Floor Statements

Mr. Speaker, I ask unanimous consent that my name be removed as cosponsor for H.R. 5289.

Thank you, Congressman Ross. Mr. Speaker, you know it is not very often that I come to this floor to speak on an issue. As a freshman Member, sometimes we don't come down and talk about issues on this floor. But I think it is very important tonight that we talk about this budget because budgets are a statement of our priorities.

I am going to talk tonight a little bit about rural America. I also want to talk a little bit about our Nation's veterans.

For those of you all who have never been to Oklahoma, I am going to tell you a little bit about my district. My district is in eastern Oklahoma. I represent 25 counties of a very rural part of the United States. The largest community in my district is Muskogee, Oklahoma, population 38,000 people, where my wife, Andrea, and I reside.

There are towns like Broken Bow and Idabel and Miami and Sallisaw, Wapanucka, Bromide, Bluejacket, some of the best people in the world. And let me tell you, this budget does not help my folks back home. I think it is very important that we reduce the national debt and we balance our budget, but we can't do it on the backs of rural America.

Once again, this year the President's budget slashes rural development programs. It freezes funding for rural education and phases out our rural health care grants.

In my district, it abolishes the COPS grant program which is responsible for putting over 200 officers on the street in eastern Oklahoma. We have a real meth problem in eastern Oklahoma.

We have a terrible meth problem. We had a lot of meth labs that were popping up and actually we are doing a lot about that. But we need more cops on the street. This budget cuts 200 police officers.

My good friend, my colleague from Arkansas, Mr. Ross, mentioned cuts in our ag research centers. Folks, 2 weeks ago I was in Lane, Oklahoma. There is a research center, the Wes Watkins Lane Ag Research Center, employs a lot of folks in my district, has a $3 million impact on the local economy. We are talking about salaries, 70, $80,000 salaries. These are big salaries in my district. In the President's budget that facility is set to close. And I know I am going to be working with my colleague from Arkansas to help stop that.

Here is another couple of statistics. It cuts assistance to rural manufacturers and small businesses by nearly 60 percent. In the State of Oklahoma we lost over 80,000 manufacturing jobs over the past 2 years. And we are talking about taking those investments away from small businesses. We need help in rural Oklahoma.

It also cuts rural health care by 83 percent, and not just in rural America, not just in rural Oklahoma. It also affects all of our veterans. I have got a big Veterans Hospital in my district in Muskogee, Oklahoma. And I get a chance to visit with our veterans all the time. And they talk to me about the TRICARE program.

One example in this budget is an increase in co-pays and enrollment fees for military retirees in the TRICARE program. So this country is saying to you, you go, you enlist in the service, you spend 20 years supporting the flag, going overseas, fighting for our freedoms, and we are going to cut your benefits. That is a wrong priority, and we won't stand for it.

Another thing we have got to think about when we are talking about cutting these programs like TRICARE. Folks, we are facing a recruitment problem right now. We are trying to get more and more young people to join the military. How can we tell those young people to join the Army, Navy, Air Force and Marines, how can we tell them to join when we are going to cut their benefits? There is a direct correlation to what we are doing in this budget to our Nation's Armed Forces.

And I stand as a Blue Dog, someone that believes in fiscal accountability. But, at the same time, we have got to make sure that we defend those priorities. And I stand with my colleague from Arkansas. I know we are going to have a few other speakers here in a minute. And with that I am going to yield back to my colleague from Arkansas. And I thank him for allowing me to be a part of this program.

As I mentioned before, I came down as part of the 30-something and gave a few talks, and I rarely come down. But this budget got me so upset, thinking about the people back home in Oklahoma, that I wanted to come to this floor and talk about these priorities. And with that I yield back to my friend, Congressman Ross.

Mr. Speaker, on rollcall Nos. 43, 45, 47, 48, 49, 50, 51, 52, 55, 59, 60, and 63, had I been present, I would have voted ``yes''.

Mr. Speaker, on rollcall Nos. 44, 46, 53, 54, 56, 57, 58, 61, 62, 64, 65, 66, and 67, had I been present, I would have voted ``no.''

Mr. Speaker, I ask unanimous consent to have my name removed as a cosponsor of H.R. 4099.

Mr. Speaker, will the gentleman yield?

Mr. Speaker, the last few nights I have been watching this 30-Something crowd up speaking at night, and it really inspired me to come down to the floor.

This is my first Special Order as a freshman Member of Congress. I hail from the great State of Oklahoma, and this is very, very important. I think the American people need to know about what is going on here in Washington, D.C. It is hurting my district. It is hurting all of us.

I want to talk about some of these programs that you are talking about that affect everyone from Broken Arrow and Idabel, if you are listening tonight; to Muskogee, Oklahoma; to Miami, Oklahoma; to Durant. Let us talk about the community health centers that the funding has been slashed.

The President's budget asked for a 64 percent reduction. We talk about Medicaid and the COPS program. We have talked about economic development in the rural part of America that is being cut. Even Start, which you talked about earlier tonight, is very, very important. Head Start funding, TRIO and Gear Up are so important.

Let me tell you, in my district we have a lot of young people and their families. No one's been to college, and these programs are vital for creating jobs in a district like mine. Because of some kind of offset for, as you said, a billionaire or someone else like that, people in my district are getting cut, people in Oklahoma.

I am one of the more conservative Members of our caucus. I come from a red State. I am the only Democrat in our delegation. The President carried my district with 59 percent of the vote, but I want to tell you, this resonates with all Americans, both Democrats and Republicans.

We are running up a huge national debt. We are paying interest payments, and it gets larger and larger every day. As we pay those interest payments, it squeezes out all those programs that are so vital to us, not to a Democrat or a Republican, but all Americans, especially in rural parts of the United States.

I want to tell my colleague from Ohio, my colleague from Florida and New Jersey, and now another Member

from Florida has joined us, I thank you for allowing me to be a part of this team tonight and to speak on these issues.

Mr. Speaker, that building block that we talk about, education, being ready for the work force is very, very important. Let us talk about going into the work force. This Republican Congress has talked about creating jobs, has talked about growing the economy and, at the same time, they are cutting programs that are very vital to creating jobs. Let me talk about them right now.

The small business 7(a) loan program is very important to my constituents. These loans are the most basic and most used types of loans of SBA's business loan programs. Under this budget, for the second year in a row, the budget eliminates appropriations for small business 7(a) loans and proposes to run the program solely through fee increases, substantially raising the costs for small business and lenders.

We talk about these rural communities again. They get out of college like at Southeastern in Durant or they are at NSU in Kulaqua, they have that degree, they are going for that seed capital. They want to start a new business. We have always been the party of small business. We have always been the party of Main Street, going out and striking out on your own. This budget slashes those programs.

Another thing, SBA business information centers, joint ventures between the U.S. Small Business Administration and private partners, they provide the latest in high-tech hardware, software, and telecommunications to help start-up and expanding businesses. They also offer a wide array of counseling services. Under this budget, that program is eliminated.

One more. Micro loan program. This program provides very small loans to start-ups and targets mainly low-income entrepreneurs. In 2003, this vital program provided $26.5 million in loans and an additional $15 million in technical assistance. The micro loan program enables individuals to become self-sufficient while creating jobs and contributing to economic development in local communities.

Under this budget, every single dollar is eliminated. Think about that. We are talking about growing the economy, we are talking about creating jobs. Right now, we are creating inflation, because we have such high energy costs.

Absolutely.

Mr. Speaker, if the gentleman will yield, I want to add one more person to that list, and that was my grandfather, who served in this body from 1937 until 1947 and actually represented the southern portion of my district. So we share a bond that we both serve in the House. Dad was in the other chamber.

But I talked a little bit about programs that are traditionally Republican programs, like what you would think of as economic development, creating jobs, these are really programs that I believe that Democrats support more than Republicans. Another one that Republicans try to talk about that they have the upper hand on is law enforcement programs. Let me just give a few statistics about law enforcement.

The COPS program, a very, very successful program. It stands for the Community-Oriented Policing Services program. It provides grants to help communities hire, train, and retain police officers and improve law enforcement technologies. Under this budget, it is slashed by $477 million or 96 percent.

Another program which is very vital to my district is the firefighter grants program. It affects all of our communities I know that are here in this chamber tonight. This program provides local firefighters with everything from trucks and equipment to the ability to pay salaries for trained professional firefighters, despite the fact that police departments nationwide do not have the protective gear to safely secure a site after the detonation of a weapon of mass destruction, and fire departments have only enough radios for half of the firefighters on a shift.

Under the Republican budget it has slashed the fire fighter grant program by $215 million or 30 percent.

We talk a lot about Homeland Security. I am on the Armed Services Committee in this body. We talk a lot about Homeland Security, we talk about being prepared for the next threat. Obviously with Katrina, that is a new threat that most of us probably did not even think about just a few months ago. How are we going to be prepared for the next disaster if we are cutting programs like these?

A budget here in Washington, when we craft a budget it is a statement of our priorities, and unfortunately the priorities of some Members in this Chamber have been for those who have, and have left those in areas like my district in eastern Oklahoma who do not have the funding to make sure that they can talk on these radios.

I can tell you a perfect example. Greg Walters, if you are listening tonight, he is a first responder in Sequoyah County, somebody I talk to every day, talks to me about his fire trucks. The Nicut Fire Department, they are having trouble getting funding for their trucks, they are having problems getting funding for their radios. If there is a fire or something that happens, and terrorist attacks can happen anywhere, they happened in my home State of Oklahoma. It is not just in the urban areas. We have got to be prepared. Again, we have got to refocus our priorities.

Mr. Speaker, I will just give my colleagues an example in my district. We have a terrible problem with methamphetamine. It is happening everywhere, it is not just happening in rural areas, it is happening in urban areas. We have places in Le Flore County in Oklahoma where literally this is infiltrating not based on socioeconomics, the rich and the poor, it is affecting everyone. And one of the only tools that we have to fight this scourge of methamphetamine is the Byrne Grant Program. Under this budget, it was slashed. Once again, when we have the tools, we have the necessary tools, it is taken away.

And I can think of the district attorneys and the drug task forces in my district that I have met with, the first responders who say, damn, we desperately need it. We need it in places like Heavener. And we are saying to them, no, we cannot do it because we are going to spend it somewhere else. I just wanted to give that example.

Mr. Speaker, actually, something that we are not talking about also, we are seeing all of these cuts, but at the same time there is a State tax increase there because you have cuts at the Federal level and guess who has got to bear the brunt?

I served in the State legislature in Oklahoma before I came to Congress. And we had all these things called unfunded mandates that the other side talked a lot about, these unfunded mandates. Guess who is sending these unfunded mandates right now? It is the other side. They are sending them back to State legislatures like my home State of Oklahoma. And they are not only going to the States. They are going to the counties, they are going to the municipalities, and it is going to be a tax increase for the American people.

Mr. Chairman, I rise today in support of this important very important reform legislation because it is an issue that is very important to me and many of my constituents in my district.

As we all know, the challenge we face in reforming the ESA is to create a balance between the important goal of conservation and preservation of our Nation's species and making sure property owners, businesses, workers and communities do not suffer unnecessarily for these efforts. Under the current structure of the Endangered Species Act, these two goals have unfortunately been at odds and have been a barrier to important economic development.

By reforming the current law, we have the opportunity to craft balanced legislation that brings all stakeholders together in common interest. I feel strongly that this legislation achieves that balance and, therefore, should be approved.

A community in my district seeking this balance is Durant, Oklahoma, which is in part of the ``historic range'' of the American burying beetle. The leaders of Durant have worked hard and have had success in bringing business to their area of far southeastern Oklahoma, but each year, the construction of new sites for these businesses is brought to a screeching halt, always looking for the burying beetle, but no presence of the beetle has been found for a number over years. This disruption costs the community time, money, and the potential for future job growth.

There must be a better way to balance the needs of the species and the needs of the communities. This bill provides important reform. It does not gut the law, but actually continues to provide important protections for endangered species which we all care about deeply. This reform should improve the recovery process and provide real success in saving our national treasures.

I commend the hard work of those who have brought us here today.

Mr. Speaker, I rise today to express my support of the 16th annual celebration of recovery month. All people are affected by addiction in some way, and it is important to celebrate those who beat addictive diseases and are now in recovery. Most people who know very little about the dangers of addiction suppose they could identify an addict if they saw one. Surprisingly, addiction can confront any person in any family, and this makes the joys of recovery all the more important. One mother whose daughter received treatment at Narcanon Arrowhead in my district said:

``I am the mother of five beautiful, intelligent and talented children. I gave up a lucrative and rewarding profession so that I could spend my life raising my children. I wanted to be part of every moment of their lives. As every mother does, I made plans. Those plans were for my spouse and myself and of course, our children. We want them to be healthy, educated and successful.

Six months ago, my days, hours, weeks were consumed with finding a solution to my daughter's drug addiction, which seemed an impossible task. My daughter fought her addiction and lost since she was 13 years old. It all began by harmless experimentation with marijuana and alcohol but she then fell into the drug trap battling an addiction to every drug available today.

As her addiction grew worse and worse my husband and I feared the day when we would get the call that she had landed in jail, or worse--she had died. Thankfully that call never came. In July of 2001 we gave her an ultimatum--either she seek treatment or we could no longer have anything to do with her. For 2 months after she was ``out there'' doing whatever she could to get high. I have never been that scared in my life. In August she finally agreed to go into treatment.

Thanks to the Narconon Program my daughter has been clean for over six months. She is happy and functioning and for the first time in a long time, she is stable. I never want any parent to go through the nightmare that I went through with my child and there are millions of us going through it right now. I am writing this to tell you that there is hope. Today I can honestly say that I have my daughter back.''

Stories like the one from this mother give me hope. I have hope for the treatment and recovery of the growing number of citizens in Oklahoma addicted to methamphetamines. Although the problem is daunting, with enough support and understanding addiction can be beaten! I appreciate what this month celebrates, and I am proud to share a success story from my home state.

Mr. Speaker, I ask unanimous consent to have my name removed as a cosponsor of H.R. 1376.

Mr. Chairman, I rise today in strong support of the amendment offered by the gentleman from Vermont (Mr. Sanders), of which I am a cosponsor.

It is very important that we pass this amendment to protect aviation security and safety. The service provided by the flight service station specialists is an inherently governmental function. It is important to the community of McAlester, Oklahoma, in my district where we have many, many people employed and not only to McAlester, Oklahoma, but to our Nation because flight service stations across the country are a critical component of our air traffic system.

At a time when we all agree it is critical to strengthen aviation security and safety, privatizing these jobs is the wrong way to go. While there is a role for the private sector to competitively provide certain government services, this is not one of those services.

It is imperative they not be turned over to a for-profit company. We should not outsource our Nation's air traffic control functions. The safety of the flying public should not be offered to the lowest bidder, and these highly trained and experienced specialists should continue to provide their critical service to keep our Nation's air space safe and secure.

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

I rise in support of House Concurrent Resolution 159, which proposes to designate the week of June 12, 2005, as National Military Families Week. I want to commend the gentleman from Arkansas (Mr. Boozman) and the gentlewoman from South Dakota (Ms. Herseth), the bill's sponsors, for bringing this matter to the House.

Today, over 280,000 of the 1.4 million soldiers, sailors, airmen, and Marines are currently deployed around the globe; and, of those currently deployed, more than 200,000 are serving in the CENTCOM area of operation in support of Operation Iraqi Freedom and Operation Enduring Freedom in Afghanistan. And I am especially proud of the men and women in uniform from my home State of Oklahoma.

However, times have changed since we drafted young, single service members. Compared to those earlier years, many of today's professional volunteer forces are married and have families. Today, there are approximately 700,000 spouses and more than 1.2 million dependent children between the ages of birth and 18 years, and those numbers continue to climb after each deployment.

A National Military Families Week will provide an opportunity to allow the Nation to recognize the sacrifices not only of those who serve in uniform but of the sacrifices that the families make as well. Military families left behind often face a myriad of challenges when a loved one is deployed. Fear, disappointment, depression, anger, respect, admiration, joy, and pride are just a few of the feelings that military families face during those months of separation. Many children will be born while a parent is deployed to Afghanistan or Iraq. Tragically, some of them will never know their parent who served in uniform.

More so than ever, military families are facing birthdays, they are facing proms, graduations, holidays, and weddings and other family events without their service member. So it is fitting that our Nation recognizes the sacrifices being made by military families and appreciate their contributions during a National Military Families Week with appropriate observance and celebration.

I urge my colleagues to support this resolution.

Madam Speaker, I reserve the balance of my time.

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

Mr. Speaker, I rise today to honor Vice Admiral Phillip M. Balisle, United States Navy, who is retiring after more than 36 years of faithful service to our nation.

A native of Idabel, Oklahoma, Vice Admiral Balisle began his career in 1969 as a Seaman Recruit in the Naval Reserve while attending Oklahoma State University. After attending Officer Candidate School he was commissioned as an Ensign in the United States Navy in 1970.

During the years that followed, Vice Admiral Balisle accrued an impressive operational career highlighted by command of USS KIDD (DDG 993), USS ANZIO (CG 68), Cruiser Destroyer Group THREE and the ABRAHAM LINCOLN Battle Group. Ashore he commanded NAVCOMMSTA United Kingdom and served as Director Theater Air Warfare and Director Surface Warfare on the Chief of Naval Operations' staff.

Throughout his career Vice Admiral Balisle has been a visionary. Examples of his initiatives and contributions are the conceptualization for establishment of the Afloat Training Group, the Joint Theater and Air Missile Defense Organization, the Joint Single Integrated Air Picture System Engineer Organization, the Navy's Distributed Engineering Plant, the Distance Support Concept and the Navy Virtual Systems Command. He also was a leader in the development of numerous combat systems programs and initiatives, as well as developing the concept for the Navy's newest shipbuilding program, the Littoral Combatant Ship.

In his most recent assignment as Commander of the Naval Sea Systems Command, Vice Admiral Balisle led unprecedented organizational change amid a historic time of overall Navy transformation.

Initiating a multi-phased approach to continual command transformation, he directed an unprecedented Headquarters realignment, including the establishment of five radically reshaped Program Executive Offices and the creation of a Warfare Systems Engineering Directorate and a Human Systems Integration Directorate. This realignment resulted in a 20 percent personnel downsizing--done without a single RIF. The Human Systems Integration Directorate is fundamentally changing how the Navy engineers its ships around the Sailor, shaping a new Sea Warrior skills based focus. He also established a disciplined Technical Authority process as a vital NAVSEA mission component.

Vice Admiral Balisle launched a shipyard transformation plan anchored by the ``One Shipyard'' concept to level-load our nuclear-capable public and private yards, mobilize and share resources, develop common business practices and stabilize the country's entire ship repair industry as a vital national asset.

He significantly changed the business model for NAVSEA's warfare centers that had been in place for decades, shifting from decentralized independent geographically focused business sectors to a corporate national warfare center enterprise. This included the establishment of nationally focused product area directors, along with work assignment executives and a retooled teaming structure that eliminates geographic boundaries and better enables mission execution and resource sharing across an integrated NAVSEA Warfare Center enterprise. Through these unprecedented corporate realignments, NAVSEA positioned itself to be an agile, responsive organization to meet the unpredictable demands of a long and challenging Global War Against Terror while supporting the development and construction of a transformed 21st Century Navy.

Concurrent and complementary to this organization and business process reshaping, Vice Admiral Balisle introduced to NAVSEA a reinvigorated, disciplined program to establish, preserve and revitalize the workforce and work assignment to support Technical Authority execution, the cornerstone responsibilities of the government to operate safely and as a responsive peer of industry. He significantly changed the Navy's contracting approach and vehicles for services and ship maintenance with the introduction of a nationwide Seaport services contract and Multi-ship, Multi-option contracts for ship class maintenance availabilities.

Central to all these initiatives, Vice Admiral Balisle established NAVSEA's Task Force Lean to put in place and accelerate the implementation and expansion of Lean and Six Sigma business processes across the NAVSEA enterprise, achieving dramatic improvements in operating efficiency and process execution.

Vice Admiral Balisle has been a foremost architect in helping to shape the 21st Century Navy to meet the needs of our nation in executing the Global War Against Terrorism and building and equipping tomorrow's fleet.

He is an individual of uncommon character and his professionalism will be sincerely missed. I am proud, Mr. Speaker, to thank him for his honorable service in the United States Navy, and to wish him ``fair winds and following seas'' as he closes his distinguished military career.

Mr. Speaker, I thank the gentleman from Illinois for yielding me this time.

Mr. Speaker, I rise today to voice my support for H.R. 1082, which will name the Vinita, Oklahoma Post Office after Francis C. Goodpaster.

Francis Goodpaster was a lifelong resident of Vinita, only leaving his hometown briefly to attend Oklahoma A&M and to serve his country during World War II. He was also a man who dedicated his life to public service. His service, however, was not only to the people of the great State of Oklahoma, but to the people of our Nation as well.

Mr. Goodpaster first entered service with the United States Postal Department in 1937. He remained in his post delivering mail to the people of Vinita until his retirement in 1973. In fact, his great service to the postal system and the people it serves earned him the position of Postmaster for the Vinita Post Office during the last decade of service. From what I am told, Francis Goodpaster put the ``service'' in the postal service, and he was proud to do so. In fact, I understand that several Christmases and several of those celebrations were put on hold in the Goodpaster household until all the packages were delivered to all the residents of Vinita. Again, this just shows the value that Francis Goodpaster saw in serving the public and making sure that his friends, neighbors, and community members were happy.

In addition to serving his community of Vinita, Francis Goodpaster was also a public servant for the State of Oklahoma. Upon returning from Oklahoma A&M, Mr. Goodpaster was elected by his peers to represent them as a representative in the Oklahoma State legislature. Having previously served in the Oklahoma legislature myself, I understand the respect that this deserves when the district sends someone to the State capital, and they did that with Francis Goodpaster.

Even more selflessly than being a public servant to his community and to his State, Francis Goodpaster was a public servant to his Nation. For a time during his early years in the postal service, Mr. Goodpaster served our Nation as part of the Greatest Generation in World War II. As a lieutenant colonel in the United States Army, he did his part to help ensure the freedoms that we enjoy here today. I feel that such selflessness should not go unacknowledged.

These are only a few of the many accomplishments in Francis Goodpaster's life. I could go on and on with many more examples of the great gifts of service that he gave to the State and the Nation, from filling a term as Craig County Commissioner to serving on the board of the Red Cross, to being a part of the State's Silver Hair Legislature for two terms. In the end, though, I

think that what needs to be said is that Francis Goodpaster was a good man who loved his hometown, who loved his State, and loved his Nation and showed his appreciation through public service. For this reason I believe we should now show our appreciation to him.

Mr. Speaker, I can think of very few people that are as deserving to have this honor bestowed upon them. Therefore, I urge my colleagues to join me in supporting H.R. 1082 to show our appreciation for all of Francis Goodpaster's public service.

Mr. Speaker, I thank the gentleman from Illinois for yielding time. I want to thank the Members of the Oklahoma delegation, the gentlemen from Oklahoma (Mr. Istook, Mr. Lucas, Mr. Sullivan and Mr. Cole), for coming together to support this resolution.

Mr. Speaker, I rise today and join my colleagues in voicing support for House Resolution 184. Just over 24 hours ago marked the 10th anniversary of the Murrah Federal Building bombing in Oklahoma City. We should never forget the lives lost and forever changed by the events of this day.

On April 19, 1995, at 9:02 a.m. while the building employees worked at their desks, the visitors walked the halls and the children played in the day care center, a massive explosion caused by a terrorist bomb leveled the entire north side of the building. In the end, 168 innocent men, women and children senselessly lost their lives as they were carrying on with their daily schedules.

The devastation does not end, however, with the sons and daughters, the husbands and wives, and the brothers and sisters that lost their lives on that day. Left in the aftermath were 30 orphaned children and 219 children who lost at least one parent. These, too, are victims of this horrific act. In total, 850 people were physically injured by the bombing.

In addition to the human loss, there was damage to over 300 buildings. This damage caused over 7,000 Oklahomans to be left without a place to work and left 462 residents homeless. With this in mind, my heartfelt sympathy goes out to all the families in my State of Oklahoma and around the Nation who suffered a loss during this tragedy.

I tell my colleagues that during the 10 years since the bombing, the healing process has been taking place in Oklahoma City, and the scars are healing in a remarkable fashion. The healing is attributable to the people of the city and the State who have shown their strong will and perseverance over the past decade by rebuilding. Out of the rubble and the heartbreak, they have built a beautiful memorial for all to visit.

Rather than allowing fear to keep them away from the downtown area, the people of Oklahoma City have continued the city's growth beyond the memorial. The area surrounding the memorial is now flourishing with businesses, restaurants and family entertainment. Oklahoma City and the State of Oklahoma could have given up during this tragedy, but instead, they became emboldened as they faced the difficult challenges placed before them.

This growth in Oklahoma City shows the strength that can be accomplished through the power of hope. My colleague, the gentleman from Oklahoma (Mr. Istook) mentioned that earlier. It shows Oklahomans' hope for a safe place to work, our hope for a safe place to take our families, and above all, our hope for normalcy after such a tragic event.

The great accomplishments that have been demonstrated by my fellow Oklahomans since April 19, 1995, should be an example to all those in our Nation and around the world who face adversity in their own lives.

The people of Oklahoma City deserve the recognition and remembrance that this resolution provides them. I am honored to give my support to this resolution which recognizes a National Week of Hope and commemoration of not only the loss in Oklahoma City, but the resilience of its residents.

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

I come from an energy State. I come from a State that produces oil and gas. It produces not only oil and gas, but it produces jobs for our local economy. And I rise in support of this amendment because it is a jobs amendment.

In the 1980s and the 1990s we saw a great fluctuation in the price of oil and gas. We lost some jobs and some of those jobs never came back. Even though today we have higher oil and gas prices, some of those folks that were involved in the industry never came back. That tax base has been lost, and young people are not entering into the industry like they were before. They are not entering into the PLM programs, the programs that are so vital to our industry.

So it is very important that we support this amendment so that we have more tool pushers, more roughnecks and more truck drivers in places like Oklahoma.

I would ask each Member to vote for this amendment.