Floor Statements

Mr. Speaker, I rise today to recognize a cultural treasure in my district, the North Jersey Philharmonic Glee Club, as they celebrate their long and distinguished history on Saturday, June 19, 2004, with their 65th Anniversary Concert, ``The Sounds of Broadway.''

The North Jersey Philharmonic Glee Club remains dedicated to the preservation of male choral singing in America. Its members are unpaid, drawn to participation through their love of choral music alone.

Formed in 1939, the North Jersey Philharmonic Glee Club is one of the oldest all male singing groups in the Mid-Atlantic States. The group performs a wide variety of music, but maintains a focus on African American and European Classical music for the majority of its repertoire.

The group's performances reach audiences throughout New Jersey in schools, colleges and universities, churches, nursing homes, hospitals, health centers, community centers, and countless other venues where people gather to enjoy the rich culture of our State.

During the Post-World War II era, the Glee Club regularly performed on WNJR radio, and in one of its more memorable performances of that period, the chorus shared the stage with the great Paul Robeson. During the 70s and 80s, the Glee Club's performances paying tribute to African American composers were regularly featured on Suburban Cable (now Comcast) and the New Jersey Network (NJN).

Most recently, the Glee Club has appeared in programs that included Harry Belafonte, Smokey Robinson, Ben Vereen, Savion Glover, and gospel legend Shirley Caesar. They have performed at the White House, Lincoln Center, the New Jersey Performing Arts Center (NJPAC), the Smithsonian Institution, the National Cathedral, Riverside Church, the Schomberg Center in New York City, and the Cathedral Basilica of the Sacred Heart in my home town of Newark.

Mr. Speaker, please join me in extending thanks to the North Jersey Philharmonic Glee Club for their contributions to the cultural life of our community, and I invite my colleagues to join me in sending our congratulations as they celebrate 65 years of musical excellence.

Mr. Speaker, I rise today to recognize the 2004 Project GRAD Newark Graduating Scholars. Tonight, more than 300 individuals will gather to honor more than 75 Project GRAD Scholars, graduating from Malcolm X Shabazz and Central High Schools, located in my district's South and Central Wards. These outstanding students will be recognized for having met, maintained, and exceeded strict academic performance standards, and will be awarded a $6,000 college scholarship.

Project GRAD Newark is a nonprofit, educational support organization that focuses on building the capacity of participating Newark public schools to improve student achievement. Their mission is to ensure a quality education for children in the most challenging, economically disadvantaged public schools in my hometown of Newark, New Jersey, and to support them as the graduate high school, and prepare for, attend, and graduate from college.

Project GRAD Newark was created in 1998 through the support of Ford Foundation and Lucent Technologies Foundation. The GRAD model originated in Houston, Texas in 1989, as a scholarship incentive program to encourage urban school students to graduate high school. Today, it works with a feeder pattern of schools--a high school and the middle and elementary schools that feed students to that high school. This method ensures curricular and programmatic consistency from kindergarten to 12th grade. PGN began implementation of the GRAD model in the Malcolm X Shabazz High School feeder pattern in 1998 and announced implementation in the Central High School feeder in 2000.

PGN serves two feeder patterns comprised of 8,600 students throughout 16 Newark Public Schools. Nationally, Project GRAD serves over 135,000 students in 217 schools across the country.

The results are unmistakable: according to preliminary evaluations, PGN students significantly outperformed their non-PGN peers in math and reading during their first and second years of the model's implementation. On-time graduation rates have increased from 56 percent in 2001 to 76 percent in 2003. 95 percent of GRAD Scholars who graduated in 2003 from Shabazz High School are enrolled in college, and our first class of GRAD Scholars will graduate this year from the Central High School feeder pattern.

As a former teacher, I stand before you today with pride. Project GRAD Newark is

reaching students and challenging them to fulfill their academic potential. They are cultivating future leaders, who may someday stand where I do today.

Mr. Speaker, I commend to you these dedicated students, and I invite my colleagues to join me in congratulating them on their past achievements, encouraging them in their future endeavors, and supporting the successful Project GRAD Newark program as they continue to serve the students in my district.

Mr. Speaker, it gives me great pleasure to honor Bishop Russell Scott as he celebrates his 100th birthday at a party in his honor at the Galloping Hill Caterers on Saturday, July 3, 2004. To live a century is indeed a significant event; to accomplish so much during that time is truly outstanding.

As a member of Glad Tidings Pentecostal Tabernacle Church, Bishop Scott established himself as an integral part of the church. He served as Superintendent of the Sunday School, a Deacon, Church Clerk and Treasurer. He went on to become Pastor and later, a Bishop. Since he was a mason by training, Bishop Scott supervised the building of the new church edifice which was completed and dedicated on March 20, 1960. Bishop Scott has since retired but still serves as overseer prelate.

In addition to the contributions made to his church, Bishop Scott was active in the community and has received many certificates for his involvement. They include certificates from the Essex County Probation Department, the Cornell Center Chapel Service, the U.S. Department of Commerce, Senior Citizen Nutrition Site in Orange, NJ and a certificate as former Tour Host for Trinity Travel and Tours Abroad to Israel. Bishop Scott also served as President of the United Clergy of Vauxhall and Vicinity. He received his theological and divinity degrees from Miller University.

Bishop Scott is indeed blessed to join a very exclusive club of centenarians. I am delighted to wish him well as he celebrates this occasion. I know that my colleagues join me in sending best wishes for continued health and happiness to Bishop Russell Scott on his 100th birthday.

Mr. Speaker, I am proud to rise today to recognize an outstanding member of my community, Mr. Michael Roccia. For 63 years, he has been fighting to improve the working conditions and lives of American workers. He has spent 32 years with Local 262 in New Jersey, and has served our community well.

He was Shop Chairman for Local 305, CIO from 1940-1969. During that time he organized 500 employees of the L.S. Branch Co. for Playthings, Jewelry, and Novelty Workers, CIO Local 305. When Local 305 became Local 301, he became General Organizer, and when that merged with Local 262, he continued to work, serving as Business Agent for as many as twenty shops. He would go on to serve as Local 262's General Organizer, and eventually became their President. He has been Vice President of both the IUC and the RWDSU, and has served on the Advisory Committee of the UFCW.

Mr. Roccia has lived the life of a worker and an activist. He has labored on an assembly line, organized workers, walked the picket line, negotiated contracts, handled grievances, argued arbitrations, and fought for health and welfare plans. He has led and inspired the men and women of Local 262 in New Jersey to commit to activism, working early in the morning and late at night to improve labor conditions for all workers.

In his own words, ``The work of a good trade unionist can never be a 9 to 5 job--never an 8 hour day.''

I salute Mr. Roccia, the oldest officer in his Union, for his lifelong commitment to serving others. I am proud to have him in my district, and I am honored to call him my neighbor.

Mr. Speaker, please join me in extending my thanks to Michael Roccia, and I invite my colleagues to join me in wishing him health and happiness throughout his well-deserved retirement.

Mr. Speaker, it is with sorrow that I inform my colleagues of the sudden and untimely passing of Glenn Cunningham. Mr. Cunningham was a longtime public servant. He was Mayor of Jersey City, New Jersey, a significant part of my congressional district. He also served as a member of the New Jersey State Senate. Mayor/State Senator Cunningham was the proverbial public servant. His career in the public arena spanned more than three decades. He was truly a man of the people.

Over the years, I had the privilege of working with Glenn on issues of shared interest, as our careers paralleled each other's. I was delighted when Glenn was elected to his first office as a Hudson County Freeholder in 1975, and then watched with pride as he moved forward in his career to become elected to the Jersey City Municipal Council in 1981 and re-elected in 1985 and became President of the Jersey City Municipal Council. In 1996, Glen was appointed by President Clinton to become the first African American U.S. Marshall from the state of New Jersey. In 2001, Glenn was elected the first African American Mayor of Jersey City, and last year Mayor Cunningham was elected State Senator for the 31st District.

Glenn was especially proud of his military and law enforcement experience, having served with honor as a United States Marine. He also was a member of the Jersey City Police Department for more than two decades, rising to the rank of Captain. He later distinguished himself in the post of Hudson County Director of Public Safety.

Glenn was also known for his interest in Black History. I enjoyed having conversations with hirn about the history of Jersey City, Underground Railroad in New Jersey and other significant historical events that shaped our state and nation. I was impressed with his passion and the breadth of his knowledge of historical subjects.

Mr. Speaker, I ask you and my colleagues to join me in remembering a life long distinguished native son of Jersey City, Glenn Cunningham, who was an outstanding role model. His exemplary service will long be remembered. I express my condolences to his survivors, especially his wife, Saundra.

Mr. Speaker, I rise today to recognize an outstanding and devoted citizen in my state, Mrs. Pamela Lynn Wiley. On Sunday, June 6, 2004, she will be honored with the Lifetime Achievement Award at St. Paul's Calvary United Church of God Usher's Annual Day.

Pamela was born on November 16, 1958 in Summit, New Jersey to the late Thomas and Gloria Peterson. She grew up in Vauxhall, New Jersey, where she attended the Union County school system and graduated from Union High School in 1977.

Pamela has been an active member of Saint Paul's Calvary United Church of God for over 40 years, ministering to its members through her service on many of the church boards and committees.

She is a member of their missionary department, as well as the Saint Paul's Calvary Young Adult Choir, The Voices of Praise. She is also an advisor to the CLC ensemble.

She is a beloved member of the usher board, having joined at a very young age, and is actively serving as their Vice President.

Pamela will be joined at this celebration by many friends and family, including her husband, Nathan Lamont Wiley, Sr.; her oldest daughter, A1C Joyita Kwamina Wiley-Jackson (U.S. Air Force); her son, CS3 Nathan Lamont Wiley, Jr. (U.S. Navy); her youngest daughter, SFC Gloria Lynette Wiley (Union High School JROTC); and her sisters, Kimm and Kiesha Peterson.

Mr. Speaker, please join me in extending my thanks to Pamela Lynn Wiley for her years of ministry and service to her congregation and to our community, and I invite my colleagues to join me in wishing her the strength and grace to continue for many years to come.

Mr. Speaker, it is with a great deal of pleasure that I rise to acknowledge the accomplishments of the Problem Solving Team of the Quest Program at the John Howard, Jr. School in East Orange. This team was concerned about gangs in their neighborhood and decided to take action. They established themselves as PEGASUS PUSH, meaning Peers Educating Gang Awareness Stopping Unnecessary Suffering Providing Useful Strategies for Home. The Problem Solving Team has volunteered over 1000 hours towards this project by publishing a monthly Gang Awareness Newsletter, organizing a Family Fest Night, a Fun Day Fair, creating a Pegasus Website, establishing an after school PEP PICK Program, a Day at the Ball Park, a Saturday Delight Program, a Mother- Son, Father-Daughter Night, Holiday Celebrations and Puppet Shows. All of these activities were designed to engage their peers and others in constructive projects and out of gangs.These students, namely, Khalil Banner, Jordan Clarke, Estefani Ubri, Felix Torres, Markia Hutchinson, Shanice Thomas, Monique McDonald, Melina Reyes, Cameron Glover, Shaenice McKenzie, Safa Muhammad, Zasha Martinez and their coach, Ms. Christine McAdams are to be commended for their unselfish actions in trying to eliminate gangs where they live.

Mr. Speaker, I ask my colleagues here in the House of Representatives to join me in recognizing this outstanding group of fourth and fifth grade students along with their coach for placing first in New Jersey in the junior division of the Community Problem Solving Component of the International Future Problem Solving Program. As a result of this achievement, these members of PEGASUS PUSH and students at Dr. John Howard, Jr. School will represent New Jersey at the International Competition in Lexington, Kentucky on June 2-6, 2004. The contributions made and the leadership shown by the members of PEGASUS PUSH have already made them winners in the 10th Congressional District. I wish them continued success in this very worthwhile effort.

Mr. Speaker, it is with great pride that I rise to ask my colleagues here in the U.S. House of Representatives to join me in offering congratulations to an outstanding young man from St. Benedict's Preparatory School in Newark, New Jersey, Bryan Scotland, who set a track meet record in the 1600 meter run on May 14th. During the first day of the Essex County Track and Field Championships at Woodman Field in Montclair, New Jersey, Bryan made a spectacular finish in 4:17:88. On the following day, he also won the 800 meter run.

Not only is Bryan an accomplished athlete, he is an excellent student and a young man of the highest character. He is a credit to his school, St. Benedict's Prep, which has an outstanding academic reputation under the leadership of the Headmaster, Edwin Leahy, fondly known by all as ``Father Ed.'' Opened by Benedictine monks in 1857, the school closed for a period of time in 1972 after demographic shifts in Newark, but thankfully reopened its doors a year later and remains strongly committed to the education of our local youth.

I am proud that I chose Bryan to come to the U.S. House of Representatives to serve as a page during the summer of 2003. He distinguished himself in that position through his diligence and his dedicated service to this institution.

Mr. Speaker, I know my colleagues join me in honoring this talented and hardworking young man with such a bright future ahead of him. Let us offer our congratulations and best wishes to Bryan and his proud parents, Diane and Glen Scotland of Glen Ridge, New Jersey.

Mr. Speaker, let me say this is a day when we will be talking about four quarters, and this is the first quarter of a four- quarter tragedy.

H.R. 2728 weakens enforcement of OSHA by allowing employers to drag out the imposition of penalties and the date for taking corrective action, or to buy safety officials. The principal purpose of the Occupational Safety and Health Act is to ensure, so far as possible, every working man and woman in the Nation safe and healthy working conditions and to encourage the prompt abatement of safety and health hazards.

The time frames in the act are intended to reduce the occurrence of occupational injury by ensuring that hazards are redressed in a timely fashion. H.R. 2728 creates an exception to these time frames where an employer fails to contest an OSHA citation or fails to abate a hazard in a timely manner, pursuant to section 10(b) of the Occupational Safety and Health Act.

H.R. 2728 also encourages employers to litigate citations rather than to promptly correct health and safety hazards. Allowing an employer to belatedly challenge a complaint also allows an employer to delay when he or she must correct a health or safety hazard. Under this legislation, the responsibility to correct a health hazard may be indefinitely delayed by virtue of litigation, and I always thought my friends on the other side of the aisle were opposed to litigation, even though the employer has failed to challenge a citation or a failure to abate notice in a timely manner. If that failure is due to mistake, inadvertence, surprise, or excusable neglect, the employer can nevertheless challenge the citation, does not have to abate the hazard during the challenge period, and is not liable for having failed to abate in the interim period.

The majority appears to equate an Occupational Safety and Health Act proceeding with any other typical proceeding. In fact, however, much more is at stake. What is at stake is not merely whether an employer will pay a monetary fine, but whether workers will have a safe and healthy workplace, or to be subject to injury, illness or death. It is very clear that this bill does not assist the employee. Therefore, Mr. Speaker, I urge my colleagues to vote ``no'' on H.R. 2728. It should be rejected.

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

(Mr. PAYNE asked and was given permission to revise and extend his remarks.)

Mr. Speaker, I rise in opposition to H.R. 2729, the second quarter of the four terrible bills before us, which amends section 12 of the Occupational Safety and Health Act of 1970 to expand the Occupational Safety and Health Review Commission from three members to five members. They tell me that logically they are having a difficult time moving forward with three members; so, therefore, let us make it larger and we can move faster. That is a pretty good analogy. It is kind of the first time that larger is better. I always heard that they said lean and mean, that is where our government should be, cut down, reduce, get people out of our government.

So here we have kind of a, once again, making things convenient. There we go again. So as I look at these bills, H.R. 2728, H.R. 2729, H.R. 2730, H.R. 2731, they all go into the same sort of stealth kind of quiet killing. And I remember we talked now H.R. 1 was the top bill in our committee, Leave No Child Behind, education, our current President was going to be the educational President, he wanted to be known as. However, 4, 5, 6, 7 years ago, the Republican Party was out to eliminate the Department of Education. When Secretary Bennett took his job, he said, My job is to eliminate this Department, we do not need a Department of Education; I hope that I can dismantle it, when education now becomes a number one issue.

So I have problems trying to figure them out because one day it is there and the next day it is over here. This bill is just similar to that. This bill appears to require that commission members have legal training and provides that the President may extend the term of a member until the Senate has confirmed a successor, and that is pretty good because they can simply put up someone they know will not get confirmed and they can keep hold-overs forever. The commission has functioned with three members since its establishment in 1970.

The authors of the Occupational Safety and Health Act did not feel that there was sufficient work to justify five members and experience does not demonstrate otherwise. That is the reason, in their judgment, they decided to have three members to this commission rather than five. The majority states: ``While there are similarities between the mission of the Mine Safety and Health Administration and the Occupational Safety and Health Administration, there is one significant difference: the composition of the adjudicative commission tasked with adjudicating disputes between employers and the agency,'' that it is a difference.

It is true that the Mine Safety and Health Review Commission has five members, while the Occupational Safety and Health Review Commission has only three. However, it is also true that the Mine Safety and Health Review Commission has broader responsibilities, including responsibility for resolving whistleblowing complaints, than does the Occupational Safety and Health Review Commission. There is a difference in what they do and in their jurisdiction.

The majority wants to expand the size of the Occupational Safety and Health Review Commission to make it commensurate with the Mine Safety and Health Review Commission, but is unwilling to give the Occupational Safety and Health Review Commission commensurate duties. In other words, they use that as the model, but do not give it the same power.

Mr. Speaker, I believe also that the addition of the word ``legal'' as a modifier to training is also problematic. As a matter of fact, to me it is nonsensical. The Occupational Safety and Health Act requires that the President consider currently the ``training, education, and experience'' of potential review commission nominees. If enacted, H.R. 2729 would require the President to consider the ``legal'' training, education, and experience of potential nominees. Why is this necessary for its inclusion? It has been functioning well up to now.

The majority states that ``the requirement that training be legal in character will not prevent the selection of any other qualified individual

whose experience and/or education is of a nature to qualify him or her for service,'' that it is not necessary; however, it is put in. And the question is, Why?

In other words, the addition of the word ``legal'' does not restrict the President to only appointing those with legal training. The President may still appoint individuals exclusively on the basis of their experience or education even if they do not have legal training. The effect then of adding the word ``legal'' as a modifier of ``training'' is only to limit the kind of training that the President may consider. This, of course, makes no sense whatsoever.

Current law, which does not preclude the President from considering legal training or even legal education among other types of training or education, seems preferable to H.R. 2729, which arbitrarily links the kind of training the President may consider.

Health and safety experts who may not have legal training, but may nevertheless be very knowledgeable about the Occupational Safety and Health Act, and agency and commission procedures may be unfairly and unwisely excluded from consideration for the position of the commission since people would question that it must be important if the term legal now is put into the bill, and, therefore, they would not put it in and therefore ignore it. I think that it has taken a wrong turn. I do not think it is necessary.

I believe that the commission and workers' health and safety would suffer from such an arbitrary exclusion of nonlawyer talent and expertise.

Another point brought up by the movers of this bill is that this bill, in my opinion, does not improve the efficiency of the commission as the proponents said it does because there is an argument that if there is one vacancy, then there is no decision because there is a tie. My fellow colleagues on the other side have recommended we add two people. Now what happens if one person is still absent? One and one is a tie if we only have two. With five, two and two is a tie if one is vacant. So if one is vacant under three, I am still trying to see what the difference is if there is one vacant under five.

One difference is that taxpayers certainly would have to be paying more money because we would have more people to tend with, we would have more folks, and we are once again making bigger government. We are just expanding, which, once again, confuses me because I have always been told that the other side wanted to reduce the size of government.

So I would just like to certainly urge the defeat of this bill.

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

Mr. Speaker, I yield 3 minutes to the gentlewoman from California (Ms. Woolsey), the ranking member of the Subcommittee on Education Reform of the Committee on Education and the Workforce.

(Ms. WOOLSEY asked and was given permission to revise and extend her remarks.)

Mr. Speaker, I yield 3 minutes to the gentleman from New Jersey (Mr. Andrews), the ranking member on the Subcommittee on Employer-Employee Relations of the Committee on Education and the Workforce, who does an outstanding job in that capacity.

(Mr. ANDREWS asked and was given permission to revise and extend his remarks.)

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

Mr. Speaker, I would indicate that the gentleman, putting this ``legal'' terminology in here, I hear him passionately argue this bill and bring his points up. If the new appointing authorities would look at him, he would probably not be one who would be considered because he is medical and not legal. I think that he would probably serve well on that commission, but his legislation would probably discriminate against him.

Mr. Speaker, I yield 2\1/2\ minutes to the gentleman from Texas (Mr. Hinojosa)

Mr. Speaker, I yield the balance of my time to the gentleman from New York (Mr. Owens), the ranking member of the Subcommittee on Workforce Protections, who has done an outstanding job for working people.

Mr. Speaker, on that I demand the yeas and nays.

Mr. Speaker, I certainly rise in opposition to H.R. 2730.

My good friend, the gentleman from Ohio (Mr. Boehner), talked about the fact that he would not want a policeman who wrote the ticket to be the jury also, and therefore, it is better to take this out of the hands of the policeman writing the ticket and put it in the hands of the commissioner.

However, I might just tell the gentleman from Ohio (Mr. Boehner), I am glad that he does not have much contact, nor do I, with law enforcement, but the only difference is the policeman does not set the speed limit. The policeman does not create the offense. He simply writes the tickets. So, just a small point. I think he had an interesting example, but I do not think it was too legitimate.

But he is a good friend of mine. I will get a chance to talk to him about that analogy of the policeman writing the ticket and being the judge at the same time; therefore, saying it should be in the hands of another commission, not the Secretary.

I rise in opposition to H.R. 2730, a bill that would give the Occupational Safety and Review Commission policy-making authority by allowing courts to give deference to the commission regarding the interpretation of the Occupational Safety and Health Commission standards.

This change would undermine the Department's enforcement function by encouraging challenges to the Secretary's rules and interpretations if it is given to another body. Then it would be open season; every time the Secretary makes a determination, there would be a challenge to it, then put it to the other body which, once again, this commission would be a stalling tactic, simply once again making it more bureaucratic.

It makes government, to me, more cumbersome, not making it lean and mean and effective, as this legislation calls this particular bill, the Efficiency Act. But anyway, this does not make it more efficient in my estimation.

Mr. Speaker, I believe that the Secretary is in a much better position to interpret regulations than the commission. Beyond the obvious fact that the Secretary issued the regulations in the first instance, as noted by the court, it is the Secretary who has broader contact and, consequently, greater expertise with both the regulated community and with the impact of regulations on the community.

Further, viewing the commission's authority as being similar to those of a court fully achieves the purpose of protecting the regulated community from biased interpretation of the Secretary's authority.

Finally, contending that the commission should have both adjudicatory and rule-making authority, as the majority does, creates unnecessary and unwanted confusion by leaving two agencies responsible for determining policy. For all of these reasons, we conclude that the court's view of the act is more reasoned and more sensible than these changes.

I think that we are adding, in my opinion, more confusion by trying to come up with rulings, and so it is not consistent with the OSHA act's legislative history and does not reflect sensible policy. I cannot understand why it is being offered, and for that reason, I respectfully urge my colleagues to vote against this legislation.

Mr. Speaker, I rise in opposition to H.R. 2731 because I believe that H.R. 2731 is a blatant attempt to chill OSHA's exercise in statutory responsibility to enforce the Occupational Safety and Health Act by penalizing the agency for every instance in which it attempts to do the right thing, but perhaps is unsuccessful. I think that this would certainly dampen people's interest in seeking justice.

Let me just say that as I look at this fourth quarter of these bills that have come here today, this is just another example of weakening OSHA from the inside. My colleagues would probably just like to eliminate it from the outside, but this is the stealth approach.

I think one thing that the other side does well is to give very good names to these bills. For example, this H.R. 2731, Occupational Safety and Health Small Employer Access to Justice of 2004. Now, who could be opposed to the access of justice? However, what does the bill do? It creates a hindrance for people pursuing justice.

Let us just take a look at the other three. H.R. 2728, Occupational Safety and Health Small Business Day in Court Act of 2004. Nothing is better than your day in court. It is the American way. But what does it do? It delays and weakens enforcement. It does not do the right thing.

Then H.R. 2729, once again, sounds great, Occupational Safety and Health Review Commission Efficiency Act of 2004. And what does 2729 do? It makes it more difficult. It enlarges the commission. It creates legal preference. It makes it a little more complicated.

And let us take a look at H.R. 2730, Occupational Safety and Health Independent Review of OSHA Citations Act of 2004. Sounds good. What does it do? It creates conflict with the Secretary. It creates another board that has the right to interpret the Secretary's rulings. We might as well eliminate the Secretary. I'll bet my colleagues would, if they could, because they really want to eliminate OSHA.

And this is not new because this is the way these bills go. Remember the Workers Paycheck Protection Act? Everyone loves to have their paycheck protected, but what did it do? It made it more difficult for people who wanted to pay union dues.

Let us look at the TEAM Act. That is the way we move ahead. Companies that have employees that work in teams together, we move forward, we are more productive, we are going to make the best product. But what does the bill do? It has the employer select the negotiating team for benefits.

Take a look at the Family Time Flexibility Act. Fantastic. Everyone likes flexibility and likes to be with their family. What does it really do? It replaces overtime with comp time when the employer wants to give it to the employee.

The Truth in Employment Act. We all love truth in employment. What does it do? An employer can fire or refuse to hire people if they think they have union sympathies.

The Fairness for Small Business and Employees Act. Since 85 percent of our businesses are small businesses, we certainly want fairness for small businesses and employees. But what does the act do? It requires the NLRB and OSHA to pay fines. It is sort of the forerunner of H.R. 2731 that we are here for today.

The Sales Incentive Compensation Act. That is why people work hard, because they want to be compensated. They work hard, they are doing it the American way, but what does it do? It takes overtime pay away from inside workers.

Rewarding Performance in Compensation. We all want to be rewarded for our performance. Once again, a beautiful title. What does it do? It merely reduces overtime because it excludes bonuses in the calculation and makes it more difficult.

So as we listen to these great apple pie-named bills, it seems like the nicer they sound, the worse they are. Please do not do a Greatness to Donald Payne bill, because I would hate to hear what it would really do at the end of the day.

So I would just like to say, I urge my colleagues to reject this H.R. 2731, because once again, in my opinion, it is going in the wrong direction.

Yes, I do, Mr. Speaker.

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

(Mr. PAYNE asked and was given permission to revise and extend his remarks.)

Mr. Speaker, let me commend the gentleman from Wisconsin (Mr. Sensenbrenner) for bringing this resolution and certainly the gentleman from Michigan (Ranking Member Conyers), who is a living history of what is great about this country with his own history in the House of Representatives, being the second-longest-serving Member here.

Mr. Speaker, I rise today to express my strong support for H. Con. Res. 414, a resolution which urges Congress to renew its commitment to continuing and building on the legacy of Brown v. the Board of Education.

This month marks the 50th anniversary of the landmark Brown v. the Board of Education decision, declaring segregation of public schools unconstitutional. The chain of events began in Topeka, Kansas, where an African American third grader by the name of Linda Brown had to walk 1 mile through a railroad switchyard to get to her segregated elementary school, even though a white school was only seven blocks away.

Linda's father, Oliver Brown, tried to enroll her in the white elementary school, but the principal refused to admit her. Mr. Brown, along with other parents, went to the Topeka NAACP, filing a request for an injunction that would forbid the segregation of Topeka's public schools. In the initial trial, the court sided with the Board of Education saying that the precedent of Plessy v. Ferguson, passed in 1896, allowed separate but equal school systems.

Led by Thurgood Marshall, who later, of course, became the first African American to serve on the United States Supreme Court, the case was brought before the Nation's highest Court. At first, in 1952, the Supreme Court sent the case back to a lower court. The case came back to the High Court in 1953 and was heard along with others from South Carolina, Virginia, Delaware, and the District of Columbia.

Interestingly, in September of 1953, with the courts seemingly split, and the cases sent back down, the cases were in jeopardy; but what happened was that Chief Justice Fred Vinson died in his sleep. President Eisenhower, therefore, nominated a new Supreme Court Justice, the Republican Governor of California, Earl Warren. It was under Earl Warren's leadership that he brought the Court together; and he persuaded the Court, after the persuasive arguments of Brown v. the Board of Education, to have a unanimous decision. He wanted no dissent, and a unanimous decision was given by the Supreme Court under the leadership of Earl Warren. It surprised many Americans, but he lived up to that great title.

So separate but equal was thrown out, and Thurgood Marshall's argument that the 14th amendment equal protection clause precluded States from imposing distinctions based on race had prevailed.

So I conclude, I believe that Brown v. the Board of Education was one of the

most significant cases regarding segregation. The Brown case provided momentum for increased civil rights advocacy and legislation, opening equal opportunity to education to all in our society and then to other public accommodations.

However, we should remember that Brown was neither the beginning nor the end of the struggle for justice and equality. Today, equal education opportunities for all children are still a dream for many. In both the North and South, segregation has been thrown into reverse gear with 70 percent of the Nation's African American students in predominantly minority schools, and so I urge my colleagues to support H. Con. Res. 414, which commemorates the historic Brown v. the Board of Education decision and encourage Congress to continue to build on the legacy of Brown.

Mr. Speaker, I yield 2 minutes to the gentlewoman from Texas (Ms. Jackson-Lee).

(Ms. JACKSON-LEE of Texas asked and was given permission to revise and extend her remarks.)

Mr. Speaker, I yield 2 minutes to the gentlewoman from California (Ms. Waters).

Mr. Speaker, I yield 2 minutes to the gentlewoman from California (Ms. Loretta Sanchez).

Mr. Speaker, I yield 3 minutes to the gentlewoman from the District of Columbia (Ms. Norton).

Mr. Speaker, I want to take time this evening to talk about a very serious situation occurring in Africa as we speak, a situation of ethnic cleansing in Darfur, Sudan, and Sudan's vicious campaign of terror which it is raining on its people.

Mr. Speaker, in June 2001, I came to this floor to speak about slavery and genocide perpetrated against the people of southern Sudan. I said then that innocent civilians are the victims in this war. We are well aware of the number of people killed, maimed, displaced and enslaved during that terrible conflict, which still goes on. Yet we as members of the international community failed to do the right thing, to end the suffering. In the north-south conflict, more than 2 million people perished and an estimated 5 million people have been displaced during the 40 years of this dread conflict. It is the same government that terrorized, enslaved and killed innocent civilians in the southern Sudan and the Nuba that is now yet again engaged in a terror campaign in Darfur in western Sudan.

When we thought that things were going well with the Sudan Peace Act

and that negotiations between the Government of Sudan and the SPLM, Dr. John Garang's forces, and that there had been efforts in time and energy put in by negotiators, then we see that this pariah government in Khartoum simply cannot help itself and now have unleashed the same reign of terror now on the west which it had done in the south. The National Islamic Front government is solely responsible for the current atrocities in Darfur. In just the last 12 months, the National Islamic Front government of Sudan and its allied militia, the Janjaweed, displaced more than 1 million people, forced over 110,000 people into Chad, and killed more than 10,000 innocent civilians. Government troops and their allied militia raped, tortured, maimed and burned entire villages in a deliberate and systematic manner to cleanse the area of African Muslims.

Up to now, the conflict was supposed to be between the Arab north trying to push Shiria and Islamic government onto the people of the south who were Christians and animists, and it was then supposed to be a war that lines were drawn by virtue of religion, which is also a horrible thing to do. However, the new battle is that the people in the west are also Islamic. They are Muslims. The excuse of religious differences does not hold water, although it never should have been raised in the first place. And so now you have the Islamic government of Khartoum attacking, maiming, killing, raping, burning villages of other Islamic people in the west.

What are the differences in these? They are all the same religion. But there is a marked difference. Because the Arab Muslims of the north are different than the African black Muslims in the west, and so it cannot be religious cleansing. It has to only be ethnic cleansing where black followers of Islam are being systematically pushed out and ethnically cleansed by the Arab Government of Sudan. So regardless of what we do in the next several months, more people will die from disease and hunger. Why? Because we have a genocidal government bent on destruction and mayhem.

Mr. Speaker, this is the same government that gave sanctuary to Osama bin Laden from 1991 to 1996, allowing him to build his terror network worldwide. The bombings of our embassies in Nairobi, Kenya, and Dar es Salaam in Tanzania was planned right there in Sudan by al Qaeda forces of Osama bin Laden, harbored and protected by the Government of Sudan, allowed to strengthen himself and to develop a worldwide network as he recruited people to be a part of his al Qaeda network. Other terrorists acts are also linked to Osama bin Laden because there were a number of terrorist acts that were going on at that time.

Mr. Speaker, what is stunning to me is that not a single senior official has been removed from power in the Government of Sudan or has gone to jail because of involvement in or support of terrorist activities. It is important to recall that the Government of Sudan's involvement in international terrorism goes back over a decade. Sudanese officials were involved directly or indirectly in the first World Trade bombing in 1993 in New York. The mastermind of the 1993 bombing, Shiekh Abdel Rahman, who was sentenced to life in 1995, received his visa in Khartoum, Sudan, and reportedly was a guest of a senior Sudanese government official for several weeks. Of the 15 men indicted for the terror act, five are Sudanese nationalists. These Sudanese nationalists have strong ties with Sudanese diplomats stationed at the time in New York in the Sudanese embassy at the United Nations.

Mr. Speaker, in 1995 members of an Egyptian terrorist group tried to assassinate President Hosni Mubarak of Egypt while he was in Ethiopia for an OAU, Organization of African Unity, summit. The 11-man assassination team that had been given safe haven in Sudan so that they could prepare for this attempted assassination were there, and their plans to kill the Egyptian President were created and planned there. The weapons used in the assassination attempt were reportedly flown into Ethiopia by Sudan Airways. The passports used by assassins were also prepared in Khartoum, according to a United Nations report.

Why is this relevant to Darfur? It is relevant because there is a clear pattern of behavior by this regime targeting civilians, engaging in terrorist acts and clear patterns of lies and deception. Ethnic cleansing in Darfur occurred while the government was still negotiating with the SPLM in Kenya, negotiating for a peace between the north and the south but still doing the damage to the west as if this act could be disassociated with acceptance of Sudan after peace between the north and the south could be attained. In fact, the mastermind of the Darfur atrocities is the chief government negotiator and First Vice President Taha.

Mr. Speaker, it is important for us to remember that in 1994 the international community watched with utter indifference when 1 million Rwandanese were hacked to death in 100 days. The genocide in Darfur occurred while the international community was commemorating the 10th anniversary of the Rwandan genocide. We failed to learn from Rwanda, and we are unlikely to learn from Darfur. The similarities between the Rwandan genocide and Darfur are stunning. In Rwanda the former government of Rwanda and the Rwandan Patriotic Front rebels were negotiating while plans for genocide were underway.

In Sudan, the government was negotiating with the SPLM while its troops were engaged in ethnic cleansing in Darfur. The inaction by the international community in Darfur was in large part due to protecting the ongoing peace process between the government and the SPLM. So as we watched 10 years ago when the world looked the other way, when the word ``genocide'' would not be used, when we had repeated letters and calls and television appearances to our government at that time and to those who would listen, we saw that the world turned its back.

And as I continue, I see the chairman of the Congressional Black Caucus, who has come in. The chairman of the Congressional Black Caucus has been doing an outstanding job on all fronts, today commemorating the Brown v. The Board of Education 50 years after, many programs that are to improve the quality of life for all Americans in this country and, in particular, those who are the least among us, those who need the most help, those who are most fragile, and those are people in our rural areas around the country and in our urban centers.

I yield to the gentleman from the State of Maryland (Mr. Cummings), the chairman of the Congressional Black Caucus.

Mr. Speaker, reclaiming my time, I thank the gentleman very much. Let me thank him for his compliment and for his very thoughtful presentation. As I have indicated, the gentleman has really been a beacon of light for the Congressional Black Caucus, and we follow his leadership with pride and with dignity for the justice that he has laid out for this Nation.

I would like to yield to the gentlewoman from Texas (Ms. Jackson- Lee), a person who has fought for justice, not only here in the U.S. and in her State of Texas and Houston, but has traveled throughout the world; whether it is Iraqi women that she is fighting for, or the rights of African women to have property rights and to have the rights of what women throughout the world are looking for, but also on general issues of just humanitarian importance.

With that, I yield to the gentlewoman from Texas (Ms. Jackson-Lee).

Mr. Speaker, reclaiming my time, let me take this opportunity to thank the gentlewoman for her very profound remarks. It is connected. I think that all that we do is connected. I think that the gentlewoman's wisdom and her interest, her knowledge, is certainly a great tribute to us here in the halls of Congress.

The thoroughness of the gentlewoman's evaluations are always appreciated. The gentlewoman is absolutely right. President Bouteflika said that we are part of Africa, we are not North Africa. But the Europeans decided to divide Africa. They said Africa was not one continent. You had North Africa and you had sub-Saharan Africa.

So it is one continent. We have two countries, major countries in the Western Hemisphere, we have Canada and we have the United States, but no one has separated the continent artificially. It is all North America. Africa is North Africa, a separate place, and when I was a kid it was Asia Minor, but they decided to call that the Middle East now, I guess. So we have to try to keep up with those who try to define us.

We should not let other people define us, just as today they say liberals are bad. They are the ones who are what our country should not be about. I am proud to be a liberal. I think that is what made our country strong and great. I think a liberal is a person who worries about their neighbor, wants a strong defense, wants to provide for the common defense, but also to promote the general welfare. And so until we allow ourselves to not categorize ourselves, we have to stand tall.

So once again, let me thank the gentlewoman for her remarks.

That is right.

No, we have not.

That is right.

Again, Mr. Speaker, I appreciate the gentlewoman's remarks. It is something that has been overlooked for 5 years, that people in Prince George's County were unable to go to school from 1959 to 1964 when the public schools were privatized and black children just had no school to go to for 5 years.

Mr. Speaker, as we continue to focus on the problem, these atrocities were well documented. Just recently a United Nations Human Rights Commission concluded just a few days ago, I heard the report at the Security Council on Friday where this report was given, and I too have to say that without the United Nations I think that this world would be in a much worse place. I hear people trivialize the United Nations. I hear people talk about the fact that they are not needed. I think that it shows the ignorance of many of the Members of this House that have no clue as to the tremendous asset that the United Nations has provided. They pushed inoculations worldwide, they have seen polio almost eradicated through cooperation. We have seen all kinds of health issues taken away. We have seen peace in many, many countries by virtue of the United Nations stepping in, whether it was Sierra Leone and whether it was Liberia, whether it was with the United Nations and NATO in Kosovo, whether it was in East Timor, the country that Indonesia was going to take after the Portuguese released it. It is so many, many places, and I wish that one day we could have a 101 course to many of the Members who just trivialize the United Nations, to really find out what they have done. I think that many of them would be amazed and shocked at how much a better world this is today because the United Nations exists. If not, we would have total anarchy around the world, and at least we have a place where debates can go on and peacekeepers can go out and humanitarians go out. I just cannot for the life of me understand about this trashing of the United Nations. But we have a long way to go in education.

I would like to also say that some of my friends on the other side, the gentleman from Colorado (Mr. Tancredo) and the gentleman from New Jersey (Mr. Smith) have all been supportive on the Sudan issue, California (Mr. Royce) and Senator Brownback and Senator Frist. So many have said that this is an issue that we need to take heed of. So it is a bipartisan issue.

But as I was indicating, a recent report by the United Nations Human Rights Commission concluded that the mission was able to identify disturbing patterns of massive human rights violations in Darfur, many of which constitute war crimes and/or crimes against humanity. According to information collected from refugees, it appears that there is a reign of terror in Darfur, the following elements of which should be highlighted.

A, repeated attacks on civilians by the Government of Sudan military and its proxy militia forces, with a view of their displacement. The use of systematic and discriminate aerial bombing and ground attacks on unarmed civilians. And the only planes that are in Sudan are controlled by the Government of Sudan, and they have done systematic bombing. The use of disproportionate force by the government of Sudan and also the Janjaweed force, that the Janjaweed have operated with total impunity. They can just move wherever they want without the government doing anything; actually, even in close coordination with the forces of the Government of Sudan.

The Government of Sudan has said we have nothing to do with it, but their planes dropped the bombs, the weapons come from the Government of Sudan, and they are in close proximity with the Janjaweed who are the militia groups that are terrorizing the people.

The attacks appear to have been ethnically based, with the groups targeted being essentially the following tribes of African origin: The Zaghawa, the Masaalit and the Furs. Men and young boys appear to have been particularly targeted in ground attacks.

The pattern of attacks on civilians, including rapes, pillage, including of livestock, destruction of property, including water supplies. And in May, 2004, the acting High Commissioner reported that attacks against civilians involved the destruction of property, often through burning, as well as the destruction of central supplies such as flour, millet, and other crops. The report stated that a disturbing pattern of disregard for basic principles of human rights and humanitarian law is taking place in Darfur by the armed forces of Sudan and by its proxy militia known as the Janjaweed.

According to Human Rights Watch, the government and its Janjaweed allies have killed thousands of Fur, Masaalit, and Zaghawa, often in cold blood, raped women, destroyed villages. Foodstocks and other supplies essential to the civilian population have been destroyed. They have driven more than 1 million civilians, mostly farmers, into camps and settlements in Darfur where they live on the very edge of survival, hostile to the Janjaweed abuses. More than 110,000 others have fled to neighboring Chad, but the vast majority of war victims remain trapped in Darfur.

Mr. Speaker, we have lost tens of thousands of civilians already and many more will die in the coming months. We must do everything possible to save lives and bring justice to those responsible for the atrocities in Darfur. The United States must lead a massive international intervention in Darfur before it is too late. We should utilize all available means to deliver much-needed humanitarian assistance in Darfur.

Mr. Speaker, we must also hold those responsible accountable. An international tribunal for Darfur must be created. In the meantime, the Bush administration must impose targeted sanctions, including travel ban and freezing of assets against individuals responsible for Darfur's atrocities. Targeted sanctions will punish those directly responsible by avoiding collective punishment.

Mr. Speaker, based on the extensive research and consultation with government officials and regional actors, we have been able to put together a list of individuals directly responsible for the atrocities in Darfur, and this was done by very careful investigation right there on the ground.

These individuals directly responsible for the atrocities include, in the first category, top Government of Sudan officials who are supervising and controlling Janjaweed activities and operations, including the following: Ali Osman Taha, First Vice President; Major General Salah Abdalla Ghosh, Director General, Government of Sudan security; Dr. Nafie Ali Nafie, former external Intelligence Chief; Major General Al Tayeb Mohanmed Hheir, Presidential Security Advisor; Abdalhamid Musa Kasha, Minister of Commerce; Abdalrahim Mohammed Hussein, Minister of Interior; Major General Adam Hamid Musa, State Governor, southern Darfur; Brigadier Mohamed Ahmed Ali, Riot Police Director, led police attacks on internally displaced persons at Mayo Camp right out in Khartoum in mid-March; Mohamed Yousef Abdala, Humanitarian Affairs State Minister; Abdalla Safi el Nur, Cabinet Minister and General Coordinator of Janjaweed.

In the category right below that is the Command Coordination and Command Council of the Janjaweed.

Lieutenant Colonel Sukeirtalah, leader of Janjaweed-Geneina; Ahmed Mohammed Harun, commander, State Minister of Interior; Osman yusif Kibir, State governor Darfur; El Tahir Hassan Abbud, NCP; Mohammed Salih Al Sunusi Baraka, member of the National Assembly; Mohammed Yusif El Tileit, Western Darfur State minister; Major General Hussein Abdalla Jibril, member of the National Assembly.

Right in the field command in the third category: Brigadier Musa Hilal; Brigadier Hamid Dhawai; Brigadier Abdal Wahid, Kabkabiya sector; Brigadier Mohammed Ibrahim Ginesto; Major Hussein Tangos; Major Omer Baabas.

I believe that these people should be investigated by a tribunal because there are thousands of refugees who have nowhere to go now but to live in makeshift huts. They have no health care. Children are dying of diarrhea and malnutrition, and U.S. officials are desperately trying to solidify a cease-fire to get aid to these people, and they are very inaccessible.

In several weeks, the rainy season will come the early part of June and flood much of the area, making humanitarian delivery nearly impossible. Children are dying already and will continue to die of preventable causes, like diarrhea for lack of water and health care.

One hundred thousand have gone to Chad. The whole country of Chad has 271 doctors for a population of approximately 9 million people. So they are in no shape to be giving assistance, medical assistance to these influx of refugees. In the north there is not even a doctor or a nurse, just one medical technician who is only qualified to hand out basic drugs.

The International Red Cross said there is severe malnutrition, but the newly set-up health facility is at least 5 hours' drive from the nearest facility to get materials and medicines to the people.

These people say that they had a decent life in Darfur until the Arab Sudanese Government went to war against this region's indigenous African people. It is mentioned that Sudanese aircraft bombed the village and then the militias came on horseback to burn down houses and commit atrocities and human rights abuses.

Rape is being used as a weapon of war, where women and young girls are brutally targeted.

Every week, many people continue to cross the border to Chad because they are fleeing the campaign of ethnic cleansing conducted by the Sudanese Army and its marauding militia called the janjaweed.

Thousands of Sudanese villagers have been killed according to American and other human rights officials. Hundreds of thousands more lives hang in the balance.

Darfur is not accessible to outsiders. We have seen some pictures that show burned-down villages by overhead aircraft that have been taken; and so, once again, the U.N. is ready to go in. The U.N. must be sure that they take all means necessary to attempt to get to these very fragile people.

So as I conclude, I hope that the world is listening. I hope that we can get our media, our newspapers to focus in on the problem in Darfur. We often see the press cover problems in Europe. As we said, in Bosnia and Kosovo we saw NATO and many people come to their defense. However, in Rwanda 10 years ago, with close to a million people dying from genocide, we all looked the other way, and now in Darfur.

Is the life of a black person in Sudan or in Rwanda any less than a European life or an Asian life? Of course, we all know that the question is no. We are all made in the image and likeness of God. We are all one people. We are all one in this life that God has given to us, and we all deserve the right to freedom, justice, equality.

So as I conclude, I would like to thank those Members that came down to express their thoughts. I will continue to talk about the atrocities in Sudan until we get the proper response by our country and by countries around the world. It is a tragedy in front of us, and we should do everything within our power to see that it ends.

Mr. Speaker, I rise today to recognize a cultural innovator in my district, Mr. Angelo Del Rossi, President Emeritus of Paper Mill Playhouse in Millburn, NJ. This week, the Paper Mill Playhouse will host their 2004 Paper Mill Gala as a tribute to Mr. Del Rossi's lifelong love of theatre.

Mr. Del Rossi is a native of New Jersey, who attended Rutgers University and graduated from the Neighborhood Playhouse School in New York.

Mr. Del Rossi joined Paper Mill Playhouse in 1963. He became Paper Mill's Associate

Producer in 1965, and was appointed Executive Producer in 1975.

After much of the theatre was destroyed in a fire in 1980, his commitment did not waver, and he became the driving force behind the rebuilding efforts.

Under Mr. Del Rossi's leadership, Paper Mill has continued to flourish as a cultural center in my district, creating original works, hosting national and international productions, and nurturing young artists into stars of the stage.

No stranger to accolade, Angelo Del Rossi was honored in 1983 with a special resolution from the floor of the New Jersey State Senate. He has, on multiple occasions, been given the distinction of ``Outstanding New Jerseyan'' by our state's newspaper, The Star-Ledger, and has been named one of the 25 most influential people in the New Jersey arts community.

He is a founding member of the National Alliance for Musical Theatre and has served as President of the Council of Stock Theaters. He is a Board member of ArtPride/New Jersey and the New Jersey Theatre Alliance. He has also served on the panel of the opera-musical theatre program of the National Endowment for the Arts, as well as on its policy and planning committee.

Mr. Speaker, please join me in extending my thanks to my neighbor, Mr. Angelo Del Rossi, for his contributions to the cultural life of our community, and I invite my colleagues to join me in sending him our congratulations for having brought such positive recognition to the city of Millburn.