Floor Statements

Mr. Speaker, I move to suspend the rules and agree to the concurrent resolution (H. Con. Res. 371) honoring and congratulating the Minnesota National Guard, on its 150th anniversary, for its spirit of dedication and service to the State of Minnesota and the Nation and recognizing that the role of the National Guard, the Nation's citizen- soldier based militia, which was formed before the United States Army, has been and still is extremely important to the security and freedom of the Nation.

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

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

Mr. Speaker, I rise today in strong support of H. Con. Res. 371 honoring and congratulating the Minnesota National Guard on its 150th anniversary. Since Minnesota's early days as a frontier territory, Minnesotans have stepped forward to protect and defend their fellow citizens.

Tracing their origins back to the Territorial Pioneer Guard, today's National Guardsmen continue to proudly serve their State and Nation in times of crisis and need. It is this dual service that makes the National Guard unique among our Nation's military services. Whether it is reinforcing levees along the Red River that borders Minnesota and North Dakota, patrolling the skies above New York City, or escorting supply convoys in Iraq, members of Minnesota's National Guard have answered the call of State and national leaders, as they have done for 150 years.

In recent years, unprecedented natural disasters have highlighted the Minnesota National Guard's traditional State role. In April 1997, heavy winter snowfall and unseasonably warm spring temperatures combined to cause massive flooding of the Red River which forced the evacuation of 50,000 citizens from Grand Forks, North Dakota. As we stand here today, Minnesota's National Guard is again moving to the Red River.

National Guardsmen and residents of both States struggled valiantly to keep the rising water at bay. Despite their best efforts that year, the river could not be contained. Floodwaters quickly breached the levee near Breckenridge, Minnesota, forcing its 4,000 residents to flee. In the midst of heavy rain, snow and 60-mile-an-hour winds, Minnesota National Guardsmen seamlessly switched from their engineering mission to rescue and evacuation operations. Residents of western Minnesota remember the destruction wrought by the floodwaters, later described as a once-in-500-years event; but they also recalled that Minnesota's citizen soldiers were there to assist them throughout the disaster.

In 2005, members of the Minnesota Guard were again called to the scene of a major natural disaster, and the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina soon developed into our Nation's largest evacuation and recovery operation.

Quickly overwhelmed by the devastating effects of the hurricane, the State governments of Mississippi and Louisiana urgently requested assistance, and Minnesota National Guard in conjunction with units from other States responded. C-130s from the St. Paul-based 133rd Airlift Wing hauled more than 600 passengers and 370 tons of cargo to the stricken States while Minnesota Army National Guard aviators transported over 400,000 pounds of sand bags to help reinforce the failing levees.

Since the tragedy of September 11, 2001, the Minnesota National Guard has also answered the calls of our national leadership to perform vital Federal missions.

Following the attacks on New York and Washington, D.C., F-16s from the Duluth-based 148th Fighter Wing provided combat air patrols over the two cities and deployed personnel and aircraft to an alert facility at Tyndall Air Force Base in Florida.

In the years since 9/11, Minnesota's Army National Guard has assumed key stabilization missions throughout the world.

Though the treaty that ended years of conflict in the Balkans bears the name of an Ohio city, soldiers from the Minnesota National Guard played a large role in implementing that peace. In 2003, over 1,000 soldiers from Minnesota took over peacekeeping operations in Bosnia, performing such vital missions as collecting weapons and identifying mine fields to protect the civilian population.

The Balkan peacekeeping mission was expanded in 2004 when 1,000 members of the 34th Infantry Division, the famed ``Red Bulls,'' deployed to neighboring Kosovo. I was privileged to witness the great work performed by Major General Erlandson and his Minnesota Guardsmen who served on the KFOR mission in Kosovo.

The camaraderie and experience gained in Bosnia and Kosovo has lived on as those two previous deployments volunteered to accompany and assist their fellow Guardsmen as the 1st Brigade Combat Team from the 34th Infantry Division moves out for duty in Iraq. Having just completed 6 months of training in Mississippi, the first BCT has now moved into theater to assume responsibility for stability operations in Iraq.

As the 2,600 Minnesotans travel into harm's way, we must commend and remember the three members of the Minnesota National Guard who preceded them and made the ultimate sacrifice last year in defense of our freedom, 1st Lieutenant Jason Timmerman, Staff Sergeant David Day, and Sergeant Jesse Lhotka.

As we honor the Minnesota National Guard today for 150 years of service, we would do well to heed the words taken from a speech Lieutenant Timmerman wrote for the Lake Benton High School Veterans Day Ceremony in 2003: ``Show respect to those who have served. Most important of all, show your gratitude by enjoying the freedoms and rights that so many service members have fought and died for. Don't let their deaths be in vein. Exercise your right to vote, your right to free speech, and be happy for your freedom to do as you wish.''

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

Mr. Speaker, I now take a great deal of pleasure in yielding 5 minutes to the author of this bill, the gentleman from Minnesota (Mr. Kennedy).

Mr. Speaker, I want to thank the gentlewoman for her kind words. And now I yield 4 minutes to the gentleman from Minnesota (Mr. Ramstad).

Mr. Speaker, I thank the gentleman for his kind remarks.

I would like now to yield 4 minutes to a real historian of this famous Minnesota National Guard, my colleague from the First District of Minnesota, Mr. Gutknecht.

Mr. Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may consume just to take a few seconds to extend my thanks to the gentleman from North Carolina and my colleagues from Minnesota for their support today of the Minnesota National Guard and their very kind remarks. I would urge all of my colleagues to support H. Con. Res. 371 and say happy birthday to the Minnesota National Guard.

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

I thank the gentleman for yielding and for his bringing this issue to the floor tonight and certainly his leadership over these months.

I just wanted to touch on a couple of points. I think it is important, as the gentleman from Georgia said, that we recognize there was a spirited debate on this bill, and not everyone in this House voted for it. There are still people today who think that it was a mistake when we added the prescription drug benefit to Medicare.

But I think the point to my colleagues, and I know that my good friend Dr. Gingrey would agree with me, and I hope that senior citizens across the country understand that we need to set that debate aside right now. We have a law in place that provides a tremendous benefit for our senior citizens, particularly our lower-income senior citizens.

I think that chart that Dr. Gingrey showed that says a total of 27 million seniors, 27 million seniors now have coverage under Medicare Part D, says an awful lot about the acceptance of this program, regardless of the heat and the debate that took place when this bill was passed.

I know that we now have registered for the Medicare prescription drug plan in Minnesota, in the Second District, 65,000 senior citizens, and that is a very, very good thing. We found early on, and I think my colleague probably did, that as we moved from the discount cards, which I thought were a tremendous benefit themselves, I know that my mother, who lives on Social Security and Medicare, has saved literally thousands of dollars with that interim program. When we moved from those cards to the sign up for Medicare Part D there was certainly confusion. Seniors were confused. Pharmacists were confused. Doctors were confused. It was not what we would call a smooth start.

Having said that, we have now moved past that rocky start, and seniors that have had the chance to look at this understand that it is really an important benefit for them.

We wanted to help, in my office, and I know many of my colleagues did this on both sides of the aisle. They held town hall meetings and workshops. We chose to have what we call sign-up workshops. We got some tremendous support from the Minnesota Board of Aging Senior Linkage Line provided volunteers to come and help us, help the senior citizens in Minnesota's Second District understand what their options were. We advertised the workshops. We had seniors call my office to make an appointment to come in for one-on-one counseling. And as these seniors came in and they sat down with experienced volunteers and members of my staff who have become quite expert on this, and they looked at the program that was offered in front of them and they looked at their list of medications that they are taking and that the options that were there, in case after case after case, they were able to make wise choices, and I don't know anyone who came to our workshops who didn't leave feeling that they had gotten the information they needed and were able to make a wise choice.

I have some quotes here that I just thought I would share with my colleagues here, and I know that Dr. Gingrey can empathize with this, and he experienced much of the same, I am sure, when he was working with the folks in Georgia. But just a couple of quotes. There is a man from Shakopee came to the workshop and he said, quote, ``I got an honest comparison and found out the plan I was leaning toward would cost twice what I could get. Now I can save $2,000 on a different plan.'' That is quite a bit.

Lady from Eagan said: It was wonderful. I wouldn't have known what to do or where to begin without that session. The woman that worked with me

was very knowledgeable and did all the computer work for me. She printed up the nine cheapest prescription drug coverages for me, and I can see already that I am going to save $100 a month. I was very, very pleased. And so forth.

Lady from Inver Grove Heights said: They were wonderful. They were extremely informative. In 45 minutes, they probably saved 8 hours of work and confusion.

These programs, if you just take the time to sit down with somebody who knows what they are doing, it is actually pretty easy to decide what plan is best for you. And we have seen that in case after case after case. And I very much regret that there are, in fact, some of our colleagues who are still perhaps upset over the bill itself and are not providing this kind of help and encouragement to the seniors in their district.

I know my mother, as I mentioned before, she was a beneficiary of the interim plan with the cards, and now we have got her signed up for this Medicare Part D and she is going to save thousands of dollars a year.

You can save a lot of money, and I hope that our colleagues will help the constituents in their districts, the senior citizens, understand the value of this program, set aside the bitterness of the debate that took place over the bill itself and recognize that this is a tremendous benefit, it can save their senior citizens hundreds and sometimes thousands of dollars, and help those seniors to sign up.

I don't know if the gentleman from Georgia is continuing with his workshops. I know we are. We have a couple more scheduled next month. We are looking at the schedule deadline. May 15 is the deadline for signing up for this prescription drug benefit, the Part D, without paying a penalty, suffering a penalty. So we are encouraging our seniors to sign up. We are scheduling some more of these workshops and encouraging them to come. The wonderful volunteers from Senior Linkage Line are going to be there to help us again. We hope that every senior will take a look at this option and decide whether it is for them or not. If they have any questions, we would love to help. I will yield back to the gentleman from Georgia here. I know that he has spent a lot of time helping seniors in his district in much the same way.

I am happy to yield.

If the gentleman would yield. I think it is fair to say so. We took a different approach in how we were going to reach out to the seniors. We sent them mail to alert them to what they were doing. We invited them to call our office and make appointments so they could get that one-on-one attention. But I am sure the gentleman will agree that back in January and early February, when there was a great deal of confusion, many seniors were afraid to get started. They didn't know where to start. And we found that by continually offering the opportunity for seniors to come in and get one-on-one help, that we moved through that. And I know that the gentleman from Georgia and most of my colleagues who have been working on this issue for some time have seen a change in the understanding and the attitude of not just seniors, but I think many of us who are at that stage in life where we are helping to take care of seniors.

You know, the gentleman from Georgia, I don't know if he has advertised what his age is. It is a matter of public record, as you know. But those of us that are in our 50s, many of us are in the position of having parents who are not as able to take care of themselves, and we are anxious to make sure that we are providing the best for them. And so I found that not just the seniors, but a lot of times, their children, I hesitate to think of myself as a child anymore, but those people who are responsible for the health care for their parents and elderly relatives have also come to understand that, with just a little bit of attention to this, it has proven to be a very good program that can save them hundreds and sometimes thousands of dollars. And I know that Dr. Gingrey knows that not only is it saving individuals money, but this whole process, the competition in this process, which was hotly debated and much discussed, has actually started to drive down the cost of those prescription drugs and the cost of the whole program to the taxpayer. So we are seeing competition work in the large scheme of things, a sort of macro economics. But we are also seeing a payoff in these examples that I read from constituents in my district of where it is helping the individual seniors, the elderly couple and those who are helping to take care of them. So a change in attitude, I think we are seeing everybody who has come to our workshop, whether they have signed up on the spot or just taken the information and gone home, has left very relieved that this is a program that can help them, and it is not nearly as scary as they thought a few months ago. And I will yield back to the gentleman.

If the gentleman would yield.

I thank the gentleman for yielding. You know I find that absolutely remarkable. I was just thinking, I could not help but smile to myself when the gentleman was pointing out that there is no such thing as a perfect bill. And I would argue that many times there is a perfect bill. It is perfect to me, but it is not perfect to my colleagues on the other side of the aisle, or I dare say sometimes not even to the gentleman from Georgia and vice versa. So we work these things out. We try to do the very best we can. Every large bill is going to have a flaw in it from one of our perspectives. There are some flaws in this bill from my perspective and I am sure from the gentleman's and from our colleagues. But I think what is very important, that we all understand, that our constituents understand and that our colleagues here understand is that debate is for now behind us. What we have now is the opportunity, with a deadline of May 15, for our constituents to see what is available to them and see if it can't save them money. And we are seeing in case after case after case of the now hundreds of people in Minnesota's Second District that it can save them money. It is saving them money. And if you are discouraging one of your constituents from looking into this program because you are unhappy with the bill, I would argue that you are doing them a great disservice. And I would argue that you are not doing your job as their Member of Congress

because that debate may come again another day. There will no doubt be changes in Medicare legislation as we go down the road. But for now, it is very important that we set that acrimony aside and make sure that our constituents know that they have a program here that can save them an awful lot of money. And I will be happy to yield back.

If the gentleman would yield, I think that is an excellent point. We sometimes forget that when we passed that bill, the one we have been discussing which was debated with some spirit, it was designed, it was designed to help seniors who are low income first; and I think that the implementation of this part D is showing that to be true. When we have low-income seniors come to one of our workshops and they are taking sometimes a passel of prescription drugs, they are saving thousands of dollars. That is what the bill was designed to do.

I remember a lot of the debate and discussion, and we talked about seniors who were forced into the terrible position of choosing whether to take a prescription drug or having the next meal or paying rent or perhaps arbitrarily choosing to cut their tablets in half. This part D for low-income seniors removes that. There is no low-income senior who should not be getting their prescription drugs with tremendous savings, virtually free in some cases, but saving lots and lots of money.

What we are finding very interesting is that there are thousands of middle-income seniors who, when they come to our workshop and look at the choices and they sit in front of that computer terminal where you can very quickly rate the different choices, they are seeing that they can save an awful lot of money and it is to their benefit.

If it is not to their benefit, certainly they can choose some other form. Perhaps they have private insurance or they have VA benefits or something. It may not be for them. But many are finding out that they can save money.

And so it goes back to the point the gentleman was making earlier. It is incumbent upon all of us, certainly the administration; some organizations like the AARP are working very hard to get this word out, and Members of Congress, our colleagues, to make sure that the citizens know that this is something that they ought to investigate.

And I know that we found early on and even last year when we were looking at the interim discount card that there are seniors who are not comfortable, frankly, sitting in front of a computer and going on line. Many are and I am always very heartened to see that. Some of them, in fact, are much more computer literate than I am. But in many cases they are intimidated, and that is why it is important that this help be offered to them, either in one of our workshops or yours, or there are other ways that you can get help.

Medicare, CMS itself, will be happy to provide help. Seniors can call 1-800-Medicare. There are ways that they can get help without having a computer and without having to sit down by themselves and try to figure this out.

So I encourage all of my colleagues to do everything they can to make sure that their constituents, their senior citizens, know that even if they are not low income, this is a program they ought to investigate.

Mr. Speaker, I rise today to recognize the nearly 8,000 Peace Corps volunteers who served in more than 70 countries across the globe last year. More specifically, to celebrate National Peace Corps Week, I would like to acknowledge the 30 Peace Corps volunteers in Minnesota's Second Congressional District who graduated from St. Olaf or Carleton Colleges, which annually are among the Nation's small college leaders in providing volunteers to the Peace Corps.

The Peace Corps, celebrating its 45th anniversary, provides practical assistance to host countries by sharing America's most precious resource, its people. I commend the Peace Corps volunteers for teaching those throughout the developing world how to build a better life for themselves, their children, and their communities.

We should take time to honor these selfless volunteers for their valuable service.

Mr. Speaker, I include for the Record a list of Peace Corps volunteers from Minnesota's Second District.

St. Olaf College

Kraig R. Lothe, Christopher D. Stillion, Sarah A. Chambers,

Elizabeth M. Kidd, Megan M. Gregory, Leah A. Gross, Anne E.

Fraser, Autumn A. Notter, Matthew M. Toburen, Leslie A.

Nechville, Colin T. Forman, Aaron D. Gerber, Erik N.

Peterson, Jenell C. Stewart, Kai M. Logan, Kari L. Lewis, and

Micheal J. Miller.

Carleton College

Susan E. Johnson, Katherine L. Jumbe, Nicholas Boekelheide,

Katherine M. Valaas, Robert A. Valaas, Jesse M. Lamarre-

Vincent, Sara A. Lehoullier, April K. Wilhelm, Nicholas R.

Kasparek, Theodore J. Stroomer, Carl G. Ebeling, Ambrosia D.

Mosby, and Elliot T. Hoel.

Madam Speaker, I thank the chairman for yielding.

I would like to echo my colleague from Georgia's comments on this important subject. I, too, come from a district full of hardworking airline employees that have genuine concerns about the future of their pension plan. Throughout this process, I have worked to ensure that we address this issue in a way that does two critical things: One, make sure airlines can continue to afford participation in their defined benefits system; two, support the policy priorities of our committee, the Education and the Workforce Committee, in our efforts to protect employees by making sure the promises they have been made are backed with well-funded pension plans.

Madam Speaker, I commend the chairman for all his work on this bill and ask for his continued good efforts on behalf of the airline industry as we go forward.

Mr. Speaker, I rise today in support of the Native American Technical Corrections Act of 2005, and I am especially pleased by the inclusion of the Prairie Island Conveyance Act of 2005, which addresses a critical issue for my constituents.

I extend my appreciation to the gentleman from California (Mr. Pombo) and the gentleman from Alaska (Mr. Young) for including my legislation in their bill and for its consideration today.

Upon being elected to Congress 3 years ago, I was approached by members of the Prairie Island Indian Community, located in Minnesota's Second Congressional District. The Prairie Island Indian Community has been working for years to transfer a section of land known as parcel D from the Army Corps of Engineers to be held in trust at the Department of Interior.

Parcel D, which contains 1,290 acres of the Prairie Island Community's homeland, was seized by the Department of War in 1934 with the promise it would one day be returned to them to welcome their ancestors home. This promise has not yet been fulfilled. Instead, the Department of War used the parcel D land to build a lock and dam on the Mississippi River, causing flooding across over 800 acres. These 800 acres, which remain underwater today, contain hundreds of burial mounds, 12 stone memorials, dozens of lodge circles, and 18 village sites of importance to the Prairie Island Community.

The leaders of the Prairie Island Indian Community have received the support of the nearby City of Red Wing and surrounding Goodhue County, as well as the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers and the Department of the Interior for their efforts to reclaim this ancestral land. I am pleased their efforts are finally close to being realized.

Mr. Speaker, I move to suspend the rules and pass the bill (H.R. 1790) to protect children and their parents from being coerced into administering a controlled substance or a psychotropic drug in order to attend school, and for other purposes, as amended.

Mr. Speaker, I ask unanimous consent that all Members may have 5 legislative days within which to revise and extend their remarks and include extraneous material on H.R. 1790.

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

Mr. Speaker, I rise today in support of H.R. 1790, the Child Medication Safety Act. This common sense legislation will prevent school personnel from forcing parents to medicate their children in order to remain in the classroom.

I would first like to thank Chairman Boehner and Speaker Hastert for their support of this legislation and staff members from my office and the Education Committee for their hard work on this bipartisan bill.

In recent decades, a growing number of children have been diagnosed with attention deficit disorder, ADD, or attention deficit hyperactivity disorder, ADHD, and treated with medication such as Ritalin or Adderall. When a licensed medical practitioner properly diagnoses a child as needing these drugs, the administration of the drugs may be beneficial. However, these medications also have the potential for serious harm and abuse, especially for children who do not need the medications.

Unfortunately, in some instances, school personnel freely offer diagnoses for ADD and ADHD disorders and urge parents to obtain drug treatment for their child. Sometimes, officials even attempt to force parents into choosing between medicating their child and allowing that child to remain in the classroom.

This is unconscionable. Parents should never be forced to medicate their child against their will and better judgment in order to ensure their child will receive educational services.

That is why I introduced the Child Medication Safety Act, a straightforward, sensible approach to remedy this growing problem. The Child Medication Safety Act calls on States to establish policies and procedures prohibiting school personnel from forcing parents to place their child on any drug intended to have an altering effect on perception, emotion, or behavior in order to attend school.

The bill before the House today also includes a provision to ensure that parents and teachers are not prohibited from having an open dialogue about any academic or behavior-related needs of their child. Teachers spend a great deal of time with students and observe a wide variety of situations. These men and women have a valuable perspective to offer to parents, and a candid dialogue between teachers and parents should be encouraged, not stifled. The Child Medication Safety Act makes clear that these constructive conversations can still take place.

This bill is not anti-school, anti-teacher, or anti-medication. This bill is pro-children and pro-parent. The Child Medication Safety Act is essential in protecting children and reinforcing parental control.

I urge my colleagues to support this bill that restores power to parents and puts children first.

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

Mr. Speaker, I am very pleased to yield such time as he may consume to the gentleman from Ohio (Mr. Boehner), chairman of the Committee on Education and the Workforce.

Mr. Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may consume only to thank my colleague from Texas (Mr. Hinojosa) and, of course, the chairman of the full committee, the gentleman from Ohio (Mr. Boehner), for their support on this very important bill and again to encourage all of my colleagues to pass this pro-parent, pro-child bill.

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

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

Mr. Speaker, I thank the gentleman for yielding me this time and for his leadership on this bill. I think it was Mr. Gutknecht's original idea, and I am very pleased that he had it.

Mr. Speaker, I rise today in support of H.R. 3989, this resolution which pays tribute to an outstanding Minnesotan through the designation of the Albert H. Quie Post Office. I express my appreciation to my colleague from Minnesota, as I said, for his leadership, for his initiative in this bill, and for helping us pull the entire Minnesota delegation together. We have unanimous bipartisan support for this resolution.

Mr. Speaker, Al Quie is a lifelong Minnesotan who is guided by a strong faith and the principle of selfless service. Residents of Minnesota's Second Congressional District can be proud of this native son who was born on a farm in Rice County, was educated in Nerstrand and Northfield, and graduated from St. Olaf College in 1950, all institutions in the Second District of Minnesota.

Throughout his life, Al demonstrated his Minnesota values and earned the respect of his fellow citizens. As a pilot in the U.S. Navy, he served his Nation bravely in the final days of the Second World War. Returning to Minnesota, he continued to serve as a member of the District 43 School Board, the Minnesota State Senate, the U.S. House of Representatives, and as Governor of our great State, all accomplishments which have already been mentioned and probably cannot be mentioned enough for this great American.

In his life, faith has always been a clear and guiding principle. As one of the founders of the bipartisan National Prayer Breakfast, Al is responsible for a meaningful tradition which continues today. Attended by every President for the past 50 years, the National Prayer Breakfast unites men and women from across the political spectrum in every area of the country in a common purpose, and, Mr. Speaker, I might add, from countries around the world as this prayer breakfast has grown in participation.

The National Prayer Breakfast was an outgrowth of Al's work in the bipartisan Congressional Prayer Breakfast. Considered ``the best hour of the week'' by many of us, there are many of my colleagues here in this room today who regularly attend this Members-only gathering, it is still held weekly, providing a welcome opportunity for prayer and fellowship.

Closely intertwined with Al's faith is his love of nature and adventure. Over the course of nine summers, accompanied by friends, colleagues, and his sons, Al traveled the length of the Continental Divide on horseback, journaling along the way.

Considering it his greatest triumph, he detailed the experience in a book, Riding the Divide, which I highly commend to all of my colleagues. It is a personal account of his adventure and a testimony of his faith journey.

Though the ride to Canada to Mexico may have been his biggest personal triumph, Al's greatest impact on the lives of others may be his work with Prison Fellowship Ministries, a volunteer organization which ministers to prisoners, ex-prisoners, victims and their families, and promotes biblical standards of justice in the criminal justice system.

Through this group, Al's faith has impacted individuals and changed lives. Al Quie's life reflects faith, dedication to service and an enduring commitment to the people of Minnesota. It is an honor as a Minnesotan to pay tribute to him today.

Madam Speaker, I move to suspend the rules and pass the bill (H.R. 2132) to extend the waiver authority of the Secretary of Education with respect to student financial assistance during a war or other military operation or national emergency.

Madam Speaker, I ask unanimous consent that all Members may have 5 legislative days within which to revise and extend their remarks and include extraneous material on H.R. 2132.

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

Madam Speaker, I rise today in support of H.R. 2132, legislation to extend the waiver authority of the Secretary of Education with respect to student financial assistance during a war or other military operation or national emergency. This legislation, Madam Speaker, simply extends beyond September 30 of this year the provisions of the HEROES Act of 2003, legislation I introduced 2 years ago, which expresses the support and commitment of the United States House of Representatives for the troops who protect and defend the United States.

Madam Speaker, throughout our involvement in the war on terrorism, many thousands of men and women who serve our Nation in the Reserves or National Guard or the Armed Forces, whether Army, Marine Corps, Navy, Air Force or Coast Guard, have been called to active duty or active service. As our Nation seeks to rebuild the communities devastated by Hurricane Katrina, many more of our men and women in uniform have been asked to serve.

Many of these men and women are also college and university students whose service sends them away from their class and work and studies to defend our Nation. Unfortunately, due to a number of restrictions in the Higher Education Act, these individuals are at risk of losing financial assistance or educational credit as a result of their service.

Such a scenario is clearly not acceptable. The HEROES Act helps protect our men and women in uniform so they will not face education- related financial or administrative difficulties while they defend our Nation. The men and women who will continue to serve beyond the end of this month deserve the same guarantee.

The intent of this legislation is very specific. Congress has granted flexibility to the Secretary of Education to waive statutory or regulatory conditions of the Higher Education Act to ensure our men and women in uniform are not placed in an adverse financial position because of their service. This waiver authority gives the Secretary the power to protect recipients of student financial assistance from further financial difficulty generated when they are called to serve; minimize administrative requirements without affecting the integrity of the programs; and adjust the calculation used to determine financial need to accurately reflect the financial condition of the individual and his or her family.

Madam Speaker, the HEROES Act was approved 2 years ago by an overwhelming majority of 421 to 1. Today's extension simply reinforces Congress' commitment to our military, our students, our families and our schools.

I urge my colleagues to stand in strong support of this initiative and join me in voting ``yes'' on H.R. 2132.

Madam Speaker, I reserve the balance of my time.

Madam Speaker, I am pleased to yield 2 minutes to the aforementioned gentleman from Nebraska (Mr. Osborne).

Madam Speaker, I am now very pleased to yield such time as he may consume to the gentleman from Ohio (Mr. Boehner), chairman of the Committee on Education and the Workforce.

Madam Speaker, in closing I wish to thank the gentleman from Maryland and certainly thank the chairman and my colleagues for their support of this bill. It has been an interesting discussion we have had about legislative strategy.

I agree that our troops, their welfare, and the pressure that is put on them sometimes as they are students is extremely important and something, frankly, not for us to trifle with. We have the opportunity here with a bill that has already received overwhelming support in its current form in both the House and Senate and been passed into law, and it seemed to us we should take advantage of this to make sure our troops receive continuous coverage, and then address the larger question the gentleman from Maryland raised earlier.

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

Mr. Speaker, I rise today to recognize an icon in the state of Minnesota and a symbol of small business success.

This year the Red Wing Shoe Company celebrates its 100th anniversary. A cornerstone of the Red Wing Community and the great state of Minnesota, Red Wing Shoes represents a proud tradition of excellence.

I have enjoyed the opportunity to visit the Red Wing facility and meet many of the dedicated employees. If the strength of a company is its workers, it is easy to see how the Red Wing Shoe Company has come to enjoy a century of success.

On the occasion of this milestone achievement, I want to thank the men and women of the Red Wing Shoe Company for their service to the community and the state of Minnesota. I commend the employees and leaders of this great institution and wish them much continued success.

Mr. Speaker, I rise today to recognize the remarkable accomplishments of the members of the Memorial Rifle Squad at Fort Snelling National Cemetery. These men set an example of selfless service for all Americans.

Since June 19, 1979, the Fort Snelling Memorial Rifle Squad has performed a critical service by providing a military cemetery burial service for honorably discharged veterans. Over the past 25 years, the rifle squad has conducted 42,000 funerals, free of charge, at the request of families and veterans organizations. The first squad boasted six members, the youngest of whom was 50 years old. Today, the ages of the more than 100 members of the rifle squad range from 26 to 87, averaging a spry 71.6 years.

Mr. Speaker, these men never miss a funeral, braving the brutal cold, snow and wind of our Minnesota winters. Mr. Speaker, the members of the Memorial Rifle Squad have unselfishly given to our country through their own military service and continue that tradition today by honoring their fellow veterans. I commend their remarkable accomplishments and thank them for their service.

Mr. Speaker, I thank the gentleman for yielding me time and for his tremendous leadership on this issue. He has been working it for a long time.

Mr. Speaker, I rise today in support of the Occupational Safety and Health Small Employer Access to Justice Act. And I read it that way in the quotes for a purpose. The gentleman from Georgia (Mr. Norwood) mentioned earlier that we have heard language today that ranged on a wide variety of subjects, and I am not sure at all that they were talking about the issue before us today.

This legislation that is before us now is one of four bills under consideration today which reflects the commitment of the gentleman from Georgia (Mr. Norwood) and me and my colleagues to improve the effectiveness of OSHA regulations and changes the environment that has hindered U.S. employers from creating and keeping more jobs.

I have listened to language today earlier this afternoon on these four bills that talked about us losing millions of jobs to China and elsewhere. The purpose of the legislation that we are talking about today is to, in fact, help create and keep jobs here in America. I will repeat what my friend from Georgia said earlier today, that the OSHA Small Employer Access to Justice Act levels the playing field for small business owners and encourages OSHA to better assess the merits of a case before it brings unnecessary enforcement actions to court against small business.

Loopholes in the current law make it possible for small businesses to be denied attorneys fees, and as my friends said, therefore, not even take the case to court because they simply cannot afford to defend themselves against a case brought against them by OSHA. This exacerbates the financial harm called by OSHA's sometimes dubious enforcement actions and discourages small business owners from seeking the restitution which rightly belongs to them. By closing this loophole, we ensure it is in everyone's best interest.

Mr. Chairman, while the men and women of our armed forces serve bravely throughout the world, the ability of our U.S. military to recruit highly qualified candidates is being put in jeopardy. Former Commandant of the Marine Corps General Charles Krulak once remarked that our all-volunteer military is an all-recruited force. The amendment offered today by my colleague from California is a clear threat to the continued success of that force.

This amendment would prohibit the Department of Education from withholding Title I dollars from school districts that do not provide private student information to military recruiters. Under the guise of ``privacy rights,'' our military recruiters would be denied the same access to our nation's best young minds that is regularly provided to recruiters for colleges or businesses.

Mr. Chairman, military service can be a noble and fulfilling choice for our young men and women--including my son, a career Army officer. Planning for the future can be an overwhelming experience. As they consider their postsecondary options, our nation's students deserve to be fully equipped with the information they need to make good decisions.

While only a select few individuals choose to devote themselves to a career in military service, the defense of America is not their exclusive responsibility. Each one of us is charged with protecting our nation by doing our part. The least we can do is to ensure those who are interested are not prevented from learning about the opportunity to pursue military service. School principals and administrators ought to be introducing military recruiters to their students--not blocking them.

Mr. Chairman, the people of the United States benefit from the protection of the most highly qualified and well-trained military. I am hopeful our actions today will ensure our U.S. military maintains the ability to continue to serve its citizens most effectively.

Point of Order

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

Madam Speaker, I rise today to recognize the heroic efforts of the servicemen who participated, and even more so, those who perished in the unsuccessful rescue attempt of American hostages in Iran, now over 25 years ago.

Madam Speaker, during my 25 years in the Marine Corps, I had the good fortune to know personally many of the heroes of that fateful day, and counted some among my close friends. These brave men were asked, and cheerfully volunteered, to undertake the challenge of rescuing their fellow Americans in a mission of the utmost secrecy and gravest danger.

Members from all branches of our armed services came together, bringing with them the best of skills and experience, but it was not enough to do the job.

In the end, woefully inadequate equipment, tremendous sand storms, and extraordinary logistical challenges contributed to the death of five U.S. Air Force men and three Marines, serious injuries to five additional servicemen and the loss of eight aircraft. But these circumstances in no way diminished the skill and the bravery of the men who took on this hazardous mission against all odds.

The challenge of Operation Eagle Claw began with the isolated location of Tehran. I remember looking at a map after this unfolded and being astonished at the distances involved. Surrounded by more than 700 miles of desert and mountains, the city was essentially cut off, cut off from ready attack by U.S. air or naval forces. We simply did not have anything in the inventory. In addition, the embassy staff and the embassy itself were located in the heart of the city, congested by more than 4 million people.

Even more taxing was the primitive state of the technology and helicopters and equipment with which these men were asked to complete their mission and the secrecy demanded for the planning, training, and execution of the mission.

Madam Speaker, I knew many of the Marines that became the pilots of the Navy CH-53s that were used. In fact, one of my very close friends in the squadron that I was serving with at the time was pulled off for an assignment. He went out with the others and trained in the desert for weeks. We had no idea of the mission. I did not find out about the mission until the rest of America saw it on the news that April.

It was unbelievable secrecy under which these men worked. The equipment by today's standard is incredible. My son is a pilot in the 101st Airborne, and he has got the latest technology and night vision goggles, lightweight devices that clip to his helmet and flip down, allowing him a full view of the cockpit of the Blackhawk helicopter which he flies.

These men did not have that. They had equipment night vision goggles taken from ground crews. They had no visibility outside the narrow tunnel that they were viewing; and yet they took this equipment that, by today's standards, would not be allowed near an aircraft, and trained in harsh conditions for a mission that they knew was going to be extremely, extremely difficult.

Madam Speaker, a fitting tribute to the men of Operation Eagle Claw is to learn from their experience and apply these lessons to the challenges facing our men and women in uniform today. Some of those have been discussed by my colleagues here on the floor: the creation of the United States Special Operations Command, the joint effort, new technology that is being developed and employed and tested sometimes in battle today.

We must bear in mind the importance of continuing to provide our troops with the resources they need to succeed in a mission and not launch them out with equipment simply unsuited for the job.

To those who perished in Operation Eagle Claw, I offer my gratitude, my deep appreciation, my great respect. To their families and friends, I offer my prayers and my condolences. It is hard to imagine greater heroes taking on a tougher challenge and making such a sacrifice.

Mr. Chairman, I offer an amendment.

Mr. Chairman, I am very pleased to yield 30 seconds to the gentleman from Texas (Mr. DeLay), the distinguished majority leader.

Mr. Chairman, will the gentleman yield?

Mr. Chairman, I thank the gentleman for yielding to me.

This is extremely well-crafted legislation that the chairman has brought forward in close cooperation with many of his colleagues on the Committee on International Relations, and I am in very strong support of this bill. There is language in section 4 which calls for a uniform code of conduct, which I think is a very excellent idea.

We want to be very certain that as this legislation goes forward, it in no way can be misinterpreted to impinge upon the Uniform Code of Military Justice or the American Servicemembers' Protection Act. We are trying to avoid any confusion here and make sure that our men and women who are going to work in United Nations peacekeeping operations and go around the world are in no way compromised.

Mr. Chairman, will the gentleman yield?

Mr. Chairman, we are trying to make sure that there is no possibility for misinterpretation as we bring forward this very important new legislation, and that it can in no way subject the American Armed Forces or any other American personnel, for that matter, to foreign tribunals or the International Criminal Court.

Mr. Chairman, will the gentleman yield?

Mr. Chairman, I thank the gentleman for yielding to me.

I just want to be very brief.

Mr. Chairman, I yield myself such time as I may consume, and I thank the gentleman from Indiana for his comments.

I want to be very clear that I am in strong support of this legislation that has come forward by the Committee on International Relations, but there are things that raise my interest and my concern.

A few weeks ago media outlets throughout the world proudly parroted Amnesty International's unfounded charges of torture and ill treatment in the so-called America ``gulags.'' Instead of condemning the government-inflicted famine in Kim Jong-Il's North Korea or continued human rights abuses in Castro's Cuba, the executive director of Amnesty International USA revealed the true goal of organizations such as his when he called on foreign governments to arrest and prosecute U.S. Government officials and military personnel. We want to make sure that we have got language in here that would prevent that.

The Belgian experience, for example, and recent propaganda espoused by Amnesty International shows that we were wise to doubt the merchants who were peddling ``universal jurisdiction'' at the cost of national sovereignty. Indeed, even President Clinton did not send the Rome Statute establishing the International Criminal Court to the U.S. Senate because of its fundamental flaws.

The United States is a Nation dedicated to justice and the rule of law, and we cannot allow these fundamental protections to be stripped from our servicemen and women performing peacekeeping missions, and I think we in this body need to be ever vigilant to ensure that that does not happen.

Mr. Chairman, I yield the balance of my time to the gentleman from Missouri (Mr. Blunt), the distinguished majority whip.

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

Madam Speaker, I move to suspend the rules and agree to the concurrent resolution (H. Con. Res. 47) commending the establishment in College Point, New York, of the first kindergarten in the United States, as amended.

Madam Speaker, I ask unanimous consent that all Members may have 5 legislative days within which to revise and extend their remarks and include extraneous material on H. Con. Res. 47.

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

Madam Speaker, I rise today in support of H. Con. Res. 47 commending the establishment of the first free public kindergarten in the United States. Madam Speaker, we can all agree on the merits of early education to the academic success of America's children. From the time that Conrad Poppenhusen offered free, public kindergarten to his community in College Point, New York, millions of American children have benefited from a foundational first year of school.

Kindergarten is a common experience for most American children. Today, 98 percent of children of kindergarten age in America attend kindergarten programs for at least half of the school day, and a growing number of schools, today about 60 percent, now offer full-day kindergarten programs. At age 5, the age at which most children enter kindergarten, children's development varies greatly. Because they often begin with a range of knowledge and skills, the kindergarten experience can substantially reduce educational disparities and help build a foundation for future school success.

Research demonstrates that children generally develop both cognitive and noncognitive knowledge and skills during the kindergarten year. In the year 2000, the National Center For Education Statistics, a research arm of the U.S. Department of Education, published findings from a large-scale study to evaluate the effectiveness of kindergarten. The study showed that after a year of kindergarten, children demonstrate a greater understanding of reading and mathematics concepts, as well as specific knowledge and skills. By the end of the kindergarten year, nearly all children recognized letters, numbers, and shapes, and an increased number of children can add and subtract numbers.

Madam Speaker, in closing, I would like to thank the gentleman from New York (Mr. Crowley) for recognizing the importance of kindergarten and the contribution of Conrad Poppenhusen for establishing the first free, public American kindergarten.

Madam Speaker, I reserve the balance of my time.

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