Code Talkers Recognition Act of 2008

I thank my good friend from West Virginia for yielding so graciously.

Mr. Speaker, it is with great pleasure that I rise today in support of H.R. 4544, the Code Talkers Recognition Act, which would award the Congressional Gold Medal to Native American Code Talkers who assisted the allied powers in World War I and World War II to deceive and confuse our enemies in both conflicts. It's a particular personal pleasure to me, Mr. Speaker, because not only am I a Native American, Chickasaw, but my ancestry is both Choctaw and Chickasaw. My great grandfather had both tribes in his veins. And it's a wonderful treat for me to be able to participate in this.

I would also first like to thank my dear friend and colleague, Mr. Boren, who introduced this legislation and without whose hard work this bill would simply not be here today. He has worked hard and tirelessly to honor a group of Americans that deserve recognition. And I appreciate it so much, my dear friend.

To date only the famous Navaho Wind Talkers have received this prestigious award, and it's only right and proper, Mr. Speaker, that Congress finally recognize all of the Code Talkers that dedicated their service to the United States of America. As an Oklahoman and as the only Native American currently serving in Congress, I am very happy to be here before you today to participate in awarding this honor to these fine individuals and their tribes.

Native Americans have a long, complex and honorable relationship with the United States military. Native Americans have fought against and with the United States military throughout the entire history of our country. And despite the often egregious policies of our government towards Indian country, thousands of Native Americans from dozens of tribes have helped protect our homeland. Indeed the first allies of the United States in the Revolution were the Oneida tribe. There was the Seneca present with Grant when he accepted the surrender of Robert E. Lee. As a matter of fact Robert E. Lee called him the only real American present at the ceremony. And of course in the Plains wars in the West, Indians fought on both sides of the conflict. Indeed our first President, General Washington, once commented the only way to defeat Native Americans was to be allied with Native Americans against other Native Americans because they were formidable and elusive foes.

Over the course of American history, Native Americans have demonstrated outstanding valor on the battlefield. And they have consistently received awards and commendations for their outstanding service. Historically Native Americans have the highest record of service per capita of any ethnic group or demographic group in our country. There are currently over 190,000 Native American veterans.

Mr. Speaker, this legislation awards the congressional medal to 13 individual tribes whose members assisted in this effort of defending our country. By using Native languages that were unidentifiable to the enemy forces in Europe and in the Pacific, the Code Talkers contributed to the victory of allied powers in both the First and the Second World Wars. Without their efforts it is clear that we would have lost countless additional lives and wars would have dragged on longer than necessary. Though most Native Americans did not even have United States citizenship in the First World War, there were a few. My tribe actually did. And we were pretty good negotiators. And most Oklahoma tribes got theirs a little bit ahead. But most tribes and most members who served in our Armed Forces were not citizens. They volunteered their service to defend their country despite that lack of citizenship.

It is estimated that more than 12,000 American Indians and about 600 Oklahoma tribal members served the United States military in the First World War. Despite the fact that most in the United States considered their heritage and their language to be obsolete in the first decade of the 20th century, these individuals volunteered for their country and helped turn the tide in one of the bloodiest wars in human history.

In 1917 a group of eight Choctaw serving in the Army's 36th Infantry Division trained to use their language in code. They helped the American Expeditionary Force win several key battles

in the final big push of the war. Other tribes continued to be recruited into the service of our country in later conflicts. Almost immediately after the Japanese attacked Pearl Harbor and the United States entered the Second World War, the Army recruited members of the Comanche Nation, located in my district, to assist the Allied Forces. Throughout the war other tribes were also recruited to carry out these efforts. And throughout that conflict, the Axis powers could neither decipher the codes based on Native language nor significantly undermine efforts to communicate in that language. The use of these languages significantly improved the tactical efforts of the Allied powers. These efforts were certainly remarkable, Mr. Speaker, and the contribution of these men clearly deserves to be recognized by Congress.

Mr. Speaker, Native American Code Talkers of the First and Second World War are true American heroes without whose efforts our troops would have certainly suffered greater casualties and would have certainly experienced slower progress in their efforts to end these conflicts. For too long our country has failed to recognize the efforts made by these great Native American citizens. It is time that we acknowledge and honor the contributions and service of these Native Americans who dedicated their service to our country by awarding them the Congressional Gold Medal.

I urge Members to honor these courageous men and their tribes and vote ``yes'' on H.R. 4544.

I thank the gentlelady for her comments, and I would yield myself time as I may consume.

Mr. Speaker, as the author of H.R. 3018, the Family Self-Sufficiency Act, I strongly encourage my colleagues to support this important legislation.

First, let me thank Congresswoman Waters for working with me to include the language of this bill in the section

8 reform bill, H.R. 1851, the Section 8 Voucher Reform Bill Act of 2007, which the House passed on July 12 of last year by a vote of 333- 83.

Not to anyone's great surprise, the Senate has yet to take up this larger section 8 reform package. My hope is that the House will pass this bill today, and the Senate will, at a minimum, move this smaller but very important noncontroversial bill.

The bill will strengthen the Family Self-Sufficiency Program, or FSS, and help more disadvantaged families gain independence from government assistance. The FSS is offered in connection with the Department of Housing and Urban Development, section 8 Housing Choice Voucher Program. It provides homeownership counseling, job training, child care, education and other services to help individuals obtain work.

Let me take just a minute to give you just one example of a Family Self-Sufficiency Program success story from my congressional district. Angela, a single mother of two from Willowbrook, Illinois, served 6 years in the Navy. When she finished her service, she got a part-time job and, thanks to the GI Bill, enrolled as a full-time student. Yet she still struggled to make ends meet.

In stepped the wonderful team at the DuPage Housing Authority. Through their Family Self-Sufficiency Program, they helped Angela with the rent for a dozen months, moving her and her two children from tenant-based rental assistance to the Housing Choice Voucher Program. During this time Angela was able to complete college and obtain a degree with a double degree in human resources management and psychology.

The FSS program then connected Angela to a resume-writing class offered by the Illinois Employment Training Center. Within just 1 week of posting her new, polished resume, Angela secured three interviews and a new part-time job.

This March, Angela secured full-time employment as a human resource assistant at the Edward Hines VA Hospital. Angela now earns twice the hourly wage she did when she started working with the FSS program. But the story doesn't end there.

FSS also connected Angela with a financial planner who helped empower Angela with a little financial literacy to improve her budgeting and asset management skills. Today, Angela is working to prepare herself for homeownership, a long way to come from public housing.

Now, Angela is also giving back. She is an active member of the FSS program in DuPage County, providing insights and suggestions to help keep the program relevant and effective for local participants.

Even amidst record-high energy prices and other challenges facing our economy, there are bright stars like Angela who, with a little help, can successfully make ends meet, raise children, get an education, secure a job and achieve the dream of homeownership.

What better way to help more of our neighbors in need than to support this bill today. It's a simple, bipartisan step that we can now take to ensure that a brief period of economic hardship doesn't turn into a lifetime of poverty and dependence for many of our Nation's most vulnerable families.

It does so by addressing the lack of consistent Federal funding for administering FSS services. The bill establishes a minimum ratio of program coordinators to participants, with funding for one coordinator per housing authority, serving an annual average of 25 or more families enrolled in FSS, two coordinators for 75 or more families, and three coordinators for 125 or more families.

It also requires HUD to establish and implement performance measures, collect data on FSS programs, evaluate their effectiveness, and report to Congress on its findings. Finally, the bill provides some funding flexibility to reward innovative and successful FSS programs.

These are good, flexible programs that help put disadvantaged families on the path to independence. Public housing can be an important safety net, but it is not a permanent solution. Let's give these individuals all the support we can to help them stand on their own two feet.

Before I conclude, I would like to thank John Day, president of the DuPage Housing Authority; Jeffrey Lubell, executive director of the Center for Housing Policy; and the folks at the American Association of Service Coordinators, the National Housing Conference, the New America Foundation, and the Corporation for Enterprise Development, for making this bill a reality.

I would, of course, like to thank Angela for her courage and willingness to let me share her success story with all of you today.

I would also like to thank the gentlelady from Wisconsin for managing this bill and all the hard work that she puts into the Financial Services Committee.

With that, I urge my colleagues to support the bill.

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

Mr. Speaker, I would like to yield as much time as she might consume to the gentlelady from Texas (Ms. Granger).

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

Mr. Speaker, I object to the vote on the ground that a quorum is not present and make the point of order that a quorum is not present.

Mr. Speaker, I rise today with the support of 300 of my colleagues to honor a forgotten group of American war heroes. As many of you know, the State of Oklahoma has a long and rich Native American heritage. My congressional district is home to 17 of the 37 federally recognized tribes headquartered in Oklahoma.

Millions of these Native Americans count themselves among the proud veterans who defended this Nation during a time of war. But today, Mr. Speaker, I ask my fellow colleagues to join me in honoring the brave service of a small group of veterans. It is estimated that 12,000 Native Americans served in our Armed Forces during World War I and over 45,000 bravely fought during World War II. Among those was a small band of Choctaw Indians that were the beginning of what would become the Native American Code Talkers. They

would eventually play a critical but very unique role in the Allies' victory over evil and tyranny.

During World War I, feeling a sense of duty to the cause of freedom, a number of Choctaws answered the call to serve. They began their service assigned to the 142nd Infantry of the 36th Division of the Texas-Oklahoma National Guard. Their first action was as a unit in France. At that time, communication by telephone and by radio on the battlefield was still developing. But both types of transmissions were under constant surveillance by the German enemy.

Army movements and supply shipments were being ambushed by the Germans on a constant basis costing thousands of lives. At one point Colonel A.W. Bloor, the commanding officer of the 142nd Infantry, believed that the Germans were cracking every message his division sent by radio or by phone. Frustrated with the division's inability to communicate safely, an officer recalled that the division included a company of Native Americans. After hearing these men speak to one another on a regular basis, it occurred to him that their language could hold the key to encoding the Allies' transmissions. After all, a few of these men spoke 20 dialects, many of which had never even been written.

In October of 1918, the Choctaw Code Talkers' ability to secretly communicate over radio resulted in a surprise momentum-shifting attack on the German enemy in northern France's Argonne forest. What began as 6 to 10 Choctaw transmitting a handful of coded messages quickly grew into a much larger group of soldiers spread across the European battle front. As the tide of World War I began to turn in favor of the Allies, military commanders came to rely on these Native American Code Talkers to communicate their most sensitive information.

Many believe to this day that not a single Code Talker transmission was ever cracked by the enemy. Army leaders began to notice immediately that troop movements were no longer mirrored and supply convoys were not ambushed. After realizing the effectiveness of the Choctaw Code Talkers, U.S. military leadership sought out and recruited leaders of such tribes as the Comanche, Choctaw, Seminole, Hopis, Cherokee, Sioux, Navaho, as well as many others.

During World War II, the Native American Code Talkers would once again prove their effectiveness, this time on two fronts, in the Pacific and in Europe. Many high-ranking military officials contend that the United States would have never won the Battle of Iwo Jima without the unbreakable communications of the Native American Code Talkers.

So, Mr. Speaker, with this historical contribution to liberty and freedom in mind, it is our duty to honor these brave men, their families and their tribes. Let us never forget the valiant and noble service of the Native American Code Talkers. They are truly some of America's greatest war heroes.

In closing, I would like to take a moment to thank the many people who have worked tirelessly to commemorate these brave men. There are far too many to name in a brief time, but I would like to mention a few. I would like to commend the National Congress of American Indians for supporting this legislation and for their unwavering dedication to Native Americans everywhere. I would also like to acknowledge Chairman Frank and his staff for working with me on bringing this legislation to the floor. I would also pay tribute to Dale Kildee, and most especially my colleague from Oklahoma, Tom Cole, for his tireless effort in getting so many of the cosponsors on this legislation.

Finally, I would like to thank Chief Gregory Pyle of the Choctaw Nation. His dedication and leadership to his people, to all Native Americans, to the State of Oklahoma and to this great Nation is the mark of a true statesman. I am proud to call him both a mentor and a friend.

With that, Mr. Speaker, I urge support for the Native American Code Talkers Act.

Mr. Speaker, I was unable to get here in time to speak about an issue I feel very strongly about. I speak about the need to honor the Code Talkers. It was brought to my attention by my friend and constituent, Mr. Ben Tahmahkera, of Fort Worth, Texas. He is a proud Comanche himself and passionately articulated the important role of the Code Talkers contributed to our Nation during World War II.

Mr. Tahmahkera came to me and pointed out that in July, 2001, President Bush honored the Navajo Code Talkers for their contribution to the United States Armed Forces as radio operators in World War II. Mr. Tahmahkera was very pleased to hear about the Navajo recognition, but he wanted to make sure the sacrifices of the Comanche Code Talkers and other Code Talkers were not forgotten either.

Mr. Tahmahkera suggested that I learn more about Charles Chibitty, who at the time was the only surviving Comanche Code Talker.

In January of 1941, Charles Chibitty enlisted in the United States Army and was assigned the Army's 4th Signal Company. Chibitty himself probably saved thousands of lives during the Normandy invasion alone, and he remembers, years after the battle, that he could clearly remember the messages he received and set out on D-day.

On that day, he identified where our troops were, protected them from being fired on by our own troops and, in general, completely confused the Germans. Chibitty specifically remembers saying in code to our men, ``Okay, we know where you are. Just keep on doing what you are doing.''

The code that Chibitty used was never broken.

For a long time, Germans believed it was just gibberish, and eventually the Germans sent spies to training grounds in Ft. Gordon and reservations in Oklahoma to try and crack the code. None of the spy missions were successful.

After hearing the compelling story of the Comanche Code Talkers from Mr. Tahmahkera, I introduced a bill to award the Comanche Code Talkers the Congressional Gold Medal in December 2001 during the 107th Congress.

I have worked to get these men an honor that is long overdue for the past several Congresses. After a lot of hard work and research by many different Members today, we are, at long last, honoring the Code Talkers who so nobly served our country during both World War I and World War II.

My friend, Representative Dan Boren from Oklahoma, I appreciate his work and this Congress for bringing the bill to the floor.

Like the Navajo Code Talkers who were recognized for services in 2001, the Comanches, along with members of at least 15 other tribes, acted as Code Talkers in some capacity during both world wars. The Code Talkers were

sent out on their own to provide communications on enemy locations and their strength.

They sometimes spent 24 hours in headphones without sleep or food. Many of these men endured terrible conditions without protection from the enemy. The Code Talkers were able to send messages in their native dialect, a code an enemy could never track. Military commanders credit the Code Talkers with saving the lives of countless American soldiers and ultimately to the success of the United States in many battles.

In my mind, the Native American Code Talkers are some of our Nation's greatest heroes. As my good friend, Deputy Secretary of Defense Gordon England said, ``The story of the Native American Code Talkers is one of the most inspiring chapters in America's march to victory in World War II. Their heroic and dramatic contributions were instrumental in driving back our enemies across the Pacific.''

It's time for Congress to give the Native American Code Talkers the recognition they deserve for their contribution to U.S. victories in World War I and World War II.

Charles Chibitty, a true American hero, was also a loyal friend. He once turned town a Medal of Honor because it did not include all the four signal companies who he considered his brothers.

Chibitty said, I am glad that I am still here, but I miss my comrades. I know that my comrades that have already gone before me are listening and laughing right now. I know when I go up there someday, they will be there waiting for me.

Today, at long last, we honor the late Charles Chibitty and all of his friends who served our country as their service Code Talkers during World War I and World War II.

I urge my colleagues to support H.R. 4544.

Mr. Speaker, I rise in strong support of H.R. 4544, the Code Talkers Recognition Act of 2008, introduced by the gentleman from Oklahoma (Mr. Boren).

This legislation honoring the Native American code talkers, who served this country so honorably in the First and Second World Wars, is long overdue.

Mr. Speaker, the history of Native American code talkers is long and honorable. And I'm going to go through a little bit of this, beginning with their striking display of patriotism.

When the First World War broke out, Native Americans were technically not citizens of the United States--hard to believe, really; nevertheless, many enlisted and fought honorably as part of the American Expeditionary Force that helped to defeat the German armies.

In those days, as the technology of warfare changed and the size of the battlefields grew, it was necessary to transmit tactical information over what we would consider rudimentary and very unsecure communications methods that in many cases were easy for the enemy to intercept.

During the Second Battle of the Somme in September of 1918, and later during the Meuse-Argonne campaign in the waning days of the war, Cherokee and Choctaw natives used their own language to communicate tactical information. Since their languages were not related to any European language, the Germans intercepting it were baffled, even though the code itself was rather simple--a tank was a turtle, for example.

Again, in the Second World War, Native Americans signed up in large numbers to fight in both Europe and in the Pacific theater. The best known of these were the Navajos, who worked with the Marines in the Pacific. But considering both wars, code talkers came from as many as 17 different tribes.

Interestingly, the code talkers weren't used much in the European theater until D-day, because it was known that Adolf Hitler had been aware of the code talkers' successful role in World War I and had sent teams of German anthropologists to learn Native American languages before the start of the Second World War. The effort was largely unsuccessful, though, because there were so many different languages and dialects of those languages.

The role of the code talkers was largely unknown until 1968, when the story was declassified. Since then, President Reagan declared a ``Code Talkers Day,'' and in 2001 President Bush presented the Congressional Gold Medal to several Navajo code talkers.

Unfortunately, the bill authorizing that medal did not acknowledge the role of Code Talker heroes from other tribes in the First World War as well as the second.

Mr. Speaker, it has taken nearly a decade to address this oversight, and through the hard work of the gentlelady from Texas, Ms. Granger, and most recently Mr. Boren, bills were introduced to do so in each Congress since the original legislation passed. We are now at the historic point, thanks to Mr. Boren's legislation, that we can move to recognize the other heroes from the other tribes. I urge my colleagues to support this bill enthusiastically.

With that, Mr. Speaker, I would like to reserve the balance of my time.

Mr. Speaker, I would like to yield such time as he may consume to the gentleman from Oklahoma (Mr. Cole).

I have no further requests.

I yield back the balance of my time.

Mr. Speaker, I object to the vote on the ground that a quorum is not present and make the point of order that a quorum is not present.