To designate the facility of the United States Postal Service located at 1700 Main Street in Little Rock, Arkansas, as the "Scipio A. Jones Post Office Building".

Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the Committee on Armed Services be authorized to meet during the session of the Senate on Thursday, February 15, 2007, at 9:30 a.m., in open and closed sessions to receive testimony on the current and future readiness of the Army and Marine Corps.

Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation be authorized to hold a hearing during the session of the Senate on Thursday, February 15, 2007, at 9:30 a.m., in room 253 of the Russell Senate Office Building. The purpose of the hearing is to evaluate the administration's proposal to reauthorize the Federal Aviation Administration.

Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the Committee on Energy and Natural Resources be authorized to hold a hearing during the session of the Senate on Thursday, February 15, 2007, at 9:30 a.m. in room SD-366 of the Dirksen Senate Office Building. The purpose of the hearing is to consider the President's proposed budget for FY 2008 for the Department of the Interior.

Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the Committee on Finance be authorized to meet during the session on Thursday, February 15, 2007, at 10 a.m., in 215 Dirksen Senate Office Building, to hear testimony on ``The Administration's 2007 Trade Agenda.''

Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the Committee on Foreign Relations be authorized to meet during the session of the Senate on Thursday, February 15, 2007, at 9:15 a.m. to hold a nomination hearing.

Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the Committee on Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs be authorized to meet on Thursday, February 15, 2007, at 9 a.m. for a business meeting to consider pending committee business.

Agenda

Legislation

1. S. 4, Improving America's Security by Implementing Unfinished Recommendations of the 9/11 Commission Act of 2007;

2. S. 343, a bill to extend the District of Columbia College Access Act of 1999;

3. S. 457, a bill to extend the date on which the National Security Personnel System will first apply to certain defense laboratories;

4. S. 550, a bill to preserve existing judgeships on the Superior Court of the District of Columbia.

Post Office Naming Bills

1. S. 171, to designate the facility of the USPS located at 301 Commerce Street in Commerce, Oklahoma, as the ``Mickey Mantle Post Office Building;''

2. S. 194/H.R. 49, to designate the facility of the USPS located at 1300 North Frontage Road West in Vail, Colorado, as the ``Gerald R. Ford Jr. Post Office Building;''

3. S. 219/H.R. 335, to designate the facility of the USPS located at 152 North 5th Street in Laramie, Wyoming, as the ``Gale W. McGee Post Office;''

4. S. 303, to designate the facility of the USPS located at 324 Main Street in Grambling, Louisiana, as the ``Coach Eddie Robinson Post Office Building;''

5. S. 412/H.R. 521, to designate the facility of the USPS located at 2633 11th Street in Rock Island, Illinois, as the ``Lane Evans Post Office Building;''

6. H.R. 433, to designate the facility of the USPS located at 1700 Main Street in Little Rock, Arkansas, as the ``Scipio A. Jones Post Office Building;''

7. H.R. 514, to designate the facility of the USPS located at 16150 Aviation Loop Drive in Brooksville, Florida, as the ``Sergeant Lea Robert Mills Brooksville Aviation Branch Post Office;''

8. H.R. 577, to designate the facility of the USPS located at 3903 South Congress Avenue in Austin, Texas, as the ``Sergeant Henry Ybarra III Post Office Building.''

Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the Committee on Indian Affairs be authorized to meet on Thursday, February 15, 2007, at 9:30 a.m. in room 485 of the Russell Senate Office Building to conduct a hearing on the President's fiscal year 2008 budget request for tribal programs.

Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the Committee on the Judiciary be authorized to meet to conduct a markup on Thursday, February 15, 2007, at 10 a.m. in room S. 216 of the Capitol Building.

I. Nominations

Beryl Howell, to be a Member of the United States Sentencing Commission.

II. Bills

S. 316, the Preserve Access to Affordable Generics Act, Kohl, Grassley, Leahy, Schumer, Feingold.

S. 236, the Federal Agency Data Mining Reporting Act of 2007, Feingold, Sununu, Leahy, Akaka, Kennedy.

S. 378, the Court Security Improvement Act of 2007, Leahy, Specter, Durbin, Cornyn, Kennedy, Hatch.

S. 442, the John R. Justice Prosecutors and Defenders Incentive Act of 2007, Durbin.

III. Resolutions

S. Res. 41, honoring the life and recognizing the accomplishments of Tom Mooney, president of the Ohio Federation of Teachers, Brown, Voinovich.

S. Res. 47, honoring the life and achievements of George C. Springer, Sr., the Northeast regional director and a former vice president of the American Federation of Teachers, Dodd.

S. Res. 49, recognizing and celebrating the 50th anniversary of the entry of Alaska into the Union as the 49th State, Stevens, Murkowski.

S. Res. 53, congratulating Illinois State University as it marks its sesquicentennial, Durbin, Obama.

S. Res. 69, a resolution recognizing the African-American spiritual as a national treasure, Menendez.

Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the Select Committee on Intelligence be authorized to meet during the session of the Senate on February 15, 2007, at 2:30 p.m. to hold a closed hearing.

Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the Special Committee on Aging be authorized to meet Thursday, February 15, 2007, from 10 a.m. to noon in Dirksen 562 for the purpose of conducting a hearing.

People throughout America, Madam Speaker, celebrate our heroes of the Civil Rights Movement. Every American knows of the great contributions of Martin Luther King. No Arkansan celebrates these heroes without celebrating the Little Rock Nine. No Arkansan remembers these heroes without remember Daisy Bates.

I recently introduced a bill to remember another noteworthy Arkansan who is not as well known as he deserves to be, Scipio A. Jones. Scipio A. Jones contributed to moving Arkansas and our Nation forward, and I am pleased that earlier today the House adopted this measure, H.R. 433, to designate the facility at 1700 Main Street in Little Rock as the Scipio A. Jones Post Office Building.

His is the life of which movies should be made, Madam Speaker. Scipio Africanus Jones was born a slave in Dallas County, Arkansas in 1863. He moved to Little Rock, Arkansas in the 1880s, took preparatory courses at Philander Smith College and graduated from North Little Rock's Bethel University, now Shorter College, with a Bachelor's Degree in 1887.

Jones apprenticed to practicing attorneys and was accepted into the Arkansas Bar in 1889. He was admitted to the Supreme Court of Arkansas in 1900, to the U.S. District Court for the Western Division of the Eastern District of Arkansas and the U.S. Circuit Court for Arkansas in 1901, the U.S. Supreme Court in 1905 and the U.S. Court of Appeals in 1914.

In 1915 and 1924, Jones was appointed as a special judge to preside over cases when the regular judge had been incapacitated.

He was the National Attorney General for the Mosaic Templars of America, an international fraternal organization headquartered in Little Rock, Arkansas which provided services to African Americans in an era when discrimination resulted in few basic services being readily available. The location of the Post Office we will designate is less than a mile away from the Mosaic Templars headquarters.

On a visit to Little Rock, Arkansas by Treasury Secretary W.G. McAdoo during World War I, Scipio A. Jones personally wrote a check to purchase $50,000 worth of Liberty bonds to support the Allied cause in World War I, and soon thereafter raised another $50,000 for this effort.

He was honored by President Woodrow Wilson, who appointed him to the National Advisory Board to the Liberty Bond effort.

He opposed and helped defeat grandfather clause legislation that some southerners were seeking to add to the Arkansas Constitution to disenfranchise and prevent African American voter participation.

In the aftermath of the Elaine Massacre of 1919, which resulted in the deaths of five Caucasians and an estimated 856 African Americans, Scipio A. Jones garnered national attention with the successful defense of 12 sharecroppers who had been condemned to death and by securing the release of nearly 100 other Elaine defendants who had been sent to prison.

The legal work of Jones ultimately resulted in the case of Moore v. Dempsey being argued before the United States Supreme Court, which found that mob-dominated trials were a violation of the due process clause of the 14th amendment to the Constitution.

He was widely respected by people of all races in the central Arkansas community. He died on March 28, 1943 and is buried at Haven of Rest Cemetery in Little Rock.

I am pleased that this designation will acknowledge the lifelong service of Scipio A. Jones as a civic leader, talented lawyer, skillful jurist and civil rights leader and for his remarkable courage and notable contributions to the advancement of social justice.

I would like to thank Chairman Waxman of the Oversight and Government Reform Committee for bringing H.R. 433 to the floor, and Denise Wilson of that committee for assistance in moving it forward. I also thank Representative Lynch and Representative Shays for the kind words they offered during debate on the bill today, as well as James Savage, of my staff, for his work on this legislation.

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

Mr. Speaker, February 1 marks the beginning of Black History Month. It is the time when we take time to honor the commitments and struggles of African Americans and try to understand their struggles. It is only fitting that during this month we honor a man whose perseverance and dedication to his community and fellow African Americans broke through and broke down historic barriers.

On August 3, 1863, Scipio Africanus Jones was born in Smith Township, Arkansas. His mother had been a slave. Scipio Jones attended black schools in the area and then moved to Little Rock to attend preparatory courses at Philander Smith College. From there he earned his Bachelor's Degree from North Little Rock's Bethel University, now known as Shorter College.

But his interest in education did not stop there. He recognized the continuing struggle African Americans face in achieving equal rights, and knew he could contribute through Arkansas' legal system.

Mr. Jones offered to work unpaid as a janitor at the offices of the local U.S. district judge. There he began to read law books and became an apprentice in law under Circuit Judge Robert Lea. He was accepted into the American Bar Association in 1889. From there, he was admitted to practice in the circuit court of Pulaski County in Little Rock.

In 1900, he was admitted to the State Supreme Court, then the United States District Court, the United States Supreme Court, and the United States Court of Appeals.

He was a strong member of his community and joined several local fraternal organizations. He even turned down offers to serve as the ambassador to the Republic of Haiti, as well as the Recorder of Deeds in the District of Columbia so he could support the Little Rock area.

He was treasurer of the National Negro Bar Association, the National Attorney General of the Mosaic Templars of America, a member of the International Order of Twelve, and a member of the Knights and Daughters of Tabor.

Through his work in these fraternal organizations, he became known as the ``Gibraltar of Negro fraternal beneficiary societies.''

Mr. Jones is famous for his defense in the trial of the Elaine Twelve. In 1919 a group of black sharecroppers met in Elaine, Arkansas, to discuss creating their own unit and whether to bring a class action lawsuit against their landlords for not paying them appropriate shares for their homegrown crops.

When a local sheriff and railroad detective, both white, showed up to the meeting, a fight arose. It quickly spread through the town and lasted for 3 days. It grew so intense that 600 Federal troops came to the area to quiet the fighting.

In the end, 99 black men were arrested. Twelve of the men received a trial that lasted only 20 minutes and sentenced them to death. With Scipio's efforts he pushed their case to the Supreme Court of the United States, which successfully gave all 12 men a new trial.

Beyond his legal work, Mr. Jones was a passionate businessman. He was the founder and owner of People's Ice and Fuel Company. He also founded Arkansas's Negro Business League.

Judge Scipio Jones fought hard his whole life for the rights of his fellow African Americans. He knew a better way of life could be had for his community members. He was a prominent leader, lawyer, educator, businessman, and politician. It is so appropriate that we honor a man of such determination, pride and integrity during Black History Month with the naming of this post office.

Frankly, I am in awe of this gentleman.

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

Mr. Speaker, I move to suspend the rules and pass the bill (H.R. 433) to designate the facility of the United States Postal Service located at 1700 Main Street in Little Rock, Arkansas, as the ``Scipio A. Jones Post Office Building''.

Mr. Speaker, I ask unanimous consent that all Members may have 5 legislative days in which to revise and extend their remarks.

Mr. Speaker, I am pleased to join my colleagues in the consideration of H.R. 433, legislation naming a postal facility in Little Rock, Arkansas, after Scipio Africanus Jones.

Mr. Jones was an African American lawyer, judge, professor and humanitarian. Born in 1863 as a slave, he is most noted for his work to appeal the conviction and death sentence of 12 black sharecroppers for their involvement in the Elaine Race Riot. The Elaine Race Riot is one of the bloodiest racial conflicts in American history. Mr. Jones' work brought the case to the United States Supreme Court, and as a result found mob driven trials violated the due process clause of the 14th amendment.

Mr. Jones also made history when he personally purchased $50,000 worth of Liberty Bonds, which helped support the Allied war efforts in the First World War. Soon thereafter, President Woodrow Wilson appointed him to the Liberty Bond National Advisory Board.

Later in his life, he continued to advocate against racial discrimination. He fought for black voting rights and worked with Thurgood Marshall in a case ensuring fair pay for African American teachers. His contribution impacted society's treatment towards blacks in a powerful way, and for this we all should be proud and remember him dearly.

I urge the swift passage of this bill.

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

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

Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that it be in order to discharge from the Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee the following postal-naming bills and the Senate proceed en bloc to their consideration: S. 171, H.R. 49, H.R. 335, H.R. 521, H.R. 433, H.R. 514, and H.R. 577.

Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the bills be read three times, passed, the motions to reconsider be laid upon the table, en bloc; that the consideration of these items appear separately in the Record; and that any statements relating to the measures be printed in the Record, without intervening action or debate.