Authorizing the use of Emancipation Hall in the Capitol Visitor Center for an event to celebrate the birthday of King Kamehameha.

I thank the gentleman from New York for yielding me the time.

Mr. Speaker, this is a very important day for U.S. policy in Africa. Just about 1 year ago, on May 19, my friend and colleague from California and the champion of human rights, Congressman Ed Royce, and I introduced H.R. 2478, the Lord's Resistance Army Disarmament and Northern Recovery Act. In the Senate, Senators Russ Feingold and Sam Brownback sponsored the same bill, S. 1067, which is the bill before us for consideration today. Today, H.R. 2478 has 200 bipartisan cosponsors.

When the House passes S. 1067 today, it will be sent directly to the President's desk for his signature, and for the first time the U.S. will be required to design and implement a comprehensive strategy with our multilateral and regional partners to address the violence of the LRA; protect the victims of LRA violence in Uganda, the Democratic Republic of Congo, southern

Sudan, and the Central African Republic; strengthen state presence and capacity in these regions to the benefit of the vulnerable civilian populations; and advance the recovery of northern Uganda from decades of violence.

Mr. Speaker, a great deal has happened across the country to ensure that this bill is before the House Chamber today in scarcely 1 year. I want to especially recognize and thank the national networks, organizations, and grassroots activists of Invisible Children, Resolve Uganda, the ENOUGH! Project, and many other religious and human rights groups who have rallied in support of the people and especially the children of this region of Africa.

These Americans, thousands of them high school and college students, understood that the children and people of northern Uganda, the DRC, the southern Sudan, and the CAR have no voice in Washington.

So they were determined to become their voice. They realized that these African children and families were invisible to Washington policymakers. So they decided to make them visible. They realized there is too much suffering, too much pain, too much destruction, too much killing in this region of Africa, so many thousands of miles away, and that there was just too much silence here in Washington. So they built a grassroots national movement of hope for peace, for justice, for reconciliation, for reconstruction, for the recovery of the human spirit. They believe that the people of northern Uganda, the children of Uganda, the DRC, Southern Sudan, and the CAR, have a right to protection and to have a voice in their own destiny.

So today is a good day, a very good day, Mr. Speaker, because today these hundreds of thousands of voices have brought this bill to the House floor today for final passage. The unresolved crisis with the Lord's Resistance Army is one of Africa's longest running and most gruesome militia-driven conflicts. It has morphed into a sadistic force, wreaking terror on the local populations, filling its ranks with abducted child soldiers and slaves.

Now, at this critical juncture in the conflict's history and when the terror once focused in northern Uganda is spreading throughout the region and surrounding countries, we must ensure that the United States commits to a proactive strategy to help see this conflict to its end, protect vulnerable populations, and support and strengthen recovery efforts in northern Uganda and the region.

I thank the many Americans, especially the young people, who have supported this bill. I urge my colleagues to vote in support of final passage of S. 1067. I thank the gentleman from New York, again, for his leadership.

Human Rights, Humanitarian, and Faith-Based Groups Back Landmark U.S. Legislation To Help Protect Civilians From the Lord's Resistance Army

Washington, DC, 21 May 2009.--The introduction of

legislation in the U.S. Senate and House of Representatives

earlier this week to commit the United States to

comprehensive efforts to help civilians threatened by one of

the world's longest-running and brutal insurgencies is a

crucial step forward for U.S. policy in the region, a

coalition of twenty-two human rights, humanitarian, and

faith-based groups said today.

If passed, the Lord's Resistance Army Disarmament and

Northern Uganda Recovery Act would require the Obama

Administration to develop a regional strategy to protect

civilians in central Africa from attacks by the rebel Lord's

Resistance Army (LRA) and enforce the rule of law and ensure

full humanitarian access in LRA-affected areas. The Act

additionally commits the United States to increase support to

economic recovery and transitional justice efforts in Uganda.

The coalition of supporting organizations includes groups in

Democratic Republic of Congo, Sudan, and Uganda, where

communities are currently threatened by the LRA.

``We continue to live in fear of LRA attacks and of our

children being abducted,'' said Father Benoit Kinalegu of the

Dungu/Doruma Justice and Peace Commission in DR Congo. ``We

are praying for help and protection and hope U.S. lawmakers

will hear our cries.''

Senators Russ Feingold (D-WI) and Sam Brownback (R-KS) and

Representatives Jim McGovern (D-MA), Brad Miller (D-NC), and

Ed Royce (R-CA) introduced the bill. It affirms the need for

U.S. leadership to help bring an end to atrocities by the

Lord's Resistance Army and to advance long-term recovery in

the region.

``The LRA has long posed a terrible threat to civilians,''

said Georgette Gagnon, Africa Director at Human Rights Watch.

`` This bill will help the U.S. government support for

comprehensive multilateral efforts to protect civilians in

LRA-affected areas and to apprehend or otherwise remove the

group's leader, Joseph Kony, and his top commanders from the

battlefield.''

For more than twenty years, northern Ugandans were caught

in a war between the Ugandan military and the rebel group.

The violence killed thousands of civilians and displaced

nearly two million people. Kony and his top commanders

sustain their ranks by abducting civilians, including

children, to use as soldiers and sexual slaves. Though the

rebel group ended attacks in northern Uganda in 2006, it

moved its bases to the northeastern Democratic Republic of

Congo and has committed acts of violence against civilians in

Congo, Sudan, and the Central African Republic. In December

2008, Sudan, Uganda and Congo began a joint military

offensive, ``Operation Lightening Thunder,'' against the

rebel group, with backing from the United States. As a

result, the Lord's Resistance Army has dispersed into

multiple smaller groups and has brutally murdered more than

1,000 civilians and abducted over 400 people, mostly

children.

``Given the catalytic involvement of the U.S. military in

Operation Lightning Thunder--and the horrific aftermath of

this operation--the U.S. government now has a responsibility

to help end the threat posed by Joseph Kony once and for

all,'' said John Prendergast, Co-Founder of the Enough

Project. ``One man should not be allowed to terrorize

millions of people in four Central African countries. The

bill is a crucial first step in galvanizing immediate and

effective U.S. action.''

The legislation also aims to help secure a lasting peace in

Uganda by supporting measures to assist war-affected

communities in northern Uganda and to help resolve

longstanding divisions between communities in Uganda's north

and south. It authorizes increased funding for recovery

efforts in northern Uganda, with a particular focus on

supporting transitional justice and reconciliation. It also

calls on the Ugandan government to reinvigorate its

commitment to a transparent and accountable reconstruction

process in war-affected areas.

``Smart investment in long-term recovery is essential if

the people of northern Uganda are to live with peace and

dignity,'' said Annalise Romoser, Lutheran World Relief

Associate Director for Advocacy. ``Transitional justice

initiatives and the development of basic infrastructure such

as food and water systems are crucial elements to lasting

peace and reconciliation in Uganda. Such investment from the

United States will support the inspiring efforts of northern

Ugandans to return home and rebuild after decades of war and

displacement.''

With questions, please contact:

Michael Poffenberger, Resolve Uganda: 202.548.2517 /

michael@resolveuganda.org; Eileen White Read, Enough Project:

202.741.6376 / eread@enoughproject.org; and Maria Burnett,

Human Rights Watch: 917.379.1696 / burnetm@hrw.org.

Supporting organizations include:

Human Rights Watch, Enough Project, Resolve Uganda,

International Rescue Committee, Invisible Children, Refugees

International, AVSI, Global Action for Children, Lutheran

World Relief, United States Fund for UNICEF, Women's Refugee

Commission.

Evangelical Lutheran Church in America, Genocide

Intervention Network, Refugee Law Project, Uganda, Gulu NGO

Forum, Uganda, Dungu/Doruma Justice and Peace Commission,

Democratic Republic of Congo Azande Community World-wide

Organisation, UK-South Sudan, Mbomu Charitable Organization,

Sudan; Ibba Charitable Organization, South Sudan, Azande

Women Organization, South Sudan, Hope Sudan Organization,

South Sudan, Eso Development Organization, South Sudan.

Added after 21 May 2009: Nabanga Development Agency, South

Sudan, Comboni Missionary Sisters, South Sudan.

Mr. Speaker, I rise today in strong support of House Concurrent Resolution 80, authorizing the use of Emancipation Hall in the Capitol Visitor Center for an event to celebrate the birthday of King Kamehameha the Great.

First, I want to thank the chairman of the House Committee on House Administration, my colleague Mr. Brady, for managing this important legislation, and I thank also my colleague and dear friend from the other side of the aisle from California for his support of the bill. I also want to commend my colleague, the gentlewoman from Hawaii, Congresswoman Hirono, for her leadership as the author of this proposed legislation and, of course, my colleague Mr. Abercrombie for his support as well.

Mr. Speaker, the Kamehameha Lei Draping Ceremony in Statuary Hall of the U.S. Capitol has been hosted by the Hawaii congressional delegation and Hawaii State Society of Washington, D.C. since 1969. For almost 40 years now we have conducted this ceremony each year on or about the second week of June to coincide with the celebration of King Kamehameha Day in the State of Hawaii. We do this every year.

Mr. Speaker, the King Kamehameha statue has now been moved to Emancipation Hall of the U.S. Capitol Visitor Center, and in doing so, section 103 of Public Law 110-437, it now requires the enactment of a congressional resolution to authorize this special ceremony to take place to honor King Kamehameha the Great.

Mr. Speaker, as my good friend, the gentleman from Hawaii, had commented, I didn't appreciate where the King Kamehameha statue was placed in Statuary Hall. It was somewhat behind the bus, so to speak. And somewhat, in my own personal opinion, it was demeaning. Sometimes I've come to see in Statuary Hall a bunch of chairs surrounding the statue. And in my personal opinion, Mr. Speaker, I'm so happy now it's being moved to Emancipation Hall.

Mr. Speaker, King Kamehameha was one of the greatest Hawaiian warrior kings known among the Polynesian people. After some 2,000 years of tremendous rivalries among the warring chiefs of the Hawaii Islands, it was prophesied among the Hawaiian priests that there will one day be born a high chief who will be a slayer of other high chiefs and he will unite all of the Hawaiian Islands under one rule.

King Kamehameha fulfilled that prophecy, after almost 10 years of fighting against other rival chiefs of the Hawaiian Islands. King Kamehameha was taught the ancient arts, the martial arts, known among the Hawaiian people as lua.

He also learned military tactics and the art of warfare from his warrior chief, Kekuhaupio. He was able to lift the ancient Naha Stone, as referred to by my colleague, Mr. Abercrombie. This stone weighed 4,500 pounds and is still in the City of Hilo, if anybody wants to see how big this stone was.

Mr. Speaker, King Kamehameha was about 6 feet, 8 inches and weighed almost 300 pounds. So if you were a warrior, you better watch out if you see King Kamehameha coming at you.

King Kamehameha was a true warrior king, because he would always be in the front line leading his warriors in combat. And he was ferocious in battle, and he had no fear for his life.

One of his favorite sports to prove agility and combat readiness was the ability of a warrior to dodge spears thrown at you at the same time. King Kamehameha was able to do this with six spears thrown at him at the same time.

See if you can do that, my good friend from California.

He would grab two spears, parry the other two spears, and let the other two go by him. That's how you do it, Mr. Speaker.

Mr. Speaker, King Kamehameha unified the islands and established peace and stability. He was shrewd in building prosperity for his people by encouraging agricultural development and promoting commercial trade in Europe and even with the United States. While he was open to new ideas, he was cautious and circumspect in the old way.

At the time King Kamehameha instituted, as noted by my good friend Congresswoman Hirono, the Law of the Splintered Paddle, or Mamalahoe, as among the Hawaiian people, which protected elderly men and women and children from any harm as they'd travel along the roadside.

Mr. Speaker, the first King Kamehameha Day was proclaimed on June 11, 1871, by his great grandson, King Kamehameha V. The proposed legislation recognizes the United States is built upon diversity, and we all share the same ideals of freedom and democracy and a commitment to justice for all

people. These ideals embody the legacy of King Kamehameha the Great.

It is only fitting that we honor, not only honor the birth date of this great Hawaiian warrior king, but we continue to have the special ceremony of draping hundreds of flower leis on his statue, on the statute that now stands prominently in the Emancipation Hall of the U.S. Capitol Visitor Center.

I urge my colleagues to support this legislation.

Mr. Speaker, I move to suspend the rules and pass the bill (S. 1067) to support stabilization and lasting peace in northern Uganda and areas affected by the Lord's Resistance Army through development of a regional strategy to support multilateral efforts to successfully protect civilians and eliminate the threat posed by the Lord's Resistance Army and to authorize funds for humanitarian relief and reconstruction, reconciliation, and transitional justice, and for other purposes.

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 the bill under consideration.

Mr. Speaker, I rise in strong support of the bill and yield myself such time as I may consume.

Mr. Speaker, the Senate bill under consideration today is a companion to H.R. 2478, legislation authored by the gentleman from Massachusetts (Mr. McGovern). I want to thank my good friend and colleague, Mr. McGovern, for championing the cause of the people of northern Uganda who have been victimized for over two decades by the Lord's Resistance Army, a group designated as a terrorist organization by the Secretary of State.

Mr. Speaker, it is almost impossible to describe the horrors that the Lord's Resistance Army, also known as the LRA, has perpetrated on the people of northern Uganda and, more recently, in several neighboring countries.

Joseph Kony, the LRA leader, has led a militia group responsible for the slaughter of thousands of people and the displacement of over 2 million others since it was formed in 1986.

The LRA is most notorious for abducting young children, an estimated 30,000, over the past two decades, and forcing them into armed service and sexual servitude. While claiming to represent the legitimate grievances of the Ocholi people of northern Uganda, Kony has exploited those grievances to justify what only can be described as madness in his pursuit of power.

The Ugandan war is now the longest running war in Africa, longer than the conflict in Sudan. During the course of this war, the LRA has been responsible for widespread human rights violations, including murder, abduction, mutilation, sexual enslavement of women and children, and forcing children to participate in killing of Ugandans, often family members and neighbors.

The LRA shows no mercy for the young. Boys are kidnapped and turned into soldiers. Girls are kidnapped and used as sex slaves. And to terrorize communities, the LRA often amputates limbs and disfigures bodies as so-called lessons learned for those willing to resist.

The Ugandan government and the LRA began peace negotiations in 2006, and signed an agreement in August of that year which provided for hundreds of thousands of internally displaced people to return home in safety. A final peace agreement was reached in 2008, but Kony refused to sign, and the LRA subsequently launched new attacks on civilians in eastern Congo.

Despite the LRA leader's refusal to sign the agreement, the Ugandan government has made a commitment to carry out reconstruction plans for northern Uganda, and to implement those mechanisms of the final peace agreement not conditioned on the compliance of the LRA.

Mr. Speaker, the United States Government is a friend to the people of northern Uganda, and it is in our interest to help rid Uganda and central Africa of the LRA. This bill authorizes the President to provide additional assistance to respond to the humanitarian needs of populations in the Democratic Republic of Congo, southern Sudan, and Central African Republic affected by LRA activity.

It further authorizes the President to support efforts by the people of northern Uganda and the government of Uganda to promote transitional justice and reconciliation on both local and national levels.

Mr. Speaker, it is important that we pass this legislation today to draw attention to the LRA's reign of terror and to demonstrate our support for the people of Uganda. Mr. Speaker, I urge all of my colleagues to support this bill.

I reserve the balance of my time.

Mr. Speaker, it is now my pleasure to yield 4 minutes to the gentleman from Massachusetts, the vice chairman of the Rules Committee, Mr. McGovern.

The gentleman from New Jersey is correct.

Mr. Speaker, I now yield 2 minutes to a member of the Foreign Affairs Committee, the gentleman from North Carolina (Mr. Miller).

Mr. Speaker, I now yield 2 minutes to the gentlewoman from California (Mrs. Davis).

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

Mr. Speaker, I rise in support of this legislation to end the atrocities of Joseph Kony's Lord's Resistance Army, and I am an original cosponsor of the House version of this legislation. From my view, with the passage of this bill, which now goes to the President's desk, we now are in a situation where I think Kony's removal won't guarantee peace, but it certainly will make it possible in the region. I would also just add that the fact that this legislation has made it this far is really a tribute to a group of young people, young professionals who have come up here on their own time and gone to the universities around this country to organize in order to make people aware of the plight of these children in Africa. I really thank them for that work.

Mr. Speaker, Joseph Kony is perhaps the most wanted man in Africa. He is an indicted war criminal. He is a designated terrorist. Many Americans don't know his name but the children of Uganda and Central East Africa certainly do. He is a very sadistic figure. He has a charismatic appeal to some. He heads a group called the Lord's Resistance Army, and under his two decades of tyrannical leadership that group has conscripted some 30,000 children into this killing squad. I can tell you as the former chairman of the Africa Subcommittee, if you talk to parents in Uganda or the Congo or South Sudan or the Central African Republic, the fear they have is the fear inspired by what he has been able to do.

Human rights groups report that this LRA remains powerful. It has still the ability to kill and to capture children. It may be even accelerating its program of fear and mind control over children. I'm reminded of the words of a recent researcher who interviewed a boy who escaped from the group. He reported that he was forced to kill eight other children who disobeyed Kony's rules in a 5-week time span. Those victims were surrounded in a circle. Children were forced to take turns bashing them with a bat in a ``collective kill.'' That's eight times in 5 weeks.

The LRA's objective remains the same as it's been for a couple generations now: kill, capture, and resupply for its next pillage. There is no other reason for its being. Most experts agree that the removal of Kony and his top leadership would decapitate this group. Kony has long fought the government of Uganda. He has had the support of the Islamist government in Sudan for that war, which wanted to hit back at Uganda's leader for his support of Christians and animists in southern Sudan. Former LRA commanders report that Khartoum, Sudan, has provided ``ammunition'' and provides ``intelligence training'' for Kony's group. More recently, there have been credible reports of the LRA gaining sanctuary in Darfur. A referendum on Southern Sudan is looming next year. Unless the LRA is permanently dealt with now, you can bet that Khartoum will put this killing squad back to use again next year in Southern Sudan.

Mr. Speaker, this civil war, originally contained within Uganda's borders, is now a regional crisis in four countries. This bipartisan legislation aims to spur the administration into devising a strategy to remove Joseph Kony and remove his top commanders from the battlefield. Some targeted assistance from the U.S. could make a world of difference.

I thank the gentlelady.

The world's problems can seem overwhelming at times. It is fashionable to blame conflict in Africa on poverty and other environmental factors. But sometimes just getting rid of one person does make a big difference. History is

full of captivating leaders with bad ideas who do great damage. It's a lesson I learned as chairman of the Africa Subcommittee, when Liberian president Charles Taylor ran a gangster regime in West Africa that brought havoc to neighboring Sierra Leone, where he pioneered this idea of using child soldiers and using amputations and using the techniques that Joseph Kony does now. After the hard-fought removal of Charles Taylor, and after his imprisonment, that region is peaceful.

Mr. Speaker, it isn't an exaggeration to say that the fate of hundreds of thousands of people--certainly of 30,000 children--rests in the hands of a few men. Kony's removal won't guarantee peace, but it will make it possible.

I urge the passage of this legislation.

Mr. Brady, thank you for yielding.

Mr. Speaker, Representative Hirono has given an excellent history of Kamehameha and the reasoning behind the

celebration of his birthday as a State holiday in Hawaii. For the benefit of the Members and those who may not be familiar with the question of the statue itself and what it represents in the broader context, for those who may not be familiar with it, I would like to perhaps give a little bit of perspective, a little history on it.

When people come from all over the world, not just the country itself, the Nation itself, to the Capitol, when they tour the Capitol, the most open capitol of any in the world, perhaps in the history of the world, we take pride, do we not, in the fact that this Capitol is open and available and accessible to all people, and we take some degree of pride, and rightfully so, that we are able to exhibit some of the history of this Nation for all to see and that each State has the opportunity to present for consideration of all of us two statues.

One, of course, for us is Father Damien, who has just been named as a saint in the Roman Catholic Church. He came from Belgium to the United States to then, of course, the territory of Hawaii and ministered to those who had Hansen's disease, leprosy, on the Island of Molokai on the peninsula of Kalaupapa. His ministrations to those who had been abandoned, those who literally had been exiled to Kalaupapa resulted in the consideration by the Roman Catholic Church of miracles having been taken place in his name as a result of his dedication.

The other statue representative of what we feel Hawaii is all about, of course, is Kamehameha. He's a legendary figure. The things that Representative Hirono cited, of course, are part of history. But when we use the word ``legendary'' to describe someone, it genuinely fits Kamehameha the Great.

In his youth as part of this legendary history, he was known as a courageous warrior. He was said to have overturned the Naha Stone in Hilo, Hawaii, which indicated his almost superhuman strength and foreshadowed his inevitable conquest of all of Hawaii. I suppose it is the equivalent or a parallel could be drawn to the seizure of the Excalibur sword from the ground by the legendary King Arthur. This is the stature of Kamehameha. He did, in fact, unify the islands. And when he passed away in 1819, the phrase that was used with his passing is that ``only the stars know his final resting place.'' So the legend became even more of a tale to be told not only throughout the islands but throughout the world.

So when people see that statue, when they observe that statue, they're somewhat shocked. It's monumental. I recall very, very clearly that in the rather obscure corner in Statuary Hall where Kamehameha originally resided here in the Capitol, it was somewhat difficult to find. People were not quite sure why it was there. It was said that because of the great weight of the statue itself it had to go there in order to be supported by the flooring of the Capitol. So in that position, Mr. Speaker, the really triumphant power and grace of the statue was not necessarily fully available to those who came to Statuary Hall. As a result, the Architect of the Capitol said to me, when we were first discussing the question of the visitor center and what is now Emancipation Hall, that he wanted very much to have the statue of Kamehameha in a very prominent position when the new visitor center was opened. He was certain that it would occupy an enormous presence there. It does that today. And we are very, very grateful for the opportunity for all to come and to view it.