Floor Statements

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

Mr. Speaker, the majority has already explained the purpose of H.R. 452, which was introduced by my friend and colleague from Missouri (Mr. Clay). The gentleman from Missouri is to be commended for his efforts to preserve this memorial and museum, which was built to honor those who lost their lives in service to our country.

It is our expectation that the study authorized by H.R. 452 will help determine the most appropriate means to preserve and maintain the Soldiers' Memorial and thus help to continue to honor the sacrifice of those who have fought and died for our country.

Mr. Speaker, we support H.R. 452 and urge its adoption by the House today.

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

Mr. Speaker, I yield such time as he may consume to the gentleman from Missouri (Mr. Clay), the sponsor of this legislation.

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

Mr. Speaker, I rise in support of H.R. 4388, legislation which amends the Internal Revenue code of 1986 to extend certain expiring provisions.

I want to express my profound gratitude to the Chairman of the Ways and Means Committee, Bill Thomas, for including in the bill a provision to extend the cover-over of the additional $1.50 of the taxes on distilled spirits produced in the Virgin Islands and Puerto Rico for another year. While the amount of the revenue generated by this tax is minuscule in relation to the overall federal budget, it is critically important to my constituents because the government of the Virgin Islands utilizes this funding as security for the bonds that are used to provide for improvements to our public infrastructure.

I am eternally grateful, as well, to my good friend, the Ranking Member of the committee, Charlie Rangel, for his steadfast support.

Mr. Speaker, my constituents and I look forward to the day, which we hope will not be too long in coming, when we will be able to see the return of the full tax and that it be made permanent, as was originally the case, so that we won't have to annually vie for its extension.

I urge my colleagues to support the passage of H.R. 4388 and I yield back the balance of my time.

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

(Mrs. CHRISTENSEN asked and was given permission to revise and extend her remarks.)

Mr. Speaker, the majority has already explained the legislation. I would only add that we on this side of the aisle have no objection to its passage.

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

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

I want to congratulate both sponsors, including the cosponsor on this side, Congressman Lincoln Davis, for their leadership in getting this bill to the floor today. The majority has already explained this legislation. I would only add that we on this side of the aisle also support it.

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

Mr. Speaker, I yield such time as he may consume to the distinguished gentleman from Tennessee (Mr. Davis), the cosponsor of the legislation.

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

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

Mr. Speaker, we on this side on the aisle again have no objection to the passage of this bill for the Pechanga Tribe of California.

Resources Committee Ranking Member Nick Rahall worked hard last Congress with the gentleman from California (Mr. Issa) to have land put into trust for this tribe so they could preserve an area vital to their ceremonies and culture. We expect the tribe to manage this land in a similar manner and do not object to its consideration today.

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

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

Mr. Speaker, the majority has again already explained the purpose of H.R. 3721, which deals with truck traffic on a park road within the Delaware Water Gap National Recreation Area. The Congress has dealt with this issue on three different occasions in the past. It is our hope that this will be the last time we will need to address this subject.

Mr. Speaker, we have no objection to its adoption as amended by the House today.

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

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

Mr. Speaker, H.R. 3981 directs the Secretary of Agriculture to exchange two small parcels of National Forest System land in the Tahoe National Forest in California. We do not object to the two land exchanges included in H.R. 3981.

We had concerns with an earlier version of this legislation, H.R. 1905, that included generic amendments to the Small Tracts Act, but those are not included in this bill, and we have no objection to H.R. 3981.

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

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

Mr. Speaker, S. 161 directs the Secretary of Agriculture to provide for a land exchange of various parcels between the United States Forest Service and the Yavapai Ranch Limited Partnership in Arizona.

While S. 161 is not ideal, it is an improvement upon legislation considered by the House in the past.

Specifically, efforts were made to address water use concerns with the Camp Verde parcel, lowering the watering use limitation from 700 acre feet per year to 300 acre feet per year. Furthermore, a parcel in the city of Cottonwood was removed from this legislation.

Mr. Speaker, we, therefore, have no objections to S. 161.

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

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

Mr. Speaker, I am very pleased that the House today is considering H.R. 318, legislation that I introduced to provide for a study to determine the feasibility and suitability of designating Castle Nugent Farms in the United States Virgin Islands as a unit of the National Park System.

Castle Nugent Farms is a unique 1,350-acre property located on the southeastern shore of my home island of St. Croix. It contains natural and cultural resources which could provide an unparalleled insight into the plantation period of the Virgin Islands.

Castle Nugent Farms is presently operated as a cattle ranch by owners who are very interested in preserving and interpreting the natural and cultural resources of the area. Caroline Gasperi, whose family members have been stewards of this land for more than 50 years, has been an enthusiastic supporter for the preservation of this site. The passage of this bill today would bring her one step closer to her long-held and also hard-fought-for dream.

The owners are justifiably proud of their ranch, which contains more than 4 miles of pristine oceanfront with a large and healthy fringing coral reef. The interior of the property consists of Caribbean dry forest and pasture lands with cultural resources from both pre- Colombian and post-European settlement.

A large Danish estate house, dating to the 1730s, sits on the property. That house is listed on the National Register of Historic Places.

At various points in its history, Castle Nugent Farm has been operated as a cotton plantation and a sugar cane plantation. Its current use as a cattle ranch involves raising unique Senepol cattle, a breed which is well suited to the climate and vegetation of the area.

H.R. 318 is a noncontroversial bill. Identical language, as we have heard, passed the House in the last Congress. The National Park Service has no objections to the legislation, and the property's owners not only support a park study of the site but are enthusiastic about the opportunity to preserve the natural and cultural resources of the farm.

Mr. Speaker, it is my hope that the park study will provide the blueprint by which we can preserve and interpret this unique piece of island history and resources for the benefit of present and future generations.

I thank my colleagues on the other side of the aisle for their support, and I strongly support the adoption of this bill by the House today.

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

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

Mr. Speaker, the majority has already explained pretty much the purpose of H.R. 323, which was introduced by our colleague from New York (Mr. Engel).

Bob Hope and his family immigrated to the United States in 1908, and like millions of other immigrants entered the United States through Ellis Island. As all of us know and many of us have had the opportunity to enjoy, Bob Hope went on to have an illustrious career as a comedic entertainer and is remembered by many for his work over nearly six decades traveling the globe to entertain American servicemen and - women.

Mr. Speaker, we wholeheartedly support H.R. 323 as a means to honor the contributions of a great entertainer and great American and urge the adoption of the legislation by the House today.

Mr. Speaker, I yield such time as he may consume to our colleague from New York (Mr. Engel), the sponsor of the bill.

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, my colleague has already explained the purpose of H.R. 326, which was introduced by the gentleman from Arizona (Mr. Grijalva).

Representative Grijalva is to be commended for his leadership on this legislation. He has worked closely with the local community and others to determine the most appropriate means to preserve and interpret the history of the area.

Mr. Speaker, we support H.R. 326 and urge its adoption by the House today.

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

Mr. Speaker, after claiming that they believe in fiscal responsibility and balanced budgets, the Republicans in their years of control in Washington have created the deepest budget deficits in American history and spiraling national debt.

Now, after abandoning fiscal responsibility and borrowing to pay for tax cuts and to reconstruct Baghdad, Republicans say they must cut programs that primarily serve disadvantaged Americans in order to pay for reconstructing the Katrina-leveled gulf region. No other emergency funding required offsets.

They claim that they are going to get tough on Federal spending through the budget reconciliation process where they propose a cut over $50 billion. They are getting tough all right, tough on the weak and needy, because this is where the cutting will be done: $10 billion in Medicaid cuts to health services for poor children and long-term care patients, and increasing the costs of prescription drugs for those beneficiaries; $844 million in food stamp cuts, eliminating nutrition and school lunch and breakfast benefits for hundreds of thousands of families and children; $14 billion in cuts to student aid programs, raising the costs of college for students and their families through the increased interest rates and loan fees. And it cuts all discretionary spending programs, such as veterans' health care, by a 2 percent across-the-board cut.

I listened to some of my Republican friends yesterday who likened the increased spending to increasing a child's allowance, but the analogy does not work. These cuts are not the same as taking away an allowance which a parent gives a child for candy, ice cream, movies, books and incidentals. It is more like taking away the child's meals, not taking them to the doctor,

denying them college tuition, and then the parents borrowing for a vacation and having the child have to pay for it out of their allowance.

Many reports and the Washington Post even in an editorial last month pointed out that the Republican post-Katrina budget plan would add to the deficit, not reduce it, because the required spending cuts do not come close to paying for the at least $70 billion in new tax cuts provided for in the budget, cuts that mostly benefit the wealthiest Americans and that apparently remain sacrosanct no matter what other expenses pile up.

I think the American public needs to know what the Congressional Budget Office said about some of those cuts. That office said last Thursday that the House Medicaid cuts would save more than $30 billion over 10 years. However, that office, the Congressional Budget Office, also pointed out that these savings will not come from the premiums and copays the Republicans say will create the savings, but they will come because those cuts would keep our must vulnerable communities and residents out of the health care system.

Many of those people dropped would be the hard-working poor. The majority of those dropped, like those in Tennessee like I visited with last week, would be African American and other minorities. But there will be large numbers of people with disabilities, children, people living in our rural areas and the poor of every race, ethnicity and nationality.

So instead of closing the health care disparity gap, which causes close to 100,000 premature, preventable deaths in this country every year, this body, should it pass the Republican budget package, would by that act be increasing those deaths and continuing the health care inequality which the Reverend Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., called the most shocking and inhumane of all.

The poor folks, the folks in our rural areas, people with disabilities, seniors, people of color, immigrants, and our children should not be made to carry the burden of the war and pay for the luxuries of the rich. At the same time the Republicans are proposing such spending cuts, they are preparing to move forward with $106 billion in additional tax cuts this year that will largely benefit the wealthy.

Will it save money? No. The net result of the GOP budget plan is $100 billion of debt over the next 5 years.

As I said to my American Legion this past weekend, America is being transformed by the actions of this administration and this Congress into a country I do not recognize, one that has gone far astray from the values and principles on which it was founded and on which this United States became the leader of the free world. What this budget reconciliation will do and what it says about this country is not what they fought for and laid their lives on the line for. It dishonors their service and that of the men and women who are fighting for this Nation even today.

So it is my hope and prayer that my friends on the other side of the aisle will abandon the irresponsible and heartless budget plan. Now is not the time to cut programs that are vital to the victims of Hurricanes Katrina and Rita and to our most vulnerable citizens who, like those victims, also face smaller but just as devastating socioeconomic hurricanes every day, while they have cut taxes for the most fortunate and add to the deficit.

These are not the actions of a people who value life as Americans do. These are not the right priorities for our country.

Mr. Speaker, I rise to pay tribute to a distinguished Virgin Islander and American, Ambassador Terrence R. Todman, on the occasion of his being honored by the Senate Foreign Relations Committee today. Ambassador Todman, one of the U.S. Virgin Islands best-known international figures was chosen for two years by the Organization of American States to represent the OAS their efforts to promote dialogue among political and social elements in Haiti as a prelude to the holding of elections there later this year.

Ambassador Todman was born on St. Thomas on March 13, 1926. He was raised, along with his thirteen brothers and sisters, by his mother Rachel Callwood. He retired from the U.S. Senior Foreign Service in 1993 with the title of Career Ambassador. In 41 years of diplomatic service, his postings included service as Assistant Secretary of State for Inter-American Affairs and as U.S. Ambassador to Argentina, Denmark, Spain, Costa Rica, Guinea and the Republic of Chad.

He serves on the board of directors of several organizations including the National Endowment for Democracy, a private not-for- profit entity created in 1983 to strengthen democratic institutions around the world through non-governmental efforts. He is a former trustee of the University of the Virgin Islands.

He is the recipient of numerous awards, including the Presidential Distinguished Service and Meritorious Service Awards, the National Public Service Award and the State Department's Superior Service Honor Award. He has also been decorated by the governments of Denmark, Spain, Chad, and the Virgin Islands.

Ambassador Todman is a graduate of Inter-American University in Puerto Rico and of Syracuse University. He was been awarded several honorary doctoral degrees. Before joining

the Department of State, he served in the U.S. Army as a commissioned officer in post-war Japan. He has been inducted into the Hall of Fame of the U.S. Infantry School at Fort Benning, Georgia. On behalf of the people of the Virgin Islands who I am privileged to present, I extend heartfelt congratulations to Ambassador and Mrs. Todman.

Mr. Speaker, I rise today to pay homage to Private First Class Jose M. Rosario from Estate Campo Rico on my home island of St. Croix in the U.S. Virgin Islands who was killed in Iraq last week.

Private First Class Rosario joined the Army shortly after completing high school with the desire to serve his country and with the dream, whispered only to his older sister Ruth, of one day becoming an attorney. He told his family how much he loved his job, the adventure of it, and most of all the fact that he was making a contribution to our Nation. They have all attested that he was happy fulfilling his mission as a member of the Fifth Squadron, Seventh Cavalry Regiment, First Brigade Combat Team of the 42nd Infantry Division. Like so many of the now 2,000 men and women who have given their lives for their country in the Iraq war, Private First Class Rosario was young, just 20 years old, and with a dream of a brighter future. He died, along with Army Specialist Russell Nahvi of Arlington, Texas, and Sergeant Arthur Mora, Jr. of Pico, California, when their up-armored humvee was hit with indirect fire while on patrol in Balad, Iraq. And while his lifetime was short, Jose served his country with courage and with distinction and he has made his family and the entire Virgin Islands community very proud as he helped to make the entire Nation a better place by his sacrifice. Our prayers are with his mother Gregoria and all of the family.

Mr. Speaker, we in the U.S. Virgin Islands along with our sister territories send more men and women per capita to serve in our Armed Forces, and Virgin Islanders have served in every war and conflict from the Revolutionary War forward. Our Virgin Islands National Guard has been proud to serve and do so with distinction around the world. They currently have several units in Afghanistan and Iraq. Dr. Bob Thompson, a good friend of mine and chief of medicine at the Governor Juan Luis Hospital, just returned from a tour in Iraq. Sixteen members of the 620th are scheduled to return home later this week. The 652nd Engineering Company is currently serving in Afghanistan and will be there for another 6 months.

While home in August, I attended a deployment ceremony where the 610th and the 640th companies of the Virgin Islands National Guard, many of them young women, were preparing to leave for Iraq. They are currently at Fort Bragg being processed and the 107 men and women of the 610th are to depart in early November. The 640th will follow them shortly thereafter.

In addition, Dr. Hinman, the State Surgeon of the Virgin Islands National Guard, is at Fort Bliss processing for his 90-day rotation, and we have an MP security team at Fort Leonard Wood, all preparing to also go to Iraq. I pray that they will all return safely and whole. I also play that the President will begin now to bring all of our troops home.

With our population of just over 110,000, the U.S. Virgin Islands has already lost five young men before Private First Class Rosario.

Daniel Wyatt, whose family splits their time between Wisconsin and St. Croix, and who spent what he called the best 2 weeks of his life in St. Croix before heading overseas.

Shane Goldman, whose memorial I attended and who had a tree and a small monument placed at Club St. Croix, a place frequented by his father and which he loved to visit.

Private First Class Jason Lynch from a large St. Croix family and the nephew of a close friend of mine Betty Lynch, a child I knew as he was growing up.

Staff Sergeant Kendall Thomas, slightly older than the others, from St. Thomas and I believe serving his second tour. We are proud of the men and women who have given their lives in service to their country.

We are particularly proud of Private First Class Jose M. Rosario and all of the men and women from the U.S. Virgin Islands who have served or now serve. They do so proudly and with great dedication and loyalty. I would be remiss if I did not here note that neither they nor their fellow Virgin Islanders have the right to vote for the Commander in Chief, something which we are seeking to correct with House Joint Resolution 1, which I introduced on the opening day of this 109th Congress.

It is my hope that their sacrifice and that of all the other Virgin Islanders and American citizens in the offshore territories will be honored with its passage and ratification. May their example and that of all of our fallen resonate in all of our hearts and our country in their memory turn to peace and away from war.

Mr. Speaker, I thank the gentleman from California (Mr. Lantos) for yielding me time.

I also rise in strong support of H.R. 1409, to amend the Foreign Assistance Act of 1961 to provide assistance for orphans and other vulnerable children in developing countries. I want to commend the gentlewoman from California (Ms. Lee) as well for her commitment to this issue and for sponsoring this bill and for her hard work in getting it to the floor today, and to thank Chairman Hyde and Ranking Member Lantos for their support.

Mr. Speaker, as the Navhind Times wrote earlier this month, ``There are more than 100 million children worldwide who are living hand-to- mouth, bereft from family and homes and are particularly vulnerable to abuse.'' We have all seen the tragedy of children soldiers, the street children of South America, and children refugees.

As of July 2004, there were more than 143 million children living in sub-Saharan Africa, Asia, Latin America, and the Caribbean who were identified as orphans, having lost one or both parents. Of this number, approximately 16.2 million children were identified as double orphans, having lost both parents, the vast majority of whom died of AIDS.

Numerous United States and indigenous private voluntary organizations, including faith-based organizations, in these countries provide assistance to orphans and other vulnerable children.

One such program is the Rx for Child Survival Campaign, a multimedia campaign aimed at raising the awareness of child hunger, disease and the impact of AIDS on their lives. Many of these organizations have applied for grants to the administrator of the U.S. Agency for International Development to provide increased levels of assistance for orphans and other vulnerable children in these developing countries.

Mr. Speaker, the plight of the world's children represents both a humanitarian and a security crisis, and it is getting worse with each succeeding year. It is essential that the United States Government adopt a comprehensive approach for the provision of assistance to orphans and other vulnerable children around the world.

By acting now, Congress can ensure that important services, such as basic care, psychosocial support, school food programs, increased educational opportunities and employment training, the protection and promotion of their inheritance rights, the treatment of orphans and other vulnerable children of HIV and AIDS and other illnesses have more accessible treatment and support efforts that ensure orphans continue to live with their extended families whenever possible, rather than being placed in orphanages.

I urge my colleagues to support the passage of H.R. 1409.