Floor Statements

Mr. Speaker, I rise today in strong support of H. Res. 1011, a resolution I sponsored expressing the concern of the House regarding the crisis in Chad.

I want to acknowledge the support of my colleague and Africa subcommittee Chairman Donald Payne in working together to introduce this resolution, and also thank Foreign Affairs Committee Chairman Howard Berman and ranking member Congresswoman Ileana Ros-Lehtinen as well as Africa subcommittee ranking member Congressman Chris Smith for their support in this effort.

Since its independence in 1960, Chad has struggled through civil war and political unrest. Recent fighting in Chad has demonstrated beyond doubt the fragile conditions in the region and the continuing destructive behavior of the Government of Sudan in Chad and Darfur. While Chadian rebel groups and their Sudanese allies who laid siege to the capital in early February have since fled toward the east and Darfur, the fighting claimed the lives of hundreds of civilians and forced tens of thousands more out of the capital city and into neighboring Cameroon.

This resolution calls on the United States government and the international community to promptly develop, fund, and implement a comprehensive regional strategy to protect civilians, facilitate humanitarian operations, contain and reduce violence, and contribute to conditions for sustainable peace and good governance in Chad.

It also calls for a strategy for the wider region that includes northern Central African Republic and the Darfur region of Sudan, as recent developments in Chad illustrate the terrible threat facing civilians and the risk of another major humanitarian disaster in that region.

The resolution acknowledges the concern about the safety and well being of innocent civilians in Chad, Chadian refugees and internally displaced persons, and refugees from Darfur and the Central African Republic that have taken refuge in Chad and strongly condemns Sudanese President Omar al-Bashir and the National Congress Party for their support of the armed rebellion and aggressive behavior in Chad and throughout the region.

It also urges the Government of Chad to engage in an inclusive national dialogue with all stakeholders of the current conflict to reach a comprehensive agreement that would address the root causes of the Chadian crisis and strengthen democratic institutions. The resolution also urges the government to work to protect its civilians from violence and to honor its May 9, 2007, agreement with the United Nations Children's Fund, ensuring its commitment to end all recruitment of persons under the age of 18 and demobilize all children under the age of 18 from its security forces.

The resolution further urges the Government of the Central African Republic to fulfill its obligation under international law to protect civilians and engage in constructive and inclusive dialogue with opposition and armed groups.

The resolution also calls on armed opposition groups to renounce violence and respect the rule of law, engage in political dialogue to resolve the current crisis in their respective countries, and immediately end cooperation with the Government of Sudan and others that encourage and support armed rebellion.

Recognizing the importance of the United Nations Security Council in ending this crisis, the resolution urges the Security Council to remain focused on the crises in Chad and the

Central African Republic, and to ensure the effective and impartial protection of civilians, including internally displaced persons and refugees, particularly local populations, by preempting, preventing, and deterring attacks on civilians.

The United States also has an important role to play in resolving the situation in Chad, and the resolution calls on the president to continue United States humanitarian assistance to the refugees and internally displaced persons in Chad and the Central African Republic, provide support to strengthen democratic institutions and respect for human rights and rule of law, and seek punitive measures against the Government of Sudan by the United Nations Security Council for its aggression and destructive activities in Chad and the region.

Mr. Speaker, it is important for this House to express its concern about the crisis in Chad and how the political instability and humanitarian crisis there is impacting the entire region. I urge my colleagues to support this resolution.

Madam Speaker, I rise today to honor the memory of Dr. Robert Collins, esteemed author and expert on Africa's Upper Nile Valley, particularly Sudan.

Dr. Collins' expertise in Sudan was a tremendous asset to academia and policymakers alike. First traveling to Sudan in 1956, the year Sudan achieved independence from Great Britain, Dr. Collins spent literally decades traveling in and writing about Sudan and its many wars. I had the honor of knowing Dr. Collins and am deeply saddened by his death.

Dr. Collins' seminal works included Alms for Jihad, which he co- authored with J. Millard Burr. This critical analysis details the use of Islamic charities to fund terrorist activity around

the world. It reaches back into history, particularly into Sudan where much of the activities of fundamentalist Islamist groups found their origins, and traces them to the modern-day struggle against extremist forces around the world. We cannot understand the current war on tenor, which extends far beyond the terrible events of September 11, without examining this important book by Collins and Burr.

I have attached Dr. Collins' obituary printed in the Los Angeles Times. The loss of this bright mind will be felt acutely by all whose lives Dr. Collins touched with his scholarship. I extend my condolences to his family and friends.

[From the Los Angeles Times, Apr. 25, 2008]

Robert O. Collins, 75; UC Scholar's bin Laden Book Was Withdrawn by

Publisher

(By Jocelyn Y. Stewart)

In a career devoted to the study of Africa's Upper Nile

Valley, particularly Sudan, historian Robert O. Collins wrote

books and articles that were considered required reading for

scholars and students of Africa.

The U.S. government sought his insight on the conflict in

Darfur and on Osama bin Laden. Hollywood filmmakers asked his

advice in depicting the region on screen. A former president

of Sudan presented Collins with a distinguished award for

scholarship.

But when Collins and a colleague wrote the 2006 book ``Alms

for Jihad: Charity and Terrorism in the Islamic World,'' the

two historians found themselves in the middle of what the New

York Times called an international cause celebre.

To avoid a defamation lawsuit in British courts--where the

burden of proof is on the defendant--the publisher of

``Alms'' apologized to a wealthy Saudi mentioned in the book,

Sheikh Khalid bin Mahfouz, and paid a settlement. The

publisher, Cambridge University Press, also destroyed all

unsold copies of ``Alms,'' an act of pure heresy to Collins

and other scholars,

Until his death from cancer in Santa Barbara on April 11,

the 75-year-old Collins maintained that he and J. Millard

Burr had written a good book that deserved to exist. ``The

Shaykh can burn the books in Britain, but he cannot prevent

the recovery of the copyright by the authors nor their search

for a U.S. publisher to reprint a new edition of `Alms for

Jihad,' '' Collins said in an essay posted online at George

Mason University's History News Network.

The ``Alms'' debacle was a rare incident in the life of the

professor emeritus who was a preeminent scholar in his field.

Robert Oakley Collins was born in Waukegan, Ill., on April

1, 1933. His interest in Africa was ignited while browsing

the library at Dartmouth University in the 1950s.

He found the Africa area and he just became enthralled,''

said his daughter, Catharine Collins Kristian. ``At the time,

it was an emerging area. All the colonial countries were

either leaving or talking about granting independence.''

Collins traveled to Sudan in 1956, the year the country

gained independence. It was the first of many trips and the

beginning of a lifelong relationship with the nation,

Kristian said.

After earning a bachelor's degree from Dartmouth in 1954,

Collins earned many other degrees in history: bachelor's and

master's degrees from Oxford University's Balliol College in

1956 and 1960, as well as a master's degree and a doctorate

from Yale University in 1958 and 1959. He was fluent in

Arabic.

Collins taught for brief periods at Williams College in

Massachusetts and at Columbia University in New York before

joining the faculty of UC Santa Barbara in 1965.

For 10 years Collins served as dean of the graduate

division. After his retirement in 1994 he continued to teach,

write and mentor. With his doctoral students he was

demanding, affable and always available.

``He wanted us to have a holistic understanding of African

history from the beginning of times to modern times. And he

was tough,'' said Scopas S. Poggo, a native of Sudan who is

now an assistant professor of African American and African

studies at Ohio State University.

Collins wrote or co-wrote at least 30 books and many

articles. His book ``Shadows in the Grass: Britain in the

Southern Sudan, 1918-1956'' won the John Ben Snow Foundation

Prize for the best book in British studies in 1984.

An eloquent public speaker, Collins brought strong

storytelling skills to his writing, melding them with

meticulous research. ``Alms'' was also thoroughly researched,

``our interpretations judicious, our conclusions made in good

faith on the available evidence,'' Collins wrote in his

online essay.

But ``Alms'' may be on the shelf again with a new

publisher, Kristian said. Collins' book ``A History of Modern

Sudan'' is scheduled for release in May. The book traces

Sudan's history over 200 years and reveals the link between

tragedies of today and events of the past.

``I wish all of his books could be reprinted,'' Poggo said.

``He has made very significant contributions to the history

of southern Sudan. He left a very strong legacy.''

In addition to his daughter, Collins is survived by two

sons, Randolph William Collins of Healdsburg, Calif., and

Robert Ware Collins of San Jose; two brothers, Jack Gore

Collins of Portland, Ore., and George William Collins II of

Chesterland, Ohio; and five grandchildren.

There will be no public memorial service. Memorial

donations may be sent to the Sudan-American Foundation for

Education (SAFE), 141 N. Henderson Road, No. 1205, Arlington,

Mr. Speaker, first I want to thank the ranking member, Mr. Bishop, for his fairness as we went through this process. And I want to thank the chairman, Mr. Rahall, for his leadership in moving this. I am very, very grateful.

I want to rise in support of this bill, which includes a provision to establish the Journey Through Hallowed Ground National Heritage Area. Establishing this heritage area spans 175 miles through four States.

The Journey Through Hallowed Ground winds its way along U.S. Route 15 from Gettysburg, Pennsylvania, to Jefferson's home of Monticello in Charlottesville, Virginia. Starting as a trail used by the Susquehannock and Iroquois, America's early history can literally be traced along this corridor. Jefferson's Monticello, Madison's Montpellier, Monroe's Oak Hill and Ashlawn Highland, Zachary Taylor's homes, Eisenhower's cottage, Teddy Roosevelt's cabin, John Marshall's home, General George Marshall's home, and Camp David are situated along this route, which is also dotted with numerous Civil War battlefields.

I close with Abraham Lincoln's Gettysburg Address, spoken at the northern terminus of the Journey Through Hallowed Ground corridor and signifies the history, and he said:

``We cannot dedicate, we cannot consecrate, we cannot hallow this ground. The brave men and women, living and dead, who struggled here, have hallowed it far above our poor power to add or detract.''

I urge my colleagues to support this legislation.

Madam Speaker, I rise today in remembrance of the 1.5 million men, women and children who were killed and the 500,000 survivors who were expelled from their homes during the Armenian Genocide. Today marks the 93rd anniversary of the beginning of a systematic effort carried out by the Ottoman Empire, which ultimately resulted in the elimination of ethnic Armenians from their historic homeland.

On April 24, 1915, the Ottoman authorities arrested approximately 250 Armenian intellectuals and community leaders in Istanbul. Following this episode, the military proceeded to round up hundreds of thousands of Armenians and force them to march hundreds of miles into present day Syria, denying them food and water along the way. Those that were not slaughtered and survived the treacherous journey were brutally raped and beaten along the way.

The root of this occurrence can be attributed to an official policy of discrimination, which culminated in genocide. I urge my colleagues to read Samantha Powers widely acclaimed book, A Problem From Hell: America and the Age of Genocide, which clearly describes this as genocide.

May we all take a moment to remember the victims of the Armenian Genocide, one of the most horrible tragedies of the 20th century. We remember, not so that we may dwell on the events of the past, but so that we may renew our personal commitments to never stand idly by and let such a tragedy happen again.

Madam Speaker, Pursuant to the Republican guidelines on earmarks, I submit the following statement for the Record regarding S. 2739, the Consolidated National Resources Act, which includes the Journey Through Hallowed Ground National Heritage Area.

Requesting Member: Congressman Frank Wolf.

Bill Number: S. 2739.

Provision: Title II, Section 2010.

Legal Name of Requesting Entity: Journey Through Hallowed

Ground Partnership.

Address of Requesting Entity: P.O. Box 77, Waterford, VA

20197.

Description of Request: The legislation authorizes the

appropriation of up to $1,000,000 a year for the purpose of

carrying out a management plan, which must first be approved

by the secretary of Interior. The management plan will

describe comprehensive policies, goals, strategies, and

recommendations for telling the story of the Journey Through

Hallowed Ground National Heritage Area and encouraging long-

term resource protection, enhancement, interpretation,

funding, management, and development of the Area. The

authorization is limited to $15 million total. The

legislation also requires a non-federal cost share match for

each dollar contributed by the federal government. The

Partnership must also submit an annual report to the

secretary for each fiscal year for which the local

coordinating entity receives federal funds under this

subtitle, which specifies the performance goals and

accomplishments of the local coordinating entity and other

related information, including uses of funds and amounts of

non-federal funds leveraged in the effort. The Partnership is

authorized, for the purposes of preparing and implementing

the approved management plan for the National Heritage Area,

to use federal funds made available under the legislation to

make grants to political jurisdictions, nonprofit

organizations, and other parties within the National Heritage

Area; enter into cooperative agreements with or provide

technical assistance to political jurisdictions, nonprofit

organizations, federal agencies, and other interested

parties; hire and compensate staff, and other purposes

related to the national heritage area.

The Journey Through Hallowed Ground Partnership is the

designated local coordinating entity for this national

heritage area. The Partnership is comprised of over 150

partners, including every elected body within the four-state

region, including Virginia. West Virginia, Maryland and

Pennsylvania, the convention and visitor associations of each

of the included 15 counties, and the directors of tourism

from each of the four states.

The legislation does not permit the Partnership to use any

federal funds provided under the Act to acquire any interest

in real property. In addition, Section 408 of the Act sets

forth numerous safeguards for private property and makes

unmistakably clear that nothing in the Act abridges the

rights of any property owner (whether public or private),

including the right to refrain from participating in any

plan, project, program, or activity conducted within the

National Heritage Area.

Madam Speaker, according to GAO we are $5.3 trillion deep in publicly held debt, and have an estimated $54.3 trillion in unfunded promised benefits if we don't change our current course.

The Social Security and Medicare Trustees reports recently issued only reinforce the dire condition of our fiscal health.

This is a fundamental issue for our country's economic future. It's also a generational issue.

Pete Peterson's commentary in Newsweek last week ends by quoting Dietrich Bonhoeffer, the German pastor who was instrumental in the resistance movement against Nazism.

He said, ``The ultimate test of a moral society is the kind of world it leaves to its children.''

I can't help but wonder what sort of future today's partisan Washington is leaving generations to come. If we can come together-- both sides of the aisle--we can ensure that our children and grandchildren have all the opportunity you and I have had.

The bipartisan Cooper-Wolf SAFE Commission could give this country a chance to get back on track--to rein in entitlement spending. If there are other bipartisan ideas on how to address this issue, we should talk about those too.

Doing nothing is simply not an option. I urge Congressional leadership and Treasury Secretary Paulson to embrace the Cooper-Wolf legislation.

Madam Speaker, I rise to express my ongoing concern about China. I strongly believe that America must be a country that stands up for basic decency and human rights. America must speak out on behalf of those who cannot speak for themselves--men and women who are being persecuted for their religious or political beliefs. Our foreign policy must be a policy that helps promote human rights and freedom, and not a policy that sides with dictators who oppress their own citizens.

Every person on earth has certain inalienable rights. In a 1987 Constitution Day speech, Ronald Reagan noted that the U.S. Constitution has been described ``as a kind of covenant. It is a covenant we've made not only with ourselves but with all of mankind.'' Reagan continued that ``It's a human covenant; yes, and beyond that, a covenant with the Supreme Being to whom our Founding Fathers did constantly appeal for assistance.'' America has a profound responsibility to keep this covenant and to stand up for freedom in the world's darkest corners.

China is a perfect example of a place where these rights are not being protected. The China of today is worse than the China of yesterday, or of last year, or of the last decade. China is not progressing. It is regressing. It is more violent, more repressive, and more resistant to democratic values than ever before.

China is actively engaged in espionage against the United States. I recently had the opportunity to read the U.S.-China Economic and Security Review Commission's 2007 Classified Report to the Congress, and found the report's conclusions to be very alarming. The unclassified version of this report is available at www.usce eov. I strongly urge you to read it, as it gives a clear picture of the threat that China poses to our national security.

The report addresses Chinese activities in the areas of espionage, cyber warfare, and arms proliferation. The FBI has described Chinese espionage as a ``substantial threat'' and the Bureau of Customs and Border Patrol has reported publicly that Chinese espionage is now the leading threat to U.S. technology. It has also been widely reported that many cyber attacks against the U.S. government are suspected of originating in China. Furthermore, China continues to transfer weapons and technology to nations of concern and non-state actors, putting men and women in American uniform abroad in grave danger.

You may have also seen the April 3 Washington Post article titled, ``Chinese Spy `Slept' in U.S. for Two Decades,'' which details the spying activities of Chi Mak. Mak lived quietly with his family in a Los Angeles suburb for two decades while he built his career around secretly copying sensitive plans for Navy weapons, submarines and ships and couriering them to the Chinese government. U.S. intelligence and Justice Department officials believe the Mak case ``represents only a small facet of a [Chinese] intelligence-gathering operation that has long been in place and is growing in size and sophistication.'' I have enclosed a copy of this article for your review.

China also poses a deadly threat to its own citizens. Manfred Nowak, the UN Special Rapporteur for torture and other cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment, has found that Chinese officials specifically target house church groups. Falun Gong adherents, Tibetans, and Uyghur prisoners and abuse them.

The Cardinal Kung Foundation reports that in 2007, 35 Roman Catholic bishops were in jail, under house arrest, or harassed and put under surveillance. The Chinese government has refused to acknowledge the Vatican as the supreme authority for Chinese Catholics in many matters of faith. More information on the Chinese government's persecution of the Catholic Church can be found at www.cardinalkungfoundation.org. In 2007, the Chinese government arrested 693 Christians that we know of. The China Aid Association reports that in 2007 the known cases in which Christian house churches were persecuted by the government covered 18 provinces and one municipality directly under the jurisdiction of the Central Government and there were 60 cases of persecution, up 30.4% from that of 2006. You can read more about China's persecution of Christians at http://chinaaid.org. Muslims and Buddhists face persecution by the Chinese government as well. Renowned human rights advocate and Uyghur Muslim Rebiya Kadeer has watched from exile as the Chinese government arrests and beats her family members in her homeland. In late 2006, western mountain climbers captured on videotape a horrifying scene: Chinese police shooting from their North Face tents at a group of Tibetan refugees crossing Nangpa Pass. A 17-year old Buddhist nun was killed and several others were wounded. Additional information on the persecution of Muslims, Buddhists, Falun Gong practitioners and other minorities can be found in the State Department's annual human rights report at http:// www.state.gov/g/drl/rls/hrrpt/2007/100518.htm.

According to the State Department's 2007 human rights report, China has 20 ankang institutions (high-security psychiatric hospitals for the criminally insane) directly administered by the Ministry of Public Security. People that are committed to these institutions have no mechanism for objecting to public security officials' determinations of mental illness.

The Chinese government often houses dissidents in these institutions, beating them, giving them medicine against their will, forcibly subjecting them to electric shock treatment and denying them food and the use of toilet facilities. According to the State Department's human rights report, political activists, underground religious believers, members of the banned China Democratic Party (CDP), and Falun Gong practitioners are among the people incarcerated in these facilities.

China maintains an extensive system of gulags--slave labor camps, also known as the ``laogai''--as large as that which existed in the former Soviet Union. These camps are used for brainwashing and ``reeducation through labor,'' and are often the site of barbaric procedures of organ harvesting, torture, and execution. During a trip to China in March 1991, I visited Beijing Prison No. I and witnessed forced labor first-hand. In late 2005, I introduced H. Con. Res. 294, a resolution condemning the Laogai prison camps, which passed in the House by a vote of 413-1.

China has a long history of attempts to liquidate Tibet's culture and presence in China, including in the recent crackdown in which scores of Tibetans were killed and hundreds more arrested for participating in the protests. My outrage at what China is doing in Tibet led me to visit Tibet in 1997. I have continued since then to speak out on behalf of the persecuted and suffering in Tibet and about the human rights abuses that I have witnessed first-hand there.

I was disappointed in the State Department's decision in March to remove China from its list of the world's 10 worst human rights violators, especially given State's own admission of China's poor human rights record in its annual human rights report. I also remain deeply troubled by the President's decision to attend the 2008 Olympics in Beijing. It is time to send China a message that the United States is serious when we tell the Chinese government that it needs to end the human rights and religious freedom abuses in its own country.

China poses a threat to freedom in other countries as well. China, which is a major business partner of Sudan, should be using its influence with the Sudanese government to bring an end to the genocide in the Darfur region. Instead, Chinese President Hu Jintao's visit to Khartoum early in 2007 did not produce progress on this point, but rather a commitment by the Chinese to build Sudanese President Bashir a new palace. China's role in extracting oil from Sudan, selling weapons to the Sudanese government and maintaining close business relations with this genocidal regime are clearly more important to the Chinese government than saving human lives.

China also cuts corners with its exports, making products that pose significant danger to consumers around the world. Recent Chinese exports to our country--and to many others--have included tainted pet food that has killed our pets, dried apples in cancer-causing chemicals, scallops and sardines coated with putrefying bacteria, children's toys containing lead-based paint, and prunes tinted with chemical dyes, prompting U.S. Food and Drug Administration inspectors to travel across the world to investigate two suspect Chinese factories, only to find the factories had been cleaned out and all equipment dismantled.

Chinese products also poison children in Panama, the Dominican Republic, and Australia, with toothpaste containing an industrial solvent and prime ingredient in some antifreeze. This toothpaste was marketed under the brand name ``Mr. Cool.''

Several years ago, during the debate over granting China permanent normal trade relations status, proponents argued that economic liberalization would lead to political liberalization in China, and that the U.S. and other industrialized nations could influence China through economic activity to better respect the rights of its citizens to fundamental human rights.

I strongly opposed Permanent Normal Trade Relations (PNTR) status for China, and today we have seen why the protection of basic liberties should not come second to economic growth. China is more violent, repressive, and resistant to democratic values than it was before we opened our ports to freely accept Chinese products.

And despite all of these abhorrent acts. China was still awarded the honor of hosting the 2008 Olympics. The Olympic Games: an event designed to lift up ``the educational value of good example and respect for universal fundamental ethical principles,'' according to its own charter. Does China's behavior sound like a ``good example'' to the rest of the world? Or that it is reflecting ``fundamental ethical principles'' that all nations should aspire to?

It is because of these actions I have described that I do not support the president or other senior U.S. officials attending the 2008 Beijing Olympics. The political prisoners in China and Chinese dissidents around the world will be deeply demoralized by what the Chinese government will surely portray as symbolic support for its regime if senior American officials attend the games. I have proposed language for inclusion in the 2008 emergency supplemental appropriations bill that would prohibit U.S. federal employees from attending the Olympics on the taxpayer's dime.

Some assert that human rights will come to China once stability has been attained. They say that protection of human rights is secondary to attaining economic power and wealth. We must reject that notion. China poses a threat not only to its own citizens, but to the entire world. The United States government must be vigilant about protecting the values of human rights, religious freedom and democracy that we hold dear.

In his first speech in the British Parliament in 1789 describing the slave trade, William Wilberforce concluded telling his colleagues this, he said, ``Having heard all of this, you may choose to look the other way, but you can never again say you did not know.''

Not one Member of the 110th Congress can say they do not know about the Nation's long-term financial outlook which former Comptroller General David Walker said will ``result in a tsunami of spending and debt that could swamp our ship of state.''

According to the Government Accountability Office, America is $5.3 trillion deep in publicly held debt and has estimated $54.3 trillion in unfunded promised benefits if we don't change our current course. And that is trillions with a ``T.''

The Social Security Medicare Trustees Report recently issued only reinforces the dire condition of our fiscal health. The Medicare Trustees Report concluded that consideration of reforms to ensure the financial security of Medicare must occur, stating, ``the sooner the solutions are enacted, the more flexible and gradual they can be.'' The Social Security report echoes this sense of urgency, saying, ``The projected trust fund deficits should be addressed in a timely manner. Making adjustments sooner will allow them to be spread over more generations.''

And if those dire projections are not enough to raise the warning flags, couple those with the fact that the value of the dollar is falling through the floor. What more evidence do we need to realize that our children and grandchildren cannot afford to have their leaders choose to look the other way?

I was so disappointed that Treasury Secretary Paulson's focus is not on this issue. I told him today when he testified before the State and Foreign Operations Appropriations Subcommittee that I believe he is one of the most qualified Treasury Secretaries our Nation has had. He has a brilliant mind, but his attention isn't on the most fundamental of all issues, the economic future of America.

I was also disappointed that he didn't answer my question about the projections credible rating agencies, such as Moody's Investment Service, are making about the U.S. triple-A bond rating being at risk as early as year 2012. I also asked Secretary Paulson what the ramifications of this loss would be. He didn't answer that question either.

Just last week, Congressman Jim Cooper and I sat in on a roundtable discussion held by Maya MacGuineas and the Committee for a Responsible Federal Budget, and they have done a great job. It was just such a diverse group from the business, finance and policy communities, former CBO directors, former OMB directors, think tanks, political views across the spectrum, the Heritage Foundation and the Brookings Institution included. Almost everyone expressed concern about the entitlement crisis we are facing. This is not only an economic issue, it is also generational and a moral issue.

You may have read Pete Peterson's editorial in Newsweek this week. He ended by quoting Dietrich Bonhoeffer, the German pastor who was instrumental in the resistance movement against fascist Germany. He said, ``The ultimate test of a moral society is the kind of world it leaves to its children.''

I cannot help but wonder what sort of future today's partisan Washington is leaving to generations to come. If we can come together, both sides of the aisle, we can ensure that our children and our grandchildren have all the opportunity that you and I have had. Jim Cooper and I are working together on the Cooper-Wolf SAFE Commission, with over 80 bipartisan cosponsors.

If anyone has another viable plan to address our entitlement tsunami, we're anxious to hear it. But we cannot continue the status quo. Doing nothing is not acceptable.

Wilberforce's admonition rings as true today as it did in 1789. ``Having heard all this, you may choose to look the other way, but you can never again say that you do not know.''

We know, and it's on our watch. Let's fix it.

Madam Speaker, I rise to express my deep concern over the recent crackdown in Tibet by the Chinese government. I strongly believe that America must be a country that speaks out on behalf of those who cannot speak for themselves--men and women who are being persecuted for their religious or political beliefs.

Every person on earth has certain inalienable rights. In a 1987 Constitution Day speech, Ronald Reagan noted that the U.S. Constitution has been described ``as a kind of covenant. It is a covenant we've made not only with ourselves but with all of mankind.'' America has a profound responsibility to keep this covenant and to stand up for freedom in the world's darkest corners.

China is a perfect example of a place where these rights are not being protected. The China of today is worse than the China of yesterday, or of last year, or of the last decade. China is not progressing. It is regressing. It is more violent, more repressive, and more resistant to democratic values than ever before.

The Cardinal Kung Foundation reports that in 2007, 35 Roman Catholic bishops were in jail, under house arrest, or harassed and put under surveillance. In 2007, the Chinese government arrested 693 Christians that we know of. Renowned human rights advocate and Uyghur Muslim Rebiya Kadeer has watched from exile as the Chinese government arrests and beats her family members in her homeland. Since the crackdown on Falun Gong began in 1999, untold numbers of Falun Gong practitioners have been arrested, imprisoned and tortured.

The Tibetans have suffered terribly over the years at the hands of the Chinese government. Tibet is gradually, but brutally, being subsumed by China. Inch by inch, this region, its people, its culture, its religion, even its language is growing fainter and fainter and could one day disappear as the Chinese government persists in trying to liquidate Tibetan culture and presence in China.

The reports and images of this most recent crackdown in Tibet are deeply disturbing. Tibetan Buddhist monks and Tibetan youth have been beaten down in the street and rounded up in house-to-house searches for protesting China's rule of the Tibet region. Scores of Tibetans are believed to have been killed in the violence, and hundreds of Tibetans have been arrested by Chinese police for participating in protests.

Given this legacy of violence and discrimination by the Chinese government, I'm not surprised it would crack down with such brutal force against these Tibetan protestors. My outrage at what China is doing in Tibet led me to visit Tibet in 1997, and I have seen first- hand the repression the Tibetans live under.

And despite all of its abhorrent acts, China was still awarded the honor of hosting the 2008 Olympics. The Olympic Games are an event designed to lift up ``the educational value of good example and respect for universal fundamental ethical principles,'' according to its own charter.

Does China's behavior sound like a ``good example'' to the rest of the world? Or that it is reflecting ``fundamental ethical principles'' that all nations should aspire to? It is because of China's actions that I cannot support the President or other senior U.S. officials attending the 2008 Beijing Olympics.

While I have strenuously urged the President not to attend the Olympics, I know I cannot stop the President from going. But I am offering language in the 2008 emergency supplemental appropriations bill to prohibit U.S. government officials and employees from attending the Beijing Olympics on the taxpayers' dime.

The political prisoners in China and Chinese dissidents around the world will be deeply demoralized by what the Chinese government will surely portray as symbolic support for its regime if senior American officials attend the games.

Some say that the protection of human rights is secondary to attaining economic power and wealth. We must reject that notion. China poses a threat not only to its own citizens, but to the entire world.

Mr. Speaker, in his first speech in the British Parliament in 1789 describing the slave trade, William Wilberforce concluded by telling his colleagues this: ``Having heard all of this you may choose to look the other way, but you can never again say you did not know.''

None of us can say that we do not know about the Nation's long-term financial outlook, which former Comptroller General David Walker said will result in a tsunami of spending debt level that will swamp our ship of state. It is time that this Congress and this administration and Secretary Paulson wake up to the massive debt that we are amassing.

Congressman Jim Cooper and I are working together on a bipartisan plan called the SAFE Commission, where 78 colleagues are with us. If there are other bipartisan solutions that you all have, put them on the table and let's get them discussed. It will take the leadership on a Wilberforce level from both sides of the aisle.

We know what is happening, and for the sake of our children and our grandchildren, we must not look the other way. Wilberforce said, and I close, having heard all of this, you may choose to look the other way, but you can never again say you did not know.

Mr. Speaker, I rise in support of H.R. 5489, to designate the facility of the United States Postal Service located at 6892 Main Street in Gloucester, Virginia, as the ``Congresswoman Jo Ann S. Davis Post Office.''

I would like to thank Congressman Rob Wittman for introducing this legislation to honor the memory of our colleague and friend.

Congresswoman Davis was not only my House colleague, she was my Virginia colleague who represented the First District of Virginia--a district, which she proudly called ``America's 1st District'' because of our country's roots at Jamestown and the many significant events in history, which occurred there.

Her career in elected office spanned 10 short years--from her first election in 1997 to the Virginia House of Delegates to her four elected terms in the House beginning in 2000. But over that decade, she made her mark as a deeply caring and hard-working public servant who believed in commonsense, conservative ideals.

She was a person of honesty, integrity, and strong moral conviction in representing her district and living her life. She was a dedicated and tenacious fighter for her beliefs, and the importance of her faith was obvious in the way she cared for and treated others. And, above all else, she worked tirelessly to protect the interests of the men and women in uniform, their families, and veterans.

Mr. Speaker, I believe that this designation will serve as a constant reminder to the constituents of the First District of Jo Ann's service and leadership. I wholeheartedly urge my colleagues to join us in recognizing Jo Ann's memory by supporting this bill.

Mr. Speaker, last week the annual Medicare trustees report concluded that consideration of reforms to ensure the financial security of Medicare must occur in the near future. The report states, ``The sooner the solutions are enacted, the more flexible and gradual they can be.'' As lawmakers, we are obligated, on economic and moral grounds, to tackle this enormous issue.

Newspaper headlines in the days following the release of the report say as follows, ``Should political stalemate end, entitlement solution possible''; ``Entitlement reform cannot wait on politics''; ``Budget experts left and right urge action on entitlements.''

Every day that the Congress doesn't act, nor the administration, we miss an opportunity for our children and our grandchildren to get this country moving. Congressman Cooper and I have a bill called the SAFE Commission. It's a bipartisan bill.

I am also, Mr. Speaker, disappointed that Secretary Paulson has failed to address this issue. He said he feels like he is playing solitaire. Secretary Paulson, there are 74 cosponsors in the House, 40 Republicans, 34 Democrats that are waiting for you to do something. Secretary Paulson, if you leave this administration with failing to do that, you will regret it.

Madam Speaker, last Tuesday the annual Social Security Medicare Trustees Report was issued, and not surprisingly, drawing the same dismal conclusions it did last year. We have all heard the statistics about the demographic challenge retirement of the Baby Boomers generation presents. But what are we doing about it?

I am disappointed that this Congress and this administration continue to turn a blind eye toward the country's unsustainable financial path. The American people cannot afford to have this issue languish in partisan gridlock. Americans should know the longer we wait to get our fiscal house in order, the harder and more abrupt the changes will be for America's younger generation.

I am challenging all of us to be part of the solution so we can tell our children and our grandchildren that while serving in Congress, we did everything in our power to protect their futures. Please cosponsor the Cooper-Wolf SAFE Commission Act, which will put everything, entitlement spending, tax policy, and all other Federal programs on the table, and require action on controlling the long-term spending.

Mr. Speaker, I am disappointed in the administration and especially Secretary of Treasury Henry Paulson for not embracing solutions to the economic tsunami that is off our coast. Congressman Cooper and I have proposed the SAFE Commission to respond to what the outgoing U.S. Comptroller, David Walker, characterizes as a ``tsunami of spending and debt levels that could swamp our ship of state.''

We have $53 trillion in unfunded liabilities and are over $9 trillion in debt. What more does Secretary Paulson need?

The SAFE Commission Act has 74 bipartisan cosponsors. It has been endorsed by the Business Roundtable, the National Federation of Independent Businesses, and think tanks across the political spectrum. If we don't get our financial house in order and begin controlling entitlement spending, it will be our children and grandchildren who pay the price.

How will Secretary Paulson feel if he leaves at the end of this term and has done nothing, has done nothing to deal with the entitlement issue?

Secretary Paulson, we ask you to support the Cooper-Wolf bipartisan commission.

Madam Speaker, I rise today to call the attention of the House to the 20th anniversary of Saddam Hussein's attack on the city of Halabja with chemical and biological weapons. On March 16, 1988, these weapons killed some 5,000 Kurdish men, women and children, as part of Hussein's Al-Anfal campaign to kill and displace the Kurdish population in northern Iraq.

According to a comprehensive study by Human Rights Watch, the 1988 Al-Anfal campaign consisted of approximately 40 gas attacks and resulted in the deaths of at least 50,000 and perhaps as many as 100,000 Iraqi Kurds. The worst in this series of attacks was on Halabja.

The attack in 1988 has left behind a cruel and persistent legacy on the village of Halabja, where inhabitants experience a high instance of life threatening medical conditions due to the persistence of noxious poisons in the food and water supply. I ask that our colleagues remember this day, which exemplifies the legacy of brutality and human rights abuses that characterized the regime of the late Saddam Hussein.