Floor Statements

Madam Speaker, I rise today to congratulate Dr. Rohit T. Aggarwala, the Director of New York City's Office of Long-term Planning and Sustainability, within New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg's Office of Operations, for receiving the prestigious ``Friend of the Environment Award'' from the Alley Pond Environmental Center (APEC) on November 13th, 2008. APEC, located in Douglaston, Queens, is a superb educational center committed to environmental understanding and awareness. Rit, as he is known by his friends and colleagues, is at the forefront of Mayor Bloomberg's PlaNYC initiative, a sweeping sustainability plan for New York City's future.

A native of New York City, Dr. Aggarwala holds a BA, MBA, and PhD from Columbia University, as well as an MA from Queen's College in Ontario. Prior to joining the City government, Dr. Aggarwala worked at the Federal Railroad Administration, and currently chairs a subcommittee at the Transportation Research Board, which is part of the National Academy of Science. He is the author of several articles about transportation policy and about the history of New York City.

Under Rit's leadership as Director, New York City's Office of Long- term Planning and Sustainability is implementing a long-term sustainability plan to ensure New York City's continued prosperity, growth, and health. On Earth Day, 2007 the Mayor's Office of Long Term Planning and Sustainability released PIaNYC, which included 127 separate initiatives to protect New York's future, including: housing an additional 1 million New Yorkers affordably; increasing access to parks, playgrounds and open spaces; reclaiming brownfields; developing critical backup systems for the aging water network to ensure reliability; providing additional reliable power sources and upgrading existing power plants; and reducing water pollution so we can open the City's amazing waterways for recreation.

Madam Speaker, I ask all my colleagues to join me in commending Dr. Aggarwala and New York City's Office of Long-term Planning and Sustainability for all of its hard work and dedication promoting sound environmental building practices, and for helping New York City lead the world as a Green global citizen.

Mr. Speaker, I rise in strong support of H.R. 7081, the United States-India Nuclear Cooperation Approval and Nonproliferation Enhancement Act.

Today, the House will consider the culmination of 3 years of difficult work in Washington and New Delhi and take the final step to fashion a new policy toward India, one that reflects the realities of the 21st century and acknowledges India's emergence onto the world stage.

The bill before us will give Congressional approval to civil nuclear cooperation with India. Let me tell you what that means. It means that the IAEA will be able to inspect two-thirds of India's civilian nuclear facilities, because those facilities will be under IAEA safeguards and all future civilian nuclear facilities will also be under safeguards. It means that India, for the first time ever, has committed to MTCR guidelines. It means that India, for the first time ever, will adhere to Nuclear Suppliers Group guidelines. It means that India and the IAEA are making substantial progress toward an Additional Protocol. It means that India is committed to working with us to conclude a Fissile Material Cut-off Treaty. It means that we can send a clear message to nuclear rogue states about how to behave, because it shows that responsible nuclear powers are welcomed by the international community not sanctioned; and it means that we can finally achieve the broad, deep and enduring strategic relationship with India, that all of us in this House support. So if you wanted all these things 2 years ago when we established this process, then you are for this bill now.

Some Members have expressed concern that the agreement with India doesn't go far enough, that it doesn't rollback India's nuclear weapons program, that it doesn't include all of India's nuclear facilities, and that it sends the wrong message to rogue regimes like Iran and North Korea.

For 30 years Mr. Speaker, U.S. policy toward India has been defined and constrained by our insistence on punishing India for its sovereign decision not to sign the Nuclear Nonproliferation Treaty. Truth be told, had India conducted its nuclear tests earlier, it would have been treated like China, Russia, France, Britain, and the United States: In short, as a grandfathered member of the nuclear weapons club. But they did not and nothing we have tried over the last 3 decades has convinced them to give up their nuclear weapons. And nothing we say over the next 3 decades will convince them either. India is a responsible nuclear power and deserves to be treated that way. The bill before us does just that.

Critics have expressed concerns regarding the agreement's impact on our nonproliferation policy and clearly Iran, Pakistan, and North Korea are all looking for clues about what this deal means for them and their nuclear programs. I think the message is clear: If you want to be treated like India, be like India. Be a responsible international actor with regard to WMD technologies, don't sell your nuclear technologies to the highest bidder, don't provide it to terrorists, be a democracy, a real democracy, and work with us on important foreign policy objectives not against us. That's the message we send today.

Does it warm your heart and make you comfortable that Iran and North Korea signed the NPT and are now running away from their freely accepted obligations and away from IAEA inspections?

True, India did not sign the NPT yet it is embracing the IAEA, embracing global nonproliferation norms and is a democracy. India's attitude should be recognized and commended.

There are two options before us today. One is to throw away all the work that has been done since July 2005 and keep the status quo. India will pursue its national interests as it has been doing outside the nonproliferation mainstream and we inspect nothing. The other is to make the deal with India and get for the United States and the international community a window in perpetuity into two-thirds of India's existing nuclear facilities and all of its future civilian nuclear facilities.

I think the choice is clear. This bill before us brings India into the nonproliferation mainstream and gets the United States and the international community access to India's civilian nuclear facilities.

Mr. Speaker, it is time for a 21st century policy towards India, one that supports and encourages India's emergence as a responsible global power and solidifies the United States-India bilateral relationship for decades to come. The bill before us today is that new policy. Vote yes on H.R. 7081.

Mr. Speaker, I take this minute to call to the attention of the House today a true American patriot. One of our colleagues is spending his last few hours, day and night, with us after two decades in the House. I refer to our Speaker pro tem, the gentleman from New York, Mike McNulty, who has given two decades of his life to the service of our country. He has been one of our most exemplary colleagues. He has probably served as Speaker pro tem--in the chair that he has right now--with the gavel in his hand, for hundreds of hours, for probably more hours as Speaker pro tem than has any other Member of the House today.

I just want to say thank you, Mike, for your years of service and to your family for sharing you with us for these two decades. As you ride off, back to your district to share the rest of your life with your family and new challenges, I say thank you and God's speed. You're leaving here at the height of your game and under your own power and terms, not into the sunset but into a bright new future and a new dawn.

Thank you, Mike, for your service to our country.

I thank the chairman.

Mr. Speaker, I rise in strong support of this bill because it will give congressional approval to civil nuclear cooperation with India. Let me tell you what that means. It means that the IAEA will be able to inspect two-thirds of India's civilian nuclear facilities because those facilities will be under IAEA safeguards and all future nuclear facilities will also be under safeguards.

It means that India, for the first time ever, has committed to MTCR guidelines. It means that India, for the first time ever, will adhere to the Nuclear Suppliers Group guidelines. It means that we can send a clear message to rogue states, nuclear rogue states, about how to behave because it shows that responsible nuclear powers are welcomed by the International Community and not sanctions. It means that we can finally achieve the broad, deep, and enduring strategic relationship with India that all of us in this House support.

So if you wanted all of these things when you voted overwhelmingly for it 2 years ago, then vote for it again tonight.

There are two options before us today. One is to throw away all of the work that's been done and just keep the status quo. India would then pursue its national interests, as it's been doing, outside of the nonproliferation mainstream and we get to inspect nothing. The other is to make a deal with India, and the United States and the International Community will get a window in perpetuity into two-thirds of India's nuclear facilities and all of its future nuclear facilities.

The choice is clear, Mr. Speaker. It's time for 21st century policy towards India, and it encourages India's emergence as a global nuclear power and solidifies our bilateral relationship for decades to come.

This bill is that new policy, and I urge everyone to support it.

Mr. Speaker, at this time I yield 4 minutes to the distinguished gentleman from Ohio, Dennis Kucinich.

Mr. Speaker, I yield myself 3\1/2\ minutes.

Mr. Speaker, in considering this bill, this package of sanctions and divestment authorities for states and localities, we should keep foremost in our minds we are in a race. I am not referring to our upcoming elections, but rather the race between the civilized world and the nuclear ambitions of Iran.

One of us will win, and one will lose. If the world wins, Iran will not become a nuclear weapons state, there will not be a nuclear arms race in the Middle East and the nuclear Nonproliferation Treaty will not collapse. If Iran wins, the chief sponsor of terrorism in the Middle East, the patron of Hamas and Hezbollah, a hegemonic nation led by fanatical religious zealots will be able to threaten the global economy and the security of the United States and the civilized world from behind a nuclear shield.

And we are just about to lose this race. Iran is not only ahead, it is sprinting to the finish. Its proliferation potential is now a simple math problem. Iran is now producing 2.5 kilograms of low-enriched uranium per day, and has produced an estimated 200 to 250 kilograms of LEU just since this past May.

For a crash bomb program, Iran could use the LEU as feedstock, dramatically shortening the time to produce nuclear weapons grade uranium. With 700 to 800 kilograms of LEU set into centrifuges, Iran could produce the 20 to 25 kilograms of weapons-grade uranium required for a crude atomic bomb. Other estimates suggest that 1,000 to 1,700 kilograms of LEU would be necessary. Regardless of whether it is 700 or 1,700 kilograms, Iranian proliferation is no longer a question of if, but when.

The President has known about this threat since day one. He has known, and done next to nothing. The Bush administration has adamantly refused to use existing U.S. sanction laws against foreign companies investing in Iran's oil sector. But far worse, the Bush administration has actively worked to stop Congress from adopting the tough and necessary legislation that we have before us today.

Why? Do they believe that the past 5 years of slow motion, U.S.-in- the-back-seat diplomacy is about to make a huge breakthrough? In the light of Russia's recent announcement that they have no intention of supporting additional UN Security Council sanctions in Iran, I would like someone to explain how this huge breakthrough is supposed to happen.

With our administration tied up in an ideological knot, opposed to U.S. sanctions and unwilling to engage effectively itself, the question for Congress is what can we do to stop Iran. With so little time, our thinking on this problem needs to change. Options that years ago may have seemed reckless, like sanctioning firms in allied countries and applying unilateral economic levers, now have been become essential if we are going to be successful in peacefully getting Iran to back down.

Likewise, continuing doggedly with the current take-no-chances, small-carrots-and-no-sticks diplomacy which the Bush administration has insisted on, today looks like a roadmap to disaster.

Iranian proliferation is mere months away. That fact makes what is feckless, by definition, reckless. I am not calling for another war. I do not want air strikes or a blockade. I want to avoid all that. But if we don't want war, and we really don't want a nuclear Iran, then we have an obligation to use every peaceful, diplomatic, political and economic weapon at our disposal. If you don't want bombs, then you have to have an alternative, and that is sanctions. Abjuring sanctions is a de facto call to those who want arms.

I am very grateful to Chairman Berman and Ranking Member Ros-Lehtinen for their efforts in bringing this critical package of sanctions of legislation to the floor today. It deserves the enthusiastic support of every Member of the House, and there isn't a moment to lose.

Mr. Speaker, I am pleased to yield 3 minutes to the gentleman from California (Mr. Sherman) from the Subcommittee on Terrorism, Nonproliferation, and Trade.

I yield the gentleman 1 additional minute.

Mr. Speaker, it is my pleasure to yield now to the gentleman from New York, the distinguished gentleman from the Subcommittee on the Western Hemisphere, Mr. Engel, 1 minute.

Mr. Speaker, it is now my pleasure to yield to the gentleman from California, the distinguished chairman of the full committee, Mr. Howard Berman.

Mr. Speaker, I ask unanimous consent that all Members may have 5 legislative days to revise and extend their remarks and include extraneous material on the Special Order in honor of the retirement of Representative Mike McNulty.

Mr. Speaker, this is a bittersweet moment for me and for all of the members of the New York State delegation specifically and the Members of the House of Representatives in its entirety because our good friend, and my best friend in the Congress, Mike McNulty, after 20 years of laboring in the vineyards here in Washington, getting on a flight every single week, coming down to Washington, going back home, representing the people of his district so diligently, will be leaving us at the end of this, his tenth Congress.

He is going to be sorely missed. They said, people don't have friends in Washington. This is truly an outstanding misstatement in the case of Mike McNulty. He has friends galore on both sides of the aisle that he has met and kept and maintained close relationships with throughout his entire political career, which is not just the 20 years that he has spent here with us.

At the age of 22, Mike entered politics, one of the youngest mayors in the history of anyplace in America. He went from the supervisor of Green Island to the mayor thereof, represented those people for so many years before being elected to the New York State Assembly, and proudly served as their assemblyman before coming here.

We have many members of the delegation who wish to speak, some of whom are here tonight, Mr. Speaker. I will fill in and continue some of my remarks, but I want to get some of them up to the microphone at this late hour. I guess we will start with Mr. Hinchey, if you are prepared to start us off.

We're indebted to Congressman Maurice Hinchey, known to most of us as ``Mo,'' for his remarks about our good friend, Mike.

And now, representing our downstate constituencies, the gentleman from New York representing the Seventh Congressional District, the chief deputy whip of the House, Joe Crowley, a member of the Committee on Foreign Affairs, Committee on Ways and Means.

Now from the 24th Congressional District of the Empire State whose constituents are contiguous to Mike's--also a Mike--Mike Arcuri.

Mr. Speaker, I would just like to advise our colleagues--and just put Mike McNulty on the alert because he never gets caught off guard--that when we all finish, we are going to ask him to honor us by saying a few words, if he would.

Now, from the distinguished gentlewoman from the 18th Congressional District, chairman of the Subcommittee on State and Foreign Operations and Related Programs of the Committee on Appropriations and Homeland Security, Nita Lowey.

Thank you very much, Nita.

It's not quite Green Island, but the gentleman from Long Island would like to say a few words about being a member of the Mike McNulty fan club, Steve Israel, a member of the Committee on Appropriations.

I just want to remind the gentleman that he is still alive. Thank you very much, Mr. Israel, for that eloquence.

Now, one of the newer members of our delegation, a celebrity in his own right, is the Chair of the Subcommittee on Disability Assistance and Memorial Affairs, on Transportation and Infrastructure, on the Select Committee on Energy Independence and Global Warming, and on Veterans' Affairs, the Honorable John Hall.

Ladies and gentlemen of the House, I'm not addressing the Speaker as I should because it's quite unusual for those of us here on the floor who are controlling the time to get a request from the Speaker pro tem who wishes to step down from the chair in order to address the House.

So, Mr. Speaker, it's my privilege and pleasure to yield some time to the representative from the Fourth District of Pennsylvania, a member of the House Committee on Small Business, of the Committee on Education and Labor and of Transportation and Infrastructure, the Speaker pro tem, Congressman Jason Altmire.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Mr. Speaker, if I can use some of the remaining time, this is a very fast-moving place. There are a lot of people who have been pretty hard- charging around here over the 26 years that I've been here and certainly over the history of the Congress, and we'll remember a lot of them because they're loud and boisterous, thundering; some people would say ``eloquent'' when referring to some, but all too often, we don't notice the quiet heroes who make all of the difference, who come here to our Nation's Capital, not for self-aggrandizement but unashamedly to full time represent only and exclusively the interests of the people who sent them here. Such a person is our friend Mike McNulty.

You'll forgive us, Mr. Speaker, for having the braggadocio as New Yorkers, as we're supposed to have, I'm told, to be ever so proud of Mike McNulty and of all that he represents and will always represent.

I was going to read a good part of his biography, much of which has been alluded to by some of our Members here, but I think I will bypass that, because those are all historical notes, and just talk about Mike for a couple of minutes.

Mike is truly one of the heroes to anybody who has ever met him. Much has been made of the fact that he was the youngest town supervisor, mayor, at the time of his election some 39 years ago, and has been in public service for his entire life. But it is not just being the youngest, but being one of the best, being one of the most humane, being one of the most compassionate. And I must say as a fellow Eagle Scout, I have always been in awe of Mike because he became an Eagle Scout at the age of 12, not something very easily accomplished.

If you know anything about Mike, you know that is even more extraordinary, because when Mike was born in 1947 to Mr. and Mrs. Jack McNulty of Green Island, they were so very, very proud of Mike, as they were of their other children, having great hopes and aspirations that he would be able to achieve and accomplish and make his mark on the world. And then when he was 2 years old they found out that he had the scourge of our time, of our generation, that he had polio, that he was not able to walk.

What a challenge that is for a family. What a challenge that is for a young man, not to be able to run around with his friends and grow up in the same way and do the same kinds of things with such ease that other people have. And yet Mike persevered and made a full recovery.

I daresay that there are probably not too many people in the House except those who are close to Mike that even knew that he had polio. And those accomplishments, not just the physical accomplishments of being able to get past that, but of being able to contribute to our society, to make a mark and to make a difference, without bringing any of the baggage that so many of us would probably bring to our careers and the rest of our lives. Not a note of bitterness, not a mark of anger, not a sign of why me, but always what can I do to help you, what can I do to contribute to society.

I try to think of words, as we all have, that would describe Mike . I go back to the time we were Boy Scouts, in very different places, and he is the embodiment of trustworthy, loyal, helpful, friendly, courteous, kind, obedient, cheerful, thrifty, at least with the taxpayers' money, brave, clean and reverent. He is all of the above.

He is a man of great integrity, respected in this House by everybody. I don't know a person of the 435 Members of this House who doesn't truly hold Mike McNulty in the highest of esteem. And he is very different in his approach to his job than so many other people that we can think of, presently and historically, people to whom we subscribe sharp elbows, as the word is; people who would push other people out of the way to get in front of the cameras, to beat them to the microphone, to get out a press release, to claim credit for something. Mike has always been content just to get the job done, absent the big lights and the big crowds.

This is a place of show horses and showboats, and among this crowd, Mike is a workhorse and a work boat. People would be absolutely astonished to know that it has been Mike McNulty for these years who has often fought on their behalf successfully to maintain Social Security, something that in a few years hopefully he is going to enjoy for many, many, many years to come, and the work he has done on so many other things without taking credit. Mike is about not taking credit. And in a place where there is very little of that going around, he is virtuous and a virtuoso.

One of the newspapers on Capitol Hill does this story every once in awhile about the Obscure Caucus. Well, Mike is the chairman, as they always call him, of the Obscure Caucus. Not because of lack of contribution, but because of lack of spotlight; because of diligent work; because of doing his homework; because of always being prepared, for always being effective, for always getting things done. He is the quiet man around here, a very quiet guy, very respectful.

He is very religious, loves his church and its values that he holds very dearly. He doesn't wear them on his sleeve, but it is something that is very important to him. But so is respect for everybody else and their beliefs.

I remember traveling up to Albany once to one of the major synagogues in that town to participate, and Mike being the Man of the Year. The Rabbi told me Mike goes to synagogue on the Jewish High Holidays. He is given a place of honor, a seat of his own. It doesn't violate the gift rule.

He is the kind of person that we all want our kids to grow up to be, somebody who is respectable and respectful.

I traveled with him to Ethiopia with our dear friend Mickey Leland. Mike didn't flinch. It didn't concern him that it was a lot more strenuous a trip for the Sub-Sahara region of the dark continent than it would be for most anybody else. He didn't blink. We flew in small planes, in and out, up in the Gandhara region, participating in the saving and rescue of the Ethiopian Jewish community that fled to Israel.

His work for the Irish people is legendary. His work for all people is admired by each and every one of us.

His family loves him, and there is not a conversation that I have ever had with Mike that he doesn't mention my kids by name. I mentioned his children, his wife, Nancy, their great marriage, his five grandchildren of whom he is so proud and who I always see winding up in the newspapers upstate, as we call it, in pictures. These are his grandchildren, pictures with presidents and VIPs and movie stars, and every once in awhile they let Mike get into the picture.

Mike is going to be leaving Congress, and we are going to miss him. But he is going to go home to Nancy and the kids and the grandchildren and Big Jack, as his father is called. Mike has been in public life for I think four different decades. His dad, Big Jack, has been in public life for seven. He still gets around, so proud of Mike, and Mike is so proud of him.

You know, there is a song, and I won't sing it here because it is against the rules and we certainly have previous speakers that sing a lot better than I do, but this song, the words of which are ``climb every mountain, ford every stream; follow every rainbow, until you find your dream.''

Mike has shared his dream here with his friends and the American people, and now he follows his rainbow home, home in Albany, where he also served as speaker pro tem, chaired the New York State Assembly probably more than anybody in anyone's recent memory, as he did here during the early years when Democrats controlled the House; doing that not just because he knew the rules of the House better than anybody else, but because he thought it was his job to let other Members go home after putting in a full day's work, and he was willing to shoulder the responsibility, as you do tonight, Mr. Speaker, in keeping the House open while other Members prepare for tomorrow's day's work.

So, Mike, as you follow that rainbow back to Nancy and the kids, knowing that you have a long career of some other kind, I hope, many offers I am sure, will come in, you are a quiet prize that the public will not allow to leave their midst. We are all going to miss you, buddy. I am going to miss you especially. Thank you for your service here, which ends this session, and thank you for your friendship, which will endure forever.

Now, Mr. Speaker, I would like to coax the recalcitrant, reticent, quiet Mr. McNulty to the microphone.

Mr. Speaker, as Mike prepares to wrap up this part of his career, return home at the top of his game, under his own terms, under his own steam, we wish him Godspeed. We will be up to visit. Can't say that we are drinking buddies, Mike, but we are certainly eating buddies, take-out in good restaurants up your way.

Come down here and back into the city. We will be putting together a group of guys and gals just to hang out.

Mr. Speaker, we yield back.

Madam Speaker, by direction of the Democratic Caucus, I offer a privileged resolution and ask for its immediate consideration.

Madam Speaker, I ask unanimous consent that all Members may have 5 legislative days to revise and extend their remarks and include extraneous material on the resolution under consideration.

Madam Speaker, I am happy to yield to the majority leader, Mr. Hoyer, 1 minute.

Madam Speaker, I rise in strong support of this resolution and yield myself as much time as I may consume.

Madam Speaker, this resolution pays homage to the lives lost on the 11th of September in 2001 and recognizes this anniversary as a time of solemn commemoration. It extends deepest condolences to the friends, families and loved ones of the innocent victims of the terrorist attacks; it expresses gratitude to the leaders and citizens of other countries who assisted, supported, and stood by the United States in the aftermath of the attacks; and it honors the Nation's first responders, Armed Forces and others whose valiant efforts are a credit to their country and who continue to keep us safe.

Each of us remembers exactly where we were on 9/11 when we heard the tragic news. We remember the days of unity that followed when we acted together to protect this country from those determined to harm us and undermine our way of life.

Last year, we took a major step in furtherance of that goal by enacting, with bipartisan support, legislation to implement the recommendations of the 9/11 Commission, in both its domestic and foreign policy dimensions. By doing so, we addressed major security vulnerabilities and improved our homeland security across the board. I call on the President to continue his work to fully implement that act.

Al Qaeda remains a serious threat to the United States. In particular, the al Qaeda leadership that was responsible for ordering the attacks on September 11 has been reconstituted in the tribal areas of Pakistan. From that safe haven, they continue to pose danger to the world and increasingly threaten American troops in Afghanistan.

And this is more than just a military campaign. In the battle against extremists, ideas matter as much as ammunition, and this Nation must employ its soft power--its moral, economic, financial, diplomatic and cultural resources--to the very fullest.

The global realities of the 21st century require us to use the full range of nonmilitary tools as a fundamental pillar of our national security. We in Congress must support full funding for our international affairs programs. They bolster our national security by allowing us to work with foreign partners to track down terrorists overseas, to secure dangerous weapons wherever they are found, and to help stabilize fragile states.

Madam Speaker, this country is in the midst of a competitive election campaign. The stakes could not be higher. But today we set aside all of that to remember what unites us is greater than that which divides us. We all love our country and seek to keep it safe in these perilous times.

Madam Speaker, none of us will forget what happened 7 years ago today. We will always remember the victims of 9/11 and the loved ones who survived them. We still have unfinished work. Congress still needs to act, and hopefully soon, to provide the care to the people who rushed to Ground Zero to help others, as well as the thousands who worked on the ``pile'' in the aftermath to rebuild the site.

We owe those heroes of 9/11 the care and compensation they deserve. We will always honor the first responders who lost their lives that day--and those in uniform who risk their lives today and every day to defend America.

Madam Speaker, I reserve the balance of my time.

Madam Speaker, I am pleased to recognize now for 3 minutes the chairman of the Foreign Affairs Subcommittee on the Western Hemisphere, the distinguished gentleman from New York (Mr. Engel).

Madam Speaker, it is now my pleasure to yield 3 minutes to the chairman of the Committee on Armed Services, the distinguished gentleman from Missouri (Mr. Skelton).

I am pleased to yield 2 minutes to a member of the Committee on Financial Services, the gentleman from Indiana (Mr. Carson).

Madam Speaker, it is now my pleasure to recognize for 2 minutes a very distinguished Member from Long Island, a member of the Committee on Appropriations (Mr. Israel).

Madam Speaker, I am very pleased now to yield 2 minutes to the distinguished chairwoman of the Subcommittee on State and Foreign Operations, the distinguished Nita Lowey.

Madam Speaker, I am pleased to yield 2 minutes to the member of the Committee on Appropriations, the distinguished gentlewoman from Ohio (Ms. Kaptur).

I yield the gentlewoman an additional 15 seconds.

Madam Speaker, I am pleased to yield 2 minutes to the chairman of the Veterans' Affairs Subcommittee on Disability Assistance and Memorial Affairs, the distinguished gentleman from New York's 19th Congressional District.

I'm pleased to yield 3 minutes to the distinguished gentleman from West Virginia, chairman of the Committee on Natural Resources, representing the Third Congressional District of that State, Chairman Rahall.

Madam Speaker, it is now my pleasure to yield 1 minute to the Speaker of the House.

Madam Speaker, I yield myself the balance of my time.

Madam Speaker, a very thoughtful general once observed that the loss of 1,000 lives is a statistic, but the loss of one life was a tragedy. There were thousands of tragedies that occurred 7 years ago today. I want to talk about one of them.

It was a very long week here in Washington, that week of 9/11. It took three or four times the usual time for me to get back to New York. It was late at night. I was able to get a cab in New York to take me down to the World Trade Center, to the pier where they had set up all of the emergency work. I went there at that hour to find my wife, who was a mental health worker, one of those people who were asked to come down and volunteer.

As I waited for her to do the things that she and so many other people were doing, I walked around. There was a long, huge wall with pictures on 8\1/2\ by 11, on napkins, on flyers that were drawn up, people who had pictures of their loved ones, their husbands, their wives, their children, if anybody saw them.

There were firemen walking around trying to console women who did not know yet if they were widows.

There were little dolls alongside the wall on the floor stretching for two blocks along this pier. They all had notes on them. They were from children who suffered the loss of parents in the Murrah Building disaster. And these notes all said things like, ``When I was in trouble and frightened, someone gave me this doll to make me feel better. I send it to you and hope that you feel better.''

A fire chief came over to me and asked me if I would go over and just stand by this gentleman who was all alone at the wall. It was probably midnight. And this fellow in unique garb, he was a Hassidic Jew, dressed in the traditional big brim black hat, looking very much like the Amish do with the long black coat, he stood in front of one flyer without blinking. The only thing he did was move back and forth, back and forth, staring at this picture.

I just stood next to him. And after a minute he spoke to me, without even looking at me, just staring at the picture on this flyer that looked like a younger version of himself, and he said, ``That was my brother.'' He, I was told, was there every night doing this. ``He was my brother. He called me to say good-bye.''

``I told him,'' he said, ``that he had to get out of that building. He had to get out right away.'' And he said to me, ``I'm sitting holding hands with the young man who works in the cubicle next to mine, a young Puerto Rican kid who lives in a wheelchair, and there is no way for him to get out of this building. I told him he would not die alone, and I am just calling to say good-bye.''

There is nothing anyone could say, nothing I could say. I just stood there.

There are thousands of stories, there are thousands of lives, there are tens of thousands of people who were immediately impacted by relatives who died that day, who are heroes as well, some of whom knowingly, some of whom unknowingly went to their deaths, in addition to all of those who rushed into the building to save those that they could.

As we remember the first responders, as we remember the people who dug in that pile for so many days and weeks and months, risking their own lives, putting their health at risk and danger, as we know today, an issue that still has to be addressed, we remember also those who caused all of that anguish and pain, all of those thousands of tragedies, who changed history in that one incident, and rededicate ourselves to not being only strong, but smart, as we confront those threats and honor the memory of all those who were lost and all those who tried to help on that day.

Madam Speaker, I have no further requests for time, and I yield back the balance of my time.

Madam Speaker, on that I demand the yeas and nays.

Madam Speaker, I move to suspend the rules and agree to the resolution (H. Res. 1127) condemning the endemic restrictions on freedom of the press and media and public expression in the Middle East and the concurrent and widespread presence of anti-Semitic material, Holocaust denial, and incitement to violence in the Arab media and press, as amended.

Madam Speaker, I ask that all Members may have 5 legislative days in which to revise and extend their remarks and include extraneous material on the resolution under consideration.

Madam Speaker, I rise in strong support of the resolution and yield myself such time as I may consume.

Madam Speaker, in January of this year, the Subcommittee on the Middle East and South Asia held a hearing entitled ``That Which Is Not Obligatory Is Prohibited: Censorship and Incitement in the Arab World.'' We received testimony from three witnesses, one each from Freedom House, the Committee To Protect Journalists, and the Anti- Defamation League. What we heard was not a surprise, but was still shocking. As a result of that hearing, I drafted this resolution and would like to ask all of my colleagues to give it their utmost consideration.

It is sad to note that in the 21st century, there is still not one Arab country that can be described as ``free'' by the metrics used by Freedom House, and frankly, by anyone actually familiar with the concept. While there are very significant differences throughout the region in the latitude given to public debate, political argument and press and media freedom, with the notable exception of Israel, not one Arab country can argue that its public square is truly open to all and that their government protects, rather than restricts, that freedom.

The ugly and typically stupid hand of the censor is unfortunately not a rare sight in the Middle East. It is not only ubiquitous, it is, in fact, often attached to the arm of the editor, the producer, the copy- writer, or the publisher. According to the United Nations' Arab Human Development reports, while Arab societies have, in general, failed to keep up with other developing nations, in the mechanisms of censorship in the Arab world, they have shown a remarkable degree of institutional adaptation and technological savvy. Their success in stifling debate and narrowing acceptable opinion is all the more remarkable given the frequent failures of Arab bureaucracies in meeting the basic needs of their people for things like education, infrastructure, economic opportunity and clean governance.

Countries that can't ensure that their citizens are literate or have clean drinking water still find the resources necessary to operate the red pen of the censor, or the self-serving manipulation of the truth endemic to government-owned, government-controlled and government- operated media. It would be nice if these ugly and ultimately self- defeating practices were merely the problem of other people in faraway places. We could pity them, think gravely about the words of Thomas Jefferson, and bless the wisdom of our Founders who, in a world of despots and danger, saw that a free press and free speech were the indispensable safeguards of our Republic and our liberty.

But we don't live in a world that gives us immunity from the troubles of others. Three thousand Americans paid the price for that lesson on September 11, 2001. If we don't visit the world's bad neighborhoods, they will visit us. The fact is, the world has grown smaller, and fair or not, the grievances between the peoples of the Middle East and their governments can be, and often are, attributed to the United States. We saw this phenomena metastasize in Iran in the late 1970s. And

we've heard the same complaints explicitly from al Qaeda's leaders. As a nation with vital national interests in that region, we have wisely built strong ties with the governments of almost all of the Arab States.

Unfortunately, while these ties have brought greater stability to the region, they have also aligned us with governments that don't share our values when it comes to political and civil human rights. Don't think for a moment that the people of these countries have not noticed. The United States speaks constantly of freedom, but is the ally of authoritarians. The United States prizes and celebrates the first amendment to our Constitution, but is in league with nations that abuse and imprison journalists. The United States uses taxpayer money to train others in the rule of law, but also works hand in glove with security forces of other governments that not only sniff out and destroy terrorists, but often do likewise to their own civil leaders and political reformers.

Like it or not, we are entangled in the conflicts between Arab publics and their governments. It is not our role nor our duty to choose the form of government for any people but ourselves.

But that does not forbid or restrict our right, and I would say our obligation, to speak out for the values that we believe are universal, including speaking out to our friends who sometimes believe that their extensive cooperation entitles them not only to our understanding and support, but our silence. I don't agree, and I don't accept such a formulation. In the end, such an approach will produce neither stability for them nor security for ourselves.

As a nation that has strayed badly over the past several years from our own ideals, we have an obligation to be humble and circumspect in condemning others. Much of the credibility America used to enjoy when speaking out on human rights has been squandered by short-sighted and morally debilitated agents of fear. But we are still a nation of ideas and a people dedicated to certain universal values, that all people are created equal, that the rule of law and due process are not luxuries but fundamental human rights, and that the freedom of speech, conscience, association and the press are not gifts from governments or rulers, but the shared inheritance of all humanity.

Moreover, for purely selfish reasons, we have ample cause to be concerned. Many of the same Arab governments which we are turning to help stabilize the region, and in particular, to help resolve the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, are the very same governments that, with a wink and a nod, are helping stir the pot of bitterness and discontent among their own citizens.

For example, Arab governments that say small steps toward normalizing relations with Israel are too hard because of public opinion often use government-owned, government-sanctioned or government-controlled press and media to disseminate stories of imaginary Israeli massacres, Jewish blood-libels, alleged Israeli medical experiments on Palestinian children, and for bigots with a taste for history, cheap Arabic- language translations of the Protocols of the Elders of Zion and Mein Kempf.

Moreover, in many Arab countries while there is ruthless and effective censorship, especially concerning political expression, somehow publication of vicious anti-Semitism, Holocaust denial and even incitement to violence against Jews is allowed.

These things are bad enough, but in a place where the press is not free and where there are rules for what you can and cannot say, the fact that these forms of hatred-speech are not prohibited indicates an obvious and dangerous form of state endorsement. In the end, the outcome is a public that is not only less open to peace, but is less ready to engage with the modern world.

The Israeli-Palestinian conflict has been a violent one, and the news about it inevitably reflects that fact. Likewise, revolving the core issues of that conflict does not depend on a free and honest press in the Arab world. And no state and no government is or should be above correction, criticism and complaint, not the United States, not Israel, not anyone. And to state the blindly obvious, criticism of Israeli policy is not, by definition, anti-Semitic.

But there is also no question that the cumulative weight of unreasoned and incendiary hatred toward Israel or the Jewish people which has not only been allowed but in some cases inserted into the press and media by Arab governments or their proxies has made the Middle East more violent and more dangerous.

The resolution before us will not solve these problems. But it will send a message. We are not a nation capable of indifference to either hate or oppression. We have interests in the Middle East beyond oil, and expanding the scope of human freedom is one of them. We may have strayed from our ideals, but we are trying to come home.

Madam Speaker, I want to thank Chairman Berman and Ranking Member Ros-Lehtinen for their support in bringing this resolution before the House, and I urge all of our Members to support the motion and the underlying resolution.

I would reserve the balance of my time.

Mr. Speaker, I yield 3 minutes to the distinguished gentlewoman from Nevada (Ms. Berkley), a leading spokesman on human rights and fairness.

We yield back the balance of our time.

Mr. Speaker, I move to suspend the rules and pass the Senate bill (S. 254) to award posthumously a Congressional gold medal to Constantino Brumidi.

Mr. Speaker, I ask unanimous consent that all Members have 5 legislative days within which to revise and extend their remarks on this legislation and to insert extraneous material thereon.

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

Mr. Speaker, I rise in strong support of S. 254 which would posthumously award the Congressional Gold Medal to Constantino Brumidi and would authorize the striking of duplicate medals for sale to the public.

Mr. Speaker, for those of us who work here in the Capitol, we are very fortunate to be surrounded by Constantino Brumidi's genius every day. Brumidi's awesome, inspiring murals and frescos are remarkable as they are ubiquitous. Constantino Brumidi's works can be found in three Senate Appropriations Committee rooms, the House Appropriations Committee room, the Senate Democratic Policy Committee room, the Brumidi corridors, the Senate reception area, the Office of the Vice President and, of course, the Rotunda. Like his masterful works throughout the Capitol, Constantino Brumidi's story is uniquely American.

Brumidi was born in Rome in 1805 to an Italian mother and a Greek father. His artistic ability was cultivated at an early age. In his early years, he was commissioned to paint frescos and murals in various Roman palaces. And then in 1849, as did so many of our ancestors, Brumidi, who was already an established artist in Italy and who spent 3 years working for Pope Gregory XVI in the Vatican, migrated to the United States and began a new life in New York City. There he proudly became a naturalized American citizen in 1852.

It was on a return trip from Mexico that Constantino Brumidi first saw the U.S. Capitol. It was a fortuitous twist of fate: at a time when Congress and President Franklin Pierce were preparing to expand the Capitol, a word-class Italian American artist, who just happened to be passing through Washington, inspired by both the freedoms and liberties represented by the seat of Congress and the vast open spaces in the Capitol that seemed to invite frescos and murals, offered his services to Quartermaster General Montgomery C. Meigs. Wisely, Meigs commissioned Brumidi to become the artist of the Capitol.

Brumidi's first work was in the Agricultural Committee room. This masterpiece received such favorable attention that he was given a raise and tasked with painting other larger works culminating with the works in the Capitol Rotunda.

There is no work in the Capitol more impressive or more renowned than ``The Apotheosis of Washington.'' Brumidi completed the fresco in 11 months at the end of the Civil War, soon after the new dome was completed. This absolutely stunning work soars 180 feet above the Rotunda floor. To compensate for the distance from the floor to the ceiling, Brumidi, who spent years mastering depth and scale, painted 15-foot tall figures so that the work could be appreciated from the Rotunda floor.

Another Brumidi masterpiece, ``The Frieze of American History,'' appears just underneath the dome and spans the entire 360 degrees of the Capitol Rotunda. The frieze, which initially looks to be carved or sculpted, as all who view it believe it to be three dimensional, was, in actuality, meticulously painted with the use of scaffolding. While Brumidi first sketched a design of the frieze in 1859, Congress did not authorize work to begin on this piece until 18 years later, in 1877.

The work masterfully displays America's history, beginning with the landing of Christopher Columbus and continuing to the discovery of gold in California. While many visitors to the Capitol have seen Brumidi's genius in the frieze over the years, they may not realize that he nearly lost his life while painting it. While working on a figure of William Penn, 76-year-old Brumidi fell from the scaffolding, but saved himself by clinging to the rung of a ladder for 15 long minutes before he was rescued. While he subsequently ascended the scaffolding once more to continue his work, he died a few months later in 1880. It took two additional artists and 73 years to finish the masterpiece that Constantino Brumidi first began.

Mr. Speaker, Constantino Brumidi's service to the Capitol, and our country, span the administration of six, six Presidents: Franklin Pierce, James Buchanan, Abraham Lincoln, Andrew Johnson, Ulysses S. Grant, Rutherford B. Hayes. On and on, Brumidi worked. All of us here in the Capitol that have the privilege of working in this living museum, as well as the millions of visitors that tour our building each year, who admire and relish Brumidi's works, but precious few know the story of the artist of the Capitol.

In addition to awarding Constantino Brumidi with the Congressional Gold Medal, S. 254 directs the Architect of the Capitol to display the gold medal as an exhibition in the new visitor's center dedicated to Brumidi's life and work. I believe such an exhibit is long past due and would be to the benefit of future generations of Americans who come to see the Capitol and admire the brilliant works of Constantino Brumidi, reminding us yet again that we are a Nation built by immigrants.

Mr. Speaker, Constantino Brumidi was a great son of Italy and a great American. His achievements are a

great source of pride for Italian Americans, and S. 254 would bestow Brumidi, and the Italian American community, with the recognition the artist's great contributions so rightly deserve.

Special thanks are due to Representative Bill Pascrell from New Jersey, the main sponsor of this bill that we have before us in the House today.

And I'd like to acknowledge the hard work and dedication of somebody who visits us here in the gallery today, Mr. Speaker, Joseph Grano, who's the president of the Constantino Brumidi Society, for his long and tireless efforts on this behalf.

Mr. Speaker, this is a great day for those who love fine art, creativity, American history, and who appreciate the contributions of Italian American immigrants and all immigrants for the culture and history of our country.

I reserve the balance of my time.

Mr. Speaker, I yield 6 minutes to the sponsor of the bill, Bill Pascrell of New Jersey.

Mr. Speaker, at this time, I yield 3 minutes to the gentlewoman from New York (Mrs. Maloney).

Mr. Speaker, I yield back the balance of my time.

Mr. Speaker, I move to suspend the rules and agree to the resolution (H. Res. 1194) reaffirming the support of the House of Representatives for the legitimate, democratically-elected Government of Lebanon under Prime Minister Fouad Siniora.

Mr. Speaker, I ask unanimous consent that all Members may have 5 legislative days to revise and extend their remarks and include extraneous material on the resolution under consideration.

Mr. Speaker, I rise in strong support of the resolution and yield myself such time as I may consume.

Mr. Speaker, first, I would like to thank Chairman Berman for his leadership in getting this vitally important resolution to the floor so quickly. It's extremely important that the House be on record telling the brave men and women who fought and died defending Lebanon's independence and sovereignty that America has not forgotten you and will not abandon you.

While many in the Middle East, particularly in Lebanon, are trying to make sense of what has happened, I believe that it is critical that they know that the United States and the U.S. Congress still strongly support the democratically elected and legitimate Government of Lebanon, that we will stand behind its efforts to fully restore Lebanon's sovereignty and independence, and that the future of Lebanon is not with Iranian and Syrian sponsored thugs and bullies, but with the decent people of Lebanon of every sect and confession who only want the normal and peaceful life for themselves, for their children, and for their country.

Mr. Speaker, just as Hezbollah sucked Lebanon into its conflict with Israel in 2006 by hiding behind its women and children, they have now forced the Lebanese people to endure their war against the Lebanese state. The insurrection by Hezbollah was unjustified, illegitimate, and immoral. No conceivable Lebanese interest was served by it. Only the goals of Iran and Syria were advanced by Hezbollah and its allies' assault on the sovereignty of the Lebanese Government.

The pretense that Hezbollah is an authentic Lebanese political actor has fallen away, and in the arrogance of power they have declared their true allegiance. It is not to Lebanon, and it is not even to the Lebanese Shia. Their loyalty is to Iran and Syria, and to the needs and interests of Tehran and Damascus. In their Lebanese puppet state, Ayatollah Khamenei will be the true president and Bashar al-Assad the real prime minister.

We have seen this kind of fraud before in the 20th century. The culmination was called the Warsaw Pact. But what was true in Europe in the Cold War remains true today in the Middle East--a captive nation is no true ally of its captor, and no amount of power can make a lie become the truth. And no amount of thuggery, torture, intimidation and murder can make Hezbollah anything other than the terrorist arm of foreign powers and an enemy of Lebanese independence and sovereignty.

The United States and every other decent nation must continue to support the Government of Lebanon. The Lebanese Government was democratically elected, it is legitimate, and it deserves our aid. Justice must ultimately be done for those recently and unjustly killed, as well as all those Lebanese murdered for their support of Lebanese sovereignty going back to the assassination of former Prime Minister Rafic Hariri. I have said many times before, and I will keep repeating it, there must be no deal or arrangement that undercuts the Special Tribunal for Lebanon.

Mr. Speaker, you either believe that Lebanon is a sovereign and independent state that is to be governed by and for the Lebanese people alone, or you don't. The overwhelming majority of Lebanese, whether they're Sunni, Shia, Maronite, Orthodox, Druse, or any other group, believe in this principle. The entire international community, with the reprehensible exceptions of Syria and Iran, believes in this principle. The United States certainly believes in it. Only Hezbollah, Amal, and the delusional Aounists do not. And that is why Lebanon has suffered and remains in pain today.

I'm very proud of the resolution before us today. I strongly urge its adoption by the House.

Mr. Speaker, I reserve the balance of my time.

Mr. Speaker, I yield 4 minutes to the gentleman from Ohio, the chairman of the Oversight and Government Reform Subcommittee on Domestic Policy, Dennis Kucinich.

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

First let me express my appreciation for the gentleman from Ohio and for his good intentions and for his support of dialogue. Certainly nobody is against dialogue.

But we have a situation here where a democratic, freedom-loving, sovereign people are insisting on the results of their own self- determined election that they came to through democratic processes and are doing that in the face of outside interference in the form of armed opposition, murders, assassinations that are being sponsored by Hezbollah, financed by the Iranian and Syrian regimes. And the gentleman instead calls for dialogue. We call for nothing other than dialogue.

This is a nonbinding sense of the Congress resolution. And while other countries are running interference and murdering the people of Lebanon and preventing their democratic government from governing, we are sending them a message of hope, a message of support. And the gentleman's protestations say that we shouldn't interfere, let them have a dialogue.

What we are looking at, Mr. Speaker, is the equivalent of a rape, and I have just heard the argument that what we should do is not interfere and take sides between the victim and the raper and to say let them have a dialogue and work it out, while each and every day the rape continues. As a civilized, democratic society, we cannot sit idly by without saying a word.

I do appreciate the argument of those who are against violence, who are against arms, and who are against war. I stand with them on that. But we have no alternative than to act and at least send a message of support. There is no interference other than our best wishes while others are sending arms. There is nothing in the 17 whereases in this resolution that suggests that we're in favor of violence. And if the gentleman and those who argue his argument are truly opposed to raising an army, let them at least raise their voice. Let them speak out with us on this resolution. Let us reaffirm our dedication to the principles of democracy and self-determination of a people who have already made their choice in their election, and to stand by them, not by providing arms or violence, but by sending them the wishes of this Congress, of the American people, expressing our support for their determination to continue in their quest to effectuate the democracy to which they are entitled.

I yield to my friend.

Reclaiming my time, the Security Council of the United Nations has asked for the disarmament of Hezbollah. This is not our request. This is the United Nations. This is the international community. This is the entire peaceful world that has asked for that.

As far as the administration, I don't speak for the administration, heaven forbid. This is our Congress, and together Democrats and Republicans have joined in with words. Words are powerful. Words are important weapons. And if you want to avoid the weapons that go bang in the night, then words of support are important, important to a people who are under siege, whose democracy is being eroded by rogue states and terrorist organizations using violence and assassination, trying to blow up members of their elected parliament so that they no longer have a majority to continue their democratic work.

I yield.

Let me say I'm not opposed to that happening. Let them disarm themselves. But let us in the meantime do what we can to be the voice of democracy and freedom.

The world looks at us as a beacon. We have spent so much of the goodwill that we have built up over 230 years of this democracy. At least let us speak out for freedom, speak out for freedom in the case of a people who are under siege, who are in the throes of having their duly elected government taken away from them by terrorist organizations and rogue regimes.

We know what Hezbollah is. The world knows what it is. We cannot stand idly by and not utter a word of support. This is our word of support. This is the resolution of this Congress. Would that it be more. Would that it be more forceful. Would that it be more effective. But at least we can continue to give those people who insist on living lives of freedom a rekindling of the belief that we too believe in what they believe in and that we support them in their struggle.

If the gentleman is prepared to yield back his time, I will do so.

You're quite welcome.

Mr. Speaker, I yield back the balance of my time.

Madam Speaker, I rise today to pay tribute to a great artist whose love of liberty inspired him to adorn the United States Capitol with beautiful frescoes. That man, of course, is Constantino Brumidi.

Brumidi's work adorns one House committee room and five Senate committee rooms in the Capitol. His work also decorates the Senate Reception room, the Office of the Vice President and most notably, the President's room which for many represents Brumidi's supreme effort.

Constantino Brumidi emigrated to the United States in 1849 and took up residence in New York City where he plied his trade as a portrait painter. That was soon followed by more important commissions in St. Stephen's Church. Those works include a fresco of the Crucifixion as well as works depicting the Martyrdom of St. Stephen and the Assumption of St. Mary. But it was on a return trip from Mexico that Brumidi stopped in Washington, DC and toured the Capitol building. He found in it a canvass that inspired him for the remainder of his life. Brumidi suggested to Quartermaster General Montgomery C. Meigs that the walls of the Capitol be decorated and Meigs agreed giving Brumidi the commission as well as making him a captain in the cavalry.

Brumidi's first work was in the meeting room of the House Agriculture Committee. He received $8 a day, but was soon given a raise to $10 a day by then Secretary of War Jefferson Davis since his work was receiving such favorable mention. Along with the raise came further commissions in the Capitol which include the Apotheosis of George Washington in the dome as well as other allegories and scenes from American history.

Brumidi died in 1880 but we have the benefit of seeing his work everyday we are here. And Americans who travel to our Nation's Capitol can also enjoy Brumidi's work, yet few know him or his story. That's why I believe all members should support two important bills pending before the House that will honor Constantino Brumidi and his work here in the Capitol. The first is H.R. 1609 introduced by Representative Bill Pascrell. H.R. 1609 would posthumously award a Congressional Gold Medal to Constantino Brumidi and authorize the striking of duplicate medals for sale to the public. The second is H.R. 1313, introduced by Representative Gus Bilirakis to direct the Joint Committee on the Library to obtain a statue of Constantino Brumidi for display in the Capitol Visitors Center. Both of these bills will honor the memory of a great artist and so I ask all my colleagues to join me in supporting them both.

Madam Speaker, I rise today to seek Congressional recognition of the lifetime of achievements of Jacob Stein. During his distinguished career, Jacob, or Jack as his friends refer to him, has made a lasting impact on his community and our Nation. As a public, religious, civic and moral leader, his lifetime of achievement deserves both recognition and our appreciation.

In 1938, Jack Stein graduated from Columbia University and embarked on a successful career as a licensed real estate broker, a member of the Long Island Board of Realtors, and an active developer of residential and commercial properties. He also served on the board of directors of KeyCorp Bank for 25 years. However, the true hallmark of his life's work is his unswerving devotion to service, to his family, his community and to his country.

Jack has been an indispensable leader in local, national and international Jewish circles. A Holocaust survivor himself, Jack helped found the Holocaust Memorial and Tolerance Center of Nassau County. He is a director of the International Synagogue at John F. Kennedy International Airport, and is a member of the board of directors of the Dead Sea Scrolls Foundation. He also served as the president of Temple Israel of Great Neck from 1957-1960, president of the United Synagogue of Conservative Judaism from 1969-1973, chairman of the Conference of Presidents of Major American Jewish Organizations from 1971-1973, and helped author ``Emet V'Emunah,'' the Jewish Theological Seminary's statement of principles of Conservative Judaism in 1988.

Jack has also made his presence felt in other religious communities. He presently sits on the board of the International Jewish Committee on Interreligious Consultations. In the 1980s, Jack worked closely with Rabbi Mordecai Waxman during his meetings with Pope John Paul II in Miami discussing Jewish Catholic relations. Jack was also involved in the communications with the Second Vatican Council that produced the 1965 ``Nostra Aetate,'' the Declaration on the Relation of the Church with Non-Christian Religions. At the

age of 92, Jack remains active in the promotion of mutual understanding and appreciation between the Christian and Jewish communities and recognition of their shared roots.

Additionally, Jack made exceptional contributions to public service. He served as a Special Advisor in the White House under President Ronald Reagan, a member of the U.S. Delegation to the United Nations, and a delegate to the Human Rights Commission. Secretary of Defense Caspar Weinberger appointed him to the Defense Department's Policy Advisory Committee on Trade, on which he served for 7 years. Mr. Stein also was a member of the Presidential Task Force on International Private Enterprise in 1984, and he was appointed to a committee that oversaw the first elections in Namibia. As a long time friend, he remains in regular communications with President George H. W. Bush.

Remarkably, among all this activity, Jacob found time to dedicate to the academic world as well. He served as a member of the Stony Brook University Foundation, has given numerous lectures across the country and has authored many articles on religion and politics.

Perhaps most of all, Jack has always been a family man. He and his late wife Jean were married for 65 years and throughout all his public endeavors, they remained inseparable. Jack has had the pleasure of watching their three children grow and find success of their own, and has been blessed with six grandchildren and eight great grandchildren.

In 2007, he published a recording of his memoirs ``Days of Challenge: The Making of a Modern American Jewish Leader,'' detailing his interesting and exciting lifetime of service. Currently, Jack writes a column for several weekly newspapers, sits on the board of the American Jewish Historical Society, and is a member of the board of the Town of North Hempstead Business and Tourism Development Corporation.

Madam Speaker, Jacob Stein's immeasurable contributions to public and community service have truly helped make this world a better one in which to live. I ask that all of my colleagues now rise and join me to express the thanks of a grateful Nation to Jack Stein for his many years of dedicated service and for his countless achievements.

Mr. Speaker, from time to time, I've heard some of our colleagues wondering why there are so many resolutions about Israel, and the Palestinian-Israeli conflict. Why, they may wonder, do we have to take up these issues? Doesn't everyone already know that the Congress supports Israel? And it's true, American support for Israel is overwhelming, it is bi-partisan, and it is nearly universal in Congress. But sadly, we are the exception in the world.

Around the globe, there have been protests going on about the situation in Gaza. What may not be known is that these demonstrations are not about the rockets that have been falling on Israeli civilians. These protests are not against Hamas. These protests are not about the absurdity of expecting Israel to provide electricity and fuel to the people attacking them.

These protests are against Israel and its right of self-defense. They are against demanding that Hamas stop the terror. They are against putting responsibility on the shoulders of Hamas for the welfare of the people in Gaza.

To us, in the United States, such protests seem perverse. People who intentionally fire artillery rockets at civilians are properly called ``war criminals.'' People who deliberately seek the death of the innocent are not called ``militants,'' or ``activists,'' or ``guerillas.'' They are properly called ``terrorists,'' and it is hard for us to imagine that these are not universal beliefs.

But they're not. What we have seen in the past, and are seeing again is an offensive and deplorable double standard: Every nation is obliged to protect its citizens--except the Israelis; they should be patient and exercise restraint. Every nation is entitled to fight terrorism-- except the Israelis; they should have a dialogue with the people who call for their extermination. Every nation is entitled to use force defend itself--except the Israelis; they should only use force if there won't be civilian casualties.

Mr. Speaker, we all mourn the loss of innocent life, and the sympathy of decent people is not limited by nationality. The American people are concerned about both Israeli and Palestinian lives. But that concern is not a excuse to dispense with judgement. There is guilt and there is innocence; and there is aggression and there is self-defense. Refusal to acknowledge, or to insist on these distinctions is not only immoral, but dangerous.

And that is why the business in Gaza is the business of this House. America, as a leader among the community of nations, has an obligation to stand up in defense of certain values. And it is never so essential to do so than when those values are under attack, and that is what is happening right now.

That is why we have to condemn Hamas. That is why we have to condemn the rockets that are still falling on Israeli towns and cities. That is why we have to stand with a democratic ally. That is why we have to declare again and again from this house that the people of Israel--no less than any other people--are entitled to live in peace and security. Certainly we Americans would accept nothing less for ourselves.

Madam Speaker, I rise today in a mixture of sadness and outrage to commemorate the third anniversary of Rafiq Hariri's assassination. Sadness because the former Prime Minister, a man of vision and courage, was cut down in his prime as he stood up for the idea of a Lebanon as a nation free from external control, a sovereign, united and independent Lebanon that would regain its rightful place among the nations of the Middle East.

Three years ago a massive car bomb deprived the Hariri family of a husband and father and deprived the Lebanese people of a leader. It would prove to be the first in a dozen political assassinations that have plagued that nation for the last three years orchestrated by the enemies of a free and democratic Lebanon.

And it is this fact, Madam Speaker that fills me with outrage and should fill all our colleagues with outrage as well. Lebanon's future continues to be strangled by Iran and Syria whose agents Hezbollah, Amal and Michel Aoun, try to take through violence and intimidation what they cannot achieve at the ballot box. The slow strangulation of the state has left Lebanon without a President for almost 3 months, paralyzing the nation and raising the specter of renewed civil war.

On the third anniversary of former Prime Minister Hariri's murder, the international community must renew its commitment to the people of Lebanon and again speak out against the campaign of naked aggression that has left the March 14 movement only two parliamentarians away from losing their hard won majority. We must renew our demand that Damascus and Tehran lift their boots off Lebanon's neck. And we must ensure that justice is done in the case of Rafiq Hariri and all the other victims of the 3 year campaign to deny Lebanon its rightful place among free and independent nations. Toward that end, the United States and the rest of the international community must make it crystal clear to Syria that the Special Tribunal established by the United Nations Security Council to investigate the terrorist attack on February 14, 2005, is not a bargaining chip to be traded away. The interests of justice in this case far outweigh any concession that the government of Syria might hope to offer. The guilty must be held accountable for their crimes.

The international community has spoken frequently and eloquently through United Nations Security Council resolutions in support of the sovereignty, territorial integrity, unity and political independence of Lebanon under the sole and exclusive authority of the Government of Lebanon, and has demanded the disarmament of all armed groups in Lebanon. These goals and this unity of purpose must not be abandoned or allowed to wither either from self-interest or distraction. The enemies of Lebanon believe they have time on their side--that they merely need to wait us out and Lebanon will once again be theirs to control.

The conflict in Lebanon is not a sideshow in the Middle East, it is the main event. Lebanon

is where Tehran intends to fulfill its aspirations to regional hegemony and Shiite dominance. There is too much at stake for Lebanon and for the entire region for the world to leave the Lebanese to the mercies of the radical mullahs in Tehran, the thugs in Damascus and their terrorist allies, Hezbollah.

I urge all my colleagues to not only remember Rafiq Hariri and his sacrifice but to speak out in support of the legitimate democratic aspirations of the people of Lebanon. They want only what we enjoy every day--a free, sovereign and democratic state, the servant only of its own people and the master of its own destiny. It's worth fighting for.