Floor Statements

Mr. Speaker, I ask unanimous consent to take from the Speaker's table the Senate bill (S. 2896) to modify and extend certain privatization requirements of the Communications Satellite Act of 1962, and ask for its immediate consideration in the House.

Mr. Speaker, I rise today in support of S. 2896 and urge swift passage of this noncontroversial legislation. Earlier this week, the Senate passed S. 2896, to extend the deadline by which INTELSAT and Inmarsat are required to conduct an initial public offering (IPO) under the ORBIT Act and to further broaden the options available to these companies to divest their government shareholders. I commend my colleagues in the Senate for expeditiously addressing this important issue.

The ORBIT Act was enacted in March 2000 to promote a competitive market for satellite communications through the privatization of inter- governmental organizations. To achieve that competitive satellite marketplace, the ORBIT Act called on Inmarsat and INTELSAT to conduct an initial public offering (IPO) by a date certain--December 31, 2001. The purpose of this IPO requirement was to ensure independence by substantially diluting the ownership of these privatized companies by their former owners, many of which were foreign governmental entities. Such dilution would facilitate a more competitive satellite marketplace devoid of the perverse influences associated with government ownership and control.

However, due to volatility in the financial markets, and the telecommunications sector specifically, Congress has repeatedly been forced to grant additional time for these companies to conduct their statutorily mandated IPOs. Unfortunately, the market conditions

have not improved. Today, these companies, instead of going to the public equity markets, have opted to use private equity deals to divest themselves of government ownership.

I fully supported the goal of independence and competition when we enacted the ORBIT Act, and I still do today. Indeed, the action we take today is fully consistent with this policy objective.

This bill, while it does not eliminate the IPO requirement, allows other methods, which are currently being used in the marketplace to show ``substantial dilution.'' This bill makes the ORBIT Act consistent with what is happening today in the real world.

There are certainly other issues in the ORBIT Act that deserve to be explored and I intend to ask Telecommunications and Internet Subcommittee Chairman Upton to hold a hearing on the Act early next year to examine what further needs to be accomplished. But today, I fully support S. 2896 and I urge my colleagues to support it as well.

Mr. Speaker, I ask unanimous consent that all Members may have 5 legislative days within which to revise and extend their remarks and include extraneous material on S. 2896.

Mr. Speaker, do we have the time allocated equally on both sides, or do I need to yield time to the minority?

So the gentleman from Texas (Mr. Gonzalez) have 10 minutes?

Mr. Speaker, I was under the impression that perhaps I needed to yield time to the gentleman from Texas (Mr. Gonzalez), but apparently not, so I yield myself such time as I may consume.

(Mr. BARTON of Texas asked and was given permission to revise and extend his remarks.)

Mr. Speaker, I will focus on what the gentleman from California (Mr. Berman) asked me to focus on, which is title II of H.R. 4518 which addresses a communications provision that originated in

Madam Speaker, I move to suspend the rules and agree to the concurrent resolution (H. Con. Res. 480) recognizing the spirit of Jacob Mock Doub and his contribution to encouraging youth to be physically active and fit and expressing the sense of Congress that ``National Take a Kid Mountain Biking Day'' should be established in Jacob Mock Doub's honor.

Madam Speaker, I ask unanimous consent that all Members may have 5 legislative days within which to revise and extend their remarks and include extraneous material on H. Con. Res. 480.

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

Madam Speaker, I rise to support H. Con. Res. 480, authored by my good friend, the gentleman from North Carolina (Mr. Burr), to recognize the spirit of Jacob Mock Doub and his contribution to encouraging youth to be physically active and fit.

Jacob Doub, a resident of North Carolina, died unexpectedly from complications related to a bicycling injury 2 years ago. His spirit, however, lives on as his family and friends have recently joined with the International Mountain Bicycling Association to establish the Jack Doub Memorial Fund to promote and encourage children of all ages to learn to ride a bike and to lead a physically active lifestyle.

I understand that Jack's vivacious attitude toward mountain biking was irrepressible. His energy and drive to be a great mountain biker is an inspiration to all of us. With obesity rates on the rise, we all need to take personal responsibility and do more to increase physical activity to improve our health.

Madam Speaker, I would urge my colleagues to adopt this resolution.

Madam Speaker, I reserve the balance of my time.

Madam Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may consume to urge all my colleagues to support this. This is a good piece of legislation. It recognizes an individual in the district of the gentleman from North Carolina (Mr. Burr), who died in a bicycling accident. It also recognizes a very helpful activity.

I have a mountain bike, although in Texas you would have to call it more of a prairie bike or a hill bike; but this is a good thing, and I hope we can pass it unanimously.

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

Mr. Speaker, I move to suspend the rules and pass the bill (H.R. 918) to authorize the Health Resources and Services Administration, the National Cancer Institute, and the Indian Health Service to make grants for model programs to provide to individuals of health disparity populations prevention, early detection, treatment, and appropriate follow-up care services for cancer and chronic diseases, and to make grants regarding patient navigators to assist individuals of health disparity populations in receiving such services, as amended.

Madam Speaker, I ask unanimous consent that all Members may have 5 legislative days within which to revise and extend their remarks and include extraneous material on H.R. 918, the bill now under consideration.

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

Madam Speaker, we have a number of bills before the House today, dealing with health-related issues that have come out of the committee that I have the privilege to chair, the Committee on Energy and Commerce. This bill is one of the more important of those bills as it attempts to give our citizens the ability to navigate the health care system to get the very best possible care in the most time-efficient manner.

I would like to take a step back and reflect on where we have been in this Congress and in previous Congresses. As the second session of this Congress draws to a close, I think it is entirely fitting that the House should devote much of its time today on these health care issues. It is not a stretch, in my opinion, to call this House, the 108th Congress, the Health Care Congress. I am proud of the many accomplishments that the Committee on Energy and Commerce has been responsible for in this area over the last 2 years.

I think the achievement that we will reflect back on and be most proud of, of course, is the Medicare Modernization Act, which President Bush has already signed into law and which is helping millions of our senior citizens as we speak. After years of debate and inaction, this Congress finally has delivered in that bill a prescription drug benefit to our Nation's seniors.

Of course, not all of the Medicare Modernization Act's provisions are fully up and running yet. They will be phased in over the next several years. And when they are totally phased in, I think we will all look back and reflect that this was a very good thing that we have done in this Congress.

We should be proud of our achievement. I salute the members of the Committee on Energy and Commerce who have worked so long and hard to make that happen.

Prescription drugs are not the only area where this Congress has worked to advance the health agenda of the American people. Working with President Bush, we have also written laws that upgrade our medical device program. We have instituted a new animal drug approval system. We have provided for competition in the contact

lens marketplace. We have updated our poison control center programs.

I might add that all of those achievements occurred under Congressman Billy Tauzin of Louisiana, who, as we speak, is undergoing radiation treatment down in Texas for a cancer that he has discovered in his body that, hopefully, is being removed.

We have also improved our Nation's organ donor system and, most recently, created a new program to help prevent and educate against youth suicide. By any measure, these accomplishments would rival that of any Congress in the past.

Today, we are continuing the good work we have already established in the 108th Congress. We have five substantive bills that we are going to debate and vote on, hopefully in a positive way, in the next several hours, all of which in some way improve the health care system for millions and millions of Americans.

The one we are debating at this moment is the Patient Navigator Outreach and Chronic Disease Prevention Act. The Committee on Energy and Commerce favorably reported this legislation last week, and it is now on the floor.

Improving health care outcomes for all Americans requires substantial improvements in health disparity populations, populations not defined solely by race and ethnicity, that have a significant disparity in the overall rate of disease incidence, prevalence, morbidity, mortality, or survival rates as compared to the health status of the general population. Patient navigator programs as provided in this bill provide outreach to communities to encourage more individuals to seek preventive care and coordinate that care so that they are less at risk to have or to maintain a chronic disease.

For example, the Ralph Lauren Center for Cancer Care and Prevention, a partnership between Memorial Sloan-Kettering and North General Hospital in Harlem, New York, operates a patient navigator program to help patients and family members deal with the complexities of the health care system in that area. By coordinating health care services through a patient navigator, programs strive to shorten the period of time when the patient is screened for cancer or other chronic diseases and further diagnosis and treatment, so they can be treated as soon as possible.

H.R. 918, as amended by the Committee on Energy and Commerce, authorizes a 5-year demonstration program to evaluate the use of patient navigators. Specifically, the legislation requires patient navigators to coordinate health care services and provider referrals, facilitating the involvement of community organizations to provide assistance to patients, facilitate enrollment in clinical trials, anticipate barriers within the health care system itself, to help ensure prompt diagnostic care and treatment, to coordinate with the health insurance ombudsman program, and conduct ongoing outreach to health disparity populations for preventive care.

Grant recipients must establish base-line measures and benchmarks to evaluate the program outcome, which all culminate in a final report prepared by the Secretary no later than 6 months after the completion of the demonstration grant program. The bill authorizes a total of $25 million over a 5-year period to conduct these demonstration programs.

I would like to thank the distinguished gentlewoman from the 15th Congressional District of Ohio (Ms. Pryce), for her outstanding leadership and undying commitment to this particular bill. I would also like to thank the chairman of the subcommittee, the gentleman from Florida (Mr. Bilirakis), for his work; the ranking member, the gentleman from Michigan (Mr. Dingell); the subcommittee's ranking member, the gentleman from Ohio (Mr. Brown); and the bill's sponsor, the gentleman from New York (Mr. Menendez), for their assistance in streamlining this legislation.

Again, Madam Speaker, I want to congratulate my colleagues on a very successful Health Care Congress, and especially on this particular bill. If we can get the bills that we are considering today to the President's desk, the 108th Congress should go down as one of the best ever for health care initiatives.

Madam Speaker, I reserve the balance of my time.

Madam Speaker, I yield 5 minutes to the gentlewoman from the 15th District of Ohio (Ms. Pryce), our distinguished Republican Conference chairwoman.

Mr. Speaker, I yield 3 minutes to the gentlewoman from Florida (Ms. Ros-Lehtinen).

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

Mr. Speaker, I move to suspend the rules and pass the bill (H.R. 3015) to amend the Public Health Service Act to establish an electronic system for practitioner monitoring of the dispensing of any schedule II, III, or IV controlled substance, and for other purposes, as amended.

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

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

Mr. Speaker, I rise in very strong support of H.R. 3015. All of us have deep concerns about the abuse of prescription drugs. Whether after surgery or in the treatment of chronic pain, ensuring that patients receive proper pain management is a critical component in the provision of health care. However, these medications can and sometimes are abused. The Committee on Energy and Commerce has heard about the problems prescription drug abuse has created in our communities throughout America. In some areas, the nonmedical use of prescription drugs presents a bigger problem than even cocaine and heroin. This is a serious issue that cannot be addressed through traditional drug control programs. We need to find a balanced approach that does not interfere with the doctor-patient relationship but also ensures that these potentially addictive drugs are not abused. Prescription drug monitoring programs can be a part of the solution to this public health challenge.

These programs help physicians better serve their patients because they can review the patient's prescription drug history. Drug interactions can often lead to adverse events for patients so that these monitoring programs serve as an additional safety check.

Only 21 States have implemented drug monitoring programs. While this is a good start, problems arise because illicit drug use shifts to contiguous States without monitoring programs. H.R. 3015 will strengthen prescription drug monitoring programs to eliminate gaps in systems between States and ensure that programs are interoperable so information is readily available across State lines.

I would like to thank the distinguished gentleman from Kentucky (Mr. Whitfield), the distinguished gentleman from New Jersey (Mr. Pallone), the distinguished gentleman from Georgia (Mr. Norwood) and the distinguished gentleman from Ohio (Mr. Strickland), all members of the Committee on Energy and Commerce, for their hard work on this legislation.

At the appropriate time after the debate, I would urge that all of my colleagues support it.

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

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

I am going to yield to the gentleman from Kentucky (Mr. Whitfield), but before I do that I would like to announce to the House that one of the other cosponsors of this important legislation, the gentleman from Georgia (Mr. Norwood), as we speak, is awaiting a lung transplant, which may very well occur this afternoon and this legislation would have not gotten to the floor of the House without his strong commitment to it. So I would encourage all my colleagues to pray for the gentleman from Georgia (Mr. Norwood) that his surgery goes well and that he is back amongst us as soon as possible.

Mr. Speaker, I yield 4 minutes to the distinguished gentleman from Kentucky (Mr. Whitfield).

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

Mr. Speaker, I move to suspend the rules and pass the bill (H.R. 3858) to amend the Public Health Service Act to increase the supply of pancreatic islet cells for research, and to provide for better coordination of Federal efforts and information on islet cell transplantation.

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

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

Mr. Speaker, I rise in strongest possible support of H.R. 3858, the Pancreatic Islet Cell Transplantation Act of 2004, introduced by the gentleman from Washington (Mr. Nethercutt).

The Pancreatic Islet Cell Transplantation Act is short and simple. It requires the pancreata donated for the purposes of islet cell transplantation or research be counted for purposes of certification or recertification of organ procurement organizations. Islet cell transplantation is a procedure where islet cells are removed from a donor pancreas and transferred into another person. Once implanted, the beta cells in these islets begin to make and release insulin. H.R. 3858 will help to increase the number of pancreatic and other organ donations, expanding the capabilities of pancreatic islet cell research.

My family is very active in raising the awareness of diabetes. My father, Larry Barton, died of complications from diabetes, and my wife, Terry Barton, is executive director of the Tarrant County Chapter of the American Diabetes Association. So I know personally how excited people are about islet cell transplantation. It may help people with certain type 1 diabetes live without daily injections of insulin, which is very exciting. It is my hope that this legislation will help to speed this research forward.

Mr. Speaker, I cannot urge in any stronger possible terms that all Members support this legislation.

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

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

Mr. Speaker, let me in summary again commend the gentlewoman from Colorado (Ms. DeGette), the gentleman from Michigan (Mr. Dingell) and all the folks on the minority side that worked with us on this. I want to thank again the gentleman from Washington (Mr. Nethercutt) for his work.

This bill is going to pass on suspension, which shows how noncontroversial and bipartisan this particular issue is. But this is a bill that is worthy of considerable celebration because if you have a family member that has diabetes and you have to watch and sometimes help them get their insulin injections, the ability to get an islet cell transplant revolutionizes their life. It is just amazing.

Our problem is that there just are not enough organ donations to make it possible to do this for many people. Hopefully, this legislation will make it possible to get more donations and, over time, perhaps even do the research that can result in being able to replicate the islet cells so that every diabetic in the country that wants one of these transplants can get that.

So I cannot say in stronger terms how happy I am to bring this to the floor, and I would urge unanimous adoption of the bill.

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

Mr. Speaker, I move to suspend the rules and pass the bill (H.R. 2023) to give a preference regarding States that require schools to allow students to self-administer medication to treat that student's asthma or anaphylaxis, and for other purposes, as amended.

Mr. Speaker, I ask unanimous consent that all Members may have 5 legislative days within which to revise and extend their remarks and include extraneous material on H.R. 2023, as amended.

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

Mr. Speaker, I rise today in strong support of H.R. 2023, the Asthmatic Schoolchildren's Treatment and Health Management Act, sponsored by the Energy and Commerce subcommittee chairman, the gentleman from Florida (Mr. Stearns).

Over the past 15 years, the number of Americans diagnosed with asthma has nearly doubled to an estimated 17 million people, including 5 million children. The Federal Government has invested significant resources to strengthen and improve asthma research and prevention activities. The Department of Health and Human Services fiscal 2005 budget request includes approximately $321 million for direct asthma programs.

When asthma strikes, airways in the lungs become inflamed and constricted, causing coughing, wheezing and difficulty breathing. Each year, nearly half a million Americans are hospitalized and, unfortunately and sadly, more than 5,000 die from asthma. Several medications, when properly administered in a timely fashion, are now available to treat asthma and/or anaphylaxis.

Unfortunately, some schools do not permit students to self-administer medication for asthma even though the parent or guardian of the student has authorized the use of the medication and it is recommended by a health care provider, resulting in an unnecessary delay of potentially life-saving treatments.

H.R. 2023 directs the Secretary of Health and Human Services to give preference when making asthma-related grants to States that require schools to allow students to self-administer medications. H.R. 2023 does not federally mandate that States allow children to carry prescribed asthma medication in schools. The intent of the bill is to incentivize States to do the right thing by granting preference for asthma-related health program dollars to the States that have regulations that put the parents' and the children's safety first.

Mr. Speaker, I can say, as one of the founding members of Asthma Awareness Day here on Capitol Hill, I am very proud that now as chairman of the Committee on Energy and Commerce, with the strong support and leadership of the gentleman from Florida (Mr. Stearns), we can bring this bill forward. I would urge its adoption.

Mr. Speaker, I ask unanimous consent to yield the balance of my time to manage the bill to the subcommittee chairman, the gentleman from Florida (Mr. Stearns).

Mr. Speaker, I move to suspend the rules and pass the bill (H. R. 4555) to amend the Public Health Service Act to revise and extend provisions relating to mammography quality standards, as amended.

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

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

Mr. Speaker, I rise in strong support of H.R. 4555, the Mammography Quality Standards Act. I want to commend my good friend and ranking minority member, the gentleman from Michigan (Mr. Dingell) for bringing the bill forward.

It is particularly fitting that the House is considering this bill today, as the month of October is formally recognized as National Breast Cancer Awareness Month. It is estimated that this year over 200,000 women will be diagnosed with breast cancer. Like many other diseases, early detection of breast cancer is critical to saving lives. Right now, mammograms are the best screening tool available to women to help detect breast cancer at an early age.

In 1992, Congress enacted the Mammography Quality Standards Act to ensure that all women have access to quality mammography for the detection of breast cancer in its earliest, most treatable stages. The MQSA provides that screening and diagnostic services must be accredited and certified by the Food and Drug Administration. H.R. 4555 reauthorizes the Act through fiscal year 2007.

The bill includes a new provision to permit the Secretary of Health and Human Services to issue a temporary renewal certificate or a limited provisional certificate to any facility seeking reaccreditation under MQSA. The legislation also permits the Secretary to appoint individuals with expertise in

mammography equipment to the National Mammography Quality Assurance Advisory Committee and grants the advisory committee greater flexibility in how many times the committee must meet annually.

Mr. Speaker, this is a good piece of legislation and I would encourage my colleagues to support it.

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

Mr. Speaker, I move to suspend the rules and pass the bill (H.R. 2929) to protect users of the Internet from unknowing transmission of their personally identifiable information through spyware programs, and for other purposes, as amended.

Mr. Speaker, I ask unanimous consent that all Members may have 5 legislative days within which to revise and extend their remarks and include extraneous material on H.R. 2929.

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

Mr. Speaker, today the House is considering legislation to protect consumers against Internet spying.

Internet spying is all too common. Many consumers are totally unaware that even that their computers can be infected with programs that monitor their activity on the Internet and transfer private information to third parties. At the least, this private information is used to drive the annoying pop-up ads that we see when we turn on our computers. At its very worst, spyware is used by unscrupulous operators to steal financial information and even the individual who owns the computer's personal identity.

The term spyware is used to describe a number of nefarious activities on the Internet, all involve spying or stealing information about consumers without their permission. These activities include: Key stroke logging, in which all of the computer user's key strokes are recorded and sent to a third party; homepage highjacking, in which spyware takes control of the computer, highjacks the individual user's homepage to a commercial or in some case a pornographic site; phishing, in which spyware directs false messages to computer users purporting to be from reputable merchants to steal credit card or other financial information from the user for the use of the third party.

Spyware is downloaded on to a computer without the knowledge of the user. Computers can be infected just by visiting Web sites that cause spyware to be downloaded on to any computer visiting that site.

We tested some of the computers in the Committee on Energy and Commerce. We discovered that these computers had been infected with many pieces of spyware, I believe the number was over 60, and that some of it did direct information to third parties about the use of those computer. All of this was done without any notice to the owners of those computers. I would also point out that this was done by getting through at least two fire walls, the House of Representatives' fire wall and the Committee on Energy and Commerce's fire wall.

Technological development moves quickly, much faster than the regulatory or legislative process. It has taken the House 5 years to give regulators additional tools to combat spam, for instance. I am told that the Federal Trade Commission has not brought any cases against purveyors of spyware to date. Our reaction to spyware is the exception to this rule. In town meetings in my congressional district in Texas just this past August, my constituents unanimously expressed outrage at the brazenness of spyware and exhibited a strong desire for us to act as soon as possible against this insidious disease.

Every Member that I have spoken with on both political parties wants to take action to fight spyware. Some have heard from constituents. One of our subcommittee chairmen experienced the effects of spyware firsthand when his own homepage was highjacked. Today, on a bipartisan basis, it is my hope that we will pass this legislation to combat spyware.

The legislation before us would prohibit the sets of practices like highjacking a consumer's homepage. It

would prohibit keystroke logging. It would prohibit sending ads that cannot be closed except by shutting down the computer. It would also provide for a prominent opt-in for consumers prior to downloading any monitoring software under that consumer's computer.

I believe that consumers should be given notice and have the right to consent before monitoring software that collects information about them is added to their computers.

The legislation before us would also require that monitoring software be easily disabled at the direction of the consumer. It would also provide for FTC, Federal Trade Commission, enforcement with significant monetary penalties for those who knowingly violate the act. While criminal penalties may be appropriate for the most egregious behavior, I believe we have an obligation to provide additional protection to consumers' online information by having these civil fines that the FTC would enforce.

Importantly, the SPY ACT before us regulates information-collection programs. These are programs that have the capability to collect personally identifiable information and either transmit that information to a third party or use that information to deliver or display advertising on the computer. The SPY ACT requires companies that are sending ads to the computers to identify with each ad the information collection program that is generating the ad. With this disclosure, consumers will know who is bombarding them with ads and will be able to make their own decision as to whether they wish to be so bombarded.

The SPY ACT sets up a uniform national rule. Internet commerce is inherently interstate in nature. We need one set of rules for such commerce. I want to commend a number of Members for their strong work on this bill. First of all, I would like to thank the bill's sponsor, the gentlewoman from California (Mrs. Bono). It is she who has taken the lead to introduce the bill last October when most of us, myself included, had little knowledge of exactly what spyware was. She has been a tireless educator to many of us on its dangers and has worked tirelessly to improve the bill. She has brought dynamic leadership on technology issues to the Committee on Energy and Commerce, and her commonsense approach on this legislation has brought the issue to the floor expeditiously. I want to commend her for her strong work.

The gentleman from New York (Mr. Towns), the co-sponsor of the original legislation with the gentlewoman from California (Mrs. Bono), he too has been a great bipartisan partner in this project. He made important contributions to the areas of network- and computer-based security.

The gentleman from Florida (Mr. Stearns), the chairman of the Subcommittee on Commerce, Trade and Consumer Protection has been a key leader on all privacy related issues in this Congress. He has held eight hearings on privacy matters in this Congress and worked with the gentlewoman from California (Mrs. Bono) and the gentleman from New York (Mr. Towns) to perfect the legislation that is before us today.

I would also like to commend the gentleman from Michigan (Mr. Dingell), the ranking minority member and the gentlewoman from Illinois (Ms. Schakowsky) the ranking subcommittee member, for their excellent work at the subcommittee and full committee.

We have had truly a bipartisan effort to perfect this legislation and bring it to the floor today. It shows what can happen when Members on both sides of the aisle work together towards a common purpose.

The bill before us is a significant improvement on the original bill. And it is a result of the fine work that has been done by all Members on all sides of the aisle. This is a good bill. It has passed the Committee on Energy and Commerce overwhelmingly.

Anybody who has held a town meeting on this can tell you automatically that our constituents are opposed to spyware and want us to do something to protect their privacy as soon as possible.

Madam Speaker, I hope that we pass this overwhelmingly.

Madam Speaker, I reserve the balance of my time.

Madam Speaker, I yield 5 minutes to the gentleman from Florida (Mr. Stearns), the distinguished subcommittee chairman.

Madam Speaker, I want to thank the gentleman from New York who just spoke for his excellent leadership on this bill. It is a better bill because of his efforts.

Madam Speaker, I yield 5 minutes to the distinguished gentlewoman from California (Mrs. Bono), who, along with the gentleman from New York (Mr. Towns), was an original cosponsor of the original bill.

We think we have the gentleman from Michigan (Mr. Upton), subcommittee chairman, on his way; but other than that we have no other speakers.

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

To close the debate, let me simply say I think we have seen in this debate not just the bipartisan support but the unanimous support this bill has. Whether my colleagues represent metropolitan New York City or the suburbs of Chicago or the hurricane-ravaged plains of Florida, the prairies of Texas, or Southern California, we are all hooked up to the Internet; and we all have constituents who are outraged that as they do their Internet shopping and browsing and surfing, these insidious programs called spyware can infect their computers without their permission. Unfortunately, right now it is not even illegal.

What this bill does is make it illegal, and it gives the Federal Trade Commission the authority to impose significant civil fines for using this spyware.

I would also like to point out that thanks to the strong work of the committee staff on both sides of the aisle, we have a bill that the business community supports. Microsoft, the Software Business Alliance, Yahoo, Time Warner who owns AOL, they all support this. Ebay supports this bill. We are going to put those statements of support in the Record at this point.

TimeWarner,

September 21, 2004.

Hon. Joe Barton,

Hon. John Dingell,

House Energy and Commerce Committee, House of

Representatives, Rayburn House Office Building,

Washington, DC.

Dear Chairman Barton and Representative Dingell: On behalf

of TimeWarner and its AOL division, I would like to express

our support for H.R. 2929, the Safeguard Against Privacy

Invasions Act, which was authored by Representatives Bono and

Towns and approved by your Committee in June.

Battling spyware is one of AOL's top business and policy

priorities. Spyware is a growing concern for all Internet

users, wreaking havoc with consumers' computers and

undermining their online experience. We believe that spyware

must be addressed on many fronts, including through

legislation, technology, and consumer education.

We have been pleased to work closely with the House Energy

and Commerce Committee over the past several months on this

legislation. H.R. 2929 will provide some important tools in

the fight against spyware, outlawing destructive behaviors

that can deceive and defraud consumers through the use of

unauthorized software. We appreciate all of the improvements

you have made and continue to make to this bill as it moves

through the process, and we are hopeful that, along with

legislation that has been approved by the Judiciary

Committee, it will soon be considered on the House Floor.

The time is right for strong and effective federal spyware

legislation. We are grateful for the opportunity to work with

you and your Committee on this topic, and are eager to see

this bill move forward so that consumers and legitimate

businesses can enjoy additional anti-spyware protections in

the near future.

Sincerely,

Jennifer Jacobsen,

Vice President,

Global Public Policy.

Madam Speaker, 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 concurrent resolution (H. Con. Res. 250) recognizing community organization of public access defibrillation programs.

Madam Speaker, I ask unanimous consent that all Members may have 5 legislative days within which to revise and extend their remarks and include extraneous material on H. Con. Res. 250.

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

Madam Speaker, I rise today in support of H. Con. Res. 250 which recognizes community organization of public access defibrillation programs. The Committee on Energy and Commerce favorably reported this resolution by voice vote last week.

Coronary heart disease continues to be the leading cause of death in the United States. It is often the case that lives are either saved or lost in those first few critical moments when an individual suffers from cardiac arrest. Fortunately, medical technology and life-saving equipment are improving every day. New, portable medical devices called ``automated external defibrillators'' are often used to deliver life- saving treatment on the scene.

I can give a personal example of an individual in my district, Mr. Gary Terry, who was going through the Austin airport several years ago when he suffered a massive heart attack just as he went through security checkpoint. Luckily, the city of Austin had just installed these defibrillators at the airport, and it has on videotape the emergency technicians grabbing the defibrillator, putting it on Mr. Terry's chest and literally bringing him back to life. Mr. Terry is alive and well today because one of these devices was in the Austin international airport in Austin, Texas.

Over the past 6 years, Congress has enacted several laws to expand the use of automatic external defibrillators. H. Con. Res. 250 recognizes the growing number of community activist organizations and municipal governments leading the national effort to establish public access defibrillation programs and encourages the continued development and implementation of programs in a variety of community venues.

Madam Speaker, I would urge that all Members adopt this resolution. Also, I want to thank my good friend, the gentleman from Ohio (Mr. Brown), for his sponsorship of this legislation. It shows his commitment to a healthier community that he would take the time to be the leader on this important legislation.

Madam Speaker, I reserve the balance of my time.

Madam Speaker, I yield 3 minutes to the distinguished gentleman from Florida (Mr. Stearns), one of our subcommittee chairmen.

Madam Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may consume to just ask that we strongly support the Sherrod Brown bill.

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

Madam Speaker, I move to suspend the rules and agree to the concurrent resolution (H. Con. Res. 34) expressing the sense of the Congress that private health insurance companies should take a proactive role in promoting healthy lifestyles, and for other purposes, as amended.

Mr. Speaker, I ask unanimous consent that all Members may have 5 legislative days within which to revise and extend their remarks and include extraneous material on H. Con. Res. 34, the bill now under consideration.

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

Madam Speaker, I want to thank the gentlewoman from Missouri (Ms. McCarthy) for sponsoring this legislation. I think its basic intent, that is, as a Nation we need to do more ourselves to promote healthy lifestyles, is extremely sound. I know insurance companies are already doing just that in this area.

I believe that what the insurance companies are doing is being very constructive. I also know there are limitations on what we can legitimately expect insurance companies to do. Individual and family responsibility remains the key and cannot be replaced by laws and resolutions.

Having said that, I would like to take a moment to thank my good friend, the gentlewoman from Missouri (Ms. McCarthy), for her service to this House and her leadership on this issue. She will be leaving us after the conclusion of this Congress, and she will be missed. She has been a valuable member of the Committee on Energy and Commerce. Her brightness and her willingness to work in a bipartisan fashion across the aisle have helped move numerous pieces of legislation, and we will certainly miss her as we hopefully start the next Congress.

Today, we are here to support her as she brings this important resolution to the floor of the House of Representatives. She has been a tireless leader on this issue, and I think it is a fitting tribute to her that we bring this bill to the floor. The people of the Fifth District of Missouri should be very grateful for her service to the country.

Madam Speaker, I reserve the balance of my time.

Madam Speaker, I yield 3 minutes to the gentleman from Tennessee (Mr. Wamp).

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

Madam Speaker, I want to support the bill of the gentlewoman from Missouri, but I also, as we wrap up, want to reflect on what we have just seen on the House floor. We have just debated nine bills on suspension that have come out of the Committee on Energy and Commerce, and in a year in which a lot of the public thinks that all we do is fight each other on the House floor and get enraged at each other and confront each other, I want the country to know that there is another side to this Congress. We can have equality and cooperation. We have seen that today.

We have just had nine bills put on the suspension calendar. When it goes on the suspension calendar, what it means is that the majority and the minority both at the committee level and at the leadership level agree to put the bill on the floor. It also means that you have to get a two-thirds vote to pass. In the nine bills that we have just debated, some of them are substantive bills. We have a bill that deals with asthma that I consider to be very substantive. We had a bill that deals with islet cell transplantation that is very substantive. We have a reauthorization of the Mammography Quality Control Screening Act by the gentleman from Michigan (Mr. Dingell) that is obviously substantive. We have a brand new patient navigator bill that the gentleman from New York (Mr. Towns) and the gentlewoman from Ohio (Ms. Pryce) put together. We have a bill for defibrillation that the gentleman from Ohio (Mr. Brown) has authored. We have a prescription drug monitoring bill that the gentleman from Georgia (Mr. Norwood), the gentleman from New Jersey (Mr. Pallone) and the gentleman from Kentucky (Mr. Whitfield) have worked together on in a bipartisan basis. These are substantive bills. It shows that we can cooperate. It shows that we can work together. We also had, it is not a health-related bill but the spyware bill that the gentlewoman from California (Mrs. Bono) and the gentleman from New York (Mr. Towns) worked on shows that, in the area of technology, we can work together.

I hope that we showed the country that the Committee on Energy and Commerce, the ``e'' and ``c'' does stand for equality and cooperation, and that this is a precursor of what is to come in the next Congress. I urge support of the McCarthy bill.

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

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

Mr. Chairman, I rise in reluctant opposition to this amendment. Obviously I am not opposed to providing additional dialysis and health care for the residents of the Virgin Islands and Guam and the Northern Mariana Islands. However, having said that, the way this amendment is structured, if we were to support the amendment, if it were to pass, it would change the Medicaid funding formula, which, as we all know, is a very sensitive issue and is something that in the next Congress I intend to make a major effort to do a fair reform of that formula.

If this amendment were to pass, it is my understanding that the people that are covered by the amendment, 2 million out of the 3 million covered are qualified for Medicaid, and there could be, I am not saying there would be, but could be as much as $28 million in expenditures, additional expenditures. Since I have the committee of jurisdiction and we had not even been approached on this until either yesterday

or today, I would hope that the gentlewoman and the gentleman from Indiana would withdraw the amendment and we could work with them to find a way to get some funding this year in some additional bill that is going to come before the floor.

I yield to the gentleman from Indiana.

Mr. Chairman, reclaiming my time, the gentleman is correct. I am not opposed to the underlying substance of the amendment. My objection is to the procedure, and the way in which it has come forward in order to implement it in its current configuration would cause a major problem down the road in Medicaid-matched rates with other States.

Mr. Chairman, reclaiming my time, the gentleman is correct. My father was a diabetic. I respect the fact that the gentleman has been out and had, if not a formal hearing, at least some meetings in the Territories in which this was discussed. I understand the gentlewoman's concern and her requirement that she has to represent her constituents. This is not a policy objection. This is a fact that when we deal with Medicaid, we have got a carefully crafted formula that involves all the States and the Territories and this amendment would upset that formula.

I further yield to the gentleman from Indiana.

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

Mr. Chairman, will the gentleman yield?

It would certainly be in the next session. I am not opposed to trying to do something in the next 4 or 5 weeks in this session, if we can find the right vehicle.

Mr. Chairman, I yield 1 minute to the gentleman from Indiana (Mr. Souder).

(Mr. SOUDER asked and was given permission to revise and extend his remarks.)

Mr. Speaker, I move to suspend the rules and pass the Senate bill (S. 2634) to amend the Public Health Service Act to support the planning, implementation, and evaluation of organized activities involving statewide youth suicide early intervention and prevention strategies, to provide funds for campus mental and behavioral health service centers, and for other purposes, as amended.

Mr. Speaker, I ask unanimous consent that of the 20 minutes that I control, the gentleman from Ohio (Mr. Brown) have the right to control 10 minutes of that time.

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

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

Mr. Speaker, I rise in support of S. 2634, as amended. I am pleased that the House is considering this legislation which is authored with the intent to improve access to quality health care to individuals suffering from mental and behavioral health problems that can lead to suicide.

Last year, over 4,000 young men and women in our great country resorted to the ultimate act of denial by committing suicide. Senator Gordon Smith of the other body has been the lead advocate for this legislation, and the bill is named in his son's honor, who, unfortunately, committed suicide last year, I think on this date. So we are here under the leadership of Senator Gordon Smith to try to do something legislatively to prevent future young Americans from resorting to suicide.

I have had a young staff member on my staff last spring also commit suicide; so while I have not had the sacrifice or the tragedy that Senator

Smith has had, I have been touched by suicide on my congressional staff down in Texas. I can tell you, as one would expect, that it is a very devastating experience. It is incredibly painful. It is a pain that is exacerbated when you see how your family and friends are burdened with grief because of an action like this. It is my sincere hope that the legislation the House is considering this evening, which the other body has already passed, will indeed help those who are troubled and are thinking about committing suicide in the future.

This bill is a 3-year authorization bill that provides educational and support programs for children at risk of suicide. These suicide programs would be administered through a grant program through the States. It reflects a balanced and reasonable compromise that allows parents to have a direct role in determining whether their children participate in these long-range programs. At the same time, when there is a young man or woman in our country who is actively contemplating suicide, the bill would allow that emergency intervention could be done without any consent so that we stabilize that individual and prevent them from actually committing the suicide act at the time they are contemplating it.

The compromise before us this evening does not modify in any way or affect any existing requirement under the No Child Left Behind Act. It is my hope that in the next Congress the House Committee on Energy and Commerce, which I have the privilege to chair, will systematically reauthorize many of the expired programs and even expired agencies at the Department of Health and Human Services.

One of those agencies that we intend to look at very closely is the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration, or SAMSHA, which has primary responsibility to improve mental health services across this country. I am strongly inclined to rework several of the mental health service programs currently in effect at SAMSHA so that we are sure that the funding programs actually produce measurable results and the kind of results we intend those programs to produce. Without a doubt, as a part of our review of the SAMSHA program, I will pay close attention to SAMSHA's work in the area of suicide prevention.

Mr. Speaker, I want to thank the subcommittee chairman, the gentleman from Florida (Mr. Bilirakis); the ranking member of the full committee, the gentleman from Michigan (Mr. Dingell); and the subcommittee ranking member, the gentleman from Ohio (Mr. Brown), for their cooperation in this legislation. I would also like to commend the gentleman from Tennessee (Mr. Gordon) and the gentleman from Oregon (Mr. Walden) for their help on the House side in improving this legislation. And, finally, I would like to thank the Speaker of the House and the majority leader for their assistance in expediting this bill as it comes to the floor today.

Mr. Speaker, I would encourage my colleagues to support the legislation.

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

Mr. Speaker, I yield 3 minutes to the gentleman from Oregon (Mr. Walden).

Mr. Speaker, I yield 2 minutes to the gentleman from Nebraska (Mr. Osborne) who has been directly involved in these programs.

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

Mr. Speaker, could I ask since the distinguished gentleman from New Jersey has yielded to me the balance of his time, how much time that means I now have.

Mr. Speaker, I yield 2 minutes to the distinguished gentleman from Nebraska (Mr. Osborne), who has been involved in programs to prevent suicide in Nebraska for a number of years.

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

First of all, I want to comment on the procedural aspects of the consideration of this legislation. I think the gentleman from Tennessee (Mr. Gordon) pointed out a bill similar to this passed the other body 100 to zero. That is a phenomenal accomplishment considering that the other body this year many days has not even agreed on whether the Sun rises in the east or the west. But on this particular piece of legislation, they passed it 100 to zero.

The President of the United States, President Bush, and his legislative aides contacted my office immediately and asked us to expedite consideration of this legislation on the floor of the House. We took the bill that passed the other body, we looked at it and we felt like, as well-meaning as it was, that in many cases it was duplicative and it could be improved if we made some changes.

To his credit, when we called Senator Smith, he agreed to work with us on that process. We attempted to bring the bill up the last day before we adjourned for the August work period. There were still some concerns that could not be worked out. That bill could only come up under unanimous consent. The minority leader, the gentlewoman from California, agreed to it, the majority leader the gentleman from Texas agreed to the unanimous consent, but there were some Members on the Republican side that still had concerns, so we pulled the bill that night. We spent the August work period working at the staff level to try to iron out the differences. I submit with no apology that the bill that is before us today as a result of those extra days and hours of consultation is a better bill.

It requires that 85 percent of the funds expended have to be spent on direct services. So this is not an overhead bill. This is a direct- services bill. It requires that when grants are awarded to institutions that have existing programs, there be a dollar-for-dollar match, that the institution that already has a program has to match through services or in-kind contribution or direct dollars, dollar for dollar, the amount of the grant that they are receiving. There is a requirement in the legislation before us that there is an outcome-based assessment each year, so that as we begin to implement some of these programs, we actually go in and make sure that in future years we only award grants to programs that actually do have results in a positive way. I am very proud of that.

In terms of the parental consent section of the bill, which was the most difficult to find a compromise, we agreed that if there is an emergency situation where direct intervention needs to be conducted to prevent an individual from committing suicide, that that can be done immediately and to whatever extent is necessary so that we stabilize that individual and prevent him from taking his life. But once that occurs, before there is any entry into a long-term program, the parents have to be notified and they have to consent in writing that their child can be involved in that long-term program. I personally think that is a very, very reasonable compromise.

One can argue that the Federal Government should not be involved in early intervention and suicide prevention. That is a reasonable position to take. But given the fact that 4,000 of our young people killed themselves last year and that, as the gentleman from Nebraska has pointed out, suicide rates among our young people have tripled in the last 40 years, I think it is wise for the Federal Government to be involved. Every life that we save is a future productive citizen who is going to contribute to our society and to our country. I strongly agree that we should be involved with a Federal program that helps in that area.

I would point out that this bill is a 3-year authorization bill. It is not a permanent expansion of any program. It is a 3-year authorization. As I said earlier, as we go through each year, the programs that are granted have to be evaluated on an outcomes basis. I think Members on both sides of the aisle, whether they are conservatives or liberals or moderates, regardless of whatever region of the country they come from, can sincerely and enthusiastically support this bill tomorrow when it comes to a vote. It is a good bill. I am proud that we have helped Senator Smith memorialize his son, the late Garrett Lee Smith; and I would hope that we get a unanimous vote tomorrow on this important piece of legislation.

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

Under clause 2 of rule XII, bills and reports were delivered to the Clerk for printing, and bills referred as follows:

[Omitted from the Record of July 22, 2004]

Mr. BARTON: Committee on Energy and Commerce. H.R. 3143. A

bill to enhance Federal Trade Commission enforcement against

cross-border fraud and deception, (Rept. 106-635, Pt. 1);

Referred to the Committees on Financial Services,

International Relations, and Judiciary for a period ending

not later than October 1, 2004, for consideration of such

provisions of the bill as fall within the jurisdiction of

those committees pursuant to clause 1(g), (j), and (k), rule

X, respectively. Ordered to be printed.