Floor Statements

Mr. Speaker, I rise today to commemorate the 65th anniversary of the Battle of Crete.

This historic battle contributed to the Allies' victory of World War II. On May 20, 1941, thousands of German paratroopers and gliders began landing on Crete. Both the Allies and Nazis wanted Crete because of Its strategic location as part of the lifeline to India and Its proximity to both Palestine and Egypt. At that time the British controlled the island.

The Nazi invasion force included the elite German paratroopers and glider troops. Hitler felt this was to be easy victory, yet he is quoted to have said shortly after the invasion, ``France fell in 8 days. Why is Crete free?''

During the 11-day Invasion of Crete, more than 6,000 German troopers were listed as killed, wounded, or missing in action. The losses to the elite 7th parachute division marked the end of the German Military's large-scale airborne operations.

This valiant fight by the Cretan people began in the first hour of the Nazi airborne invasion while other underground movements did not begin until a year or more after being invaded.

Young boys, old men, and women displayed breath taking bravery in defending Crete. Because German soldiers were not accustomed to facing women in battle, they would tear the dress from the shoulders of suspected Cretan women to find bruises from the recoil of the rifle. The penalty was death. On July 28, 1941, The Times (London) reported that ``five hundred Cretan women have been deported to Germany for taking part in the defense of their native island.''

Another surprise for the German soldiers who invaded Crete was the heroic resistance of the clergy. A priest leading his parishioners into battle was not what the Germans anticipated. At Paleochora, Father Stylianos Frantzeskis, hearing of the German airborne Invasion, rushed to his church, sounded the bell, took his rifle and marched his volunteers toward Maleme.

This struggle became an example for all Europe to follow in defying German occupation and aggression.

The Cretans paid a steep price for their valiant resistance to Nazi forces with thousands of civilians executed, starved, or imprisoned. The Germans burned and destroyed entire communities as a reprisal for the Cretan resistance movement. Yet this resistance lasted for 4 years.

The Battle of Crete changed history by delaying Hitler's plan to invade Russia. The invasion was delayed from April to June of 1941.

The 2-month delay in the invasion made Hitler's forces face the Russian winter.

The Russian snowstorms and the sub zero temperatures eventually stalled the Nazi invasion before they could take Moscow or Leningrad. This was the beginning of the downfall of the Nazi reign of terror.

We must always remember and honor this significant battle and the heroic drive of the Cretan people. Democracy came from Greece, and the Cretan heroes exemplified the courage it takes to preserve it.

To honor these heroes, I have introduced H. Res. 290, which recognizes and appreciates the historical significance and the heroic human endeavor and sacrifice of the people of Crete during World War II and commends the PanCretan Association of America.

Today, the courage and fortitude of the Cretan people are seen in the members of the United Cretan Associations of New York which are located in Astoria, Queens.

I urge my colleagues to join me in honoring the Cretans in the United States, Greece, and the diaspora.

Mr. Chairman, I move to strike the last word.

Mr. Chairman, I rise in strong support of the Weiner-Schwarz amendment to boost funding for the Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service by $23 million to fight invasive species nationwide, all across our country, and this additional funding that we are requesting is measured, it is responsible. It is the difference between what APHIS tell us they need to eradicate invasive species and what this bill contains.

My good friend on the other side of the aisle calls this a New York issue. This is not a New York issue. This is across the country, and it addresses not only the Asian longhorned beetle, but the emerald ash borer, the sudden death oak disease, the cactus moth that is in the gulf region, the boll weevil that is in the south and has destroyed a lot of the cotton industry, and again, this is not what we are requesting. It is what the professionals are requesting.

If we are able to stop it in New York or Chicago; Chicago has practically eradicated the Asian longhorned beetle. Believe me, you do not want this moving across the country. It is a terrible, terrible bug. I have got one right here, and it is only about an inch long with white spots on it. It does not look that dangerous, but if it gets into a tree, it will completely destroy the tree.

It first appeared in Greenpoint, Brooklyn, in my district, and we did not detect it, and literally, we had to chop down every single tree in a park and throughout the neighborhood. We are now trying to contain it and to keep it out of Central Park. It has moved into New Jersey. If we are able to contain it in Chicago and New Jersey and New York, then you will not have this problem.

Again, we are not just talking about the Asian longhorned beetle. We are talking about all invasive species, and it is the amount that is requested by the professionals in the Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service.

So this is a responsible bill. Regrettably, in New York, we have had to chop down over 4,000 trees; 27,000 trees have been chopped down across the country, and this is really an unacceptable price to pay, and that is why we need to pass this amendment which will provide more funding to fight these invasive species.

I tell you, it is a responsible request. We are just backing up what the agency is asking for, and this is a national problem. If we are able to contain it in Chicago and New Jersey, then you will not have the problem, and as I said, it also funds all of the other areas such as the sudden oak death and the emerald ash borer. I yield the remainder of my time to my colleague and friend from New York who has worked so hard on this issue, and it is so critical to all of New York City and State but to your States, too.

I yield to the gentleman from New York.

Mr. Chairman, reclaiming my time, if we do not fell this beetle and other invasive species, they will continue to fell our trees across our country.

I have an example here from APHIS of the beetle and what to look for if it goes to your States so you will know about it, and I urge my colleagues to support this amendment. This is a bipartisan amendment, and this is about the health and welfare of our economy, our environment.

It has cost us zillions of dollars to stop this beetle. We need to stop it now or it is only go to cause more economic and environmental damage across our country.

So I urge my colleagues on both sides of the aisle to support this important amendment.

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

Mr. Speaker, I rise in strong support of H.R. 5354, the Hurricane Relief Extension Act, and thank Mr. Boustany for introducing this very important measure.

Mr. Speaker, in March of this year, Democrats from the House Committee on Education and the Workforce traveled to New Orleans and surrounding areas to survey and see firsthand the damage left by Hurricanes Katrina and Rita. The members of the delegation were clear in their assessment: Until you see the damage firsthand, it is very, very difficult to understand the magnitude of these storms and what the devastation that they left behind is.

The school systems in the gulf coast were hit particularly hard. The wind tore off roofs of schools, and storm surges brought additional water into classrooms, sometimes reaching over 10 feet. These school systems, both public and private, lost books, computers and desks. Teachers, principals and students lost their homes to the storms.

At the time of the delegation's visit, families had started to return to the area, and due to the leadership of local superintendents, principals and teachers, students were returning to the classrooms. Across the country, school systems in nearly every State opened their doors to enroll displaced students. They continued to educate these children, expending their own resources to meet the increased enrollments.

In spite of the pressures on schools to reopen and enroll displaced students, it was not until December, nearly 5 months after the levees broke, that Congress designated funds to assist schools along the gulf coast and the schools that had taken in displaced students. And it appears Congress did not live up to its own promise. The funds provided were less than what was promised, nearly one-third less.

H.R. 5354 does not fix the funding problem, nor does it address the challenges these same schools will have next year, particularly those in New Orleans, which expect their enrollment to double in the fall. H.R. 5354 will, however, resolve an immediate issue by extending the time in which funds are to be obligated for the current school year.

H.R. 5354 also addresses a concern heard by the delegation during its visits to schools that State educational agencies were delaying the distribution of these funds to local school systems. As such, H.R. 5354 includes a sense of the Congress that urges States to expedite the release of these funds to local school districts.

Families are eager to return to their communities, but will only do so if they can be assured that their children can attend school. H.R. 5354 will assist schools in their efforts to educate displaced students and reopen schools.

Again, I want to thank the gentleman on the other side of the aisle, Mr. Boustany, for bringing this bill to the floor, and urge my colleagues to support it.

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

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

Mr. Speaker, I rise in support of National One-Stop Month. For over 30 years, Congress has worked hard on a bipartisan basis to create a job training system that works well for both employers and employees.

During the Clinton administration, job training advocates developed the idea of a universal system, a one-stop job training system that would provide needed job search, placement and training services to all job seekers who walked through its doors. The system would also be a one-stop system for employers, providing outreach and matching services to enable employers to find workers with the job skills that they need.

Approximately 2,000 one-stop centers and the workforce boards that oversee them now exist in all of our communities, providing a 21st century resource for all. This system is an investment in our economy and in our country.

But that investment is also under attack. For the past 6 years, the administration and this Congress have been cutting funding for the one- stop system. The one-stops have not had a single inflation adjustment in 6 years. The

one-stops have actually had their budgets cut about $700 million since 2001. This Congress has failed to reauthorize the one-stop system, and has insisted on opening it up to religious discrimination, which has never existed or been a problem for years. Most recently, in its 2007 budget request, the administration proposed effectively eliminating the one-stop system and turning it into a voucher program run by the Governors.

Democrats believe in job training to help workers improve their skills and find good-paying jobs to support their families. Democrats believe in helping employers find workers with the skills they need to compete in the global economy. In order to truly help employers and employees, we must adequately fund the one-stops and our job training system.

This is a low-cost investment in our future. I urge my colleagues to support this resolution and to support improved funding for a 21st- century job-training system.

Mr. Speaker, I urge my colleagues to support this resolution.

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

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

Mr. Speaker, I rise in support of H.R. 5401, the Lewis and Clark Commemorative Coin Correction Act. This technical correction to the Lewis and Clark Expedition Bicentennial Commemorative Coin Act redirects a portion of the proceeds of sales of the Lewis and Clark silver dollars from the National Park Service to the Missouri Historical Society.

The Park Service does not want to and cannot receive the one-third share of the surcharge funds originally allocated to it since it has no mechanism to raise the required matching funds.

The Missouri Historical Society, in contrast, has to date raised matching funds equal to over half of the surcharge funds. The other share has been raised by the National Council of the Lewis and Clark Bicentennial.

Under the bill proposed today, the National Council and the Missouri Historical Society would each receive half of the surcharge funds. Any funds not expended by these two organizations would go to the Lewis and Clark Heritage Foundation for the establishment of a trust for the stewardship of the Lewis and Clark Historical Trail.

I am happy to say the coin has been very successful and raised almost $5 million to date. I understand that this resolution is supported by Congressional Representatives from many of the States along the trail and by the board of the national council, which has members from all of the Lewis and Clark States.

It is a sensible way to assure that funds raised by this coin are used for activities that preserve and honor the achievements of the Lewis and Clark expedition.

Mr. Speaker, I yield such time as he may consume to the gentleman from the great State of Missouri (Mr. Skelton), the lead Democratic cosponsor of this bill and the ranking member of the Armed Services Committee.

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

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

Mr. Speaker, I rise in support of this legislation. On September 2, 2005, the President authorized the Office of Personal Management to establish an emergency leave transfer program for executive branch employees affected by Hurricane Katrina. The Judicial Conference of the United States subsequently requested legislative authority to do the same.

The judicial circuits and districts affected by Hurricane Katrina have thus far only been able to grant weather emergency-related administrative leave to their employees. Administrative leave for judicial employees will be curtailed as the courts slowly resume operations.

S. 1736 will ensure an emergency leave transfer program is in place to assist approved judicial branch leave recipients as their need for donated leave increases when affected courts resume operations and many of the employees who evacuated in response to Hurricane Katrina remain unable to return to work.

I join Senators Collins and Lieberman in supporting this bill.

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

Mr. Chairman, this budget resolution that we are now debating is being sold as a deficit-reduction measure, but that is false advertising. This budget resolution does contain spending cuts-- ones that hit lower-income families particularly hard. But those spending cuts pale beside the companion tax reconciliation measure that the President just signed into law. Together, those budget actions add to the deficit; they don't reduce it.

Nothing illustrates that more clearly than the provision in this budget resolution that would increase the federal debt limit for the fifth time under President Bush.

This President and this Congress have squandered the fiscal discipline of the 1990s and created a legacy of deficits and debt that will erode the standard of living of our children and our grandchildren. This is a record-setting Administration, but they are the wrong records. We have seen the federal budget deficit set a record in dollar terms, we have seen the national debt rise to a record level, and we have seen our trade deficit and our indebtedness to the rest of the world rise to a record level.

The President likes to talk about how fast the economy is growing and how successful his policies have been in stimulating an economic recovery from the 2001 recession. But the American people are saying ``what economic recovery?'' and, ``when am I going to see any benefits from this President's economic policies?'' Mr. Speaker, we should listen to the American people and we should adopt economic policies that promote the economic well-being of all Americans--not just those at the very top of the economic ladder.

The President's FY 2007 budget and the House budget resolution do not do that. Instead they perpetuate economic policies that have produced a legacy of deficits and debt that leave us unprepared to deal with the budget challenges posed by the retirement of the baby-boom generation and that weakens the future standard of living of our children and grandchildren.

Economic policy over the past 5 years has not served the interest of the typical American family. The resilience of the American economy has allowed it to recover from the 2001 recession, but we are still experiencing the labor market effects of the most protracted jobs slump in decades. Job creation has lagged far behind what is typical in a strong economic recovery, there is still evidence of hidden unemployment, and the benefits of productivity growth have been showing up in the bottom lines of companies rather than in the paychecks of workers. Finally, there is a growing gap between the ``haves'' and the ``have-nots'' in this country as income and earnings disparities have widened.

Yes, workers have become more productive--they produce more and more in each hour that they work. But they haven't been getting rewarded for that productivity. Average hourly earnings have not kept up with inflation for the past 2 years and they barely kept even the year before that. Median family income has failed to keep up with inflation every year under President Bush.

Those who are already well-to-do are doing very well in the Bush economy. But the typical American family is struggling to make ends meet in the face of high costs for energy, health care, and a college education for their children.

This budget resolution does not address any of these problems. In fact, it makes things worse. An analysis by the Democratic staff of the Joint Economic Committee shows that budget cuts in programs that provide payments for individuals are concentrated among lower-income families, while the tax cuts that have already been enacted go overwhelmingly to those at the top of the distribution. More than a third of the costs of spending cuts for families go to those in the bottom 20 percent of the distribution (families that together have only 3 percent of aggregate income). Meanwhile those at the top get nearly three-quarters of the benefits from the tax cuts. This analysis relates to the budget resolution originally brought to the floor a month ago, but the essential character of the plan has not changed.

With policies that have turned a $5.6 trillion 10-year budget surplus into a deficit over those same 10 years of at least $2.7 trillion, this Administration and this Congress have turned the United States into a Nation of debtors, relying on the rest of the world to finance our budget deficits and the rest of our excessive spending. Last year we had a current account deficit of $805 billion. That is the amount of money we had to borrow from the rest of the world to finance our trade deficit and international payment imbalance.

Foreign governments are holding large quantities of our public debt, putting us at risk of a major international financial crisis if they should decide that the benefits of holding dollars are no longer worth the risk.

Mr. Chairman, future prosperity depends on increasing our national savings and making wise investments; it depends on being ready for the retirement of the baby-boom generation and the pressure we know that will put on the budget. But how is the other side preparing us for that future--with more deficits and more debt. They want to make the tax cuts that have gotten us into this mess permanent, and they have no realistic plan for controlling spending or bringing revenues into line with the amount we need to spend to defend the country and take care of the needs of our citizens. We need a better plan.

Mr. Speaker, on rollcall no. 151, I was listed as voting in favor of H.R. 4200, the Forest Emergency Recovery and Research Act. This was an error; I oppose H.R. 4200 and intended to vote ``no''.

H.R. 4200 is unnecessary legislation with significant negative consequences. It allows almost any activity, including timbering and roadbuilding, to proceed on an expedited basis with little or no environmental review and with little or no ability for the public to challenge a decision, under a broad array of circumstances beyond what most would view as emergencies. It shares many of the misguided goals and harmful effects of the so-called ``Healthy Forest Restoration Act'' of 2003, which I voted against.

Again, I intended to vote ``no'' on H.R. 4200.

Mr. Speaker, I rise to pay tribute to the Women's City Club of New York, a non-partisan, non-profit civic association that shapes public policy through teaching, advocacy and citizen engagement. This august institution is celebrating its 90th anniversary this month, and I salute its remarkable success in working to achieve fairness, equity and inclusion for all New Yorkers.

Since its founding in 1915 by suffragists and social reformers, the Women's City Club of New York has drawn upon the skills and qualifications of its pool of volunteers to identify, analyze and increase awareness of current and emerging trends in public policy, develop a carefully reasoned platform on key issues, and educate and empower the public at large through a variety of informational programs and publications. Its membership works in concert with advocacy and community based organizations to effect meaningful change for the better in our government! and our society.

From its origins in women's suffrage movement, Women's City Club members have honored women's hard-fought right to vote by helping the public become more informed and better educated about the political and governmental issues of the day. Throughout the long and proud history of the Women's City Club, its members have fulfilled a critical mission by helping New Yorkers understand and scrutinize all aspects of their municipal government and to become active in policy debates and the political process. The Women's City Club also achieved remarkable success in educating and enlightening elected officials, thus playing an instrumental role in shaping responsible government and public policies.

Today, Women's City Club members continue to effect change at the city, State and Federal levels. Its members informed engagement has earned the Women's City Club the respect of the government officials, opinion-makers in the news media, and civic activists of all stripes. Members of the Women's City Club of New York have rightly been dubbed reasoned citizen-advocates who know the way to City Hall.

Today, the Women's City Club is ably led by its president, Blanche E. Lawton, and its operations effectively managed by Paulette Geanacopoulos, LMSW. Through its network of committees and task forces, the Women's City Club continues to educate and inform its members and the public at large and help keep New York's municipal government a role model for cities around the Nation.

Mr. Speaker, I ask that my distinguished colleagues join me recognizing the enormous contributions to the civic life of our Nation's greatest metropolis by the Women's City Club of New York.

Mr. Speaker, I rise to recognize the annual day of remembrance of the genocide of the Pontian Greek people at the hands of the Ottoman Empire that took place from 1915 to 1923, and to salute the Pan-Pontian Federation of the United States of America and Canada for its role in preserving and passing on the vibrant history and traditions of the Pontian Greeks.

With a long and distinguished history and a proud culture, the Greek Pontians have for millennia upheld Hellenic traditions against all odds. Named after Pontus, the Greek term denoting ``the sea,'' the Pontians trace their origins to the region of the southeastern part of the Black Sea. There, one of the first Greek cities of Pontus, Sinope, was founded in 785 B.C.

The seeds for the Pontian genocide were planted during negotiations among the European powers that led to the signing of the Treaty of Berlin in 1878. The ensuing rise of nationalism led to many revolutionary wars and independence movements within the decaying Ottoman Empire, causing Turkish leaders to become increasingly fearful that their ethnically diverse domain would begin to disintegrate.

By the turn of the 20th century, many nations within the Balkans had acquired their independence from the Turks. However, due to the politics of the era, many of these newly formed nations only consisted of a small portion of their population, as the great powers had no desire to see these new Balkan states become too strong. As a result, many Serbians, Greeks and Bulgarians still lived within the borders of the Ottoman Empire. The nations of the Balkans yearned to incorporate and unite their people who still lived under Turkish rule. This situation led to the Balkan Wars of 1912-1913, in which the members of the Balkan League joined to present a united front against their Turkish oppressors. The Ottoman armies were soundly defeated, and national borders were created and rearranged accordingly.

The reality was that many different nationalities existed within the Ottoman Empire and that their increasing desire to unite with their mother countries did indeed pose an ultimately fatal threat to the continued existence of the Ottoman Empire. In reaction, the Young Turk movement ushered in a new nationalistic and ethnocentric ideology in the Ottoman Empire. From 1916 to 1923, largely under the leadership of Kemal Ataturk, the Ottoman Empire began to practice a ferocious genocide of the Christian population within its borders.

In 1916, after the Turks had concluded their massacre of the Armenian people, the Pontians became their next victims. The Pontian Greeks were subject to massacres, atrocities, mass rapes and abductions of women and children. They were forced into starvation and sent on long marches whose true intended destination was the graveyard of history. This genocide almost resulted in the extinction of a people who had lived on Asia Minor for nearly three millennia. Between the years of 1915 and 1923, more than half of the Pontian population, or about 353,000 human beings, fell victim to what the world now knows to be genocide. These Pontians who did survive the Turkish onslaught were exiled from their ancestral homes, and many fled to Greece, Russia and the United States. It is estimated that there were about 400,000 Pontian refugees during this cataclysmic era.

Despite the death and displacement of almost 1 million Pontians, their traditions and culture still resonate across the world to this day. While forces of evil tried to obliterate an entire people, the determination and endurance of the Pontian Greeks stand as a testament to mankind's extraordinary ability to defy all odds in the hope of ultimately living in peace and justice.

Mr. Speaker, I ask that my distinguished colleagues join me in observing the annual day of remembrance of the victims of the Pontian Greek genocide, and in recognizing the Pan-Pontian Federation of the United States of America and Canada, its vital mission of preserving Pontian Greek culture and history, and its significance as a symbol of mankind's hope and endurance.

Mr. Speaker, I rise to honor a former staffer, a friend and an inspiration, Jenny Chang.

When Jenny came to work in my office in 2003, she had already been through one round with a formidable opponent, breast cancer. But you certainly couldn't tell. She brought an energy and positivity rarely seen, and none of us will ever forget her laugh.

I admire leaders, and Jenny Chang was a leader. Jenny was student body president and president of her senior class at North Carolina State University--she was the first woman of Asian descent to hold that position. Through her battle with a terrible disease, Jenny reached out to fellow cancer sufferers and survivors and used her position on Capitol Hill to make a difference. Despite her illness, she worked on my colleague David Price's campaign and in his Congressional office, making scores of new friends and admirers at each stop.

And for 8 months, she was the soul of my office, always showing how things can be done and how problems can be solved.

It saddened us all when Jenny's cancer returned and she had to take leave of my office and Capitol Hill.

Mr. Speaker, Jenny Chang passed away on April 29. We should all be so lucky to work with such a terrific soul as Jenny Chang. She did many great things in her short time with us. And what she left us--the memory of her smile, her spirit and her strength--is so much more than any of us could ever give her.

Sometime God takes the best of us far sooner than we want. I thank God for giving us our time with Jenny and I wish her family and friends my deepest condolences.

Mr. Speaker, the President signed another tax bill that will add to the Federal deficit. And the House budget resolution that passed last night, with 100 percent of the Democrats voting against it, contains a provision to raise the debt ceiling for the fifth time on President Bush's watch.

This President and this Congress have squandered the fiscal discipline of the Clinton years of the 1990s and created a legacy of deficits and debt that will erode the standard of living of our children and our grandchildren. This is a record-setting administration, but they are setting the wrong kinds of records.

We have seen the Federal budget deficit set a record in dollar terms. We have seen the national debt rise to a record level. And we have seen our trade deficit and our indebtedness to the rest of the world rise to a record level.

America can do better.

Mr. Speaker, I thank the gentleman for yielding and for his outstanding work on this issue and so many others.

I rise in strong opposition to this rule. In this rule, the Rules Committee failed to report out important amendments that were approved by the Appropriations Committee, including the important Dicks-Obey language expressing the need to address global climate change. Why in the world can you not include that important issue in this bill?

This bill is woefully underfunded at $800 million below the level needed to maintain current services, and I must say that a very important amendment that would save taxpayers money, the Hinchey amendment, was not included, although the committee supported it. His amendment would suspend the royalty relief program and authorize the Secretary of the Interior to renegotiate existing leases.

This would save taxpayers dollars. It would save dollars in our Treasury. Right now, in New York and L.A. and across this country, a gallon of gas costs more than $3, while the oil and gas companies continue to make record profits. All of this is happening while the taxpayers are losing out in billions of dollars in royalty payments from oil and gas taken from land owned by the American people.

Earlier this year, the New York Times reported that the Federal Government will lose at least $7 billion over the next 5 years in undercollected royalty payments. Why in the world will the majority not correct this program that would put money into the budget for student loans, to help the disadvantaged, to help our seniors? Yet, they would not include it and the underpayment continues, and that money rightfully belongs to the American people.

We are talking about oil and gas extracted from land owned by the American people with rip-off leases to the oil and gas companies where they are reporting record profits. What is wrong with having those leases negotiated to express fair market value so that the taxpayers and the Federal Government can have that money for the services that the people need?

It is a really terrible rule. They did not even include amendments that were passed out by the Appropriations Committee. Please vote ``no.''

Mr. Chairman, as a proud representative of New York City, an important center of the creative industries in our Nation, I rise in enthusiastic support of the Slaughter-Shays-Dicks-Leach-Price amendment.

This amendment will provide a very small, but critical increase in funding for the National Endowment for the Arts and the National Endowment for the Humanities.

Earlier this week, I was honored to be joined by the gentlewoman from New York and the gentleman from Connecticut--sponsors of this amendment and co-chairs of the Arts Caucus--in passing legislation recognizing the American Ballet Theater for their 65 years of service as ``America's National Ballet Theater.''

The ABT is just one of well over 7,000 arts-related businesses in my district, employing nearly 120,000 employees--the highest number of arts-related jobs in the country.

And the NEA is key in bolstering the economic and creative force of these organizations.

Mr. Chairman, for the 120,000 arts-related employees that I represent and the countless others who enjoy and benefit from their creativity and hard work, I urge a yes vote on the Slaughter-Shays-Dicks-Leach- Price Amendment.

Mr. Chairman, I rise in support of the amendment.

(Mrs. MALONEY asked and was given permission to revise and extend her remarks.)

Mr. Chairman, I rise in support of my colleague from New York's amendment that would re-open all of the Statute of Liberty, the symbol of American freedom. When our Nation was attacked on September 11, 2001, a number of our national landmarks were temporarily closed to the public for security reasons. It is now four and a half years since that terrible day, and only one of these national treasures remains closed--Lady Liberty. Visitors to Liberty Island, which remains open while most of the statute is closed, have been down as much as 50 percent from pre-9/11 levels, and that hurts the economy of New York City.

Mr. Chairman, when terrorists attacked our country, they hoped that they could restrict our freedom and our way of life. They miscalculated the tremendous freedom-loving spirit of New Yorkers and Americans, who have showed their resilience. But it would be a tremendous additional display of our Nation's ever-lasting freedom to re-open the Statute of Liberty and to welcome visitors from around the world back to the statute that has long been a signal of hope. The Park Service shouldn't have to resort to essentially holding a bake sale for private donations to try to get it re-opened. Our Nation's beacon of liberty deserves better than that.

Mr. Chairman, I offer an amendment.

Mr. Chairman, the Maloney-Miller amendment would direct $1 million of the overall appropriation for the Minerals Management Service to States and tribes for auditing purposes. I understand that the majority will accept this amendment, and I want to thank Chairman Taylor and Ranking Member Dicks and their staff for their assistance and support.

I also want to thank Representative George Miller for working with me to provide this critical funding to the States and tribes to perform these audits. According to data collected from MMS in previous years, the States and tribes collect $5 for every dollar spent on audits. I believe this amendment is an important step in ensuring that the companies responsible for remitting royalties from minerals produced from Federal and Indian leases do so in compliance with applicable lease terms, regulations, and policies governing the valuation of the produced minerals. At a time of increased values for gas and oil, States and tribes should be given more resources to ensure that royalty payments are paid in full.

Mr. Chairman, I yield to the chairman of the committee, and hopefully he will support this amendment.

I thank the chairman and Ranking Member Dicks.

Mr. Chairman, I rise in support of the Hinchey amendment. The Hinchey amendment is about fairness, common sense, and doing what is right.

It merely states that the oil companies should renegotiate their leases to pay a fair price, a market price, on oil and gas that is owned by the American people or they do not get any other leases.

Our constituents, Americans, are suffering under high gas prices. The oil companies have record profits. The only fair thing to do is to renegotiate these windfall leases that are sweetheart deals. The New York Times estimates that at a minimum, renegotiating these leases will bring $7 billion over the next 5 years.

Last night many of my colleagues on the other side of the aisle voted to cut student loans, seniors, veterans, many areas. Support this amendment so that money will be in the budget so that we can fund things instead of giving more profits to the oil companies. It is absolutely wrong. Support this amendment.