of the people that need it, in the hands of the victims. There has been billions of dollars that have gone around that are somewhere between Washington, D.C., and the gulf coast of the United States, and I can tell you, it has not gotten to the people that are in need.

If you look at some of the instances of what is going on, parish governments that want to retain their own contractors cannot get what the cost of the Corps of Engineers and FEMA are paying to their contractors, and it is believed on best information that that price may be double to triple what is being paid by the local contractor, by the local government who is doing the job faster, better, and apparently, we believe, if we can ever get the numbers, more efficiently.

$4.2 billion has just been approved to gravel a 172-acre parking lot for mobile homes in Hope, Arkansas. Now, that goes on top of the $25,000 a month paid to the city of Hope, Arkansas, and I am

glad for the city of Hope, Arkansas, because if it is like rural American towns, it needs every dime of income it can use to sustain itself. But we have got over 11,000 trailers that are stationed there, 450 miles to the closest disaster parish or county, and there is 11,000 trailers up there that FEMA tells us they cannot put in a flood zone.

Well, the hurricane does not hit in the mountains. The hurricane does not hit in the desert. The hurricane hits along the coastal areas of this United States, and that is what these hurricanes have done.

They put up this morgue, a temporary morgue, FEMA did, in Coralville, Louisiana, $17 million, and now it is abandoned. $5.2 million, this was really nice, was spent getting a contract to a contractor that did not exist, and if it would not have been for the Justice Department seeing that these folks were cashing checks for $10,000 at a time, that they bought a brand new mobile home and three brand new automobiles, then we would still probably be out about $5.2 million. Then when they started to doing the work, it had to be turned over to the fire department and another contractor to get the job done.

Congressman Pickering told me today, and I think I recall it is either 90 or 95 percent of all the moneys are being contracted for debris removal and cleanup in Mississippi is going to contractors from outside the State. I can tell you, I get calls daily in my offices from people that are local that have been trying to get jobs, and then those that seem to be able to get some work, which is the bottom tier, are waiting months for their money.

I have one contractor that has been waiting for $50 million because the FEMA people or the State advanced the parish in which they are working some moneys right after the storm, about $30 million. This contractor is not getting his money, and in good faith, he has been working since day one, and has not gotten his money to pay his people and to run his company because the State and FEMA say that the parish that he is working in has not accounted for every dime.

And yet they have assured, the State and the contractor can document that he has not received a nickel from the parish, yet he is held up. There is another contractor across the river in Plaquemines Parish; they are to the tune of $6 million waiting. I have a guy in my hometown that is a very small company, he is waiting on about $150,000. And let me tell you, for a little, small independent guy like that, that is crushing him. That is killing him.

After the Florida hurricanes, three of them a year and a half ago, under section 32, the Department of Agriculture invoked section 32 of Ag Stabilization Act of 1935 and allowed the Secretary at his discretion to start reimbursing and helping those farmers that were in the category covered by section 32 to give them disaster assistance and get them back working.

On October 28, the Department of Agriculture finally invoked section 32. That is 2 months afterward. And to this day, the $250 million that they allowed, out of 780 in the account that has been appropriated for this year, zero has hit the ground in any one of the States that was impacted by any of these hurricanes. No disbursement whatsoever.

The caucus was set up in hopes of doing several things. One is making sure that the people that lived and worked and want to return to their homes will have that opportunity; to make sure that we provide and that this government provides for the safety of these people, protecting their communities, so they can rebuild their families, their homes and their businesses and trying to provide housing and rebuilding and repairing those houses so people can return home.

We need to get the economy back up. We need to create jobs and rejuvenate the entire coastal region, from Galveston Bay to Mobile Bay and all around down in the Tampa area where Wilma hit.

Health care is nonexistent for those that need it in the Orleans area. If you have a broken arm and you need surgery, you better get to another city. If you have cancer, you better get to another city. If you have anything that requires long-term health care, you better get to another city, because health care is in jeopardy in south Louisiana.

The doctors are like any other businessmen, they have to make a living. They cannot make a living if the customers or the clients or the patients, however you want to refer to them, are not back. And the hospitals can't keep themselves running when people are coming to them with injuries with no hospitalization coverage and they are required to take these people into the hospital to take care of them. And then, of course, when they are hurt, to give them a bed, which becomes a free bed. And you have hospitals that have used every dollar of their reserves and are getting ready to fold up and go under.

Education: families won't bring their kids back unless there are schools to attend. We have tried and we are trying. In Chalmette, they have the school system back up very quickly. Of an 8,000 student population, there was 800 the first day. They are hopeful the folks will come back. But one school has pre-K through high school, and they are working with what little they have.

We need to make sure that we respond to the Americans that have been injured, that we do everything in our power. If we can rebuild infrastructure in Iraq, schools, mosques, public buildings, private facilities, spend $100 million on a marsh area to bring it back to life, then surely we can spend some of our money and these taxpayers' money to help them get back on their feet.

The people in my district, the people of the gulf coast are not looking for a handout. They are just looking for a helping hand, and this government owes those folks that.

Madam Speaker, I yield time to Mr. Jefferson first.

Madam Speaker, I yield to the gentlewoman from Texas (Ms. Jackson-Lee).

Thank you, Congresswoman Jackson-Lee. I truly appreciated you and the 23 other people that have joined the caucus that we formed up this past week before going home.

With that I would like to yield time to Congresswoman Barbara Lee.

Thank you, Congresswoman Lee. I want to try, and of course we are getting towards the end of the hour, and Congressman Jefferson and I were hoping to have a few minutes.

I want to thank leadership for their assistance in trying to provide us with time so that we can make the issues known to the Members of Congress that are going to be voting on these issues.

This is not just a Louisiana thing. This is not just a New Orleans thing. This is an issue for the entire gulf coast. These are Americans, good tax paying citizens who have been left, not because they didn't buy the insurance that they were told to buy by their local government, by their insurance agent, by FEMA itself, the mortgage lenders. They bought those things. They did, they paid their taxes. They cared for their homes and now they are totally gone, with insurance companies saying no coverage, that is flood, and many of those houses being outside of flood zone.

Mr. Jefferson can attest to a lot of those issues being from New Orleans and my having Chalmette and South Plaquemines Parish. I would like to yield a little time to Mr. Jefferson.

Thank you, Mr. Jefferson.

Yes, for a minute please.

Let me see if Congressman Jefferson and I can wrap it up. If you use the cost-ratio method that the Corps of Engineers used for projects, and what many Federal and State agencies use to determine whether there is value in investments into areas, the resources and the area that was destroyed, and this is just Louisiana, I am not talking about Mississippi and Texas and Alabama now.

Thirty percent of the United States's energy comes from Louisiana offshore oil fields, straight through the state of Louisiana. 30 percent of the United States seafood comes through Louisiana. 42 percent of every commodity that is exported from this country goes through the Port of New Orleans. And that does not count the other three or four ports that are located on that river.

This city, this region, this southern port of our country is an important part that needs to be revived, needs to be helped back along. We can put money into projects, as I said, rebuilding other countries when they are having problems. We have got to be able to do this for ourselves.

There are a lot of folks that wrap themselves in the American flag and their politics, they are patriots, I am a patriot. There are a lot of people that espouse religion in their politics. And I say to those folks, what would Jesus do?

I do not think that he would leave these people wanting. This is not black, this is not white, this is not rich, this is not poor, this is not Republican, nor is it Democrat, it is about Americans that have been hurt and need the help of the citizenry, their fellow citizens to get back on their feet.

There are people returning to their communities and starting to do the planning in spite of the fact that they cannot get answers to the questions of how high, and when, and is anybody going to do anything at all?

There is resiliency in the people of the gulf coast. They are going to come back one way or another. It is going to be a tough bill. It is going to take time. It would take time whether the Government helped or not. But it sure would make it a whole lot better in my mind for other countries in the world to say Americans help each other.

I yield to Mr. Jefferson.

Madam Speaker, in closing, the days immediately following the storm in Katrina, before Rita even came and devastated southwest Louisiana and eastern Texas, the only way I can get to Chalmette and St. Bernard Parish was by boat on the river. And when I got there, I met the sheriff.

And they were organizing people they were lifting off the roofs at the port facility referred to as the Chalmette Slip. And all of these people, they had lined up about 200 people putting life jackets on them, putting them on a barge to bring them across the rivers to what is known as Algiers Point in hopes that there would be buses there could take them to a good place, because nobody really knew whether the buses would come and where they would ultimately end up.

But we gave them two MREs and we put them on the barge and we sent them out to Algiers Point, one we said for supper tonight with a bottle of water, one for breakfast in the morning with a bottle of water and let's just hope that the buses will get there.

And as the sheriff and I said goodbye to these folks, the first guy that was in line looked at the sheriff and looked, and he said, Sheriff, you know me, told him his name. He says you know my brother, Joe. You know where we live. Joe drowned. Do not forget him.

The next person in line was a lady who just burst into tears and hugged the sheriff and she was excited. She thought she was going somewhere. I do not where that lady is today. She may be in a hotel somewhere waiting to see when she can get back home.

The third person, this guy was standing there with a plastic grocery bag in his hand. And the sheriff said, I see you have got your lunch already. And he told the sheriff, this is not my lunch, this is all I have left now. My house went under 20 feet of water, at least that is about how high my roof is.

There are people that have suffered tremendously. We talked about the voting rights. I think there is enough safeguards. I believe that if America can spend millions of dollars to help Iraqis vote in this country for transitional government and elect officials in their country, then surely we can safeguard and make sure that Americans, regardless of where they are from, can vote in the elections in the communities of their choice where they reside, where they want to reside, where they want to return to.

In closing, I can only say that what we have done, while it is a good beginning, and every bit that is parceled out to the southern coastal States, we are thankful for. But this is far beyond the capacity of people or individuals to comprehend without physically seeing what is down there.

I do not care if it is Biloxi, Mississippi, New Orleans, Louisiana, Venice, Louisiana, Bayou LaBatrie, Alabama, it does not matter, if you go and you see you will understand.

It is inexplicable to try and describe it. I encourage, as I did with the leadership, when the CODEL came down to Louisiana, every Member of this Congress to go down there. If you make the trip, if you see the areas that were hit, and if you do not feel differently about trying to help these Americans, then there is nothing more that I can do.

I want to thank the leadership for allowing us the time. My job I feel is to keep this issue in front of the American public, because the gulf coast area is not back up on its feet and still needs quite a bit of help. Thank you, Madam Speaker.

Madam Speaker, I thank the gentleman for this hour, along with Mr. Gene Taylor and Mr. Bill Jefferson.

Sitting and listening to Mr. Melancon and Mr. Bill Jefferson, I believe they have appropriately set the tone for why we are here tonight. I beg the indulgence of my colleagues, because we are obviously concerned about both what we have seen, who has been impacted, and what we can do better. For many of us who are members of the Gulf Coast Disaster Recovery Caucus, this has become a cause, a passion, and a desire to ensure that there is a final resolution for the people who are in need.

Let me just take a moment to acknowledge that this is Congressman Bill Jefferson's birthday. And of course we all know that the good news about birthdays is we have an opportunity to give back, and you have just seen Congressman Jefferson on the floor talking about the needs of his community.

I want to spend just a moment to thank Mr. Melancon, Mr. Bill Jefferson and Gene Taylor. I have never seen more collegiate Members under the auspices or under the umbrella or under the pain of devastation.

Certainly there are other colleagues throughout Louisiana, Mississippi and Alabama, but in our caucus we have seen this unified team, and certainly Mr. Thompson, who is the ranking member of the Homeland Security Committee, has been very helpful to this team, but you all have been the voices of reason and strength, the voices who have refused to back down, yet trying to bring along Members from both sides of the aisle. I want to thank them, particularly as a Member from Texas where many of their constituents are, and seeing how hardworking and diligent so many of the survivors are in our community, wanting nothing more than to return to the quality of life, the love of their community, the service they have given to their community, more than anything.

Many are mourning the loss of loved ones, and still having to toil finding work, maybe temporary work, making sure their children are in school, seeking to get the necessary benefits, benefits for elderly parents and relatives that they are taking care of. And many have had to funeralize relatives.

Madam Speaker, 1,100, possibly more, had to be funeralized. How many of us saw or was able to glean what kind of place New Orleans was by having to bury and funeralize 1,100-plus individuals, and there are those who never found their loved ones.

I want to tip my hat to Mr. Melancon, Mr. Jefferson and Mr. Taylor for continuing to press forward even in spite of the fact that there are many agenda items that take up the time of Members of Congress, but you are saying to us that the lives of our fellow Americans must be premier in our concern, and I am forever grateful. Texans are ever certainly grateful because as we fight for resources in the Gulf region, not in conflict and not in fist fight, but certainly in coordination and in collaboration.

So I rise today to sort of weave into this debate the needs of Louisiana and Mississippi, certainly Alabama to a lesser extent, but also to join with the State of Texas as a partner in the efforts that are necessary to be made.

Madam Speaker, just about 2 weeks ago, we joined with the delegation of 34 Members of Congress who saw fit to meticulously travel through three States and a number of different cities, and of course, we had the hospitality of Mr. Melancon, Mr. Jefferson and Mr. Taylor. We were able to see and hear firsthand not only local officials but real people.

One of the key elements that I want to raise tonight that really brought me to a degree of almost frustration, because when hardworking people do the right thing, when you follow the law, when you provide for your family, when you make sure you have insurance, when you pay your mortgages and pay your taxes and get up every morning and go to work, you should be able to rely on your local, State and certainly your Federal Government.

May I present my frustration in the context of visiting New Orleans and Mississippi and bending down and picking up a family picture, a mother holding her baby. When you go throughout these areas, you find the debris of life scattered about. A picture, teapot, a pink dress of a little girl blowing in a displaced closet, having been blown out of a house and sitting on the side of a road. This is the scene of broken hearts and broken lives for people who have tried to do everything that they thought was right.

One issue that brought great pain was at a stop by the side of a road where a family was in a trailer in Mississippi. It happened to be one of the law enforcement, our first responders of whom we are so proud. To hear him tell the story how he paid his insurance, how he gets a busy signal or no signal or a hang up, and how the insurance company tells him, almost like in the biblical times in the birth of Jesus Christ when Mary and Joseph were looking for places to give birth, and there was no room at the inn and they wound up in a manger. This man could find no relief.

None of his insurance policies, or the main one that he thought he had appropriately paid for and applied to, would provide him recovery. I hope, Mr. Melancon, in the Disaster Recovery Caucus, one of the main issues will be to confront this catastrophe, this crisis that impacted Hurricane Rita victims as well, to be able to rely upon paying insurance and not having to read the fine print to be able to find out whether or not I am going to be covered or denied.

In fact, in going throughout the region, I did not find one person that said, oh, yes, my insurance has covered me. There was one denial after another, one lawsuit after another. Two women that I spoke to said they were still waiting for recovery.

This issue needs to be confronted by Congress. Democrats are taking the lead on this issue. We welcome the joining of our colleagues on the other side of the aisle because we rise today to focus on the needs of people, and we need to rush toward victory by helping individuals who are suffering.

Let me also say that today we stood together to speak against this question of the eviction of almost 40,000 families, we believe, tomorrow. If the Secretary of Homeland Security, the Deputy Secretary of Homeland Security can hear our voices on the floor tonight, we are pleading with an extension of that eviction date. What will be said is we have extended it. In fact, I am looking at a time line hear that talks about October 25, November 15, December 15, November 23, December 12, January 9, and it says FEMA requires all evacuees staying in hotels and motels register for an authorization code by January 30, and then they went on to February 7 and then January 13. They were going to be kicked out, and now it has been extended.

Let me say one simple sentence. Why don't we extend the time to remain in place, if necessary, until the anniversary of the Hurricane Katrina and Hurricane Rita tragedies. Why not just do that.

I want to conclude by mentioning these items, and I see we are joined by Ms. Lee, who has been very helpful on these issues, particularly on the Financial Services Committee, where we have gathered to try to work with that committee on the housing issue. So eviction from a place where you have no place else to go, where countless trailers are lost in Hope, Arkansas, but they are going to evict people from places where they have no place to go. I am asking America, does that make any sense to you?

I am standing here making a plea that even in the midnight hour, that we can get an early morning accountability or response from the Secretary of Homeland Security to extend for a couple more months the idea of those last individuals being able to live.

And I want to make sure that we have a response to the insurance debacle that has opened up a searing wound in America: Pay your dues, and you get smacked in the face.

And then I would like to ensure that we have accountability. What does that mean? I heard Mr. Melancon say, and he was very astute in teaching us when we went down and met with a number of his constituents in his parishes and other areas where the local elected officials said: I just wanted to put our community to work. That is what I asked for. In fact, I went out front to ask the Army Corps of Engineers to ask whether we could put our community to work.

They said if you want anything done quickly, you better go the route we are taking and if you go that route, you will get things done quickly. But lo and behold, we did not know that our contractors would not get paid, our small contractors and minority-owned contractors would not get paid. We did not know that the large contractors would bill and bill and bill and bill, and have excessive amounts of dollars, using of tax dollars, and none of that generating down to those who obviously are in need of those dollars.

So this is a plea for help to this Congress. It is also a plea to recognize that we do have a vehicle that I think will be enormously helpful. So I close by

just counting these points on the omnibus bill H.R. 4197, the Congressional Black Caucus bill, that I hope we will see all Members of Congress use as the vehicle to bring relief to the gulf region.

It has a one-time payment, like 9/11, to all of the survivors; down payment assistance for your new house or rebuilding; bankruptcy protection for individuals who are being asked to pay mortgages and pay taxes and being asked to pay credit cards when they have no money; and voting protection, so that we have satellite voting and the Voter Rights Act is implemented in the April 22 election, particularly in Louisiana.

Environmental cleanup, the opening of hospitals and clinics and mental health coverage for those who are suffering.

I, Mr. Melancon, appreciate you bringing us here to, if you will, vocalize or, more importantly, galvanize our efforts, and our promise to those of you in the gulf region is certainly to continue to work. And as a Texan who will be addressing the supplemental, as we all will, to ensure that there is fair compensation for much of the work that we are doing in education and security in Texas, we are not going to stand against you. We are going to stand alongside of you, and we are going to make sure that our efforts are a unified voice because the relief of the gulf coast is unified not divided, and we can do this together. We can do better. We can do it for Americans, our fellow brothers and sisters.

Will the gentleman yield?

Let me if I might, join and just reaffirm, Mr. Jefferson, what you said one of the reasons, because I come from the gulf coast region. And I really think that as we work in this caucus, Mr. Melancon, we really should focus on the educating of our Congress on the problems or the distinctiveness of the gulf region, which I think America should be proud of its regional diversity.

Tragically, this past weekend we had a number of tornados, I believe, or windstorms throughout the Midwest, loss of life, a loss of property. These are regional climatic issues that come about.

And so I suffered too. Houston is 50 feet underwater. We were almost in the eye of Hurricane Rita. And we don't have exactly levees, but we have bayous and our bayous have tended to overflow, and we have needed the reconstruction of our bayous.

So I think it is important that as we look at the other social needs, the housing and electricity, that we really need to have a separate massive agenda, infrastructure, Army Corps, Department of Transportation, Homeland Security, all the elements that deal with the infrastructure of helping to safely secure the gulf region, all along. And Florida is likewise included, having suffered so many of the hurricanes. We really need that agenda.

And let me finish on this point that I indicated I would make clear. We discussed earlier about the voting, just or in a moment, and this goes directly to the April 22 voting. And I don't want my colleagues and others to think, you know what? They are going to let those people who live in New York and Utah and Houston, they are going to let them vote twice. They are living there and then they are trying to get them to vote in New Orleans.

Well, I don't want, if I might use this terminology, for anyone to apply to us the okey-doke. We are not here standing talking about any fraudulent activities or any suggestion that anyone is voting twice or in two different places. We know under the law that you can choose your residency, and where you choose your residency to be, that is where you will be allowed to vote.

When you pool the thousands of individuals in Houston, and I would imagine elsewhere, they will say to you that they are residents of Louisiana and that is where they want to vote. And that is why, as I yield back, our argument is to have the voting rights protection, to allow residents of Louisiana where they might live, one, to have satellite voting where they might live, but also to ensure them the right to vote, one vote, one person.

Mr. Speaker, I thank the distinguished ranking member for yielding, and I look forward to his leadership in the 110th Congress. I thank him for his leadership on this legislation. I thank the full committee chairman as well. I pay great respect to my good friend from Kansas, Mr. Moran, for his leadership and authoring of this bill and for his very careful, meticulous work with the committee of jurisdiction, the Judiciary Committee, and the Subcommittee on Immigration, Border Security, and Claims.

This is what you call a stellar example of real immigration reform. Rational, reasonable thinking, putting immigration in a good light. And it is a right light and a positive light. And it is, as Mr. Moran has just previously said, about good health care. And I am delighted to hear his noted examples that this is a real question for good health care in America.

The Physicians for Underserved Areas Act that I have worked on with the chairman of the subcommittee, Mr. Hostettler, would reinstate and extend the J-1 visa waiver program. Foreign doctors who want to receive medical training in the United States on J visas are required to leave the country afterwards. They must return to their own countries for 2 years before they can receive a visa to work in the United States as physicians. In 1994, Congress established a waiver of this requirement. The waiver is available to doctors who will commit to practicing medicine for no less than 3 years in a geographic area designated by the Secretary of Health and Human Services as having a shortage of health care professionals. The good news is that it is both in rural and urban areas that we can find this very vital and important tool.

Just a few weeks ago, I saw a doctors hospital in Houston literally shut down. Shut down for a number of reasons, management care problems. But that means that those doctors will be scattered in many different places. Urban areas can also be the victims of a lack of doctors.

The waiver program has been successful for more than a decade. It permits each State to obtain waivers permitting up to 30 physicians to work in medically underserved areas. It is not a permanent program. It is sunsetted on June 1 of this year. That is why we need the Physicians for Underserved Areas Act. H.R. 4997 would reinstate and extend the program for 2 years. This is the second time that we have co-sponsored this extension with Mr. Hostettler.

We have a longstanding commitment to ensuring that legislation that can be bipartisan moves through this committee and the full committee. The need for physicians in underserved areas is not a partisan issue. The J-1 visa waiver is also known as a Conrad program to reflect the fact that Senator Conrad established it. Senator Conrad and I have worked together on the program and decided that more data was needed on how successfully the program is being implemented. So we asked the General Accounting Office to investigate the implementation of the J-1 visa program. GAO issued a report in November of this year, and among other things, GAO found that the use of the J-1 visa waiver is a major means of providing physicians to practice in underserved areas of the United States. More than 1,000 waivers were requested in each of the fiscal years 2003 through 2005 by States and three Federal agencies, the Appalachian Regional Commission, the Delta Regional Authority, and the Department of HHS. GAO also found that the present system of providing up to 30 waivers per State is not working. A substantial percentage of States do not

need 30 waivers. There were 664 unused waivers in fiscal year 2005. Other States need more than 30 waivers a year for their medically underserved areas. The States that report needing more than 30 waivers only want between 5 and 50 more physicians. Their needs can be met by redistributing some of the unused waivers, but this must be done carefully. Some States expressed concern to GAO about redistributing unused waivers. They are afraid that physicians would wait and apply to more populous States that would be receiving the redistributed waivers. This problem has to be resolved before we can move forward with the development of a redistribution plan. That was a very important issue for some States such as Texas, but out of a commitment to bipartisanship but really the recognition that the J-1 visa extension is so crucial to the health needs of so many Americans, we have come together to look forward into the 110th Congress for the leaders who are going forward on this issue to begin to address how do we make more fair the redistribution of these visas and to ensure the best health care for Americans.

We are hoping that the other body will likewise see the wisdom of delaying this issue which hospitals in the State of Texas have worked very hard on. And I want to make it very clear that I look forward to working with hospitals around America to ensure that this redistribution process is fairly put in place so that we will have the kind of doctor distribution that will help all of us.

Let me also acknowledge, as I bring my remarks to a close, that although this is a bill that simply generates an extension, might I say to you that this has been a long journey to come this far, and I want to thank all of the staff. I want to thank, of course, Mr. Pomeroy, who I hope will make remarks. We worked very closely with his office. And Mr. Moran. As I said, the chair of the full committee, the chair and the ranking member.

As I close, let me acknowledge the fact that this may be the last bill that I will have the opportunity of working with Mr. Hostettler on, and I simply wanted to acknowledge his integrity and his commitment and dedication to important principles, and his work on this particular legislation as we worked together, and thank him again for his service, and also his attentive concern to legislation that we hope will be seen in the next Congress, and that is the energy workers compensation bill, which we have just had five hearings on, which the last one was yesterday, and that will help to compensate many victims.

I conclude by thanking all of the sponsors and saying this a good bill, and I ask my colleagues to support it.

I rise in support of the Physicians for Underserved Areas Act, H.R. 4997, that I have offered with my colleague Representative John Hostettler. It would reinstate and extend the J-l Visa Waiver Program.

Foreign doctors who want to receive medical training in the United States on J visas are required to leave the country afterwards. They must return to their own countries for two years before they can receive a visa to work in the United States as physicians. In 1994, Congress established a waiver of this requirement. The waiver is available to doctors who will commit to practicing medicine for no less than three years in a geographic area designated by the Secretary of Health and Human Services as having a shortage of health care professionals.

The waiver program has been successful for more than a decade. It permits each state to obtain waivers permitting up to 30 physicians to work in medically underserved areas. It is not a permanent program. It sunsetted on June 1st of this year. The Physicians for Underserved Areas Act, H.R. 4997, would reinstate and extend the program for two years. This is the second time that I have cosponsored an extension with Representative Hostettler. We have a long standing relationship of cooperation on this issue. The need for physicians in underserved areas is not a partisan issue.

The J-l Visa Waiver is also known as the Conrad program, to reflect the fact that Senator Kent Conrad established it. Senator Conrad and I have worked together on the program. We decided that more data was needed on how successfully the program is being implemented, so we asked the General Accountability Office (GAO) to investigate the implementation of the J-l Visa Waiver Program.

GAO issued a report in November of this year. Among other things, GAO found that the use of J-l visa waivers is a major means of providing physicians to practice in underserved areas of the United States. More than 1,000 waivers were requested in each of fiscal years 2003 through 2005 by states and three federal agencies--the Appalachian Regional Commission, the Delta Regional Authority, and the Department of Health and Human Services.

GAO also found that the present system of providing up to 30 waivers per state is not working well. A substantial percentage of the states do not need 30 waivers a year. There were 664 unused waivers in FY2005. Other states need more than 30 waivers a year for their medically undeserved areas.

The states that reported needing more than 30 waivers only want between 5 and 50 more physicians. Their needs can be met by redistributing some of the unused waivers, but this must be done carefully. Some states expressed concern to GAO about redistributing unused waivers. They are afraid that physicians would wait and apply to the more popular states that would be receiving the redistributed waivers. This problem has to be resolved before we can move forward with the development of a redistribution plan.

We will continue to work on a distribution system next year. I am confident that we will succeed in developing a new version of the J-l Visa Waiver Program that would facilitate the use of all of the available waivers and place the physicians where they are needed most.

It has been a long journey to get this bill to the floor. In addition to the work it took to get subcommittee and full committee markups, we have had an ongoing dialogue with our counterparts in the Senate. They wanted the program to have a redistribution program now. They do not want to wait until next year. I share their desire for a redistribution system. It would be a great help to my state, the State of Texas. Nevertheless, I do not want to do it at the cost of hurting the states that are finding it difficult to attract waiver physicians. My staff has advised me that the senators are very close to reaching an agreement on postponing consideration of redistribution. We will work on a resdribution program in the 110th Congress.

In closing, I would like to say a few words about my colleague, Representative Hostettler. I have enjoyed working with Mr. Hostettler. He is an honest and sincere man who is dedicated to his principles. Recently, we worked together to respond to attempts by the administration to impose cost containment measures on the Energy Worker's Compensation bill. We both felt that this was outrageous, and we have cooperated in conducting a series of 5 oversight hearings to ensure that everything about the situation would be out in the open and to leave a roadmap for the next Congress. Mr. Hostettler has led this subcommittee with distinction. I wish him well in whatever he chooses to do in the future.

I urge you to vote ``yes'' for H.R. 4997--For good health care in America.

I would like to add my appreciation to all of the staff, majority and minority, who helped in the waning hours of this particular Congress, the 109th Congress, to help move this bill to suspension and to help move it forward. And I do thank Kristen Wells and Nolan Rappaport for their excellent cooperation and work on the minority staff in generating what I think is an important extension for doctors across America.