Floor Statements

Mr. Speaker, I ask unanimous consent that Members may have until publication of the last edition of the Congressional Record authorized for the Second Session of the 110th Congress by the Joint Committee on Printing to revise and extend their remarks and to include brief, related extraneous material on any matter occurring before the adjournment of the Second Session sine die.

Madam Speaker, today I rise to honor Ms. Lillian Perry, a dedicated public servant in my home district.

Ms. Lillian has been a resident of the area since the 1950s, when she made a move from the state of Georgia to establish roots in Aurora, Illinois. She has spent her life taking up the causes of civil rights, integration, and equality.

As an active member of the community, she has volunteered for various organizations, including Blacks in Politics, the Aurora Youth Job Program, and the Citizens for Neighborhood Improvement Program.

This work above is not the extent of her involvement in the community. Ms. Lillian was part of an effort to establish the Kane County Health Department, and she also speaks out on a regular basis against violence in her community.

Currently, Ms. Lillian serves as a liaison to area communities in the Office of State Representative Linda Chapa LaVia. In this position she works with Representative Chapa LaVia's constituents on a daily basis, and is a strong advocate for their needs.

Her work has not gone unnoticed in the community. She has been the recipient of awards from various city organizations, and was named a Women of Distinction by the Aurora YMCA. This summer, her community selected her as the Grand Marshal of the Aurora Independence Day Parade to honor her work and achievements.

I join the community in thanking her for her continued work for those who face adversity, and I look forward to seeing some of the great things that Ms. Lillian will continue to do for the great people of my congressional district.

Madam Speaker, I am submitting this statement to offer congratulations to one of my constituents, Ms. Myra Thompson. Ms. Thompson, an exceptional graduate of Knox College in Galesburg, Illinois, recently received the prestigious Fulbright Award. This award gives Ms. Thompson the opportunity to travel to Moscow, Russia to continue her talented work in creative writing.

The Fulbright Program was established by Congress in 1946 and is sponsored by the U.S. State Department. Approximately 1,200 Fulbright fellowships are awarded each year to promising individuals who have proven themselves as leaders in their field in order that they may pursue their academic and cultural endeavors abroad. Since its inception, the Fulbright Program has provided avenues of academic exchange in more than 150 countries worldwide.

I offer my best wishes to Myra Thompson in her endeavors both here and abroad and look forward to seeing great work from her in the future.

Madam Speaker, I am submitting this statement to offer gratitude to one of my constituents, Mr. Bradley Dale Mattan of Geneseo, Illinois. I am very pleased that Mr. Mattan has decided to serve as a Peace Corps Volunteer in Ecuador.

The Peace Corps was designed to encourage mutual understanding between Americans and other cultures of the world. For the past 47 years over 190,000 Americans have served as Peace Corps Volunteers in 139 countries.

In his statement upon signing the Order that established the Peace Corps, President John F. Kennedy said, ``Our Peace Corps is not designed as an instrument of diplomacy or propaganda or ideological conflict. It is designed to permit our people to exercise more fully their responsibilities in the great common cause of world development.'' I'd like to take this opportunity to thank Mr. Mattan for his dedication to this responsibility, and for helping to restore America's image in other parts of the world. Our country has truly been enriched by the experiences of the Peace Corps volunteers.

I offer my best wishes to Bradley Dale Mattan in his endeavors both here and abroad and look forward to seeing great work from him in the future.

Madam Speaker, today I rise in strong support of H.R. 5235, the Ronald Reagan Centennial Commission Act.

This bill is especially significant for myself and for my constituents, because Ronald Reagan was a native son of my district. Born in Tampico, Illinois, and raised in Dixon, Ronald Reagan spent his life upholding the strong values of small-town America.

Whatever your political philosophy, there is no doubt that Ronald Reagan left an indelible imprint on the fabric of America. The Great Communicator, he had an emotional connection with the American people that was sustained through good times and bad.

As a physicist, I want to pay particular tribute to President Reagan's rock-solid belief that the world should be rid of nuclear weapons. That moment in Reykjavik, in 1986, when Mikhail Gorbachev and Ronald Reagan reached an agreement in principle to rid the world of nuclear weapons, is a moment and an opportunity that we should not have let slip between our fingers, and we should grasp and seize in the future.

While we all recognize that we live in a dangerous world, nonetheless, nuclear disarmament is an aspirational goal that world leaders should strive to achieve.

I would also like to take this time to commend Nancy Reagan for her strength during her husband's illness and her steadfast devotion to President Reagan during his last days. Her work since his death has been essential in preserving his legacy, and we should pass this bill to honor her efforts.

This bill, if passed, would establish the Ronald Reagan Centennial Commission in order to honor the 100th anniversary of Reagan's birth with activities, a postal stamp and a $1 coin.

I urge my fellow representatives to vote in favor of this bill so that we may properly celebrate the life, legacy, and hometown of this consequential President. He was loved by his country and he is deserving of this honor.

Madam Speaker, I rise today to congratulate Chief Lanson W. Russell on the occasion of his retirement from the DeKalb Fire Department. I join with the city of DeKalb in thanking him for 44 years of dedicated community service.

Chief Russell began his distinguished career in 1964 as a volunteer with the Peotone Fire Protection District. In 1975, he established Will County's first paramedic unit, and was promoted to chief in 1984.

From 1988 to 1992, he served as fire chief in Villa Park, Illinois, then moved on to Downers Grove for the next 9 years. During his tenure there, Chief Russell worked with neighboring communities to develop joint hazardous materials, technical rescue, and cause and origin teams. Under his guidance, the Downers Grove Fire Department was among the first 44 agencies in the country to receive Accredited Agency Status from the Commission on Fire Accreditation International.

Chief Russell arrived in DeKalb in 2002, and immediately set out to strengthen the department's relationships with Northern Illinois University and neighboring departments. He led the negotiations that resulted in a 4-year collective bargaining agreement, and worked to foster an effective labor-management relationship.

Chief Russell received an associate's degree in Applied Science from Joliet Junior College, and a bachelor of science in Fire Service Management from Southern Illinois University. He continued his education at the National Fire Academy's Executive Fire Officer Program and the University of Virginia's Senior Executive Institute.

Chief Russell's tireless service to his community over 44 years has been exemplary. I wish him a happy retirement, and extend my deepest gratitude.

Madam Speaker, I am submitting this statement to express congratulations and gratitude to Chief William Kidwell on the occasion of his retirement from the Geneva Police Department.

On July 1, Chief Kidwell will end a 35-year career of distinguished service to his community. He joined the Geneva Police Department in 1973 as a captain, and rose quickly through the ranks. During his 27- year tenure as chief, the department expanded from a force of 13 officers and 4 patrol cars to 8 squads of 37 officers.

Chief Kidwell is known in the department and throughout the community as a leader with high integrity. He exemplifies the devoted public service to which we all should strive.

I offer my best wishes to Chief Kidwell and his family, and I thank him for more than three decades of service.

Mr. Speaker, I am submitting this statement to record my strong and enthusiastic support of the House Resolution honoring the sacrifices and contributions made by disabled American veterans.

Today I wish to recognize these men and women for their patriotic contribution in our armed services; who have given so much to defend our Nation.

The brave men and women who defend this country under threat of that ultimate sacrifice truly are our guardian angels. They fight with passion and dedication for an ideal that we all cherish, the notion that this is the land of opportunity, the land of the free. Unfortunately, that freedom comes at a price and too often our guardian angels come home wounded and disabled. They defend us and are willing to throw themselves in harms way before us, and we must not forget that.

These wounded warriors are an inspiration to all of us, and we owe them so very much. It is our duty to them that we always remember what they have fought and sacrificed for. We must always remember the sacred agreement we made with these servicemen, if they go off and fight for us we will forever be in their debt and we must provide for them and their loved ones.

My praise and thanks fall well short of equaling the gift of freedom our veterans bestowed on all of us. They bare the scars that remind us all how costly freedom can be, and all I have to offer in return is my eternal gratitude.

Madam Speaker, I am submitting this statement to record my strong and enthusiastic support for veterans participating in the Honor Flight Chicago visit to the World War II memorial.

Today I recognize these men for their incalculable contributions to our society through their military service to the United States during World War II.

As part of a group brought together by the organization Honor Flight Chicago, I met with these heroes at the World War II Memorial to welcome them on their visit to Washington. Honor Flight Chicago honors World War II veterans by flying them to our Nation's capital so they can visit the World War II memorial for free.

The men who visited today are part of what's been called the greatest generation. They were a group of men who answered the call of duty when summoned, making great sacrifices to preserve the freedoms we all enjoy today. Because of their service and sacrifice, they exemplify what it means to be a hero.

I am proud to submit the names of these men for all to see, hear, and recognize.

Harold Schirmer, Howard Schoen, Gordon Smith, Norman C. Ohlendorf, Sam Polletta, Robert D. Swanson, Bernard J. Kramer, William G. Berry, Frank Loutly, Kenneth D. Loudy.

Michael J. Lasowski, Fernando Yori, Fred L. Alexander, Kenneth Ridgway, Myron Ridgwa, Leonard Tetrault, Wilbert Weigel, Raymond Vogen, Sylvester J. Beaupre, Leonard Feller.

Charles Wagner, Arthur P. Grotto, Daniel Green, William Crosby, Paul Sellers, Willard Swords, Vernon K. Hardt, Joseph Lach, Edward Lancioni, George Dinsmore, John F. Berns.

Theodore Tusinski, James W. Milligan, Robert W. Church, William R. Dreher, Steven A. Krempa, Walter J. Miller, Edward Sulma, Robert G. Terreberry, Lawrence E. Weaver, John P. Weinmeier.

Edward Tanaka, Charlie F. May, Robert W. Anderson, Robert L. Christensen, Robert Persinger, George S. Cassara, Giulio Filippi, Manuel G. Vasquez, Earl Morin, Earl Thayer.

William D. Coons, Robert Cave, William Mansfield, Anton Sikich, Maurice R. Koebele, Vernon H. Keller, Elmer Palmateer, James Sikich, Astor Carlson.

It was my honor to greet these heroes in person, and I thank them for their service.

Madam Chairman, I offer an amendment.

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

Madam Chairman, combatting the threat of nuclear terrorism on American soil is a critical security challenge. At a time when inadequately secured nuclear material can fall into the hands of the world's most extreme groups, we must find ways to strengthen our deterrent against acts of nuclear terrorism.

Today, I rise to offer this amendment to improve our Nation's nuclear forensics capability to help deter and respond to terrorism. I am pleased to offer it with my colleague, Representative Schiff, whose leadership on nuclear security issues has been exemplary.

When combined with law enforcement and intelligence data, nuclear forensics allows us to trace a nuclear device to its source through technical analysis of its nuclear material or residue following a nuclear detonation. As such, it represents one of the strongest deterrents that we have against rogue nuclear nations who might consider releasing nuclear materials to terrorist groups.

This amendment has its roots in a report issued by the American Physical Society and the American Association for the Advancement of Science. The American scientific community found that our Nation's nuclear forensics capabilities are dangerously insufficient and endangered by impending retirements, and made specific recommendations for its improvement.

This amendment expands the nuclear forensics workforce by supporting fellowships in nuclear chemistry, and calls for further research and development in the field. Perhaps most important, this amendment also sets up a joint Nuclear Forensic Advisory Panel of recognized experts to confirm the findings of forensic analysis.

Given the intelligence failures in the run-up to the Iraq war, the results of any nuclear forensics analysis may well be met by international skepticism. This amendment enhances our Nation's credibility on one of the gravest security challenges that we face and represents a significant improvement in our nuclear and national security.

I urge my colleagues to support it.

Madam Chairman, I reserve the balance of my time.

I would like to yield 1\1/2\ minutes to the gentleman from California, my cosponsor.

I would like to yield the remainder of my time to the gentlewoman from California (Mrs. Tauscher).

Madam Chairman, I yield back the balance of my time.

Madam Speaker, I am submitting this statement to record my strong and enthusiastic support for H.R. 5720, the Housing Assistance Act of 2008.

As everyone knows we are facing a foreclosure crisis the likes of which have not been witnessed since the Great Depression. According to RealtyTrac, a site that tracks foreclosure data, there were a total of a little over 2.2 million foreclosure filings--default notices, auction sale notices and bank repossessions last year, up an astronomical 75 percent from the previous year. In addition, more than 1 percent of all U.S. households were in some stage of foreclosure last year.

My home State of Illinois has not been immune to the crisis. Again, according to the latest statistics from RealtyTrac, there were almost 91,000 foreclosure filings last year, an increase of over 25 percent from 2006 and an increase of over 94 percent from 2005.

This common-sense legislation has many provisions designed to spur the sagging real estate market. First and foremost, this bill would provide first-time home buyers with assistance in making a down payment on a home by providing these individuals with a refundable tax credit that is equivalent to an interest-free loan equal to 10 percent of the purchase price of their home, up to $7,500.

Moreover, the bill helps struggling taxpayers. Specifically, the bill would provide home owners who claim the standard deduction with an additional standard deduction for State and local real property taxes. The maximum amount that may be claimed under this provision is $350, $700 for joint filers.

I have introduced a similar proposal H.R. 5790, the Universal Homeowner Tax Cut Act of 2008. This bill would allow taxpayers who do not itemize a deduction for State and local real property taxes. I fully support providing these hard-working Americans tax relief and I hope some version of real property tax relief is enacted this year.

In addition to these core provisions, the bill contains other provisions regarding mortgage revenue bonds and tax simplification designed to spur homeownership.

This bill, in conjunction with a slew of bills that the House passed last week designed to stem the foreclosure crisis and restore the housing markets, will help us weather these turbulent economic times.

I support this bill and hope Congress will expeditiously send it to the President for his signature.

Madam Chairman, I offer an amendment.

Madam Chairman, I am offering this amendment along with my colleagues, Representatives Ellsworth and Altmire, to H.R. 5819, the Small Business Innovation Research and Small Business Technology Transfer Reauthorization Act.

As a physicist with a long career at a Federal laboratory that supported and benefited from the SBIR program, I am committed to reauthorizing these innovative and worthwhile programs. The SBIR program is designed to increase the participation of small high technology firms in the Federal R&D endeavor.

The program was established upon the belief that while high technology-based companies under 500 employees tended to be highly innovative, and innovation is essential to our economic well-being and the high standard of living that we enjoy, that small businesses are, unfortunately, underrepresented in government R&D activities.

Our amendment is simple. Similar to other amendments that have been offered on various pieces of legislation, it is codifying current regulations and makes absolutely clear that illegal immigrants are not eligible for these programs. Legal permanent residents would be eligible; however, illegal immigrants would not. Moreover, a firm found to be in violation of this provision would be barred from receiving future awards.

If this language looks familiar, it should. As I just alluded to, similar language was adopted last year during consideration of H.R. 3867, the Small Business Contracting Program Improvements Act.

I urge my colleagues to support this amendment. The American taxpayer must have confidence that their hard-earned dollars are being spent properly, and this amendment, by making crystal clear that illegal immigrants are not eligible for these programs, helps accomplish this.

Upon passage of comprehensive immigration reform, the path to eligibility for these programs will be the path to citizenship under the rule of law.

Again, I urge my colleagues to support this amendment.

I reserve the balance of my time.

Madam Chairman, I yield to the gentleman from Pennsylvania, Representative Altmire.

Madam Chairman, I yield back the balance of my time.

Madam Chairman, I demand a recorded vote.

Mr. Speaker, earlier this month the United States lost a colossus within the science community, a visionary who advanced our understanding of the universe while inspiring generations of younger scientists. John Archibald Wheeler is perhaps best known to the public for coining the term ``black hole,'' but throughout his career he also worked alongside the likes of Albert Einstein and Niels Bohr on theoretical physics' most puzzling questions, helped develop the hydrogen bomb, and, upon his death on April 13, was appropriately called: The last Titan, the only physics superhero still standing.

For 22 years, I was a particle physicist at Fermi National Laboratory, working with my colleagues on giant experiments to move beyond the horizons of current scientific understanding. As a graduate student at Harvard and as an undergraduate before that, I could not escape the mention of John Wheeler's name engraved on the promontories or floating on the delicate backwaters of what is now called modern physics.

As a member of the tribe of experimental physicists, that is, people like me who did real experiments in the real world, we were always surrounded by a wondrous shimmering cloud of theoretical physicists. These are men and women who spend their days bobbing and weaving through the world of what might be mathematically possible, of what might show up in experiments that have yet to be invented, or what might have shown up if we had just done the last experiment just a little more carefully. John Wheeler was one of the most luminous droplets in that shimmering cloud.

As young scientists, we studied the legacy of those great minds, physicists like Einstein, Bohr, Enrico Fermi, and John Archibald Wheeler. To a fellow physicist, the breadth of John Wheeler's achievements are staggering. Born in Jacksonville, Florida on July 9, 1911, he graduated from high school at 15, and earned his Ph.D. from Johns Hopkins University at the age of 21. He sailed to Copenhagen a year later to begin work with the eminent physicist Niels Bohr, and in 1939 the pair produced the first description of how nuclear fission works. During the Second World War, Dr. Wheeler joined with scientists working on the Manhattan Project to build the atomic bomb. He continued to work with the U.S. government well after the war, and was awarded the Enrico Fermi Award by President Johnson in 1968.

By the time he returned to academic life, Dr. Wheeler had become fascinated with Einstein's General Theory of Relativity. Studying gravitational collapse, he introduced not only the term black hole, but also the concept of the

wormhole, a hypothetical tunnel in space-time. Dr. Wheeler was willing to passionately consider seemingly incomprehensible phenomena. In 1999, he wrote that the black hole ``teaches us that space can be crumpled like a piece of paper into an infinitesimal dot, that time can be extinguished like a blown-out flame, and that the laws of physics that we regard as sacred, as immutable, are anything but.'' His work in the 1960s revived and transformed this field.

In the last years of his career, Dr. Wheeler considered the mysterious and sometimes bizarre world of quantum mechanics, seeking connections between science and philosophy to explain fundamental questions of existence.

Despite these high achievements, Dr. Wheeler remained committed to the nurturing of the next generation of scientists. He continued to teach introductory classes to undergraduates throughout his career, and he mentored some of the century's most noted theoretical physicists. Any physicist with the amount and color of the hair that I possess will also have indelible memories of ``MTW,'' the big black book called Gravitation authored by Misner, Thorne, and John Archibald Wheeler that describes in intuitive terms what is really going on in Einstein's general theory of relativity.

So at a time when the primacy of our Nation's science programs are in peril, John Wheeler's example should remind us of our own commitment to the next generation of American scientists and innovators.

Mr. Speaker, it is an honor to introduce this resolution, and I urge my colleagues to join me in honoring the life and achievements of John Wheeler. The power of his intellectual accomplishments and the memorable color of his phrases will grace physics textbooks forever.

Thank you, Madam Speaker. It is an honor to stand here in the well of this body as the Representative of the Illinois 14th District. My predecessor in this role is a friend to many here and led this House and represented the people of my district honorably for over 20 years. I know that my colleagues will join me in once again thanking Speaker Dennis Hastert for his service.

Madam Speaker, fellow Members of Congress, I am a scientist, not a politician. When it comes to the issues that we face in this Nation, I plan on approaching them as a scientist, and that means examining the facts, listening to both sides, and doing what is right for the people of Illinois and America.

During my campaign, many people told me that Congress should be acting differently. At a time of crisis around the world and economic trouble at home, Americans want us to end the divisions between us and work together to solve the problems we face. I believe that there are huge opportunities to change this country for the better if we can make the right decisions, and real risks if we keep squabbling and making the wrong ones.

And now, as you can probably already tell, we scientists aren't known for our fiery rhetoric. But as I stand before you today, it is my solemn hope that with less bickering and word twisting in Washington, that there will be more problem solving. We need to work together for energy independence, for tax cuts for middle-class families, to expand health care for more children, for a return to fiscal discipline, and, as importantly as anything, for a new direction in Iraq.

Together we can fulfill our pledge to the next generation to leave Washington and this Nation better on the day that we leave it than it was on the day that we came into it.

I look forward to meeting my new colleagues, Democrats and Republicans, and to getting right to work on behalf of the families we represent.

Thank you to my colleagues in the Illinois delegation, and thank you, Madam Speaker. This is truly an honor.