Floor Statements

Mr. Speaker, I rise today in honor of the management, staff, and readers of Foster's Daily Democrat as they prepare to celebrate the newspaper's 130th anniversary. Since June 18, 1873, Foster's Daily Democrat has provided readers with credible, fair, and balanced coverage of local, state, and national news and world events. Foster's Daily Democrat currently serves residents of Southeastern New Hampshire and Southern Maine.

For five generations, the Foster family has operated in the public's interest by providing extensive coverage of the local community. The paper's thorough local coverage, thoughtful editorials, and the family's involvement in the community it serves have helped Foster's Daily Democrat thrive for 130 years as an independently owned and operated newspaper, which is a laudable achievement in an industry dominated by major media chains.

I commend the Publisher, Robert H. Foster; his wife and Editor, Therese Foster; their daughter and Vice President of Administration, Patrice Foster; and all members of the Foster Family and their employees for the service they have provided to their readers through 130 years of daily publication. I offer them my sincere congratulations on this momentous occasion and I look forward to their continued success.

Mr. Speaker, by most measures the United States is the most technologically advanced country in the world. One measure, however, where the U.S. is sorely lacking behind other industrialized nations is high-speed Internet access for citizens and small businesses alike. The United States is not even among the top five countries in these broadband access rates. In fact, we are behind South Korea, Canada, Taiwan and Sweden, just to name a few. The statistics for DSL, a form of broadband that uses the telephone infrastructure, are even worse. The U.S. is not even in the top 10.

The Federal Communications Commission has begun to see that regulation of DSL harms the ability of companies to deploy that technology. Part of the FCC's Triennial Review, adopted this past February, improved some of the DSL regulations. That should help make DSL deployment easier.

However, there are two problems. The first is that the FCC has yet to actually issue these rules agreed upon in February, and the second is that action in February is just a start.

The FCC is looking at whether or not to regulate DSL as a telephone service. The broadband provided over cable, satellite or wireless is not as regulated as telephone.

I urge this body to urge the FCC to move forward on this rule-making process.

Madam Speaker, 4 days ago New Hampshire lost an old friend. It went unnoticed probably between 2 a.m. in the morning on Saturday. The Old Man of the Mountain collapsed and fell a thousand feet off the face of Canon Mountain, and I know New Hampshire mourns the loss of this great icon as if it were a friend. We all got to know the Old Man of the Mountain very well. We take it and took it very seriously. I remember as a child driving up through Franconia Notch and always stopping to see the Old Man because it was really an extraordinary landmark. As recently as a month and a half ago, I drove down through Franconia Notch with my two children, ages nine and eleven, and we stopped for a moment just to take a look at it and get a quick photograph. Indeed, it was an extraordinary symbol of our State.

I have to say, however, that its loss was not totally unexpected. As long ago as 1880, people began to notice that there was some cracking and slipping beginning on this face, and it has continued to deteriorate over the years, and there have been organizations and groups who formed over the years to try to preserve it, but ultimately the day came when this 10,000-year-old rock formation which consists of over seven different ledges together to create this allusion of a face finally perished.

What does this loss mean for my State of New Hampshire? As I said a minute ago, the Old Man of the Mountain was indeed an icon for New Hampshire; yet it meant something different to each and every one of us. To some it was a tourist attraction, an important part of the local economy. As I said a minute ago, it was a childhood memory for me and my children and countless millions of other people not only from New Hampshire but all over the country. And most importantly, perhaps it is a symbol of what New Hampshire is all about and what New Hampshire has been for the last 200 years.

Indeed, those of us from New Hampshire take this symbol very seriously. The Old Man of the Mountain is on every single road sign of New Hampshire, every single license plate in the State. Highway tokens have the Old Man's face on it. The U.S. commemorative quarter for New Hampshire has the Old Man on it and the postage stamp which was created a couple of decades ago commemorating the Old Man of the Mountain.

I want to quote Daniel Webster, if I could, who served in Congress from New Hampshire over 200 years ago. He once wrote of the Old Man: ``In the mountains of New Hampshire, God almighty has hung out a sign to show that he makes men.''

We will all miss the Old Man of the Mountain. He is gone. But like any loss, his symbol and his memory will live on and New Hampshire will be a greater and stronger State as a result.

Mr. Speaker, I rise today to pay tribute to one of the many brave U.S. soldiers selflessly participating in Operation Iraqi Freedom. Col. David Perkins of Keene, New Hampshire, a community I represent in Congress, is the commander of the 2nd Brigade Combat Team of the 3rd Infantry Division. Col. Perkins led what has been referred to as the opening maneuver of the amazingly swift push of coalition forces into Baghdad.

On March 31, 2003, in a feint designed to draw the Iraqi Republican Guard away from Musayyib, where the division was to cross the Euphrates River, Col. Perkins focused attention on a bridge at Hindiyah, 50 miles south of Baghdad. The Granite Stater was reportedly ``unfazed by Iraqi soldiers shooting at him'' from the other side of the river as he told his men the bridge was not worth taking.

Col. Perkins then led a contingent of his men to the town's abandoned Baath party headquarters, where they destroyed a large weapons cache. In an historic event, just 4 days later, Col. Perkins' combat team and other brigades rolled through the streets of Baghdad.

Let the record show that I am enormously proud that a soldier from my District has played such a heroic and vital role in what will ultimately be the liberation of the people of Iraq from the brutal regime of Saddam Hussein. The world will be a much safer place because of the efforts of Col. Perkins and other fine men and women who risk their own lives on our behalf.

Mr. Chairman, I thank the chairman for yielding me time.

Mr. Chairman, I rise in opposition to the pending amendment, and I do so for three reasons.

First of all, the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration has promulgated reasonable standards which will take effect in 2005 to increase the efficiency of SUVs and light trucks.

Secondly, this is no time, with a fragile economy, to be slapping an unreasonable Federal mandate on manufacturing. Manufacturing has been on the decline in this country now since the mid-1980s, and I think it is totally inappropriate to do that.

Thirdly, I hear from the proponents of this amendment that there are 13 or 12 readily available technologies that can be implemented without any difficulty or additional cost. My answer to that is, they will do it anyway. I have never heard of anybody promoting the sale of a vehicle because it consumes more energy. The fact is that the automobile companies want to make vehicles as efficient as they can possibly be, and they will do so and they will adopt these new efficiencies and they will do so under the rules that will be promulgated by the National Traffic Highway Safety Administration.

So I think what is going on now is reasonable, and I urge opposition of the pending amendment.

Mr. Speaker, I rise today to honor the contributions made by the Friends of Norris Cotton Cancer Center in Lebanon, New Hampshire.

Whereas the Friends of Norris Cotton Cancer Center began in 1982, when a group of civic-minded citizens, all friends of Senator Norris Cotton, founded an organization to support Norris Cotton Cancer Center, which was established in 1972, through the efforts of Senator Norris Cotton and Dr. Frank Lane.

Whereas the Friends of Norris Cotton Cancer Center have lived up to their stated purpose to promote the welfare of the Cancer Center at Dartmouth-Hitchcock Medical Center during the past two decades.

Whereas the Friends of Norris Cotton Cancer Center have adopted the Audrey Prouty Century Ride & Fitness Walk as its signature fundraiser.

Whereas the Prouty first began 22 years ago when four nurses rode 100 miles through the White Mountains of New Hampshire as a tribute to one patient's courage in her battle with ovarian cancer.

Whereas last year's proceeds from the Prouty enabled Norris Cotton Cancer Center researchers to continue their work assessing a person's genetic risk for cancer, developing new and better medications to fight the disease, and advancing basic science investigations critical to finding a cure for cancer.

Whereas the recent purchase of an Agilent Microarray System, a powerful weapon in the war against cancer, was made possible through the work of the Friends of Norris Cotton Cancer Center has made possible the identification of previously unidentified targets within tumors and the development of novel drugs to attack and hopefully kill these tumors.

Whereas the continued fundraising efforts of the Friends of Norris Cotton Cancer Center through the Prouty and other venues will most assuredly translate into even more discoveries in the search for a cure for cancer.

Therefore I invite my colleagues in the House of Representatives to join me in extending heartfelt appreciation and admiration to the Friends for their contributions towards the cure for cancer in our lifetime.

Mr. Speaker, I rise to recognize my constituent, Mr. Wendell Taylor Butler and the contribution he made to our country during World War II as a contributor to the Manhattan District Project.

On January 19, 1942, President Franklin D. Roosevelt, approved a top- secret effort to produce an atomic weapon. An unprecedented alliance of industry, academia and government was formed, and in just twenty-seven months, the atomic bomb was produced. Over 140,000 men and women, both civilian and military, worked together in secret communities throughout the United States. Relatives could not even be trusted with the knowledge of their whereabouts or the type of work they were doing. These individuals represent the ingenuity, determination, and patriotic commitment that led our Nation to victory in World War II.

Mr. Butler was employed at Linde Air Products in Tonawanda, New York. This particular facility was used by the government for laboratory and pilot plant studies for uranium separation. The work accomplished at his location was vital for the successful completion of the project.

I ask my colleagues to join me in honoring Mr. Wendell Taylor Butler and the other men and women who remained at home to design, develop, and implement the discoveries of the Manhattan Project. Their dedication and devotion to our national security allowed them to carry out one of the most epic engineering

and industrial ventures in our Nation's illustrious history.

Mr. Speaker, I was regrettably absent on Tuesday, February 25, 2003, and consequently missed a recorded vote on H. Res. 98. Had I been present, I would have voted ``yea'' on rollcall vote No. 33.

And I was also regrettably absent for the recorded vote on H. Res. 46. Had I been present, I would have voted ``yea'' on rollcall vote No. 34.

I have come to the floor today to compliment the Committee on an excellent job balancing all the very important programs in the Omnibus Appropriations bill and particularly the Chapter of the bill that includes the matters that relate to the jurisdiction of the VA/HUD Subcommittee. I know the spending limitations necessarily imposed on the Subcommittee do not permit the Chairman and other members to address each and every issue as fully as they would like, but nonetheless the chairman has achieved a balanced and good result. I want to extend this praise to Chairman Walsh and the other members of the subcommittee.

Earlier this year, a number of Members contacted the Subcommittee to express the view that the Veterans Health Administration be as proactive as possible to help ensure that disabled veterans have the most advanced prosthetic and sensory aids devices made available to them, as would be medically appropriate. I want to strongly associate myself with those views and in that regard, I was pleased to see that the committee approved the Administration's fiscal year 2003 budget request for $739.1 million for prosthetic and sensory aids devices providing an increase of $60.3 million over last year's level. I am also most appreciative of the report language the committee included on this subject.

One of the exciting new prosthetic and sensory aids devices known as the IBOT was invented in my home State of New Hampshire. It is a mobility device that climbs stairs, traverses all-terrain, and balances the seated user at standing eye-level. It would be my view that some portion--at least 1 percent--of the approximately 25,000 veterans with service-connected spinal cord injuries should have access to this advanced mobility device. In fact, at the request of Congress, the VHA conducted a study of this mobility device last year that concluded with the finding that ``the subjects were unanimous in their recommendation that the Veterans Health Administration should provide IBOTS to veterans'' and that ``the IBOT could improve integration and work performance.'' Additionally as Secretary Principi has established a priority of ``restoring the capability of disabled veterans to the extent possible'' it is my expectation that such devices will be actively considered and provided to disabled veterans as medically appropriate.

It is my view and the view of Members who I have discussed this matter with the Department should aggressively pursue making this mobility device and other state of the art assistive technologies available to veterans with disabilities as medically appropriate. I should state further that it is my intention to work with the Department and with Chairman Walsh over the next year to ensure that the Department does pursue this matter appropriately.

Mr. Speaker, today, Congress is failing to protect America's wildlife by shortchanging the State Wildlife Grants program. As many know, I am a strong and consistent supporter of this program, which works to preserve wildlife and save endangered species. Last year, I joined 57 colleagues in recommending $150 million in funding. Regrettably, the Fiscal Year 2003 omnibus legislation dramatically decreasing the spending level supported by the House last July.

Restoration of previous funding levels for the State Wildlife Grants program, translates into greater protection of endangered species. In particular, 78 species in New Hampshire are threatened, endangered or classified as a ``species of concern.'' These include the Karner Blue butterfly, Piping Plover, and Blanding's turtle. Through the State Wildlife Grant program, the New Hampshire Fish and Game Department is able to monitor viability and health. States that monitor wildlife in a comprehensive manner are able to identify and heal declining species that, unchecked, would require ``emergency room'' care to avoid their extinction. Clearly, preventive measures save the wildlife and also taxpayer dollars eventually required for heroic measures.

In 2000, when 315 of my House colleagues and I passed the Conservation and Reinvestment Act, we did not foresee the dramatic cuts to the State Wildlife Grants program. Today, we can and should commit more resources for national conservation efforts.

Mr. Speaker, in 1965, David B. Harrity began his career with the Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) in Philadelphia, providing assistance to HUD's customers throughout Pennsylvania and southern New Jersey. In 1971, he became the first Low Rent Housing Specialist in New England, working in the Boston Regional Office with all six of the states' Housing Authorities. When HUD created the Executive Identification and Development Program in 1974, David was one of twenty-one individuals selected from a nationwide competition of more than 700 to participate in the Leadership Training. Following completion and receipt of a certificate from the Urban Executive Program of the Sloan Management School at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, David was appointed Special Assistant to the Regional Administrator in 1975.

In 1978, David continued to serve the Department as the Director of Housing Development and Management of the Hartford, Connecticut, HUD Field Office. In this capacity, he led a team of staff professionals who worked closely with HUD customers, providing mortgage insurance, housing subsidies, and management oversight of housing. Responding to local need in 1988, David joined the Connecticut Department of Housing, where he administered HUD's Section 8 Existing Certificate and the Small Cities Community Development Block Grant Programs.

In October of 1992, HUD Secretary Jack Kemp appointed David as Manager of the Manchester office, where David brought his customer- oriented ``can-do'' attitude to assist customers and clients in New Hampshire, Maine, and Vermont. Despite the numerous reorganizations of the Department, his approach has always been to support and work with local officials to maximize HUD's program benefits for the 234 cities and towns in New Hampshire. Although the representative of a federal agency, David instilled in staff a willingness to accommodate local officials and administer HUD's programs in a manner best meeting local needs. An affirmation of his leadership skills is the recent Quality Management Review. Conducted by peers from HUD offices nationwide, the Review resulted in one of the highest overall ratings of any HUD office.

David's philosophy of giving to the community is reflected in his other activities. He is President of the Board of Directors of ``The CareGivers, Inc.,'' a nonprofit organization whose mission if ``helping the frail, elderly and disabled to maintain their independence and dignity.'' In addition, David is the past President of the NH Federal Executive Association as well as an ``Ambassador'' of the Greater Manchester Chamber of Commerce. Furthermore, he is a Class of 2000 graduate of ``Leadership Manchester'' a program administered by the Chamber to increase understanding, coordination, and cooperation amongst community leaders. Finally, David serves as a ``Granite State Ambassador,'' greeting visitors at the NH Information Kiosks in both the airport and Downtown Manchester, and as a Board of Director of the Manchester Rotary Club.