Floor Statements

Mr. Speaker, I rise to recognize Solano County for its selection as one of the 100 Best Communities for Young People by America's Promise, the Alliance for Youth.

I am proud that this honor has been bestowed upon our community, but I am by no means surprised. Everyday, we in Solano County are visibly reminded of the commitment of the government and people of Solano County to the health and safety of our children. I want to congratulate the many dedicated parties who have worked so diligently to make Solano County one of the top communities in our country for young people.

Solano County is poised to become the first county in California with health care coverage for 100% of its children. Solano County has been an excellent steward of its share of Tobacco Master Settlement agreement funds, ensuring that it is spent on effective health services.

Solano County's annual Children's Report Card is an effective tool for government and non-profit organizations to continually re-assess the needs of our youth. Clearly, Solano County is getting it right when it comes to kids.

Organizations such as the Children's Network, First 5 Solano, the Child Care Planning Council, the Family Resource Centers, the Solano Coalition for Better Health, the Solano County Board of Supervisors and the Solano County Department of Health and Social Services, as well as countless others, deserve credit for this distinction.

Again, I commend all of the people and organizations that continue to work tirelessly to make Solano County one of the 100 Best Communities for Young People.

Mr. Speaker, I am pleased to join my good friend and colleague Vern Ehlers in support of H.R. 758, the Aerospace Revitalization Act and I urge my colleagues to give it their strong support.

I am a proud co-sponsor of this bill which will help restore U.S. leadership in a field we cannot afford to neglect.

While business in both the aerospace and defense industries seems to be picking up with increased orders and shipments in recent months, this development will not be sufficient to reverse what is a real crisis in the aerospace workforce.

Over the last 15 years, the aerospace industry has lost hundreds of thousands of jobs, many of them in my home state of California.

Many of these losses are cyclical and linked to the ebb and flow of defense spending.

Many of them, however, are due to self-inflicted injuries such as a lack of clear federal policy and direction and badly outdated export control systems that make no distinction between cutting-edge and readily available technology.

Our bill implements a central recommendation of the bipartisan Commission on the Future of the United States Aerospace Industry by creating an interagency taskforce to better coordinate aerospace workforce development efforts across the federal government with those of the private sector.

The bill focuses the federal government's efforts and fosters new solutions with the private sector to help workers obtain the skills and expertise necessary to replace what is today a shrinking and aging workforce.

A scientifically-literate and competitive workforce is produced over a lifetime and must evolve with demand.

Our bill would help improve training in the areas of science, engineering, technology, and skilled vocational trades to ensure competitive U.S. works for the foreseeable future.

While the challenges facing the aerospace industry will require a range of solutions, our bill is an important means of reclaiming our competitive edge.

I urge my colleagues to vote for this bill.

Mr. Speaker, I rise today to honor Colonel James Doty for exceptional service to the military and to our community in forming the U.S. Army Combat Support Training Center in northern California.

Between June 2003 and October 2005, Colonel Doty led an ambitious, successful effort to create a free-standing installation that supports training for both Active and Reserve Components.

Colonel Doty unified four individual sites under one command in creating the Training Center, a truly remarkable feat. At the Parks Training Area, he managed a historic Army Real Property Exchange to permit replacement of aging structures decades beyond their useful life with over $200 million worth of critical support facilities. He prepared Fort Hunter Liggett for implementation of Defense Secretary recommendations to make it the Training Support Headquarters for the 91st Division. Furthermore, he overcame significant obstacles to preside over the development of more than 300 housing units at the Parks site and at Moffett Federal Airfield across the San Francisco Bay in Sunnyvale.

No less remarkably, Colonel Doty accomplished these achievements in a characteristically affable, engaging, and sincere manner. His intelligence, tireless energy, and commitment to success are enhanced by his personal integrity and genuine regard for those in his command and in the larger community affected by his leadership.

Mr. Speaker, I wish much satisfaction and success to Colonel Doty in his well-earned, exciting new assignment. He, his wife Charlotte, and their family have endeared themselves to everyone who knows them in the Tri-Valley region. They will be remembered fondly and sorely missed.

Mr. Speaker, I rise today to honor Don Milanese, vice president of Academic Services at Las Positas College in Livermore, who is retiring after 35 years of service to the Chabot-Las Positas Community College District, the Tri-Valley community, and thousands of students.

Don began his career in 1964 as a graduate teaching assistant at the University of California at Davis. Following a 2-year stint in the

Army, he joined Chabot College as an adjunct faculty member teaching political science, while serving as an assistant administrative analyst in the education section of the Legislative Analyst's Office in Sacramento. In 1970, he became the coordinator of Evening and Extension Operations at Chabot College. His warm, supportive manner was felt throughout the campus by faculty, staff and students. After 5 years, Don then became the assistant dean of instruction for Evening and Extension Operations at Chabot College's Valley Campus in Livermore. It was here that Don focused his talents on shaping the vision he shared with other college officials: a college that would serve the Tri- Valley. His hard work, dedication, and ability to dream helped establish Las Positas College. In 1992, he accepted the position of dean of Academic Services at the College, and in 1994 the position converted to the vice president of Academic Services.

Don's talent and wisdom extend beyond community college curriculum and instruction. He has used his skills to create community partnerships to benefit students, the college, and the community. He has been a driving force behind the Tri-Valley Educational Collaborative, which brings together business and education leaders to address issues of mutual interest.

Above and beyond his accomplishments at the colleges of Chabot and Las Positas, Don is revered for his compassionate nature, his ability to know when to lead and when to follow, and his sense of humor. While Don's skills and knowledge will be greatly missed and will leave a void at the college, it is his love of the college, students, faculty, and staff that will be missed the most.

Mr. Speaker, I wish Don Milanese the best of luck in retirement. I hope he finds joy in this next chapter of his life in equal measure to the joy he has given his colleagues in his working life.

Mr. Chairman, I thank my good friend from California (Mr. George Miller) for yielding me the time, and I join him in offering this substitute, because the bill we are considering today, H.R. 3824, will make it less likely that threatened and endangered species will recover; but today we can support this bipartisan substitute which will update and improve the Endangered Species Act.

I reject the notion, Mr. Chairman, that we cannot preserve both our natural environment for future generations while supporting strong economic growth.

Our substitute gives private property owners the opportunity to protect species on our own land while ensuring they will not face additional regulatory burden. Importantly, this substitute actually discourages the use of private land for public purposes. The substitute says if we can protect a species on public land, we should.

In some cases, private property owners will be asked to mitigate for the effects of preserving threatened and endangered species. However, we can and should provide incentives for private property owners who are complying with the law, and the substitute does just that.

The substitute strikes a careful balance between the rights of private

property owners and the preservation of our natural resources.

I encourage my colleagues to join me and a bipartisan group of Members in supporting this reasonable, better substitute and opposing

Mr. Speaker, I rise today to recognize the achievements of The Danny Foundation, a non-profit foundation established in 1986 with the mission of providing leadership in keeping babies safe from preventable injuries and deaths associated with unsafe cribs, dangerous children's products, and unsafe sleep environments.

The Danny Foundation's tenacity has been unrelenting, and the accolades the Foundation has received have been unprecedented and well- deserved. The Danny Foundation, often acting alone, prompted and pushed for the establishment of virtually all current government crib manufacturing standards has conducted an untold number of programs and efforts to warn and educate the public about unsafe cribs.

Over the past 19 years, the Foundation has significantly reduced the number of infant injuries and deaths by 84 percent, and can proudly proclaim that the majority of today's new cribs are both safe and reliable.

None of The Danny Foundation's work could have been accomplished without John and Rose Lineweaver. John and Rose, the founders of The Danny Foundation, have dedicated their lives to preventing other families from suffering a needless tragedy similar to the crib accident that eventually took their son Danny's life. Their passion for the well-being of infants across our country is extraordinary and worthy of significant praise and thanks.

It is in that spirit that I ask all my colleagues in the United States House of Representatives to join me in honoring the accomplishments of The Danny Foundation and the passion of its founders, John and Rose Lineweaver.

Mr. Speaker, I rise today to recognize the career contributions of Robert

McEwan to the Housing Authority of the County of Contra Costa and to the wider arena of affordable housing and redevelopment.

Bob has led the Housing Authority for 7 years as a director who values the knowledge and expertise of his employees, seeks their input, and earns their respect and loyalty for relating to them as he relates to everyone, fairly and sincerely.

During those 7 years, the Housing Authority faced and weathered a crisis of change in ways that the Federal Government compensates public housing authorities for the shelter and services they provide. Under Bob's leadership, at the prospect of shortfalls, the employees of the Housing Authority of Contra Costa did not retreat from their high quality standards of service to their customers and the community.

Bob has left his mark of professional excellence in the wider community of nonfederally funded affordable housing. The Bay Point 180- unit DeAnza Gardens Apartments, which he has served as corporation president, won the 2005 National Merit Award from the National Association of Housing and Redevelopment Officials. Bob has also served as a leader in local, regional and State organizations of his peers.

Mr. Speaker, I honor Bob McEwan today for his qualities of leadership by example, commitment to professional standards, and genuine regard for the welfare of the people who live in the housing he has devoted his professional life to providing.

``What do we all want?'' he asks about affordable housing. ``A safe community for our kids, an attractive environment, a home we are proud of. That's what DeAnza is all about''.

That's what Bob McEwan is all about. I wish him a blissful retirement in the company of his wife Jean, family, friends, fellow fishermen, and, on occasion, the surprised fish, fresh from a mountain stream, having an unexpected out-of-water experience.

Mr. Speaker, I rise today to voice my strong opposition to the Dominican Republic-Central America Free Trade Agreement and intend to vote against it.

I am proud to be a pro-trade Democrat in Congress and am proud of my record--having supported every free trade agreement since I took office in 1997.

I voted in favor of granting the President Trade Promotion Authority in 2002 and voted against withdrawing from the World Trade Organization in 2000 and again earlier this year.

I am a longtime member, and the current chair of the New Democrat Coalition, a group of members who often support free trade. We see our role as a group of pro-business, pro-defense, and pro-trade leaning members who seek ways to open foreign markets to American goods and services. I also co-chair the Friends of New Zealand Caucus in the House, and hope we may soon see a free trade agreement with New Zealand.

Mr. Speaker, I believe that free trade, when organized properly, benefits our economy. It can only help to improve our relations with the other countries involved.

In the case of CAFTA, I want to see our Nation maintain close ties with our neighbors in Central America. Our economic security and our national security depend on cooperative relationships with our friends and allies.

However, in pursuing free trade, we must also consider the impact and direct effects the agreements will have on workers--both here and abroad.

And CAFTA fails to provide adequate protection.

It simply does not do enough to invest in basic job training and education for Americans--specifically those Americans who lose their jobs due to trade.

The current budget for Trade Adjustment Assistance is insufficient: the President's 2005 request was $300 million less than Congress authorized for FY 2004, despite the obvious needs for job training and retraining. What's worse, Mr. Speaker, is that CAFTA does not provide any TAA funds for service workers, who comprise 80 percent of today's American workforce and produce three-quarters of our products. When job training programs go under funded, American workers are at risk.

Furthermore, CAFTA is the first FTA negotiated by the United States with developing countries, some of which have weak labor laws and a history of suppressing the rights of their workers.

We need to do all in our power to ensure that this agreement helps these countries raise their working standards. Unfortunately, the labor chapter requires that each country simply enforce its existing laws. It does nothing to require the DR-CAFTA countries improve their laws to reflect fairness to working people. There are also no safeguards in the agreement to prevent countries from explicitly weakening their labor laws. This ``enforce your own laws'' standard is a giant step backwards. Under our current trade policy, the Caribbean Basin Initiative allows us to withdraw trade benefits from countries who violate the labor standards of the agreements they have signed. If CAFTA goes into effect, those remedies are wiped out and simply replaced with the ``enforce your own laws'' standard.

This labor agreement is simply unacceptable.

And finally Mr. Speaker, I feel compelled to say a word about the legislative process here in Congress. I would be remiss if I did not do so.

This Administration has made a habit of regularly excluding Democrats from the table during the negotiation and drafting of all major legislation. We saw this with the energy bill, the Medicare prescription drug bill, and again with CAFTA. We were not consulted at all on this FTA.

We all have valid ideas and concerns worthy of discussion regarding improving international market economies and they need to be fully and fairly debated. That did not happen with CAFTA. We were not engaged. I thought that at some point in the process members of the New Democrat Coalition would be consulted, as we generally support free trade. However, I was wrong. There was no outreach from House leaders or from the President to us.

One would think that after the passage of Trade Promotion Authority in 2002--by a 3 vote margin--a clear signal was sent to the

Administration that passing free trade agreements will not be easy. Everyone ought to be at the table. Instead of heeding past warnings, they have continued to make a habit of regularly excluding Democrats. CAFTA has been no exception.

As a result of poor negotiations with the Democrats and a lack of steady involvement by the President with members of his own party, on the day of the CAFTA vote, President Bush made an eleventh hour trip to Congress to twist arms in hopes of squeaking out the minimum number of votes needed to pass this agreement.

Mr. Speaker, trade should not be a Republican or Democrat issue. It is an American issue. Passing trade agreements by one or two votes, in the dead of night when both the American and Central American people are sleeping, is not the way to have a responsible trade policy.

Both the people of Central America and workers here in the United States deserve better.

Mr. Speaker, I rise to voice my deep concern over the rights of women in Iraq and urge adoption of this resolution. I am very pleased to join my colleagues, the gentlewoman from Texas (Ms. Granger) and the gentleman from Nebraska (Mr. Osborne) who are my cochairs in the Iraqi Women's Caucus.

I know they share my unwavering commitment to ensuring the success of our efforts to stabilize Iraq. As we speak, the Iraqi Constitution is being drafted, and preliminary drafts are being circulated around Baghdad and in the United States.

This is the real test of our efforts to bring democracy and stability to Iraq. My colleagues and I have spent countless hours in Iraq, in Jordan prior to the January 30 election, meeting with women candidates, and here in Washington meeting with some of the winners of Iraqi women whose rights are now apparently under attack from extremists in their own country.

The attempts by fundamentalists to insert Sharia, a restrictive form of Islamic law, into the constitution, represents an aggressive and intolerable assault on women's rights. The current transitional administrative law states that Islam is to be considered a source of legislation, but not the only source, and that discrimination against an Iraqi citizen of gender is prohibited.

But current drafts of the new constitution provide legal rights for women as long as they do not violate Islamic law. Many Iraqi women fear, as we do, that enshrining Sharia would sharply curb women's rights in matters such as divorce, family inheritance, travel, professional opportunities, and other areas.

One draft of the constitution also lifted the requirement that at least 25 percent of the Iraqi parliament be women. We cannot allow these drafts to be the final word on August 15. We cannot bring liberty and freedom to only half of Iraq's population, the men.

We owe to it the American men and women in uniform who have lost their lives and to the people of Iraq that we do all we can to protect women's rights in that country.

Today we have an opportunity to demonstrate that Americans will stand strong in support of Iraqi women and their efforts to fully participate in their new democracy. I urge my colleagues to support this resolution.

Mr. Speaker, I rise today to voice my strong opposition to the Dominican Republic-Central American Free Trade Agreement and intend to vote it against.

I am proud to be a pro-trade Democrat in Congress and am proud of my record--having supported every free trade agreement since I took office in 1997.

I voted in favor of granting the President Trade Promotion Authority in 2002 and voted against withdrawing from the World Trade Organization in 2000 and again earlier this year.

I am a longtime member, and the current chair of the New Democrat Coalition, a group of members who often support free trade. We see our role as a group of pro-business, pro-defense, and pro-trade leaning members who seek ways to open foreign markets to American goods and services. I also co-chair the Friends of New Zealand Caucus in the House, and hope we may soon see a free trade agreement with New Zealand.

Mr. Speaker, I believe that free trade, when organized properly, benefits our economy. It can only help to improve our relations with the other countries involved.

In the case of CAFTA, I want to see our Nation maintain close ties with our neighbors in Central America. Our economic security and our National security depend on cooperative relationships with our friends and allies.

However, in pursuing free trade, we must also consider the impact and direct effects the agreements will have on workers--both here and abroad.

And CAFTA fails to provide adequate protection.

It simply does not do enough to invest in basic job training and education for Americans--specifically those Americans who lose their jobs due to trade.

The current budget for Trade Adjustment Assistance is insufficient: the President's 2005 request was $300 million less than Congress authorized for FY 2004, despite the obvious needs for job training and retraining. What's worse, Mr. Speaker, is that CAFTA does not provide any TAA funds for service workers, who comprise 80 percent of today's American workforce and produce three-quarters of our products. When job training programs go under funded, American workers are at risk.

Furthermore, CAFTA is the first FTA negotiated by the United States with developing countries, some of which have weak labor laws and a history of suppressing the rights of their workers.

We need to do all in our power to ensure that this agreement helps these countries raise their working standards. Unfortunately, the labor chapter requires that each country simply enforce its existing laws. It does nothing to require the DR-CAFTA countries improve their laws to reflect fairness to working people. There are also no safeguards in the agreement to prevent countries to explicitly weakening their labor laws. This ``enforce your own laws'' standard is a giant step backwards. Under our current trade policy, the Caribbean Basin Initiative allows us to withdraw trade benefits from countries who violate the labor standards of the agreements they have signed. If CAFTA goes into effect, those remedies are wiped out and simply replaced with the ``enforce your own laws'' standard.

This labor agreement is simply unacceptable.

And finally Mr. Speaker, I feel compelled to say a word about the legislative process here in Congress. I would be remiss if I did not do so.

This Administration has made a habit of regularly excluding Democrats from the table during the negotiation and drafting of all major legislation. We saw this with the energy bill, the Medicare prescription drug bill, and again with CAFTA. We were not consulted at all on this FTA.

We all have valid ideas and concerns worthy of discussion regarding improving international market economies and they need to be fully and fairly debated. That did not happen with CAFTA. We were not engaged. I thought that at some point in the process members of the New Democrat Coalition would be consulted, as we generally support free trade. However, I was wrong. There was no outreach from House leaders or from the President to us.

One would think that after the passage of Trade Promotion Authority in 2002--by a 3 vote margin--a clear signal was sent to the Administration that passing free trade agreements will not be easy. Everyone ought to be at the table. Instead of heeding past warnings, they have continued to make a habit of regularly excluding Democrats. CAFTA has been no exception.

As a result of poor negotiations with the Democrats and a lack of steady involvement by the President with members of his own party, on the day of the CAFTA vote, President Bush made an eleventh hour trip to Congress to twist arms in hopes of squeaking out the minimum number of votes needed to pass this agreement.

Mr. Speaker, trade should not be a Republican or Democrat issue. It is an American issue. Passing trade agreements by one or two votes, in the dead of night when both the American and Central American people are sleeping, is not the way to have a responsible trade policy.

Both the people of Central America and workers here in the United States deserve better.

Mr. Speaker, I rise today to honor Erling Horn, who will celebrate his 100th birthday on July 17, 2005.

Mr. Horn, the father of Lafayette Past Mayor Erling Horn, begins his centennial year as an active, independent member of his community who can be seen driving his Jeep to church activities or to meetings of the City of Oakland Retirement Board, where he has served for the past 12 years.

Born in 1905, Erling Horn was orphaned as an infant and raised by his mother's siblings in a large extended Norwegian family in Seattle. With their help and the support of the scholarship program of the Reserve Officer Training Corps, he earned a Bachelors Degree and a Masters Degree in electrical engineering at the University of Washington. In 1927, he earned a commission in the U.S. Army, where he served as Captain and Major in various coast and field artillery units during World War II.

From 1931 to 1935, he served in the Civilian Conservation Corps; and from 1935 to 1966, he was employed by the City of Oakland, first as City Surveyor, and then as Traffic Engineer. In his 30-year career with the City, he helped to design and install Oakland's first parking meters, traffic control signals, traffic-friendly intersections, and freeway interfaces.

During the Vietnam War, Mr. Horn was an active antiwar protestor, always supporting the troops but not always supporting his government's policies to deploy them. His oldest son served in the U.S. Navy during the War.

As one who benefited from family solidarity early in life, Erling Horn has been a source of family strength to his wife, now deceased, to his three children, Arthur, Erling, and Margaret, and to his seven grandchildren. I am pleased to join his family and friends in congratulating Mr. Horn on his career achievements, service to his country, and community contributions. I wish him continued health, happiness, and success as he enters his second hundred years.

Mr. Chairman, today the House debates funding important to all of our constituents who use our Nation's highways and transit systems, fly for business or pleasure, and who are concerned about the safety of our Nation's roadways.

Mr. Chairman, Americans are spending more time in traffic today than they ever have before. They're commuting hours to work, missing their children's soccer games, and losing their precious free time to traffic.

Commuters in my district in San Francisco's Bay Area are suffering in the second worst city in America for gridlock. They're losing a total of over $2 million in wasted fuel and several hours each week, away from their offices and their families.

This week, the House will have to take up an eighth temporary extension of highway transit and highway safety programs. I have said time and time again, Mr. Chairman, that we must get our work done on the highway bill if we are to ensure increased investment in our Nation's transportation infrastructure. And yet, time and time again, this Congress has delayed action on the legislation.

While I am disturbed by our inability to finish the highway bill, I am pleased that the House will today adopt an appropriations bill which will continue to ensure that, while limited, federal investment is available for our Nation's transportation infrastructure.

Mr. Chairman, this bill however, is far from perfect. Shockingly, the legislation came to the Floor of the House with a funding level which would all but assure the end of Amtrak service in this Nation as we know it. The end of Amtrak would be devastating to the continued operation of inter-city rail throughout California and especially the Capitol Corridor line along the I-80 corridor in Northern California.

In 2004, over one million commuters used the Capitol Corridor and directly benefited from the fixed-price operating agreement between Amtrak and the Capitol Corridor. Because of this agreement, the Capitol Corridor is able to stabilize operating costs and reinvest revenues above business plan projections--or any other cost savings--into service enhancements. Without Amtrak's existence, these savings which have been realized year after year, would no longer exist.

I am pleased that the House adopted an amendment to adequately fund Amtrak and I hope that this funding will ensure the continued success of the inter-city passenger rail service in my district and throughout our Nation.

Additionally, Mr. Chairman, I would like to voice my continued displeasure with the FAA's management of the Standard Terminal Automation Replacement (STARS) program.

As laid out in the latest Department of Transportation's Inspector General's report, the STARS program is 194% over-budget and delayed by seven years. A program which was first estimated to cost the FAA $940 million has ballooned to a whopping $2.7 billion. And yet, with ballooning costs, the FAA has failed to provide Congress with any analysis on the efficacy of continuing to move forward with the STARS program or how the agency plans on completing this program.

I was pleased to see that the House Report to H.R. 3058 echoes my concerns and I will continue to demand that the FAA provide Congress with a plan to address the overruns associated with the STARS program.

Mr. Speaker, I rise today to speak in support of H.R. 458, the Military Personnel Financial Services Protection Act of 2005.

I congratulate Chairman Oxley and all the members of the Financial Services Committee for putting forth a bill that seeks to protect our men and women in uniform from certain deceptive practices.

During the Financial Services Committee's consideration of this bill, my colleague Representative Gutierrez raised concerns about the issue of pay day loans and offered an amendment to extend the bill's coverage to them.

These are deferred-deposit loans that offer borrowers short-term credit that will be repaid on the person's next pay day.

If the borrower does not repay the loan at the end of the period, it can be rolled over with additional fees and interest assessed. Because of the way these loans work, the annual percentage rates are often 390 percent or more.

Representative Gutierrez was rightfully concerned that the high interest rates of such loans cause too much debt for military personnel and this could impede their military readiness.

Mr. Speaker, I am pleased to see that the bill before us today contains language that places new requirements on military lenders and requires certain disclosures of lenders offering service members loans with higher-than-average rates, including payday loans.

It is time to crack down on unscrupulous lenders who seek to make a quick buck by selling improper loans to our uniformed service members.

I am pleased that the bill requires the Secretary of Defense to create and maintain a registry of banned payday lenders.

The Secretary will be responsible for updating and maintaining the registry, which will provide the name, address, and other identifying information of the banned or barred agent or advisor.

The registry must be accessible and searchable by the public and local installation commanders and appropriate Federal and State financial regulators.

Furthermore, I wish to bring to the House's attention that the Commander's webpage section of the Defense Department's website currently has a section entitled, ``Quick Links.''

Under this are several tabs the user can click on dealing with such issues as Compensation, Deployment, Benefits, and the like.

I would like to urge the House to stipulate that the Defense Department place another separate tab under this ``Quick Links'' section and have it be a specific listing of abusive lenders so our service members can know whom to avoid.

Mr. Speaker, I think we all can agree that our soldiers do not deserve to be taken advantage of and the actions taken today are a step in the right direction.

Mr. Chairman, I strongly support the Defense Appropriations subcommittee's decision to provide $4 million for a conventional earth penetrator in the fiscal year 2006 Defense Appropriations bill.

Many rogue nations, unable to face the threat of our awesome firepower and precision bombs, are increasingly hiding their military assets under hard geologies, making it more difficult for us to hold them at risk and undermining our ability to protect the nation.

I believe it is vitally important that we do all we can to provide our military with the right weapons to destroy these buried targets.

This, however, does not include nuclear weapons.

Nuclear bunker busters advocated by the administration and by their allies in Congress are the dangerous fantasy of a few who are desperate to find new missions for nuclear weapons.

Using a nuclear weapon to try to destroy a buried bunker or other target would produce significant civilian casualties and radioactive fallout.

A recent National Academy of Sciences report states that a nuclear earth penetrator ``could . . . kill up to a million people or more if used in heavily populated areas.''

In addition, U.S. military personnel operating in the area would be at risk of death and injury.

The President's repeated requests for funding a robust nuclear earth penetrator undermines the United States' leadership role in nonproliferation.

We cannot credibly ask other countries to restrain their nuclear weapons programs while we aggressively advance work on new weapons.

I applaud and share Chairman Young and Ranking Member Murtha's concern with defeating hard and deeply buried targets while reducing fallout and collateral damage.

It is vital that Congress send a strong message that we reject the administration's rush to find new uses for nuclear weapons.

The appropriations committee's decision to focus taxpayer dollars on perfecting conventional means of defeating hardened targets instead of investigating nuclear option is the right thing to do.

The head of the National Nuclear Security Administration, Linton Brooks has testified that a nuclear earth penetrator would cause massive radioactive fallout and our own uniformed military does not want a nuclear device that would put at risk our own troops.

Even the Defense Science Board that advises the Pentagon recently stated that ``US interests are best served by preserving into the future the half century plus non-use of nuclear weapons.''

I agree.

Until we have exhausted all conventional mean to defeat hardened targets and there is a true military requirement for an RNEP, it would be irresponsible for Congress to rush to find new uses for what should always be a weapon of last resort.

I am pleased that the funds in this bill are only to be used to study the effectiveness of a conventional device to defeat hard and deeply buried targets.

I urge my colleagues to ensure that the language achieved by the appropriators be preserved in conference.

Mr. Speaker, I rise today to honor Fire Chief Stewart Gary on his retirement from the Livermore-Pleasanton California

Fire Department for 35 years of outstanding leadership in fire service.

Chief Gary began his career as a volunteer in a small Southern California fire department and rose steadily in his job responsibilities to his appointment in 1994 as Livermore Fire Chief.

Stewart has guided the Livermore-Pleasanton Fire Department to becoming one of the most technologically advanced, well-prepared, and harmonious fire fighting forces in the state.

He is a forward-thinker, embracing information technology innovations that expand information available to his fire fighters when they have to make emergency decisions about how to attack a fire.

Stewart also shares his professional expertise throughout the international fire-fighting community, writing and lecturing on models for optimal placement of personnel and equipment in fire situations.

Stewart is a gifted leader of people. He facilitated the merger of the separate fire departments of the cities of Livermore and Pleasanton, one of the few such successful mergers in California, and is a winner of the 1999 Helen Putnam Public Safety Grand Prize award by the California League of Cities. Under Stewart's leadership, the Livermore-Pleasanton Fire Department has continuously maintained good morale and solid employee relationships with consensus-building practices like interest based negotiations.

Mr. Speaker, I thank Chief Stewart Gary for his contributions to the Livermore-Pleasanton Fire Department and to the international firefighting community. The high standards he has set for his Department and his profession will strengthen fire service for many years to come.