To designate the facility of the United States Postal Service located at 110 Cooper Street in Babylon, New York, as the "Jacob Samuel Fletcher Post Office Building".

Mr. Speaker, I thank my distinguished friend from Illinois for yielding me time.

Mr. Speaker, I also thank my friend from Long Island, Congressman Peter King, for sponsoring this resolution and for allowing me to cosponsor it with him.

Mr. Speaker, I rise today to honor Jacob Fletcher and his family, and urge my colleagues to support this resolution to name the Babylon post office in his honor.

Mr. Speaker, the Babylon post office no longer resides in my congressional

district, but I do have the privilege and the honor of representing Jacob's mother, Dorrine Kenney. She is a constituent; she is also a dear friend. She has become an important advisor to me on so many military issues that I confront as a member of the House Armed Services Committee.

Her son, Jacob Samuel Fletcher, was a native of Long Island, and if this bill is passed, all of Long Island will know about his life and his untimely death. Jacob Fletcher grew up on Long Island, he dreamed of serving his country on Long Island. He represented us proudly when he went to Iraq.

On March 23, 2003, he and the 173rd Airborne Brigade jumped into northern Iraq and made their way to Kirkuk. On November 12, 2003, Jacob was killed by an IED on Highway 1 in Samarra.

Mr. Speaker, this kind of news does not tell us the fullness of a life. We see a name in the newspaper, we see a face, we see statistics and numbers, but none of that really describes the fullness of a life, and so I want to take this opportunity to share with my colleagues and with all America the life of Jacob Fletcher.

He was an athlete. He was an artist with a talent for drawing. He played drums. He wrote poetry. He was described as having a big heart, and of being a good listener. And those are the traits that I see in his mother.

In response to her son's death, Dorrine Kenney had every right to retreat into her own grief, to wait for the entire world to feel sorry for her and to support her. But she refused to do that. Instead she created the Jacob's Light Foundation. It sends care packages to our servicemembers in dangerous places around the world. It sends toiletries and food and snacks and reading materials and sunscreen and writing materials, all of the necessities that our troops require.

Rather than retreating into her grief, Dorrine Kenney felt it was her responsibility in her son's name to help improve the quality of life for her son's comrades.

A few months ago she came to my office, Mr. Speaker, and she was angry. We sat down and she said that she was receiving e-mails from troops in the field in the theatre in Iraq complaining that they had not received coagulant bandages, which the Department of Defense has said could save 50 percent of casualties in Iraq, and she asked me to look into it.

We called the Pentagon, and it took us a few weeks, but, in fact, we were able to solve that problem. And we are working with the Army even today to make sure that those bandages are arriving in dangerous places like Iraq and saving lives.

Another example, Mr. Speaker. This woman could have felt sorry for herself. Instead, she dedicated herself to coming into my office and working with the Army to make sure that those who were still in Iraq and Afghanistan had the life-saving supplies that they need.

The Army did not respond because of me, it did not respond because of the hearings we had in the Armed Services Committee; it responded because this mother of a son who was killed was contacted by men and women in Iraq who asked for her help.

That is exactly what Jacob Fletcher was all about, helping when people needed help, listening when people needed to be listened to. It is fitting that there is a foundation named for Jacob Fletcher which sends parcels to servicemembers who need them. And it would be even more fitting, Mr. Speaker, to name a post office in honor of Jacob Fletcher where parcels will be sent, and where the American people and those who live in Long Island will understand what he stood for, what our country stands for, and will remember him always.

Again, I thank the gentleman from Illinois for giving me this time. I thank the gentleman from New York for his leadership on this.

Mr. Speaker, like my colleagues, I am very proud to stand today in support of H.R. 5664. I was very proud to introduce the resolution. And I want to thank Mr. Israel, my colleague from New York, for the strong support that he has given me on this resolution and also for the strong support that he has given to the Kenney and Fletcher families.

Mr. Speaker, it has been discussed what Jacob Fletcher achieved during his life, what he achieved in his death. And he was an exceptional, exceptional human being and a young man. As was stated, he grew up in Long Island, but he dreamed about joining the military even as a young boy.

In fact, the story, it is a true story, that he actually submitted an application to join the Army when he was only 8 years old. And his mother had to explain and turn away the enlistment officers when they came to the house that Jacob was too young to join the Army. She had a tougher job of actually explaining it to Jacob that he was too young to join the Army.

But his patriotic passion cannot be extinguished, and after the September 11 attacks against our country which killed so many New Yorkers and so many Americans and also claimed a family friend, Jacob joined the Army and fulfilled his life-long calling to serve his Nation.

Jacob came from a military family. His father, his stepfather served in the Armed Forces during the Vietnam War, and Jacob's grandfather was a veteran as well.

As Congressman Israel and Ms. Foxx mentioned, Jacob completed his basic training and his airborne school at Fort Benning, and he was among the very first Americans to land in Iraq, parachuting under the cover of darkness during the first week of the war.

During his time in Iraq, Jacob and his fellow soldiers spent much of their time in Iraq training police officers. And in conversations with his family, he spoke of how much he wanted to help these people as this was his calling. He very clearly felt that this was the right thing to do.

Unfortunately Jacob's life ended tragically before he could return home and before he could fulfill all of his dreams. On November 13, 2003, a roadside bomb exploded near the convoy he was in near the town of Samarra, and he died the next day, November 14. He was just 28 years young. He was awarded a Purple Heart and a Bronze Star, and he was also posthumously promoted to specialist.

Like Congressman Israel, I have had the privilege of working with his mother Dorrine, who, again, rather than curse the darkness, has done so much to help those who are in combat in Iraq, in Afghanistan, throughout the world. She has brought Brownies to my office, Girl Scouts. She is active on so many different issues involving the welfare of our solders. I admire her for having the strength that she does.

Congressman Israel and I were at a recent 9/11 commemoration at Farmingdale University. She was there at that, Dorrine was there. So she again has done so much in memory of her son.

Similarly, I have the privilege of having his father, Mo Fletcher, reside in my district. Mr. Fletcher is a Vietnam veteran. He is also a very courageous man who gives so much of his time to veterans, to the military. Whenever a soldier is killed in combat who is from Long Island and adjoining areas, Mo Fletcher goes to the wake, goes to the funeral, stays with the family. So he is a very, very decent human being. And you can see why Jacob turned out to be the outstanding man that he was.

In addition, Jacob is survived by his stepfather, his sister Tara, and his brothers Scott and Josh.

I just urge all the Members of this body to really cast their vote for a true American hero, Jacob Fletcher, who gave his life so that all of us could be free, and may he rest in peace, and, again, may God bless him and his entire family.

Mr. Speaker, I move to suspend the rules and pass the bill (H.R. 5664) to designate the facility of the United States Postal Service located at 110 Cooper Street in Babylon, New York, as the ``Jacob Fletcher Post Office Building,'' as amended.

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

Mr. Speaker, H.R. 5664, offered by the distinguished gentleman from New York (Mr. King) would designate the post office building in Babylon, New York, as the Jacob Samuel Fletcher Post Office Building.

Mr. Speaker, Jacob Fletcher's love for his country was second to none, and his patriotism was evident in his service in the United States Army. He was a 1994 Babylon High School graduate who enlisted in the Army shortly after the terrorist attacks on September 11, 2001.

After completing basic training, he continued on to earn his wings as a paratrooper. Based in Camp Ederle, Italy, Jacob Fletcher was one of the first Americans to land, along with his fellow paratroopers, just north of Baghdad during the first week of the war. Jacob, just 11 days shy of his 29th birthday, was killed on November 13, 2003, when a roadside bomb exploded next to the bus he was on in the town of Samarra.

With gratitude for his bravery and sacrifice to our country, I ask all Members to join me in naming the Babylon, New York, postal facility in his honor.

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

Mr. Speaker, I yield such time as he may consume to the gentleman from New York (Mr. King).

Mr. Speaker, I urge all Members to support the passage of H.R. 5664, and yield back the balance of my time.

Mr. Speaker, I yield such time as he might consume to the gentleman from New York (Mr. Israel), one of the great sons of New York.

Mr. Speaker, I would yield myself the balance of our time.

Mr. Speaker, as a member of the Government Reform Committee, I am pleased to join my colleagues in consideration of H.R. 5664, which names the postal facility in Babylon, New York, after Jacob Samuel Fletcher.

H.R. 5664 was introduced by Representative Peter King and strongly supported by Representative Israel. This measure, which has the support and cosponsorship of the entire New York congressional delegation, was unanimously reported from our committee on July 20, 2006.

Jacob Fletcher, a native of New York and graduate of Babylon High School, was a young man with a life-long goal

of joining the military. Finally at the age of 27, he was able to join the Army. A member of the 173rd Airborne Brigade, Private First Class Fletcher made an historic jump into Iraq on March 23, 2003, the first week of the war.

Sadly he was killed when a roadside bomb exploded the bus on which he was riding on November 14, 2003, in Samarra, Iraq.

Mr. Speaker, designating the Cooper Street Post Office in Private First Class Jacob Fletcher's name honors the tremendous sacrifice of this soldier, and demonstrates how much we value his life. I urge swift passage of this bill.

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

Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the Senate proceed to the immediate consideration of Calendar No. 536, S. 3526.

Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the amendment at the desk be agreed to, the bill, as amended, be read a third time and passed, the motion to reconsider be laid upon the table, and that any statements relating to the bill be printed in the Record

Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the Committee on Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs be discharged from further consideration of the following postal-naming bills en bloc: S. 1726, S. 3845, H.R. 4109, H.R. 4805, H.R. 4674, H.R. 4768, H.R. 5428, H.R. 5434, H.R. 5054, H.R. 5664, and H.R. 6033 and the Senate proceed to their immediate consideration.