Honoring the life and memory of the Chiricahua Apache leader Goyathlay or Goyaale, also known as Geronimo, and recognizing the 100th anniversary of his death on February 17, 2009, as a time of reflection and the commencement of a "Healing" for all Apache people.

I rise in support of this bill. And actually it's one of the very few truly constitutional things we've seen around here recently. This government has mistreated terribly the Native American population in this country, and I think it's fitting that we recognize and honor Chief Geronimo.

I live in northeast Georgia, and I represent an area where the Cherokee Nation was and still have a lot of Cherokee people in the northern part of my district in northeast Georgia in the mountains. I also live in an area where the Creek Indians resided. And this government has terribly mistreated the Native American population, not only in the past, but they continue to do so. We need to make changes, policy changes to bring the Native American people into this government, into this Nation as true, full citizens of this country. And we're not doing that. And I support honoring Geronimo.

Having said that, I also want to add that there are a lot of things that this Congress is doing that are deplorable besides the way we mistreat the Native American people. The way this budget bill that's going to be brought to the floor of this House this week I think is deplorable. Half trillion dollar omnibus bill. Most people don't understand that word ``omnibus,'' I don't think. It's hard for me, as a Georgian, to even pronounce it. So I don't expect a lot of people to understand what that means.

But what happened in the last Congress is the majority decided not to pass any budget bills and put it off until this Congress because they were hoping that they would have a President who was more favorable to the marked expansion of government that we've already seen proposed in this new budget.

Just before we went on this President's Day break, this House passed, the Senate passed, the President signed into law very quickly, without much debate or much discussion and, generally, without any ability of the American public to look at the bill, in spite of this House passing unanimously an instruction to our Members of the House not to bring it to this floor without the American public being able to view on-line, for 48 hours, the $1.1- or $1.2 trillion so-called stimulus bill. I call it a non-stimulus bill.

We're going to have a bill come this week. We're not going to be able to amend it. We'll have very little debate. It's not even been produced in totality yet. And frankly, as I look at this Constitution, a lot of the things that we do in this House and in the Senate and the President and even in the courts are not according to the intent of our Founding Fathers. Article I, Section 8 enumerates a list of functions of the Federal Government. There are only 18 things we're supposed to be passing bills about, only 18. The 10th amendment of the Constitution says, by golly, we mean it. The 10th amendment says, if a function is not specifically given to the Federal Government, by the Constitution, in other words, those 18 things in Article I, Section 8, if it's not prohibited from the States, things that are prohibited in the States, setting up interstate tariffs and things like that, those rights are reserved for the States and the people. We pass bill after bill in this House that are totally unconstitutional. The Federal court system rules over and over again about the constitutionality of State law and Federal law and rule unconstitutionally according to the original intent.

And we are spending our grandchildren's future. Our grandchildren are going to live at a lower standard of living than we do today because of these massive bills that we are passing in this Congress and we passed in the last Congress. It's totally objectionable, totally deplorable and totally unacceptable to me of how we're doing business in this Congress and how we did business in the last Congress. We've got to stop spending the future of America. We have to have a strong national defense and national security. Those things are constitutional. Those things should be the major function of the Federal Government.

And I just call upon my colleagues in this House and my colleagues over in the Senate to just take a step back and look at what we're doing. We're killing the American entrepreneurial system. We're killing the free markets. We're killing the future economic well-being of our children and our grandchildren because of these huge spending bills. We can't debate them. We can't amend them. We can't do anything except for vote on them. And it's being shoved down the throats of the American people. And that's totally unacceptable to me.

I ask my colleagues, liberal and conservative alike, to look at what we're doing. We've got to stop borrowing and spending America's future because it's not going to work. That's exactly what we're doing. We're robbing little Johnny and little Mary's piggy bank and their children's piggy bank to grow a bigger socialistic government. It has to stop. These huge spending bills are not going to solve the economic woes.

Americans are hurting. We have to do something. But what we do, or what we've been doing here is growing a bigger government. What we've been doing here is basically putting in place tax policy and Federal policy that's going to destroy freedom in America. We've got to stop it. We cannot continue down this road. We're going down a road of socialism. We had this non-stimulus bill that was shoved down the throats of the American public, shoved down our throats in this House and in the Senate, and it's going to strangle the American economy, and it's going to kill America's economic future. It has to stop. And we need to stop it this week. We cannot continue these big spending bills.

We don't even have regular order on all these bills that come to the floor of the House. We have bill after bill with tax increases, spending, that are brought under suspensions, passed by unanimous consent. I find that deplorable and unacceptable.

We need to call this--as Americans, we need to call this House and this Senate back to regular order. We need to stop this destruction of freedom and this rapid move to socialism in America.

I want to honor Geronimo. I want to honor the Apache people. They've done a fantastic job with their wildlife management. I wish I could afford to go out there and hunt sheep, elk or field deer. We have done a disservice to the Native American people and continue to do so. We did to Geronimo. And this bill will honor Geronimo.

But we cannot continue the disservice to the American taxpayers, to our children and our grandchildren.

Mr. Speaker, I do want to commend the chairman of our Natural Resources Committee, Mr. Rahall, and the ranking member, Congressman Hastings, and especially my good friend, the chief sponsor of this legislation, the gentleman from Arizona, Mr. Grijalva, and a cosponsor, Congressman Dale Kildee. I know that our colleague Tom Cole would have loved to also have been an original cosponsor of this bill. Congressman Cole from Oklahoma is the only Native American Member of Congress that we have. He is a proud member of the Chickasaw Nation from the State of Oklahoma.

Mr. Speaker, the name Geronimo evokes and brings to light other issues and I think something that we ought to be reminded of in light of our government's relationships and our treatment of the Native Americans, or American Indians.

Geronimo, or as he was known when he was born, Goyathlay or Goyaale, his name means in the Chiricahua Apache language ``one who yawns.'' Interestingly enough, Geronimo was born in 1829. In 1851, a company of some 400 Mexican soldiers raided the Chiricahua campsite while Geronimo and his fellow warriors were away.

And as a result of this raid on their settlement, his wife, his children and mother were killed. The Chiricahua Apache--and, by the way, I wanted to note also, Mr. Speaker, that the place where Geronimo was born is now in Clifton, what is now known as the town of Clifton in Arizona, and I suspect this is probably why my colleague from Arizona wanted to make sure that there's proper recognition for this great Chiricahua Apache chief.

What was stated here in the history, that his wife, his children, and his mother were killed by the soldiers, Mexican soldiers, the Chiricahua chief, Mangas Coloradas, sent Geronimo to join Cochise's warriors to fight and seek vengeance against the Mexican Army. In one of the many battles he fought, he repeatedly attacked Mexican soldiers with a knife, despite all the firing and the bullets that came his way, and so much so that the Mexicans were praying then for their own safety to their patron saint, Saint Jerome, or I suppose in Spanish it's Geronimo, and this is how the name Geronimo started ever since. Just wanted to give a little sense of history.

Mr. Speaker, Geronimo was a military leader. He conducted raids in settlements along the Mexican and U.S. borders. And in geographical terms, you're talking about areas that stretch from Arizona, New Mexico, Texas and even what is now known as Mexico. Thousands of soldiers from both the U.S. and Mexican military forces tried to catch him for years and were unsuccessful in doing so, some 10 years, until finally Geronimo surrendered, only because, I suspect, of lack of food supplies and provisions and support for his little band of warriors and families.

Geronimo was transferred to a military prison in Florida, and then it was at that time that the noted General Nelson Miles who, after years of trying to capture Geronimo, wrote in his journals a very interesting observation concerning this great Chiricahua warrior chief. And I quote from General Miles' journal. ``Everyone in Washington had now become convinced that there was no good in this old chief and he was, in fact, one of the lowest and most cruel of the savages of the American continent.'' That's not a very positive descriptive, I must say, of how people in those days described Native Americans.

And in another part of General Miles' journal, he said, and I quote, and this is referring to Geronimo again, ``He was one of the brightest, most resolute, determined looking men that I have ever encountered. He had the clearest, sharpest, dark eye I have ever seen, unless it was that of General Sherman.''

Mr. Speaker, Geronimo was eventually transferred to a military prison at Fort Sill, Oklahoma, where he died on 17 February 1909, and that's the premise of this resolution in celebrating the hundredth anniversary when this great Indian warrior chief passed away in 17 February 1909. The resolution before us, Mr. Speaker, honors this great Chiricahua Apache warrior.

And I'm reminded, when you mention Geronimo, you also have to mention other great Native American warrior chiefs. I can think of Crazy Horse and Red Cloud, Sitting Bull, among the famous warrior chiefs of the Lakota or the Sioux Nation. I can think of Cochise, also a Chiricahua Apache warrior chief, or Quanah Parker, a Comanche chief, or Tecumseh, a chief of the Shawnee Nation, or Chief Joseph of the Nez Perce Nation, or Chief Massasoit of the Wampanoag tribe, and I suspect that this is where the name of the State of Massachusetts had its origin from this great Indian, Native American tribal chief from the Wampanoag tribe. I can think also of Chief Pontiac of the Ottawa tribe, as well as Black Hawk of the Sac tribe.

All of this, in essence, Mr. Speaker, and I want to share this with my colleagues. This resolution calls for a spiritual healing among the Apache people

stemming from the captivity and the mistreatment of their ancestors under past policies of the U.S. Government. As I have said several times on this floor, Mr. Speaker, in terms of our treatment or mistreatment of Native Americans, ever since this country was founded, our first policy was to kill all the Indians. Then the next national policy was to assimilate all the Indians, make them part Americans. And then the next policy was let's not recognize them as Indians, and then they had to go through some procedures to be recognized as an Indian tribe.

So it's really sad, when you think about it in those terms, Geronimo, yes, was a great warrior chief, but also a sad legacy, in some aspects, of our country's treatment of the Native American people. And I urge my colleagues to support this resolution. I think it's worthwhile to remember and to consider the life and the story of this great Apache Chiricahua chief, Goyathlay, or Geronimo.

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

Mr. Speaker, if today someone says the word ``Geronimo,'' it evokes thoughts of an icon of popular culture. It is unfortunate that in the reality of this Apache warrior's life and death there is not more interest of the importance for him than simply the pop culture that was developed during World War II.

It was in fact in 1940, the night before the first mass jump, that paratroopers at Fort Benning were watching a 1939 movie named, oddly enough, ``Geronimo,'' in which the actor playing this hero yells his name as he leaps from a cliff into a river. Thus was born the phrase that has become known to more people than the actual life of the Native American leader we call Geronimo.

This resolution notes the treatment of Geronimo and the Apache people at the hands of both the Mexican and the U.S. Governments. It should serve as a lesson that government is often prone to error, incompetence and corruption, and that the larger government grows in size and power, the more pronounced and frequent these errors and misdeeds and mistakes indeed are made.

It should make us shudder to think in a matter of weeks how this Congress has spent more than $1 trillion of borrowed money to grow the size and power of the Federal Government. Today we see problems in this country, problems of poverty, problems of joblessness, hopefully not a massive increase in homelessness, but sometimes hopelessness, and that is a sure sign, and the question is whether big government actually is helping to overcome those issues or is a hindrance to the people in their ability to overcome those particular issues.

This resolution I hope will inspire fresh thinking about the direction of our government with respect to all American citizens, Native Americans and non-Native Americans alike, and hopefully will inspire us to consider the road we as a country are taking, and if it is indeed to require greater responsibility for individuals, does it help with individuals being able to succeed on their own. That is the course, that is the question, and I think this resolution does move us in that direction to ask those kinds of pertinent questions that are important, not just for this specific individual, but pertinent for all of us.

With that, I reserve the balance of my time.

It is my pleasure to yield such time as he may consume to the gentleman from Georgia (Mr. Broun).

May I ask how much time is remaining.

I would be willing to say a few words, and then we are done.

Mr. Speaker, I appreciate once again Representative Grijalva for introducing this particular resolution. I am supportive of this resolution, as was Representative Broun, and as, I think, everyone who has spoken for it.

It does, I think, do several things for us that are very positive. One is asking us to reconsider and to rethink the issues that have created the situations that happened around the life of this

great man. Also, it is asking ourselves if we are doing those same issues today in a different sphere, in a different element. It is one of the reasons I have the same concerns the gentleman from Georgia has as to the direction in which we are going.

We will be talking about an omnibus spending bill that will go on to an omnibus bailout bill that will go on top of an omnibus stimulus bill. We will be talking specifically about the foreclosure of homes and home prevention plans. I think there are some questions that we need to make sure that we have added so that there is ample time to discuss just as we have had ample time to discuss this resolution. These other issues need that kind of time.

Whatever plan we have for homeowners, what will it do for the 90 percent of the homeowners who are playing by the rules and paying by the rules? What will our plans do to compensate banks for bad mortgages they should never have made in the first place? Will individuals who misrepresented their income or assets on original mortgage applications be eligible to get taxpayer-funded assistance under these new plans? Will we require mortgage servicers to verify income and other eligibility standards before modifying existing mortgages? What will we do to prevent the same mortgages that receive assistance that are modified from going into default 3 or 6 or 8 months later? How do we intend to move forward in the drafting of this legislation? How much time will we have on the floor to discuss the details of this legislation? Will we have a chance to provide alternatives?

In every issue we have had so far, there are grand alternatives that are out there, very little time to discuss what those alternatives are. That is a need that we have to do so we don't proceed down the road to make mistakes as was done in the past by a government to this particular individual.

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

Mr. Speaker, I move to suspend the rules and agree to the resolution (H. Res. 132) honoring the life and memory of the Chiricahua Apache leader Goyathlay or Goyaale, also known as Geronimo, and recognizing the 100th anniversary of his death on February 17, 2009, as a time of reflection and the commencement of a ``Healing'' for all Apache people.

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 resolution under consideration.

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

Mr. Speaker, House Resolution 132 honors the life and the memory of the great Apache leader known to many of us as Geronimo. Last week, February 17 marked the 100th anniversary of his death.

Geronimo began as the spiritual and intellectual leader of his people. Circumstance, in the manner of attack by the armies of first Mexico and then the United States, cultivated his keen military skill and determination.

The story of Geronimo shows us some of the paradox that is the United States. We hunted this man as a perceived threat to the security of our young, developing Nation in the West. When he surrendered, we broke promises and mistreated him, ensuring he would never see his homeland again. Yet, half a century later, our U.S. paratroopers used the name of Geronimo as a battle cry against our enemies in World War II. Using the name ``Geronimo'' was meant to instill fear in

the enemy below that they were about to meet a soldier as fierce and determined as the mighty Apache warrior.

And now, a full century after the death of Geronimo, the United States House of Representatives stands to acknowledge the mistakes of our flawed, disruptive policies of the past and to honor this great man. With this resolution, we honor the life of the great Apache leader Geronimo, his skill, his bravery, and his incredible tenacity in defense of his homeland and his way of life.

So I congratulate and thank our colleague, Mr. Grijalva of Arizona, for sponsoring this resolution, and I urge all of my colleagues to support the passage of House Resolution 132.

I reserve the balance of my time.

Mr. Speaker, I yield such time as he may consume to the gentleman from American Samoa (Mr. Faleomavaega).

(Mr. FALEOMAVAEGA asked and was given permission to revise and extend his remarks.)

Mr. Speaker, I have no additional requests for time and would inquire of the minority whether they have any additional speakers.

Mr. Speaker, I would like to note that the chairman of the San Carlos Apache Tribe is observing our proceedings today, and so it is very fitting that the House supports the passage of House Resolution 132 in honor of the life of Geronimo.

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

Mr. Speaker, I rise today in strong support of H. Res. 132, which recognizes the significance of the life and memory of the Chiricahua Apache leader Goyathlay or Goyaale, also known as Geronimo, and recognizing the 100th anniversary of his death on February 17, 2009, as a time of reflection and the commencement of a ``healing'' for all Apache people.

Mr. Speaker, to the apaches, it is proclaimed that Geronimo embodied the very essence of the Apache values: aggressiveness, courage in the face of difficulty. The slaughter of Geronimo's family when he was a young man turned him from a peaceful Indian into a bold warrior.

Originally named Goyathlay (``One Who Yawns'') he joined a fierce band of Apaches known as Chiricahuas and with them took part in raids in northern Mexico and across the border into U.S. territory which are now known as the States of New Mexico and Arizona. Geronimo was the last Apache fighting force. He became the most famous Apache of all for standing against the U.S. government and for holding out the longest. He was a great Apache medicine man, a great spiritual leader.

Geronimo was highly sought by Apache chiefs for his wisdom. He is said to have had magical powers. He could see into the future and walk without creating footprints. Geronimo devoted his life to service and leadership, as evidenced in his words, ``I cannot think that we are useless or God would not have created us. There is one God looking down on us all. We are all the children of one God. The sun, the darkness, the winds are all listening to what we have to say.''

Mr. Speaker, Geronimo became a ``spokesman'' for Native American ways of life and their culture. He represented the Apache heritage. He is the known name when it comes to the Apache tribe. He is known for holding out against overwhelming odds. His name is a character that kids know when they, play Indians.

Mr. Speaker, Geronimo should be remembered not as a violent Indian, but a Native American fighting for the freedom of his followers and his Apache people; fighting with something behind it. Not just fighting to fight, fighting for his ways of life. That is why he should be remembered.