Floor Statements

Mr. Speaker, I am proud to follow my good friend from Utah and join with my colleagues from New Jersey and North Carolina tonight to speak in support of Federal legislation to restore the single most important part of our Constitution, the 10th amendment.

We all know from English class the beginning and the end of a document are the most important, and why our Constitution begins with, ``We, the People,'' and why the Founders wrote at the very end of the Constitution a declaration that they believed was as self-evident as saying the sky is blue: That all power not specifically delegated to the Federal Government in the Constitution was reserved to the People and the States.

The 10th amendment has been forgotten largely, and all of us as Republicans are committed to doing everything that we can to try to preserve and protect the power of the States and individuals. The way I often express it to my constituents is, I am a Republican because I want to get the Federal Government out of our lives and free us from the income tax, the most intrusive possible tax, to go to a national consumption tax to restore local control over public education, which is what we are here to talk about tonight, legislation that I filed with my colleague from Utah (Mr. Bishop), with other colleagues here tonight from New Jersey and North Carolina.

H.R. 3499 will return control over public education to the States using a very simple concept that I can really actually best illustrate by using these three glasses of water.

If you imagine that this first glass represents we the people and the water within it all the rights, powers, and privileges given to us as individuals directly from the hand of God, the way our constitutional system works is that we the people, and I will use Texas as the example. When we the people of Texas created the Republic of Texas, we only agreed in the creation of the Republic of Texas in our constitution to give the Republic of Texas maybe that much power and reserve the rest to we the people.

When the Republic of Texas became a State at midnight December 29, 1845, and this is true of every other State in the Union, when Texas joined the Union in 1845, the State of Texas only agreed to give the Federal Government maybe about that much power. Very limited and specific.

But as a result of the war between the States, the assassination of Abraham Lincoln, the Radical Reconstruction Congress, the concentration of power in Washington, Congressmen who love to pass bills that are tough on crime and who want to protect the schools and the little children, and FDR and the New Deal, and judges like William Wayne Justice in Texas, who took over our prison system, all power today is concentrated in Washington. There is really very little, if anything, left in the States; and certainly we wonder how much individual freedom we have left.

However, what Congress can take away by statute we can restore by statute. And there is so much Federal law governing the way our public schools work that these two books, Mr. Speaker, represent the two public education titles, Title XX of the U.S. Code, and that is the other half of Title XX. Those Federal statutes that send about $13 billion out to the States in Federal education grants are sent to the States primarily through the education bureaucracies.

I, like Mr. Bishop, came to the State legislature. We would meet in Texas every other year. And when we would return, we would discover that the Texas Education Agency had signed us up for some new Federal education grant program that we knew nothing about. But we now, as State legislators, had the responsibility to pay for that program. And often it was an underfunded or completely unfunded Federal mandate which we then had to come up with new money, like Mr. Bishop mentioned for the computer.

I have been looking for a way to design a Federal law that operated automatically, like a computer virus, transferring authority over public education over these Federal grant programs automatically back to the States, transferring, and using the water glasses again, the Federal glass, by statute, control back to the States over public education automatically.

H.R. 3499 does that. It states very simply that all Federal education grant programs, other than IDEA, the Individuals with Disability Education Act, and Federal grants, for example, to Indian nations or military bases, that all other Federal education grant programs, about $13 billion worth, go away in your State unless the State legislature passes a law and says, yes, we want the money with all the strings attached and we surrender State sovereignty or State control over public education to the extent that State law is inconsistent with Federal law.

This would do several things: First of all, obviously, it would save a lot of money, for the money that the States walk away from saying that there are too many strings. But H.R. 3499 is in the Education Committee, and I deeply appreciate the support of my colleagues in helping to bring it to the floor for a vote to restore 10th amendment control over our schools.

Mr. Speaker, I rise only to make the point, because I ran out of time earlier, that the legislation that we have coauthored together would give the decision to the locally elected State representatives to enter a contract with Federal elected representatives so that the only control the Federal Government would have over State public education would be the control that the State locally elected officials agree to. It would be a contract between the State legislature and the Federal legislature; and other than what they agree to, there is no Federal control over public education, as the Founders intended.

Mr. Jefferson always said if you apply core Republican principles, the knot will always untie itself. That is true here, and it would continue to be true if we would just remember it.

Mr. Speaker, on February 27, 2006, Taiwan's President Chen Shui-bian declared that Taiwan's Unification Council will cease to function and the National Unification Guidelines will no longer apply. This decision was made in an effort to guarantee Taiwan's freedom from communist China and its people's right to democratically choose their own future.

Since peace in the Taiwan Strait is critical to all nations in the region and military confrontation must be avoided, I urge China to suspend its jingoistic rhetoric towards Taiwan, rescind the Anti- Secession Law enacted last spring, and dismantle the hundreds of missiles targeted at Taiwan.

Furthermore, on the first anniversary of the passage of China's Anti- Secession Law and the tenth anniversary of The Taiwan Strait Missile Crisis, it is time for a meaningful dialogue between the communist Chinese leaders and the democratically elected leadership in Taiwan in order to find a peaceful resolution to their differences.

Mr. Speaker, I rise today to honor Curtis Daniel ``Dan'' Reagan of Austin, Texas. Dan Reagan has been a champion for quality transportation and his leadership, knowledge, and vision have helped improve the safety and reliability of the Texas transportation system.

Dan Reagan began his career with the Federal Highway Administration (FHWA), then the Bureau of Public Roads (BPR), on June 12, 1967 following his graduation from the University of Texas at Austin. He spent almost 3 years in the BPR Highway Engineer Training Program, learning all phases of organizational responsibility and honing his engineering and management skills in Point Reyes, California; Olympia, Washington; Payson, Arizona; Washington, D.C.; Tallahassee, Florida; Ft. Worth, Texas; and Austin, Texas. Mr. Reagan then held numerous positions in Baton Rouge, Louisiana, and Montgomery, Alabama, including Assistant Area Engineer, Area Engineer, Assistant Planning Engineer, Planning Engineer, and Research Engineer. While stationed in Baton Rouge, Mr. Reagan attended graduate school at Louisiana State University, taking classes in Transportation Engineering.

In June 1981, Mr. Reagan was assigned to the former FHWA Region One Office in Albany, New York, where he held several positions, including Director of Planning, Director of Planning and Program Development, and Deputy Regional Administrator. As the Deputy, he was responsible for all aspects of the Federal-aid Program in the eight Northeast States, the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico, and the Territory of the U.S. Virgin Islands. Then from October 1994 to July 1995, Dan became the Acting Regional Administrator.

On February 4, 1996, Dan Reagan was appointed the Federal Highway Administration's Division Administrator for Texas. With a staff of 50 employees, he was responsible for delivering the second largest Federal-aid Program in the Nation and implementing FHWA's National Strategic Plan throughout Texas, in partnership with the Texas Department of Transportation. While serving as the Texas Division Administrator, Dan Reagan established the FHWA's first International Programs Engineer position for the entire Texas border, created a forum known as the Texas Environmental Resource Stewards that brings together the leaders of state and federal agencies impacting transportation to resolve issues in advance, and paved the way for such landmark public- private partnerships as TTC-35, TTC-69, and the Central Texas Turnpike Project.

Mr. Speaker, I am very proud to honor and thank Dan Reagan and his family, on the occasion of his retirement, for a lifelong professional commitment of service to the traveling public. I wish Dan Reagan much happiness and good health in the years to come.

Mr. Chairman, as the co-authors of H.R. 4360, which is included in H.R. 4437 as Section 607, we have drafted this expression of our legislative intent with the guidance and approval of the House Judiciary Committee to help ensure that our intent in this section is fulfilled by the law enforcement community, the U.S. Attorney General, the Departments of Justice and Homeland Security, the Congress, and the Appropriations Committee as rules are written and funds are spent to carry out the activities authorized by Section 607.

H.R. 4360 and Section 607 of H.R. 4437 both authorize $100 million per year to pay for the reasonable and necessary costs incurred by ``any sheriff or coalition of sheriffs'' from counties along the southern border to detain,

house, and transport illegal aliens. It is our intent that the language of section 607 be interpreted and implemented to reimburse or provide advance payments to border county sheriffs for all costs of ``detaining, housing . . . transporting [and] transfer[ing] aliens who are not lawfully present in the United States.''

H.R. 4360 and Section 607 both contain a provision that ``not more than 20 percent'' of the funds paid in advance or reimbursed to sheriffs may be used for the construction or renovation of detention or similar facilities. This provision, coupled with the authorization for use of funds ``including the costs of personnel (such as overtime pay and costs for reserve deputies), costs of training of such personnel, equipment,'' make it clear that 80 percent of the funds appropriated and sent to border sheriffs or a coalition of border sheriffs are authorized to be used for ``the costs of personnel (such as overtime pay and costs for reserve deputies), costs of training of such personnel [and] equipment . . .'' Both bills require that these federal funds ``supplement, and may not supplant, State or local funds used for the same or similar purposes.''

It is our intent in Section 607 of H.R. 4437 to authorize federal funds appropriated by Congress and sent by the Department of Justice to border sheriffs or a coalition of border sheriffs to be used to hire, train, pay and fully equip additional deputy sheriffs and reserve deputies whose duties include in whole or in part ``detaining, housing . . . transporting [and] transfer[ing] aliens who are not lawfully present in the United States.'' We agree with the traditional legal and common sense definition that a person is detained from the moment their ``freedom of movement [is] restricted.'' U.S. v. Thomas, 250 F. Supp. 771, (S.D.N.Y. 1966), also see Henry v. U.S., 80 S. Ct. 168 (U.S. 1959).

Therefore, a border county sheriff can use these funds to hire, train, pay and fully equip additional deputy sheriffs and reserve deputies whose duties include patrolling the border regions of their county, supporting the work of the U.S. Customs Border Protection patrols and who detain aliens who are not lawfully present in the U.S. in the course of their day to day law enforcement duties.

We have attached to this letter clarifying our legislative intent the proposed budgets prepared by the border sheriffs in Texas which detail the type of additional expenditures they anticipate will be necessary for them to fulfill their responsibilities under H.R. 4360 and Section 607 of H.R. 4437. These are precisely the types of additional expenditures which we intend to authorize under Section 607 of H.R. 4437, and we want the Appropriations Committee and the Department of Justice to do what is necessary to ensure that the border sheriffs are promptly reimbursed or paid in advance for expenses like these.

We authored this legislation to ensure a steady, predictable and sufficient flow of federal funds to help border sheriffs hire and equip additional deputies, and build, maintain and operate enough additional bed space, to detain, arrest, house and transport aliens who are not lawfully present in the United States. This work by the border sheriffs will be done in support of and in coordination with the USCBP along the lines of ``Operation Hold the Line,'' ``Operation Stone Garden,'' and the current ``Operation Linebacker'' which has been proposed by the Texas Border Sheriffs Coalition.

These border counties are largely rural and do not have a tax base or a local revenue source large enough to hire enough additional deputies or build, maintain and operate enough additional bed space to keep up with the growing tide of lawless criminals and narco-terrorists crossing our southern border. These federal funds are indispensable to enable these border sheriffs to help USCBP protect our southern international border.

Cameron County Sheriff Department,

August 23, 2005.

Mr. Gonzalez: The Cameron County Sheriff Department patrols

approximately a 35 mile stretch along the United States and

Mexican border. We have four international bridges in our

county. The Sheriffs Department is responsible for

approximately 40 miles of beach front in which the flow of

narcotics at this time is evidently being seen by a recent

number of narcotic seizures along the beaches. Cameron County

is also home to one of the largest ports in the State of

Texas which is better known as The Port of Brownsville.

Our area has also seen an increase in illegal immigrant

smuggling and crossing. A high number of immigration arrests

have been made on Hondurans, Nicaraguans, and Brazilian. An

increase in arrests has recently been rising of a notorious

group called the Mara-Salvatrucha gang better known as MS-13.

This group has strong ties to terrorist groups and Al-Qaeda.

To better protect our borders and provide support for our

local border patrol, we estimate the need of 20 additional

officers. The cost per officer includes vehicles, uniform,

weapons, radios, and gear. The per officer amount is

$70,633.00 for the first year at a total of $1,412,660.00.

The annual salary after the first year is $28,252.00 for a

total of $565,040 to follow on a yearly basis.

Thank you and if you have any questions, phase contact me

at my office.

Sincerely,

Captain Reyna.

Mr. Speaker, as a House Republican who, I believe my fiscal conservative ratings are typically among the top ten most conservative in the House; I have no NASA facilities in my district; and I am a passionate advocate for NASA, a strong supporter of this legislation, because I recognize the importance of investing in our Nation's future through investments and the scientific and technological innovations that only NASA and the space program have been able to produce for us. From the Blackberry on our belts, the microcomputers, the computer chips on our office desks, to satellite technology and cell phone technology to medical technology, NASA has touched every one of our lives. I applaud the chairman and the leadership for bringing this bill to the floor, and it is very important that we get behind President Bush's vision, because only by investing in NASA and strengthening our investment in scientific and medical research will we maintain America's leadership role in the world.

Mr. Speaker, I ask unanimous consent to claim the time of the gentleman from Indiana (Mr. Burton).

Mr. Speaker, I rise tonight to bring to the attention of the American people the reasons why it is so important the House acted yesterday to pass such a strong border enforcement law and order bill that will bring law and order to our southern and northern borders, but in particular the southern border.

I am a native Houstonian, born and raise in Houston; but I had no idea until recently the scale of violence our law enforcement officers, Border Patrol agents, our local sheriffs are facing along the Rio Grande, and it is the result of a lack of enforcement of our immigration laws, as the Border Patrol has been pulled back and our border has been unprotected at the same time the narcoterrorists and the drug lords have figured out that there is a vacuum there.

A war has developed between the gulf cartel of drug lords and the megacartel. Now, the megacartel extends its territory essentially from, and I am going to use these, Mr. Speaker, to help illustrate for people what I am talking about, this war between the megacartel, the drug lords, and the gulf cartel, is a full-scale battle. The lawlessness is so severe, Mr. Speaker, that the sheriffs in Laredo will not even approach the river at night without turning off all their lights.

And, in fact, when I went down to the river in mid-October with a group of sheriffs, the sheriff sent a marked sheriff's deputy vehicle ahead of me down to the river with the lights out. I asked, why are you sending him ahead of me with the lights out? And the response was, Congressman, we want him to get shot at instead of you. Which really alarmed me. And I asked the sheriff, please tell that young man to turn on the strobe lights on top of his vehicle. They sort of laughed at me and said, Congressman, you do not understand. The violence is so bad down here on the river, that if that deputy sheriff turns on his strobe lights, it will make him a better target and he is very likely to be machine gunned immediately.

This is what our law enforcement officers face every day, and the type of people that they are dealing with is shown in this photograph here. This is a photograph of one of the military style commandos that are being used by the Gulf Cartel as their army of enforcers. This is a photograph of a Guatemalan special forces, they call them kabiles, and their motto, which is difficult to see here at the bottom, but let me read it for the viewers. Their motto is: If I go forward, follow me. If I stop, urge me on. And if I turn back, kill me.

The Gulf Cartel is also using a group of commandos trained in the United States at Fort Bliss called the Zetas that were part of the Mexican army originally, and their commander and 31 of their top troops went over the drug lords, bought out by the drug lords, and the Zetas are now running at least one and probably up to four narcoterrorist training camps in northern Mexico right across the river from Texas. There is one operating out in the open near Matamoros, maybe two or three others in the immediate area, one near Rio Bravo, and another apparently has opened up recently near Del Rio. These are narcoterrorist training camps run and operated by the Zetas and the Gulf Cartel to train and equip these commandos to enter the United States to deliver the loads of weapons or drugs and kill anybody that attempts to stop them.

Let me show people the effect of just a typical arrest. Now, this is just another week at the office for our law enforcement officers on the Texas border. This is on September 27, 2004. This occurred in Nuevo Laredo, just across the river, and this is spilling over in the United States because the drug Lords are fighting over Nuevo Laredo, the Nation's largest inland port, and whichever drug cartel controls Nuevo Laredo will control the most profitable smuggling center in the United States.

On September 27 of 2004, this gun battle ensued, and as a result of this gun fight, there were captured and in this one fight, they found four AK-47 machine guns, two AR-15 rifles, ten grenades, a number of pistols, 12 40-millimeter grenade rounds, and 12 40-millimeter grenade launchers. Now, these devices here across the bottom are 40-millimeter grenade launchers that are supposed to be attached to M-16 rifles, but the Zetas, the drug lords' army, have converted them to handheld pistols, and this is standard equipment that are now issued to these commandos as they deliver their loads of weapons, drugs and even terrorists. The Customs Immigration Service knows that the terrorists are using the smuggling routes established by the drug lords to smuggle Islamic terrorists into the United States. I had the FBI director testify to my committee under oath that there are individuals from countries with known al Qaeda connections changing their Islamic surname to Hispanic, adopting fake Hispanic identities and entering the United States pretending to be Hispanic immigrants and disappearing. This is going on in large numbers. These narcoterrorist armies, this is, again, just one arrest; these 40-millimeter grenades launchers can be held as pistols, and they are used to shoot at law enforcement officers, anybody who attempts to stop them.

This is a photograph of some of the vehicles after this particular gun battle. This arrest took place, and I think the date is on here. This shows some of the 40-millimeter grenades that are used as time- delayed bombs.

I applaud the House for passing this strong bill so we can have law and order on the border instead of the law of Plata o Plomo.

Mr. Chairman, I rise in strong support of this amendment as well as the underlying legislation because its focus is law enforcement, and this is a law enforcement and a national security issue. In controlling our borders, we will win the war on terror only when we control our borders, and it is important that the country recognize that northern Mexico has become like Colombia, owned lock, stock and barrel by the drug lords whose law is ``plata o plomo,'' silver or lead. You work in my plaza, you pay me silver or I will kill you now with lead, plomo; and we must have the rule of law and order on the border and not the rule of plata o plomo.

The chairman has rightly focused this legislation on reestablishing law and order on the border, and I applaud the gentleman from Georgia for his amendment so we can keep the Department of Homeland Security focused on giving us in Congress the information we need so we can determine whether or not the United States is properly protecting its border at a time when we are at war with terrorists who have told us repeatedly that they are going to sneak into the country using whatever means are necessary to hurt us. I urge all Members to support this amendment and the underlying bill.

Mr. Chairman, I want to show the American people what a typical day looks like for a law enforcement officer on the southern border. This is the result of an arrest that took place in Nuevo Loredo and this is what the sheriffs are facing. This is what our Border Patrol is facing: 40 millimeter grenade launchers, 12 of them captured; 10,000 rounds of ammunition; 40 AK-47 rifles. These are carried by individuals, paramilitary commandos, who are trained to kill anybody who stops and attempts to intercept them.

These are 40 millimeter grenades that are taped up with adhesive tape designed to be put on top of a warm engine, and as the glue softens, the tape comes off and the grenade explodes. This is a sniper rifle carried by the narcoterrorist commandos that shoots around corners. It has a television screen and a silencer on it.

This is the level of sophistication of these people that our sheriffs are facing. These narcoterrorists are so bold, Mr. Chairman, and the lawlessness is so pervasive on the border that the narcoterrorists have set up, according to the FBI, at least one narcoterrorist training camp outside of Matamoros operating in the open, run by the zadas to train gun runners, human smugglers, smugglers who pay cash, who keep their mouths shut. They can go to this training camp outside of Matamoros and they will be carried into the United States. There may be three others operating just across the river from the United States in the open.

This is a law and order issue that the United States must deal with through our locally elected law enforcement officials and the Border Patrol.

I thank the chairman for bringing this bill to the House.

Mr. Speaker, I rise today to honor my constituent, Edward A. ``Ed'' Peniche, of Houston, Texas. He has made an immeasurable contribution to America through two outstanding careers-- first with the U.S. Army as an airborne soldier, and following his military retirement--achieving advanced degrees that enabled him to embark on a second career as a college professor. This career has been the fulfillment of Ed's childhood dreams for a better life.

Ed was born on June 25, 1925 in Progreso, Yucatan, Mexico. He was the oldest of eight children. His parents were not highly educated, but they instilled in their son the value of an education. To that end, he immigrated to the United States on December 7, 1942 on a student visa to pursue education that was what was not available to him in Mexico.

Ed arrived in Paducah, Kentucky with four dollars in his pocket and stayed with an aunt and uncle while attending high school. During this time, World War II was being fought, and on September 27, 1943, Ed entered active duty with the U.S. Army. He was trained as an airborne infantryman, and served with valor in combat from shortly after D-Day to VE-Day (Victory in Europe. )

Ed is very proud of his airborne training, which instilled in him a ``can do'' attitude despite all adversities. He served proudly and heroically with the 101st Airborne Division during the Battle of the Bulge, which started on

December 16, 1944. This was the greatest battle in the European Theater of World War II. Victory came with ferocious fighting at a cost of thousands of American casualties, but it provided a opening for General Patton's Third Army to march into the heart of Germany, which ultimately led to the unconditional surrender of the Nazi regime on May 8, 1945.

Ed was in Bastogne for eight days to hold the town despite repeated German ground assaults, continuous artillery and rocket bombardment, sub-zero temperatures, and bad weather conditions that prevented Allied air power from supporting the surrounded Americans. Despite these conditions, the 101st Airborne Division courageously held their ground and General McAuliffe famously replied ``Nuts!'' to the German Commanding General's offer to accept surrender or face immediate annihilation.

Ed was wounded in combat action on January 3, 1945 at Longchamps, Belgium, for which he received the Purple Heart Medal. He was assigned to a 57 mm anti-tank gun that was credited with knocking out three German tanks, and supported the destruction of seven other enemy tanks before an exploding German shell destroyed Ed's gun. Despite his own wounds, Ed voluntarily exposed himself to enemy fire to report the situation and guide medical aid men to the casualties in his unit. For his heroism on that day, he was awarded the Bronze Star Medal with ``V'' device indicating his personal valor in the engagement. Ed was also awarded a second Bronze Star Medal for meritorious achievement in ground combat against enemy forces in the European Theater of Operations.

After the war, Ed served a brief stint in the Mexican Army and was co-founder of their Parachute School. He returned to the U.S. in 1952, and re-enlisted in the U.S. Army. Ed became a U.S. citizen on February 25, 1953, and on October 6 married Lois Dean ``Deanie'' Baggett of Paducah, KY. They had three sons, John, Carlos and Frank, six grandchildren to complete Ed and Deanie's family circle.

Ed completed his undergraduate degree by taking night courses while he served on active duty. He was awarded an AA degree in Liberal Arts from George Washington University in 1966, and a BGS degree in Political Science and History from the University of Nebraska-Omaha in 1969. An extended tour of duty in Vietnam lasted from January, 1959 to July, 1962. He was awarded the Joint Services Commendation Medal, Army Commendation Medal, and Good Conduct Medals prior to his retirement from active duty as a U.S. Army Sergeant First Class in 1970.

Retirement allowed Ed to pursue graduate work full time at Murray State University in Kentucky. He was awarded a MA degree in Spanish- American Literature in 1971. Additional graduate work was done at the University of Virginia and the University of Texas.

Ed was a college professor at Central Virginia Community College in Lynchburg, Virginia for 22 years, and was awarded the title of ``Professor Emeritus'' on May 14, 1996. He was also a professor at Kingwood College, Texas until he retired from active teaching at the age of 74. He keeps busy by speaking at veterans' events and attending memorial commemorations honoring his fallen comrades at the Battle of the Bulge in Longchamps, Belgium.

Edward A. Peniche is the embodiment of the ``American Dream.'' He achieved his ambitions through hard work and self-motivation, and the tireless support of his wife Deanie. Ed has said on more than one occasion ``I am most proud that I lived the American dream. This is the greatest country on earth!''

Mr. Speaker, I am very proud to honor Ed Peniche's many lifetime achievements, and wish him and his beloved Deanie much happiness and good health in the years to come.

Mr. Speaker, today I want to congratulate the people of Taiwan on the occasion of their National Day.

Taiwan serves as a prosperous and democratic model to countries around the world and I would like to personally congratulate Taiwan for its dedication to democracy and the rule of law. Its 23 million people enjoy the privileges of a balanced judicial system, free speech, and fair elections. Its vibrant free market system continues to thrive and supports a strong and healthy economy. Taiwan is a strong regional ally and a close friend of the United States and is committed to maintaining peace and stability.

To help us celebrate the momentous accomplishments of our friends in Taiwan, I urge my colleagues here in Congress to support Taiwan's bid to return to the United Nations. It is truly shameful that Taiwan has been denied its proper international role and presence. There is no better way to show our respect for Taiwan's democratic ideals than to support its bid to return to the international community. It is an objective fact that Taiwan is a free and independent nation, and therefore meets all the criteria for admission to the United Nations.

I am confident Taiwan will continue to serve as a model to its neighbors and I praise its commitment to democracy, the rule of law, and regional stability. Congratulations Taiwan on your National Day.

Madam Speaker, I want to thank the President of the United States for speaking out so forcefully yesterday with Secretary Chertoff and reiterating that they are determined to protect our borders and to prevent or stop the uncontrolled flood of illegal immigration into this country.

This is a law-and-order issue. I just returned form a visit to the Rio Grande River, and you do not need to go to Baghdad to see the war on terror. Nuevo Laredo is essentially a ghost town. Laredo is under siege. The largest inland port in the United States, Laredo, is in a state of war. It is besieged by narcoterrorists who are equipped with the very best weapons and best equipment.

The sheriff and the local authorities are outgunned and overmatched. Our Border Patrol is outgunned and overmatched.

Mr. President, thank you, sir. We need you, with the stroke of a pen, please reinforce the Border Patrol. Help our local law enforcement authorities defend the peace and prosperity of the United States or our way of life may, indeed, change.

Thank you, Mr. President. The American people are way beyond the tipping point in frustration and outrage at the unprotected borders and this flood of illegal immigration, and we are very grateful to you, sir, for stepping up to protect our borders.

Mr. Speaker, I thank the gentleman. I am proud to have the gentleman with me as coauthor of legislation we have filed with 44 other Members of the House to use the mechanisms the Founding Fathers left us in the Constitution to help defend this country against the threat of terrorists who the FBI Director has confirmed in sworn testimony that suspected terrorists and individuals from countries with known al Qaeda connections are entering the United States illegally, using false Hispanic identities, a subject the gentleman is talking about here today, to make sure we accurately identify people entering the U.S.

Federal law enforcement authorities have now confirmed what we have known, and that is these individuals are trying to sneak into the U.S., crossing our southern border, hiding among the tremendous wave of illegal immigration entering this country, and the Federal Government simply does not have the manpower or resources to protect our international borders.

In a very real sense, 9/11 deputized every American, but not every American can serve in our Armed Forces or join the FBI or the CIA and fight on the front in the war on terror. So the gentleman from Texas (Mr. Poe) and I, and 45 other Members of Congress, have filed legislation invoking congressional power under the Constitution to authorize all eligible American citizens who have no criminal record, no history of mental illness to serve in a genuine militia force for the sole purpose of protecting our borders.

The Border Protection Corps would serve truly as a neighborhood watch border patrol. These individuals who would serve under the direct control of our State Governors in those border States along the border would be trained, equipped, and serve under the direction of the Governor in cooperation with local and State law enforcement authorities.

Mr. Speaker, I want to stress this. These individuals would indeed be

trained, be lawful militia forces as the Constitution envisioned under the control of the Governor, working in cooperation with the Governor, State law enforcement, and the border patrol simply to protect our border and to prevent individuals from entering the United States illegally and to, when necessary, take those individuals into custody.

State and local authorities would then be eligible for Federal funding. A Governor that invokes this authority, taking command of these lawful militia forces, the Border Protection Corps, would have access to this Federal money, Homeland Security money, which would then flow to that State. There is $6.8 billion in unspent homeland security money that has been there for over 2 years, unspent for local responders. There is no more important local response, or first response, than protecting our borders.

So with this legislation that we have coauthored, if a Governor calls up, takes command of these forces, again, trains them, puts them under the control of local law enforcement, working with the border patrol, that $6.8 billion is then eligible to flow to pay for the cost of equipping, training, deploying these forces as well as building temporary housing, detention facilities, for these individuals until they would be turned over to Federal authorities. And those Federal authorities must then determine that they are not a violent criminal, a dangerous criminal, or a potential terrorist. If they are not, they will simply be returned to their country of origin from which they entered the United States.

Mr. Speaker, I would also point out that Nuevo Laredo is almost in a full-scale war with drug smugglers and human smugglers. The new police chief in Nuevo Laredo was shot dead his first day on the job. The border with Mexico right now is essentially wide open. We have a serious problem with criminals and potential terrorists entering the country and hiding among all the people coming into the U.S. looking for work.

We must protect our borders. We will never win the war on terror until we truly protect our borders; and this legislation, which we have coauthored with 44 other Members of the House, uses a mechanism the Constitution gives us so that honest, law-abiding American citizens who want to participate, who want to serve in a lawful, legitimate way to help protect our borders can do so. By volunteering to serve in the Border Protection Corps, they will be reimbursed for their time, their equipment, their training, their travel costs; but they will truly be volunteers.

By the way, any eligible U.S. citizen from any of the 50 States can serve in the Border Protection Corps. This is a national call-up under Congress' power to call up a militia. These individuals from any of the 50 States could come to Texas. The Governor of Texas is very interested in this program and interested in implementing it. We have had the Texas Rangers for many years, and it often took, as the expression was, ``One Ranger, one riot.''

We have in Texas a long, as does the country, a long honorable tradition of citizens volunteering to serve in militia forces. This bill, which we have filed, legitimizes that under the Constitution and allows American citizens to participate in a way that is lawful, legal, under the control of law enforcement authorities in a way to protect our borders and our kids from terrorists sneaking into the country and freeing America from one of the four freedoms that President Roosevelt talked about: freedom from fear.

Because until we protect our borders, we will never win the war on terror and never truly be free from fear. I thank the gentleman for the time and for his support on this important legislation, as well as his leadership in the effort to protect our borders.

Mr. Speaker, I thank the gentleman for yielding me time and for bringing this bill to the floor in an expeditious fashion. I want to thank the committee members. I want to thank my 291 co- sponsors. I especially want to thank an extraordinarily able member of the gentleman's staff, Joe Pinder, who has done a superb job in helping prepare this bill for this floor.

It is indeed appropriate that the Congress recognize the 50th anniversary of the creation of the National Aeronautics and Space Administration and the Jet Propulsion Laboratory with this commemorative coin set for the year 2008 here about 24 hours away from America's return to space with our launch tomorrow afternoon of the Space Shuttle Discovery, which will go from zero to Mach 25 in 8 minutes and 30 seconds into Earth's orbit tomorrow and just a short week after the Jet Propulsion Laboratory again showed the world the technological prowess of America's space program by hitting a comet for the very first time and exposing its inner workings to the eyes of scientists.

It was, in fact, on January 31 of 1958 that the American space program began with the launch of the first U.S. satellite, Explorer 1, which was built and controlled by the Jet Propulsion Laboratory, under the guidance of the United States Army in response to the Soviet Union's launching of Sputnik. The United States responded very quickly, and before the year was out, the Congress had created the National Aeronautics and Space Administration on December 3, 1958. JPL was then transferred over to the control of NASA. And since that time, JPL and NASA and the United States have gone on to explore our entire solar system with the help of the Hubble Space Telescope, the Spitzer Space Telescope.

We now have telescopes in orbit around the Earth that have identified up to 160 planets around other solar systems. NASA has discovered, as the chairman just mentioned, with the Mars Rovers that liquid water not only once existed on the surface of Mars, it appears that there are large frozen lakes on Mars. We have landed on the surface of the moon Titan. We not only landed men on the moon with the very successful Apollo program, but we are, under President Bush's vision for space exploration and the leadership of our new NASA administrator, Mike Griffin, rapidly moving towards the day very soon when men and women will return to the surface of the moon.

The accomplishments of NASA and the Jet Propulsion Laboratory are absolutely extraordinary, but this exploration has not come without risk or loss. As with all exploration that is new in pressing the frontiers, it is dangerous. Tragically, on January 27, 1967,

the three Apollo astronauts were killed in a fire on the launch pad of Apollo I. On January 28, 1996 the Space Shuttle Challenger was lost with its entire crew. And on February 1, 2003, the Space Shuttle Columbia and its seven-member crew were lost during reentry.

Therefore, in designing this set of coins, I have proposed in this bill that the centerpiece will be a $50 gold piece in high relief and proof honoring the lives of astronauts who have lost their lives in their exploration of space. On that $50 gold piece will be an image of the sun. Then arranged around it will be nine silver proof dollars, each one representing a different planet in the solar system and each one commemorating missions to that planet. And of course the silver dollar for the planet Earth on the reverse side will have a design emblematic to the Apollo missions as well as Earth orbital missions.

This commemorative coin set is just one small piece of ongoing work that Congress is doing in support of NASA. It is difficult to even measure the value of the work that NASA does in exploring outer space. Measuring the value of NASA's work today is a lot like the question facing Americans 200 years ago when the Lewis and Clark expedition was launched to explore the west. How could Americans then measure the value of all the minerals and animal species that the Lewis and Clark expedition would find? How can we today measure the value of the exploration and discoveries that will be made by NASA in the Jet Propulsion Laboratory?

Americans today are enjoying the value of the miniaturization of computers, medical technology, heart pumps, valves, power generators, image processing, cell phone technology, CAT scanners, MRI machines, pacemakers. All of these extraordinary technological innovations are the result of work on our space program.

Mr. Speaker, I am very proud to be the author of this legislation.

Mr. Speaker, will the gentleman from Louisiana yield for the purpose of entering into a colloquy?

Mr. Speaker, I would ask the chairman of the subcommittee, is it his understanding that a major purpose of commemorative coin legislation is to produce coins that commemorate particular institutions, individuals, or places, allowing both collectors and other citizens who are fans of the person or thing being commemorated to buy coins at a reasonable cost?

Is it further the gentleman's understanding that the Congress has received complaints from citizens who want to buy such commemorative coins claiming that, particularly for the more sought- after coins, that professional coin dealers buy up large numbers of those coins and sets, and then turn around and resell them to the public at a marked-up price?

Would the gentleman also agree that it is the intent of Congress, through this legislation, that as many people as possible have an equal opportunity to buy these commemorative coin sets or individual coins once the Mint initially issues them?

Then I am sure the gentleman would also agree with me that the Mint should be very careful, take as much care as possible with all high-demand commemorative coin issues, but particularly with coin sets produced under this act, to sell no more than 10 complete sets of any issue to any individual, whether the purchase is made by that individual or through straw buyers.

I thank the gentleman, and would the gentleman yield further?

As the gentleman knows, the legislation under consideration by the House today would devote a portion of the surcharge income produced by the sale of these coins to provide not only funds for the NASA Family Assistance Fund, but also the initial funding for a stand-alone museum of money in Washington, DC, as a part of the Smithsonian Institution.

And as the gentleman also knows, the National Numismatic Collection of the Smithsonian is not currently on display, except for a few coins or currency in various exhibits related to the coins or currency or to the images displayed on them. Would the gentleman agree with me that the numismatic collection, one of the largest and best of its sort in the world, should be displayed in its own building here in Washington, in such a way that helps people understand not only the history of commerce and coins and currency in the United States but also the history of this country's development?

Would the gentleman further agree that the numismatic collection would best be displayed in a separate museum here in Washington, not as a subset or subsidiary of any existing Smithsonian museum, but that such a museum could also display examples of other forms of exchange of value, from barter and wampum to coins and currency of other countries, to electronic transfers of value, along with demonstrations of how coins and currencies are produced in its own stand-alone museum here in Washington, D.C.?

Does the gentleman agree that such a museum's exhibits could be kept vital by constant development of traveling exhibits to museums around the country, including those of the American Numismatic Association, the American Numismatic Society, and perhaps, if it is constructed, a museum in the old Mint in San Francisco?

Mr. Speaker, I thank the gentleman for this colloquy.

Mr. Speaker, it is a collaborative effort. There are thousands of scientists and engineers at NASA and the Jet Propulsion Laboratory and across the country and scientists around the world who participate in these missions.

I also want to point out that this set of coins will contain metal that was recovered from spacecraft that actually flew in space. So some portion of each coin will contain metal that flew in space. There will be a certificate to that effect. The money will go to the support of the families, and it will also go to the support of the Air and Space Museum and for the creation of a money museum. The coins are expected to generate quite a bit of revenue, and, therefore, it will be a benefit to the families who have lost loved ones.

But above all, Congress has expressed its strong support for NASA. I am proud to serve on the Committee on Appropriations, Subcommittee on Science. The gentleman from Virginia (Chairman Wolf) is a strong supporter. This House has supported increased funding for NASA in a vote on this floor just weeks ago.

So in addition to this coin, Congress has expressed our tangible support for NASA and their mission with increased funding.

As this coin is brought into production in 2008, we do not know what the future holds, but I am confident it holds immense promise. Just as the Lewis and Clark expedition brought unknown and immense benefits to the Nation, the American space program will continue to bring incredible growth in our economy as a result of technological spinoffs. The unparalleled growth we have seen in worker productivity in America is a direct result of improvements in high technology and communications and scientific and medical research.

Thomas Jefferson, my hero, always said freedom is the firstborn child of science, and there is no better way for America to express our pride and our confidence in our Nation's space program than by commemorating their 50th anniversary with this coin set in the year 2008.

Mr. Chairman, the gentleman from Wisconsin is correct. The country is on the brink of scientific illiteracy. I join the gentleman from Wisconsin, our ranking member, and our chairman in strongly opposing this amendment.

I want to reiterate something Chairman Wolf said which is vitally important. The National Science Foundation is of strategic importance to the future prosperity of the United States. We have three appropriations bills that deal with the defense of this country; one obviously the defense bill, homeland security, and then this bill which invests in the future prosperity of the country by investing in fundamental research and development through the National Science Foundation. The American Association for the Advancement of Science has shown with future projections that the purchasing power of research and development investments are expected to decline over the next 5 years.

The chairman has put together a superb bill that increases funding for the National Science Foundation, not the level we need to be because of our suballocation, but we are moving in the right direction. If we do not do so, other nations will pass us by. China is now graduating 300,000 engineers per year versus 71,000 in the United States. China's high tech output has shot up eightfold over the 1990s, while ours has only doubled. We need to reject this amendment and continue the growth in investment in research and development through the National Science Foundation.

Mr. Chairman, I rise in strong opposition to this amendment. I would point out to the Members of the House that this subcommittee has restored more than $1 billion in proposed cuts to State and local law enforcement. There is a total of $2.6 billion provided for crime-fighting initiatives, and the bill restores programs like the SCAAP program, $355 million to reimburse States for housing and detaining criminal aliens; $334 million for juvenile delinquency prevention; $387 million for Violence against Women.

This bill does a good job of restoring proposed cuts in law enforcement, and the amendment, if it were adopted, would be devastating to our Nation's space program.

America's space program today is still in the age of sailboats. We are using chemical rocket technology that was originally developed by Robert Goddard in the 1920s, and the only research program out there that is developing the next generation of rocket propulsion that will allow us to explore the outer solar system, that will allow us to go on to explore other solar systems around other stars, is Project Prometheus. It is the only research program out there to develop ion or thermal emission propulsion systems. The new Administrator at NASA has directed it to allow us to do research to develop nuclear surface power for our lunar missions.

If this amendment were adopted, it would devastate and damage severely NASA's ability to protect our astronauts from radiation hazards that they are all exposed to in outer space. The majority leader is right about that.

The People's Republic of China, Mr. Chairman, recognizes the importance of investing in outer space. If we adopt this amendment, we are allowing the Chinese to continue to move rapidly ahead in space exploration. The Chinese are not slowing down. They are going to be launching a lunar rover. They are going to be launching a lunar orbiter.

I urge Members to oppose this amendment so we can continue to invest in the future of manned and unmanned space exploration.

Mr. Chairman, I serve on this subcommittee, and in every single hearing the gentleman from Virginia (Chairman Wolf) brought up the problem of fighting meth labs. In fact, this committee has tripled the request the President made for fighting meth abuse from $20 million to $60 million.

There is $348 million in this bill for the Byrne-Justice Assistance Grant programs. We cannot through the National Science Foundation even fund two out of five of the many grant requests that NSF receives. We are not making the investment necessary for a great country like the United States to protect our technological edge for the future.

The Chinese recognize the importance of investing in scientific research and in their space program. The Chinese will launch a lunar science orbiter in 2007. They will launch a lunar sample return mission in 2015. They will launch a lunar rover in about 2012. The chief scientist for the Chinese lunar program pointed out that the lunar exploration project will spur high-tech development in China, and I cannot calculate how much return there will be on that investment for the Chinese people.

I urge Members to vote against this amendment and support the bill laid out by the chairman as a wise investment in the future prosperity of the United States in science.