Floor Statements

Mr. Speaker, I rise today to congratulate the Glendale Association for the Retarded for 50 years of outstanding service to the Glendale community.

Since 1954, the Glendale Association for the Retarded has provided exceptional services to persons with developmental disabilities. Over the years, GAR has met the changing needs of men and women from the time they were in grade school to their retirement years. The progress that individuals have made as a result of their time spent with GAR is incredible. Some of those who have participated in GAR's programs as youngsters now live in group homes, have jobs, and participate in community activities.

Today, the Association serves 63 adults with vocational training, job placement, adult living skills instruction, recreational activities, residential placement, and a community integration program. Individuals are integrated into the community by competitive employment placements. Work opportunities are offered in the areas of mailings, assembly, recycling, collating, and packaging or by work crews at business sites. GAR provides a comfortable, secure, and loving atmosphere while helping residents develop living skills that will aid them to become more productive and independent.

I ask all Members of Congress to join me today in congratulating the Glendale Association for the Retarded on 50 years of exemplary public service, and for its immense commitment to the empowerment and success of the City of Glendale and its residents.

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

I rise in support of S. 2363, legislation extending the authorization for annual grants from the Department of Justice to the Boys and Girls Club of America. This legislation authorizes the Boys and Girls Club of America to receive funds through 2010 at $80 million for fiscal year 2006, $85 million for 2007, $90 million for 2008, $95 million for 2009, culminating in $100 million for fiscal year 2010. It also authorizes an increase in the number of clubs in existence to 5,000 by 2010 which will increase the number of children served to over 5 million.

Founded in 1860, the Boys and Girls Club of America has been in existence for over 100 years and provides young people with a positive alternative to drugs, gangs and crime. At clubs across America and throughout the world at our military bases, youth ages 6 to 18 find a positive adult influence and a safe environment in which to learn and grow. There are currently 3,500 clubs that serve 3.6 million children.

It is with firsthand knowledge that many of us can attest to the success and opportunity provided to the youth that participate in the Boys and Girls Club programs. The Boys and Girls Clubs of Burbank, Pasadena and West San Gabriel Valley serve children in my district, and I have had the opportunity to visit and see firsthand the great work of this organization. In fact, many of the young people at this fine Boys and Girls Club organization in my district provided cards and letters and posters which I recently had the chance to deliver, along with my colleague from Guam (Ms. Bordallo), to our troops serving in Iraq, Afghanistan and elsewhere.

I have seen in the computer training in the Burbank facility, the recreational activities, the arts and crafts, what a tremendous environment the Boys and Girls Club can provide for young people. The Boys and Girls Club dinner in Burbank every year is one of the best attended in the city. The last time I visited the Boys and Girls Club in Burbank, I got a very superb lesson in foosball from some very talented 6-, 7- and 8-year-olds.

S. 2363 is necessary to continue the much-needed mission of the Club, and we know all too well the consequences of not providing such preparation. While it costs taxpayers $25,000 to $75,000 per year to keep one young person in jail, it costs just $200 per year to provide Boys and Girls Club programming for one youth.

I want to compliment my chairman and my colleagues for their sponsorship of this legislation and urge my colleagues to support this worthwhile endeavor.

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

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

I appreciate the comments from the gentleman from Arizona. But, of course, there is an opportunity cost for not investing in our youth as well. If it costs $200 to keep a youth productively engaged in a Boys and Girls Club, but it costs 100 times that to incarcerate a youth, I think the decision becomes very simple: $100 million invested in the Boys and Girls Club to keep countless tens of thousands of children gainfully occupied after school, on weekends, versus potentially billions of dollars in corrections costs.

I have seen in my own State of California the benefit that we have derived from a proactive juvenile justice policy. Working with one of my colleagues in the State legislature, Tony Cardenas, I introduced legislation some years ago to invest as much in preventive programs as in suppression of crime, and we have found that proactive preventive work has paid enormous dividends, has saved us on the back end countless costs of incarceration and countless victims of crime.

This is an incredibly worthwhile investment. It is an investment in our most cherished resource, that of our young people.

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

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

Today I rise in support of H.R. 4319, the Title 46 Codification Act of 2004. This bill, which is sponsored by the chairman and ranking member of the Committee on the Judiciary, enacts into positive law title 46 of the U.S. Code, entitled ``shipping.'' In addition H.R. 4319 also sets forth organizational and administrative provisions regarding the Federal Maritime Commission.

Title 46 of the U.S. Code has been partially codified and enacted by Congress into law. The partial revision, as it currently exists, was begun in 1983. However, while certain laws concerning marine safety and maritime liability were codified, overall revision of title 46 was not completed. Specifically, the extensive portions of title 46 that have not been codified appear as an appendix to the title, but much of the appendix consists of numerous public laws that have been enacted over the last century with little attention to the organization of maritime law as a single body of law. As a result, the current format of title 46 is disjointed, confusing, and often without apparent logic.

This legislation is necessary largely because of the many laws that comprise the appendix date back to the late 1800s and early 1900s and are written in language that is archaic and difficult to understand. There is also a significant amount of redundancy and obsolete material within the appendix. This bill would eliminate those redundancies, obsolete provisions, and unnecessary archaic verbiage. Overall, H.R. 4319 makes significant improvements to the organization, accuracy, and clarity of title 46. I urge my colleagues to vote ``yes'' on this legislation.

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

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

I rise in support of H.R. 4077, the Piracy Deterrence and Education Act of 2004, as amended today by the chairman of the Committee on the Judiciary. I urge my colleagues to join me in voting to pass this important and worthy piece of legislation.

Prior to reporting H.R. 4077 by voice vote earlier this month, the Committee on the Judiciary gave this bill great deliberation. This bill and its precursors, H.R. 2517 and H.R. 2752, were the subject of several subcommittee hearings and a subcommittee markup. Through the extensive process given to this bill, the Committee on the Judiciary crafted a measure that makes important contributions and advances in the fight against widespread electronic theft of copyrighted works.

Intellectual property theft has become a rampant and serious threat to the livelihoods of all copyright creators. Digital technologies like the CD burner, the Internet, and the MP3 audio-compression standard, while enhancing the consumer experience, have greatly facilitated copyright theft and led to an explosion in its prevalence. Studies indicate that at any given time more than 850 million copyright- infringing files are being illegally offered for distribution through just one peer-to-peer, file-swapping network. Innumerable Web sites, file transfer protocol servers, Internet affinity groups, and Internet relay chat channels also constitute havens for copyright theft.

Copyright theft injures copyright creators of all types, whether they are songwriters, photojournalists, graphic designers, software engineers, or musicians. On the human level, illegal downloads of songs supplant legal downloads and thus deny songwriters the 8 cents they are due for each legal download. At the macro level, the worldwide software industry alone is estimated to have suffered $29 billion in packaged software loss due to piracy during 2003.

While not a panacea, the changes made by H.R. 4077 will play an important role in addressing the piracy problem. It has become clear that law enforcement authorities need additional resources, statutory authority, and incentives to become productive participants in the antipiracy battle. H.R. 4077 is designed to address these needs.

Specifically, sections 103 and 105 of the bill engage Federal law enforcement agencies in the effort to deter and educate the public about copyright crimes. Section 103 establishes a voluntary program through which the FBI, with cooperation from Internet service providers, can inform Internet users about suspected infringement. Section 105 directs the Department of Justice, in conjunction with the U.S. Copyright Office, to establish an Internet use education program. Section 106 enables criminal prosecution of copyright infringement involving unregistered works.

This will assist copyright owners, such as photographers, who generally cannot register their copyrighted works, and, as a result, effectively cannot afford to bring civil actions against infringers. By raising the possibility of criminal prosecution, section 106 would create a credible deterrent against the theft of unregistered works.

Section 108 deals with the growing phenomenon of copyright thieves who use portable digital video recorders to record movies off theater screens during public exhibitions. I was recently in Pakistan, and on the hotel TVs they showed ``Catwoman,'' still out in theaters; and as you watched, you could hear people coughing in the background, or indeed standing up to get popcorn. Plainly, not a legitimately copyrighted exhibition.

Organized piracy rings widely distribute copies of these surreptitious recordings, both online and on the street. Section 108 clarifies that it is a felony to surreptitiously record a move in a theater.

Section 110 makes the potential criminal prosecution a more credible deterrent to egregious infringements by otherwise judgment-proof infringers. Section 110 does this by ensuring that criminal copyright prosecutions can be brought against copyright infringers who knowingly distribute massive amounts of copyrighted works or enormously valuable copyrighted works with reckless disregard of the risk of further infringement.

Section 112 of H.R. 4077 did generate some concern during the Committee on the Judiciary consideration because it resolves a legal question at the heart of a pending Federal litigation. While many members of the Committee on the Judiciary believe section 112 inappropriately intervenes in this Federal legislation, support for the balance of H.R. 4077 convinced these members to support the bill as a whole.

Thus, H.R. 4077 is, on balance, a well-crafted bill that will provide valuable and targeted assistance in the battle against copyright piracy.

It is worth noting that while not universally embraced, H.R. 4077 has garnered widespread consensus support. Groups as diverse as the Professional Photographers Association, the Video Software Dealers Association, and needlepoint designers have written in support.

The widespread support is a credit to its sponsors, who worked assiduously during committee consideration to address many of the concerns raised. In fact, H.R. 4077 itself was introduced as a replacement for H.R. 2517 and H.R. 2752, both of which contained several more controversial provisions.

During consideration of this bill, it has been amended to include changes sought by Internet service providers, universities, theater owners, broadcast networks, consumer groups, parallel importers, the Department of Justice, and the Bureau of Immigration and Customs Enforcement. While I would not go so far as to say that H.R. 4077 has the affirmative endorsement of all concerned, I do believe that most of the legitimate concerns have been accommodated.

In summary, this bill as amended today advances important and necessary objectives, and I encourage my colleagues to join me in supporting it.

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

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

Mr. Speaker, I wanted to join my colleague in congratulating my colleague, the gentleman from California (Mr. Berman), who I know wanted to be here to manage the floor time on our side of the aisle, for his great contributions to this legislation and protection of intellectual property.

I also want to thank the chairman of the subcommittee, the gentleman from Texas (Mr. Smith), for his extraordinary job during these 2 years in advancing the cause of protecting, really, the one industry that has a positive balance of trade with every other country in the world, and that is the intellectual property industry.

So I want to thank our subcommittee chairman and thank our full committee chairman for their work on this bill today and more generally on the issue of protecting intellectual property theft.

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

Mr. Speaker, I rise today to introduce, with my colleague Representative Goodlatte, the ``Fortifying America's Intellectual Property Rights (FAIR) Act''--legislation that we have worked on for some time now, to make a number of important reforms to strengthen our fight against the scourge of global piracy.

International markets are vital to U.S. intellectual property industries, providing a strong export base that sustains American jobs. However, this important sector of the U.S. economy is under attack due to widespread patent and trademark infringement, and the unauthorized reproduction, distribution and sale of U.S.-made movies, music, software, and other creative works.

The United States is the world's largest creator, producer and exporter of copyrighted materials, accounting for over 5 percent of the U.S. GDP and adding $531 billion to the U.S. economy. The motion picture industry estimates losses due to global piracy amount to $3.5 billion annually, not including illegal downloading. In Russia, for example, 9 out of 10 DVDs sold are counterfeit copies. Globally, 2 in 5 music recordings are pirate copies, with annual world-wide pirate sales of music estimated at $4-$5 billion. The software industry estimates losses of over $13 billion due to worldwide piracy in 2002.

The Office of the U.S. Trade Representative (USTR) has been charged with identifying countries that deny adequate and effective protection of intellectual property rights. The negotiation of bilateral free trade agreements has proven to be an excellent mechanism for achieving legally binding bilateral obligations to address rampant international copyright piracy.

These efforts have been undertaken with only very limited resources available, and could be more effective if additional tools and resources are provided. The legislation I am introducing today with Representative Goodlatte will make a number of reforms in the Office of the United States Trade Representative. Specifically, our legislation will establish a new USTR office dedicated exclusively to intellectual property matters, increase the resources dedicated to securing high standards of intellectual property rights protection in trade agreements and enforcing these provisions vigorously, and establish this as the lead office in the Administration for all international trade-related intellectual property matters.

The protection of our intellectual property rights abroad is vital to promoting America's competitive advantages in world commerce. As our trade deficit continues to soar, Congress must step in now to ensure that we aggressively protect our intellectual property rights at home and abroad.

Mr. Speaker, I rise today to congratulate John Hedlund for his outstanding leadership and service to the Glendale community.

John Hedlund has been a major source of positive influence for the Greater Glendale area for many years. He has served as President of the Glendale News-Press and the Burbank Daily Review, as well as President and Chief Executive Officer of California Offset Printers. He is a past President of the Glendale Community College Board of Education, the Glendale Unified School District, and Chairman of the ABC Committee to prioritize the spending of $184 million for GUSD. Mr. Hedlund has served as a member and Elder of Glendale Presbyterian Church. He was also Chairman and Board Member of the Glendale Salvation Army Advisory Board, the President of the Glendale Rotary Club, and member of the Downtown Strategic Plan Committee since its inception. Mr. Hedlund was also Chairman of the Town Center Committee, President of the Glendale Development Council and of Glendale Partners, President and Board Member of the Alex Theater, President of the Glendale Symphony Orchestra Association, Board Member of the YMCA, and Board Member of both the Verdugo Club and Oakmont Country Club.

John is the recipient of countless honors. He was named ``Man of the Year'' by the Glendale Chamber of Commerce as well as the Glendale Board of Realtors. He also received the Glendale Bar Association Liberty Bell award and the Congressional Award for Community Service. John is a nationally recognized leader in the Graphic Arts Industry, serving in key leadership roles in several graphic arts organizations and receiving many of the top regional and national honors in the field.

I ask all Members of Congress to join me today in congratulating Mr. John Hedlund for his lifetime of exemplary public service, and for his immense commitment to the City of Glendale and its residents.

Mr. Speaker, for more than half a century, the relationship between the United States and Israel has been a cornerstone of American national security and our commitment to freedom and democracy. During the cold war, Israel provided intelligence and support to our efforts to confront the tyranny of Soviet communism. The experience gained by Israeli soldiers, who fought three major wars against armies equipped with the latest Soviet military equipment, was invaluable to our efforts to devise equipment and tactics to maintain military superiority over the Soviet Union.

Since the fall of the Berlin Wall, Israel has continued to act as a valuable partner in our efforts to bring stability and freedom to an increasingly volatile and unstable part of the world. In 1991, Israel absorbed numerous Iraqi SCUD missile attacks without retaliating, so as not to fracture the global coalition that was working to oust Saddam Hussein's troops from Kuwait. Throughout its history, but especially in the 1990s and into this decade, Israeli civilians have been killed in enormous numbers in an ongoing campaign of suicide bombings and other acts of terrorism by those who will never countenance the existence of the Jewish State. Even as they mourned their dead, Israelis worked for peace with their Arab neighbors and the Palestinian people.

Most remarkably, despite these existential challenges, Israel has remained a democracy. Surrounded by autocracies, dictatorships and monarchies who have made its destruction a centerpiece of their national identity, Israel has continued to hold regular elections and its politics are some of the most spirited and free-wheeling in the world. Truly, Israel has remained ``a light unto the nations.'' Time and again, Israel has sacrificed its security for its values--most recently this summer when the Israeli Supreme Court ordered the government to reroute part of the security fence.

For many in Congress, AIPAC has been an invaluable asset in helping us to understand the many dimensions of the American-Israeli partnership. AIPAC is effective because it has a long track record of providing policymakers and Members with accurate, comprehensive information about the Middle East. It is not surprising that AIPAC's annual meeting and dinner is an important event for Democrats and Republicans, Members of Congress and administration officials, presidents, governors and mayors. Our attendance is a testament to the esteem in which we hold AIPAC and the partnership between Israel and the United States that it seeks to advance.

I have worked with AIPAC throughout my tenure in Congress and I have found AIPAC members to be dedicated, patriotic Americans who deeply believe that the security of the United States and the security of Israel are mutually dependent. And I look forward to many more years of working with AIPAC and its members to address common threats to our security and to freedom-loving nations around the globe.

Mr. Speaker, last month, Iran successfully tested the latest version of its Shahab-3 intermediate-range ballistic missile. According to Iran's Defense Ministry, the flight was the culmination of Tehran's efforts to improve the range and accuracy of the Shahab-3, which Western experts believe can strike targets anywhere within Israel and also threatens U.S. forces arrayed in neighboring Iraq and around the Persian Gulf.

Tehran's ballistic missile program is worrisome in its own right, but coupled with the increasingly alarming details of Iran's nuclear program, the danger is magnified.

For the past year, the United States and our European allies have been working through the International Atomic Energy Agency, the IAEA, to prevent Iran from continuing its pursuit of nuclear weapons. The IAEA is considering a draft resolution authored by Britain, France, and Germany that will give Tehran until November to reveal in detail its nuclear program.

Our Government has advocated a tougher approach by pressing the IAEA to set specific benchmarks for Iran and by asking the agency to refer the matter to the U.N. Security Council which has the power to take punitive action, including the imposition of sanctions.

Until Tehran sees that its continued nuclear activities have economic and diplomatic costs, they are unlikely to begin serious negotiations that might lead to the shutdown of their nuclear program. Unfortunately, there does not appear to be sufficient support in the IAEA for a tougher line with Iran.

Over the past 2 years, IAEA inspectors have discovered a number of undeclared nuclear activities in Iran that clearly point to a nuclear weapons development program, despite assertions by Iranian officials that one of the world's leading oil exporters was building nuclear reactors to produce energy.

Inspectors have found evidence of unreported uranium imports from China, in 1991, as well as uranium enrichment programs using both centrifuges and lasers. The IAEA also uncovered Iranian efforts to reprocess plutonium and evidence of efforts to produce polonium 210, an isotope that can trigger a nuclear explosion.

In November of last year, the European Union secured an Iranian declaration that it would suspend all enrichment and reprocessing activities. Tehran also agreed to sign an additional protocol that would allow inspectors to provide more tough and unannounced inspections. But Iran reneged, and when challenged for its failures, it bridled, warning that it was likely to resume enrichment in the future.

In addition, there is evidence of continued centrifuge-related activities by private workshops, calling further into question its pledges to the EU.

Finally, Iran recently announced that it was prepared to convert approximately 40 tons of yellowcake into uranium hexaflouride gas, which is the raw material for centrifuge equipment. This is a sufficient quantity to produce nuclear weapons.

There is no doubt that Iran's pursuit of nuclear weapons, along with the ongoing standoff with North Korea over its nuclear weapons program, constitute the gravest threat to American national security today. How we deal with this threat will shape our global security environment for decades. When coupled with the desire by terrorists to acquire and use these weapons against the U.S., the prospect of a nuclear-armed Iran and North Korea is petrifying.

In his new book, Nuclear Terrorism: The Ultimate Preventable Catastrophe, Graham Allison, founding dean of Harvard's JFK School of Government, states that if a terrorist were to acquire a nuclear weapon, its delivery to an American target may be almost impossible to stop.

Since coming to the Congress, I have advocated strengthening the Cooperative Threat Reduction Program that seems to secure enormous amounts of fissile material in the former Soviet Union and to expand that effort worldwide.

While securing this material is one element of preventing the production of nuclear weapons, we also have to make structural changes in the global regime that controls the manufacture, transfer and use of fissile material for peaceful use by governments. Chief among these structures is the ``grand bargain'' of the Nuclear Nonproliferation Treaty, the NPT, first articulated by President Eisenhower's ``Atoms for Peace'' proposal.

In exchange for the commitment to forgo the acquisition of nuclear weapons and to agree to IAEA safeguards and inspections, the NPT guarantees non-nuclear weapons states who are parties to the Treaty assistance in developing nuclear energy. The problem with this bargain is that it allows nations like Iran and North Korea to access fissile material and technological know-how that are necessary precursers to a nuclear program. When the state feels confident it is ready to proceed with a weapons program, it simply opts out of the NPT. Unfortunately, the path of least resistance, the acquisition of a nuclear bomb, may run right through the NPT, not around it.

In February, the President gave a speech in which he proposed a series of tough steps. He asked, among other things, for the 40-nation Nuclear Suppliers Group not to sell uranium enrichment equipment and reprocessing equipment to countries that are not already in possession of those technologies. Months have passed. We have done little as a Nation in this area, and time, Mr. Speaker, is running out.

Mr. Speaker, 2 days ago the United States military announced that 1,000 military personnel have been killed in Iraq. For every American this is a time to contemplate the totality of the sacrifice of these brave Americans.

I recently returned from my second visit to our forces in Iraq and Afghanistan. I was awed by the courage, determination, and dedication of our troops who are fighting a brutal enemy thousands of miles from home.

Our soldiers, Marines, sailors, airmen, and coast guard are doing their job magnificently; but as we continue to battle a stubborn and pernicious insurgency in Iraq, Congress must take stock of the needs of our troops in battle and the challenges they will face when they come home.

We owe it to the more than 1,000 Americans who have died in Iraq and to their comrades serving there still to ensure that we put Iraq on the road to democracy and that we assist the Iraqi Government in building the security forces, army and police, that it needs to defend itself.

Since I was first in Iraq, the political transition has made important strides, but the security situation has worsened considerably; and our troops are shouldering an incredible load for the rest of us.

A year ago, the insurgency appeared confined to a few hundred Baathists, Saddam Fedeyeen, a small contingent of foreign fighters, and criminals released by Hussein before the war. Regrettably, the insurgency has spread, fueled by a much more substantial influx of foreign fighters and made more complex by Shiite uprisings in what had been more tranquil parts of the country.

The insurgents have embraced the tactics of foreign fighters. Suicide bombings and kidnappings have become much more sophisticated. Improvised explosive devices, IEDs, which take a daily toll on our troops, used to be easily visible to American personnel as they drove through the country. Now, they are buried, with only a slender wire of an antenna protruding above the ground and detonated remotely. Clearly our forces face a determined foe.

There is no question that the burden of this war has fallen exclusively on the shoulders of our men and women in uniform. While the military may always bear a disproportionate share of the burden in wartime, it is especially acute now. Even as our Guard and Reserve are constantly being called up and our active duty forces are stretched thin, the general population has been asked to make no sacrifice for a war effort that we are financing through debt.

Our troops are paying doubly for this war, first on the battlefield and then in the form of crushing deficits that have fundamentally weakened our economy. Some only barely out of their teens, our troops will be paying for this war for the rest of their lives, even if they return home uninjured. They will pay for it in the form of higher mortgages on their first home, on credit card debt, and in taxes to repay the national debt.

Even as we speak, the families of our troops are struggling, losing jobs, businesses and piling up debt. I met a young Marine from my district in Pasadena who had been serving in Iraq since February and was due to return in the fall, return home. He had just learned that his wife had been called up and that she will be deployed to Iraq in the fall. Their planes may literally pass each other in the night.

We must not forget the nearly 7,000 Americans who have been wounded, more than 1,000 in the last month alone. Many of these wounds are grievous and many others might have been prevented had our troops been better equipped from the start of the war. Our troops now have the body armor they need and are driving armored Humvees, but they should never have gone into battle without these life-saving protections.

In an American military hospital in Baghdad, I spoke with several Marines hit with IEDs. Two Marines, who lay side by side in adjoining hospital beds, were riding in the same armored Humvee when they were struck. While these two Marines had shrapnel embedded in their legs and faces, a third Marine in the same Humvee was lucky and walked away unharmed. A fourth Marine they told me had not been so lucky. He died on the operating table the night before.

These young men and women and nearly 7,000 other wounded are returning to a Congress that seems to have forgotten Abraham Lincoln's admonition ``to care for him who has borne the battle.'' We provide insufficient medical care for our veterans, and VA centers around the country are closing their doors, even as they are needed more than ever.

In our towns, cities and counties, thousands of individual Americans have pitched in to help our returning soldiers, but our Federal Government has lagged far behind. Until recently, our wounded were charged for the food they ate while recovering at Walter Reed Army Hospital.

I realize that time is short in this Congress, but I hope when we consider the VA-HUD appropriations bill later this month and in our work on defense and veterans issues in the 109th Congress that we consider the extraordinary price that we as a Nation have asked of the men and women of our Armed Forces and that we match our words with deeds.

Mr. Speaker, I rise today to congratulate Magnolia Park United Methodist Church for 75 years of ministry in the City of Burbank.

Magnolia Park United Methodist Church is located in the middle of Burbank's film and television studios as well as its famed Media District. Since 1929, it has been serving the community on the corner of Magnolia and Catalina. It is a welcoming, diverse, and inclusive congregation. The church actively sponsors youth groups such as the Boy and Girl Scouts, Brownies, and Cub Scouts. It strongly supports the Burbank Temporary Aid Center with financial services and food items. The church is also a proud member of the Burbank Chamber of Commerce, and gives several essential community agencies like Kedren Headstart, and Kids of Rock Theater a home.

Magnolia Park United Methodist Church encourages meaningful service in the local community as well as the international community through world missions. The church is not only locally supportive of the Walter Hoving Home, it also partners in missionary work in Nigeria. The church reinforces the importance of unity, charity, dedication, and family.

I ask all Members of Congress to join me today in celebrating Magnolia Park United Methodist Church's 75 years of exemplary service and ministry, and for its immense commitment to its parishioners in and beyond the City of Burbank.

Mr. Speaker, in presenting the 2003 State Department Human Rights Report Secretary of State Colin Powell declared, ``We join in solidarity with courageous men and women all over the world who strive to advance human rights and democratic values within their own countries and throughout the international community.'' Today, I introduce the Liberty List Act that will highlight those courageous men and women and reinforce the special significance of freedom, democracy, and human rights in American foreign policy.

The Liberty List will be an independent annual report issued by the State Department to highlight the work of individuals and organizations, including the media, who promote the development of liberty, democracy, and respect for human rights. In addition to honoring these individuals and organizations for their important contributions to their societies, the Liberty List will draw attention to the conditions against which the honorees struggle and will offer some protection for honorees by identifying them to the international community. A few individuals and groups, such as Aung San Suu Kyi and her National League for Democracy NLD, are known around the world for their struggle. Yet, for every individual who is known to the international community, there are many other heroes who deserve recognition and support as they risk their own lives for the improvement of others'.

The Liberty List is fundamentally different from the existing State Department Report on International Religious Freedom and the annual Country Reports on Human Rights Practices. Current reports focus on the human rights records of national governments; they deal with the imposition of state power. The Liberty List, in contrast, will spotlight individuals and organizations who are working against that power to build freedom, democracy, and respect for human rights.

Leaders in the struggle for freedom and democracy around the world deserve recognition for the sacrifices and their struggles. It is through the work individuals, who struggle at the local and national levels to improve the lives of their families, friends, and neighbors, that democracy, freedom, and human rights will prevail. The Liberty List Act will establish a means by which the United States can honor these men and women as they strive to make the world a better, safer place.

I urge my colleagues to join me as cosponsors of this legislation.

Mr. Speaker, I ask unanimous consent to take my Special Order at this time.

Mr. Speaker, when he presented the 2003 State Department human rights report, Secretary of State Colin Powell declared, ``We join in solidarity with courageous men and women all over the world who strive to advance human rights and democratic values within their own countries and throughout the international community.''

Today, joined by the gentlewoman from Ohio (Mrs. Jones) and the gentleman from Michigan (Mr. Conyers), I am introducing legislation that will build upon the foundation of the State Department's annual human rights report and the annual report on religious freedom. The Liberty List Act will reinforce the special significance of the central pillars of American foreign policy: freedom, democracy, and human rights.

The Liberty List will be an independent annual report issued by the State Department. It will highlight the work of individuals and organizations, including the media, that promote the development of liberty, democracy, and respect for human rights.

In addition to honoring these individuals and organizations for their important contributions to society, the Liberty List will draw attention to the conditions against which these honorees struggle and will offer some protection for honorees by identifying them to the national community.

A few individuals and groups, such as Aung San Suu Kyi and her National League for Democracy, are known around the world for their struggle. Yet for every individual who is known to the international community, there are many other heroes who deserve recognition and support as they risk their lives for the improvement of others.

How many of us in this body have heard of Shirin Ebedi before she was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize in 2003 for her work on behalf of Iran's women and children? There are Aung San Suu Kyis and Shirin Ebedis working in countless places around the world. Their struggle is our struggle; and they deserve our attention, our admiration, and support.

The Liberty List is fundamentally different from the existing State Department report on international religious freedom and the annual country reports on human rights practices. Current reports focus on the human rights records of national governments. They deal with the imposition of State power. The Liberty List in contrast will spotlight individuals and organizations who are working against that power to build freedom, democracy, and respect for human rights.

For example, a group of courageous women called Women of Zimbabwe Arise have been struggling against the cruelty of the dictatorship of Zimbabwe's President Robert Mugabe. Despite facing arrest, rape and force, these brave women have continued a peaceful struggle for a better life for all Zimbabaweans.

In Uzbekistan, Ruslan Sharipov, an independent human rights activist and journalist, was sentenced to 5\1/2\ years in prison last summer. Sharipov has been a fearless critic of police corruption and human rights abuses in Uzbekistan, a nation whose human rights record has been so dismal, the United States cut off aid earlier this month.

These leaders and others like them who struggle for freedom and democracy around the world deserve recognition for their sacrifices and their struggles. It is too easy to forget that the advancement of human rights, democracy, and religious liberty is the product of individuals and small groups of people who fight to improve the lives of their family, friends, and neighbors.

The Liberty List Act will allow the United States to honor these men and women as they strive to make the world a better, safer place for themselves, their children, and ultimately for all of us.

I urge my colleagues to join as cosponsors of the Liberty List Act.

Mr. Speaker, 57 years ago, nations stunned by the Nazi systematic acts of genocide declared, ``Never again.'' Ten years ago, confronted with the death toll of the Rwandan genocide, leaders of the same nations again declared, ``Never again.'' Today, tens of thousands of women, men, and children have been murdered and hundreds of thousands continue to suffer. Today, again, people are being targeted and killed because of their ethnic identity only 1,000 miles north of Rwanda in Darfur, Sudan.

Mr. Speaker, 800,000 innocent people lost their lives in Rwanda. We hesitated, and nearly a million people died for our hesitation. On the 10th anniversary of the Rwandan genocide this April, world leaders again expressed their determination to prevent future humanitarian catastrophes. Tragically, only a few short months later, we find ourselves standing by again, unwilling to take the necessary steps to end the crisis in Darfur. Ten years ago, we failed the people of Rwanda. We must not fail again.

I join my colleagues in calling upon the administration to apply sustained pressure on the government in Khartoum. I call upon the President to speak out against the atrocities in Darfur, to use both economic and political leverage. Every day we delay, every day we think, every day we consider the best course of action and the most appropriate definition for the crisis is another day innocent people are being killed, tortured, and watching their families lose their lives.

International cooperation and support of the United Nations is essential, but the most direct path to limiting the threat is increased pressure from the United States. Experience has shown that we must not delay in classifying the loss of life in Darfur as genocide. Otherwise, by the time we have prepared our definitions, it will be too late. The facts on the ground and in the ground will have removed all doubt, and we will be left to murmur, without confidence or conviction, ``Never again.''

Mr. Speaker, 57 years ago, nations stunned by the Nazi's systematic acts of genocide declared ``Never Again''. Ten years ago, confronted with the death toll of the Rwandan genocide, leaders of the same nations again declared ``Never Again''. Today, tens of thousands of women, men, and children have been murdered and hundreds of thousands continue to suffer. Today, again, people are being targeted and killed because of their ethnic identity, only 1,000 miles north of Rwanda in Darfur, Sudan.

Eight hundred thousand innocent people were murdered in Rwanda. We hesitated and nearly 1 million people died for our hesitation. On the 10-year anniversary of the Rwandan genocide this April, world leaders expressed their determination to prevent future humanitarian catastrophes. Tragically, only a few short months later, we find ourselves standing by again, unwilling to take the necessary steps to end the crisis in Darfur. Ten years ago, we failed the people of Rwanda. We must not fail again. Ten years ago we were preoccupied with our mission in Bosnia, Somalia was fresh in our minds, and we were wary of getting involved in Rwanda. Today we are preoccupied with the aftermath of the conflict in Iraq and, again, we are wary of committing American resources to end the bloodshed in Sudan.

As we have hesitated, some 30,000 people have already been murdered in Darfur and another million have been displaced from their villages and farms. Hundreds of thousands of individuals are caged in concentration camps where women are systematically raped and men are killed for scavenging food. Government-sponsored Arab militias continue to systematically terrorize the African Muslim inhabitants of the region--destroying villages, raping and murdering civilians, and poisoning precious wells with the bodies of the dead. Although the administration has taken some important first steps to confront the crimes being committed in Darfur, much remains to be done.

The administration has rightly called for humanitarian access to the region and for the deployment of international cease-fire monitors. The administration has denounced the atrocities in Darfur. Still, a catastrophe of these proportions requires a deeper commitment to action; we must treat the problems at the root of this crisis. The thousands of people who have been displaced from their homes and land must be given safe and voluntary passage to return. More cease-fire monitors must be deployed to the region. The government in Khartoum must be persuaded to stop blocking international humanitarian assistance to the 2.2 million people of Darfur in desperate need of food and medicine. President Al-Bashir must be required to control the Janjaweed militiamen who, even now, continue their campaign of terror against the innocent people of Darfur. It is intolerable that these militias have not yet been disarmed and demobilized.

I join my colleagues in calling upon the administration to apply sustained pressure on the government in Khartoum. I call upon the President to speak out against the atrocities in Darfur and to use both economic and political leverage to elicit cooperation from the Sudanese government. Every day that we delay, every day that we think, every day that we consider the best course of action and the appropriate definition for the crisis in Darfur is another day that innocent people are being killed, are being tortured, and are watching their families being killed and tortured before their very eyes.

International cooperation and support from the United Nations will be essential to the long-term resolution of the Sudanese situation. Yet the most direct path to eliminating the threat to African Muslims in Darfur is increased pressure from the United States. Experience has shown us that we must not delay in classifying the loss of life in Darfur as genocide--otherwise, by the time we have prepared our definitions, it will be too late--the facts on the ground, and in the ground, will have removed all doubt. And we will be left to murmur without confidence or conviction--never again.

Mr Speaker, I join you this morning in welcoming today's distinguished guest chaplain: Reverend Jean Burch of Pasadena, a resident of my Congressional district in California.

Reverend Burch represents the best of what we hope all citizens should be--always striving to improve the lives of others and always enthusiastic about our prospects for tomorrow.

After a long career in the legal profession, she followed her heart into the faith community, becoming Senior Pastor at Community Baptist Church. In addition to her pastoral duties, she works tirelessly with other religious leaders to lift the scourge of violence in our schools.

Each day she inspires those among her to better themselves and help people in need. I am pleased that all in the House of Representatives today have been able to benefit from her inspirational wisdom. I hope that many here today will get a chance to meet this remarkable woman.