A joint resolution to amend Public Law 108-331 to provide for the construction and related activities in support of the Very Energetic Radiation Imaging Telescope Array System (VERITAS) project in Arizona.

Madam Speaker, my colleagues and I join together today to introduce the ``Smithsonian Institution Facilities Authorization Act of 2008''.

I thank my colleagues, including Committee on House Administration Chairman Brady and Ranking Member Ehlers, Committee on Transportation and Infrastructure Ranking Member Mica and Subcommittee Chairwoman Norton, and the Congressional Regents of the Smithsonian Institution, Mr. Becerra, Ms. Matsui, and Mr. Sam Johnson of Texas, for their efforts to move this important legislation forward. I also thank the Smithsonian Institution for its effort on behalf of the legislation and welcome the new Secretary, Dr. G. Wayne Clough. I look forward to working with Secretary Clough as the Committee on Transportation and Infrastructure works to address the enormous repair and maintenance backlog of the Smithsonian Institution facilities and ensure that its facilities meet the highest standards of energy efficiency and conservation.

The bill authorizes the Board of Regents of the Smithsonian Institution to design and construct laboratory space to accommodate the Mathias Laboratory at the Smithsonian Environmental Research Center (``SERC'') in Edgewater, Maryland. The bill also authorizes the Board of Regents to construct laboratory space to accommodate the terrestrial research program of the Smithsonian Tropical Research Institute (``STRI'') in Gamboa, Panama. The Committee on Transportation and Infrastructure will consider the Smithsonian Institution Facilities Act on July 31. The Committee will also consider S.J. Res. 35, which provides for the construction of the Very Energetic Radiation Imaging Telescope Array System (VERITAS) project in Arizona. Earlier this year, the Committee on Transportation and Infrastructure reported H.R. 5492, to authorize the Board of Regents to construct a greenhouse facility at its museum support facility in Suitland, Maryland, favorably to the House, and the House passed the bill by voice vote on March 11, 2008. The Committee hopes to bring S.J. Res. 35 to the House in early September. With passage of these bills, the House of Representatives will have completed action on the Smithsonian Institution's construction program for this fiscal year.

Section 2 of the bill authorizes the Board of Regents to design and construct laboratory and support space to accommodate the Mathias Laboratory at the Smithsonian Environmental Research Center in Edgewater, Maryland. The bill authorizes $41 million to design and construct the facility. SERC is a global leader in the study of ecosystems in the coastal zone. The 52,000-square-foot replacement laboratory will be connected to the existing structure to provide an operationally efficient and environmentally sustainable laboratory facility for SERC's research programs. The project will eliminate the use of temporary, unsafe trailers, address substandard, inefficient laboratory facilities, and will substantially reduce the facility's energy use and maintenance costs.

Section 3 of the bill authorizes the Board of Regents to construct laboratory space to accommodate the terrestrial research program of the Smithsonian Tropical Research Institute in Gamboa, Panama. The bill authorizes $14 million to construct the 53,283-square-foot facility. STRI is the principal United States organization devoted to research in tropical biology. Tropical biology is critical to finding untapped resources to add to the important supply of food, pharmaceuticals, and fiber of tropical regions. STRI has outgrown the space available at its current facilities and this bill provides for construction of a new lab in Gamboa, Panama, on the east bank of the Panama Canal. Gamboa is protected by geography from the encroachment of civilization and pollution. The terrestrial research program is critical to understanding the role that tropical plants and soils play in global climate change models and for enriching knowledge of tropical biodiversity.

I urge my colleagues to join me in supporting the ``Smithsonian Institution Facilities Authorization Act of 2008'', and I look forward to working together with my colleagues on these and other Smithsonian Institution issues.

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

Madam Speaker, I rise in support of Senate Joint Resolution 35 that would amend Public Law 108-331 to provide for the Smithsonian Institution's construction of certain facilities in support of the Very Energetic Radiation Imaging Telescope Array System, or VERITAS.

The VERITAS project is a collaboration with the National Science Foundation and the Department of Energy as the lead agencies. Universities in the United States, the United Kingdom, Canada and Ireland are participants in this work.

The goal of the VERITAS project is to increase our ability to view gamma-ray radiation in space.

Studying gamma ray radiation from objects like exploding stars and black holes will help increase our scientific understanding of the universe. In 1968, the first telescope was created to observe this gamma ray radiation. VERITAS significantly enhances this technology.

In 2004, Congress authorized the Smithsonian to construct a control building to support the VERITAS project. The control building would include space for computers, technical equipment, and other facilities for researchers to carry out their work with the new telescopes.

The original legislation authorized the control building to be built in Kitt Peak, Arizona, where the VERITAS project was expected to be located. Site and construction preparation began in Kitt Peak in 2004 on land leased to the U.S. Government by a local Indian tribe. Unfortunately, in 2005, the

project was halted when a lawsuit was brought and the National Science Foundation issued a stop work order.

As a result, the NSF and the DOE began to undertake new environmental assessments of the Kitt Peak site and, in 2005, started initial work on the VERITAS telescopes 35 miles away at the Fred Lawrence Base Camp in Mount Hopkins, Arizona. The plan was to move the telescopes to Kitt Peak following completion of the necessary assessments.

However, the assessment process continued into 2007 and there were concerns about missing windows of opportunities for joint work planned with NASA's gamma ray telescope satellite.

In light of this, the VERITAS team sought and received approval from the United States Forest Service to test the telescopes at the Whipple Base Camp. The testing revealed that the Whipple location produced results comparable with those they expected at Kitt Peak. As a result, the collaborative partners agreed that the VERITAS project should remain at the Whipple Base Camp.

The legislation enacted in 2004 authorized the construction of a control building by the Smithsonian for the project; however, it specified Kitt Peak, Arizona, as the project location.

The Senate resolution today would amend that law to authorize the construction of the control building at the Whipple Base Camp in Mount Hopkins, Arizona, where the VERITAS project is now located.

This resolution does not authorize any additional funds for the project. The resolution simply authorizes the change in the location of the project at no additional cost.

I urge my colleagues to support the bill.

If the gentlelady does not have any further speakers, Madam Speaker, I would go ahead then and yield back the balance of my time.

Madam 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.

Madam Speaker, I move to suspend the rules and pass the Senate joint resolution (S.J. Res. 35) to amend Public Law 108-331 to provide for the construction and related activities in support of the Very Energetic Radiation Imaging Telescope Array System (VERITAS) project in Arizona.

Madam Speaker, I ask unanimous consent that all Members may have 5 legislative days in which to revise and extend their remarks and add any extraneous materials to S.J. Res. 35.

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

I rise in support of S.J. Res. 35, which amends Public Law 108-331. This public law provided for the construction and location and related activities in support of the VERITAS project in Arizona.

Madam Speaker, this Senate resolution amends this law by identifying another location for the VERITAS project. S.J. Res. 35 authorizes the Smithsonian to relocate the telescope to Fred Lawrence Whipple Observatory Base Camp on Mount Hopkins, Arizona, from the original site at Kitt Peak, Arizona. This is a simple but necessary change, and I urge my colleagues to support this resolution.

I reserve the balance of my time.

Madam Speaker, I just urge support and yield back the balance of my time.

Madam Speaker, I rise in strong support of S.J. Res. 35, which amends Public Law 108-331 to provide for the construction and related activities in support of the Very Energetic Radiation Imaging Telescope Array System, ``VERITAS'', project in Arizona. Public Law 108-331 was passed in October 2004 during the 108th Congress.

This joint resolution authorizes the Smithsonian Institution to permanently locate the telescope at the Fred Lawrence Whipple Observatory Base Camp on Mount Hopkins, Arizona, which is approximately 35 miles from the original site, Kitt Peak's Horseshoe Canyon. The Smithsonian Institution has set up the telescope at this site on an interim basis and the VERITAS Science Consortium and Smithsonian Astrophysical Observatory request that the VERITAS telescope remain at the Whipple Observatory for the rest of its scientific life. As a result, the Board of Regents of the Smithsonian Institution requests an amendment to Public Law 108331 to authorize the Board to locate the VERITAS telescope at Fred Lawrence Whipple Observatory Base Camp on Mount Hopkins, Arizona, or other similar location.

I urge my colleagues to join me in supporting S.J. Res. 35.

Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the Rules Committee be discharged from further consideration of S.J. Res. 35, and the Senate proceed to its immediate consideration.

Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the joint resolution be read a third time and passed, the motion to reconsider be laid upon the table, with no interviewing action or debate, and any statements related to the measure be printed in the Record.