Floor Statements

Mr. Speaker, I rise today to support the Hate Crimes Prevention Act. Our country values diversity, values individuality, values different cultures and respects people for who they are. Hate crimes are simply un-American.

In 2005, there were over 7,000 Federal hate crimes committed in this country, but the current law does not cover most true hate crimes.

Late last year in New York, three men lured Michael J. Sandy to a parking lot, beat him and chased him into traffic where he was struck by a car. He died 5 days later, one day after his 29th birthday. Why did these attackers target Michael J. Sandy? Because he was gay.

Today, Mr. Sandy's attackers can not be prosecuted under Federal law for two reasons. First, in order to be a Federal hate crime, a victim must be engaged in a federally protected activity such as voting. Second, the current hate crime law does not consider sexual orientation a protected class.

The Hate Crimes Prevention Act will sensibly expand the definition of a Federal hate crime to cover all violent crimes motivated by race, color, religion, national origin, gender, sexual orientation, gender identity, or disability when the defendant causes bodily injury or attempts to cause bodily injury through the use of a firearm or an explosive device.

Thankfully, New York law has allowed this case to be prosecuted as a hate crime, but it is time to update our Federal laws to protect our citizens.

The bill will also give local law enforcement the help they need in solving and prosecuting these despicable crimes. Some of these cases can strain local resources, but under this legislation, law enforcement can reach out and secure Federal resources to pursue these complex cases.

Because the bill makes common sense reforms, the bill has enjoyed wide bipartisan support. In fact, the bill is supported by 31 State Attorneys General and over 280 national law enforcement, professional, education, civil rights, religious, and civic organizations.

I urge my colleagues to join me in supporting this critical legislation.

Mr. Speaker, the horrific events at Virginia Tech just a few days ago cause all of us to reflect. My heart goes out to the victims, to the victims' families, to the people who were injured. This is something that is just a terrible tragedy, an unthinkable, terrible tragedy. And as the father of three, including two in college, it really makes one stop and pause.

I say very, very respectfully, at a time of violence we need to reflect on this violence. And it certainly seems to me that upon reflection, to say that this country needs to have sensible gun control legislation, not legislation that would take guns out of the hands of people legitimately who have the right by the second amendment to own guns; but how could a deranged young man like the killer be able to just walk into a store and purchase any kind of guns at will and then use them to mow down 32 or 33 people?

It is all a matter of commonsense. We get emotional about these issues, but I am really speaking from the heart. Commonsense says that we need to have sensible gun control legislation so that criminals, people with mental illness, cannot just purchase guns at will and as many as they want.

In my home city, New York City, our mayor, Michael Bloomberg, has been leading a crusade for sensible gun control legislation, and I agree with him. And, again, it takes a tragedy of this magnitude to kind of just sit and reflect and say, what are we doing or what are we not doing and why is it an infringement on anybody's second amendment rights to keep guns out of the hands of criminals, deranged people, and people who shouldn't own them?

I think that this country really, really needs to reflect on its policies regarding guns. And, again, I support the second amendment, and I think there are many, many legitimate reasons for people to own guns. But after the tragedy at Virginia Tech, I say it again: I believe more than ever that this country needs to adopt sensible gun control legislation. We need to use our commonsense, and we need to try to prevent tragedies like the tragedy at Virginia Tech from happening again.

I know people say guns don't kill people, people kill people; that is true. But guns in the hands of the wrong people kill people. And I really think in all good conscience that we really need to reflect.

And, again, my heart goes out to the families, the victims, and all the students at Virginia Tech. But as a country, we need to come to grips with this problem.

Mr. Speaker, every day my constituents and people all around America go to a gasoline station to put gasoline in their cars and see that the prices are rising and rising and rising to a point of ridiculousness. I want to know what is the administration doing to combat this problem.

When the price of a barrel of oil goes up, gasoline prices go up, but when the cost of a barrel of oil goes down, gasoline prices still go up.

Americans remember the gasoline prices started dropping conveniently just before the last election in 2006. Is it a coincidence? I don't know, but certainly I do know that nothing is happening, and every single day Americans are feeling the pinch at the pump.

I call on the administration to take action. Enough is enough. I don't know if it's collusion. I don't know what it is. I just know it's wrong, and prices should be dropping when the cost of a barrel of oil goes down, not getting higher.

Madam Speaker, today I rise to reintroduce the PLEA Act to protect our citizens and to protect our law enforcement officers.

The PLEA Act would ban the Five Seven handgun, a weapon that has been designed by FN Herstal of Belgium to have the power necessary to pierce a bulletproof vest while still being small enough to conceal. In other words, it is the perfect weapon for criminals to use against police officers.

It is not useful as a hunting weapon and there are certainly other reasonable options for self-defense. So why do we need such a dangerous gun on our streets? The answer is that we do not.

Some in the gun lobby have said the claims about the gun's power have been exaggerated. But I have seen a demonstration of the

handgun myself. It is so powerful it can penetrate a bulletproof vest from as far as two football fields away. It is every bit as deadly as an assault rifle, but the Five-Seven can easily be concealed, putting law enforcement officials even more at risk.

Bulletproof vests are unfortunately sometimes the only protection that our law enforcement officials possess. If vests are no longer able to protect them, we are putting all of our police officers in great peril.

In fact, earlier this month there was a report in the press that a Mexican police officer was shot and killed by a Five Seven handgun despite the fact he was wearing a bulletproof vest.

Do not let this tragedy repeat itself here in the United States.

This is the type of gun that one would expect only to be available to the military, not citizens on the street. But I have heard from law enforcement officials in my district, in New York, that these guns have been confiscated all across the country. And not long ago, the Brady Campaign was able to purchase one just a few miles from here in Woodbridge, Virginia.

Now is the time for Congress and the Bush administration to ban this weapon.

That is why today I am reintroducing the PLEA Act to ban the sale, importation and possession of this gun.

I ask my colleagues to join me and the Brady Campaign to Prevent Gun Violence in supporting this important legislation. If you support law enforcement officers, then you should support banning this weapon.

Mr. Chairman, I rise today in support of H. Con. Res. 99, a budget resolution providing a number of common sense solutions to the budget crisis created by 12 years of Republican fiscal mismanagement.

I was here in 1993 when President Clinton and Congressional Democrats passed our budget resolution. And this year reminds me of 1993. We are hearing exactly the same complaints about this budget as we did that year. And we all know what happened when we passed our budget back then.

The Democrats helped create the longest economic expansion in our Nation's history. We balanced the budget after years of Republican Presidents had pushed us deeper and deeper into debt. We helped create more wealth than had ever been created in America. We created the largest surpluses in history. And we did this without a single Republican supporting our budget.

In fact, the minute the Republicans got back into power, they wiped out the surpluses we gave them, and began drowning us in debt. They took the economic expansion we gave them, and drove us into recession.

Mr. Chairman, once again we are faced with red ink as far as the eye can see. We have a debt of almost $9 trillion, and the Republicans have abdicated any attempt to solve this.

The budget resolution we have introduced incorporates the pay-as-you- go rule that was one of the first acts of the new Democratic Congress. We are also increasing funding for veterans in order to fulfill the promises we made to them long ago. Our budget provides $3.5 billion more than the President's budget for veterans' health care, and $6.6 billion more than was provided in the 2007 budget. This is the largest funding increase for veterans in our Nation's history. We are also providing $50 over the next five years to cover millions of uninsured children.

I strongly support the Democratic budget resolution. It will help put our fiscal house back in order, without relying on the massive middle class tax increase that the President's budget includes. I would encourage my colleagues to support this budget as well.

Mr. Chairman, I rise today in support of H.R. 1538, the Wounded Warrior Assistance Act of 2007. This bill will provide long overdue assistance to our wounded veterans.

I know every Member of this body has read some of the horrific stories that have come out of veterans' facilities such as Walter Reed, which is just a few miles from where we stand. Stories such as mold in the rooms, holes in the ceiling, and insect and rodent infestation became commonplace at what should be our preeminent Army healthcare facility.

We owe our war veterans the very best care that our country can provide, but these problems at Walter Reed are not isolated incidents. They are indicative of an Administration that has failed soldiers and veterans at every level. The Wounded Warrior Assistance Act will help remedy the problems that have become known over the past few years.

This bill will take a number of steps to improve the quality of life for injured veterans. For starters, it will reduce the workload of case managers handling the medical care of vets. Currently, these case managers are overwhelmed with thousands of soldiers who have come back wounded from Iraq.

In addition to reducing their caseload, this bill will also require that case managers are properly trained to handle the supervision of the soldiers in their care. These injured soldiers need an advocate to help them navigate the paperwork and potential obstacles they face.

H.R. 1538 will also direct the Department of Defense to create a toll free hotline for soldiers to report problems with their medical care, or with the facilities in general. Had there been a hotline already, we might have learned about the Walter Reed problems long ago.

As has been proven with all the problems that we have seen in military medical facilities recently, there has been a general lack of oversight involving the military hospitals. This bill will fix that problem by creating an oversight board. This board would be composed of members of the House, Senate, as well as appointees of the Departments of Defense and Veterans Affairs. This oversight is critical to prevent these terrible conditions from reoccurring.

Mr. Chairman, throughout our Nation's history, our freedom has been preserved by members of the Armed Forces. Countless soldiers throughout our history have given their lives or their health to preserve our way of life. Ensuring that they get the very best healthcare is the very least we can provide them with. How can we possibly ask a soldier to sacrifice a limb to preserve our safety, and then put them in a dirty, moldy room when they return? This is unconscionable behavior, and passing R.R. 1538 is a good way to address some of these problems.

I strongly support the Wounded Warrior Assistance Act, and I urge my colleagues to offer their support as well.

Mr. Chairman, I rise today in support of H.R. 1401, the Rail and Public Transportation Security Act of 2007. This bill calls for necessary funding and emergency

planning to protect the American rail system and other critical points of our Nation's infrastructure.

I support H.R. 1401 because I have seen the chaos that can ensue when a disaster occurs. I was in New York City on 9/11, and I saw firsthand what can happen when we are improperly prepared for a terrorist attack or natural disaster. The entire world saw in New Orleans that without planning and foresight, the aftermath a disaster can be even worse than the disaster itself. This bill will require a national plan to prepare for rail and public transportation emergencies.

This bill will also provide grant funding dedicated to rail and public transportation security. Included in these grants will be $100 million over the next 4 years to improve security in six New York City tunnels. Anybody who has traveled through these tunnels, as much as I have, will know this funding is critical.

In addition to providing direct funding for emergency prevention, this bill will require training programs to teach employees of public transportation systems how to prevent and prepare for a terrorist attack, and how to respond to such an attack. And it will go further, by establishing programs which will test how well the transportation systems have prepared for such an attack.

Mr. Chairman, H.R. 1401 is a wide ranging bill that touches on a number of critical infrastructure points in the United States. For example, currently our Nation has only 100 surface transportation inspectors. This bill will increase that number to 600 over the next 3 years.

In addition to providing grants for localities to secure their infrastructure, this bill will help prevent attacks that we haven't even thought of yet. $200 million in this bill will go towards research and development that is intended to plan for and prevent terrorist attacks.

Mr. Chairman, millions of Americans from coast to coast rely upon public transportation every day. Our people deserve as much safety as we can provide for them. We cannot predict when a terrorist attack or natural disaster will occur, and we cannot always prevent these from happening. However, we have also seen that the better prepared we are, and the more we have planned, the better we can address these problems. H.R. 1401 will go a long way towards helping us minimize the impact of a terrible disaster. I strongly support it and urge my colleagues to offer their support as well.

Mr. Speaker, I thank the gentlewoman from California and I rise to support this bill as I support all legislation dealing with the problem of spoofing.

I too have an anti-spoofing bill which passed the House last Congress. It was the first bill passed this year in the Telecommunications Subcommittee of the House Energy and Commerce Committee, and passed the House Energy and Commerce Committee as well.

It is very important that we deal with this problem. My colleagues have highlighted so many incidents where people have looked down at caller ID, and fraud has been committed on them.

People should have confidence that when they look at the caller ID, that that caller ID is accurate. And crooks and other people that want to steal people's identity should not have carte blanche.

The problem with this is we are always catching up with the crooks. As technology develops, crooks can think of ways to subvert it. When we realize there is a problem, Congress catches up and works to close the loophole. This is a loophole that must be closed.

Again, my colleagues have highlighted many of different instances where elderly people have been defrauded, where people think that they have the confidence of their bank or Social Security, they look at the number of the Social Security office, and they have confidence and they give out their Social Security numbers or other kinds of personal information which can be used to steal their identity.

I want to commend my colleagues on the Judiciary Committee and assure them that we on the Energy and Commerce Committee will work with them. This whole Congress needs to be working together on this. This is obviously a bipartisan working together. This is not an issue where it is a partisan issue. All Americans need to have this loophole closed. The sooner we do it, the better.

Madam Speaker, I rise today to announce the introduction of the Stop Tuberculosis Now Act of 2007.

As a member of the House Foreign Affairs Committee, I know all too well how necessary comprehensive international tuberculosis control is. It is remarkable in this day and age, with treatment available, that TB is the biggest infectious killer of young women in the world. In fact, TB kills more women than all causes of maternal mortality. As you know, TB is also the leading killer of people with AIDS. TB accounts for more than one quarter of all preventable adult deaths in developing countries.

I strongly believe that the global community, with the United States in the lead, must do more to adequately address this disease by investing in quality TB control programs, using the groundbreaking Global Plan to Stop TB as a guide. It is for that reason that I am introducing the Stop TB Now Act which will make the appropriate investments towards achieving the goals of the Global Plan. My bill calls for a U.S. investment of $400 million for international TB control in FY08 and $550 million in FY09.

I believe that if we don't make bold--and wise--investments in international TB control, not only will we fail to save millions of lives and miss out on the many accompanying benefits of controlling this killer, but also that this disease will become far more difficult and costly to treat.

Extremely Drug Resistant TB highlights this danger. It has been found on six continents, is a growing epidemic in southern Africa, and is already reported to be here in the United States. Regular (non drug- resistant) TB is curable with drugs that cost just $16 in most developing countries. Cases of drug-resistant TB, however, can cost thousands of dollars to cure, with treatment that is far more difficult for patients and practitioners. Drug-resistant TB is a manmade problem and is caused by poor TB treatment. We have the power to prevent drug- resistant TB and the power to treat and control regular TB, and yet we have not chosen to do so.

Madam Speaker, the adoption of the Stop TB Now Act of 2007 would have a profound effect on our efforts to improve global tuberculosis control. I ask my colleagues to cosponsor this bill today.

Madam Speaker, I rise today to honor Jacobo and Mary Kapilivsky on their 50th wedding anniversary. Jacobo and Mary will celebrate this wonderful milestone on April 14th, 2007, after spending half a century in love with the shared experiences of family life.

The life of Jacobo and Mary is a wonderful example of the American Dream.

The son of poor Jewish immigrants, Jacobo Kapilivsky was born on June 25th, 1932 in Trujillo, Peru. Despite his humble beginnings, Jacobo graduated from medical school in his native country before marrying Mary Rosco, herself a daughter of Jewish immigrants.

Jacobo and Mary started the adventure of their life together by immigrating to the U.S., where Jacobo completed his medical residency in Johnson City, NY and later in the Bronx. Over the years, Jacobo became a surgeon as well as a medical entrepreneur both in the U.S. and in Peru, where he has founded and led several private hospitals and medical centers. Currently, they live in McAllen, Texas.

The Kapilivskys are parents to Allan and his wife Lillian, Sam and his wife Noemi, and Sara and her husband Mark. They are proud grandparents to seven grandchildren including their newest addition and first granddaughter, Leora Paz Vogel. Their children and grandchildren live in McAllen, Texas, Rochester, New York, and South Florida.

Madam Speaker, I ask my colleagues to join me today in honoring Jacobo and Mary Kapilivsky on their 50 golden years of love and dedication to each other.

Madam Speaker, I thank my friend from Arizona in whose district my son Jonathan is enjoying himself as a sophomore at the University of Arizona. I would like to thank all concerned for the opportunity to speak about my bill, H.R. 759, a bill which will name the third floor library at Ellis Island in New York Harbor the Bob Hope Memorial Library.

I would also like to thank Representative Gallegly for his assistance with this bill, and I would like to thank the chairman and the ranking member of the committee for their help in bringing this bill expeditiously to the floor.

Most Americans remember Bob Hope for his work in the entertainment business as a comedian, actor, dancer and singer, as well as his work with the American troops abroad. Perhaps his work with American troops abroad is the thing that he is most remembered for. But what few know is that Bob Hope was actually an immigrant from England, came here when he was very, very young. He is sometimes even referred to as America's most famous immigrant, whose life epitomizes the American Dream. Bob Hope embodies the American Dream, and the Ellis Island Restoration Commission even called naming the library a fitting tribute.

After a long period of restoration, Ellis Island, where my grandparents, all four of them, came through about 100 years ago, Ellis Island was turned into a museum in 1990 with the purpose of allowing people to come and remember the 16 million immigrants who passed through Ellis Island from 1892 through 1954 to pursue the American Dream.

Like many of the other 16 million immigrants who passed through Ellis Island, Bob Hope arrived in America in 1907, which is actually the same year that my grandmother, my mother's mother, came to this country, and Bob Hope arrived in 1907 with little in the way of worldly possessions. Bob Hope described himself upon arrival as, and I quote him, ``a 4 year-old boy in knickers who had no idea of the opportunities that lay ahead.''

He went on to become a household name in the United States and around the world. After arriving in the United States, the Hope family moved to Ohio, and he later studied and started his career in radio.

He moved on to appear in numerous movies and even Broadway plays, and is perhaps best known, as I mentioned before, for his unwavering commitment to entertaining our Nation's troops abroad. For nearly six decades, often during holidays in World War II, through Vietnam and until the Gulf War, Bob Hope traveled the globe, bringing a little bit of America to U.S. troops during times of peace and war.

Troops abroad even took calling him ``GI Bob.'' In 1997, Congress named him an honorary veteran. Bob Hope has been recognized in many ways for his work. He has been honored with over 1,500 awards, but this award or reward is perhaps the most fitting.

Some notable awards include several Academy Awards, a Congressional Gold Medal in 1962, an Emmy and a Golden Globe. Despite all the awards that Bob Hope received, he had a special place in his heart for Ellis Island. In 1990, when the Ellis Island Restoration Commission suggested naming the third floor library of the museum in his honor, he stated it would be, and I quote him, ``one of the single most important high points of my career.''

Sadly, Bob Hope passed away in 2003 at the age of 100 and did not see this project finished. But today I hope we would move, as the first step, in seeing this come to fruition.

The Bob Hope Memorial Library will serve as a daily reminder to Ellis Island's visitors of Bob Hope's great contributions to the American people, the American culture and the American Dream. After all, it is Bob Hope. It's Bob Hope.

Madam Speaker, I ask to insert into the Record two statements, a letter from Bob Hope back in 1990 expressing his support of the museum, as well as a letter from the Ellis Island Restoration Commission expressing their support for this project.

Bob Hope,

October 24, 1990.

Mr. Philip Lax, President,

Mr. Norman Liss, Chairman of Development,

Ellis Island Restoration Commission,

New York, NY.

Dear Phil And Norman, I was both thrilled and gratified to

receive your letter announcing the establishment of ``the Bob

Hope Family Heritage Center'' at Ellis Island. What a great

honor for someone who just 83 years ago saw the first glimmer

of this great nation of ours as a 4-year old boy in knickers

and had no idea of the opportunities that lay ahead. Frankly,

my only concern back then was running away as fast as

my little legs would carry me from the doctor who came to

innoculate me before landing at Ellis!

A great many wonderful things have happened to me since

that day. However, I assure you that the honor bestowed on me

by you and your commission is one of the single most

important highpoints in my life and career. That it will be

cherished by the Hope Family for generations to come is a

true understatement.

With deep appreciation and warm personal regards to each

and every member of your commission who made this honor

possible. I just want to add that I admire and respect all

you've been doing to restore this great symbol of the

American dream.

Regards,

Bob Hope.

Mr. Chairman, I rise today in strong support of H.R. 1362, the Accountability in Contracting Act. With the alarming increase of no-bid contracts and cost-plus contracts under this administration, I am very gratified to see the Democratic majority bring this bill up for a vote so that we can put an end to these scurrilous practices.

The United States government has paid hundreds of millions of dollars in the past few years to contractors that did not even have to submit a bid for the work it wanted to conduct. So much for good old fashioned American competition! In addition, there have been very few penalties for the contractors when this work went far over budget and Federal dollars were misused such as in the Hurricane Katrina recovery effort. American taxpayers have had to pick up the tab for these cost overruns, and they have been on the hook for millions and millions of dollars.

Mr. Chairman, in this week devoted to oversight legislation, this is a necessary bill to protect the taxpayers of this Nation from paying too much for too little work. This bill will reduce the number of no- bid contracts and strictly control cost overruns. Further, new rules will be promulgated for disclosing contractor overcharges.

The Accountability in Contracting Act is long overdue, and I thank the Speaker, the Majority Leader, and Chairman Waxman for bringing this bill up for a vote.

Madam Chairman, I rise today in support of the Water Quality Financing Act of 2007. After 12 long years of little to no legislation supporting the environment, I am happy to stand up today to support a week of great environmental bills.

In celebration of Clean Environment Week in this House, the Democratic majority has brought forward three bills that will be good for the environment, good for the economy, and good for the people of New York and the rest of the Nation.

This bill, H.R. 720, will reauthorize the Clean Water State Revolving Loan Fund. The goal of this bill is to provide money to local governments in order for cities and towns across the country to improve and renovate their clean water infrastructure. The communities that will be using this money are extremely supportive of this bill.

The Clean Water Fund is essential to help States and municipalities make critical upgrades to their water infrastructure systems. In turn, these investments ensure clean water and foster economic development.

One of the most successful environmental programs in our Nation's history was the Clean Water Act of 1972. In the 35 years that it has been in existence, the Clean Water Act has helped to ensure that the water we drink as well as the bodies of water that we enjoy in nature will be clean and safe for use.

H.R. 720 will allow us to continue receiving the benefits of the Clean Water Act. It authorizes up to $20 billion over the next 5 years to keep our water and our environment clean.

Another bill we supported this week is H.R. 569, legislation to boost sewer overflow controls. This bill will authorize $1.8 billion over 5 years to prevent combined sewer overflow. Sewer overflow affects over 750 municipalities across the country.

During a heavy rainstorm, inadequate sewer facilities and infrastructure can easily overflow, causing major health concerns as well as an environmental mess. Madam Chairman, nobody here wants to see what happens when a sewer overflows into bodies of water around our neighborhoods. Yet Congress has done nothing to combat this problem over the past decade, despite a desperate need for action.

The total cost for fixing combined sewer systems across the country has been estimated to be about $50 billion. We cannot expect small towns and local governments to be able to pay for this renovation by themselves. And this problem is not lessening. Every year, we see antiquated sewer systems backing up and outdated infrastructure crumbling. The problem is getting worse, and the longer we wait, the more we will have to pay to fix it.

Combined sewer backups are likely to occur in 37 States and the District of Columbia. My home State of New York is one of the 37 States affected. The 17th District of New York straddles the Hudson River, which can flood under heavy rain conditions. Madam Chairman, I for one do not want to wait until we have sewers backing up in our own backyard before we take action. We have waited long enough, and passing H.R. 569 was a good first step in fixing these aging sewer systems.

For all these reasons, I support H.R. 720, and I would encourage my colleagues to do the same.

Mr. Speaker, we had the honor of listening to King Abdullah of Jordan and his speech before. I must be candid and say that I was somewhat disappointed in some of the things that he mentioned.

When he talked about the plan in Riyadh for two states living side by side, we all, of course, hope for that, but the plan in Riyadh forces Israel to go back to the 1967 borders, which are indefensible and is really a nonstarter.

If the Palestinians really want peace in the region, then they know what they have to do. They need to do three things, and the Hamas government needs to do three things. They need to recognize the right of Israel to exist, they need to abide by all previous agreements signed by the Palestinians, and they need to renounce terror and violence.

I would have liked the King to have said that. I think that would have been most hopeful, but it is important that all of us that want peace in the Middle East work to the ultimate solution, which is two states in peace, living side by side, an Arab Palestinian state and Jewish Israeli state, and it can only happen if the Arabs recognize Israel's right to exist.

Madam Speaker, I rise today in strong support of H.R. 584, a bill to name the headquarters of the United States Department of Education after President Lyndon B. Johnson.

In the entire District of Columbia, with all its Federal buildings, parks and monuments, there is not a single Federal facility named after the man many historians call one of the best Presidents in American history. From his stewardship of legislation creating Medicare and Medicaid, to his passage of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 and the Voting Rights Act of 1965, President Johnson left a legacy on this Nation that we still enjoy today.

In addition to his quest to achieve racial equality in the United States, President Johnson was an avid supporter of education. In 1965 he signed the Elementary and Secondary Education Act into law. This landmark bill provided significant federal funding to public schools. Also in 1965, he stewarded the Higher Education Act to passage. Thanks to this legislation, children in poverty for the first time were able to attend college.

Madam Speaker, like President Johnson, I was a public school teacher, and I understand the importance of a good education. Let me conclude by quoting President Johnson himself.

I shall never forget the faces of the boys and the girls in

that little Welhausen Mexican School, and I remember even yet

the pain of realizing and knowing then that college was

closed to practically every one of those children because

they were too poor. And I think it was then that I made up my

mind that this Nation could never rest while the door to

knowledge remained closed to any American.

Madam Speaker, I can think of no better person after whom we should name the building of the Department of Education. I urge my colleagues to support H.R. 584.