Providing for consideration of the joint resolution (H.J. Res. 55) requiring the President to develop and implement a plan for the withdrawal of United States Armed Forces from Iraq.

Mr. Speaker, I rise in support of the Dreier-Price Democracy Assistance Commission resolution. House Resolution 135 will establish a Commission in the House charged with helping parliaments in emerging democracies play a more independent, transparent and representative role.

I am pleased that the gentleman from California (Chairman Dreier) will be taking the lead role on the Commission, and I look forward to working closely with him to make this Commission a success and to make it a worthy successor to the Frost-Solomon Task Force, which helped build the capacity of new parliaments in Central and Eastern Europe between 1990 and 1996.

The Frost-Solomon Task Force, under the leadership of our former colleagues Martin Frost and the late Jerry Solomon, went in at the ground level with 10 parliaments from former Soviet and Warsaw Pact states, providing them with the kind of basic resources and technological infrastructure required for any legislature to play a meaningful role in an emerging democracy--things like computers and other office equipment and reference materials for parliamentary libraries--and helping them establish the systems and procedures necessary to create an efficient and well-functioning legislature.

A bipartisan group of House Members was actively involved, as were key House and Library of Congress staff who offered extensive consultation.

I had the opportunity to participate in the activities of that task force, and to witness firsthand the positive impact that it had, not only on the maturation of parliaments receiving assistance, but also in engendering a positive image of the United States, and of the U.S. House of Representatives, abroad. It was one of the most worthwhile and rewarding experiences I have had as a Member of this body.

The spread of democracy is continuing, and the U.S. Agency for International Development and its partners in the nonprofit world have been active in assisting new parliaments all around the world. Many other developed democracies have also gotten into the act of providing assistance to parliaments in emerging democracies.

But there is still an important role for the U.S. House to play. In fact, there is a role that I would argue the House is uniquely positioned to play. After all, the U.S. House is the oldest directly representative democratic body in existence in the world, one of two Chambers in the oldest democratic federal legislature in existence. We have been doing something that the world admires for a very long time. We should pass along the benefits of our experience to our colleagues in emerging democracies abroad, always in the spirit of realizing that, for all of us, the fullness of democracy is still a work in progress.

Our knowledge and experience as Members and support staff of this great institution are something we can share directly with our counterparts in emerging democracies, helping build their capacity to better perform the essential role that legislatures must play in democratic government, through oversight of governmental expenditures and military operations, constituent services, committee operations, information services and research.

Mr. Speaker, today is the culmination of 2 years of hard work, starting in early 2003 when I first began talking with Representative Doug Bereuter about resuming the work of the Frost-Solomon Task Force. We spent a lot of time talking with USAID, with Frost-Solomon Task Force veterans and with other stakeholders, trying to figure out the best way to move forward, how to ensure that the Commission's work did not duplicate other assistance efforts and in fact complemented them with the unique contribution that House Members could make.

We introduced the first version of this resolution, H. Res. 543, a little over a year ago, and a second improved version, H. Res. 642, last summer. Both resolutions were approved by the House Committee on International Relations, but there were still some refinements needed to get the consensus needed to move the resolution to the floor. We have now been able to make those refinements, thanks to the support and feedback we received from Scott Palmer and other staff members of the Office of the Speaker.

I want to thank the Speaker and the minority leader for lending their support to this enterprise, along with the gentleman from Illinois (Chairman Hyde) and the ranking minority member, the gentleman from California (Mr. Lantos) of the Committee on International Relations.

John Lis, a staff member of the Committee on International Relations, played a critical role in helping bring us to this point, and will continue to play the lead staff role in the Commission's work.

Francis Miko and Paul Rundquist with CRS, Dan Freeman with the Committee on International Relations, and Kristi Walseth, formerly of Representative Frost's staff, all of these played important support roles for the Frost-Solomon Task Force and have been extremely valuable advisers on the best way for a reconstituted Commission to work. We will continue to call on them for advice and, in some cases, to help carry out the Commission's duties.

I also want to thank successive members of my staff who put many hours and substantial effort into fine-tuning this resolution: Tom Rice, Marian Currinder and Darek Newby.

Over the course of the next several months, the Commission will be appointed by the Speaker and minority leader, and the staff will be evaluating candidate countries from around the world for potential participation in the Democracy Assistance Program. The Commission will eventually narrow that list down to five countries that will be invited to participate in the program beginning in fiscal year 2006.

Assistance will be provided through visits by Commission members, other interested Members of the House, and staff to participating countries, and members and staff of those parliaments will also have opportunities to come to

the United States to become more familiar with both State and Federal legislative institutions and practices.

We are working closely, and will continue to work closely, with USAID, the National Democratic Institute, and the International Republican Institute to coordinate the delivery of equipment and other related material assistance where the Commission identifies particular needs.

Mr. Speaker, this is an exciting endeavor, and one that I am looking forward to helping move forward. I hope that many of my colleagues will agree and find some way to contribute to the work of the Commission, to help support the spread and consolidation of democracy around the world.

The passage of H. Res. 135 is the essential first step, and I urge its adoption.

Mr. Speaker, I rise in strong support of this resolution. I want to begin by thanking my colleagues; the gentleman from South Carolina (Mr. Barrett) for his commitment to the effort of this resolution. Behind this resolution, of course, I want to thank my very good friend, the gentleman from California (Mr. Lantos), for all of his efforts, and I appreciate his once again bringing to mind 1848, as he likes to regularly remind our Governor of California about what took place in 1848.

I also want to thank my good friend the gentleman from North Carolina (Mr. Price), who as the gentleman from California (Mr. Lantos) said, has been working for a long period of time on this. And of course Doug Bereuter, who is no longer serving in this House, but obviously put a lot of effort in this. And of course our former colleagues, Mr. Solomon and Mr. Frost.

I was privileged to serve on their task force in the early 1990s, and it is amazing when one looks at the success that we have enjoyed during that period of time. In fact, one of the greatest things that took place following our effort to establish those parliaments and put into place the expertise and the technical assistance and helping with constituent relations and demonstrating independence from the Executive Branch and all those great things as we worked with those fledgling democracies in Hungary and then Czechoslovakia and then Yugoslavia, obviously countries that have changed since that period of time, but Romania and Poland. It is amazing that it has not been necessary for the task force to be in place any longer. Why? Because we have seen following the efforts of that task force a great deal of success with those emerging parliaments, doing the very, very important independent thinking that parliaments need to do.

As the gentleman from South Carolina (Mr. Barrett) pointed out so well in quoting President Bush's inaugural address and then his State of the Union message, it is very clear that we have witnessed an explosion of democracies throughout the entire world in recent months, and the fact that we have seen this explosion underscores the importance of this resolution which will, at the direction of the gentleman from Illinois (Speaker Hastert), call for the establishment of this Commission, and I want to thank Speaker Hastert, and of course the gentleman from Illinois (Chairman Hyde) for their strong support of this effort as well.

To me, this is one of the most exciting things that we will be able to do as an institution for a long period of time in the coming months and years, and I will tell you why, Mr. Speaker. If one looks at the challenges that we face, we know that the establishment of democracies is critical to the potential for us to diminish the kinds of threats that exist in the world. Military threats, terrorist threats are diminished with the success of democracies. And we all know that one election does not a democracy make. Over the past several months, to the surprise of many, we have seen elections take place in some places that have never experienced elections before; Afghanistan, for example. Never before had we seen an election take place in Afghanistan.

We have just now seen for the first time in a long, long period of time free and fair elections in the Palestinian territories, and then of course the most heralded election, when 8\1/2\ million Iraqis, to the surprise of many throughout the world, actually exercised that right to vote. And when we saw the emergence of the Shiia population, many thought that they would

through the election process squelch the opportunity for the Sunnis and the Kurds to be involved in the process, when instead with this election having taken place the Shiia have been reaching out to try and hold Iraq together.

And so now, we, as an institution, the United States House of Representatives, have a wonderful opportunity to provide assistance to countries that have seen elections take place and have yet to see their parliaments really flourish, first be established and then flourish.

And then of course just in recent weeks, what is it that we have seen? As the Secretary of State said not too long ago, if one were to guess that 250,000 people would be on the streets of Beirut, Lebanon calling for independence, it would have come as a surprise to almost anyone, and yet that is exactly what we have seen.

And so these opportunities for democracies to take off are emerging all over the globe, and that is why the establishment of this Commission is, I believe, going to be critically important to help with the strengthening of those democracies through the talent and expertise that will be necessary for the parliamentarians in those democracies.

And so, Mr. Speaker, I want to say that I believe this is a historic opportunity for the United States Congress to be involved in our direct association with democracy building and most specifically parliament building in those countries that are coming to the forefront, and we all hope that there will be even greater opportunities for the United States Congress to be involved in that democracy building in countries where we could not possibly even fathom it today.

That is why I hope that one day we will get to the point where this Commission will no longer be necessary too, when we see political pluralism, the rule of law, self-determination and the existence of democratic institutions globally, because we know that that will play a great role in ensuring the stability and the success and the freedom that I believe all mankind deserves.

Mr. Speaker, I move to suspend the rules and agree to the resolution (H. Res. 135) providing for the establishment of a commission in the House of Representatives to assist parliaments in emerging democracies.

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

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

First, I want to thank the distinguished gentleman from California (Mr. Dreier), chairman of the Committee on Rules, and the distinguished gentleman from North Carolina (Mr. Price) for introducing this legislation. I would also like to recognize the gentleman from Illinois (Mr. Hyde), chairman of the Committee on International Relations, and the gentleman from California (Mr. Lantos), our distinguished ranking Democrat member, as original co-sponsors.

Last week, the Committee on International Relations unanimously agreed to ask the chairman to seek immediate consideration of this resolution by the whole House under suspension of the rules. I would like to thank the leadership for moving so expeditiously to schedule this debate. I would also like to remember the role played by one of our long-time colleagues, the very distinguished gentleman from Nebraska, Doug Bereuter. Prior to his retirement last year after nearly 26 years in the House, Mr. Bereuter worked closely with the gentleman from North Carolina (Mr. Price) on this initiative. Doug Bereuter was a strong believer in helping to spread democracy to former dictatorships, a mission that he has continued to champion in his new role as President of the Asia Foundation. His commitment to interparliamentary relations was underlined by his service as president of the 26-nation NATO Parliamentary Assembly.

This resolution, in part, is of his legacy of the House of Representatives and to the expansion of democracy around the world.

Mr. Speaker, in his second inaugural address, the President of the United States, Mr. Bush, declared: ``The best hope for peace in our world is the expansion of freedom in all the world . . . So it is the policy of the United States to seek and support the growth of democratic movements and the institutions in every nation and culture with the ultimate goal of ending tyranny in our world.''

The resolution before us would enable the House of Representatives to directly and personally answer the President's call to support the growth of democratic institutions in every nation. House Resolution 135 creates the House Democracy Assistance Commission. This commission will allow Members and staff of the House of Representatives to work directly with their counterparts in new democracies around the world to help those parliaments play an independent and substantive role in the legislative process and government oversight. This commission would build on the legacy of the Frost-Solomon task force of the 1990s when the House worked with democracies then emerging in Central and Eastern Europe, helping their parliaments become independent, effective legislatures.

Today, with democracies spreading throughout the world, the House Democracy Assistance Commission would allow Members to personally undertake what President Bush called ``the idealistic work of helping raise up free governments.'' Through the House Democracy Assistance Commission, Members and their staffs from the House of Representatives will personally advise their counterparts from the parliaments of new democracies around the world both in their home capitals and here in Washington. Many of these

parliaments need assistance in areas like committee operations, government oversight, constituent relations, parliamentary procedure, bill drafting, and establishment of research services and legislative information systems.

In addition, when the commission identifies needs in developing countries, it can recommend that the U.S. Agency for International Development provide office equipment for information technology to enable those parliaments to become more efficient and transparent. Creation of the House Democracy Assistance Commission will enable the House of Representatives to personally answer the President's call to support the growth of democratic institutions in every nation.

I urge my colleagues to adopt this resolution.

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

Mr. Speaker, I yield such time as he may consume to the gentleman from California (Mr. Dreier), sponsor of H. Res. 135, the distinguished chairman of the Committee on Rules.

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

Mr. Speaker, I yield 3 minutes to the gentleman from Michigan (Mr. McCotter), a member of the Committee on International Relations.

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

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

Mr. Speaker, I rise in strong support of this resolution. I strongly welcome this resolution to establish a commission in the House of Representatives to assist parliaments in emerging democracies. At the outset, I want to pay tribute to the distinguished gentleman from North Carolina (Mr. Price), who has been a consistent and steadfast advocate of the establishment of this commission. I also want to commend the gentleman from California (Mr. Dreier), my fellow Californian and friend, who is the author of this resolution, and the gentleman from Illinois (Chairman Hyde) for his leadership in moving the resolution through committee. I also want to commend the gentleman from South Carolina (Mr. Barrett), our new colleague, for his work on this matter.

Mr. Speaker, our country has been the leading promoter of democracy from the very beginning of our Nation. It defines who we are as Americans, and it is rightfully a key and continuing element of our foreign policy.

In 1789, the year our Constitution went into effect and the year that George Washington was sworn in as our first President, the young United States supported the French Revolution. In 1848, the United States supported the uprising of the people of Hungary against the Hapsburg monarchy; and after Russia and Austria crushed that revolution, we welcomed to our shores Kossuth Lajos, the great leader of the forces of democracy in Hungary whose statue adorns our Capitol in perpetuity.

In 1918, our President Woodrow Wilson expressed the idea that it is in the national interest of the United States to encourage free and open and democratic governments. President Bush echoed that sentiment in his inaugural address earlier this year.

Mr. Speaker, this legislation provides for the establishment of a House commission to assist the new parliaments in emerging democracies. It is similar to the commission which was established by the House of Representatives in 1990 as the former communist states of Central and Eastern Europe were emerging from Soviet dominance. Under the able leadership of our former colleague, Congressman Martin Frost of Texas, and then our late colleague, Congressman Gerald Solomon of New York, this commission worked with the Congressional Research Service and the Library of Congress to provide technical assistance and information to these new democracies in Central and Eastern Europe.

Our Commission played an important role in assisting the parliaments of these newly democratic states. This legislation establishes a Commission with a similar mandate to assist parliaments in newly emerging democracies in areas throughout the Middle East where we have recently seen the winds of democracy beginning to stir.

There are also parliaments in other parts of the world where assistance from the Congress can help to establish free and open and democratic practices that will strengthen the rule of law.

Mr. Speaker, we all know the need to break the grip of dictatorship wherever it exists, but that is merely the first step on a long journey. Without assistance to help in the establishment of institutions of democracy, countries in transition to a more pluralistic political culture will be subject to the risk of falling short of the aspirations of their citizens who promoted democratic values.

We in this body have a role, along with our democratic friends and allies, to help those who want assistance in strengthening legislative assemblies in many forms.

Mr. Speaker, I urge all of my colleagues to support this resolution.

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

Mr. Speaker, I am delighted to yield such time as he may consume to the distinguished gentleman from North Carolina (Mr. Price), the Democratic author of this resolution

(Mr. PRICE of North Carolina asked and was given permission to revise and extend his remarks.)

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

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

Mr. Speaker, I rise in support of House Resolution 135, for within its wisdom rests the realization a nation's democracy is never more imperiled than in its infancy. This realization and the extension of protections to emerging democracies are vital to our ensuring these newborn nations' first breaths of freedom burgeon into the full fruit of liberty.

Mr. Speaker, especially as we watch the ominous portents emanating from Russia's experiment in representative governments, we must ever remember the inception of a democracy is not an end. It is a beginning. And let us ever stand ready to assist those of our fellow human beings who are fitfully and finally breathing free.

I urge the adoption of this resolution.