Business Travel Facilitation Act of 2007

Mr. Speaker, tonight is a rather historic night because as people might be watching this at home, or if they happen to still be in this great, historic Chamber, if you look around, this room is draped with history. Unfortunately, when people look at this great assembly hall in which so many great debates and great pieces of legislation have passed, what they have become accustomed to seeing is if you are on this side of the aisle whenever there is anything that goes wrongs, there are fingers pointed on that side of the aisle in trying to blame everyone sitting over here. Of course the folks on that side of the aisle are turning over here and pointing their fingers in this direction. If anything good takes place, the folks on this side of the aisle want to stand up and take credit for those things that are good, and folks on that side of the aisle want to do the same thing. And folks sitting at home begin to question and ask whether we can ever get anything done, whether we can ever come together as a body. Well tonight, that is what we do. Republicans and Democrats come together to talk about something that is the cornerstone of the American experience, and that is the rich history of faith that we have had in this country that has helped create our greatness, helped sustain us and that many of us who will speak here tonight for this next hour believe will continue to sustain us in years to come.

Mr. Speaker, right behind you tonight is a great phrase. It says ``In God We Trust.'' As you stare out all around this magnificent room, you see some of the greatest lawgivers history and the world has ever known. But the ones you see across this room, you see just half of their face, their half profile except the one directly in front of you which is Moses who we recognize as perhaps one of the greatest lawgivers of all.

And throughout our country we have been steeped in an enormous history of faith that starts all of the way back with the commission that Christopher Columbus had when they talked about the grace of God; the first colonial grant to Sir Walter Raleigh in 1584, the grace of God was mentioned in there. The first charter of Virginia in 1606, it referenced knowledge and worship of God. The Mayflower Compact in 1620, it talked about having undertaken for the glory of God. The Declaration of Independence we all know and can cite that those inalienable rights were endowed to us by what the writers of that document said were their creator.

The first act of Congress, 1774, they asked a minister to open with prayer, and they read four chapters of the Bible. And during the Civil War we are told that soldiers on both sides, Union and Confederates, that religion was the greatest sustainer of morale.

Of course we know numerous stories of the great faith of men and women as they were in slavery and fought to get out of that horrible institution.

In 1815, over 2,000 official government calls to prayer had been made by States in the Federal Government, and thousands more have been made since then.

In 1864 Congress added ``In God We Trust'' to the American coinage.

In 1870, the Federal Government made Christmas an official holiday.

In 1931, the Star Spangled Banner was our national anthem, including the phrase ``in God is our trust.''

In 1954 we added the phrase ``one Nation under God'' to the Pledge of Allegiance.

And in 1956, Congress by law made ``In God We Trust'' our national motto. And, of course, we all know the significant role that faith and religion and the church played in the civil rights movement.

Tonight, Mr. Speaker, for the next hour you will hear some of the greatest leaders in our country and certainly in this body who will come forth not as Republicans and not as Democrats, but come forth as Americans to talk about what we think is the core value system that we have been proud of in this Nation, and that is the rich history of faith that we have.

Now, Mr. Speaker, it is my privilege to yield to my good friend, the gentleman from North Carolina (Mr. McIntyre).

Mr. Speaker, we just appreciate the leadership of Congressman McIntyre on all of these issues of faith. Mike, thank you so much.

And I'd like to now recognize another great leader on faith issues across the country from the State of Arkansas, Congressman John Boozman.

Mr. Speaker, I thank the congressman from Arkansas for his great leadership on this; and now recognize another leader from the State of New Mexico, Congressman Steve Pearce.

Mr. Speaker, we thank the gentleman from New Mexico. And now another great leader in the Congress of the United States from the State of Maryland, Mr. Roscoe Bartlett.

Thank you, Mr. Bartlett, for those great words.

And now another leader on so many of these issues from the State of North Carolina, Congressman Robin Hayes.

Mr. Speaker, and now from Minnesota, another leader on many of these issues, Congresswoman Michele Bachmann.

Mr. Speaker, now I would like to recognize another good friend from the State of South Carolina (Gresham Barrett).

Thank you for those words of wisdom.

Mr. Speaker, I would like to recognize the gentleman from Michigan (Thaddeus McCotter).

Thank you, Congressman McCotter.

Mr. Speaker, now I would like to yield to the gentleman from Illinois (Mr. Manzullo).

I'd now like to recognize from the State of Colorado, Ms. Marilyn Musgrave.

Thank you, Marilyn, for those words, and now I'd like to yield to the gentleman from Virginia (Mr. Wittman).

Thank you, Rob, and now, Mr. Speaker, I'd like to recognize another great leader in the House of Representatives from the State of Texas, Congressman John Carter.

Thank you, John, and now, Mr. Speaker, I'd like to recognize someone who has led us in so many of these issues for so many years from the State of Michigan, Congressman Vern Ehlers.

Thank you, Vernon.

Mr. Speaker, now I would like to recognize, from the State of Colorado, Mr. Doug Lamborn.

Thank you, Doug.

Now I'd like to recognize Mr. David Davis from Tennessee.

Thank you. Now I would like to recognize from Arizona, Mr. Trent Franks.

Mr. Speaker, thank you for our time. I know that our time is expired. We have a few other gentlemen that I hope will be recognized later by the House. But, Mr. Speaker, thank you for your patience.

General Leave

Mr. Speaker, I ask unanimous consent that all Members may have 5 legislative days in which to revise and extend their remarks and include extraneous material on the subject of my Special Order.

Mr. Speaker, I thank Randy Forbes for his great work in helping us put this event together tonight.

Mr. Speaker, I rise in support of H. Res. 888 which affirms the rich spiritual and religious history of our Nation's founding and subsequent history and designates the first week of May each year as American Religious History Week for the appreciation of and education on America's history of religious faith.

As we join together on the floor of the U.S. House and stand beneath these words ``In God We Trust,'' while recognizing the importance of a religious history week, let us remember the words of our Founding Fathers.

``We, the people of the United States, in order to form a more perfect union, establish justice, ensure domestic tranquility, provide for the common defense, promote the general welfare, and secure the blessings of liberty to ourselves and our posterity, do ordain and establish this Constitution for the United States of America.''

So begins our Constitution with those words of the Preamble.

But let us turn back the hands of time for a moment. The day is September 17, 1787. The time is 4 p.m. Thirty-nine men from across the United States look at another one with solemn but joyous faces. The arguments are over; the prayers have been answered; and the miracle has occurred: the Constitution of the United States has just been signed. From May 25 until now, for four long hot months, these men have toiled, not knowing whether their work was one of wisdom or folly. They have their hopes and their doubts. And they wondered whether it would succeed or fail to sustain this infant country.

The oldest delegate, Ben Franklin, rises from his chair. At age 81, he has seen this young Nation flounder already under 4 years of indecisive government that divided rather than united. He looks around the room at the men, many of whom were in their 20s and 30s. And he stares once more at the chair occupied by George Washington at the head of the assembly. He had speculated what the half-sun painted on the chair signified. And he said then, ``I have often in the course of this session looked at that behind the President without being able to tell whether it was rising or setting. But now at length I have the happiness to

know that it is a rising and not a setting sun.''

Indeed, the miracle of Philadelphia had occurred. The United States was a rising and not a setting one, a Nation whose rays of influence, as we know, would one day be felt the world over.

But when we think about why this miracle occurred, when we look back 221 years later, do we know what happened in that hall before those 39 men came out and announced that they had, instead of rewriting the Articles of Confederation had written a new constitution for our country. They had deliberated, they had argued and debated. They had made sure that everyone's opinion was heard. Secondly, they showed their dedication in addition to their deliberation. That meant that they had put in sweat and long hours trying to find out what would benefit us all. But in addition to that deliberation and dedication, they also showed their devotion.

They knew that their reliance must not be just upon themselves, but first and foremost, upon God.

And as Franklin himself, who was not known as one of the most religious founding fathers, but himself acknowledged God's providence upon that group that met to write our Constitution, said, himself, as he looked at Washington, before they went out and announced in what is today known as Independence Hall in Philadelphia, he said, ``I have lived, sir, a long time, and the longer I live, the more convincing proof I see of this truth, that God governs in the affairs of men. And if a sparrow cannot fall to the ground without His notice, is it likely that an empire shall rise without his aid?''

``We have been assured,'' said Franklin, ``in the sacred writings that except the Lord build the house, they labor in vain that build it. I firmly believe this,'' said Franklin, ``and I also believe that without His concurring aid, we shall succeed in this political building no better than the builders of Babel.''

What a challenge to us today. What a challenge that that old man, at that time, Franklin, made to all of those young men who were ready to go out and announce what they'd done politically for a new country. But he himself said ``we can only secure these blessings of liberty for ourselves and posterity when we take time too first pray and rely upon the hand of Almighty God.'' And that those 39 men did. Before they walked out of what is today known as Independence Hall to announce that we had a constitution for this new country, they spent time in prayer.

You know, that story has been sanitized out of our history books today, but those are Franklin's quotes. And I think it's a challenge to all of us to know that even this man knew scripture and knew that the hand of Almighty God had to be upon our country for us to succeed.

We, the people is how the Constitution begins. Will we let the miracle endure? Will we remember what John Adams, our second president, said when our constitution was made? ``Only for a moral and religious people, it is wholly inadequate to the government of any other.''

Mr. Speaker, I challenge us tonight, as we share this time together, I thank Mr. Forbes for giving me this opportunity to share this occasion with him and all of my colleagues who will soon follow, that we support H. Res. 888 as American Religious History Week so that we, as a country, will never forget the very words and actions of our founding fathers, who we are as a Nation, how deep our religious roots run, and remind us of the historical significance that is well documented, of faith and prayer, that we celebrate America's religious heritage, that we remember that we have opportunities in this great land that God has blessed us with, and may we always honor those opportunities in our reliance upon divine providence.

Mr. Speaker, I thank the gentleman from Virginia.

Our President John Quincy Adams said, ``The virtue which had been infused into the Constitution of the United States . . . was no other than . . . those abstract principles which had been first proclaimed in the Declaration of Independence--namely, the self-evident truths of the natural and unalienable rights of man . . . This was the platform upon which the Constitution of the United States had been erected.''

Abraham Lincoln similarly made reference to the importance of these

foundational principles when he said, ``I have never had a thought politically which did not spring from the sentiments embodied in the Declaration of Independence.''

The Declaration contains 12 such sentiments which follow:

The Pillar number 1 is National Sovereignty.

The Declaration of Independence could just as well be called the ``Declaration of National Sovereignty.''

Pillar number 2: Natural law. Natural law is the universal moral code that governs all people.

Pillar number 3: Self-evident Truth. We hold these truths to be self- evident, evidence for all to see.

Pillar number 4: Equality. We hold these truths to be self-evident that all men are created equal.

Pillar number 5: Inalienable Rights. Inalienable rights are not granted by government. They are granted to us by God. The role of government, then, is to protect our God-given rights.

Pillar number 6: The Inalienable Right to Life.

Pillar number 7: The Inalienable Right to Liberty.

Pillar number 8: The Inalienable Right to Private Property.

Pillar number 9: The primary purpose of government is to protect the inalienable rights. That to secure these rights, governments are instituted among men.

Pillar number 10: Popular Sovereignty. To secure these rights, governments derived their just powers from the consent of the governed.

Pillar number 7: Federalism and State rights. The Declaration affirms not only the sovereignty of the Federal United States, but also the sovereignty of the separate states.

And finally, Pillar number 12: Divine Providence. The Declaration of Independence ends with this sentence:

And for the support of this Declaration, with a firm reliance on the Protection of Divine Providence, we mutually pledge to each other our Lives, our Fortunes, and our sacred Honor.

The Colonists stated their conviction that there is a God in the Heavens who ultimately governs in the affairs of men. There is no Natural law without a Law giver. The unalienable rights they said were God-given. Equality, they said, was the state in which we were created by God.

May God bless to this present generation the memory of the Declaration of Independence and the 12 principles contained therein.

Mr. Speaker, it is vital that we recognize the rich spiritual and religious history of our Nation's founding and subsequent history, and I rise today to express support for the designation of the first week in May as ``American Religious History Week'' to raise the appreciation of and to promote education on America's history of religious faith.

In doing so, we recommit ourselves to our nation's common religious faith, also called ``the American Creed.'' We reconnect our people with our most basic principles--our fundamental statement of faith--as stated in our foundational Document, the Declaration of Independence.

This document is a Declaration that we are first and foremost a religious country. It clarifies that our breaking of the bond with Great Britain was justified by the spiritual principle of Natural Law-- the universal and God-given understanding of morality and human rights that applies to all people and all nations throughout the world.

This American Creed stated in the Declaration clarifies that all people are entitled to be free, to have their lives protected and to own property. Why? Because our Creator--God made us that way.

Our forefathers understood that God made us to be largely like him. That is, they understood that just as God is free, he made us with a right to be free. Just as God lives, he made us with a right to live; and just as God owns everything, he made us with a right to own some things.

The founders understood that religion is the foundation of a just society. Here it is in their own words.

``All our basic rights and freedoms are recognized by the American Creed as belonging to us and inherent in us because of religious principles. If we fail to recognize our nation's religious foundation, these same rights and freedoms become increasingly vulnerable.''

The Declaration ends by appealing to ``Divine Providence''. That is, our Declaration says that the success of this new republic depends on God looking favorably upon it and protecting it.

Today, we recommit ourselves and our country to these all-important religious foundational principles. Today, we recommit ourselves to being free.

I thank the gentleman from Virginia for yielding.

Mr. Speaker, I rise today to honor the significant contributions of Thomas Jefferson to the religious heritage of this great Nation.

Thomas Jefferson stated in the Virginia Statute for Religious Freedom in 1779 that ``No man shall be compelled to frequent or support any religious worship, place, or ministry whatsoever, nor shall be enforced, restrained, molested, or burthened in his body or goods, nor shall otherwise suffer, on account of his religious opinions or belief; but that all men shall be free to profess, and by argument to maintain, their opinions in matters of religion, and that the same shall in no wise diminish, enlarge, or affect their civil capacities.''

Our Founding Fathers conquered tremendous obstacles to establish our esteemed United States Constitution and the Bill of Rights. The adoption of these documents as laws of the land brought forth the certainty that we would live in a Nation where our natural rights as citizens are defended with all our might.

Thomas Jefferson, the second President of the United States, and one of our Nation's Founding Fathers, understood the need for protecting our natural rights. All of these rights were important to him, but none meant more than the freedom of religion.

The Virginia Statute for Religious Freedom was written in 1779 by Thomas Jefferson and James Madison. The statute declares that compulsory religion is wrong, that no religion should be enforced on an individual, and that the freedom of religion is a natural right. As a Virginian, I am indebted to the Commonwealth and the General Assembly for the adoption in 1786 of the Virginia Statute for Religious Freedom. The statute's doctrine and principles have inspired individuals beyond the Commonwealth and across the Nation.

Thomas Jefferson requested that three of his greatest accomplishments be listed on his epitaph. Freedom of religion was so important to him that the Virginia Statute for Religious

Freedom was listed along with the founding of the University of Virginia and the writing of the United States Declaration of Independence as his greatest lifetime achievements. The statute ultimately facilitated the path to complete religious freedom in the United States and was eventually included in the first amendment to our Constitution.

Jefferson believed and argued that the concept of enforced religion is entirely erroneous, and he fought to uphold any measure that would contradict his belief in religious freedom. Throughout the years since Jefferson, our Nation has undergone tremendous internal and external turmoil, and it has gone through some significant transition. Yet, the right of religious freedom has stood tried and true.

I am privileged to join my colleagues from Virginia, Representative Forbes, and 83 other cosponsors in signing my name on House Resolution 888, legislation which will continue to preserve and affirm our natural rights that were set forth by our Nation's Founding Fathers.

I am honored to live in such a Nation where I can openly profess my faith in my Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ, and to share with others Christ's word, as well as the impact His words have on my life.

Jefferson once stated, ``From the dissensions among Sects themselves arise necessarily a right of choosing and necessity of deliberating to which we will conform. But if we choose for ourselves, we must allow others to choose also, and so reciprocally, this establishes religious liberty.''

I am truly grateful to Thomas Jefferson, a Virginian, a true patriot, a Founding Father, and above all else, a leader whose vision has stood the test of time and a man who stood so resolutely for religious freedom in our Nation.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker, and thank you, Mr. Forbes for your leadership in this call to establish American Religious History Week.

Also, as a cosponsor of H. Res. 888, I'm strongly supportive of the idea that we should remember that we should always acknowledge the founding fathers' belief that this Nation was indeed blessed by our Maker, that we would, as a Nation, acknowledge our corporate belief.

It's important to remember not only our founding, but also to take a look at where we're headed as a Nation. We acknowledge that our Nation was founded on the right to choose to believe or not believe, but also our founding fathers gave us choices in exactly how to express our faith.

I believe that acknowledging America's rich spiritual and religious history is important and it is a great step towards accomplishing what would be the future of this country, America's religious heritage.

It troubles me that we are beginning to see shifts in this country. We're seeing shifts, not in ideology, not in philosophy, but over whether we can even declare our faith publicly. In this country we're beginning to hear people say that if you declare faith publicly, you're infringing on their rights. I simply do not agree or believe in that.

If you want to acknowledge your faith, there are people who say that it should be behind closed doors. This is sad. Often this mind-set is originating right here in Washington. This mind-set is originating in this institution, but it's also originating even in institutions where the members are not elected, and I think those are critical things for us to look at as we consider where this Nation is headed.

This Nation has a motto ``In God We Trust.'' It was approved by Congress, and yet it's being circumvented sometimes by unelected officials. ``In God We Trust'' is printed on coins, on our currency. It is engraved on our buildings. It appears over the entrance to the Senate Chambers, and you can see the phrase engraved in this Chamber on the wall above the Speaker's dais. This phrase is woven into the fabric of our Nation, but we're beginning to see an unraveling of the phrase, an unraveling of this tradition of declaring that

we do trust in God. This is a string that should not be cut.

In 2006, the U.S. Mint announced plans to move the inscription ``In God We Trust'' from the face of the Presidential Dollar coin pieces to the thin edge around the dollar coin.

In February of 2006 the Treasury announced that in an accidental omission an unknown number of Presidential coins had made it past inspectors and were sent into circulation without the words ``In God We Trust'' at all. Some estimates are as many as 50,000 of these coins are in circulation.

I understand that mistakes happen, but sending 50,000 coins without the basic motto which this institution declared should be on our currency is a major mistake. I ask for the U.S. Mint to give a full report and accounting of the situation.

Our history tells us the importance of God and faith in the birth of our Nation. The problems with the phrase, ``In God We Trust'' being omitted from our coin is just one indicator of how badly we're drifting off course. It is fitting that we honor the spiritual history with a week dedicated to remembering our founding and ensuring that the lasting connection which so many Americans share in and believe in is a part of our national fabric.

I support H. Res. 888, and agree that we should, indeed, establish a week which declares American religious history. And I thank Mr. Forbes for yielding time.