Floor Statements

Mr. Speaker. I rise today in support of H.R. 2707, Mr. Kucinich's resolution to reauthorize the Underground Railroad Educational and Cultural Program. I praise the initiative contained in this resolution to point out the historical, cultural, and educational legacy behind the Underground Railroad. It is through that network of tunnels and secret hiding places that many African Americans escaped slavery. As a symbol of freedom, the Underground Railroad deserves greater recognition and appreciation, regrettably of its artifacts and secrets remain hidden and lost.

I have long believed in and fought for more and better education of African American history. Well, an important part of that history is contained in the struggle for freedom that characterized the slave experience. Some would have us believe that slaves passively accepted their captivity in the plantations in the South. The truth is there was an active resistance to slavery; which included periodic uprisings and constant efforts to escape. The full role and extent of the Underground Railroad has yet to be discovered and remains unknown. The legislation authorizes the Secretary of Education to sponsor studies and make grants for programs that promote knowledge of the Underground Railroad.

With the resources and technology available today, we owe it to the history of African Americans and the history of the United States to study, preserve, and make available to all the hidden secrets of the Underground Railroad. Secret routes and safe houses still remain unknown. Secrets that may remain buried in our backyards.

The establishment of this facility would allow significant missing pieces in African American history to be properly studied and commemorated.

Through the passage of this legislation, the work of the National Park Service and its study of the phenomenon known as the Underground Railroad will be continued. Established by Congress in 1990, the National Park Service has made major progress in learning more about the secret routes and the processes used in escorting these fugitive slaves to freedom. The story is far from well enough known, and the study far from complete. Let us as members of the 110th Congress exhibit the same respect and appreciation of the Underground Railroad as was shown in 1990.

Please join me in support of H.R. 2707, as we move further in understanding the whole story and celebrating the legacy of the Underground Railroad.

Madam Speaker, thank you so much for giving me this opportunity to share with this body the life of a great American named Ron Brown, and I'm asking your support to have a Federal building, a U.N. missions building if you will, to be named after him.

Even though Ron Brown was an African American from Harlem, his story is more of an American story than one of color, because on the streets of Harlem you don't find too many people exposed to dreams of ever becoming a Secretary of Commerce, indeed an ambassador for this great country.

But Ron never forgot Harlem, and it was the Urban League that drove him to do things in the civil rights movement. It was his dedication to his country that drove him to spend 4 years in the military, but everywhere that Ron Brown would go as Secretary of Commerce, he was there not just to sell businesses to the country. He was there to sell the American flag, the principles of that flag and the thing that we stand for.

I went with him to South Africa to see him negotiating with leaders, political leaders there, but all the time that he was talking to them, it wasn't which party was right or which party was wrong or how to bring about solidarity. He was asking how could America help the people to get clean water, to get medicine, to get food and to let them know that our multinationals were there, not just for the shareholders of their firm but the shareholders of the world.

And so when you come to New York, where you always see diversity, people of different color, different languages, different cultures, and you see the Federal mission to the United Nations, there could not be a sight that would be more reminiscent of Ron Brown than the contributions that he made to my community, my country, but indeed, the entire world.

And so thank you for shepherding this wonderful bill so that his family and his friends and his supporters and kids to follow would know that out of Harlem we planted the seed, and he died for this country on a mission for President Clinton. His memory will never, never be forgotten; and I was proud to be a desk clerk at the time that he was living in a hotel that his father managed in New York. And he will forever be in my mind and I hope in yours as you think about great Americans who lost their lives for this great country.

Madam Speaker, I rise today to introduce an article entitled ``A Legacy of Her Own,'' in the Washington Post on July 13, 2007. This op-ed tribute written by Joseph A. Califano, Jr., highlights the legacy of Lady Bird Johnson. Lady Bird Johnson was instrumental in influencing President Johnson to support the Head Start program for low-income children in the country. She was also an influential advocate of beautification projects in the Nation's Capitol and throughout our country.

Lady Bird Johnson's legacy has helped more than 20 million needy children since 1966 and her efforts have increased our country's appreciation for public space. Lady Bird Johnson was one of our Nation's finest First Ladies and she will truly be missed.

Madam Speaker, I rise today to introduce an article entitled, ``Challenges for Black Colleges' Brightest in the Lab,'' written by Samuel G. Freeman in the New York Times on July 18, 2007. This article is about a new program that brings gifted science and technology students from Historically Black Colleges and Universities in the South, like Morehouse College in Atlanta, to two major Research Universities.

Talented science students participate in an eight-week immersion program known as STEM which stands for science, technology, engineering, and math--career fields in which black students continue to be highly underrepresented. STEM was founded by Mr. Adam W. Herbert who became the first black president of Indiana University. There are 5 students participating in the program this summer at the Indiana-Purdue campus and at the University of Indiana at Bloomington where they join the research teams of renowned professors. The students get free room and board, a $4,000 stipend, and various development training sessions and lectures outside the lab such as writing grant applications and preparation sessions for the Graduate Record Examination. In exchange, the two universities get an inside track on recruiting highly capable blacks for graduate study.

I applaud Mr. Herbert, Indiana University, and Purdue University for launching this initiative to bridge the gap for blacks in the science and technology field. I am positive that this program will be successful in developing young black students by situating them to succeed in a career path that only a handful of African Americans have reached before. This is an exceptional commitment to the American values of diversity, equality, and opportunity.

Madam Speaker, I rise today to praise the work of Ms. Betty Bigombe who has worked tirelessly on the Northern Uganda's peace process for over two decades. Ms. Betty Bigombe's story was featured in the Washington Post on July 11, 2007 in an article entitled, ``The Woman Behind Uganda's Peace Hopes.''

Ms. Bigombe was the primary negotiator between Joseph Kony, the commander of the Lord's Resistance Army (LRA) and the Ugandan President Yoweri Museveni. Ms. Bigombe first started working on the northern Ugandan peace process in 1988 when Museveni appointed her as the minister of state for the north. Ms. Bigombe was called to action again on Feb. 21, 2004 after reading news dispatches of a massacre at a displacement camp in Barloonyo.

Ms. Bigombe contributed to the peace talks by meeting with Joseph Kony and his army and urged them to sign a peace agreement. While the peace talks in Northern Uganda are now being led by southern Sudanese mediators, Kampala officials and the LRA continue to regularly consult with Ms. Bigombe.

Ms. Bigombe has my deepest respect and admiration. She has put her life on the line and became the voice of nearly 2 million displaced Ugandans and 25,000 children who were kidnapped and forced to serve as soldiers and sex slaves. The road towards peace in Northern Uganda has taken personal sacrifice on the behalf of Ms. Bigombe. For instance, she has personally financed her operations while in Uganda and lived off grants. She found herself bankrupt in 2005 as a result. In addition, working on the peace process demanded time away from her family and loved ones and she often found herself missing birthdays and other celebrations. These are life moments that she simply cannot get back.

Ms. Bigombe and others like her should be celebrated for their bravery and contributions in bringing peace throughout the world.

Madam Speaker, conversations on this very important topic are necessary to recognize the consequences of criminally convicted U.S. residents deported to Latin America and the Caribbean. I commend Chairman Engel for taking an interest and exploring the challenges that our deportation policies have imposed on the region. I look forward to working with you and the Committee, as you examine this issue.

Recently, the Presidents and Prime Ministers of the Caribbean Community (CARICOM) visited the U.S. Congress. They spoke with several members and met with committees regarding the issues affecting the region. One major concern for them is the impact of thousands of criminally convicted deportees from the United States to the nations of the Caribbean. At times these individuals are repatriated without notice to the receiving country, regardless of the impact their arrival will have upon the societies to which they are being sent. The adverse impact of this practice is not only felt in the Caribbean, but in our communities as well, due to the financial burden it places on the families left behind without means of support.

The CARICOM members are not asking for a change in the policy, but adjustment to how it is executed. The CARlCOM members understand that residence permits are a privilege granted to non-citizens contingent on their good behavior. Clearly, the commission of a crime does not constitute good behavior. However, mothers and fathers are being separated from their families without making the appropriate provisions for the welfare of children who remain in our country. Those repatriated sometimes have no support units in their country of citizenship and are forced into a life of poverty, as well as stigmatized for being deported. In addition, the families they leave behind are left with huge legal bills or in situations where they have to fend off poverty. It is my contention that poverty is a threat to the national security of the United States.

The Human Rights Watch in their July 2007 Report entitled ``Forced Apart Families Separated and Immigrants Harmed by United States Deportation Policy,'' stated that since 1996 approximately 1.6 million families have been torn apart by the U.S. deportation policies. The top ten countries of origin for non-citizens removed on criminal grounds represent Latin America and the Caribbean. Mexico being the most affected of these nations; with over 500,000 Mexican nationals being repatriaed between FY 1997 and FY 2005. Haiti, the poorest nation in our hemisphere, is among the top ten with over 3,000 individuals being returned to that nation. Many parents explained that their children, the vast majority of whom had been left in the deporting country, faced extreme hardships, both emotionally and financially. These are American children that are forced into situations where they have to abandon school to support their families. These are American children sometimes forced to live in single-parent households or households without a parent. Ushered into a life of poverty. Poverty not only pricks our conscience, but it shortchanges our future as well. Society ultimately pays for poverty through a less productive workforce; more crime, higher use of welfare, greater drug addiction and other social ills.

We need to support initiatives to integrate repatriated individuals into their new society. Often they have spent their entire life in the United States and lack a support system in the receiving country. Recommendations that need to be explored include funding to expand or establish resettlement programs. These programs should be geared to setting up transition centers where individuals are afforded basic resources such as food, clothing and shelter. Job training programs and social service type institutions need to be reinforced in the region, since upon deportation, many of them drift into homelessness, and with no job prospects, they end up doing crime as a means of survival.

There needs to be the creation of a system to track and monitor high- risk criminal deportees. In some situations criminals are repatriated and no formal processing takes place in

the receiving country. In essence they are let loose into the community and there are no systems in place to track their movement in the receiving country. It is believed that there is a correlation between the increase in gang related activity in the region and deportees. These individuals often make their way back into the U.S. or form part of trans-national organized crime units.

I am glad to see that this hearing has been convened to explore ways this Congress can help our neighbors in the Region address this issue. Failing to properly reintegrating repatriated individuals is a challenge that negatively impacts our neighbors and threatens our national security.

Madam Speaker, I rise today to speak about the Second Chance Act which provides assistance to individuals who have been incarcerated, including the expungement of their records.

Individuals released from prison have no chance of becoming productive members of society because their criminal records prevent employers from considering them for jobs. This leads many of them to return to lives of crime. In an effort to change the dynamic of recidivism, we must remove barriers to employment--particularly criminal records--which hang over the heads of ex-offenders, even those who have been rehabilitated.

The Second Chance Act allocates $360 million towards programs that would help the ex-offenders adjust to their new environment after their release from prison. Focusing on four different areas: employment, housing, access to health services and families, it would provide a secure setting for the individual and make the transition easier, which would reduce the rate of recidivism.

Almost two thirds of newly discharged individuals return to their lives of crime within 3 years of their release. This signifies a great number of crimes being committed that could have prevented through effective programs, which is one of the components of this legislation. Billions of dollars are being wasted in the criminal justice system mostly because of the prosecutions of repeat offenders.

If we do not take the necessary actions to help these individuals, they will be trapped in the cycle of recidivism. We must take action to help them break the cycle.

Mr. Chairman, I offer an amendment.

Mr. Chairman, let me once again thank the chairman of the committee and the ranking member for the bipartisan work that they have put into allowing this great bill to reach the floor.

Mr. Chairman, I think this amendment is going to be a real win for America and a win for American farmers and a win for democracy. What it allows is that the people in Cuba can purchase hundreds of millions of dollars of goods from our farmers and be able to pay directly to U.S. banks without going through the red tape with the restrictions that we have on their visas and having to go to third countries.

Close to 50 years ago, someone came up with the great idea that in order to get rid of Castro and the communist government, that we should put an embargo on that country, which, of course, included food products that our great farmers are producing. Well, what has happened is that Castro is still there and we have gone through 10 presidents, and we are the only country that it appears as though has this embargo, which is truly ineffective.

Having said that, it would just seem to me that if we really want to win the hearts and minds of the people in Cuba, that we should make it abundantly clear that our greatest salesmen are our farmers, to be able to give food and nutrition to these people, and the money comes here and the food goes there. Hugo Chavez may be there trying to give them oil, but the poor people in Cuba can't eat oil. So this would open up the markets by hundreds of millions of dollars for wheat, pork, chicken, rice and beans, instead of having the Cubans go to Thailand and Europe, and indeed to go to Communist China.

Now, I know there is a lot of fear about communists, but if you take a look at our deficit with the People's Republic of China, if you see our exploding exchange with the communist government of Vietnam, give me a break. This has nothing to do with communism, very little to do with Cuba, and a heck of a lot to do as to how people are going to vote in Miami and in Florida as relates to Republicans and Democrats.

So we have a great opportunity to do what America does best: compete on the open market of competition. Let's try to take local and domestic politics out of it.

I know it is difficult, because those who oppose this, they don't like Castro. Well, I am 77 years old. Forty years of that has been fighting Castro with an embargo. Young people, that is not going to work.

If you want to get rid of Castro, let American enterprise, capitalism, farmers, food, liberty, justice, get that into Cuba, and that will bring the old man down.

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

Mr. Chairman, I yield 1 minute to the gentleman from Minnesota (Mr. Peterson).

Mr. Chairman, I yield 1 minute to the gentlewoman from Connecticut (Ms. DeLauro).

So, ``the chairman of the Ways and Means Committee said that this was a tax increase.'' What is this, Taxes 101? When you and other people come to me and say that we need to get this great bipartisan agriculture bill out, you didn't go to the chairman of the Transportation Committee. You didn't go to the chairman of the Appropriations Committee. You went to the tax-writing committee.

Now, when you say you want revenue enhances, when you say you want to raise the money to pay for food stamps, it means you have to get it from somewhere. If you're lucky enough, if you work hard enough, you will find that certain people are not paying their fair share of taxes. And you would find that they go out of their way to go to foreign countries in order to avoid paying the United States obligation.

I would be less than honest if I didn't tell you that as far as those people who don't pay any or little taxes, oh, yes, they will consider this a tax increase. Give me some language that I can call it something else. But I'm saying that equity and fair play means if you're not paying what you should pay and we catch up with you, you can run to your accountant and say, ``We gotcha.''

Now, I can understand how philosophically you don't like to talk about taxes. But just, Mr. Ranking Member, when your time expired yesterday, you said on the floor that none of us ever came to you and asked for the money. Now, I don't know where you thought,

when you asked me where do you go to get the money, when I say ``you,'' I mean you by name.

Announcement by the Speaker Pro Tempore

I agree with you. But anyway, let me thank all of you that thanked me for making it possible for you to get a bill out. And if something happened on the way to the floor, believe me, politically, I understand it. But for all of you who thanked me, we did the best we could. We catch the devil for it. But if you take a look at foreigners that are avoiding taxes and hardworking farmers that deserve a better break, you explain it; we don't have to.

Madam Speaker, I rise in support of the reinstatement of the military draft, which will ensure that the burden of war is shared by all residents of this great country.

All Americans should be given the opportunity to prove their patriotism. We should all share in the sacrifices being made by our exhausted troops. It is a fact that most of these volunteer troops come from economically depressed small towns and rural areas. As shown in a recent report by the Congressional Budget Office, children of society's affluent are the least represented class of Americans in the Armed Forces.

Sacrifices for America should not be made only by those who are less fortunate. The burden of war should be shared by all who enjoy the privileges and rights that our citizenship

grants. My bill to reinstate the draft would ensure that. It not only provides the manpower necessary to restore our exhausted troops but repairs the broken military. Furthermore, with a draft in place, decision-makers would be more cautious about sending America's sons and daughters into harm's way.

I believe our troops should be withdrawn from Iraq as soon as possible. But as long as our troops are there it will be up to the President and the Congress to ensure that the whole Nation, in some way, shares their sacrifice.

In times of war it should be the duty of all citizens to contribute to the effort. There is honor and pride in military service, but we do harm to our troops if we make them alone responsible for paying the price.

Madam Chairman, it's an honor for me to be here. I wish that we didn't have to mark up the SCHIP bill so that I could be here for the rest of the theater.

I have been overly impressed with the remarkable bipartisan work that Mr. Goodlatte and Chairman Peterson have been doing on a very complicated piece of legislation. And I was very surprised that, with their ability to, so-call, offset the expenditures of the bill, that they came to the conclusion that when it came to food stamps they ran out of money.

Ran out of money to such an extent that I was really completely taken off guard when they told me that the Ways and Means Committee should provide $4 billion to pay for the food stamps. And I admit I don't follow the Agriculture Committee's work as closely as I should have. But knowing that Republicans as well as Democrats wanted to make certain that 26 million people will continue to have food stamps, I said, where would you expect the tax-writing committee to get the money that is necessary to keep this bipartisan agreement to? I assume if you went to the Energy and Commerce Committee, you would be going there for energy. If you went to the Transportation Committee, you would go there for transportation. And I assume that we talk the same language, and the Ways and Means Committee is the tax-writing committee.

And when you said it was important to maintain this bipartisan agreement, I looked over the jurisdiction of the Ways and Means Committee. It wasn't $4 billion in Social Security. It wasn't $4 billion in Medicare. It wasn't $4 billion in training, though we were working hard to make certain to break down the barriers so that our farmers could go overseas.

So there is not one living person on the Agriculture Committee that didn't ask me to get it out of what? Taxes. Sorry to use that word, and I don't know who is offended. But we felt that we weren't going to raise individual taxes. We weren't going to increase corporate taxes. So I thought that common sense and political sense would mean that we would find out who is not paying taxes and bring that revenue in so that we can have a bipartisan agreement in the House and the Senate in order to do this.

Now, strange things can happen, and it appears as though it has. But I just want you to know that you can call it offset. You can call it revenue enhancement. And we call it fraud and evasion and equity and fair play. And it is coming out of the tax-writing committee.

I just hope you never come to the tax-writing committee and ask for relief and, when you get it, say you don't want tax increases.

Mr. Speaker, the Nation lost a beloved friend and one of its most dedicated environmentalists on Wednesday when Lady Bird Johnson passed away at the age of 94.

Much has been written about how the classy woman from Austin was a calming influence on our 37th President, Lyndon B. Johnson. When President Kennedy was assassinated in 1963, Lady Bird stepped in and provided comfort to the Kennedy family and a grieving Nation. When civil rights legislation looked to be stalled in the Congress in 1964, the devoted mother of two took to the road on her own whistle-stop tour across the country, defending the administration's policies and goals.

However, her most lasting legacy can be seen anytime you see the flowers bloom in the Capital or the colorful landscapes as you travel the Nation's roads. In addition to leading clean-up efforts of parks and natural habitats in and around the DC area, her advocacy helped push through the $320 million Highway Beautification Act in 1965. The Federal legislation provided money and other incentives to reduce the number of billboards and other eyesores along Federal highways and expanded local programs to plant wildflowers and other native plants.

Active well into her 90s, Lady Bird Johnson was a role model for future generations. She broke the mold of what a First Lady could do, both during and after the White House. Her achievements and efforts with the National Wildlife Research Center that she helped establish in 1982 expanded the Nation's interest in the environment, providing a foundation for today's current green movement.

Her activism and graceful presence will be missed. Yet, her smile and charm will always be remembered any time anyone looks at the beautiful landscapes and wildflowers that she championed all across this great land.

Madam Speaker, I would like to recognize, honor, and pay tribute to the significant, groundbreaking achievements of the talented Dorothea Towles Church, who overcame the many obstacles placed in her way to become the first successful black fashion model. She was the seventh of eight children, born on July 26, 1922 in Texarkana, Texas. She began her college education at Wiley College in Marshall, Texas, majoring in biology. However, after moving to Los Angeles to live with her wealthy uncle after the death of her mother, she transferred to the University of Southern California and received a master's degree in education. While present in Los Angeles, she began to generate an interest in acting but was discouraged by the lack of black actors in the entertainment industry. Instead, she became a model for black magazines and fashion shows in the area.

Dorothea Church's unprecedented success came at the young age of twenty-seven when she was vacationing in Paris to listen to her sister, Lois Towles, sing with Fisk University. Church's great beauty and striking presence were extraordinary. Her beauty and talent were indisputable and she made a breakthrough in the most famous and prestigious fashion market in the world when she was signed by Christian Dior as a high-fashion model. For the first time in her life, Church was not impacted by racial intolerance. Church once stated, ``If you're beautiful, [the French] don't care what color you are.''

Even though many racial barriers were overcome, Church still had to deal with the innate prejudices that many people had towards African- Americans. Church had been forbidden to model and display high fashioned pictures in predominantly black magazines. The industry's excuse was that it was meaningless to display such photographs because the black community was not interested in the clothing. Or perhaps they didn't believe the black community could afford such clothing. Either way, Church used her power and prestige and was able to open the door for other aspiring black models by extending her appearances in the white fashion magazines to appear in a newly founded black owned Ebony magazine.

Dorothea Towles Church, the gorgeous and influential fashion model, couture designer, and black activist, bridged a divide between the races in high-fashion that appeared to be insurmountable. Church was an inspiration to all African-Americans who ever had an impossible dream. After her death from heart and kidney disease on July 7, 2006, there has been a renewed appreciation of Church's triumphs and accomplishments. She was, and continues to be a perpetual role model who brought pride to her people and community and who continues to serve as an important role model to young women with dreams today.

[From the New York Times, July 23, 2007]

Obituaries: Dorothea Towles Church, Black Model in 1950's Paris

(By Eric Wilson)

New York.--Dorothea Towles Church, the first successful

black model in Paris, who discovered personal liberation on

the runways of Christian Dior and Elsa Schiaparelli in the

1950s, died July 7 in Manhattan. She was 83.

Her death was confirmed by Michael Henry Adams, a curator

at the Museum of the City of New York, where she is among

those to be featured in an exhibition called ``Black Style

Now,'' which will open Sept. 7.

Church's success was historic in an industry that had

resisted using any but white models to represent beauty on

magazine covers, in advertisements and on runways. Church was

responsible for breaking down some of those barriers and was

revered in France during the five years she modeled there.

``If you're beautiful, they don't care what color you

are,'' she said of the French in postwar Paris.

``I got invited out all the time,'' she said in Barbara

Summers's 1998 book ``Black and Beautiful.'' ``I was the only

black model in Europe and I just thought I was an

international person.''

Her easy acceptance in Paris was reported at home in black

publications, in articles about the designers she knew and

about how she once dyed her hair platinum at Dior's request.

But her growing fame did not eliminate prejudice on the

part of some designers. At

Schiaparelli, she once overheard someone describe her as

Tahitian. While she worked for Pierre Balmain, she recalled,

he would not allow her to borrow dresses for a photograph for

Ebony magazine, fearing that would offend his white

clientele. She took the clothes later on the pretext that she

would wear them to a party, and the magazine then

photographed them.

Madam Speaker, I rise today to respond to the Appropriations Committee vote on amending the Tiahrt Amendment.

Sadly, last week the House Appropriations Committee voted 26 to 40 on an amendment offered by Congressman Patrick Kennedy that would have addressed the current restrictions on the Bureau of Alcohol Tobacco and Firearms with sharing gun trace data. The limitation, known as the Tiahrt Amendment, which prohibits the effective tracing of the ownership of weapons, puts handcuffs on illegal gun investigators all over the country. This vote was extremely disappointing. It was a rebuff to all Americans, who desperately want guns out of the hands of criminals. Once again law abiding Americans were victimized by the political pressure of National Rifle Association lobbyists.

Proponents of the Tiahrt Amendment argue that removing the restriction is a challenge to the Second Amendment. This is just not true; the Second Amendment right to bear arms is not affected by a more effective means of identifying illegal guns. I support removing the restriction and I also support the rights of legal gun ownership; the key word being legal.

Tiahrt Amendment supporters stress that there are privacy issues involved. That is absolutely true. The privacy of illegal gun dealers is being protected. This means they can continue to sell weapons to criminals and Americans will continue to be hurt and killed every single day as Congress sits back and watches.

Mr. Chairman, I rise in opposition to the amendment.

Mr. Chairman, I rise in opposition because I'm supporting the spirit and the rule.

Let me make some things abundantly clear that this would not only not violate the spirit in which we are doing this, but 60 years ago Charles Rangel was a high school dropout on the streets of Lenox Avenue, and the only thing that brings him to this Congress is the G.I. Bill. And in my community, where only four out of 10 kids manage to finish high school, I've devoted my entire life in working with the public and private sector in trying to keep our kids in school, and giving them the opportunity to get an education.

The days that we think that education is a local issue are over. As we move toward globalization, it is going to be far more important for every

young person, every person in this country to be exposed, to get the education, and to compete.

This is not a question of Federal funds being used to start anything. The City University came and asked would I start a drive to raise the money, which they already raised $25 million, in order to do this. And all the office things that you're talking about, when you talk about archives, it means after I leave here. And I do hope that there would be an office there, as we bring people in to encourage people to get an education, to go into public service. I cannot think of anything that I am more proud of. I wish we had more of this type of thing.

And so it just seems to me, as you have seen fit to apply for an earmark here, that you understand what it is. I've been in office for 38 years, I don't need any accolades. My community has given me that. My predecessor served for 26 years before me. So I do hope that when you start talking about we understand that you can do this, but we're anxious to make certain that people don't want this, anybody that has given 38 of their years to the Congress, anybody that was able to go back to high school under the G.I. Bill when they were 23, anybody that spends his time inspiring kids to go to school, to stay in school, to get an education, to get married, make contributions in anybody's community, and the city college that stood on a hill, where I had no idea that it was a college when I was a kid since nobody in my family had gone to college, anybody that can get this Congress to support something like that, I would laud not only the success in getting it done, but the spirit in which it's being done.

I yield to the gentleman from California.

We have corporation people making contributions. The school does not exist. It will be announced in October. And I hope my Federal Government is a part of that, as I know my city and State are going to be a part of it, not because my name is on it. I would feel just as strongly about this if it wasn't. But somehow they feel, as some people do, that my name on it will drive and be able to raise the private funds, and so far $25 million has been raised. And I want my government to be a part of that effort.

The brochure is what is being sold to encourage people, including you, to understand what we're trying to do and what we're going to do.

Mr. Campbell, I would like to answer you. I would have a problem if you did it because I don't think that you've been around long enough that having your name on something to inspire a building like this in a school--it might be that it would be in order for you to get publicity and to get reelected. But since I've been here 38 years and have not really had any opposition from the other side, it doesn't serve any function for me, except to try to encourage people to participate with government, local government, teachers, in order to keep our kids in school.

So, I am proud of the fact that they're using my name in order to create this. And it's going to be created. As I said, if you had gone to the Web site, you would have gotten a number, you could have gotten in touch with President Williams, he would have told you we've collected $25 million, and that would be it.

So, not only do I not see anything wrong, but I wish more public servants that have the ability to do this would get involved in this type of thing. I think it's very important.

No. But I'm convinced that after you're here a while that you would find out it's the quality of service and what you have produced for your constituents rather than how long you've been here.

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

Mr. Chairman, will the gentleman yield?

I tried to make it clear, and I wish I had been better at it, that as flattered as I am that they are using my name, I am thoroughly convinced that the only reason they are using my name is the ability to attract funds to get this thing going. So for me to be able to remove my name from it, I would say that the $25 million that they raised was in bad faith, and the money that they intend to raise, that I would not lend my name to, they would never have done this unless I agreed.