Floor Statements

Mr. Speaker, I rise today to introduce a bill to authorize expansion of Hawai`i Volcanoes National Park located on the Island of Hawai`i.

This bill would authorize expansion of the park's boundaries to allow the National Park Service to acquire 656 additional acres between the 1,000 and 2,000-foot elevation marks in the Kahuku district makai (oceanside) of State Highway 11. This property, which is a part of the historic Kahuku Ranch, most of which has already been added to the Park, includes extensive natural and cultural resources. These Kahuku lands encompass

the southwest rift zone of Mauna Loa, one of the most massive volcanoes in the world.

The geologic features of the proposed acquisition--three large pit craters--provide vestiges of native forest and other unique attributes. The property also includes ranch buildings, walls, and pasture lands that are reminiscent of nineteenth and early twentieth century ranching and contain remnant ranchlands that are not currently represented to the public by any National Park in Hawai`i. These buildings would provide public, office, educational, and research space for a much- needed satellite headquarters for this portion of the 333,000-acre park. And locating these services in these historic structures will preserve more of the natural resources of the park in an unspoiled condition.

The property also provides magnificent open landscape views and vistas that offer a glimpse into a cultural landscape that has remained unchanged for decades.

The geologic, biologic and cultural resources contained on this property will also enhance the quality of the park for its legislated purpose and as a World Heritage Site and International Biosphere Reserve. In addition, the park has a well-developed partnership with adjacent landowners in management of native ecosystems and historic landscapes and acquisition of this makai section of Kahuku will help to facilitate this partnership.

The Hawaii House of Representatives passed H.R. No. 56 in the 2001 session supporting acquisition of the Kahuku Ranch as part of Hawaii Volcanoes National Park and the Hawaii State Senate passed a similar resolution.

I would be very grateful for the support of my colleagues for this important bill. Mahalo!

Madam Speaker, I urge my colleagues to support House passage of H.R. 3479, the Brown Tree Snake Control and Eradication Act of 2004.

Last November I was pleased to join with my colleagues from Guam, Congresswoman Madeleine Z. Bordallo, and Congressman Neil Abercrombie from Hawaii, in introducing this important legislation.

This bill proposes a long-overdue comprehensive approach, through the Departments of Interior and Agriculture, to eradicate the brown tree snake in Guam and to prevent its introduction to jurisdictions in the Pacific, including my home state of Hawaii. There are other Federal agencies, particularly the Departments of Defense and Homeland Security, that are crucial to our efforts, and I am fully supportive of resources and funding expended by or given to these agencies in combating the brown tree snake.

I greatly appreciate the assistance of my colleagues on the House Resources and Agriculture Committees for their hard work on bringing this bill to the floor: House Resources Committee Chairman Richard Pombo and Ranking Member Nick Rahall; House Resources Subcommittee on Fisheries Conservation, Wildlife and Oceans Chairman Wayne Gilchrest and Ranking Member Frank Pallone; House Agriculture Committee Chairman Bob Goodlatte and Ranking Member Charles Stenholm; and House Agriculture Subcommittee on Livestock and Horticulture Chairman Robin Hayes and Ranking Member Mike Ross.

The devastating ecological, economic, and human health impacts of the brown tree snake have been long known among the affected jurisdictions in the Pacific and the federal, state, and territorial agencies charged with implementing brown tree snake preventative control and eradication programs.

However, it is clear that unless we address this challenge with a long-term, coordinated, and comprehensive approach, Guam will continue to struggle with the adverse impacts of the brown tree snake, and we in Hawaii will increasingly risk the introduction of the snake into our fragile environment. A total of eight brown tree snakes have been found live or dead in Hawaii since the mid-1980s. All have been associated with the movement of civilian and military vehicles or cargo from Guam.

Most recently, I joined my colleagues from the Hawaii Congressional delegation in expressing our concerns to and seeking funding assistance from Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld in response to the proposed reduction in inspection and trapping services at and around Guam military and civilian ports by up to 50 percent this November. These operations, which are run by APHIS Wildlife Services, annually interdict 6,000-7,000 snakes. Since the DOD benefits significantly from such operations, and is expected to increase its own presence in activities and movements to and from Guam as much as three times in the next five years, it is imperative that all military operational expansion and construction planning on Guam should include brown tree snake control and interdiction design measures and protocols. DOD should consider such funding as part of its base operational and readiness plans.

As background, the brown tree snake was accidentally introduced into Guam in the late 1940s and 1950s, likely via U.S. military cargo, from an area in the Pacific where the snakes are native. Unfortunately, because Guam had no natural predator but abundant prey, the brown tree snake population spread throughout the island.

Because the brown tree snake's preferred prey is birds, it is directly responsible for the extinction of 9 of 134 native forest birds and 3 of 12 native lizards on Guam. Economically, the snakes have caused more than 1,600 power outages over a 20-year period in Guam, costing the island $4.5 million per year without considering their impact on transformers, and damages inside electrical substations. The disruptions affect all aspects of everyday life in homes and work, as well as for the government and the business community.

In Hawaii, the brown tree snake represents one of the greatest terrestrial ecological threats due to its potential impact on our endangered bird species, which are found nowhere else on earth. As a result of Hawaii's geographical isolation and lush environment, there were more than 140 endemic bird species in the islands prior to human contact. Today, among the remaining 71 endemic forms, 30 are federally listed as endangered, and 15 of these are on the brink of extinction. Any negative impact on our native bird species in Hawaii will inevitably impact our native flora as well. Hawaii has the highest known number of endemic terrestrial plants of any major island group.

Economically, a University of Hawaii study estimates that the introduction of the brown tree snakes to Hawaii will cause between $28 million and $450 million annually in electrical power outages. This does not include the potential devastation to our agriculture industry. In Guam, the brown tree snake has contributed to the decline in production of the island's agriculture industry, particularly the commercial poultry industry, because the snakes eat eggs and chicks. The snake has also impacted the growing of fruits and vegetables because insects that are no longer naturally controlled by birds and lizards inflict increased damage on crops.

To address the brown tree snake problem, a Brown Tree Snake Control Committee was established subsequent to provisions in the Nonindigenous Aquatic Nuisance Prevention and Control Act of 1990. A multi-agency Memorandum of Agreement on Brown Tree Snake Control was also signed in 1992 and renewed in 1999. However, it expired in March of this year.

The Brown Tree Snake Control and Eradication Act will statutorily authorize a process to ensure the ongoing activities of federal agencies, enhance their effectiveness, provide the necessary resources from agencies actually conducting the work, and strengthen the coordination between federal and regional stakeholder in Hawaii and the Pacific in a more systemic fashion.

Among the authorized activities is the expansion of science-based eradication and control programs in Guam; the expansion of interagency and intergovernmental rapid response teams in Guam, the Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands, and Hawaii; the expansion of efforts to protect and restore native wildlife in Guam or elsewhere damaged by the brown tree snake; continuation and expansion of sustained research funding from the Animal Plant and Health Inspection Service (APHIS), Wildlife Services, and National Wildlife Research Center, including the establishment of

an APHIS, Wildlife Services, Operations Program State Office located in Hawaii; and the expansion of long-term research into chemical and biological control techniques that could lead to large-scale reduction of brown tree snake populations in Guam.

H.R 3497 is a product of collaboration between my office, the offices of Congresswoman Bordallo and Congressman Abercrombie, and the key Federal, State, and territorial stakeholders in the region. While the brown tree snake is just one of the more serious of many invasive species threats to Hawaii, the mechanisms strengthened and established under H.R. 3479 can serve as an exemplary model for addressing other invasive species issues, not just in Hawaii, but in our whole country.

The bill is supported by the Hawaii Department of Agriculture, the Hawaii Department of Land and Natural Resources, the Hawaii Invasive Species Council, the Nature Conservancy of Hawaii, the Coordinating Group on Alien Species, and others. Such coordinated support in Hawaii is illustrative of the seriousness that we take this issue and the assistance the federal government can anticipate receiving after enactment of this bill. Hawaii's stakeholders will not be silent and passive partners in this effort.

I am specially proud about the establishment of the Hawaii Invasive Species Council, which includes key State, county and Federal head officials in Hawaii, by legislation approved by the 2003 Hawaii State Legislature and Hawaii Governor Linda Lingle.

I understand that Hawaii is now only one of seven states in the country to establish such a council in addressing invasive species prevention and response measures at the State level.

Again, I urge my colleagues to support this important legislation.

Mr. Speaker, it has been 1,215 days since the current administration assumed stewardship over our Federal budget. During that time, our national private debt has increased by 1.733 trillion. According to the Web site for the Bureau of the Public Debt at the U.S. Department of Treasury, yesterday our Nation's outstanding privately held debt alone was $4.343 trillion, an increase of 39 percent in just 3\1/2\ years. And foreign holdings of that debt now total $1.79 trillion, an increase of $780 billion since January, 2001, and now 41 percent of all privately held debt.

Total Federal debt at the end of this current fiscal year in just 15 days, including obligations to Social Security and Medicare, is projected to be $7.372 trillion.

It is time to stop the bleeding.

Mr. Speaker, I rise today in support of H. Res. 771.

As we remember our POW and MIAs, I want to share with my colleagues the text of a speech I recently delivered to a conference in Honolulu sponsored by the Asia-Pacific Center for Security Studies and the Defense POW/Missing Personnel Office (DPMO). At this conference were representatives from our own country as well as five countries of Asia, including Burma, Vietnam, Cambodia, Laos and Thailand.

Mr. Speaker, I urge swift passage of this important resolution and continued strong Congressional support for the DPMO.

U.S. POW/MIA Accounting Efforts: Process and Operations, August 11,

2004

Thank you, Department of Defense Assistant Secretary

Jennings, for your very kind introduction.

Thank you also to Dr. Whitley, General Stackpole (who has

contributed so much to Hawaii), and General Whitfield, or

``Q,'' the Commander of our Joint Personnel Operating

Command, located just down the road.

And please allow me to introduce my wife, Audrey, and my

staff assistant, Jackie Conant, both of whose ancestral

roots, like so many of Hawaii's people, lie with you in Asia.

But most of all, Mingalar Par, Zdravstvuite, and Chao ong,

or Aloha! Welcome to Hawaii, and Mahalo!, or thank you, to

each of you for joining us at this vitally important

conference this week, Your simple presence tells the people

of my country everything about the commitment of your

countries and peoples to assisting us all in finding,

identifying and repatriating the sailors, soldiers, marines,

airmen and civilians of our country currently unaccounted for

throughout Asia.

I am Ed Case and I am a Member of the Congress of the

United States, I directly represent 650,000 Americans living

in Hawaii's great Second District, which includes all eight

of Hawaii's major islands, as well as the Northwestern

Hawaiian Islands all the way past Midway Island to Kure

Atoll.

Under our system of governance, we have three separate,

independent and coequal branches of federal government: our

executive branch, headed by our President; our legislative

branch, made up of me and my colleagues in congress; and our

judicial branch, headed by our Supreme Court. From beyond our

shores, it often looks like a pretty messy system, as we

argue and disagree in public over what we should do and not

do, and as we contest elections for our presidency and for

Congress.

Many of our deepest disagreements and our elections have

been and are about whether and under what circumstances we

should have taken or we should take military action beyond

our shores, as was the case with what we refer to as the

Korean and Vietnam Wars and as is the case today in Iraq, and

I recognize with you tonight as citizens of our world the

terrible personal and national tragedies of those and other

hostilities and pay homage to the fallen whoever they were.

But if I can leave you with one and only one message tonight,

it is this: in our country, we are one in our commitment to

find and bring home our missing.

I came of age during the time of Vietnam in a small

community on my home Island of Hawaii. Robbie Peacock was a

handsome and well-liked boy, also from that island, who

graduated some years ahead of me, went off to college,

enlisted as a pilot, and was sent to Asia. His plane

disappeared on a mission and his remains have thus far not

been found. His mother has passed away and his father grieves

for him still. But, far worse, is that for almost 35 years

they have had no finality, no resolution.

I represent Ms. Michie Sasaki in Congress. Her brother,

Private First Class Takeshi Sasaki, went missing in Korea on

April 25, 1951. At the end of 1953, his status was amended to

``Missing in Action and Presumed Dead.''

Fifty years later, Ms Sasaki, along with her sisters,

traveled to Washington DC to attend the 2004 Annual Korean

War/Cold War Government Briefings sponsored by Secretary

Jennings and our Defense Prisoner of War/Missing Personnel

Office. Over 500 individuals representing 225 loss cases

attended the briefings. There weren't just sister or brothers

of those missing in attendance, but nieces and nephews, sons

and daughters, and even some grandsons and granddaughters.

Some 89,000 Americans are still unaccounted for on the

world's battlefields since World War II, including 6,000

Korea and 2,000 Vietnam. 73 of Hawaii's own are missing in

Korea and 12 in Vietnam.

Here's the point: our missing touch each of us, personally,

in our homes, our families and our memories. We have not

forgotten them, we all seek resolution, and we are united in

our efforts.

We know that we are not alone. We know that in the cities

and countrysides of your own countries you have countless

friends and family members similarly unaccounted for. We know

that you and yours also feel still not only your losses but

the lack of resolution. We must help each other.

The endeavors of people like Secretary Jennings, General

Whitfield, the individuals at the Defense Prisoner of War/

Missing Personnel Office (DPMO) and Joint Personnel

Accounting Command (JPAC), and the 600 Americans working

fulltime worldwide to account for our missing is one of our

most important missions. From your country, I salute you all.

And I thank our foreign visitors for your efforts thus far.

You can't imagine the effect even today up Americans like

Michie Sasaki when they read a headline such as that of a few

weeks ago, ``U.S. POW/MIA Official Breakthrough in Vietnam,''

reporting that joint operations will soon resume in the

Central Highlands of Vietnam. Congratulations to Secretary

Jennings and the representatives of Vietnam for your mutual

advancement of our mutual effort.

So, as you all complete your vital work this week and

return to your homes, please take with you these thoughts.

First, for our country, our commitment to accounting for our

missing rises above any internal disagreements; we all want

to finish this mission, and all branches of our government

are united behind and supportive of the efforts of DMPO and

others in our focus on doing so. And second, we want to help

you do the same, for our interests are mutual and exist

notwithstanding the borders within which we live and the

nature of our past, present or future relations.

Perhaps in our joint efforts on this purely humanitarian

cause lie the roots of true peace in our world. Mahalo, and

aloha!

Mr. Speaker, every once in awhile I am deeply grateful for an action I am able to take that is both long overdue and truly needed. That is how I feel now as I introduce the Coral Reef Conservation and Protection Act of 2004.

My childhood was spent among the rich diversity of the coral reef ecosystems of my native Island of Hawaii. It was a time of budding wonder at what nature had wrought, the living corals and other reef life existing in mutual dependency and sustainability. But just weeks ago, when I returned, as I often do, now with my children, to those same reefs, they're not what they were. Still beautiful, yes; still wondrous. But there is not the same diversity of coral nor the same luster; the fish and other marine life not as plentiful nor diverse; the presence of new, alien species is apparent.

Of course, there are simply more of us in those marine environments than there were, and so our cumulative impact over my 50 years in those waters has become apparent, even at the level of recreational and subsistence use. But it's more, for these reefs have become a significant business, their coral exoskeletons, their living creators, and the shells and fish that live in and among them valuable collectors' items for the aquariums and curio shops of the world. And the purposeful and accidental introduction of marine invasives in isolated instances over the last decades have magnified into a critical mass of statewide presence and threat.

In relevant terms, though, we in Hawaii are among the lucky ones, for at least we still have living, albeit threatened, coral reefs, with declining but at least remaining marine life. At least we have marginally protective state laws, and a culture of arguable sustainability.

But in much of the rest of the marine world, especially throughout the temperate zones of the Pacific and beyond, the world of the coral reef is past endangered and into destroyed, wiped out by a wave of commercial overfishing, overcollecting, dynamiting, cyanide poisoning, and other forms of ecological pillage. In these worlds, laws do not exist to provide even minimum protections or, if they do, they are spurned.

Some say that that's their business; what do we care if they wreck their marine ecosystems? First, of course, in today's interdependent world, our global environment is everyone's business. But beyond that, we can't turn our backs because we are the chief facilitator; ours is the largest market for the products of this stripping of the world's coral reefs.

None of this is new: we have known all of this for decades. We have even set out to do something about it. In 1973, we became a party to the Convention on the International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora (CITES), which sought to clamp down on endangered species trafficking. But although some of our world's coral reef life has been designated as covered under it, the enforcement mechanisms are frankly ineffective.

More recently, in 1998 President Clinton issued the Coral Reef Protection Executive Order (#13098) establishing the U.S. Coral Reef Task Force. That entity was directed to strengthen our stewardship and conservation of our country's reef ecosystems, and to assess our role in the international coral reef products trade with the goal of taking actions to promote conservation and sustainable use of coral reefs worldwide.

The Task Force conducted its evaluations, made its reports, and outlined what was needed. That was in large part comprehensive legislation to institute common protective standards for our nation's coral reefs, but, equally important, rules to discourage international coral reef abuse and encourage sustainable practices by allowing imports only of non-endangered products collected by sustainable practices and pursuant to integrated management plans.

The Coral Reef Conservation and Protection Act of 2004 I gratefully introduce today embodies the principal directions of the Task Force and more. It establishes a comprehensive scheme for the domestic and international protection of our world's coral reef ecosystems. The regime's key ingredients are the disallowal of any domestic taking, transport in interstate commerce, or import of the endangered marine life of our coral reefs, unless that life is collected in non- destructive ways or subject to sustainable management plans or otherwise exempted from coverage by administrative actions.

Mr. Speaker, we have to start somewhere; our world's coral reefs are crying out for our help. This bill is that start, and I urge its prompt deliberation and passage.

Mahalo, and aloha!

Mr. Speaker, the signing 150 years ago of the U.S.-Japan Treaty of Peace and Amity, also known as the Treaty of Kanagawa, marked the beginning of a remarkable relationship between two great nations. It also represented a milestone in the history of each nation.

For Japan, which was emerging from two-and-a-half centuries of self- imposed isolation, the treaty marked the moment that it began its ascent to the ranks of the world's great powers. For the United States, which began as a small colony on the North Atlantic seaboard with deep roots in Europe, the treaty represented its emergence as a Pacific nation.

The Treaty of Kanagawa was signed in large part because the leadership of the United States recognized the importance of establishing a formal relationship with Japan, a nation that, in spite of its long period of isolation, was widely known to have a stable government as well as cultural and literary traditions that were highly evolved and refined.

While we all acknowledge that the U.S.-Japan relationship has had periods of difficulty, particularly the tragedy of the Second World War, it has, on the whole, been close, sturdy, vital, and mutually beneficial. The relationship continues to flourish today because both nations share a belief in democratic institutions, the rule of law, and economic prosperity. Both nations also believe strongly in building a foundation for both regional and global cooperation throughout Asia and the world.

We in Hawai`i have long had an especial relationship with Japan. Today, nearly 300,000 residents of our state (19 percent of our population) are descended from Japanese immigrants who first begin arriving in Hawai`i--then the Kingdom of Hawai`i--in 1868 to work as field laborers on our sugar plantations. Hawai`i's Japanese community has since played a central role in establishing modern Hawai`i's tradition of ethnic and social diversity.

Over the course of this commemorative year, I am hopeful that all Americans and Japanese will reacquaint themselves with the

depth and value of the relationship that was established between our two great nations 150 years ago.

Mr. Chairman, I rise in strong support of the Manzullo- Velazquez amendment. I came to this Congress and asked to serve on the Small Business Committee. Coming from a State that has 96 percent of its businesses as small businesses, 60 percent of its businesses as minority-owned businesses, I came here ready to roll up my sleeves believing that Washington, D.C. cared about small businesses.

Let us put this amendment into perspective and ask ourselves is that true. As we look at the actions of this administration, and many times this Congress, Members have to say that small business has not been treated well. I have sat on the Committee on Small Business, as bipartisan a committee as there is in this Congress, where we are all trying to help small business, and I have watched as the discussion has turned to small businesses being squeezed out of the Federal procurement process. I have watched as we have had hearings on all of those measures to help small businesses, from reducing paperwork, the Paperwork Reduction Act, and instead we see this administration presiding over increases in paperwork. Regulatory relief, this administration presiding over huge increases in regulation, and the Small Business Administration coming in to us and trying to defend the actions of the Office of Management and Budget telling them to cut, and we see the pain in their eyes when they have to carry that policy down here.

Now we find ourselves facing an amendment that should never have had to have been brought to the floor of this House to preserve a program which has been the flagship program of small business, and we are being put in a box where we have to elect between two different things that we both support. Of course we support it.

But I have to ask, why do we not take a look at the billion dollar sole source contracts for huge businesses that are out there? This is a blip on the radar screen when we compare it to that. This is not about banks. Banks are consolidating. Big banks are getting bigger. Small banks are getting wiped out. Small banks serve small businesses; small businesses are not cared for by the big banks. They are being squeezed out. Take it to a rural community in my district, Na'alehu, a small mom and pop operation, trying to get just a little capital to get going; and if they are going to the big banks, they are not going to get that capital.

Mr. Chairman, I rise in strong, unqualified support of the bipartisan Manzullo/Velazquez amendment to save the Small Business Administration's section 7(a) small business loan program.

Mr. Chairman, the Small Business Administration (SBA) was created 51 years ago by President Dwight D. Eisenhower to meet a critical nationwide capital shortage. SBA's top priority was to provide small companies with access to capital through its lending programs. The 7(a) loan program is the signature program within the SBA. Over the last decade, the SBA has approved more than 424,000 loans for over $90 billion, assisting countless small businesses across the country with their basic capital requirements.

Tragically, funding of the 7(a) program is in grave danger of being eliminated. Should the administration prevail in its attempt to dismantle this proven program and Congress proceed on its current path, our Nation's small businesses would have to bear an additional $80 million in SBA expenses, and the fees per loan would increase by over $1,000. These loans are the only source of affordable, long-term financing for many of our Nation's small businesses, as 7(a) loans spur economic development in underserved areas, are used to purchase land or buildings or expand existing facilities or buy new equipment, machines, or even furniture, and provide long-term working capital including accounts payable--allowing small businesses to start and continue in business where otherwise if may not be possible.

In my own state of Hawai`i, for example, the viability of small business is the linchpin to economic vitality. In 2002, the most recent year for which numbers are available, the SBA Office of Advocacy estimates that there were 28,800 small businesses in my state, representing 96.7 percent of all business in Hawai`i.

Hawai`i is also home to one of the largest percentages of minority- owned businesses. Minority-owned businesses represented 57.8 percent of the state's businesses and they generated $14.8 billion in revenues in the most recent year for which this data is available.

The SBA and its programs are critical to the sustainability of our economic base. In Hawai`i, FY03, the SBA made 269 loans worth nearly $29 million. Of that number, 132 of those loans, worth nearly $15 million--nearly half of all loans--were made to companies operating in the rural communities of the Second District that I represent.

The situation is even more promising for my state in this fiscal year. Through May 31, 2004, the SBA had approved 260 loans, worth about $18.5 million to Hawai`i small businesses. Rural small business have received 61 of those loans--representing over $6 million.

The 7(a) program is also crucial to small businesses because of recent consolidation of banks and other financial institutions throughout the country. My state is no exception. According to the Federal Reserve Board, there were 13 small-business-friendly banks in Hawai`i in 1998. In 2002, that number had shrunk to 7. Of those seven in 2002, four had assets between $1 billion and $10 billion. Because small business traditionally depend on local banks services and use commercial bank lenders, this recent consolidation has not had a positive effect upon lending to small businesses.

During my time in Congress, as a member of the House Committee on Small Business as well as the Blue Dog and New Democrat Coalitions, I have argued for fiscal responsibility during our budget and appropriations process. The SBA's 7(a) program is a perfect example of a federal effort that is entirely consistent with this needed approach, for it both increases revenue-generating economic activity and pays for itself. By supporting, nurturing and growing small businesses, we are allowing these companies to increase in size, revenue, employment and purchasing power, ultimately benefiting the community where that company is located as well as the country as a whole. And these are repayable loans, not outright grants.

Mr. Chairman, this is a crucial amendment for all concerned, not least the small businesses of my Second District of Hawai`i. According to a survey published by the National Federation of Independent Business in May of this year, the top three ``severe problems'' for small-business owners is cost of health insurance, liability insurance and workers' compensation. Let's not give these small businesses one more reason to fail in these trying times. Let's pass this important amendment. It is the right thing to do, and I implore my colleagues to support the Manzullo/Velazquez amendment and support the underlying bill.

Mr. Chairman, I rise today in support of the amendments offered by my distinguished colleague, the gentleman from Oregon, Mr. Blumenauer, relative to unexploded ordnance. I completely agree with the underlying assertion of his amendments that our country is failing its obligation to clean up unexploded ordnance (UXO) throughout our states and in fact, throughout the world.

My own Hawai`i is a classic example. Our military has made extensive use of my state for military training and preparedness for at least a century, and we in Hawai`i accept that use as an obligation that we owe to our country.

However, according to the Department of Defense's FY2002 Defense Environmental Restoration Program Annual Report to Congress, today there remain throughout Hawai`i over fifty Department of Defense- registered locations that have not been cleaned up, presenting ongoing public safety risks. These include 10 separate sites at Lualualei Naval Magazine on the Waianae Coast, one ten acre site at the Pacific Missile Range Facility at Barking Sands on the island of Kaua`i, five sites at Marine Corps Base Hawai`i at Kaneohe Bay, four sites on the island of Lana`i, and many smaller locations throughout the state. I can only believe that there are a number of other states in the same situation.

Let me take the specific example of the military's past use of a large portion of the Island of Hawai`i in and around the current residential communities of Waimea and Waikoloa. During and after World War II, the United States military, primarily the Navy and Marine Corps, utilized an area of approximately 123,000 acres on the western side of the Island of Hawai`i as an artillery range, military training cap, and general military grounds. This former Waikoloa Maneuver/Nansay Combat Range lies in and around the Coast resort area, and remains littered with related debris including UXO. This UXO has already resulted in civilian deaths and injuries and represents a continuing threat to residents and visitors and renders large portions of the area effectively unusable.

In 1992, the United States Army Corps of Engineers determined that the site was eligible for the Defense Environmental Restoration Program for designation as a Formerly Used Defense Site (FUDS). In 2002, the Corps completed an engineering evaluation/cost analysis which designated the entire site for potential ordnance health and safety risk and estimated total cleanup at an excess of $600,000,000.

Of that amount, the Corps analysis estimated cleanup costs for the three highest areas of potential risk, in and immediately adjacent to existing and pending residential communities at $250,000,000. A comprehensive plan for utilization of such funds to those purposes requested by the Senate Armed Services Committee (SASC Report 107-151), completed, and submitted to the Secretary of the Army. Same amounts have been expended and other have been allocated in effectuation of that plan, but much less of the $250,000,000 estimate and far short then the estimated costs of total cleanup in excess of $600,000,000.

On April 12, 2004, I met with official from the United States Army Corps of Engineers on the Big Island of Hawai`i. At that meeting, I was given an update on the Corps of Engineers' ongoing efforts to clear high priority sites within the Waikoloa Maneuver Area. A small project now underway has begun to clear UXO around Waikoloa Village and Waimea Town--two relatively populated areas on the Big Island. This cleanup project is located in an area that was once used as a military training cap and artillery range.

Both on and off the record, I have heard many excuses about the reasons we cannot fund UXO: the war, the deficit, the President's tax cuts. But, these excuses and past Congressional and Executive mishandling of the UXO issue are no excuse for the country--for this Congress--to ignore a concept espoused by parents, coaches and camp counselors alike: Leave any place you visited cleaner than when you arrived. The Army Corps of Engineers is ready and willing to begin the process of cleanup; it is now up to all of us in Congress to appropriate the funds for this much-needed action.

Mr. Chairman, our military needs places where they can train fully to protect our country, but when they've completed their mission it's only right that they clean up and assure that those of us that come after them can use the land safely. These amendments offered by the gentleman from Oregon are an essential first step towards cleaning up the many communities which are littered with UXO. I urge their adoption by the House.

Mr. Speaker, I rise today in support and as a cosponsor of H.R. 4417, which will extend for one year the deadline for countries to continue eligibility in our Visa Waiver Program by issuing passports which are both machine-readable and also include biometric identifiers.

I do so with a clear focus on tourism, the primary industry in my state. According to the State of Hawaii Department of Business, Economic Development and Tourism, in 2002, tourists spent more than $11 billion during their vacations in the state. A significant part of these expenditures come from international tourists. And while facilitated international travel is essential not only to recreational tourism, it is also key to international commerce, especially from Asia, and to the education in Hawaii of foreign nationals, a major and growing component of our economy.

Each day, thousands of visitors arrive to Hawaii from foreign destinations, including those countries in the Visa Waiver Program (VWP). The tourism industry not only in my state, but every state in the Nation, faces grave consequences if this extension is not granted. According to the State Department, if the deadline is not extended, it expects to process an additional 5 million visas in 2005 alone. This will cripple our embassies and consulates worldwide, compound the existing program of visa issuance, and spell great hardship not only for the travel industry but also business and commerce in general throughout the United States.

The Patriot Act justifiably legislated the machine-readable passport requirement for VWP travelers, and additionally gave the Secretary of State authority to postpone the effective date. However, the Secretary of State lacks further authority to extend the deadline on his own. The Secretary of State, working with the Secretary of Homeland Security, has granted a postponement only until October 26, 2004 of the date by which VWP travelers from 21 countries must present a machine-readable passport at a U.S. port of entry to be admitted to the United States without a visa. Another year is needed; only Congress can extend the deadline, and we must do so passing this legislation today.

While most of the VWP countries are located in Western Europe, there are several countries in the Asia-Pacific Rim which will benefit from an extension of the October 26, 2004 deadline, including Australia, New Zealand, Singapore, Brunei, and Japan. These are the countries of most concern to my home.

Mr. Speaker, I share some additional thoughts from key officials within my State's tourism industry. The Director of the State of Hawaii Department of Business Economic Development and Tourism, Mr. Theodore E. Liu,

recently wrote that his department is ``in total support of extending [the deadline of] the Visa Waiver Program countries to have machine readable passports.'' The President and Chief Executive Officer of the Hawaii Tourism Agency, Mr. Rex D. Johnson, wrote that the implementation of ``the program before countries are ready to comply would undoubtedly create mass confusion in international travel.''

To be clear, I support the overall requirement of machine-readable passports as well as the use of biometrics on travel documents, both American and international. And I call upon the executive branch to place biometrics upon a machine-readable American passport as quickly as possible, because biometrics can assist not only our country, but every country, to ensure that the person listed on the passport is the same person who presents the passport upon entering the country. As a biometric identifier is an electronic scan of a physical feature or features, including an eye, hand, fingerprint, or face, use of a biometric identifier allows an immigration inspector to know for certain that the person appearing before him or her is the same person to whom a passenger or visa was issued.

But, Mr. Speaker, given the current situation, we must extend the deadline at least this one year. I therefore agree with the proposal of chairman and ranking member of the Judiciary Committee, the chairman and ranking member of the International Relational Committee, and others, and implore my colleagues to support this bipartisan bill.

Mr. Speaker, I rise today to introduce the proposed North Maui Coastal Preservation Act of 2004, a bill directing the National Park Service to assess the feasibility of designating certain coastal lands on the north shore of the Island of Maui between the towns of Pa`ia and Sprecklesville as a unit of the National Park Service. This area is fully worthy of designation as a National Seashore, National Historic Park, or National Recreation Area.

Since assuming office as the representative for Hawai`i's Second Congressional District, I have heard loud and clear from the people of Maui, in person during countless times on the island and through petitions and postcards from some 2,000 constituents, about their deep concern for preserving this beautiful, historically significant and resources-rich coastline. Although the 128 acres identified in the bill are currently zoned as open space or parkland, they lie directly in the path of development in Maui's hot real estate market.

The desire of the people of Maui is to have the natural, scenic, and cultural resources of this unique area preserved and protected from development, and ultimately designated as the Patsy Takemoto Mink North Shore Heritage Park. As many of my colleagues know, my predecessor in this body, the late Congresswoman Patsy T. Mink, was born and grew up in Hamakua Poko, a small village near Pa`ia on just this coastline. If the Park Service finds that the area merits inclusion in the National Park System, I will introduce legislation authorizing establishment of a park and directing that it be named after Congresswoman Mink.

I want to take this opportunity to acknowledge the contribution of the Maui Sierra Club and especially of Lance Holter, a dedicated community activist, for inspiring the introduction of this bill. I can tell by the hundreds of cards I continue to receive from Maui residents in support of establishing such a park that there are many more people who have dedicated enormous energy and time in the hopes of preserving our precious natural and cultural heritage for future generations.

I urge my colleagues to join me in supporting this bill, and invite you to come to the Island of Maui to visit this special area. I know that if you do so, you will be convinced as I am of the vital importance of protecting these lands.

Mr. Speaker, our country is obviously going through times of great difficulty, but it is vital in such times that we pause to reflect on all that is good in our country, that we reflect upon the glue of our country, what holds us together. In that context, I am very pleased to join the gentleman from California, a most worthy and passionate advocate for our people, and my other colleagues on the Congressional Asian Pacific American Caucus on commemorating Asian Pacific American Heritage Month. I stand here as the proud Representative of my Second District of Hawaii, the most ethnically diverse district in the most ethnically diverse State of our country.

In my Hawaii, out of a total population of 1.2 million, over half are comprised of Asian and Pacific Islanders. And so as we commemorate Asian Pacific American Heritage Month, I want to reflect on the history of Hawaii, not just because I am immensely proud of our history but also because I believe very strongly that we remain a beacon for where this country is going and what this country can be in the area of ethnic contributions and ethnic diversity.

Of course among our country's original Pacific Islanders were and are the indigenous peoples of Hawaii, the native Hawaiians. They came from elsewhere in Polynesia in the early centuries A.D. and built one of the most amazing societies that this world has ever seen. The circumstances under which their kingdom gave way to the Republic of Hawaii remain controversial and far reaching, the subject even today of vital legislation to reaffirm the special relationship between our government and native Hawaiians everywhere. But what is unquestioned is that our indigenous peoples, like other Asians and Pacific Islanders, have seen a remarkable and deeply moving renaissance in their own culture and ethnic pride that has not even begun to approach its zenith.

Modern Western contact in 1778 started Hawaii on the journey to ethnic and cultural diversity, a journey on which we are still embarked. As our economy turned to large-scale agriculture and we saw many foreign workers come in, we saw the Chinese come

in beginning in 1852, Japanese in 1868, Portuguese in 1878, Puerto Ricans in 1901, Koreans in 1904, Filipinos in 1907. Today we continue in Hawaii to attract immigrants to our shores, including Vietnamese, Laotians and Cambodians from southeast Asia and other Pacific Islander groups including Tongans, Samoans, Fijians, Maori, Chamorros, Marshallese, Palauans and other Micronesians, Polynesians and Melanesians.

Today Hawaii's Asian and Pacific Islander community counts all of these as valuable members of our society. My own congressional district is home to many, including the largest number of native Hawaiian and Filipino populations of any other district in the country. So it is no surprise that Hawaii leads our country in interracial marriages, including my own, where the undisputed head of my household's family originated in the great country of Japan a century ago. More than one- third of married couples and more than one-half of unmarried couples are interracial. More than 50 percent of the children born in Hawaii nowadays, including my own, are interracial. So you can see that in Hawaii, we live Asian Pacific American Month every month. We are proud of our API community, their contributions to our national and international life. For example, of the 33 Asian and Pacific American Members of Congress ever elected, seven have been from Hawaii, including Prince Jonah Kuhio Kalanianaole, Senator Daniel Ken Inouye, Senator Hiram Leong Fong, Senator Spark Masayuki Matsunaga, Congresswoman Patsy Takemoto Mink, Senator Daniel Kahikina Akaka and Congresswoman Patricia Fukuda Saiki.

We have boasted a few firsts at the gubernatorial level. The first Governor of Japanese ancestry, George Ariyoshi. The first Governor of native Hawaiian ancestry, John Waihee. The first Governor of Filipino ancestry, Governor Ben Cayetano. We have seen today in the halls of Congress the incredible contributions of a patriot, Major General Antonio Taguba, a Leilehua High grad from Hawaii and a proud member of our Filipino community. And, of course, former General Eric Shinseki, 34th Chief of Staff, U.S. Army, of Kauai.

Like everywhere else in our country we have tragically given thousands of the lives of our sons and daughters, including from the Asian and Pacific American community for the cause of freedom. The exploits of the 442nd Regimental Combat Team remain legendary, but more recently we have seen the tragedy, the tragedy of the loss in Iraq of Maui native Sergeant First Class Kelly Bolor and Big Island native Wesley Batalona.

In sports we have seen Michelle Wie, a 14-year-old Hawaii high school freshman referred to as the Tiger Woods of women's golf. We have seen Benny Agbayani in baseball, Duke Kahanamoku and Rell Sunn in surfing, Ben Villaflor in boxing, Tommy Kono in weightlifting. Ellison Onizuka gave his life for the cause of science. Miss Universe Brooke Lee. Miss America Angela Baraquio. In music, Braddah Iz, Israel Kamakawiwo'ole. In Hollywood Kelly Hu, Jason Scott Lee, Tia Carrera. In sumo, Takamiyama, Akebono, Musashimaru and Konishiki. In civil rights, Bruce Yamashita. And, of course, how could we end the night without mentioning Camille Velasco and more recently Jasmine Trias? If you want to show your support for Asian and Pacific Americans, tonight you know what number to call on what TV show right about now. Jasmine just finished singing.

Mr. Speaker, this is just some of what our proud Asian and Pacific American community offers our country and world. We are deeply committed to sharing with our fellow Asian and Pacific American community nationwide a bright future. I have only the utmost thanks and respect for the gentleman from California (Mr. Honda) again for his leadership and for my other colleagues, not just in the APA community caucus here but on all of the other ethnic minority caucuses. Together we are working for a much brighter, a much better, a much more vibrant and diverse and amazing culture and future that lies in front of us here in this country.

I thank him and bid him a warm mahalo.

Mr. Speaker, I rise today to congratulate the incredible students of Kahuku High School for their great achievement in winning fourth place at the national finals of the We the People: The Citizen and the Constitution program held in Washington, D.C. from May 1-3, 2004. These outstanding students from my O'ahu's North Shore underwent months of intensive study and hard-won victories to win the right to represent Hawaii in the finals, where they competed against a class from every state in the country and demonstrated a remarkable understanding of the fundamental ideas and values of American constitutional government.

This is the first time in Hawaii's eight-year history at this rigorous competition that one of our schools has competed in the final ten. This is truly a wonderful accomplishment that our whole state is deeply proud of!

I commend Kahuku's great teacher, Sandra Cashman, for her unending commitment to her students and for producing generations of responsible citizens. Commendations are also in order to State Director of We the People Lyla Berg and District Coordinator Sharon Kaohi for their leadership in creating our leaders of tomorrow.

However, ultimately this competition is by and about our kids. So I would like to send my heartiest congratulations to Samuel Braden, Chelsey Bunker, Stacia Colton, Brian Craycraft, Tusiata Esera, Lacey Golonka, Evelyn Griffin, Reis Harney, Celesta Hubner, Azura Iversen- Keahi, Jeremy James, Natalie Kamauoha, Jennifer Kamiya, Tiffany Lee, Brook McArthur, Donna Ramos, Alicia Reidy, Leilani Relator, Aaron Rillamos, Austin Spring, Ian Tapu, Alexandra Thompson, Rachel Telleson, Seini Unga, and Jordan Williams. You have all made Hawaii proud. Aloha and best of wishes in your future endeavors.

Mr. Speaker, I rise today to congratulate Duke Sevilla, Program Coordinator for Maui Economic Opportunity's YouthBank Program, who has been named the 2004 recipient of the Hawaii State Teachers Association Friend of Youth Award.

The Friend of Youth Award is given annually to recognize an outstanding person or public/private agency which has contributed greatly to the youth of Hawaii. Duke was chosen from among numerous nominations statewide.

Duke has been an outstanding volunteer on Maui for many years. You can frequently find him in the weight rooms at Baldwin High School and the Old Wailuku Gym showing the kids how weightlifting can be beneficial to them. Duke's commitment to our keiki knows no bounds, as he often visits homes to work with youth who are estranged from school.

Duke's aloha isn't limited to the YouthBank program. He and his wife Jean have been foster parents for several years, with their home ending up being the ``last stop'' for youth after many foster homes.

Congratulations, Duke, and mahalo nui loa for your true dedication to Maui's keiki. It is greatly appreciated by all!

Madam Speaker, here we go again. Here we are to talk about a subject our majority colleagues and our administration do not want to talk about. They are hoping it will just go away. That subject is our national budget or, more directly, the conspicuous lack thereof.

Madam Speaker, my constituents ask me all the time, what do I think is the most important challenge facing our country? What is the one thing that we have to work on more than anything else? I can reply to them, in all honesty and candor and directness, that it is the very solvency of their Federal Government.

Why should that be? Why is it not the economy? Why is it not education? Why is it not our deteriorating relationship with the rest of the world? Why is it not Social Security?

The reason is simple. Without a strong fiscal underpinning, we cannot do everything or anything else. We can have a great old talk, we can have a great old debate, but unless the fiscal solvency of our country is strong, we are not going anywhere. Put another way, unless we take care of today, our children will not be able to take care of tomorrow.

We think we all know now, do we not, that we are in pretty bad shape? In fact, we are in real bad shape; and we are going downhill fast. The largest deficits we have ever seen, no end in sight, debt going up, interest rates going up, irresponsible budgeting, like going out only 5 years of a budget when we know that the big expenses come in the sixth year.

And we all know that the budget passed by this House just a week ago by a mere three-vote margin is not going to solve that problem. In fact, it is going to worsen it.

How did we get here? How did we ever allow ourselves to come to this place? Just 3, 4 years ago we were on the right track. We had spending under control. We had revenues coming in. We had budgets that were heading towards balance. We had debt ceilings that were low relative to

Mr. Speaker, I rise in full and unqualified support of my colleague from California's motion, a motion that asks this House to do what the Senate, on a bipartisan basis, has already done, a motion that Democrat and Republican Presidents, Democrat and Republican colleagues of Congress have passed; that the conservative Concord Coalition as well as Federal Reserve chair Alan Greenspan supports; a motion that any business, family, or consumer can understand and has to live by and, frankly, a motion that most Republicans in this Chamber would probably love to vote for, if only they could. It is a motion that stands for this basic principle: when you balance a budget, it is not balanced unless and until you balance it all.

Mr. Speaker, what is so hard about PAYGO? Why can my House colleagues on the other side of the aisle, in the party that professes budget discipline, not see what their own colleagues in the Senate see clearly? Is it a failure to understand, is it a failure to agree, or is it a denial of reality?

I cannot believe it is a failure to understand. My own teenage son understands that when he balances his budget, he cannot leave out any part of it. He cannot leave out the spending. He cannot leave out any potential reductions in income. My neighbors and I understand that there is a difference between a budget that has a home mortgage payment in it and a budget that does not. If my wife comes to me tomorrow and says, I am going to be making less next year than I made this year, do I ignore it in my budget calculations? No.

The States understand it. Every State understands PAYGO and practices it. Why? Because they have something that we do not have here: they have a balanced budget requirement. When they have a balanced budget requirement, they have to balance all of their budget.

It cannot be a failure to understand. If it is, we are all in trouble. I would like to believe it is a failure to agree; but then I would like to have a conversation, substantively, about what we do not agree on. No, I think it is a conscious failure to accept reality or, perhaps worse, an attempt to spin, to deceive, to accomplish a result by means other than up front.

Mr. Speaker, this is not about the substance of whether to reduce or increase taxes. This is not about the substance of whether to reduce or increase spending. This is about the consequences of actions. This is about the consequences of whether we reduce or increase taxes. This is about the consequences of reducing or increasing spending.

My colleagues are telling me that there are no consequences of a $2 trillion aggregate tax cut. That is like saying there are no consequences of increasing our budget by $2 trillion. Of course there are consequences. Do we want to talk about it in a budget context? Okay, fine. Let us talk about the tax cut. Let us talk about the dynamic

impact. Let us talk about jobs that may or may not be created, income coming in. But let us calculate it, factor it into a balanced budget. That is all this motion does. Let us live within our means and pay as we go.