Floor Statements

Mr. Speaker, as one who grew up, went to school, still have strong family ties, social ties in the State of Arkansas, on the occasion of President William Jefferson Clinton's 58th birthday, it is with great pride that I stand to celebrate and to honor the life of the man who epitomizes the American dream and makes the Horatio Alger story become real.

Born in the tiny town of Hope, Arkansas, on August 19, 1946, President Clinton demonstrated from an early age the determination and vision that would ultimately take him to the White House and lead our country to a period of economic prosperity that has been unrivaled by any period in American history.

As a man who always fought for those who could not always fight for themselves, Bill Clinton after graduating from Yale Law School spurned

private practice and began a career in public service.

President Clinton began his political career after being elected Attorney General in 1976. He went on to serve as the Governor of Arkansas, and by the time Governor Clinton left Arkansas for the White House the State of Arkansas had been transformed from a State that faced large deficits and polarizing issues into a shining example of what government can do for its citizens when those in government put aside partisan differences in the best interest of what is right.

As America's 42nd President, Bill Clinton faced an even more daunting task, and in 1992, the American people were fed up with government. The economy was in bad shape. Unemployment was at a record high, and it was a time when many American parents struggled with basic financial decisions such as what holiday presents they could afford to buy their children.

By the time President Clinton left office 8 years later, he had led our country out of this darkness and into one of the brightest eras in American history, the lowest unemployment rate in modern times, the lowest inflation rate in 30 years, the highest home ownership in the United States history, and dropping crime rates in many American cities. Contrary to the bogus stereotype thrown at Democrats, he proposed the first balanced budget in decades, balanced the budget, and then went on to produce a surplus.

Since leaving office, President Clinton has continued his lifelong odyssey of working for those in need. Working from his office in Harlem, President Clinton has remained engaged on many social issues. Just last year, he brokered an historic agreement with four generic drug companies to provide low-cost AIDS drugs in developing countries. The world is a better place today because of the 58 years President Clinton has given us so far, and we look forward to many more.

We are pleased to hear that President Clinton is expected to make a full recovery from his bypass surgery. We certainly wish him and his family the best, and take this opportunity to say thank you, Mr. President, and happy birthday.

Mr. Speaker, combating terrorism has emerged as one of the most important U.S. foreign policy and national security priorities. The number of terrorist groups is reportedly growing and the technology to inflict mass casualties is becoming more readily available. The United States and other cooperating nations are confronted with four major tasks, namely, (1) deterring and identifying terrorists and their sponsors and supporters (2) weakening terrorist financial ability and infrastructure (3) making potential targets extremely difficult to be accomplished, and (4) containing damage in the aftermath of terrorist attacks. Given these priorities Congress and the administration should accept the recommendations of the 9/11 Commission Report as a guidance document toward effectively combating terrorism without diminishing the people's civil liberties and rights.

Combating terrorism requires government activity designed to gather information on, and restrict the activities of individual terrorists and groups seeking to engage in direct or indirect terrorist activity. This is a challenge facing the Congress as to how--in a growing age of globalization, deregulation, democracy and individual freedom--to institute effective communication between various intelligence agencies, information sharing across Federal, State and local governments and private sectors and the method of implementing regulatory and monitoring systems which will help deter, identify, and track terrorists and stop their activities.

Mr. Speaker, I rise in support of S. 2634 and commend Senator Gordon Smith and his family for helping to put the spotlight on this problem. I am happy to be the original sponsor, along with the gentleman from Nebraska (Mr. Osborne), for the second part of this legislation dealing with the mental and behavioral health of young people on our college campuses.

I was pleased to have our bill, H.R. 3593, the Campus Care and Counseling Act, combined with the gentleman from Tennessee's suicide bill to produce the Garrett Lee Smith Memorial Act. According to a survey described in the Chronicle of Higher Education in 2002, depression among college freshmen has nearly doubled, from 8.2 percent to 16.3. Along with depression, the number of suicidal students tripled and the number of students seen after a sexual assault quadrupled. Without treatment, researchers noted that depressed adolescents are at risk for school failure, social isolation, promiscuity, self-medication with drugs and alcohol, and suicide.

I agree with the gentleman from Tennessee relative to some of the parental consent language. However, it is a good bill that leads us in the direction of dealing with a major health problem. Again I thank the gentleman from Ohio for yielding me this time.

Mr. Speaker, I was unable to cast votes on Monday, July 19, 2004 due to official business. If I was present for rollcall votes for the following bills: 391 on motion to suspend the rules and pass, as amended, H.R. 1587--To promote freedom and democracy in Viet Nam; 392 on motion to suspend the rules and agree, S. Con. Res. 114--``Concerning the importance of the distribution of food in schools to hungry or malnourished children around the world''; 393 on motion to suspend the rules and pass S. 2264--The Northern Uganda Crisis Response Act, I would have voted ``yea'' to all of these bills.

Mr. Speaker, I take this opportunity to express and convey congratulations to Mr. Bruce Mims, my longtime friend and professional associate on the occasion of his retirement from the Illinois Department of Public Health. Mr. Mims started work in Public Health at a time when very few African Americans were engaged in this profession. It was also a very exciting time in that the Voting Rights Act had been passed, the war on poverty program was being implemented, health problems, needs and issues were being identified in a big way and Bruce was a young, energetic and willing participant.

I first knew Bruce as Executive Director of the Mid-South Health Planning Organization, a Sub-B Agency of the comprehensive Health Planning Agency. The Agency was a sister to the Westside Health Planning Organization, an agency that I ran. When the law for our agencies sunset, Bruce went to work for the Illinois Department of Public Health, where he became one of the foremost Public Health experts in the country and remained there until his retirement.

It has been a pleasure knowing and working with Bruce for all of these years. I congratulate him on his outstanding contributions and wish him well in all of his future endeavors.

Mr. Speaker, like thousands of others across the world, I was involved actively in the efforts to free South Africa. I attended many rallies, participated in demonstrations, walked picket lines, raised money and was very pleased as a member of the Chicago City Council to introduce the anti-apartheid ordinance that we passed, which prohibited the city from doing business with the Government of South Africa until such time as their policies changed.

So I am pleased to rise in strong support of H. Con. Res. 436, celebrating 10 years of majority rule in the Republic of South Africa and recognizing the momentous social and economic achievements of South Africa since the institution of democracy in that country.

Ten years ago the people of South Africa were given hope for the redresses of injustices in the past. When they held their first nonracial democratic elections to parliament in 1994, many South Africans were poor, hungry, sick and homeless. But today the people of South Africa and the world can say that progress has been made to improve the lives of South Africans and the conditions of the country.

Before 1994, 22 million South Africans did not have access to adequate sanitation. Now approximately 63 percent of

the households do. Also, more than 70 percent of households in South Africa now have electricity compared to 60 percent before 1994. Since 1994, 9 million people in South Africa have gained access to clean water, 1.6 million houses have been built for the poor people of South Africa, secondary school enrollment increased from 70 percent to 85 percent, and students now learn in a racially integrated school system.

Furthermore, to help the poor and to improve the educational system of the country, the Government of South Africa established nutritional and educational programs to benefit the youngest and poorest individuals in the country. And while we cannot say that all of the problems have been solved or all of the needs have been met, we can say with assurance that the quality of life for people in South Africa, for the masses of people, has indeed changed and that is a tribute to democracy. It is also a tribute to all of the struggles of the people who helped to make it happen.

I commend the gentleman from New Jersey (Mr. Payne) for his introduction of this resolution. I thank the gentleman from California (Mr. Lantos) for yielding me time.

Mr. Speaker, I want to commend all of those who have shown leadership on this issue.

I have been told that the only way that evil can triumph is that good people do nothing. I believe it was Dante who suggested that the hottest places in hell are reserved for those who declare neutrality and do nothing in times of great moral crisis.

We have all heard the atrocities that are continuously being heaped upon the people in the Sudan. It is time for us to act, and to act convincingly.

We have to ask ourselves the question, if not us, then who? If not now, then when?

I commend the gentleman from New Jersey (Mr. Payne) and all of those who have demonstrated great leadership on this issue.

We are here tonight to sound the alarm, once again, on genocide in Sudan. There is no room for neutrality in the face of the crimes being committed there each day.

Amnesty International has renewed its charge that the international community is not doing enough to protect women in the Darfur region and the refugee camps in Chad where mass rape is being used as a weapon.

Since 1983, more than two million Black civilians have died during the Civil War in the south of Sudan. That struggle was especially brutal for the civilian population: slave raids resulting in the enslavement of women and children, gang rape, ethnic cleansing, and the imposition of famine conditions for hundreds of thousands.

On October 21, 2002, the President signed the Sudan Peace Act which stated, in part:

``The acts of the Government of Sudan constitute genocide as defined by the [United Nations] Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of the Crime of Genocide (1948).''

That bill requires President Bush to certify, every six months, that the government in Khartoum is negotiating in good faith for an end to that Civil War. According to some sources, we may be close to a framework for peace in that region.

On May 12th The New York Times carried this report:

``A team of U.S. diplomats led by Assistant Secretary of State for Africa Charles Snyder is on its way to Kenya to help put the final touches on an agreement to end Sudan's 21-year civil war, State Department spokesman Richard Boucher said Wednesday.''

However, at the same time, Khartoum has launched a massive ethnic cleansing of Black Africans in Darfur, in the western region of Sudan. The same article in the New York Times reported:

``He said Snyder also would discuss with Sudanese officials the situation in the western Darfur region where human rights groups charge the Khartoum government and allied Arab militia are carrying out a campaign of `ethnic cleansing' against Black African tribes, forcing some 1 million people to flee their homes.''

Human Rights Watch and investigators for the United Nations have documented widespread ethnic cleansing and have characterized the situation there as ``crimes against humanity.'' More than 100,000 have fled the region and are now refugees in neighboring Chad.

As the seasonal rains begin to set in, it is becoming more and more difficult to move refugees to relative safety and to provide even minimal subsistence. Malnutrition is at acute levels in the camps especially among children.

So, while our diplomats expressed their ``grave concern'' to the UN Human Rights Commission response to the murder, rape and forced removals in western Sudan, the President gave his certification that Khartoum was negotiating in ``good faith'' to end the decades old struggle in the south.

If the President had chosen to withhold that certification, it would have instituted a program of significant economic sanction against Sudan.

How, one might ask, can the government of Sudan negotiate in ``good faith'' to end genocide in one region, and openly engage in genocide in another region?

And how, it is reasonable to ask, can our own government accept the notion of negotiating in ``good faith'' in one region of the Sudan, while conducting a ruthless genocide in another?

Mr. Speaker, only a short time ago we paused here to mark the tenth anniversary of the genocide in Rwanda. More than 800,000 died while the world watched, and did nothing. Once again genocide is unfolding before us. Those who have taken note have expressed their horror at what they have seen. But where is the public outcry? Where are the front page pictures? Where is the response of our government on behalf of the American people?

The ominous sign is that our government is willing to turn its eyes away from genocide in the West of the Sudan in favor of resuming oil production in the oil rich Southern region.

The genocide in the South was characterized by both racial and religious differences. The genocide in the Western region pits Muslim against Muslim but retains the racial character of the genocide in the South.

Mr. Speaker. In the name of fighting terrorism we have begun a campaign under the rubric of the Global Peace Operations. Even though President Bush has not formally announced the initiative, U.S. troops are now active from Djibouti on the Gulf of Aden to the Atlantic including Mali, Mauritania, Chad and Niger.

The question we now confront is this: is the slaughter of hundreds of thousands, even millions of Africans, terrorism? If our struggle against terrorism is truly global, can we be truly engaged in a global war on terrorism, and not engage genocide in Africa?

Mr. Speaker, funding for State Department programs in Africa such as the African Contingency Operations Training and Assistance program and the Enhanced International Peacekeeping Capacities have languished for years.

If we are to engage in a new anti-terrorism initiative in Africa, I would hope the President would consult with the Congress and with the Congressional Black Caucus as to how the struggle against terrorism will be shaped so as to protect the people of Africa as well as the peoples of the Americas, Europe, Asia and Australia.

Mr. Speaker, on June 24 the U.S. Holocaust Museum here in Washington took the dramatic step of closing access to its main exhibitions to call attention to the horror underway in Darfur.

Around that same time U.N. Secretary General Koffi Annan and U.S. Secretary of State Colin Powell paid a visit to the western Sudan. Secretary Powell expressed his deep concern over what he saw with his own eyes as an humanitarian crisis. But he failed to place the events in the Sudan in their proper historical context: the world is once again facing the onslaught of genocide.

When asked, Secretary Powell, speaking on behalf of this administration, was asked if this was genocide responded, ``Let's not put a label on things.''

Mr. Speaker, I would suggest that is exactly what we need to do. Our failure to acknowledge genocide in the Sudan led directly to the abdication of the G-8 leaders in their responsibilities to intervene to save the lives of tens of thousands of African men, women and children as called for by the International Genocide Convention.

Mr. Speaker, if America cannot remember the great lessons of history, cannot confront genocide, or if we do not count the deaths of tens of thousands of Africans as genocide then the days ahead are sure to be some of the saddest and most difficult we have ever confronted.

Mr. Speaker, I come to the floor this evening because earlier today I failed to pass an amendment in a Committee on Education and the Workforce markup. My amendment was a very simple amendment, very modest amendment. It was an amendment that would have allowed States to move utilization of their leadership funds for vocational education from 1 percent to 3 percent.

Now, I think my amendment failed not because it lacked merit. I do not think it failed because it was too ambitious, but I think it failed basically because of a lack of understanding and sensitivity to what I think is emerging as one of the biggest problems facing urban America today, and that is, the problem of individuals coming home from prison with no skill, little education, no training and virtually no ability to get a job, which sends them right back to the penitentiaries from which they have come.

We have become, Mr. Speaker, the most incarcerated Nation on the face of the Earth, the United States of America. It is hard to believe, but we have more people in prison per capita than any other country on the face of the Earth. Right now, as I speak, there are more than 2 million people in this country who are incarcerated, in jails and prisons. More than 640,000 of them come home each and every year.

Now, I will not even bother to go into why there are so many people in prison: mandatory minimums, antiquated sentencing laws, get tough on drugs, punishment that does not fit the crime; of course, lack of prevention, lack of education, poverty; all of the things that characterize individuals who are in prison and, of course, in many instances, race and ethnic backgrounds.

The realities are, if we do not do something to stem the tide, then this problem keeps recurring over and over and over again.

Last year, I introduced a bill, the Public Safety Ex-Offender Self- Sufficiency Act of 2003, along with the gentleman from Indiana (Mr. Souder). That bill calls for the building of 100,000 units of SRO-type housing for ex-offenders, people as they come out of prison because all of the studies suggest that one of the biggest problems that people have when they return home from prison is having a stable environment in which to live.

About 3 weeks ago, the gentleman from Ohio (Mr. Portman) and I and the gentlewoman from Ohio (Mrs. Jones) and the gentleman from Indiana (Mr. Souder) introduced the Second Chance Ex-Offender Act which is, in reality, a scaled-down version of our first bill. What we are really trying to do is to assist people to reenter back into normal life. It has nothing to do with getting soft on crime or being soft on crime, but it has everything to do with promoting public safety, with reducing recidivism, with improving the quality of life, not only for those individuals who return but for all of those with whom they come into contact.

So, Mr. Speaker, I hope that as we continue to move progressively in our country that we would take a different look at how we treat punishment and how individuals who have gone afoul of the law should have and must have a second chance.

Mr. Speaker I rise today to pay tribute to Mr. Eugene Dibble as he prepares to celebrate his 75th birthday on July 22, 2004. Mr. Dibble also known as ``Big Gene'' has been a leader and a pioneer in many areas since moving to the City of Chicago. He was one of the first African American stockbrokers in Chicago. In addition, Mr. Dibble demonstrated his business and family acumen by owning five businesses at one time and having five children who worked in those businesses.

In addition, to being a businessman Mr. Dibble was elected and served as a Trustee for the Chicago Sanitary District. Among Mr. Dibble's many talents has been his keen focus and vision on homeland security. Seven years ago, Mr. Dibble came to my office with a proposal for an Emergency Response Center that would be available in the event of a terrorist attack in downtown Chicago. Perhaps Mr. Dibble's volunteerism for the Red Cross, Salvation Army and emergency response teams in Chicago and Markham, Illinois prepared him for his leading role in being prepared for disasters.

Among Mr. Dibble's greatest accomplishments is that of a family man. Mr. Dibble has been married to his wife Jeanette for 48 years. Also, they are the proud grandparents of six grandkids and counting.

I ask that my colleagues join with me in commending and congratulating Gene and his family as they celebrate 75 years of his life. Gene may God keep you and bless you with many happy healthy years to come.

Thank you.

Mr. Speaker, in the late 1990s, the Government Reform and Education and Workforce Committees, held oversight hearings to examine the barriers to telecommuting and federal agencies' development and promotion of telework programs. It was then thought that the primary benefits of telecommuting were reducing traffic congestion and pollution, improving recruitment and retention of employees, reducing the need for office space, increasing productivity, and improving the quality-of-life and morale of federal employees.

These continue to be compelling and valid reasons for implementing agencywide telework programs. Representative Frank Wolf is to be commended for moving legislation that pushes agencies to increase the number of federal employees who telecommute.

Today, post 9-11, we are again holding hearings on telecommuting. We have another, very compelling reason to push federal agencies, and ourselves, to develop and implement the infrastructure and work processes necessary to support telecommuting. They are emergency preparedness and the continued threat of terrorism.

The question we must ask ourselves is this: In the event of an emergency, are we--this Committee, our staffs, and federal agencies-- prepared to serve the American people, if in an emergency situation, our primary places of work are no longer available to us?

You only have to read the General Accounting Office's (GAO) April 2004 report entitled, ``Human Capital: Opportunities to Improve Federal Continuity Planning Guidance,'' to know that the answer is no.

The GAO report notes that the government is better prepared to handle an emergency than it was before 9-11, but there is room for improvement. Federal agencies' continuity of

operations plans (COOP) address securing the safety of all employees and responding to the needs of personnel performing essential operations, but essential personnel make up only a small portion of the total federal workforce.

Neither the Office of Personnel Management (OPM) nor the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA), the agencies responsible for providing emergency preparedness guidance in COOP, have addressed workforce considerations related to the resumption of broader agency operations. While COOP efforts should give priority to the safety of all employees and address the needs of those who directly support essential operations, the resumption all other operations is crucial to achieving mission results and serving the American people.

The GAO report states that, ``Given that the majority of employees would be associated with resumption efforts rather than essential operations, considering this segment of the organization is an important part of continuity planning.'' According to GAO, continuity efforts should be guided by two key workforce principles: the demonstration of sensitivity to individual employee needs and the maximization of all employees contributions to mission results.

I introduced H.R. 4797 to push agencies to do just that. The legislation would require the Chief Human Capital Officer Council to conduct and evaluate a 30-day demonstration project that broadly uses employees' contributions to an agency's operations from alternate work locations, including home. The outcome of the demonstration project would provide agencies and Congress with approaches to gaining flexibility and identifying work processes that should be addressed during an extended emergency situation.

This Congress experienced a prolonged emergency situation when, in 2001, congressional office buildings were closed from 2 weeks to 3 months due to the threat of anthrax contamination. Congressional staff stayed home, or they were hastily relocated to nearby federal office buildings. A Congressional Research Report on congressional continuity of operations stated that although alternate office accommodations were in place, office computer and hard copy files in the closed offices, in many cases, were inaccessible.

The number and types of potential emergency interruptions are unknown and we must be prepared, in advance of an incident, with the work processes and infrastructure needed to reestablish agency operations.

In a world where anything is possible, we must be prepared for all the possibilities.

ACT Applauds Efforts To Ensure Continuity of Federal Operations Through

Teleworking

The Association for Commuter Transportation applauds

Congressman Danny Davis (D-IL) in his effort to ensure

continuity of Federal operations in the event of an

emergency, natural or manmade, by making effective use of

telecommuting. The legislation introduced today by

Congressman Davis will show that establishing effective

telework programs for the Federal Workforce will allow for

continuity of federal operations in the event of an

emergency.

The events of September 11th showed us that the Federal

government needs to be better prepared to operate in the

event of an emergency. However, an act of terror is not the

only event that prevents the federal government from

operating effectively. Recent events such as the anthrax

incident, the tractor incident, numerous weather related

events, and the events surrounding the passing of former

President Reagan have all but shut down the National Capital

Region. Despite this fact, the government has a need to

function day to day processes even in the event of an

emergency.

ACT feels that the legislation introduced today will serve

as a test bed on how to operate in the event of such

emergencies and provide a pilot for emergency preparedness in

the context of natural disasters in other regions as well.

The legislation will leave us better prepared to face the

next event, and will also highlight the many benefit of

telecommuting and will teach us what we need to do better.

ACT urges the Government Reform Committee and the full

Congress to pass this legislation into law. We believe that

the Chairman of the Government Reform Committee, Tom Davis

(R-VA) is true champion of teleworking and we hope that he

will align himself with this legislation.

ACT looks forward to working with Congress and with

Congressmen Danny Davis (D-IL) and Tom Davis (R-VA) to see

passage of this important bill.

The members of ACT represent a broad coalition of

organizations--from major private-sector businesses and

institutions to transportation agencies--but we all have one

thing in common . . . We are all working cooperatively to

make transportation work better by making it more efficient

and less costly. ACT members understand that addressing the

nation's transportation challenges requires investment in a

comprehensive multi-faceted approach--not just the way we

build our transportation systems, but the way we use our

transportation system. Through programs and services that

enhance and promote real transportation choices, ACT members

and their partners are developing innovative solutions

designed to ensure personal mobility, maximize the

performance, security and safety of transportation

facilities.

Mr. Speaker, I want to thank the gentleman from California for yielding me this time.

I rise in strong support of H. Con. Res. 422, concerning the importance of the distribution of food in schools to hungry or malnourished children around the world. This bill is a step forward in giving hope to many hungry and malnourished children around the world.

There are more than 300 million chronically hungry and malnourished children around the world, and more than half of them go to school on an empty stomach. Distribution of food in schools is one of the simplest and most effective ways to fight hunger and malnourishment among children.

Providing school meals to hungry or malnourished children increases and encourages attendance rates significantly, especially for girls. In developing countries, illiterate girls often marry as early as 11 years old and before the age of 18 may have as many as seven children. Studies have shown that girls who attend schools tend to marry later in life, practice greater restraint in spacing births, and have an average of 50 percent fewer children.

In a study by the International Food Policy Research Institute, it found that 44 percent of the reduction in child malnutrition between 1970 and 1995 was attributed to an increase in women's education, which shows what we all know: Education is one of the major keys in fighting poverty. So when we supply meals to school children, not only do we reduce illiteracy but we also help fight poverty.

I simply rise in strong support. I commend the gentleman from Massachusetts (Mr. McGovern) for his introduction of this legislation.

Mr. Chairman, I rise today in support of the Waxman/Maloney amendment. I am here today to speak on behalf of women's health and the integrity of the American regulatory process.

As a nation, we rely on the FDA to make decisions based on clear scientific evidence that have the best interests of the community in mind. Unfortunately, recently, the FDA's decision not to allow Emergency Contraceptive Pills, Plan B, to be available over the counter went against the opinion of the independent expert panel and FDA staff. Additionally, over 70 organizations including the American Medical Association and the American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists support over-the-counter access to Emergency Contraceptive Pills. We must reassure the American People, that the FDA's decisions are based in scientific evidence and made with their best interests in mind. American women must be able to trust the FDA to make the best decisions possible with respect to their health.

Emergency Contraceptive Pills, Plan B, are too often associated with abortion. These pills do not abort a fetus. They prevent a pregnancy from occurring in exactly the same way as other methods of birth control do and are 95 percent effective if taken within 24 hours. Physicians and other experts have indicated, in fact, that the availability of these pills over the counter would lead to a 50 percent decrease in abortion and unintended pregnancies. This could lead to 800,000 fewer abortions and 1.7 million fewer unintended pregnancies. This medicine could lead to a decrease in teen pregnancy. In Chicago alone, more than 7,500 babies are born to teen moms every year, 88 percent of which are out of wedlock. The availability of Plan B over- the-counter could decrease this by at least 50 percent.

Mr. Chairman, unintended pregnancy is so closely linked to other critical social issues: child poverty, out-of-wedlock birth, a well- trained and ready workforce and the encouragement of strong American families. We must do what we can do decrease the number of unintended pregnancies, and in the case of Emergency Contraceptive Pills we have the opportunity and the scientific backing.

Mr. Chairman, I strongly support this amendment and urge all my colleagues to vote based on science and evidence and not politics.

Mr. Speaker, I have always been told that life is filled with uncertainty. Therefore, we should always endeavor to do as much as we can while we can because we never know when the time will come when we cannot do.

Such has been the life of Michael C. Savage who recently died in a boating accident. Mike was young, 51 years of age. He was openly gay, had a partner of 15 years, was a loving son to his mother, Ms. Maureen Savage, and brother to his siblings, Chuck and Cindy.

Mike was the chief executive officer of Access Community Health Network, probably the most successful group of community health centers in the country. Mike worked on AIDS and gay issues in Chicago, moved away to Boston to become executive director of the Fenway Community Health Center, and then returned to Chicago to run the Access Community Health Corporation.

When Mike took over Access in 1994, they had nine sites. At the time of his death, he had grown the network into 41 sites and increased its annual budget from $19 million a year to almost $70 million, and they served over 160,000 patients a year. In addition to his full time professional job, Mike was an active member of Dignity Chicago, a community of lesbian, gay, transgender, bisexual and straight Catholics. He was also active with United Power For Action, Stand Against Cancer, and was a board member of the National Association of Community Health Centers.

Mr. Speaker, I have been around the community health center movement for many years; as a matter of fact, since its inception, and I have never encountered a more talented, energetic, visionary and effective leader, planner, and manager. It is indeed unfortunate Mike passed on so soon. Fortunately, he did much good while he was here.

Therefore, I express condolences to his family, friends and colleagues, and trust that Access will continue as the best of its kind in the Nation. We simply pause to say thank you to Mike Savage.

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

Mr. Speaker, I commend the gentleman from New York (Mr. Rangel) for his introduction of this resolution, and I rise in support of H. Con. Res. 144, which recognizes the tremendous talent and accomplishments of Dinah Washington.

I have always been told that music is universal and everlasting. Therefore, Ms. Washington's impact on music can be felt and seen even among today's contemporary talents. While Dinah Washington was born in the 1920s, her true impact on music began in the late 1940s and 1950s.

Ms. Washington's early focus was on gospel music and spirituals, yet she did not believe in mixing the secular and spiritual. And once she entered the nonreligious music world professionally, she refused to include gospel in her repertoire. She became a full-fledged pop music star by the late 1950s, giving her the title of the Most Popular Black Female Recording Artist at that time.

She was noted as one of the most versatile and gifted vocalists in American popular music history. Ms. Washington's talent lent itself to making recordings in jazz, blues, rhythm and blues, and pop.

Despite her passing in December of 1963, her music continues to influence artists today. In 1993, her memory and influence on music became forever as we remember she was inducted into the

Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. Her face became a symbol of soul as her voice does in her music, as she is portrayed in one of the black history commemorative stamps.

In closing, Mr. Speaker, I want to urge Members to support this resolution. I remember some of the titles of songs, ``What a Difference a Day Makes,'' ``Just 24 Little Hours,'' ``My Yesterday Was Blue But Today I'm a Part of You''; and forever in the annals of music history will Dinah Washington be a part of us. What a difference a day makes and what a difference she made.

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

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

Mr. Speaker, I am pleased to join with the gentleman from Wisconsin in consideration of this resolution, and so I rise in support of H. Res. 704, recognizing the NCAA men's baseball championship earned by the California State-Fullerton Titans. The Titans started 15-16, highly unusual, but they capped a memorable run to the 2004 national championship with a 3-2 win over Texas. Cal State-Fullerton's All- American catcher, Kurt Suzuki, hit an RBI single in the bottom of the seventh inning to put the Titans ahead to stay.

Despite the loss, Texas coach Augie Garrido, the Texas players and their fans should be proud of a well-played

season. By winning this championship, California State-Fullerton's coach George Horton and the rest of the Titans have a lifelong memory to treasure. Cal State's fans and the entire university community should be proud, as they are, of their team's accomplishments.

I want to urge Members to support this resolution.

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