A bill to provide technical corrections to Public Law 109-116 (2 U.S.C. 2131a note) to extend the time period for the Joint Committee on the Library to enter into an agreement to obtain a statue of Rosa Parks, and for other purposes.

Mr. Speaker, I rise in support of S. 2206, a bill that simply provides technical corrections to Public Law 109-116.

This legislation authorizes the Architect of the Capitol to enter into agreement on behalf of the Joint Committee of the Library to acquire a statue of Mrs. Rosa Parks. It also extends the time period for that agreement by 2 years.

In 2005, it was my privilege to introduce this very important legislation with Senator John Kerry and Senator Mitch McConnell of the other body to honor the life and work of the late Mrs. Rosa Parks by placing a statue in National Statuary Hall.

Everyone knows the story of how Mrs. Parks helped spark the modern civil rights movement when she refused to give up her seat on a legally segregated bus that fateful day, December 1, 1955, leading to the Montgomery bus boycott and the emergence of Martin Luther King, Jr.

From the beginning, Mrs. Parks led a life dedicated to social change, becoming an active member of the Montgomery, Alabama, chapter of the NAACP, which in the 1940s and 1950s was considered a dangerous organization. It could cost you your job. It could even cost you your life.

In 1943, along with the State president of the NAACP, she mobilized a historic voter registration drive in Montgomery and was later elected NAACP chapter secretary. Mrs. Parks was a courageous woman who possessed the firm and quiet strength necessary to challenge injustice.

Following the 1954 Brown Supreme Court decision which provided equal protection under the law's legal framework, her refusal to give up her seat eventually led to the 1964 Civil Rights Act, the 1965 Voting Rights Act, the 1968 Open Housing Act, all of which helped make America better for all Americans.

Rosa Parks remained a committed activist until the end of her life. In the 1980s, she worked in support of the South Africa anti-apartheid movement. In Detroit with Congressman John Conyers in 1997, she founded the Rosa and Raymond Parks Institute for Self-Development, a career counseling center for African American youth.

With dignity, with grace and with courage, Rosa Parks inspired generations and helped to make the world a more just and compassionate place. In life she received the Presidential Medal of Freedom in 1996 and the Congressional Gold Medal in 1999, the highest honors our Nation bestows on civilians.

This placing of a Rosa Parks statue in National Statuary Hall is a testament to the fact that the long arc of history bends towards freedom and justice and equality. When Statuary Hall was created by law in 1864, African Americans could not be citizens of the United States. Indeed, the term ``African Americans'' did not exist. Under that law it was impossible for us to be considered favorite sons or favorite daughters of States.

When Rosa Parks takes her place in National Statuary Hall, she takes with her Frederick Douglass. She takes with her the United States coloreds troops. She takes with her Harriet Tubman and Sojourner Truth. She takes them there. Indeed, she takes the legacy and history of redefining what it means to be an American for all Americans as she takes her place among the enormous statues that presently represent the various States within that great Hall.

She takes with her countless nameless people of African descent, who from slavery to today, sacrificed for an America many would never live to see.

As Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., whose half statue is not in Statuary

Hall, would implore us, Now is the time.

I want to thank Senator Feinstein for introducing this bill in the other body. I want to thank Matt McGowan and Khalil Abboud from the Joint Committee on the Library for diligently working to get this extension enacted into law. I want to thank Barbara Wolanin from the Architect of the Capitol's Office for working with all of us to make sure that the goals of my original bill are realized.

I want to thank Chairman Brady and Ranking Member Ehlers for their sensitivity on this critical issue at this critical hour. And I want to thank in a special way our late Chair, Juanita Millender-McDonald, who worked with me tirelessly on this effort.

In fact, Mr. Speaker, I might add that in the 13 years I have had the privilege of serving in this body, I have only missed two votes: one vote because my pager died and the battery did not forward my pager the power to let me know to vote; and the other vote was when I was on the other side of the aisle so overwhelmed by the number of Republicans who were willing to sign onto a Rosa Parks statue in Statuary Hall that the Democratic clerks could not find me to tell me to vote. I was overwhelmed by that occasion.

I am hoping, Mr. Speaker, that today Members of Congress will once again vote ``aye'' on S. 2206. I know of no American more worthy of an honor than the late Mrs. Rosa Parks.

Mr. President, Rosa Parks has been described as the ``Mother of the Modern-Day Civil Rights Movement.''

Her actions on a Montgomery bus in 1955 sparked one of the Nation's largest movements against racial segregation: the Montgomery Bus Boycott.

Due to those brave actions, Rosa Parks became an icon of civil disobedience.

In 2005, Congress voted to preserve the legacy of Rosa Parks by authorizing a statue of her to be placed in the U.S. Capitol's Statuary Hall.

A statue of Rosa Parks would be a fitting tribute to the struggle for equal rights for all Americans.

But two years later, the statue has not been obtained. It is time to remove the hurdles, and ensure that Rosa Parks is honored as Congress intended.

The law designated Congress's Joint Committee on the Library to obtain the statue. But it was later determined that the Joint Committee does not have the technical ability or resources to enter into contracts or pay for the statue.

And now that law is set to expire on December 1, 2007, without ever achieving its intended goal.

So, to correct the problems in the original law, I have introduced a stand alone bill that would: designate the Architect of the Capitol as the agent of the Joint Committee; and extend the deadline by 2 more years.

This legislation would allow for the Architect of the Capitol to distribute funds on behalf of the Joint Committee on the Library.

This legislation has been cosponsored by seven other Senators, including: Senators Bennett, Kerry, Durbin, Levin, Schumer, Dodd, and Stabenow.

It is so important that we honor this great American.

Mrs. Parks' actions on a single day in December 1955 changed the lives of so many who followed her.

Let me tell you a little more about Rosa Parks:

Mrs. Parks was born Rosa Louise McCauley, February 4, 1913, in Tuskegee, AL. Her parents were a carpenter and a teacher.

Rosa Parks grew up and lived in a segregated South. And when she married, she and her husband became active in the local NAACP chapter.

On December 1, 1955, after a day of work at a department store in downtown Montgomery, AL, Rosa Parks boarded a bus to go home. She paid her fare, and took an empty seat in the first row of seats reserved for Blacks.

As the bus traveled along its route, all of the White-only seats in the bus filled up. When the bus reached its next stop, several White passengers boarded.

As was standard practice at that time, the busdriver told the Black passengers seated in the rows behind the White-only section to move. This included Mrs. Parks and three other passengers.

The three other Black passengers moved at the bus driver's insistence. But Mrs. Parks did not.

As she recalled in her autobiography, she was simply ``tired of giving in'':

People always say that I didn't give up my seat because I

was tired, but that isn't true. I was not tired physically,

or no more tired than I usually was at the end of a working

day.

I was not old, although some people have an image of me as

being old then. I was forty-two. No, the only tired I was,

was tired of giving in.

This action of civil disobedience sparked the Montgomery Bus Boycott, which became one of the Nation's largest movements against racial segregation.

Rosa Parks was presented with the Presidential Medal of Freedom in 1996. She received a Congressional Gold Medal in 1999. And in 2005, Congress voted to honor her with a statue in the U.S. Capitol. The Architect of the Capitol is prepared to work with the National Endowment for the Arts to find suitable artists and statues to be considered for this honor. But until the funds for this project can be allocated, the search for a statue will not move forward. The legislation introduced today would fix this problem and allow the funds to be released. But more importantly, this legislation would ensure that Rosa Parks an American hero is honored as she so deserves.

Mr. Speaker, I rise in support of S. 2206, which will extend the time period for the Joint Committee on the Library to enter into an agreement to obtain a statue of Rosa Parks.

A tireless advocate for equality, Rosa Parks is best remembered for a single act of civil disobedience that would change the history of our Nation. By refusing to move to the back of the bus in her native Alabama, to make room for white passengers, Mrs. Parks ignited passions on both sides of the civil rights movement. This led to the Montgomery bus boycott and helped to elevate the work of another great American of the civil rights movement, Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., as well as an august Member of this body, Congressman John Lewis, who also participated and played a leading role in some of the demonstrations of that time.

Even in her passing, Rosa Parks was a trailblazer as the first woman and only the second African American to lie in state in the Capitol rotunda.

I am especially pleased to speak on her behalf since she decided to take up residence in Michigan for the remainder of her life after she had gone through various demonstrations and activities surrounding her initial act of defiance. She was a distinguished citizen of our State, and in fact we recently dedicated a new park in downtown Grand Rapids in her honor. It is named the Rosa Parks Park.

By extending the time period to procure a statue of Mrs. Parks, this bill will allow the Joint Committee on the Library to delegate the administration of the statue selection process to the Architect of the Capitol. The JCL was not designed for, nor is it equipped, to run an arts competition. Allowing the Architect of the Capitol to administer the competition process will ensure that the statue selected is a fitting tribute to this marvelous civil rights pioneer.

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

Mr. Speaker, I have no other speakers, but I would like to close with a few additional comments.

First of all, I admire my colleague's voting record. It is a rare person who misses only two votes during 13 years.

But above all, I want to comment on a few things relating to Rosa Parks. First, what impresses me is how much one person who is determined to fight for what is right can accomplish. She was a marvelous person and stuck to her guns in tough situations, and she carried the day and inspired a lot of other people to carry the day.

The other factor is, as I look around the world today, and the United States especially, and compare that to the world before Rosa Parks, what a mammoth change we have undergone. But also as I look around, I still remember how much further we have to go. And let us always work in the spirit of Rosa Parks to destroy discrimination of all sorts and make certain that every American and in fact every citizen of this planet enjoys the freedom that we enjoy.

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

Mr. Speaker, I move to suspend the rules and pass the Senate bill (S. 2206) to provide technical corrections to Public Law 109-116 (2 U.S.C. 2131a note) to extend the time period for the Joint Committee on the Library to enter into an agreement to obtain a statue of Rosa Parks, and for other purposes.

Mr. Speaker, I ask unanimous consent that all Members have 5 legislative days to revise and extend their remarks in the Record and include extraneous matter.

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

Mr. Speaker, this bill will provide technical corrections to Public Law 109-116 to extend the time period for the Joint Committee on the Library to obtain a statue honoring Rosa Parks, and for other purposes.

In November of 2005, this House passed Public Law 109-116, then H.R. 4145, which provided for the placement of a statue of Rosa Parks in the National Statuary Hall. Due to technical drafting errors, we failed to provide the Architect of the Capitol with the resources necessary to acquire such a statue.

The original bill set a deadline of December 1, 2007, for acquisition of the statue, and S. 2206 would extend the deadline for 2 years. Further, the bill authorizes the Architect of the Capitol to enter into any agreement or contract necessary to have the statue rendered.

It is imperative that we honor the memory of Rosa Parks in Statuary Hall as soon as possible. The House is in agreement today, as it was 2 years ago, that this is long overdue. Her contributions to the civil rights movement and to the historical record of this country deserve to be reflected in Statuary Hall.

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

Mr. Speaker, I would like to recognize the gentleman from Illinois (Mr. Jackson) for such time as he may consume.

Mr. Speaker, I would again like to thank the gentleman from Illinois (Mr. Jackson) for his participation and for his voting record also. And I thank my friend from Michigan, the ranking member, for all he has done. We have a great working relationship, and I thank him for continuing that relationship.

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

Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the Senate proceed to immediate consideration of S. 2206, introduced earlier today.

I ask unanimous consent that the bill be read three times, passed, the motion to reconsider be laid on the table, and any statement be printed in the Record.