Floor Statements

Mr. Speaker, I thank the chairman, the gentleman from Virginia (Mr. Goodlatte) and the ranking member, the gentleman from Texas (Mr. Stenholm) for bringing up this legislation today.

The Oxford Research Station was established in 1912 as a crop and forestry research station. The station facilities include computerized curing barns, office facilities, a shop building, several equipment shelters, a tobacco evaluation facility and underground irrigation systems.

For 92 years, the station's marquee programs have been tobacco- related. Accomplishments at the Oxford Tobacco Research Station include fertility investigations concerning tobacco plants' nutrition; development of the first tobacco varieties with resistance to Granvill Wilt and black shank disease; the invention of tobacco bulk curing barns; genetic studies to develop new varieties resistance to Granville Wilt and black shank diseases; evaluation of crop breeding lines, curing experiments, computerized monitoring and control of humidity and temperatures; and many others.

As long a list of accomplishments that the station has accumulated in its 92 years of service to American agriculture, the station now stands unused by USDA, and American taxpayers are still paying for upkeep and maintenance. An unofficial estimate, Mr. Speaker, from the Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service for fiscal year 2005 is that the station will cost $227,000 for basic upkeep.

Mr. Speaker, one man's trash is another man's treasure. USDA does not want or need the Oxford Research Station, but the North Carolina Department of Agriculture does. If the facility is conveyed to the North Carolina Department of Agriculture, the State will move its entire biological control program to the station. The State intends to use the quarantine facilities to research invasive species without risk of introducing them to the national environment of our State.

Among the species to be studied include the hemlock wooly adelgid, an insect that has been identified in Public Law 108-148, the President's Healthy Forest Initiative, as a forest-damaging insect. The facility will also research control methods of the Sudden Oak Death Fungus.

The people of North Carolina, Mr. Speaker, would be grateful for the passage of this legislation.

Mr. Chairman, I rise in support of this amendment. Given the opportunity and a level playing field, I believe in the ability of American workers to operate their vehicles safely. Without this amendment, we put our workers at a great, great disadvantage, allow our air to be unduly polluted and make our highways less safe.

The gentleman from Arizona says it is about the Teamsters. No, it is about the American people who use America's highways. If trucks from Mexico are going to bring products into our country, using our highways, these trucks need to be held to the same safety and emission standards to which our own trucks are held.

At present, Mexican trucks are not held to American standards for safety and emissions. Allowing an 18-wheel truck loaded with 88,000 pounds of cargo to speed over our highways without ensuring that the vehicle is safe simply makes no sense.

Mexican drivers must be subject to the same level of scrutiny that we demand of our American drivers with regard to training and recordkeeping and incident violations.

I respectfully urge support of this commonsense amendment.

Mr. Speaker, I thank the gentleman for yielding me time.

Mr. Speaker, I want to express my sincere appreciation for the strong bipartisan support of my distinguished colleagues from the North Carolina delegation, both House and Senate, in their sponsorship of this bill.

I would also like to thank the gentleman from Virginia (Chairman Tom Davis) and the gentleman from California (Mr. Waxman), the ranking member, and Denise Wilson, along with the entire staff from the Committee on Government Reform, for moving so quickly in seeing the value of this legislation.

Mr. Speaker, we are here today to honor a great woman, a great community leader and a great American who helped so many people throughout my home State of North Carolina.

Today, Mr. Speaker, we show our appreciation for an extraordinary woman, Ms. Eva Holtzman, by naming the post office in Ridgeway, North Carolina, in her honor. Affectionately called ``Ms. Eva'' by all who knew her, she loved the town of Ridgeway with all of her heart. She called Ridgeway her home. She lived and worked there her entire life. She reared four children and ultimately was laid to rest in that community.

Ms. Eva was born in 1918 and educated in Warren County public schools, graduating with honors from Norlina High School in rural North Carolina.

Ms. Holtzman was a strong force in the 4-H association, starting a chapter out of her home that eventually had to move to a local church because of its popularity. Her 50-year tenure with 4-H and teaching Sunday school at St. Paul's Lutheran Church did not go unnoticed when in the year 2000 she was presented with the Jefferson Award for her outstanding and selfless volunteerism by then-Governor Jim Hunt.

Mr. Speaker, Ms. Holtzman was also a dedicated public servant. She worked at the post office for 50 years, 38 of those years as its postmaster. When the Ridgeway Post Office was closed in the early 1960s, Ms. Holtzman refused to let the town live without a post office and built a new one on her own. Sadly, Eva passed away 3 years ago, leaving behind her beloved post office that she worked so hard to preserve.

As one of her Sunday school students, who is now an adult, said, ``Everything I learned, I learned because of Ms. Eva.'' And when asked why she tirelessly dedicated her life to the citizens of North Carolina, she always said, ``It's just wonderful to be able to do things for others. I just enjoy people.''

Mr. Speaker, while Ms. Eva Holtzman is deserving of far greater accolades. I am sure they will come in time, but it is my great pleasure to offer this legislation on her behalf. I strongly urge this body to pass this bill.

Mr. Speaker, I ask unanimous consent that I may hereafter be considered as the first sponsor of H.R. 2119, a bill originally introduced by Representative Ballance of North Carolina, for the purposes of adding cosponsors and requesting reprintings pursuant to clause 7 of rule XII.

Mr. Chairman, I offer an amendment.

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

I thank the Chair for the opportunity to offer this amendment. I want to speak on this briefly, and then I will withdraw it.

The Federal Government has a stated goal of supporting small businesses and, in particular, minority-and women-owned small businesses. One way the Federal Government promotes these businesses owned by minorities and women is through the Department of Transportation's Disadvantaged Business Enterprise Program. This program has been shown to be effective when implemented properly.

In order to become certified as a DBE, the business must go through a long and rigorous approval process of interviews, audits, reviews, and visits so as to ensure that a company and its owners are who they claim to be. However, once certified, a business is forced to go through the process all over again if it wishes to conduct business in another State. The forms and criteria do not change from region to region, as they are all clearly standardized by the Department of Transportation. The two inches of paperwork and the approval process is so time consuming that companies can miss deadlines and thus lose contracts while waiting for a certification.

Since construction projects frequently cross political boundaries, these bureaucratic delays are frequent. This amendment, if signed into law, would prohibit the use of funds from this bill to be spent on administrative expenses and public agencies that do not recognize DBE certifications by other State or local DOTs.

Mr. Chairman, I ask unanimous consent to withdraw this amendment.

Mr. Speaker, I thank the gentleman from North Carolina (Mr. Coble), the gentleman from North Carolina (Mr. Price) and to the other Members of this august body. It is my honor to join the 108th Congress to represent the citizens of the First District of North Carolina.

It has been a long night. Yesterday was election day in the First District, and I have the privilege of winning both the special election and the Democratic primary. I have traveling with me today many members of my family, friends and supporters. They are seated in the gallery. I would like to take this rare privilege to be able to point to them and to say to them, Thank you, thank you, thank you.

Mr. Speaker, North Carolina's First District is located in the northeastern part of our State. It is a largely rural community that once thrived upon tobacco as its main product. Tobacco farmers in North Carolina are facing a crisis that this Congress is now addressing.

The people of the First District are no different from your constituents. They want our government to work to enable all people to experience the American dream. Therefore, I look forward, Mr. Speaker, and my colleagues, to working with each of you as we serve our respective districts and as we serve America.

Thank you, thank you, thank you.