Floor Statements

Mr. Speaker, I rise today to recognize the city of Caldwell, Idaho for their outstanding record of city management. The city was recently honored to be on the short list for a national city management award, for cities with populations under 50,000. As part of their recognition, CNN wanted to include them in a program highlighting such cities around the United States. Caldwell has made many strides recently towards revitalizing their downtown, with projects such as the Indian Creek reconfiguration project. The cost of being included in CNN's program, however, was $24,000--a fee used to bring the television crew to the city. Under Mayor Garret Nancolas, the city declined CNN's offer because of the high cost to be included. The city felt the funds could be used more appropriately to directly benefit their citizens. This example truly reiterates the city's dedication to its citizens and its exceptional management. The city of Caldwell, Idaho should be an example to cities nationwide and I am honored to represent such an exceptional city. The State of Idaho is also honored to include this city as one of its own.

Mr. Speaker, I rise today to honor the contributions of Jack and Eleanor Buell of St. Maries, Idaho, to the 2003 Capitol Holiday Tree. For the first time in history, Idaho has the distinct honor of supplying the nation's Christmas tree. The magnificent Engelmann spruce was harvested from the Boise National Forest, visited 53 Idaho communities, and now is on its way to the Capitol. This historic journey was made possible by the tremendous generosity of Jack and Eleanor Buell. Owners of Buell Trucking, they donated the truck, custom-made trailer and driver for the Capitol Holiday Tree and the 70 companion trees that will be displayed throughout Washington, DC. This has been a wonderful gesture of volunteerism by Jack and Eleanor, and it is indicative of the way they live. Jack is a long-time Commissioner in Benewah County, where he and Eleanor have given to their community and the State of Idaho time and again. The citizens of St. Maries, Benewah County, and the State of Idaho have for years owed a debt of gratitude to Jack and Eleanor Buell. Mr. Speaker, for their efforts to make the Capitol Holiday Tree possible, the nation owes them our thanks as well.

Mr. Speaker, I rise today to bring to the attention of the House an individual who is truly a servant of the people, a man who I am honored to call my friend and a person I had the benefit of working with while he served in the Idaho State Senate and as a gubernatorial appointee. Almost nine years ago, Roger Madsen was named director of the Idaho Department of Labor. In that capacity, we worked closely on Idaho's Workforce Development Cabinet and later created Idaho's Workforce Development Council. With Roger's dedication and vision, Idaho has been recognized as a leader in workforce development at the national level. This year, the National Association of State Workforce Agencies presented Director Madsen with its 2003 President's Award. The award may be given to an organization or individual to recognize extraordinary service to America's workforce development system. Roger's commitment to the workforce system in Idaho is commendable, and we are truly fortunate to have someone of his caliber dedicate his life to public service. His integrity, innovation and devotion to his work and the people of Idaho set a high standard for excellence. He has become an invaluable asset for our state, and an example of selflessness that all of us would do well to emulate. I want to take this opportunity to personally thank Roger for all he has done for Idaho and its citizens.

Mr. Speaker, I rise today to bring to the attention of the House the creation of a Veterans Memorial at the Kootenai County Administration Building in Coeur d'Alene, Idaho. Former commissioner Ron Rankin has spearheaded the effort to pay tribute to Kootenai County's brave veterans with memorials honoring their sacrifice.

The first phase of the Veterans Memorial, dedicated on Veterans Day 1998, is a striking seven-by-five-foot, 8,000-pound black granite monument naming Kootenai County veterans killed in action from the Spanish American War through the Vietnam War. Their names are etched in large gold letters followed by their branch of service, and the war in which they served. ``In God We Trust'' is etched above all the names in three-inch gold letters. The monument is strategically placed at the main entrance of the new administration building to remind visitors of the heroes who gave their lives for our freedom.

On Memorial Day 1999, the county dedicated 13 unique murals for the outside of the new courthouse. The 39-by-42-inch granite plaques depict historically significant military events in the 20th century. They are reproductions of photographs and paintings that were laser-etched in color on polished granite slabs. The first two were completed at a cost of $2,000 each while the remaining 11 will have been added at a cost of $3,000 each. The scenes include: Pearl Harbor, the Bataan Death March, the Battle of Midway, the flag raising on Iwo Jima, Army rangers climbing a 100-foot Normandy cliff on ``D'' Day, troops assaulting the beach at Normandy, gun ships off the coast of Vietnam, and ``Dust Off' helicopters retrieving the wounded in Vietnam. When the entire project is completed, there will be pamphlets in the foyer of the new administration building describing each scene in detail. The foyer already includes interesting information, photos and paintings of our heroic armed forces from battle scenes of 20th century wars.

A Purple Heart Honor Roll now is in place in the courthouse foyer, and a wall of gold-framed certificates of veterans who were awarded medals of valor will complete the project. The display was dedicated at a ceremony on November 10, 2003. The event's keynote speaker was Idaho Supreme Court Justice Daniel Eismann, who earned two Purple Hearts and three Air Medals during the Vietnam War. I would like to submit the speech Justice Eismann delivered at the dedication for the Record.

Hall of Heroes Dedication--Kootenai County

(Hon. Daniel T. Eismann, Nov. 10, 2003)

I first want to commend the citizens of Kootenai County for

this impressive memorial to those who have served in the

United States military. As a veteran, I thank you. I also

commend Ron Rankin, who was the driving force behind this

growing monument.

The words ``Keeping America Free'' on the murals outside

summarize the primary mission of the United States military.

The freedom we enjoy today did not come cheaply. It was

purchased during the Revolutionary War with the blood of

American soldiers; for over two hundred years it has been

guarded and defended both here and abroad by the blood of

American soldiers; and it will be preserved in the future by

the blood of American soldiers. In the words of Daniel

Webster, ``God grants liberty only to those who love it, and

are always ready to guard it and defend it.''

It is because of our God-given freedom that we are the most

prosperous and powerful nation on earth. It is the desire for

that freedom that causes many from other countries to flock

to our borders. It is envy of that freedom, and the

prosperity and power it produces, that causes others to hate

and want to destroy us.

With oceans to our east and west and good neighbors to our

north and south, we have for many years felt secure in our

freedom. We may even have taken it for granted. No nation on

earth could be powerful enough to invade us. The tragic

events of September 11, 2001, however, shattered that

security. Although the enemies of freedom cannot take ours by

force, they showed that they will try to destroy it by fear.

Those tragic events confirmed that to preserve our freedom

here, we will sometimes have to root out evil and tyranny in

other parts of the world. We cannot be truly free unless

people around the world are free. The enemies of freedom will

always desire to extinguish the beacons of liberty shining

around the world, and ours shines the brightest. The tragic

events of September 11th also rekindled a deep appreciation

and respect for those who have donned the uniform of the

United States military.

We are here today to honor some of those who have helped to

preserve our freedom. We have come together to dedicate the

Hall of Heroes, to honor those from Kootenai County who have

been awarded a medal for heroism while serving in our

nation's military. By honoring them, we are not in any way

minimizing the sacrifice and contribution of all others who

have served in uniform. Any of you who saw the movie ``We

Were Soldiers'' may remember the helicopter pilot in the

movie whose nickname was ``Too Tall.'' The real ``Too Tall''

is a friend of mine named Ed Freeman who lives in Boise. The

movie does not do justice to what Ed actually did during that

battle.

On November 14, 1965, after LZ X-Ray had been closed to

helicopters because of intense enemy fire, Ed flew fourteen

missions into and out of that landing zone delivering

ammunition, water, and medical supplies to the troops on the

ground and evacuating 30 seriously wounded soldiers. For his

actions, Ed was awarded the Congressional Medal of Honor,

our nation's highest award for heroism. Ed's Medal of

Honor was certainly well-deserved, but he could not have

made the impact he did without the help of others. He

could not have delivered the much-needed ammunition,

water, and medical supplies to the men on the ground

unless others had worked to have those items waiting at

his base to be loaded on his helicopter. Few if any of the

seriously wounded soldiers that he rescued would have

survived had it not been for the medical personnel who

were waiting to care for them.

The military is a team, with every person doing his or her

part. Those of us who served in combat would not have lasted

long without others who kept us supplied with needed

materiel--weapons, munitions; equipment, fuel, medical

supplies, and food--or who equipped and directed the planes,

artillery, and ships that rained bombs, missiles, and shells

on the enemy. Thus, by honoring those who have been awarded

medals for heroism

we are in no way forgetting or diminishing the contribution

made by all who have faithfully served our nation as members

of its armed forces.

Because we are honoring those whose names will be in the

Hall of Heroes, it seems fitting to ask, ``What is a hero?''

The first time someone called me a hero, my reaction was, ``I

am no hero. I just did my duty.'' As I have thought about it,

however, maybe that is part of what a hero is. It is someone

who puts duty above self--someone who exhibits selfless

dedication to a noble cause.

Another characteristic of a hero is courage. But, what is

courage? British author C.K. Chesterton aptly described

courage as follows:

``Courage is almost a contradiction in terms. It means a

strong desire to live taking the form of a readiness to die.

`He that will lose his life, the same shall save it,' is not

a piece of mysticism for saints and heroes. It might be

printed in . . . a drill book. The paradox is the whole

principle of courage. . . . A soldier surrounded by enemies,

if he is to cut his way out, needs to combine a strong desire

for living with a strange carelessness about dying. He must

not merely cling to life, for then he will be a coward, and

will not escape. He must not merely wait for death, for then

he will be a suicide, and will not escape. He must seek his

life in a spirit of furious indifference to it; he must

desire life like water and yet drink death like wine.

In combat, you have no future. You have no past. You have

only the present. To survive, you must consider yourself

already dead, and then fight with all that is in you to stay

alive, and to keep alive those who are fighting alongside

you.

I first learned this truism not long after I started flying

as a crew chief on a Huey gunship. As a crew chief, my job

was to maintain the helicopter and to be a door gunner when

we were flying. One afternoon, as we were returning from a

mission, I moved from my normal position literally two

seconds before a 51-caliber round tore through my helicopter.

Had I not moved, it would have hit me right in the Adam's

apple, and would have taken my head off. There was no reason

for me to have moved, other than the intervention of God.

I pondered that event for a little while. Before then,

being killed in combat had been an abstract possibility. I

now realized that as long as I was flying in gunships, being

killed was a distinct probability. Perhaps what was most

disconcerting was that the bullet came without any warning.

It was like a bolt out of the blue. We were not even in a

place where we were expecting enemy fire. I realized that on

any given day, I could be killed by one bullet coming without

warning out of nowhere. I concluded that I could either worry

about dying and get ulcers, or simply choose not to worry

about it. I chose the latter course. From that day on, I

simply considered myself already dead. Those who have

accepted their death need not fear it.

Certainly, those who willingly risk their lives in combat

while fighting for our country are heroes. The people we are

honoring today, however, did more than merely risk their

lives. The military does not award medals for valor simply

for risking one's life. That is expected in combat. I was on

a Huey gunship during most of my two years in Vietnam. Our

job was to find the enemy and engage them. We did not have

any high-tech equipment to help us locate the enemy. Our most

sophisticated electronics were our two-way radios. To find

the enemy, we simply tried to be an attractive target so that

they would shoot at us. We would fly as low as we could,

sometimes only a few feet above the ground, over or near

places where the enemy may be hiding, trying to draw their

fire. Once the enemy opened fire, we would know where they

were and could take them on. Having the enemy shoot at us was

simply part of our job; it was all in a day's work. That is

the same for anyone who serves in combat.

Those we are honoring today did not merely risk their lives

in combat. They went far above and beyond the call of duty,

putting then lives at extraordinary risk. They may have done

so to rescue wounded or trapped comrades, or to accomplish

the mission. Firefights are decided, battles are won, and

victory is gained because of soldiers like these--who put

themselves at extraordinary risk to save others, to

accomplish the mission, and to defeat the enemies of freedom.

One of God's blessings upon this nation has been that

throughout her history, in times of great trials, ordinary

people have come forward and done extraordinary deeds. Today,

we are honoring some of those people. On behalf of my fellow

Americans, I thank them and I salute them.

Mr. Speaker, I thank the chairman for this time that he has offered me today.

I rise in deep concern over a provision in this legislation. Like most of my colleagues, I supported H.R. 2417 when it came before the House in June; but after tertiary review, I find that there is a provision in the bill that potentially has long-reaching effects on civil liberties. H.R. 2417 includes a provision that would expand the FBI's power to demand financial records, without a judge's approval, to a large range of businesses, vastly wider than their current authority.

Right now the FBI has the authority to serve subpoenas to traditional financial institutions when investigating terrorism and counterintelligence without having to seek a judge's approval. The law understands the phrase ``financial institutions'' as we do: banks, loan companies, savings associations and credit unions. Currently, these are the types of institutions subject to administrative subpoenas.

The provision in this bill, however, uses a definition of financial institutions to decide what organizations are subject to administrative subpoenas. Under this bill, not only are the traditional financial institutions like banks and credit unions affected but so are pawnbrokers, casinos, vehicle salesmen, real estate agents, telegraph companies, travel agencies, the U.S. Postal Service, just to name but a few.

Winning the war against terrorism is indeed vital, Mr. Speaker, and we must make sure that our law enforcement officials have the tools necessary to engage this war and win these battles. The FBI's need for authority to subpoena these groups in order to track and find and shut down terrorist operations is not in question, and I do not question that. However, under these provisions, the FBI no longer needs a court order to serve such a subpoena on a new and lengthy laundry list of financial institutions. With this legislation, we eliminate the judicial oversight that was built into our system for a reason, to make sure that our precious liberties are protected.

In our fight for our Nation to make the world a safe place, we must not turn our backs on our own freedoms. Expanding the use of administrative subpoenas and threatening our system of checks and balance is a step in the wrong direction.

Mr. Speaker, I rise today to recognize and praise the efforts of a group of women known across America as ``Idaho's Ambassadors of Fun.'' They are the Red Hot Mamas--a family oriented musical-comedy troupe from Coeur d'Alene, ID. These are women in the prime of their lives, all over the age of 30, who revel in sharing their good humor and infectious high spirits. The ladies wear brightly colored house dresses and 5-foot-tall hats made from empty grocery cartons, milk jugs, balloons or other household items. They can be found most days in one parking lot or another in Coeur d'Alene, practicing their precision drill-team routines. The

Red Hot Mamas performed at the 54th Presidential Inaugural Parade in Washington, D.C., on ABC's ``Good Morning America'' and ``Nightline'' programs, at Philadelphia's Independence Day Parade; Hershey, Pennsylvania's Centennial Anniversary Parade; the Fiesta Bowl Parade in Tempe, Arizona; the Holiday Bowl Parade in San Diego; the Seafair Parade in Seattle and many more. Many of their performances have raised money for various charities. They soon will be traveling to England to perform in London's New Year's Day Parade--the world's largest. Once again they will be spreading the word about their beautiful home state of Idaho, and spreading joy in the process. I want to thank these unique, fun-loving ladies and let them know their efforts are appreciated.

Mr. Speaker, I rise today to commend the work and purpose of the North Star Charter School in Eagle, Idaho. This public school was founded by volunteers--parents with a vision of virtue, citizenship and leadership not only for their own children but also for their community and our nation.

I recently had the honor of visiting the North Star Charter School at its new building, not far from my ranch in Idaho. About 270 students joined with 20 excellent faculty members and a similar number of involved, caring parents as we unveiled a painting of George Washington at prayer. That painting now is displayed prominently near the school's main entrance. It is a stirring image of the first and greatest of our Founding Fathers, and it provides a fitting reminder of the kind of values that the North Star Charter School has made the foundation of its curriculum and educational environment.

The school for kindergarteners through eighth-graders, led by Board of Directors Chairman Gale Pooley and Principal Nancy Smith, has established as its mission the development of virtuous citizen leaders. The lives and work of our Founding Fathers are the historical guideposts of that journey.

Even the school's name provides a constant reminder that its goals are unwavering and steadfast, like the North Star itself--an eternal beacon trusted by navigators searching for new lands, or simply making their way home.

I couldn't hope to say it any better than the school's own mission statement: ``The North Star Charter School will endeavor to develop each student into a leader that can be trusted to serve the interests of his family, community, profession and nation with the strength of character and the depth of knowledge to stand for the time-honored principles and ideals of a free and open society.''

Mr. Speaker, I am extremely proud to represent the school, its students and the families that find such great value in the timeless lessons of our nation's birth.

Mr. Speaker, I rise today in solemn humility to remember Jeff Allen and Shane Heath, two young Idaho firefighters who were killed on the afternoon of July 22 while battling a wildfire in Idaho's Salmon-Challis National Forest.

The loss of life is always tragic. The deaths of people working to protect our lives, property, and resources are especially painful; and I extend my heartfelt condolences to the families of these brave Americans.

Those with the skills and the courage to defend us against the ravages of nature and the folly of man are among the best and the brightest, and we must do all we can as a Nation to ensure that their lives are not put at unnecessary risk and that their sacrifice is never forgotten.

My own son, John, once served with a hotshot first strike crew for the Sawtooth National Firefighting crews, so I can empathize with the fear and the pain that comes from incidences like this that these families now face.

Today we pause to remember that wildfire does more than just damage our economy and our environment. It kills. May the loved ones of Jeff Allen and Shane Heath take what comfort they can in the sure knowledge that a grateful Nation honors them today and all those who follow them into the forests on our behalf.

Mr. Chairman, I offer an amendment.

Mr. Chairman, I thank the gentleman for his indulgence.

Mr. Chairman, this Congress has a dual fiduciary area responsibility when we spend taxpayers' money. One is to get the absolute best deal that we can for our money and the other one is to spend the least amount that we can in order to get that deal. The United States is not obligated to offer foreign aid to any nation, especially those that are antagonistic to the principles of democracy and American values. And yet we continue to dole out indiscriminately, as if it were required, to those who use it against us, other nations, and our allies, and who teach their children and their citizens to hate Americans and her allies.

Foreign aid is a privileged gift and it should be based upon demonstrated willingness to support U.S. ideas and aspirations for the regions to which that money goes. When we offer aid to a country we should be able to see a marked change in behavior. Our tax dollars are worse than wasted if benefitting nations from the generosity of the United States continue to work against our friends and with our enemies.

All of the efforts we put into promoting peace and cooperation is meaningless without requiring accountability from the recipients of our assistance. Infusing foreign aid with common sense and accountability requires an attitude shift on our part here in Congress. This amendment is the first step towards reforming that attitude.

President Bush has recommended giving foreign aid to the Palestinian Authority for the first time in almost a decade as part of his Roadmap to Peace. If this aid is to advance the realistic goals that the President has set forth in the Middle East, it must be subjected to high expectations and provide a powerful incentive to discourage

terrorism and encourage good faith participation in the peace process.

The amendment states simply that no more than 25 percent of the appropriated funds would be available to the Palestinians during any fiscal quarter. That means that the United States would retain authority to withhold those funds should the State Department determine that the Palestinians had participated in or supported acts of international terrorism during the previous 3 months. Everything goes well for 3 months, no acts of terrorism, they get one-fourth of the allocated funds. Such a common sense approach to accountability would provide a powerful incentive to the Palestinians to discourage violence. It would also enable the United States to put hard earned dollars of American taxpayers to work for peace in this generation and peace in this world.

I applaud the President's efforts to achieve lasting peace in the region. Discord and violence have plagued the world for almost a century now, resulting in countless deaths and endless disruption of lives. The President has addressed the issue realistically and in good faith, but our approach to foreign aid must change, and what better time to implement a responsibility-based attitude than now? It is a golden opportunity to assist in the peace process by making sure that our assistance has weight.

Mr. Chairman, I have engrossed in a letter these very ideas to the subcommittee chairman, had the opportunity to meet with the committee many times on this, and before the underlying legislation that we are now considering was ever drafted. I had hoped that those ideas of wrapping our foreign aid assistance around demands for behavioral change would have been included in the final draft of the legislation that we now have before us; however, that is not the case. So it is my hope that such a responsible concept as I have suggested will become part of the appropriate title of the legislation which we will be considering a year from now.

Mr. Chairman, I ask unanimous consent to withdraw my amendment.

Mr. Chairman, I offer an amendment.

Mr. Chairman, over 200 years ago when the formulation of this great republic was being put together, John Stuart Mill sat down and probably put the essence of this government in writing better than anyone could. ``A people,'' he said, ``may prefer a free government, but if from indolence or carelessness, or cowardice, or want of public spirit, they are unequal to the exertions necessary for preserving it; if they will not fight for it when it is directly attacked; if by momentary discouragement or temporary panic, they can be deluded by the artifices used to cheat them out of it; or if in a fit of enthusiasm for an individual, they can be induced to lay their liberties at the feet of even a great man, in all these cases, they are more or less unfit for liberty. And though it may have been to their good to have had it for a short time, they are unlikely long to enjoy it.''

The United States PATRIOT Act was well intentioned, Mr. Chairman, especially during a time of uncertainty and panic. However, now we have had a chance to step back and examine it objectively. The legislation deserves serious reevaluation. While I agree with some of the new powers granted to the Federal law enforcement authorities that may be, and I stress ``may be,'' necessary, many more are unjustified and are dangerously undermining our civil liberties.

We have the opportunity to revisit these sections of the USA PATRIOT Act and to correct these mistakes from those first frenzied weeks after September 11, 2001.

One provision, section 213, allows delayed notification of the execution of a search warrant. It authorizes no-knock searches of private residences, our homes, either physically or electronically. By putting off notice of the execution of a warrant, even delaying it indefinitely, section 213 of the USA PATRIOT Act prevents people, or even their attorneys, from reviewing the warrant for correctness in legalities.

These ``sneak and peek'' searches give the government the power to repeatedly search a private residence without informing the residents that he or she is the target of an investigation. Not only does this provision allow the seizure of personal property and business records without notification, but it also opens the door to nationwide search warrants and allows the CIA and the NSA to operate domestically.

American citizens, whom the government has pledged to protect from terrorist activities, now find themselves the victims of the very weapon designed to uproot their enemies.

It is in defense of these freedoms that I offer this amendment today to the Commerce, Justice, and State, the Judiciary, and Related Agencies Appropriations Act for the fiscal year 2004 bill. This amendment would prohibit any funds from being used to carry out section 213 of the USA PATRIOT Act as signed into law on October 26, 2001. Through the passage of this amendment, Americans would have reinstated a different kind of security, one giving them renewed confidence in their government in tirelessly protecting their individual freedom from unjustified and unnecessary intrusion.

Being secure at the expense of our freedom is no real security. Like many Idahoans who have come to me with their concerns about the USA PATRIOT Act and in passionate defense of their freedoms, we must continue to examine our actions to correct our mistakes to guard against the apathy or the indifference to safeguarding our liberties.

To these Federal agencies, it is a house, it is a building, it is a business; but to us, Mr. Chairman, it is our homes, and there is nothing more sacred than homes in America because it is the foundation on which we build our families. It is the arsenal in which the virtue and hope of every generation resides, and it is the fundamental primer of any free people.

We can, with the adoption of this first alteration to the PATRIOT Act, begin the reclamation of our title of a Nation as a people fit for liberty.

Mr. Chairman, I thank those who have engaged in the debate, whether one is for or against this amendment.

But there is one thing I must notice and bring to everybody's attention, Mr. Chairman, and that is that pound for pound, we have debated this amendment longer than we debated the PATRIOT Act. We passed the PATRIOT Act in 45 days. The smoke was still coming up out of the rubble in New York City and at the Pentagon, and who could not be torn by still hearing the cries and the pain of the victims and the families of those victims.

But now we have an opportunity to reflect back on what have we done. I have to tell my colleagues that the comments that have been made relative to, is this the proper time or is this the proper place, I am just so thankful that our Founding Fathers did not sit around and say that. It was the time. It was the place. And that is the legacy that they gave us; and that legacy demands that whenever the opportunity arises, we have an obligation to stand and to stand firm to make sure that the liberties of the American people are foremost. There is only one purpose for government, one purpose for government, and that is to defend us in the peaceful exercise of our liberties.

So I am hoping, once again, as my friend, the gentleman from Vermont (Mr. Sanders), said, that this will be the first in the piece-by-piece taking back the freedoms and the liberties that we have, while leaving some of the PATRIOT Act in place. The proper role of government, the proper role of government is to defend us in the free and peaceful exercise of our liberties and in our homes, and not to take those away from us.

So I pray, I hope that today we begin that process, and I invite the gentleman from Wisconsin and all others who will want to participate in that to join me.

Mr. Chairman, I demand a recorded vote.

Offered By: Mr. Otter

Amendment No. 17: At the end of the bill (before the short

title), insert the following:

Mr. Chairman, I want to bring to Members' attention, and we have heard quite a few things from the other side of the aisle about all the scientists and sportsmen and everybody else who has engaged in this battle, and it is a very important battle, but I would like to read a letter addressed to the Secretary of Agriculture, Ms. Veneman, dated April 11, 2001.

It says, ``The National Forest System supports a diverse array of forest and rangeland ecosystems and provides useful products, unparalleled recreational opportunities and other important amenities. Today, the ability of the Forest Service to conserve and enhance these attributes is increasingly compromised by obstructionist administration appeals and legal challenges of proposed agency actions.''

And the letter goes on to say scrap the 2000 and let us deal with a system that actually works.

What we have heard from the gentleman from Washington, which I am in shock and awe that he would suggest that we stay with the status quo, as well as the gentleman from New Mexico, the proponent of this amendment, is they want a continuation of the same scientists that, in the gentleman from Washington's own State, 12 agency scientists got together in the Wenatchee National Forest and they said we have a great plan, let us put out a bunch of phony science here so we can lock up thousands of acres, put thousands of people out of work, maybe close down a few communities.

I am sure the gentleman remembers the incident in Wenatchee National Forest where the scientists were looking for Canadian lynx. They could not find any, so they took little sticky pads, as is the normal scientific method, and placed them in the forest at rub areas and scratch areas so they could recognize or perhaps ascertain whether or not the lynx were there.

The scientists could not find any. So what did they do? This is the science that they want to protect, the very scientists that these victims want to protect. So they go into the lab and they have a stuffed lynx in there from God knows where, and so they take hair off of it and they run around in the forest and put this hair on these little sticky pads and write a report that says obviously the lynx are there, and so now we have scientific data and scientific evidence to shut down this area from any kind of human activity, including the people who want to live and work in that area.

I yield to the gentleman from Washington.

Is that not the status quo?

Mr. Chairman, reclaiming my time, I would conclude by saying we got no support from the gentleman from New Mexico or the gentleman from Washington when we wanted to take those scientists to task. What happened to them, they were sent to sensitivity schools and told not to do that again. I suggest that we send this legislation to the same place.

Mr. Speaker, I rise today to acknowledge and praise Jim Witt of Meridian, Idaho, for his steadfast commitment to safety. Mr. Witt is a professional truck driver who recently celebrated a remarkable career achievement: driving 1 million miles without a preventable accident. That's the equivalent of driving safely around the world 40 times.

Fatal accidents involving large trucks occur most frequently in rural areas like those throughout Idaho. On U.S. Highway 95--the major north- south route through my district--the long and tragic history of traffic fatalities is a constant reminder of the need to make highway safety foremost among our public policy considerations.

The U.S. Department of Transportation cites the danger posed by trucks on our highways as a growing concern for citizens. Professional, safety-conscious drivers like Mr. Witt provide an important public service as they navigate our corridors of commerce by helping to alleviate those concerns and setting an example for everyone who gets behind the wheel. I hope my House colleagues will join me in congratulating Mr. Witt and encouraging others to follow his lead in helping to make our roads safer.

Mr. Speaker, I rise today to bring to the attention of the House the distinguished accomplishments of Art Brown, chief executive officer of Hecla Mining Company, on the occasion of his retirement.

Art Brown retired last month from Hecla Mining after 36 years of service. Mr. Brown was manager of the Lucky Friday Mine in 1979, when silver prices rose from $5 to $50 per ounce, and Hecla became the No. 1 performer on the New York Stock Exchange. Last year, Hecla's stock rose 400 percent, again making it a top NYSE performer. However, it was not an easy task to keep the company afloat during the years between in which it was plagued by low market prices, environmental litigation and cash-flow problems. Under Mr. Brown's leadership, however, the company has moved from close to bankruptcy to a viable, growing enterprise producing record amounts of gold and silver in 2002. Under the visionary leadership of Art Brown, Hecla Mining Co. has survived and flourished. The company is now positioned to move forward into a future of growth and continued profitability.

I congratulate Art Brown on his success, and wish him an enjoyable retirement.

Mr. Speaker, I rise in support of this rule and the underlying legislation.

This rule is the result of many hours of committee work, many hours of considering all of the amendments that the opponents of this legislation and this rule right now say they have never had a chance to voice or to discuss.

This has gone through the Committee on Resources, it has gone through the Committee on Agriculture, it has gone through the Committee on the Judiciary and the Committee on Rules. At that point and at that time these folks well know that the rendering process, the deliberative process that is provided them in the committee is an opportunity to make those points at that time and avoid that same kind of confusion on this floor.

Now, this is reasonable and it is sensible legislation. It is reasonable if we want to protect the habitat for all species, including those that are endangered. It is responsible if we want to protect the watershed.

Mr. Speaker, the watershed in Idaho is not around the 201 communities. It includes that 35 million acres of Federal ground in the State of Idaho. That is where our watershed is. There is no watershed close to the communities. Most of that watershed is out in the forests. If Members really believe in clean water, then they have to have a clean watershed.

Finally, at no other time could I think of on this floor would this body not come together if they saw a disaster, a natural disaster, a flood, a coming hurricane, that we would not marshal every one of our forces, all of the elements that we have available to us and attack that potential disaster to preserve property, to preserve lives, to preserve habitat, to preserve clean water, and to preserve the values that we have in this Nation.

So I hope that Members will join me in supporting this rule, because those of us who really want habitat, those of us who really want clean water, and those of us who want to avert coming disaster ask for Members' support on this legislation and this rule.