Floor Statements

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

Mr. Speaker, I rise in support of H.R. 390, the Preservation of Records of Servitude, Emancipation, and Post-Civil War Reconstruction Act, legislation which would establish a grant program, as outlined just a moment ago by Mr. Clay.

H.R. 390 would authorize the creation of a national database within the National Archives to include records of servitude, emancipation, and post-Civil War reconstruction held by Federal agencies. These records include: the Southern Claims Commission Records, Records of the Freedmen's Bank, Slave Impressment Records, Slave Payroll Records, and Slave Manifests.

Many of these records are not organized, catalogued, or well protected from the elements. H.R. 390 will not only make these documents more accessible to the public but will preserve them as well. H.R. 390 continues the important preservation efforts begun under the Freedmen's Bureau Records Preservation Act of 2000. The creation of a searchable database will help African Americans conduct genealogical research and learn more about their families' history.

In addition, the national database will help historians and others interested in the Civil War and post-Civil War eras to conduct research that promises to reveal more about the history and culture of the South and the African American experience. Similar records of servitude, emancipation, and post-Civil War reconstruction are held by local and State entities.

H.R. 390 authorizes the National Archives to provide grants to States, universities, and genealogical associations to digitally preserve their records through the creation of searchable databases. The digital preservation of these important historical documents and improved accessibility to them will ensure that they are available to future generations of Americans.

I think this is legislation that all my colleagues can support, and I urge support for H.R. 390.

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

Mr. Speaker, I simply want to commend the gentleman from California (Mr. Lantos) and the gentleman from Missouri (Mr. Clay) for their work on this very important legislation. It has been an honor for me to manage this for the minority.

Mr. Speaker, I have no other speakers. I urge support of H.R. 390, and yield back the balance of our time.

Madam Speaker, I rise today to congratulate the University of Tennessee Dance Team, located in my District, for winning their first ever Division IA National title.

On January 15th, 2007, the team competed against 17 other Division IA dance teams at the Universal Dance Associations College Nationals held at the Walt Disney World Resort in Orlando, FL.

The team was awarded an all expenses paid trip to the national competition after placing third in the qualifying round, based on a two minute video they submitted in October, 2006.

Although they placed 1st in semi-finals, the team knew their competitors would step up their performances in the next round. In the final round, Tennessee gave its strongest performance yet, leaving the crowd in awe and leaving no doubt in the minds of the judges who should receive the National title.

The team defeated the four time National Champions, the Minnesota Golden Gopher Dance Team, by a margin of more than 20 points.

The Tennessee dancers worked intensely to reach this never before attained goal, practicing up to three times a day over their holiday break.

The Tennessee Spirit program is the only program in the country to place in the top five in the Cheerleading, Mascot and Dance divisions.

I would also like to congratulate coaches Kelley Eidenmuller, Valerie Baxter and Spirit Coordinator Joy Postell on their exceptional work with this group of dancers.

Madam Speaker, in closing, I would like to call to the attention of my colleagues and other readers of the Congressional Record a recent article from utsports.com regarding the University of Tennessee Dance Team's outstanding achievement.

Tennessee Dance Team Captures First National Crown

Orlando, Jan. 14, 2007.--Tennessee's long elusive national

crown finally found its resting place in Knoxville as

Tennessee's Dance team captured its first national crown in

commanding fashion in the land of dreams and wishes.

At the Milk House in Orlando, Florida, Tennessee put on a

dominating performance before a packed house at the Wide

World of Sports Complex. Performing to ``Your House'' by

Alisa Morissette, the dance team performed to an Acapella

version of the song and simply rocked the house.

Co-Head Coach Kellie Edenmueller said this team knew this

was the material it would take to bring home the national

championship.

``We knew from the moment we put this together it had the

potential to bring us a national championship. Our girls

worked tirelessly and put together a great performance.''

Tennessee was not without their fans as more than 150 made

their way to the Milk House and turned the old can into a

home away from home. It was something this program has sought

for almost a decade.

``It is finally a breath of fresh air to win this national

title, both from a coaching standpoint and a coordinator of

trying to raise the bar,'' said UT Spirit Coordinator Joy

Postell. ``Repeatedly these squads have come here and have

left disappointed because they did not achieve their goal. To

finally achieve the goal, to represent your university and to

win the title is breathtaking and ecstatic.

``The feeling I have and pride I have that UT has allowed

me to have a phenomenal program to reach out to so many

spirit athletes. Not just athletics but in every aspect and

to bring notoriety to this university. At Tennessee we work

together as a team and cheer, dance, and mascot are all

emphasized as being winners and achievers. Everyone of these

teams is very supportive of the other. I am very fortunate to

have the tools the university provides me to succeed. For us

to reach the top five in every category is both not just a

personal goal but a goal of every athlete in this program.''

Tennessee was the only program in the nation to place in

the top five in the country in Mascot (5th place), Cheer (4th

place) and dance again in the Hip-Hop division with a 5th

place finish.

Tonight was truly magical and the young women made it

happen.

Mr. Speaker, I voted against going to war in Iraq when Congress voted on this in October of 2002, and I am opposed to sending more troops there now.

President Bush has said that he is going to listen mainly to his commanders. I wish he would listen to Specialist Don Roberts, 22, of Paonia, Colorado, now on his second tour in Iraq, who told the Associated Press, ``What could more guys do? We can't pick sides. It's almost like we have to watch them kill each other and then ask questions.''

Sergeant Josh Keim of Canton, Ohio, also on his second tour said, ``Nothing is going to help. It is a religious war and we are caught in the middle of it.''

Saddam Hussein was an evil man, but he had a total military budget a little over two-tenths of 1 percent of ours, most of which he spent protecting himself and his family and building castles. He was no threat to us at all.

But even before the war started, Fortune Magazine had an article saying that an American occupation would be ``prolonged and expensive'' and would make U.S. soldiers sitting ducks for Islamic terrorists.

Now we have had more than 3,000 young Americans killed, many thousands more wounded horribly, and have spent $400 billion and the Pentagon wants $170 billion more. Most of what we have spent has been purely foreign aid in nature: Rebuilding Iraq's infrastructure, giving free medical care, training police, giving jobs to several hundred thousand Iraqis, and on and on.

Our Constitution does not give us the authority to run another country as we have in reality been doing in Iraq. With a national debt of almost $9 trillion, we cannot afford it. To me, our misadventure in Iraq is both unconstitutional and unaffordable.

Some have said it was a mistake to start this war, but now that we are there we have to ``finish the job'' and we cannot ``cut and run.'' Well, if you find out you are going down the wrong way down the interstate, you get off at the next exit.

Very few pushed as hard for us to go to war in Iraq as did syndicated columnist Charles Krauthammer. Last week, he wrote that the Maliki government we have installed there cares only about making sure that the Shiites dominate the Sunnis. And he wrote, ``We should not be surging American troops in defense of such a government,'' Krauthammer wrote. ``Maliki should be made to know that if he insists on having this sectarian war he can well have it without us.''

There is no way we can keep all of our promises to our own people on Social Security, veterans benefits, and many other things in the years ahead if we keep trying to run the whole word.

As another columnist, Georgie Anne Geyer, wrote more than 3 years ago, ``Americans will inevitably come to a point where they will see they have to have a government that provides services at home or one that seeks empire across the globe.''

We should help other countries during humanitarian crises, and we should have trade and tourism and cultural and educational exchanges, but conservatives have traditionally been the strongest opponents to interventionist foreign policies that create so much resentment around the world. We need to return to the more humble foreign policy President Bush advocated when he campaigned in 2000.

We need to tell all these defense contractors that the time for this Iraqi gravy train with its obscene profits is over. It is time to bring our troops home, Mr. Speaker.

I wrote that in a column that ran last Friday in Tennessee's highest circulation newspaper, the Nashville Tennessean, but let me just add this: William F. Buckley, who has often been called the Godfather of Conservativism, wrote about 1\1/2\ years ago, ``A point is reached when tenacity conveys not steadfastness of purpose but misapplication of pride.''

Mr. Speaker, we cannot win a civil war between the Shiites and the Sunnis. There can be no victory for us in such a war.

Mr. Speaker, as a teenager I sent my first paycheck as a bag boy at the A&P grocery store as a contribution to the Barry Goldwater campaign. I have been a staunch conservative since high school. This war in Iraq went against every conservative position I have ever known. We need to return Iraq back to Iraqis and start putting our own people first once again.

Mr. Speaker, Haywood Harris and Gus Manning, two longtime friends of mine, host what is now the longest-running continuous sports radio program in America.

Their program is called ``The Locker Room'' and gives a scouting report on Tennessee's football opponent and a rundown of the day's other Southeastern Conference football games.

``The Locker Room'' has been on the air since 1961, and Gus and Haywood now have a combined 100 years covering Tennessee football.

Both men are members of the Tennessee Sports Writers Hall of Fame. Haywood Harris and Gus Manning are two of the most popular, most respected men in Tennessee.

I would like to call to the attention of my colleagues and other readers of the Record the story about ``The Locker Room'' that was published in the Knoxville News Sentinel on August 29.

Still Talking Up Vols

(By Mike Strange)

A time traveler from the 1960s would be astounded at the

changes in college football.

The size and speed of the players, not to mention their

ethnicity. Their Star Wars-like equipment. (I know, ``Star

What?'' our traveler would ask).

The doubledecked, bowled-in stadiums with luxury boxes. And

let's not even get started with the media blitz.

How comforted, then, our traveler would be to turn on the

radio a couple of hours before kickoff in Knoxville and find

two familiar friends.

The world around it may have exploded, but ``The Locker

Room'' has stayed virtually the same for all of its 45 years.

While Andy, Barney and Aunt Bee live on in ageless, endless

black-and-white reruns, Gus Manning and Haywood Harris remain

real-life icons of Tennessee football.

Their game-day radio show ``The Locker Room'' is billed (by

them) as the longest-running continuous sports radio program.

in America.

``And who's to dispute it?'' Harris said.

The format hasn't deviated noticeably since it first aired

in 1961. Manning and Harris give a scouting report on

Tennessee opponent. The opponent's publicity director is

always the guest. Manning reviews the day's SEC games.

Manning, 83, has been at UT since 1951, when he was hired

by General Robert Neyland to handle publicity. In 1961,

Manning recruited Harris to the publicity office.

Ever since, they've been radio partners, co-authors and

walking encyclopedias of Tennessee football.

Manning had a streak of attending 608 consecutive UT

football games until he slipped on some ice en route to the

2003 Kentucky game and had to go back home.

He and Harris, who allegedly retired in 2000 but still

works the press box on game day, were recently among the

initial class of inductees to the Tennessee Sports Writers

Association Hall of Fame.

Manning already had a radio show when the idea of ``The

Locker Room'' was born. Harris says they were ``talked into

it'' by the station WROL. After a couple of years, it

switched over to WIVK and has stayed there ever since.

``We've got good listenership partially because we've got a

captive audience,'' Harris said.

Focusing on the opponent makes sense. By Saturday,

everything that could possibly be said about the Vols has

long since bee run into the ground. Never has a visiting

publicist refused to do the show. Of course they haven't. Not

even Osama bin Laden would turn down Gus and Haywood.

``They know who their studs are,'' Manning said. ``We tell

(the audience) what to look for and then it actually

happens.''

The dean of guests is Claude Felton of Georgia.

``Two great things have happened in my career,'' said

Felton. ``Georgia winning the national championship in 1980

and being invited to be on `The Locker Room'.''

The show is actually taped on Thursday afternoon at WIVK.

However, Manning, Harris and their guests maintain the

illusion that broadcast is coming live on Saturday from the

actual locker room.

``I got 'em one year,'' said Kentucky's Tony Neely. ``I

said, `Hey, Gus, you all have done a great job remodeling the

locker room. New paneling, new paint, it smells great.'

``I went on and on about how nice it was and they finally

started laughing. It was hard to get back on track.''

Manning snorts at the notion that the show requires any

preparation. But don't believe him.

Harris lines up all the guests long before the opening

kickoff. And Manning comes armed with stats.

``He asks some very good questions,'' Harris said.

Here's a question. Not even these venerable hosts can go on

forever. Does ``The Locker Room'' have a long-range future?

``There's a lot of people would like to take it over,''

said Harris, ``but Gus and I won't give 'em a chance 'til we

have to.''

That's comforting to hear. So hear them while you can.

Mr. Speaker, Rev. J. Bazzel Mull, a true Tennessee legend and Southern gospel icon, passed away on September 5 at the age of 91.

Just five days later, he and his beloved wife, Elizabeth, would have celebrated their 62nd anniversary.

No couple could have been more loyal to each other than they were, and Rev. Mull's most famous line was ``ain't that right, Mrs. Mull?''

Rev. Mull served God and the people of East Tennessee throughout his life.

He brought enjoyment to millions through his television programs, his radio stations, and his live gospel music shows.

Through all this, as well as his personal testimony, cheerfully overcoming blindness, he led countless numbers to a closer walk with Jesus Christ.

He had a great sense of humor and once told me on his TV program that no one should be a mugwump. He said that was ``a fellow with his mug on one side of the fence and his wump on the other.''

This Nation is a better place today because of the life of Rev. J. Bazzel Mull.

I would like to call to the attention of my colleagues and other readers of the Record the story by Doug Mason which was published in the Knoxville News Sentinel on September 6.

[From KnoxNews, Sept. 6, 2006]

Southern Gospel Music Icon Dies at 91

(By Doug Mason)

``Ain't that right, Mizz Mull?''

The Rev. J. Bazzel Mull, who died Tuesday at age 91, may be

the most quoted man in East Tennessee.

For 60 years, his gravel-truck voice was a staple of

regional radio and TV, and his familiar query to his wife and

``Mull Singing Convention'' co-host was a much-mimicked

catchphrase to generations of East Tennesseans.

Elizabeth Mull was best known as ``Mizz Mull'' or ``Lady

Mull'' to listeners of the ``Mull Singing Convention''

broadcasts. The couple would have celebrated their 62nd

anniversary on Sunday.

J. Bazzel Mull (the ``J'' stood for Jacob) was born Oct. 4,

1914, in Burke County, N.C. He began preaching in 1939 and

moved to Knoxville in 1942, where he began a radio program on

radio station WROL-AM. Later, he was heard on WNOX-AM.

The Rev. Mull owned several East Tennessee radio stations

during his long career. At the time of his death, he was the

owner of gospel radio station WJBZ, Praise 96.3, in

Knoxville.

``The Mull Singing Convention,'' which moved to television

in 1956, is still broadcast at 7 a.m. Sundays on WVLT,

Channel 8. The program was seen on WBIR, Channel 10, before

moving a few years ago to WVLT.

``The Mull Singing Convention'' celebrated its 50th

anniversary in August. The Rev. Mull's grandson, Doug

Hutchison, said the program is confirmed as the longest-

running locally produced television show in the United

States.

Elizabeth Mull and daughter Charlotte Mull Hutchison now

host the program. The Rev. Mull withdrew from the TV show,

and from his Sunday evening preaching service on WJBZ, after

suffering a stroke about nine months ago.

Hutchison said his grandfather's stroke brought on

dementia. Several other strokes followed, including one about

a week and a half ago that left the Rev. Mull unresponsive.

He was moved from the hospital to a nursing home, where he

died at 4:30 a.m. Tuesday.

The Rev. Mull was a businessman who promoted Southern

gospel music concerts and published and distributed a series

of six ``Mull's Singing Convention'' songbooks. The latest

hymnal was published as ``Number 7'' in the series, even

though it followed edition No. 5.

``He didn't like the number 6,'' said Hutchison, who

explained that he doesn't know why (perhaps it was because

666 is the biblical Mark of the Beast).

``For a blind man to achieve as much as he did, he was

bound to have some eccentricities,'' said Hutchison, who

manages WJBZ and the other Mull family enterprises.

The Rev. Mull lost his sight at 11 months old, the result

of falling into an open-pit fire.

``Through his 20s he could tell daylight from dark,''

Hutchison said. ``But from his early 30s on, he was

completely blind.''

Hutchison said that many people didn't realize his

grandfather was blind. In public, he wore oversized glasses

with thick lenses--possibly to obscure the fact that he often

had his eyelids closed during his TV broadcasts, Hutchison

theorized.

``He was never one to bring to the forefront his

handicap,'' the grandson said. ``I talk to people still today

that did not know he was blind.''

Elizabeth Mull--who met her future husband at a church

revival in Lenoir City--was ``100 percent his eyes,''

Hutchison said.

``Everywhere they went, she drove him; she led him

everywhere.'' She also read the Bible to the Rev. Mull.

As a young man, it was sometimes Hutchison's job to guide

his grandfather to the microphone to emcee the gospel

concerts he promoted.

During the 1970s and early '80s, the Rev. Mull presented 60

to 75 concerts a year throughout the Southeast, Hutchison

said.

More recently, ``Mull Singing Convention'' concerts have

been limited to two per year at Governor's Palace in

Sevierville.

During his broadcast heyday in the 1960s and '70s, the Rev.

Mull was heard on a network of powerful radio stations that

carried his preaching and concerts coast-to-coast.

Family vacations were rare, said Hutchison, who said his

grandfather ``believed in work.''

Once, however, the family took a trip to the Bahamas, and a

waiter at a restaurant instantly recognized the Rev. Mull's

voice when he ordered a meal. The Bahamian was a regular

listener to the ``Mull Singing Convention,'' which reached

the islands via New Orleans radio station WWL.

J. Bazzel and Elizabeth Mull were inducted into the Gospel

Music Association Gospel Music Hall of Fame and the Southern

Gospel Music Association's Southern Gospel Hall of Fame.

The Rev. Mull presented top Southern gospel acts at his

concerts, including fellow Hall of Fame members the Chuck

Wagon Gang. Hutchison said his grandfather discovered the

group, moving it from Texas to Knoxville.

Like his good friend Cas Walker, the millionaire grocer and

politician who died in 1998 at age 96, the Rev. Mull truly

achieved the status of icon in his home region.

Most longtime Knoxvillians have a J. Bazzel Mull story to

tell, or at least have uttered a gravelly ``Ain't that right,

Mizz Mull?'' at some point in their lives.

The Rev. Mull had personality, his grandson said. ``He

loved to laugh and he loved to preach. And he would mix the

two. He'd tell a joke to break the ice, then he would preach

to you before you knew what happened.''

That voice the Rev. Mull's extended neighbors knew so well

and loved to imitate was naturally his own, his grandson

said. ``He never smoked; he never drank, nothing. That was

just his voice. And it was very distinctive.''

WJBZ will pay tribute to the Rev. Mull all this week.

Listeners and gospel music artists will share their memories

on air.

The funeral service will be Thursday at Mann Heritage

Chapel, 6200 Kingston Pike.

Receiving of friends will be 2-4 p.m. and 5-8 p.m., with a

service following. The Revs. Mike Ramage and Dino Bray will

officiate.

The burial service will be 11 a.m. Friday in Lenoir City.

Internment will be at Lakeview Cemetery at Lenoir City Park.

``Its hard to be sad for him at 91,'' Hutchison said of his

grandfather's death. ``The sorrow is for us, the joy is for

him. He can see now and the first thing he had ever seen was

the face of Jesus.''

Mr. Speaker, I ask unanimous consent to take from the Speaker's table the bill (H.R. 2864) to provide for the conservation and development of water and related resources, to authorize the Secretary of the Army to construct various projects for improvements to rivers and harbors of the United States, and for other purposes, with a Senate amendment thereto, disagree to the Senate amendment, and request a conference with the Senate thereon.

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

I am delighted we are moving to conference on the Water Resources Development Act. This is a very important piece of legislation that makes investments all around America. The projects in these bills will reduce transportation costs, protect our homes and businesses from damaging floods, and improve our environment for a better quality of life. The Water Resources Development Act is important legislation for the entire country.

The people of Louisiana and Mississippi suffered greatly from Hurricane Katrina last year. A great deal has been done by the Army Corps of Engineers to restore the hurricane protection works in the New Orleans area, but there is still much to do.

While I support the motion to instruct, I believe we have to recognize that there will be residual risk associated with any hurricane protection project we build. New Orleans needs to consider smart ways to rebuild that put fewer of their citizens at risk.

We also must recognize that the damaging effect of a hurricane is not measured strictly by its category, which basically measures wind speed. Other factors such as how fast it moves, how much rain is associated with it, what direction it takes, and how big a storm surge it is able to generate all contribute to whether a category five hurricane will be catastrophic or just very bad.

We are talking about protecting an important and unique region of our country, but we also have only a slight understanding at this point of how much money we will need to spend. It will certainly be tens of billions of dollars. And I will remind Members that there are other great cities in America at risk of flooding, some at higher risk than New Orleans.

While I would hope that there will be serious urban planning going on at the

local level, I believe we need a well-thought-out plan for additional hurricane protection in this region of the gulf. It must be a comprehensive plan that also recognizes the navigation needs of one of America's great ports and waterways as well as the ecological importance of the coastal marshes.

I want to assure Mr. Melancon that I will work in conference to make sure that the Corps of Engineers gets the authority it needs to provide the appropriate protection for coastal Louisiana and Mississippi

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

Mr. Speaker, Nancy Kerr, the founder of the first hospice program in Tennessee, was killed in a tragic accident on May 1.

I knew Nancy Kerr for a big part of my life. She was a staunch conservative and a strong supporter of both my late father and me.

She did not just talk about compassionate conservatism; she lived it.

She comforted more than 500 patients as they neared death and was doing this right up to the day of her death at age 80.

She was a wonderful woman, and this Nation is a better place today because of the love and kindness she gave to so many.

Sam Brown, a friend of mine, wrote a great article about Nancy Kerr for the August 27 edition of The Knoxville News-Sentinel.

I would like to call this article to the attention of my colleagues and other readers of the Record.

Nurses's World War II Work Laid Foundation for Future Hospice Care

(By Sam Brown)

It could have been a Hollywood movie.

She was a young, stunningly beautiful English nurse who

cared for wounded British and American troops in World War

II. Several dying soldiers called her an angle. Some said she

looked like Katharine Hepburn. She was 18 and a student nurse

when Allied forces stormed the beaches of Normandy, France.

She remembers D-Day well, comforting many wounded and dying

soldiers who were brought back from the front lines. After

the war, she married Jim Kerr of Knoxville after saying she

would never marry an American. She became the first hospice

nurse in the state of Tennessee.

This is not a Hollywood script. It is the story of Nancy

Wilkie Kerr.

She was born near Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, where she spoke

Malay and Chinese before she learned English. Kerr was 13 in

Southhampton, England, when World War II started. She lived

through German bombing raids and recalled when three British

Spitfires flew up to meet 20 German bombers. The air raid

sirens and the screams of the wounded were etched in her

memory. She wanted to help, so she became a nurse. During the

war, she worked 12-hour shifts for six weeks and got two days

off. Kerr once said, ``I look in the face of death every

day.''

It was invaluable experience for what was ahead in her

life.

In 1979, Kerr helped establish the first hospice program at

Fort Sanders Hospital. It was also the first program of its

kind in Tennessee.

I was anchoring television news for Channel 6 in 1979 and

heard about the hospice program. It intrigued me. I had never

heard of Elisabeth Kubler-Ross, who founded the concept in

England. Hospice is a medieval term meaning a stopping-off

point for weary travelers.

In 1969, Kubler-Ross wrote the book ``On Death and Dying.''

She presented the premise that the terminally ill go through

various stages from denial to acceptance as death closes in.

Hospice allows them to face death with dignity. Hospice tries

first and foremost to relieve pain with medication, to

prepare the patient for death both mentally and physically

and, if possible, to let the patient die peacefully at home.

Kerr felt the terminally ill should not die in a sterile

hospital room. In a span of 25 years, she comforted more than

500 families as their loved ones went through the stages of

death with dignity. Shortly after the Knoxville program

started, I did a two-part TV series on hospice with Kerr.

She told me, ``You become a definite part of each family

with which you work. Of course you get emotionally involved,

but we try to aim for what we call a `good death' where they

are tranquil and accepting. No joyous or euphoric but rather

accepting.''

Kerr died in May at the age of 80, just before her death,

she was still doing what she did best--nursing the sick and

terminally ill. And comforting their families. The tributes

poured in at her funeral.

Patty Loveday wrote in the guest book, ``She helped us

through two long months of Mother's illness. We could never

have brought Mother home without her. She was truly a

wonderful nurse. We felt like she was part of the family,''

Nancy's number three son, Chris and his wife, Karen, carry

on her legacy with their company. Tender Hearts Support

Services, which provides companionship for the elderly with a

hospice approach. ``We are trying to keep Mother's mission

alive. She was truly a remarkable woman,'' Chris Kerr said.

Ironically, Nancy Kerr did not die in a hospice

environment. On the afternoon of May 1, 2006, she was killed

instantly in an auto accident on Alcoa Highway.

A friend at her funeral perhaps said it best. ``Heaven has

gained a new angel.''

Mr. Speaker, I am in strong support of H.R. 4804, the FHA Manufactured Housing Loan Modernization Act of 2006.

Manufactured homes play an important role in serving housing needs for many Americans, especially in the district I represent in East Tennessee.

I am very proud to have a leader in the manufactured housing industry, Clayton Homes, headquartered in my district. They are a company of integrity and are now operating in over 40 states across the country .

More and more people each year are moving into my district, which is one of the fastest growing areas in the country. I can understand why so many want to move there. It is a great place to live, raise a family or start a business.

All of this growth is contributing to a crisis in affordable housing. Manured home prices have increased over 50 percent since 1992. In 1992 FHA Title I insured over 30,000 Title I loans. In 2004, that number was below 2,000.

Options for financing manufactured homes are very limited. Today, there are only two private lenders that participate in the FHA program. This bill will encourage more private sector participation, creating more competition with lower interest rates and costs.

The bill increases the amount that can be insured on a loan. It removes a cent portfolio cap that only allows 10 percent of the dollar value of the lender's portfolio to be insured.

Under the proposed system in H.R. 4804, a practical program will encourage more private sector participation and increase accessibility to manufactured home loans. Making these loans more accessible will help many get out of a renting situation.

This bill will allow many a chance to own a home, a very important part of the American dream. I urge my colleagues to support H.R. 4804.

Mr. Speaker, I thank the gentleman from Texas for yielding me this time and for managing this resolution and for his comments, as well as those of our distinguished colleague from Missouri.

Mr. Speaker, last October, I introduced House Resolution 498, which supports the goals and ideals promoted by School Bus Safety Week. This bill certainly has bipartisan support with 62 cosponsors. Also, all three national school bus associations are in support of this resolution: the National Association of Pupil Transportation, the National Association of State Directors of Pupil Transportation, and the National School Transportation Association.

America's 480,000 school buses comprise the largest mass transportation fleet in the country, 2\1/2\ times the size of all other forms of mass transportation, transit, intercity buses, commercial airlines, and rail combined.

During the school year, school buses make more than 50 million passenger trips daily. School Bus Safety Week, which is celebrated in more than 40 States and sponsored by the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, was created to remind all students of the best ways to get on and off the bus and of other ways to enhance the safety of our Nation's children.

According to the National Academy of Sciences, an average of 820 students are killed annually during school transportation hours, but less than 2 percent of them are school bus passengers. Most of those killed are children aged 5 to 7, and most often those children are killed in the area immediately surrounding the bus, either by a passing vehicle or occasionally by the bus itself.

While school bus transportation is eight times safer than traveling in a passenger vehicle and is the safest form of ground transportation available, unfortunately, accidents still happen. An average of seven school-age passengers are killed in school bus crashes each year, and an average of 19 children are killed getting on and off the bus each year.

Many of our communities honor School Bus Safety Week through local and State poster and speech contests, lessons utilized in School Bus Safety Community Awareness kits and other activities built around themes that raise awareness of school bus safety issues.

It is my hope that our children will be safer than ever before, and that our children will safely get on and off and travel on these school buses each day, and that drivers in our communities will be mindful of the laws designed to protect our Nation's school bus passengers.

This is a business dominated by individuals and very small businesses. Most school bus drivers are stay-at-home moms, retired people or others who need some part-time income. They do a really outstanding job and provide a great community service in helping keep our school children safe, and H. Res. 498 will help promote and improve that safety even further.

Madam Speaker, I urge passage of this resolution.

Mr. Speaker, I thank the gentleman from Georgia for giving me this time, and I rise in strong support of this bill by the gentleman from Iowa (Mr. Leach) and the gentleman from Virginia (Mr. Goodlatte) and the rule which brings this bill to the floor. I am pleased to be a cosponsor of this legislation, which by the way, in case there is any confusion, has nothing whatsoever to do with the minimum wage.

We just heard a few minutes ago a very detailed explanation of this legislation by the gentleman from Virginia (Mr. Goodlatte), one of the primary sponsors to deal with this, what he described as a $12 billion industry growing very rapidly, this problem of Internet gambling. This bill, this legislation, is a very reasonable and rational response to what is a very fast-growing national problem.

For the past 40 years or so, governments at all levels have been shrinking the tax base by taking more and more property off the tax rolls. At the same time, demands for more and more funding from all government agencies has been growing. Governments at all levels have turned to gambling in a desperate attempt to raise more revenue. Many States now promote lotteries or even allow casinos or other forms of gambling.

This sounds great, of course, for a politician to create a park, but we have now taken so much land off the tax rolls that we continuously hear about shortfalls in funding for every government activity. Half the land is now in some type of public or quasi-public ownership.

But gambling should not be the answer, Mr. Speaker. Several million people already are addicted to one form of gambling or another. This problem is going to grow, and many families will suffer if government keeps promoting gambling, and especially if it can be done by pushing a few buttons in the privacy and comfort of a home.

The Internet is addictive for many people, anyway, and online gambling can be doubly addictive. We need to put modest and reasonable limitations in place on Internet gambling, and this bill does that.

I urge its support.

Mr. Chairman, I want to thank and commend Chairman Pombo for this bill.

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

Mr. Chairman, I rise in support of the Deep Ocean Energy Resources Act. Simply put, the DOER Act is a matter of both out national security and our economic security. Over the last couple of years gasoline and natural gas prices have skyrocketed.

More and more people are finding it harder to pay for the gas to fill up their tanks just so they can get to work to provide for their families. Lower income citizens are having trouble paying their utility bills.

We have been blessed with relatively low inflation rates that date back to the Reagan Administration. However, now in recent months, the Federal Reserve is constantly rising interest rates due to inflation, largely caused by rising energy costs.

When businesses have to raise their prices to pay for their energy bills, those increased costs get passed on to consumers. that is just simple economics.

At one of our hearings in the Resources Committee we were told that the United States is the only country in the world that forbids safe energy production on its Outer Continental shelf. If environmentalists will not let us drill offshore or in areas within the Country, from where are we supposed to get our energy? this makes us more vulnerable to foreign energy producers.

It also drives up prices and hurts poor and lower income and working people most of all.

We are forced to seek supplies overseas in politically unstable areas of the world such as the Middle East, Nigeria and Venezuela. Now we are told that the President of Venezuela wants to work with Castro's Cuba and the Chinese and drill for energy in Cuban waters that are close to Florida, so Cuba can drill close to Florida, but we can't.

America has proven oil and gas reserves that we have locked up. We can no longer afford that luxury. the DOER Act would allow us to increase the supply of domestic oil and gas and improve the prospects for a more affordable energy future.

Mr. Speaker, I rise today to pay tribute to Gloria Garner, a 38-year veteran of the Knoxville Area Urban League. Her efforts will be long remembered and continually missed.

Gloria spent her 38 years of service with the goal of helping others help themselves. She is a great example of how individuals in our communities can make a difference in the lives of others.

I commend Gloria Garner for all that she has done for the men, women, and children of Knoxville. I wish her all the best in her future life, and am hopeful that others will stand in to follow in her path.

I would also like to include in the Record a June 16, 2006 article in the Knoxville News-Sentinel about Gloria's retirement and career for all of my colleagues, constituents and readers of the record, so that they can more fully understand her dedication.

Heart of the Urban League; Gloria Garner Retires After 38 Years With

Knoxville Affiliate

(By Chandra Harris)

A walking encyclopedia chock-full of Knoxville Area Urban

League facts, Gloria Garner is clearing out her bookshelves.

Retiring after 38 years with the league, Garner doesn't

need a book to recount the history of the league because she

is the history of the league.

The vice president of community affairs has held every

position there is and was at the league since starting there

months after its inception in 1968.

A handful of moves for the Urban League came before

settling at East Fifth Avenue. But Garner was never moved to

leave.

And four presidents came and went. Garner stepped in as

interim director while the search was on for the next

president.

When money was tight and staff was short, Garner's smile

and tenacity remained steadfast through 40-plus-hour weeks.

She held onto the words of the national president from

1961-1971, Whitney M. Young, Jr.: ``Every man is our brother,

and every man's burden our own.''

``Where poverty exists, all are poorer. Where hate

flourishes, all are corrupted. Where injustice reigns, all

are unequal.''

Garner said she stood in then and will continue to stand in

to bridge the gap of social and economic development in

minority communities.

Even as she is dusting off her desk and packing up, she is

still telling strangers and friends alike that they need to

join the Knoxville affiliate of the National Urban League.

``Once an Urban Leaguer, always an Urban Leaguer,'' she

said during a celebratory reception in her honor Thursday

night at the University Club.

While she may no longer have an office to call her own come

next Thursday, her official last day, Garner said, ``I will

still be around helping wherever I can.''

``When you have a passion for what you do, you want to work

hard.''

The on-time Head Start teacher who dreamt of becoming a

nurse or joining the military still found a way to help

people.

``There are people in jobs today that I had a hand in, and

that's a good feeling,'' Garner said.

``The Urban League is my family and I was busy helping

people,'' said the mother of five adult children when asked

why her tenure was such a long one.

Without her insight through the years, there wouldn't have

been a foundation of the league, Ernest Fulton and Douglas

Upton said.

Fulton and Upton both worked with Garner in the early days

of the league.

``She has a way with people,'' Upton said. ``She connects

with people.''

And that was apparent Thursday night as dozens, including

Knoxville Mayor Bill Haslam and Vice Mayor and former Urban

League President Mark Brown, offered encouragement and shed a

few tears.

``We can't fill her shoes,'' said Phyllis Nichols, league

president and CEO.

Life after checking into the Urban League some mornings at

7 for Garner will be filled with lunch dates, ``some good

movies and relaxing travels,'' she said.

Grandson Kody Wills summed it up: ``That's my granny and

she's a star.''

Mr. Speaker, I request unanimous consent to speak out of order and assume the time of Mr. Burton.

Mr. Speaker, I requested this Special Order to read a statement that I earlier placed in the Record during the debate on the Iraq war resolution.

I did not request time during the debate because it was obvious that the chairmen controlling the time, all good friends of mine, wanted only speakers who support the war, and I did not want to place them in an uncomfortable position.

I did not request time from the Democrats because many of my colleagues in the minority were using this debate in a bitterly partisan way. Surely, war should be the last thing that should become partisan.

Yet 80 percent of the House Republicans, including me, voted against the bombings in Bosnia and Kosovo when President Clinton was in the White House. I believe 80 percent of Republicans would have opposed the war in Iraq if it had been started by President Clinton or Gore, and probably almost all the Democrats would have then been supporting it, as they did the bombings in Bosnia and Kosovo.

Much of the resolution that was just passed by this House contains language that everyone supports, especially the praise for our troops. Our troops do a great job everywhere they are sent. And it is certainly no criticism of them to criticize this war.

In August of 2002, 2 months before Congress voted for the war in Iraq, Dick Armey, then our Republican majority leader, in a speech in Iowa said, ``I don't believe America will justifiably make an unprovoked attack on another nation. It would not be consistent with what we have been as a Nation.''

Jack Kemp wrote before the war, ``What is the evidence that should cause us to fear Iraq more than Pakistan or Iran? Do we reserve the right to launch a preemptive war exclusively for ourselves, or might other nations such as India, Pakistan or China be justified in taking similar action on the basis of fears of other nations?''

Mr. Kemp said, based on the evidence he had seen, there was not ``a compelling case for the invasion and occupation of Iraq.''

William F. Buckley wrote that if he had known in 2002 what he knew then in 2004, he would have been against the war. Last year he wrote another column against the war, saying, ``A point is reached when tenacity conveys not steadfastness of purpose, but misapplication of pride.''

The very popular conservative columnist, Charley Reese, wrote that this war was ``against a country that was not attacking us, did not have the means to attack us, and had never expressed any intention of attacking us. And for whatever real reason we attacked Iraq, it was not to save America from any danger, imminent or otherwise.''

Many years ago, Senator Robert Taft expressed a traditional conservative position: ``No foreign policy can be justified except a policy devoted to the protection of the American people, with war only as the last resort and only to preserve that liberty.''

Millions of conservatives across this Nation believe this war was unconstitutional, unaffordable and worst of all, unnecessary. It was waged against an evil man, but one who had a total military budget only two-tenths of 1 percent of ours.

We are not going to be able to pay all our military pensions, civil service pensions, Social Security, Medicare and all the other things we have promised if we are going to turn the Department of Defense into the Department of Foreign Aid and attempt to be the policeman of the world.

This is contrary to every traditional conservative position on defense and on huge deficit spending. The conservative columnist Georgie Ann Geyer wrote, ``Critics of the war against Iraq have said since the beginning of the conflict that Americans, still strangely complacent about overseas wars being waged by a minority in their name will inevitably come to a point where they will see they have to have a government that provides services at home, or one that seeks empire across the globe.''

Mr. Speaker, a few days ago I found out that a rating service called voteview.com which studies all of our votes from the last Congress, 472 votes I think it was, from last year, in this Congress, rated me as the sixth most conservative Member of this body. And yet I am steadfastly opposed to this war and I have been since the beginning.

Mr. Speaker, we need to start putting our own people first once again and bring our troops home, the sooner the better. And when somebody says we can't cut and run, I surely hope they don't mean that we should stay there forever.

Mr. Speaker, I request unanimous consent to place a statement concerning this resolution in the Record at this point.

Mr. Speaker, much of this resolution is language that everyone supports, especially the praise for our troops.

They do a great job everywhere they are sent, and it is certainly no criticism of them to criticize this war.

In August of 2002, two months before Congress voted for the war in Iraq, Dick Armey, then our Republican Majority Leader, in a speech in Iowa, said:

``I don't believe America will justifiably make an unprovoked attack on another nation. It would not be consistent with what we have been as a Nation.''

Jack Kemp wrote before the war, ``What is the evidence that should cause us to fear Iraq more than Pakistan or Iran. Do we reserve the right to launch a preemptive war exclusively for ourselves or might other nations such as India, Pakistan or China be justified in taking similar action on the basis of fears of other nations?''

Mr. Kemp said, based on evidence that he had seen, there was not ``a compelling case for the invasion and occupation of Iraq.''

William F. Buckley wrote that if he had known in 2002 what he knew then in 2004, he would have been against the war.

Last year he wrote another column against the war saying: ``A point is reached when tenacity conveys not steadfastness of purpose but misapplication of pride.''

The very popular conservative columnist Charley Reese wrote that the war was ``against a country that was not attacking us, did not have the means to attack us, and had never expressed any intention of attacking us, and for whatever real reason we attacked Iraq, it was not to save America from any danger, imminent or otherwise.''

Many years ago, Senator Robert Taft expressed the traditional conservative position: ``No foreign policy can be justified except a policy devoted to the protection of the American people, with war only as the last resort and only to preserve that liberty.''

Millions of conservatives across this Nation believe that this war was unconstitutional, unaffordable, and, worst of all, unnecessary.

It was waged against an evil man, but one who had a total military budget only two-tenths of one percent of ours.

We are not going to be able to pay all our military pensions, social security, Medicare, and all the little things we have promised if we are going to turn the Department of Defense into the Department of Foreign Aid and attempt to be the policeman of the world.

This is contrary to every traditional conservative position on defense and requires huge deficit spending.

The conservative columnist Georgie Ann Geyer wrote: ``Critics of the war against Iraq have said since the beginning of the conflict that Americans, still strangely complacent about overseas wars being waged by a minority in their name, will inevitably come to a point where they will see they have to have a government that provides services at home or one that seeks empire across the globe.''

Mr. Speaker, we need to start putting our own people first once again and bring our troops home, the sooner the better.

Mr. Speaker, I ask unanimous consent to assume the time of the gentlewoman from North Carolina (Ms. Foxx).

Mr. Speaker, a few months ago, a columnist for the Scripps-Howard newspaper chain wrote a column saying that we were headed for a ``financial tsunami'' not long after the baby boomers start retiring in large numbers over the next few years. The reasons are really pretty simple.

First, we are trying to do way too much for other countries. We have spent $300 billion in the last 3 years in Iraq and Afghanistan, probably over half of it is just pure foreign aid. We have every department and agency in the Federal Government doing operations overseas, spending several hundred billion a year over there.

The liberal stand out here is that foreign aid was not popular so they will very possibly tell you that foreign aid is only 1\1/2\ percent of the budget. When we add up what all the departments and agencies are doing, it is just phenomenal how much we are spending in other countries.

I heard a news report recently that said the FBI has more offices in other countries than we have in the U.S.

Secondly, we have promised too much here at home in retirement and medical benefits.

Thirdly, we will not reduce defense or homeland security spending even though there is waste in those departments, just like all the other departments, and there just simply is not enough money to pay for all of it.

On January 26 of this year, the Congressional Budget Office said the Federal deficit for this fiscal year, which ends September 30, will be around $360 billion. Some people say it will be much higher than that, and similar amounts, $350 billion to $400 billion for each of the next 10 or 11 years.

All of this comes on top of the national debt that is already $8.3 trillion

and headed up very quickly. Our government, in just a few years, will not be able to pay all of the military pensions, the civil service pensions, the Social Security, the Medicare, the Medicaid, and the new prescription drug benefit. We have guaranteed 44 million private pensions through the Pension Benefit Guaranty Corporation. We will just not be able to pay all those things with money that means anything.

But what we will do, we will do what governments all over the world have done in similar situations, and we will simply begin printing more money. This will cause Social Security and all those government and private pension plans to buy less each year.

It doesn't work. It is like a ball headed downhill. Its starts out slow and gathers speed. When this money supply gimmick does not do enough, pensions will have to be cut. Anyone who is relying just on Social Security for his or her retirement will face tremendous financial hardship.

All of this could be avoided if the Congress would become much more fiscally conservative and do it now. However, because there are too many liberal big spenders in the Congress, and because it is unpopular to say ``no'' to anyone, the Congress could not even, late last year, pass a $50 billion slowdown in spending spread over the next 5 years. The overall reduction was reduced to $39.5 billion, with the bulk of the reductions put off until the fourth and fifth years. The plan that was passed did not cut spending, it simply slowed the rate of growth, barely. But, of course, even that very meager effort at fiscal restraint could be changed by the next Congress.

Now, let me go to a totally different topic, Mr. Speaker, another concern.

At the end of 1994, the conservative business magazine, Forbes, carried a lengthy article about the Justice Department. It said we had quadrupled the Justice Department since 1980, and that Federal prosecutors were falling all over themselves trying to find cases to prosecute. The article said people were being prosecuted for laws they didn't even know were in existence. And then the Congress, trying to prove it was tough on crime, has expanded the Department of Justice greatly since then.

In addition to all this expansion, we then passed a so-called PATRIOT Act to try to show strong opposition to terrorism. This was such a great expansion of government power and such an overreach that now approximately 400 cities and counties and seven State legislatures have passed resolutions against this act. Those who love big government love the PATRIOT Act.

The Federal Government, through the super-secret National Security Agency, in addition to the CIA, FBI, and about 12 other intelligence agencies, has more than enough power and ways and means to discover and prosecute terrorists. The Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act Court, created in 1978, approved 18,742 warrants for wiretapping and physical surveillance by the end of 2004. In the 5 years from 2000 to 2004, the court received 6,650 requests from the government and approved 6,642.

We will probably have another terrorist incident of some sort with or without the PATRIOT Act. We need to take reasonable precautions, but we also need to recognize that you are still hundreds of times more likely to be struck by lightning or to win a lottery than you are to be killed by a terrorist. Those in charge of all the many government programs which have sprung up to fight terrorism do not like to admit this because they want continual increases in funding. But, Mr. Speaker, we should not create some kind of a Federal police state in a huge overreaction to this threat.

It is sad that conservatives, who have always been the main opponents of big government, have gone along with this huge expansion of government power just because the word ``terrorism'' is used by every government agency to get more money and power.