Floor Statements

Mr. Speaker, I ask unanimous consent that all Members may have 5 legislative days within which to revise and extend their remarks on H.R. 5042.

Mr. Speaker, I move to suspend the rules and pass the Senate bill (S. 33) to authorize the Secretary of Agriculture to sell or exchange all or part of certain administrative sites and other land in the Ozark-St. Francis and Ouachita National Forests and to use funds derived from the sale or exchange to acquire, construct, or improve administrative sites.

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

Mr. Speaker, I rise in support of S. 33 which allows the Forest Service to sell or exchange a total of 23 administrative sites on national forest lands in Arkansas and Oklahoma. The funds generated will be used to relocate and renovate offices as well as purchase and replace administrative sites. Overall, the lands covered by the bill total just over 308 acres. The total value of the sites to be sold is $3.375 million.

The total acreage involved requires an act of Congress to allow the agency to sell these lands. The sales will encourage efficient management of the National Forest Service lands in Arkansas and Oklahoma. And I urge my colleagues to support this bill.

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

Mr. Speaker, I welcome back the gentleman from Texas (Mr. Stenholm) who I hear has been at the Committee on Rules.

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

Mr. Speaker, I ask unanimous consent that all Members may have 5 legislative days within which to revise and extend their remarks on S. 33.

Mr. Speaker, I move to suspend the rules and pass the bill (H.R. 2119) to provide for the use by the State of North Carolina of Federal lands, improvements, equipment, and resource materials at the Oxford Research Station in Granville County, North Carolina, as amended.

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

Mr. Speaker, I rise in support of H.R. 2119 sponsored by the gentleman from North Carolina (Mr. Butterfield).

H.R. 2119, as amended, would allow the Forest Service to transfer a currently disused facility in North Carolina to the State of North Carolina. The facility has not been used in several years, and in fact, the land on which it sits was donated by the State of North Carolina to the Federal Government for the purpose of establishing a research station.

The administration supports the proposed transfer, and the State intends to use the facility to do research on invasive species, a very worthwhile project.

I urge my colleagues to support this bill.

House of Representatives,

Committee on Agriculture,

Washington, DC, October 5, 2004.

Hon. Tom Davis,

Chairman, House Committee on Government Reform, Rayburn House

Office Building, Washington, DC.

Dear Mr. Chairman: I would like to take this opportunity to

share with you a copy of H.R. 2119 as passed by the Committee

on Agriculture. As you know, the Committee on Government

Reform has received an additional referral of this

legislation and I am respectfully requesting that this

legislation be discharged from your committee. This

legislation, sponsored by Representative Balance would

provide for the use by the State of North Carolina of Federal

lands, improvements, equipment, and resource materials at the

Oxford Research Station in Granville County, North Carolina.

As the committee of primary jurisdiction, on September 23,

2004, the Committee on Agriculture favorably reported this

legislation by an affirmative voice vote. As this bill

prepares to move to the floor I am asking for your discharge

to move this legislation forward.

This discharge in no way affects your jurisdiction over the

subject matter of the bill and it will not serve as precedent

for future referrals. In addition, should a conference on the

bill be necessary, I would support your request to have the

Committee on Government Reform represented on the conference

committee.

Thank you for your cooperation in this matter and look

forward to working with your committee in the future.

Sincerely,

Bob Goodlatte,

Chairman.

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

Mr. Speaker, I congratulate the gentleman from North Carolina on bringing forward a fine piece of legislation. I thank my colleague, the gentleman from Texas (Mr. Stenholm), the ranking member, for his work on this and other bills that we brought before the House tonight. I urge my colleagues to support this legislation.

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

Mr. Speaker, I ask unanimous consent that all Members may have 5 legislative days within which to revise and extend their remarks and include extraneous material on H.R. 2119.

Mr. Speaker, I rise today to urge my colleagues to support legislation I introduced to designate the oak as America's national tree.

During a four-month-long online election, with almost a half million votes logged, the American people chose the oak tree as America's national tree. To make official what the American people have already chosen, I introduced H.R. 1775 last April, which will officially designate the oak as America's national tree.

As a member of Congress representing a heavily forested district in Virginia, I know first-hand how trees add to our quality of life. As Chairman of the House Agriculture Committee, I appreciate how trees and forests enhance the environment, add recreational opportunities and provide for the livelihoods of millions of individuals in the forest industry. Whether enjoying a product generated from a forest, or the simple satisfaction of lying under a shaded giant, trees contribute to all Americans.

The strong and stately oak tree is of particular importance in America's history and culture. Not only is this majestic tree an aesthetic beauty that characterizes the landscape of much of our great Nation, it also provides us with wood products in our homes, our offices

and our places of gathering. Present in all 50 states, the oak has played a huge role in America's history as a valuable resource. It helped our founding fathers establish a new Nation, supplying building materials for the ever-expanding 13 original colonies. It served as a familiar sight to pioneers as they forged across the new republic to the west coast. And to this day it has remained an enduring, valuable, and highly-prized raw material from which beautifully crafted furniture, sturdy door and window framing, ornate flooring and paneling, and the like, are made. This enduring and mighty tree, which has long been a part of our national heritage and strength, fully merits the distinction as America's national tree.

The oak tree has also played a key role in many specific historic moments in our Nation's history. Abraham Lincoln found his way across a river near Homer, Illinois, using the Salt River Ford Oak as a marker. When King James II attempted to revoke Connecticut's charter, the ``Charter White Oak'' is said to have been the hiding place for the historic document. Andrew Jackson took shelter under Louisiana's Sunnybrook Oaks on his way to the Battle of New Orleans. And ``Old Ironsides,'' the USS Constitution, earned its nickname from the strength of its live oak hull, famous for easily repelling British cannonballs.

Chosen by the people in a broad-based election, the oak tree represents the fundamental characteristics of the great nation: strength, endurance, and beauty. I urge each of my colleagues to make official what we have known for many years . . . that the oak tree is America's national tree.

Mr. Speaker, I move to suspend the rules and agree to the concurrent resolution (H. Con. Res. 494) supporting the goals and purposes of National Farm Safety and Health Week and applauding the men and women who provide a stable supply of food and fiber for the United States and the world.

Mr. Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may consume. I should start by congratulating the gentleman from New York (Mr. Reynolds) for introducing this resolution, and I rise in wholehearted support of it, which brings our attention to the goals and purposes of National Farm Safety and Health Week which the President proclaimed for this week, beginning September 19.

For those of us who represent American farmers and ranchers, we know the long hours farmers devote to getting the crops safely to the bin or the cotton to the gin. Farmers are in the fields now harvesting this year's field crops. When the weather is ripe for picking corn or cutting beans, farmers understand the good weather window could close at any time, and that could mean fewer bushels or less quality. When the cotton bolls are ready, the gins are ready to run.

Unfortunately, as we have seen in many parts of the country this year, there are risks in this seasonal activity, and today, we want to applaud America's farmers who run the big machines and our ranchers who manage the big and sometimes unruly animals. We want to take a few minutes this afternoon to commend America's men and women who plant, tend and harvest the world's most bountiful supply of food and fiber in the world for us, the American consumers, and a large part of the world as well.

All of us need to understand the importance of agriculture to our economy and our quality of life. This resolution is one part of recognizing the importance of agriculture by bringing the Nation's attention to the importance of safety and health on our farms and ranches.

I again commend the gentleman from New York (Mr. Reynolds) for bringing this resolution before the House and urge its adoption.

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

Mr. Speaker, I yield such time as he may consume to the gentleman from New York (Mr. Reynolds), the author of the concurrent resolution.

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

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

I would like to thank the gentleman from Texas for working with us on bringing forth this concurrent resolution and congratulate the gentleman from New York for bringing this forward. And I urge my colleagues to adopt what I think is important to not just people in rural America but in all America, to understand the importance of agriculture and the importance of farm safety. With that, I urge my colleagues to support the concurrent resolution.

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

Mr. Speaker, I ask unanimous consent that all Members may have 5 legislative days within which to revise and extend their remarks on H. Con. Res. 494, the concurrent resolution just considered.

Mr. Speaker, I rise today in support of H.R. 4571, the Lawsuit Abuse Reduction Act.

Last year, I introduced legislation to address the escalating problems that accompany frivolous lawsuits, the Class Action Fairness Act. This legislation would reform the Federal rules that govern class actions so that truly interstate lawsuits would be heard in Federal courts, like the Framers envisioned. The current class action rules provide an opportunity for opportunistic lawyers to game the system and extort money from legitimate businesses.

The abuse of the class action process is just one example of how the current litigious atmosphere in our country threatens to undermine the growth and innovation that has characterized our great Nation since its founding. Frivolous lawsuits force businesses to waste time and resources that could otherwise be spent on new products, new services, or innovative procedures that could reduce the costs of goods and services for consumers.

Small businesses rank the cost and availability of liability insurance second only to the costs of health care as their top priority. Not coincidentally, both of these problems are fueled by frivolous lawsuits.

H.R. 4571 is another commonsense approach to combat frivolous lawsuits. It would restore mandatory sanctions for filing frivolous lawsuits and allow monetary sanctions, including attorney's fees and compensatory costs, against any party making a frivolous claim. H.R. 4571 would also allow sanctions for abuse of the discovery process, and would abolish the current ``free pass'' provision that allows lawyers to avoid sanctions if they withdraw the frivolous claim within 21 days after a motion for sanctions has been filed.

By restoring strong penalties against those that file frivolous claims, the Lawsuit Abuse Reduction Act will give businesses the freedom to devote their resources to doing business, rather than wasting their resources defending frivolous litigation.

I urge my colleagues to support this important legislation.

Mr. Speaker, I would like to thank Chairman Hyde and Ranking Member Lantos for submitting this resolution and bringing it forward. I would like to thank both of them for their leadership on foreign policy issues, particularly as it relates to our response to September 11, 2001. While some here would choose to politicize what I think is an appropriate and somber resolution expressing sorrow for the loss of September 11 and expressing appreciation for all those who responded, our police and firefighters and other first responders, our brave men and women in our Armed Forces and our leadership in the White House, in the Congress and in the administrative branch of our country to address one of the most serious threats we have ever had, I for one commend the vast majority of Members of this body who will not attempt to try to politicize what I think is a very finely drawn resolution both in the whereas clauses and in the resolved clauses.

I have just returned from New York City from a great convention. I have been to New York several times since September 11. Each time I see that great city rising further and further from the devastation that so many of its citizens suffered and the city itself suffered on September 11, 2001. I was so proud to see the police officers and the firefighters and other first responders taking such great pride in their city as they made all of us who were visitors feel so secure during that important convention. And so I think this resolution is so appropriate for that reason alone, to say thank you to those in New York who rose to the occasion on September 11, 2001 and have been rising ever since.

I also know that my own State of Virginia suffered grievous loss with the attack on the Pentagon. Each week as I drive home to my congressional district, I drive by the Pentagon and I think of that attack. I think of the brave men and women who were killed that day and the many, many more

who have so bravely risen to the occasion of leading our country in response, in Afghanistan; yes, in Iraq and elsewhere around the world to make Americans more secure and safer than they were on that fateful day 3 years ago.

This loss was tragic, but America has shown a resolve and a resilience and a courage that is remarkable for any nation on Earth, but it is the hallmark of this country that we have done time and time again for generations, standing up for freedom, standing up for hope for the future.

I thank the leadership, and I thank the gentleman from Illinois and the gentleman from California for their leadership on this resolution which I urge my colleagues to adopt.

Mr. Chairman, I rise today to show my support for the Community Services Block Grant, CSBG. CSBG funds the anti-poverty community action agencies and family self-sufficiency efforts of a nationwide network of 1,100 community agencies. These organizations create, coordinate, and deliver comprehensive programs and services to as many as 27 percent of all people living in poverty in the United States.

Total Action Against Poverty is a community action agency whose service area includes Virginia's Sixth Congressional District, which I represent. This agency offers more than 31 programs in housing, education, employment, training, rehabilitation, community development, neighborhood organization, child care, and family development.

The Community Services Block Grant provides flexible funding that enables community action agencies to pursue comprehensive, innovative approaches to help low-income Americans achieve self-sufficiency.

The demand for community action agencies' services among impoverished individuals and families has not abated and, in fact, continues to grow.

Demand for core emergency CAA services, including food banks, clothing, emergency shelter, and utility assistance, continues to increase dramatically.

One of Total Action Against Poverty's programs offers a diverse array of education and training programs for low-income, unemployed, and underemployed adults residing in the Roanoke Valley Alleghany Regional Planning District. The centerpiece of this initiative is the Center for Employment Training, CET, which provides individualized training tailored to enhance competitiveness in the local workforce. Local businesses help develop training and curricula, and facilitate the hiring of CET graduates.

I support the work and the difference that this agency, one of many like it across the U.S., is doing to make a difference in my district. I encourage my colleagues to support the Community Service Block Grant in the Labor-HHS bill.

Mr. Speaker, it is with great pleasure that I recognize the 25th Anniversary of Copper Creek Records. Copper Creek Records was formed in October of 1978 when recordings were made to introduce an up-and-coming bluegrass band known as the Johnson Mountain Boys, a group that went on to become festival and concert headliners as well as pioneers in the resurgence of traditional forms of bluegrass music.

Early in the label's career, documenting the history of bluegrass and old-time music was of paramount importance. The company documented such events as live concerts, field recordings, and vintage radio shows by legendary artists such as the Stanley Brothers and the Carter Family, as well as Reno & Smiley. A number of these releases were cited by the Library of Congress for their packaging, content, and historical value.

Coupled with historic preservation, Copper Creek has been active in developing new, up-and-coming talent as well as providing an outlet to musically deserving artists who fly just under the ``mainstream radar.'' Most recently, the label has been active in licensing vintage

country, old-time, and bluegrass recordings for the major labels.

Over the years, the label has released nearly 200 different recorded projects. In addition to producing CDs for release on Copper Creek, the label has been active in producing historical reissues for other groups and labels that have ties to the Commonwealth of Virginia.

By sharing the history of bluegrass and vintage music and remaining active in current musical styles, Copper Creek Records has enriched our nation's cultural and historic understanding. Again, congratulations to Copper Creek Records on their 25th year.

Mr. Chairman, I thank the gentleman from Louisiana (Chairman Baker) for his leadership on this issue, and I rise in strong support of H.R. 3574, the Stock Option Accounting Reform Act.

For years, companies in the U.S. have been using stock options to attract the most skilled applicants in the world. Because many new companies do not have the financial resources to attract the best qualified candidates, stock options provide a much-needed incentive for the brightest workers to work for them.

Not only do stock options hold the potential of additional income for employees, but they create a sense of ownership that helps workers recognize they have a stake in the company.

Now is not the time to bind the hands of America's technology companies by imposing additional layers of red tape on them. If U.S. companies are to continue to win the global competition for tech talent, they need to have the most flexibility to run their companies, including the flexibility to offer innovative compensation and benefits packages like stock options.

H.R. 3574, the Stock Option Accounting Reform Act, would allow companies to continue their practices of offering stock options to employees as a method of attracting the best and brightest workers without mandating that companies expense these stock options in annual reports.

There are also important safeguards in the Stock Option Accounting Reform Act to guard against corporate fraud. While companies would not have to expense the stock options given to rank-and-file employees, they would have to expense any stock option given to the chief executive officer and the next four most highly compensated executive officers of the company. In addition, this legislation requires companies to clearly disclose all information related to stock options in plain English in their financial statements.

H.R. 3574 protects an important tool that small businesses and start- up companies use to compete with others all over the world to bring the most skilled employees to work in the U.S. With companies in China and other competitors using stock option compensation packages to attract workers, we must ensure our government does not impede the ability of U.S. companies to compete in the highly-skilled labor market.

H.R. 3574 contains important safeguards against corporate fraud and ensures that American businesses have the tools they need to compete in the global marketplace.

Mr. Chairman, I urge each of my colleagues to support this important legislation.

Mr. Chairman, I make a point of order against section 565(a)(3) for the reason it violates rule XXI, clause 2, which prohibits legislative language in a general appropriation bill.

Mr. Chairman, will the gentlewoman yield?

Mr. Chairman, I thank the gentlewoman for yielding and also rise in strong support of this amendment.

I want to thank the gentleman from Illinois (Chairman Hyde) for offering it, and I want to congratulate the gentleman from Nebraska (Mr. Bereuter) for 26 years of service to the Congress and for his leadership on this program.

I think it is very, very appropriate that we change the name of the program to add his distinguished name for hereafter, and I urge my colleagues to support this amendment.