Honoring the accomplishments of Barrington Antonio Irving, the youngest pilot and first person of African descent ever to fly solo around the world.

Mr. Speaker, I rise today with great pleasure to commemorate the achievements of Captain Antonio Barrington Irving, the youngest pilot and first person of African descent to fly solo around the world.

I thank Chairmen Oberstar and Costellos and Ranking Member Petri and the distinguished staff for their support and willingness to expedite the consideration of this resolution.

Since we introduced H. Res. 661, my good friend, the gentleman from Florida (Mr. Meek) and I have been joined by a bipartisan coalition of 43 cosponsors who also share our desire to encourage youth to pursue careers in aviation. It is our hope that recognizing Barrington Irving's achievement will encourage many more youth to reach for the same skies in which he made history.

Barrington Irving was born in Kingston, Jamaica, in 1983, and soon after moved to Miami, Florida. When he was 15 years old, he met Captain Gary Robinson, a Jamaican airline pilot who became a lifelong mentor, inspiring him to fly one day himself.

Enduring the challenges of growing up in inner-city Miami, Irving never let his dreams of becoming a pilot be stifled. He worked miscellaneous jobs to save for lessons, and eventually earned a joint Air Force-Florida Memorial University flight awareness scholarship to study aviation and take professional flying lessons.

Barrington took tremendous steps to pursue his dream in aviation while still a student at Florida Memorial University.

Mr. Oberstar, I am sure that a colleague of yours and a mentor of mine when I first came to Congress would be very proud of this young man, William Lehman, who at one time was in the same position as yourself as Chair of Transportation, developed the program at Florida Memorial University which allowed for a significant number of youngsters to achieve status as captains in aviation, many of whom have gone on to become commercial airline pilots and military pilots, and I am sure that Alabama Bill, as some of us know him, would be proud today.

The reason I mention it is this program, when Carrie Meek came to Congress, Kendrick's mother, she continued the efforts on this program, as did Kendrick and others. I guess it comes under the heading ``earmark,'' perhaps. And if that is the case, then I continuously urge my colleagues to review the status of things when responsible acts are taking place and they are being made to sound irresponsible because they are identified as earmarks. We need to be very cautious in this institution in that regard because we ignore a lot of time opportunities like in this particular case.

This young man contacted many companies and convinced the aircraft manufacturer Columbia to provide him with a plane to fly around the world if he could secure donations and the components.

After successfully securing donations, Barrington embarked on a 24,600-mile flight around the world from Opa Locka, Florida on March 23, 2007. Only 23 years of age, he was still a senior, majoring in aerospace, that program that I talked about that Bill Lehman helped to develop at Florida Memorial University, and he was a senior at the time he began this flight.

He traveled the world as an ambassador of aviation, teaching young people in 27 cities around the world about opportunities in aviation and the importance of academics. He returned from his journey on June 27, 2007, concluding his flight at the same small airport from where he began in Miami-Dade County, Florida.

Mr. Speaker and Mr. Chairman, this young man embodied the perseverance and dedication necessary to truly pursue one's dreams.

Barrington Irving deserves praise not only for his achievement, but for the continued community contributions of Experience Aviation, Inc., a nonprofit organization he founded to address the shortage of youth pursuing careers in aviation.

I urge my colleagues to support this resolution. I thank you, Mr. Chairman, Mr. Petri and the staff as we work on many initiatives to come that will reprioritize opportunities in aviation for our youth and promote achievement in all fields of human endeavor.

Mr. Speaker, I rise today in support of H.R. 5972. While I would have preferred that we would have addressed these items in regular order, I am pleased that the proposed technical corrections in this bill will create a stronger operational framework for the Capitol Police. As often happens when language is tied to an appropriations bill in a hasty fashion, several requirements in the original legislation governing Capitol Police operations proved problematic under greater scrutiny and further use. This bill will bring clarity to the administration of the U.S. Capitol Police and will eliminate those provisions which are in conflict with one another or are antiquated and therefore unnecessary.

I would also point out that this illustrates the importance of the appropriations subcommittees to work together with the authorizing committees, because virtually all the problems that have arisen in the past in this area resulted from a lack of cooperation between the authorizing and appropriating committees.

The changes specified in this bill will also establish a transparent and decisive governance framework and create a clear reporting structure within the U.S. Capitol Police. The clarified language provides the Chief of the Capitol Police with explicit authority to perform all hiring and termination actions, which will assist the U.S. Capitol Police's legal staff in executing its duties regarding personnel matters.

This bill also clarifies that the Capitol Police must notify this committee, as well as the Senate Rules and Administration Committee, of substantive administrative and operational actions, such as notices of personnel actions or deployment of personnel outside of the Capitol Police's jurisdiction. This language further strengthens this committee's function as an oversight body and allows us to address any such issues as they occur.

I thank Chairman Brady for his work on this bill, which will, upon its passage, create a stronger law enforcement organization, and a safer, more secure Capitol complex.

I reserve the balance of my time.

I have no further speakers. I will make some concluding comments.

First of all, Mr. Speaker, I want to thank my chairman, Mr. Brady. He and I have worked very, very well together on a number of issues, and I believe that, if there were a competition, we would probably hold the prize among the committees of the House as to the best functioning committees who really try to get business done without a lot of partisanship. I commend my colleague for his great attitude on this.

One other comment I will make in regard to the Capitol Police. The one area we did not examine, which I think needs examination at some point, and I hope our committee will take it up at some point, the duties of the Capitol Police Board are not as clearly outlined as they might be. The composition, I believe, is lacking. We have a GAO report of a few years ago which pointed out some severe shortcomings in the operations and decision-making processes of the Capitol Police Board, and I think we would be well-served in this institution to re-examine that issue.

We have done so much in the past decade to modernize the police force; make them provide more ready responses to the trauma that we face today in this time of terrorism. I think we would be well-advised to look at the governing structure once again too, which to my knowledge, has not been examined for a long time.

With that, I will yield back the balance of my time.

Mr. Speaker, I move to suspend the rules and agree to the resolution (H. Res. 661) honoring the accomplishments of Barrington Antonio Irving, the youngest pilot and first person of African descent ever to fly solo around the world, as amended.

Mr. Speaker, I ask unanimous consent that all Members may have 5 legislative days to revise and extend their remarks and include extraneous material on H. Res. 661.

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

Mr. Speaker, Barrington Antonio Irving was the youngest person and the first person of African descent to undertake a 24,600-mile solo flight around the world. His extraordinary accomplishment was brought to the attention of the committee by the passionate appeal for recognition in the form of this resolution by the gentleman from Florida (Mr. Hastings), to whom I now yield such time as he may consume.

I yield myself such time as I may consume to express my great appreciation to the gentleman from Wisconsin and the gentleman from Florida (Mr. Mica). Mr. Petri has been wonderful to work with on this issue and to acknowledge an extraordinary achievement that the gentleman from Florida (Mr. Hastings) has spelled out in such graphic detail, and well said.

Barrington Irving did something truly extraordinary in flying around the world. But more important than the flight was the inspiration he has served and has become for young people, young people younger than him, or his age, who are fascinated with aviation and with aerospace itself.

Mr. Irving established a nonprofit educational organization, created a travel blog for the purpose of empowering young people and encouraging minorities, in particular, to pursue careers in aviation. His around-the-world trip earned widespread community support and sponsorship, but more importantly as an inspiration for young people to aspire to something greater than themselves for the future.

The gentleman from Florida (Mr. Hastings) cited the initial investment in the college program that stimulated young Barrington's interest and facilitated his skill in aviation, and appropriately mentioned our former colleague, Bill Lehman, who served as Chair of the Transportation Appropriations Subcommittee, and that brought a very touching memory back to me as I worked with then-Chairman Lehman in my capacity as Chair of the Aviation Subcommittee to resolve a number of complex issues in aviation. He was always gracious and caring and helpful and astute. I appreciate the gentleman's reference.

And let us move quickly to enact this legislation to acknowledge Barrington Antonio Irving's contribution to aviation, an inspiration to young people.

I yield back the balance of my time.

Mr. Speaker, I move to suspend the rules and pass the bill (H.R. 5972) to make technical corrections to the laws affecting certain administrative authorities of the United States Capitol Police, and for other purposes, as amended.

I ask unanimous consent that all Members may have 5 legislative days in which to revise and extend their remarks on the bill under consideration.

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

I am pleased to present the United States Capitol Police Administrative Technical Corrections Act of 2008. As its title suggests, H.R. 5972 is not intended to make substantive policy changes for the Capitol Police. It corrects drafting errors, modernizes outdated terms, and repeals redundant and inconsistent provisions already on the books.

My favorite correction is a long overdue repeal of the 1868 law requiring Capitol Police officers to buy their uniforms. Congress decided years ago to provide their uniforms, but has never repealed the 1868 law. Chief Phillip Morse requested most of these corrections, the committee found others, and we included several excellent suggestions offered by the gentleman from Michigan (Mr. Ehlers). Again, it was a pleasure to work with him and his staff, as always.

The bill has the support of Chief Morse and our House Sergeant-at- Arms, Wilson Livingood, and I urge an ``aye'' vote.

I reserve the balance of my time.

I have no further speakers.

Again, I thank the gentleman from Michigan. He is right: it is a pleasure to work together. I look forward to working together with you in your interest on the Capitol Police Board. With that, I urge an ``aye'' vote.

I yield back the balance of my time.

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

This resolution honors the heroic achievements of Captain Barrington Antonio Irving, the youngest pilot and first person of African American descent to fly solo around the world.

Captain Barrington Irving was born in Jamaica, as was pointed out, in 1983 and raised in Miami, Florida. His lifelong dream was to become a pilot, and this exceptional young man overcame great obstacles to make his dream a reality.

On March 23, 2007, after nearly 4 years of acquiring sufficient funds for his journey, Irving embarked from Miami, Florida, on a 24,600-mile flight around the world in an airplane rightly named Inspiration. At the age of 23, Irving became the youngest person, as well as the first African American pilot, to fly around the world when he returned to Miami on June 27, 2007.

During his 3-month journey, Irving visited with young people in 27 cities around the world encouraging them to enter aviation and stressing the importance of academics.

Captain Barrington Irving is an inspiration and an example that, through perseverance and dedication, anyone can overcome even the greatest obstacles and can achieve their goals.

I am proud to support this legislation. I urge my colleagues to join me in honoring this exceptional young man and commemorating his historic achievement.

I yield back the balance of my time.