Don Sherwood

Mr. Speaker, I want to bring to the attention of my colleagues a very important and significant economic milestone in northeastern Pennsylvania that will be celebrated in August. Procter & Gamble's Mehoopany, Pennsylvania, paper products facility, which has been in operation since 1966, will be commemorating its 40th year with an open house and anniversary ceremonies on August 17, 18 and 19.

The Mehoopany plant is the largest P&G plant in North America. It was the first paper products plant built by Procter & Gamble after the company's acquisition of the Charmin Paper Products Company in 1957. It is one of seven P&G paper products plants in the United States and one of more than 70 plants of all products.

I am very proud of the contribution the plant and its workforce provide to our regional and national economy. As a lifelong resident of Wyoming County, where the plant is located, I have seen friends and neighbors for the past four decades benefit from wonderful career opportunities and the ability to earn an honest, stable living at the Mehoopany plant.

The plant is a cornerstone of economic growth and stability in my region with its 2,300 employees and payroll of $175,000,000. In addition, there are another 4,000 people employed as suppliers and vendors. Plant employees live in six northeastern Pennsylvania counties--Bradford, Lackawanna, Luzerne, Sullivan, Susquehanna and Wyoming.

Procter & Gamble gives back to the people of the region with community and charitable giving of nearly $450,000.

The people of my region are very proud of the role the Mehoopany plant plays in providing essential products to the daily lives of our nation's citizens. Consumers in this country benefit from the fine array of paper products, including Bounty towels and napkins, Charmin toilet tissue and Pampers and Luvs Diapers. Products produced at the facility reach over 1,000,000 consumers each day.

I want to offer my congratulations to the employees and management of the Procter & Gamble Mehoopany plant as they celebrate their first 40 years, meet current challenges and look forward to the continued growth of the plant.

Mr. Speaker, I rise in strong support of this resolution for many reasons. But one is that I know we are achieving real progress in Iraq and Afghanistan. I know this not from government reports or media sources, but from two fine Pennsylvanians. I want to quote from an e-mail I received this morning from a constituent, an Army officer in northwest Iraq commanding the military transition team.

And he writes, ``There are many positive things going on over here that the American public never hear about. My little 10-man team contributed over 150 boxes of school supplies to the schools in my area. Other units purchased grain to give out to small villages. I am very proud of the accomplishments of U.S. and Iraqi forces and it truly is a shame that all of the news tends to be negative towards the activities of the soldiers, both American and Iraqi who are working very hard every day to make this country safe.''

I am very pleased and honored this summer to have an intern, Mike Wright, who is a soldier in the 82nd Airborne. When he arrived in Afghanistan in July 2002, the people had nothing: no schools, no healthcare, no paved roads. But in 7 months his unit helped build the first school and health clinic. When his unit came back to Afghanistan in late 2004, it was a different place. New facilities, factories, more electricity, and miles of paved roads.

When arriving in the village, he tells me his unit would be greeted by small

children, smiling youngsters throwing colorful plastic flowers at them. These examples are among many that illustrate real progress, laying a foundation for future peace, shaping the world where the terrorist message will fall on deaf ears.

Mike told me this also, ``The Afghani war veterans, the old-timers have asked him, why did you abandon us when the Soviets left?''

Today their biggest fear is that we will leave before the mission is done and allow the Taliban or other tyrants to take over. We must know that the Iraqi civilians remember 1991 and fear the same thing. We must complete this mission.

Mr. Speaker, I know that we are achieving real progress in Iraq and Afghanistan. I know this not only from government and media sources, but from two Pennsylvanians.

I want to quote from an email I received this morning from a constituent, an Army officer in Northwest Iraq commanding a Military Transition Team:

``There are many positive things going on over here that the American public never hears about . . . My little 10-man team contributed over 150 boxes of school supplies to the many schools in my area . . . Other units took up a collection and purchased grain to give out to one very small, poor village. I am very proud of the accomplishments of U.S. and Iraqi forces and it truly is a shame that all the news tends to be negative toward the activities of the soldiers (American and Iraqi) who are working very hard every day to make this country safe.''

My summer intern was a soldier in the 82nd Airborne Division. When he arrived in Afghanistan in July, 2002, the people had nothing--no schools, no health care, no paved roads. But in seven months, his unit helped build the first school and health clinic.

When his unit went back to Afghanistan in late 2004, it was a different place--new facilities and factories, more electricity, and miles of paved roads. When arriving in a village, his unit was greeted by smiling youngsters mobbing them, throwing plastic flowers.

These examples are among many that illustrate real progress--laying a foundation for future peace, shaping a world where the terrorist message will fall on deaf ears.

My intern from the 82nd also told me this: Afghani war veterans, the ``old-timers,'' asked, ``Why did you abandon us when the Soviets pulled out?'' Today their biggest fear is that we will leave before the mission is done, and allow the Taliban or other tyrants to take over. Iraqi civilians remember 1991 and fear the same thing.

We must complete the mission.

Mr. Chairman, I rise today in strong support of the foreign operations bill for 2007. The legislation before us is a fair and fiscally responsible bill that sensibly promotes U.S. foreign policy.

I would like to commend Chairman Kolbe on a job well done. He is an effective leader with a strong work ethic, a balanced approach and a remarkable knowledge and command of the subject matter. I have learned a great deal from you, Mr. Chairman, as a member of your subcommittee. As you leave Congress, I wish you the kind of success and respect that you have earned here in the House of Representatives.

This foreign operations bill is a solid bipartisan piece of legislation that helps our government meet our objectives abroad and in turn make America more secure. The bill is $2.4 billion below the President's request, but in light of the many domestic needs here in the U.S., I agree with the chairman that the allocation is fair. Tough choices had to be made to fund our international priorities, and I believe he has made the right choices in setting these priorities.

The bill provides reasonable increases in assistance to our allies in the war on terror, the Millennium Challenge Corporation, and international health objectives that fight the spread of diseases such as AIDS, malaria, and tuberculosis. It provides funds for Afghanistan, including nearly $300 million for illegal drug interdiction and law enforcement. The increase in poppy production in Afghanistan is of particular concern to the subcommittee, and these funds are crucial in curbing this very real drug problem.

The bill also includes assistance for Iraq. I know it is a priority of the chairman to fund Iraq and Afghanistan assistance programs in regular appropriations bills and less in supplementals. We are one step closer to doing that in this bill. This bill before us is an important measure that successfully fulfills our commitments abroad and as a result makes America stronger and more secure. I ask for its full support.