To provide for the furnishing of statues by the District of Columbia and territories and possessions of the United States for display in Statuary Hall in the United States Capitol.

Mr. Speaker, I move to suspend the rules and pass the bill (H.R. 5493) to provide for the furnishing of statues by the District of Columbia for display in Statuary Hall in the United States Capitol, as amended.

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

Mr. Speaker, I rise in strong support of H.R. 5493, as amended, which will invite each of the territories, and especially including the District of Columbia, to provide a statue to be placed with other such statues from the 50 States that are now all over the U.S. Capitol.

First of all, I do want to thank the chairman of the Committee on House Administration, the gentleman from Pennsylvania, my good friend, Mr. Brady, for his support and leadership in bringing this legislation, and also, my good friend from California (Mr. Lungren) for his support. With the help of Chairman Brady and his staff, H.R. 5493 now includes language making it favorable to have this bill brought now before the floor for consideration as it was approved by the committee.

I want to especially thank my good friend and colleague, the distinguished lady from the District of Columbia, Ms. Eleanor Norton, for her willingness to work with us on this important bill. And I want to acknowledge the joint efforts that we have made in advocating the importance of this bill for the five U.S. territories and especially also for the District of Columbia, which is basically to provide and furnish to the Architect of the Capitol a statue honoring a prominent citizen of such jurisdiction to be placed in the National Statuary Hall in the same manner as statues now honoring citizens of the States.

Since its inception in 1864, the National Statuary Hall holds a grand display of statues donated to commemorate each of the 50 States. The various statues with their historical significance have added to the aesthetics and overall impressive architectural design of the U.S. Capitol. To the 3 million to 5 million annual visitors to the U.S. Capitol, the National Statuary Hall serves as a reminder of the values and significant contributions of certain individuals that shape the foundation upon which this great country was founded.

And 5 years ago, the Architect of the Capitol received a marble statue of Po'pay from the State of New Mexico and a bronze statue of Sarah Winnemucca from the State of Nevada, making the entire collection complete in its representation of the 50 States under the original law of 1864. It was also at the same time that I introduced a bill to invite territories, including at the time American Samoa, Guam, Puerto Rico, and the U.S. Virgin Islands, to furnish statues to be placed in the National Statuary Hall. The language was similar to the one proposed by the former Delegate from Guam Ben Blaz in 1985, except I proposed permission for the territories to furnish a single statue.

Earlier this year, I introduced a similar bill with modified language to include the CNMI. I am pleased that H.R. 5493 now has incorporated all of these requests. And again, I want to thank Chairman Brady and Ranking Member Lungren and members of the House Administration Committee and staff for their support of this proposal.

With that, Mr. Speaker, I urge support of this bill and reserve the balance of my time.

Mr. Speaker, I gladly yield all the time that she wants to my good friend, the distinguished Delegate from the District of Columbia, Ms. Eleanor Holmes Norton.

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

I want to echo the sentiments expressed earlier by my colleague from the District of Columbia, again, commending and thanking our good friend from California for his support and his leadership in bringing this piece of legislation to the floor, and especially Chairman Brady and all his efforts and the members of his staff for their hard work in bringing this bill.

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

I thank my good friend from American Samoa, with whom I work so closely and so often.

Mr. Speaker, I am particularly grateful this evening to Chairman Brady for working so closely with me on the bill for statues for the District of Columbia, a bill I have introduced for years but that did not move until Mr. Brady became chair.

However, Ranking Member Dan Lungren deserves special thanks for today's bill. When he said he could not support my bill for two statues for the District, he didn't say ``no'' to everything. He introduced his own bill for one statue for the District and one for each of the territories. The bill before the House this evening is essentially that bill, the Lungren bill.

Our original bill for two statues for the District of Columbia was introduced only to give some small recognition to the taxpayers of the District, who get little enough recognition for their taxpaying status. In the end, in the spirit of compromise represented by Mr. Lungren's bill, I decided that we should seek to move Mr. Lungren's bill at this time, and I thank him for his bill.

We recognize that the statues for each State are mere symbols, but for us, they are symbols of American citizenship itself, as embedded in the recognition of their own outstanding citizens by each State. One need only go

downstairs in this House to watch visitors from their own congressional districts as they view their statues to see the power of the patriotism and pride the statues inspire in their own constituents.

The Lungren bill creates a dilemma for the District of Columbia, however. So great was the desire for the statues generated by my bill that when citizens were asked to indicate who they wanted to represent the city in statue for the United States Capitol, well, the citizens chose two great Americans, had their statues designed and actually built and placed in the District's city hall until such time as this bill, or my original bill, passed the House. And if this bill passes, for now, they will have to decide which one of two great men will represent the city. This will be difficult because it speaks volumes about who we are in the District, that the two men chosen were not only longtime distinguished District of Columbia residents but also are great Americans apart from their District identity.

Frederick Douglass, born a slave, who became the greatest human rights leader of his time but also was U.S. Marshal for the District of Columbia. And District of Columbia recorder of deeds. And, of course, resident of Southeast Washington, whose majestic home is now a National Park Service site with thousands of visitors who come each year. And Pierre L'Enfant, the great patriot of the American Revolutionary War, later appointed by George Washington to design the Nation's Capital.

We have decided it is better to have to decide which one of two great residents of the District of Columbia will represent our city for now than to have no choice at all. I ask this House to support this bill. And again, I thank Mr. Lungren for his compromise in introducing it.

Mr. Speaker, I rise today in strong support of the bill in the nature of a substitute to H.R. 5493, a bill to provide for the furnishing of a statue by each of the U.S. Territories and the District of Columbia for display in Statuary Hall in the United States Capitol. I would like to thank my colleagues Congresswoman Eleanor Holmes Norton of Washington, DC, and Congressman Eni Faleomavaega of American Samoa for their work on this legislation. I would also like to thank Congressman Robert Brady, Chairman of the Committee on House Administration and Congressman Daniel Lungren, Ranking Member of the Committee on House Administration for working with the Delegates from the territories and agreeing to amend the bill with substitute language that authorizes one statue for each of the U.S. territories.

For Americans across the country, one of the key highlights of a visit to the U.S. Capitol is locating and observing the statues representing their home states. It is an opportunity to see that their local history is represented and valued in our Nation's Capitol, and a chance to share that history with others from around the country. However, visitors from America's five territories and the District of Columbia are disappointed to find that they have no representation in this time-honored tradition.

H.R. 5493, as amended, would remedy this situation by permitting each of the U.S. territories and the District of Columbia to house one memorial statue in the U.S. Capitol Building. These statues would be placed among the existing 100 state statues and would show the historical ties the U.S. territories and states have shared. Like the 50 states, each territory has a unique and rich history, and each new statue in the National Statuary Hall Collection will allow the U.S. territories the opportunity to share that history with the millions of visitors who visit the U.S. Capitol Building each year. I urge my colleagues to grant the Americans who reside in the U.S. Territories and the District of Columbia this opportunity and vote in favor of H.R. 5493, as amended.

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

I rise today in support of H.R. 5493. This bill permits the District of Columbia, the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico, Guam, American Samoa, the U.S. Virgin Islands, and the Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands to each display one statue here in the U.S. Capitol.

Mr. Speaker, the District of Columbia and these territories of the United States are important pieces of the larger mosaic that make up our national identity, and I support their right to honor a noteworthy figure of their communities. Statues are funded by the individual territories. Therefore, this legislation is unusual; it's budget- neutral. In the coming years, I look forward to welcoming these statues to the Congress and learning more about the individuals that each such entity chooses to honor.

So I would urge my colleagues to support this resolution.

I reserve the balance of my time.

I yield myself as much time as I may consume.

I thank the gentlelady for those nice comments. I understand the importance of having a statue that reflects the people of the District of Columbia and the territories. I remember the pride that we had, as Californians, when we brought the statue of Ronald Reagan here just about a year and a half ago. That is a great example of someone who was not born in California but someone who rose to great prominence in California and someone who loved our State.

So I appreciate very, very much, and I love this spirit of bipartisanship that the city has shown to choose Mr. L'Enfant, who, of course, was a historic figure before we had the Democratic or Republican Parties, and Frederick Douglass, a prominent Republican and a great American.

So I thank you for that great choice. And I know who I'd vote for, but you have a choice of two great Americans representing the District of Columbia. I would urge my colleagues to support this resolution.

I yield back the balance of my time.

Mr. Speaker, H.R. 5493, as amended, will grant to the District of Columbia and the five territories of the United States the right to each place one statue honoring a distinguished individual into the National Statuary Hall Collection in the U.S. Capitol. Currently, there are 100 statues in the Collection, with each of the 50 states represented by two statues.

The Committee on House Administration had originally reported two bills on this subject. H.R. 5493, by the gentlewoman from the District of Columbia, would have given the District the right to have two statues. H.R. 5711, by the gentleman from American Samoa, would have given American Samoa, Guam, Puerto Rico, the Northern Mariana Islands and the Virgin Islands one statue each.

It became unlikely that these bills could pass the House separately, and there has been continuing controversy about giving the District of Columbia two statues. Therefore, I am supporting this amended legislation in the form recommended by the Ranking Minority Member, Representative Lungren, to grant each jurisdiction one statue. I have become convinced that this is an excellent compromise which will provide an opportunity for all of these jurisdictions to enjoy representation in the National Statuary Hall Collection.

Mr. Speaker, no Federal funds would be needed to implement this legislation. All costs of production and placement of the statues would be borne by the District of Columbia and the five territories.