Calling on the League of Arab States and each Member State individually to acknowledge the genocide in the Darfur region of Sudan and to step up their efforts to stop the genocide in Darfur.

I can rise enthusiastically to thank both Mr. Ackerman for managing this bill and his leadership and certainly sensitivity to these issues. I thank my good friend and colleague, Ranking Member Smith, who has much roadway in front of him and behind him on these issues dealing with human rights. I am very proud to be a strong member of the Human Rights Caucus that has worked consistently on addressing these issues. And, I thank my friend and colleague, Congresswoman Barbara Lee. We have worked on many, many issues together.

I am reminded of our first Presidential congressional trip to Africa, three women who went to address then, some almost 10 years ago, the devastation of HIV/AIDS, and we have pursued these issues of empowerment.

There is no doubt, there is no quarreling with the fact that 450,000 have died. The janjaweed is alive and well. It is important that Members of Congress have been to the Darfur region and the south.

I am reminded of the time that I sat on the ground in Chad with refugees fleeing from the Sudan, and looked in the faces of women who had been brutalized and raped only because they left their village to get firewood to survive. That is what is going on today in 2007.

I also remember the time I can say on the floor of the House that I was banished, and not as some Members have been over the years, given visas to enter into Darfur and had to be utilizing extraordinary means. This is inhuman. This is not civil. This is not a nation that is part of the world family.

This resolution is very straightforward: Get your friends to talk to you about ensuring the United Nations can do its work. I ask that this resolution be supported so the raped women can have relief and response.

Madam Speaker, the current crisis in the Darfur region of Sudan is of paramount importance. Although Americans may differ greatly on many issues, there is a widespread and broad-based consensus among Democrats and Republicans alike that the ongoing genocide in Darfur is intolerable and must be ended. Today we are presented with a great opportunity to work in a bipartisan fashion to achieve a humanitarian result in responding to the overwhelming suffering in Darfur.

Not since the Rwandan genocide of 1994 has the world seen such a systematic campaign of displacement, starvation, rape, mass murder, and terror as we are witnessing in Darfur for the last three years. At least 400,000 people have been killed; more than 2 million innocent civilians have been forced to flee their homes and now live in displaced-persons camps in Sudan or in refugee camps in neighboring Chad; and more than 3.5 million men, women, and children are completely reliant on international aid for survival.

Unless the world stirs from its slumber and takes concerted and decisive action to relieve this suffering, the ongoing genocide in Darfur will stand as one of the blackest marks on humankind for centuries to come. The people of Darfur cannot wait. The time has come for decisive leadership from the United States.

It has been more than 2 years since my colleagues and I in the Congressional Black Caucus Darfur Task Force met with Secretary Colin Powell. We pressed successfully for the Administration to declare that the campaign of ethnic cleansing and atrocities against civilians in Sudan is genocide. The atrocities are committed primarily by the government of Sudan and its allied Janjaweed militias.

It has been more than a year since I flew to Chad, walked across the border to Sudan, and met with African Union troops who pleaded for more peacekeeping authority and the resources to protect the refugees from violence, rather than merely monitor it. After returning

from that Congressional delegation, I worked with other Members of Congress to secure increased funding to aid the thousands of Sudanese displaced to refugee camps in Chad and to provide additional funding to assist Chad in responding to the humanitarian crisis.

It has been almost two years since the UN Security Council adopted Resolution 1556 demanding that the government of Sudan disarm the Janjaweed. This demand was later followed by Resolution 1706, which authorizes a 20,000 strong U.N. peacekeeping force.

It has been 9 months since the Darfur Peace Agreement was brokered in May 2006 between the government of Sudan and one faction of Darfur rebels.

However, signs of progress have recently emerged, even if it has come too late for the dead. The Sudanese government agreed to let a 3,500- person-strong United Nations peacekeeping force enter the country and join the African Union troops already there. It made the decision under pressure and only after months of unwarranted backtracking and delay.

But the Sudanese government has resisted the U.N.'s efforts to send 20,000 peacekeepers to Darfur. Let me be clear: the difference between a small, targeted force and a substantial deployment is no mere sticking point. It is absolutely essential.

It is essential to stopping the Arab militias from continuing to perpetuate a genocide. It is essential to clearing the path for crucial food and water and health supplies to reach refugee camps. And it is essential because injustice is only really addressed when it is obliterated, not when it is slowed to an excruciating trickle of displacement, harassment, and disrupted lives. We must have that larger U.N. force in Sudan. The international community has spoken with one voice but more pressure needs to be applied on Khartoum.

This resolution urges those who may have the most influence, the Arab League and its member states, to declare the systematic torture, rape, and displacement of Darfurians a genocide; to support and accept U.N. peacekeepers to enforce the ceasefire, protect civilians, and ensure access to humanitarian assistance in Darfur; and to work with the United Nations, the African Union and the United States Presidential Special Envoy for Sudan, Andrew Natsios, to bring about peace and stability to Darfur, the refugee camps, and along the Chadian border.

H. Con. Res. 7 urges the League of Arab States to: (1) declare the systematic torture, rape, and displacement of Darfurians a genocide; (2) pass a resolution to support and accept U.N. peacekeepers to enforce the ceasefire, protect civilians, and ensure access to humanitarian assistance in Darfur; and (3) work with the United Nations, the African Union and the United States Presidential Special Envoy for Sudan, Andrew Natsios, to bring about peace and stability to Darfur, the refugee camps, and along the Chadian border.

Nevertheless the violence continues; indeed, the violence is escalating. This violence is making it even more dangerous, if not impossible, for most of the millions of displaced persons to return to their homes and for humanitarian relief agencies to bring food and medical aid. According to Jan Egeland, the U.N.'s top humanitarian official, the situation in Darfur is ``going from real bad to catastrophic.''

We have come full circle. Violence is increasing, peace treaties and resolutions are not being implemented, and action must be taken.

We must increase pressure on Sudan President Omar Hassan al-Bashir of Sudan to allow in U.N. peacekeepers, or alternatively, a peacekeeping force of similar size comprised of Arab and Muslim troops under the auspices of the Arab League. As with any government, dialogue is the best way to attempt a solution to the issue at hand. However, previous engagements have too often yielded poor results--the government of Sudan has been all too willing to cooperate on the surface level by signing agreements and the like and all too willing to fail to implement them.

In 1997, the Clinton Administration imposed trade and economic sanctions on Sudan, an approach which I feel is likely to yield the best results. However, sanctions imposed by a limited number of countries do not pressure the government of Sudan adequately enough. It must be noted that no just and lasting peace in Sudan can be achieved without the responsible intervention of China.

For too long, China, which is Sudan's biggest oil consumer, has also served as Khartoum's enabler and protector by preventing the U.N. Security Council from imposing more serious sanctions on Sudan in response to the genocide and crimes against humanity committed in Darfur. As former Deputy Secretary of State Robert Zoellick stated in a major policy speech on China a year ago: ``China should take more than oil from Sudan--it should take some responsibility for resolving Sudan's human crisis.'' It is my hope that China may be persuaded to provide the type of constructive leadership in Sudan befitting a great power.

These are the kind of constructive efforts that I feel will best represent the interests of the people of Darfur to bring an end to this horrible crisis. I am in favor of deploying U.N. peacekeeping troops to the region, and the U.N. needs to move swiftly. In addition, any options regarding United States military intervention should be carefully considered and not ruled out.

As we consider these options, Madam Speaker, I would like to remind you that it is not too early to begin the planning efforts needed to transform the Darfur region from a killing field to an economically, politically, and socially viable community. This work will, of course, require the active and purposeful engagement of the United States and other key stakeholders, such as China, and the Arab League.

Finally, we must be bold and imaginative in fashioning a solution commensurate with the scale of the problem. The way to do that is to develop a Marshall Plan for the Sudan. But the United Nations, and the international community, must draw a line in the sand and act to stop the genocide in Darfur. The words of President Lincoln speak to us from the ages:

[W]e cannot escape history. We, of this Congress and this

administration, will be remembered in spite of ourselves. No

personal significance, or insignificance, can spare one or

another of us. The fiery trial through which we pass, will

light us down, in honor or dishonor, to the latest

generation.

It speaks volumes that H. Con. Res. 7 has 111 co-sponsors, and I urge all of my colleagues to support this resolution.

Madam Speaker, let me thank the gentleman for yielding and for his leadership on so many issues relating to human rights and genocide and our foreign policy.

I also want to thank Chairman Lantos. I want to thank Speaker Pelosi. I want to thank our majority leader, Mr. Hoyer, and I want to thank Congressman Don Payne, who for so long was the lone voice in the wilderness speaking out against the horrific genocide that is taking place in Darfur. Also I want to thank Congressman Smith and all of our Republican colleagues, Congresswoman Ros-Lehtinen; our staff, Joan Condon, Pearl Alice Marsh, Christos Tsentos, all of you who have not only worked so diligently with your expertise and your clarity but also because you all are committed to the work that we are doing to try to end this genocide.

Let me thank our cosponsors of this resolution. We have over 115 cosponsors, bipartisan cosponsors.

This is a very important moment for this House of Representatives and for the world. Thirteen years ago the world did stand by as nearly 1 million people were slaughtered in the genocide of Rwanda. The best our country could do then, the best we could do, was apologize, and that was after the fact. Many of us swore that another Rwanda would never happen again, would never take place on our watch. But, today, Madam Speaker, it is happening again.

Nearly 3 years ago, on July 22, 2004, Congress formally declared that genocide was taking place in Darfur. Estimates indicate that nearly 450,000 people now, 450,000 people, have been killed and 2.5 million innocent civilians have been displaced to this date. That is mind- boggling.

I witnessed this ongoing tragedy in January of 2005, when I first visited the refugee camps in Chad and in Darfur, led by another leader against this

genocide, Congressman Ed Royce; also with two great humanitarian leaders, Don Cheadle, Academy Award nominee for ``Hotel Rwanda''; and Paul Rusesabagina, who also is a hero who was in Rwanda and led many people out of that tragedy.

In February 2006, once again under the leadership of our great Speaker, Speaker Nancy Pelosi, I visited the refugee camps with a bipartisan delegation in Darfur. And just 2 weeks ago, we returned from Darfur again. This was my third visit, again a bipartisan congressional delegation under the leadership of our leader, our majority leader, Congressman Steny Hoyer.

I say this to say that I have seen this now three times, this tragedy, and it is quickly, quickly, continuing to deteriorate very rapidly. More and more people are dying. Regardless of what you hear, we know that more and more people are dying. We heard now that 1,500 to 2,000 a week are dying, and even humanitarian aid workers are at risk. Cars are being hijacked. The day before our delegation arrived, five African Union soldiers from Senegal were killed. They were killed. And the general, the head of the African Union, he begged us to send more peacekeepers. He begged us to send more logistical support and to help with what they need so that they can provide the civilian protection against this slaughter. Unfortunately, for many Darfurians, the situation is still very, very grim.

As part of our visit this time, we also went to Egypt and met with President Mubarak. He indicated that Egypt had deployed 900 troops to help implement the comprehensive peace agreement in southern Sudan. Additionally, Egypt had sent about 150 military observers and police to Darfur and was supporting a field hospital that was serving 200,000 people. These efforts are extremely, extremely important. But we urged him to do more and to use his influence with the Sudanese Government to help stop the atrocities.

News reports last week indicate that Egypt, Saudi Arabia, and the League of Arab States and the United Nations were all instrumental in pressuring President Bashir of the Sudan to accept the second phase of the three-part agreement to implement an African Union-United Nations hybrid peacekeeping force. If true, this agreement to deploy the so- called ``heavy support package'' would provide for an additional 3,000 peacekeepers, helicopters, and significant logistical and military support for the hybrid force. But as the African Union told us, they need at least 22,000-plus troops.

So whether or not we see this 3,000 force come into Darfur remains to be seen. Past experience has taught us that we can never take President Bashir at his word. News reports the very next day detailed a United Nations investigation that caught Khartoum disguising military supply planes in United Nations colors in order to supply weapons to their janjaweed allies.

The international community and our friends in the League of Arab States cannot allow this sort of double-dealing to take place. We have all got to keep the pressure on Khartoum, and that is why we have got to pass this bipartisan resolution today.

The thrust of this resolution is very simple. It calls on the League of Arab States and each member state to be our partners for peace by stepping up their efforts to end the genocide in Darfur. For too long the world has been silent in this struggle. I remember in my trips to Algeria, meeting with the President of Algeria, and a previous visit to Egypt several years ago that the government officials were very reluctant to call the ongoing atrocities in Darfur genocide, and some even denied that genocide was taking place. But we know that it is.

Even just last week, Egypt expressed its opposition to further United Nations sanctions against Sudan, urging that we give President Bashir more time. More time for what? To allow more innocent people to get killed?

While it appears today that in some cases those outlooks are changing of some of the Arab states, there is still much more that they can do and that we can do. We must demand that President Bashir follow through on the full deployment of the AU-UN hybrid force; and we must urge all parties, the rebels and the government, to end the violence and come to the table to negotiate a political solution. But we cannot and we should not hold a cease-fire declaration hostage to a peace agreement or vice versa. We cannot wait for a peace agreement to stop the slaughter. We must do both at the same time. And we must insist that Darfurians return to their homes, figure out a way so they can get home quickly to their villages and reclaim their lives.

Our own efforts to stop this genocide must intensify also. We must pursue divestment to remove all United States funding from any business that is supporting the Sudanese Government and the ongoing genocide. And we have got to explore further sanctions and legislation that I know my colleague Congressman Don Payne is working on.

Lastly, we must engage with the Chinese to leverage their influence on the Sudanese Government and help put a stop to this violence. As the principal buyer of oil from the Sudan, the Chinese have the ability to exert political and financial pressure on President Bashir. We need their help to end the genocide.

I salute the faith community and our young people around the country who are organizing and speaking out and working day and night to end this genocide. This week they are conducting a series of ``Darfur Days'' as they continue to say ``not on our watch.'' We hope that our friends in the Arab world join these young people in saying not on their watch, never will this happen again.

I just want to mention that our beloved colleague Congresswoman Juanita Millender-McDonald, who passed away this weekend, worked tirelessly to end this genocide in Darfur. So I am asking for a strong bipartisan vote on this resolution in her honor. And for the young people, the men and the women whom we have seen and whose lives we know have been destroyed, and for those who have died, let us say to the entire world and let us ask our partners for peace in the Arab world to end this genocide now.

I thank my friend Mr. Ackerman for yielding, and I thank him for his leadership and commitment for decades to issues of human rights, humanitarian concerns, and peace.

I thank my friend Barbara Lee who has been such an extraordinary leader. She worked for a gentleman that is a great hero of mine, Ron Dellums, who, when he was on this floor raised his voice for peace, raised his voice on behalf of the dispossessed, raised his voice on behalf of those who were under attack. Barbara Lee has continued that very strong voice in representing that district. She is one of the experts in this House on issues relating to Africa, issues relating to AIDS, and on efforts to attain peace and securing this world for the citizens of this world.

I am also, Madam Speaker, very pleased to join my friend Chris Smith. I had the privilege of cochairing the Helsinki Commission with Mr. Smith for a number of years and serving with him for 15 years on the Helsinki Commission before I became the minority whip and took leave from the commission. I want to thank him. Not only in a collegial sense does he participate in these matters, but probably as much as any Member in this House of the 435 and the literally, probably, 2,000 that he and I have served with over the years has personally, individually, gone to some of the most troubled spots in the world. No publicity, no large delegation, no Air Force plane; I am going to speak briefly about the fact that we were able, but on his own.

He and Frank Wolf, two of our Members who have gone to people in trouble and at risk and taken their hand and heard their story and brought it back and exposed it to the light of day. I thank Mr. Smith for his leadership over the more than two decades, almost a quarter of a century that he and I have served together in this House.

This is a serious issue.

I want to congratulate Jerry Moran. Jerry Moran had not been on many codels or traveled. Barbara Lee came over to me as he was speaking and said he got the message.

That is why we travel. Sometimes the public thinks that traveling is just a junket. Going to Darfur is no junket. Living in Darfur is much worse.

When I determined that I was going to take a delegation overseas as my first trip as majority leader of this House, I thought that I wanted to go to someplace where it was important that we tell the world that we thought they ought to be paying attention to. The world has been paying attention to it, so many people have gone to Darfur. But we went to Darfur, 11 of us went to Darfur, myself, Barbara Lee from California, Jerry Moran from Kansas, Ileana Ros-Lehtinen as the ranking Republican on the Foreign Affairs Committee, Greg Meeks from New York, Brad Miller from North Carolina, G.K. Butterfield from North Carolina, Bob Goodlatte from Virginia, Ray LaHood from Illinois, John Barrow from Georgia, and Jim Costa from California. A delegation of Democrats and Republicans who, when the plane took off from Andrews Air Force Base, flew not as Republicans or Democrats, but flew as Americans, flew as Americans who were concerned about humanitarian distress.

Madam Speaker, I want to thank the gentlewoman from California, Congresswoman Lee, for her hard work in bringing this important bipartisan resolution to the floor this morning and for her dedicated leadership in focusing attention on the continuing genocide in the Darfur region of Sudan.

Jerry Moran is correct; all of us know that we talk about never forgetting, but never forgetting is not enough. Remembering is the first step, but acting is the absolutely essential step.

Since 2003, more than 400,000 people have been killed in Darfur, and an estimated 2\1/2\ million people have been displaced, mothers, sisters, brothers, old and feebled, sick.

Our delegation, as I know you have, Mr. Smith, Mr. Ackerman, I know you as well, have had the opportunity to visit in the camps, in the medical facilities, talked to the mothers, talked to the children. I talked to a grandmother who had been forced away from her home by somebody. Was it the government? Was it a rebel group? Was it simply a band of thieves and criminals? Whatever it was, she was homeless. Her family was dispossessed, and she had nowhere to go except a displaced person's camp. That calls out to us to us in this House, it calls out to everybody in this globe to respond in a positive way to relieve that suffering.

The United Nations has identified the situation in Darfur as the worst current humanitarian and human rights crisis in the world. The United States calls it genocide.

Simply stated, the international community must not turn a blind eye to the suffering of innocents as has happened far too often throughout human history.

The international community's plaintive cry ``never again'' requires real collective action in Darfur now. There are people acting now, but they do not have enough help. This time we must prove that we mean it: Not now, never again.

House Concurrent Resolution 7 has 115 cosponsors on both sides of the aisle, and it is my hope that it will get 433, we have two Members who are no longer with us, 433 votes. This is an important step in this cause.

Congresswoman Lee's resolution calls on the League of Arab States to acknowledge the genocide in Darfur, to support and accept the United Nations peacekeepers as the best option to enforce a cease-fire, protect civilians, and ensure access for humanitarian workers, to work with the international community to bring about a lasting peace in Darfur.

In fact, Madam Speaker, during the recent bipartisan congressional delegation that I have spoken of to Sudan, a codel which included, as I said, Congresswoman Lee and the others, we also went to Egypt. Egypt is one, of course, of the most important members of the arab League, the largest Arab state, an important member in the league. I have been told that President Mubarak, at our request when we met with him, followed up on his pledge to our delegation to reach out to Sudanese President Bashir who has, unfortunately and tragically, been part of the problem, not part of the solution, deemed by the international community as someone who has facilitated and, yes, even participated in the humanitarian crisis that exists. We urged his government and President Mubarak says that he has urged Bashir to accept and facilitate humanitarian workers' work, to make their visas acceptable, make their travel around the country easier. I also understand that Foreign Minister Gheit, with whom we met, is currently in Sudan, and it is my hope that he is delivering the same message that we spoke of.

Now is not the time to offer a full report of our codel; however, I do want to briefly highlight the five specific steps that I believe must be taken in Darfur without delay.

First, it is imperative that we continue to ensure humanitarian access in Darfur.

Second, the international community must insist that the Bashir government accept more peacekeeping troops.

Third, we must initiate a process by which a political solution between the warring factions can be reached.

Fourth, we must make a stronger effort to engage Sudan's neighbors in the peace process, which was what this resolution is designed to do.

And, fifth, we must work with the Sudanese Government to help forge a comprehensive plan for stability and reconstruction across the whole of the country. North Sudan was mentioned by my friend Bill Pascrell, as well as South Sudan which we visited.

Madam Speaker, I again want to thank Congresswoman Lee, Congressman Ackerman, Congressman Smith, and all of our colleagues for this effort today. They continue to focus on Darfur. I urge all of my colleagues to unanimously support this very important resolution, a call to action, a call to humanitarian relief.

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

Madam Speaker, I rise in very strong support of H. Con. Res. 7, and congratulate Congresswoman Jackson-Lee for authoring this important measure. It sends a very clear and nonambiguous message to the Arab League to recognize the killing fields of Darfur as ``genocide'' and to support the deployment of the hybrid U.N. peacekeeping force pursuant to U.N. Resolution 1706.

It is timely that we consider this resolution today as leaders and activists around the world unite to raise awareness and urge action to stop the genocide during this week's Global Days for Darfur.

Madam Speaker, no other people on Earth have suffered more than the people of Sudan. Tragically, they have been victimized by not one, but two genocides. In the south, over the course of 2 decades, some 2 million people were murdered by the Khartoum regime, and only a robust peacemaking effort, backed by the military efforts on the ground by Dr. Garang, resulted in a comprehensive peace agreement that was very ably brokered by Senator Danforth as the Special Envoy appointed by President Bush. Indeed, President Bush, I think, made the crucial difference in bringing peace to southern Sudan.

But just as that peace was breaking out, in February of 2003, hostilities began in Darfur, and now we have, regrettably, another genocide, in excess of 400,000 people dead and 2 million people displaced.

Several months ago, Madam Speaker, I traveled to Darfur and met some of the heroic survivors of genocide at two camps, at Mukjar and at Kalma camp. When our old Soviet era helicopter landed at the remote Mukjar camp, thousands of women and children danced, clapped and sang beautiful traditional African songs. The people of Darfur, as we all know, have a remarkable generosity and spirit. And it was awe inspiring and heart breaking at the same time.

At first glance most of the people had a superficial glow of physical wellness, thanks in large part to the brave NGOs bearing food, clothing, shelter, and medicine. However, even those necessities are now at risk due to the insecurity in Darfur caused by a lack of protection of humanitarian aid workers.

As the H. Con. Res. 7 points out, Khartoum is now targeting relief agencies and NGOs, and at least 12 humanitarian workers have been killed in Darfur.

It profoundly troubles me, and troubled me especially on the trip, to look at the appalling fear and trepidation. It is ever-present. Trauma, posttraumatic stress disorder is everywhere. I spoke with many women who told me personal stories of rape, senseless beatings and massacres by the Janjaweed and the Sudanese militias. Among the refugees and IDPs, emotional woundedness and brokenness is everywhere. Like you and me, Madam Speaker, all that the wonderful people of Darfur really want is to love God and their families and their friends and to earn a living and to live in peace, and yet they have had atrocities imposed upon them that no human should have to bear.

On that same trip, Madam Speaker, I also had a lengthy meeting with President Bashir at his presidential suite in Khartoum. All Bashir wanted to talk about was ending United States trade sanctions, not the horrific loss of life in Darfur. For me the exchange was eerily reminiscent of a conversation I had had in Serbia with the late Slobodan Milosevic after he invaded Croatia, then Bosnia, and unleashed the Balkan genocide. He too, like Bashir, was unmoved by the plight of suffering people.

On October 5 of 2006, I wrote a letter, cosigned by 175 Members of Congress, to the Secretary General of The League of Arab States, asking him to use his authority to employ all diplomatic means available to encourage Bashir to halt Sudan's military offensive in North Darfur, to withdraw Sudanese troops from the area, and to reverse the Arab League's opposition to the U.N. deployment of peacekeepers. I believe, and this resolution makes absolutely clear, that the UN-AU hybrid force is today the best option to enforce a cease-fire, protect civilians, ensure access to humanitarian assistance, and begin the path to reconstruction and reconciliation in Darfur. We pointed out in the October letter that the collective voice of the Arab League could clearly help save thousands of lives and bring peace and security to Darfur. Right now they are part of the problem. It is time the Arab League became part of the solution.

Finally, this legislation strongly urges the League of Arab States to declare that the systematic torture, rape, and displacement of Darfurians is a genocide, and strongly urges the Arab League to agree and pass a resolution to accept and support the U.N. peacekeepers, again, as the best option to enforce that cease-fire and to give the people of Darfur what they so desperately need: peace and reconciliation.

Madam Speaker, I reserve the balance of my time.

Madam Speaker, I yield 4 minutes to the distinguished gentleman from Virginia (Mr. Goodlatte).

Madam Speaker, I yield such time as he may consume to the distinguished gentleman from Kansas (Mr. Moran).

Madam Speaker, I reserve the balance of my time.

Madam Speaker, I yield myself 2 minutes.

First, let me say to the distinguished majority leader, I want to thank him for his leadership on a broad range of human rights issues. And I think it speaks volumes that the first trip as majority leader that you put together was to Darfur to try to promote peace and reconciliation. So I very much want to commend you for that.

I also thank you for your compliments to Frank Wolf and I; but I would add to that, when you talk about going to remote places, that also applies to you. I think Members should know that there were a number of trips that we undertook during the dark days of the Soviet Union when human rights were being crushed daily. I will never forget a trip we took to Lithuania, led by then Chairman Hoyer when Lansbergis, the President, was under siege, was literally surrounded by Soviet Black Berets. And we went there, to be a presence, to be a deterrent. Just prior to our arrival, more than a dozen people were murdered at TV tower, the gentleman will recall, but he nevertheless led our delegation to Vilnius and I do believe it had an impact in trying to mitigate further bloodshed. That's just one example. So I want to commend the distinguished majority leader for his leadership on Darfur.

Madam Speaker, I yield 2 minutes to Ms. Sheila Jackson-Lee.

(Ms. JACKSON-LEE asked and was given permission to revise and extend her remarks.)

Madam Speaker, I ask unanimous consent to yield 2 minutes to the gentleman from New York (Mr. Ackerman), and that he may control that time.

Madam Speaker, I move to suspend the rules and agree to the concurrent resolution (H. Con. Res. 7) calling on the League of Arab States to acknowledge the genocide in the Darfur region of Sudan and to step up their efforts to stop the genocide in Darfur, as amended.

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

Madam Speaker, I rise in strong support of this resolution, and yield myself as much time as I may consume.

Madam Speaker, let me first thank the sponsor of this resolution, our friend and colleague from the Bay Area, Barbara Lee, for introducing this important measure. Let me also acknowledge the leadership on the Darfur issue of our distinguished majority leader, our friend and colleague, Steny Hoyer, who recently returned from a very important and timely mission to the region.

Madam Speaker, we are still haunted by the echoes of the Holocaust, which Congress commemorated last week in the Capitol rotunda. The message from that horrific time is fresh in our minds as we consider another terrible genocide, the slaughter in the Darfur region of the Sudan.

Despite that profound message, the international community has allowed as many as 450,000 people to be killed, by some estimates, in Darfur. The Sudanese Government has been allowed to perpetuate a shocking campaign of terror for too long. And complacent governments around the world have stood on the side lines for too long.

So today, the question faces us, will we again fail to heed the message of the Holocaust? Will we allow Khartoum to keep terrorizing the impoverished and desperate minority there into extinction?

Slight signs of progress have emerged over the past few weeks, even if it has come too late for the dead. The Sudanese Government agreed to let a 3,000 person strong United Nations peacekeeping force to enter the country and join the African Union troops already there. This is meant to be a stepping stone to a larger and more robust force.

But the Sudanese Government made the decision under pressure and only after months of excruciating backtracking and delay. But the Sudanese Government has resisted the U.N.'s efforts to send 20,000 peacekeepers to Darfur. The U.N. has deemed this larger force necessary to protect civilians and to enforce a peace.

I have no doubt that Khartoum will continue to play games until they once again feel the pain of international pressure. As we speak, the government there is deliberately intimidating aid workers in Darfur. Let me be clear: The difference between a small, targeted force and a very substantial deployment is no mere sticking point. It is absolutely essential.

It is essential to stopping the Arab militias from continuing to carry out the government's dirty deeds. It is essential to clearing the path for crucial food and water and health supplies to reach the refugee camps. And it is essential because injustice is only really addressed when it is obliterated, not when it is slowed to a painful trickle of

displacement, harassment and disrupted lives. We must have that bigger U.N. force in the Sudan.

Now, finally, the international community has spoken with one voice. But more pressure needs to be applied. They cannot be allowed to slide backward this time.

The resolution before the House today urges those who may have the most influence, the Arab League and its member states, to take dramatic steps to help bring peace to Darfur.

The resolution urges the Arab states to declare the systematic torture, rape and displacement of Darfurians a genocide, and to support and accept U.N. peacekeepers. It also urges the Arab League to work with the United Nations, the African Union and the United States Presidential Special Envoy for the Sudan, Andrew Natsios, to bring about peace and stability to Darfur, the refugee camps, and along the Chadian border.

I believe it is the solemn duty of all who have said ``never again'' to speak out about genocide, especially this brutal one in Darfur. More importantly, I believe it is our duty in this Congress to do something about it without any delay.

I ask all of our colleagues to vote for this important and timely resolution.

Madam Speaker, I reserve the balance of my time.

Madam Speaker, I yield 8\1/2\ minutes to the gentlewoman from California (Barbara Lee), member of the Committee on Appropriations and the main sponsor of this resolution now before us.

Madam Speaker, I yield 3 minutes to the gentleman from New Jersey, Congressman Bill Pascrell, a member of the Committee on Ways and Means.

Madam Speaker, I yield 2 minutes to the gentleman from Illinois, the Honorable Bobby Rush, chairman of the Energy and Commerce Subcommittee on Commerce Trade and Consumer Protection.

Madam Speaker, to the Tenth District of Ohio, the Honorable Dennis J. Kucinich, chairman of the Oversight and Government Reform Subcommittee on Domestic Policy, I yield 1 minute.

Madam Speaker, it is now my distinct honor to yield to the gentleman from Maryland, the distinguished majority leader of the House of Representatives, recently returned from leading the delegation in this House personally to see the suffering going on, Mr. Steny Hoyer.

I thank the gentleman for accommodating our Members on the majority side.

Madam Speaker, I yield 2 minutes to the gentlewoman from New York (Ms. Clarke), the newest member of our delegation.

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