Floor Statements

Mr. Speaker, today I wish to congratulate my friend, Alex Spanos, as he will soon receive the STARBRIGHT Foundation's Heart of Gold Award for his selfless efforts on behalf of children with serious illnesses and their families, and for his extensive contributions to all children and youth.

Alexander Gus Spanos was born to loving parents in 1923 in Stockton, California. In 1942, he rendered service to his country by joining the Air Army. Six years later, he wed his life-long sweetheart, Faye Papfaklis.

In 1951, Alex quit his job at the family bakery, secured an $800 loan and bought a panel truck to start his own company, the A.G. Spanos Agricultural Catering. Soon, this new venture became the largest catering business of farm laborers in the United States. Alex began investing in real estate and, by 1956, he had become a millionaire. This allowed him to semi-retire and take on golf, in which he became a pro amateur within six years.

When changing farm labor regulations signaled the end of his catering business, Alex launched A.G. Spanos Construction. After building his first apartment complex in Stockton, California, in 1960, Alex expanded the company into neighboring states and across the southwestern and southern states. By 1977, his firm was the number one builder of apartments in the nation.

His family of businesses now includes: A.G: Spanos Construction, A.G. Spanos Development, Inc., A.G. Spanos Management, Inc., A.G. Spanos Enterprises, Inc., The Spanos Corporation, AGS Financial Corporation, A.G. Spanos Realty, Inc., A.G. Spanos Securities, and A. G. Spanos Ventures. He also owns the Spanos Jet Center and the National Football League's San Diego Chargers.

Mr. Speaker, not only is Alex Spanos a successful businessman, but he is also a successful human being. His family has always taken center stage in his life. He and Faye enjoy the time they share with their four children and 15 grandchildren. It is telling that his companies continue to be family owned and operated, as he has shared management responsibilities with his sons, Dean and Michael.

A noted philanthropist, he has reached out to those in need and given of his resources to help whenever and wherever he could. Over the years, he has contributed to his own community and to causes around the world by donating millions of dollars to charities, churches, hospitals, educational institutions, and civic and athletic organizations.

It is fair to say that Alex G. Spanos' outlook on life is best reflected in the title of his new book, Sharing the Wealth. The communities and individuals he has touched throughout his life would attest to that.

Mr. Speaker, it gives me great pleasure to commend this distinguished citizen for his countless acts of service to his community, California, and the country.

Mr. Speaker, I ask unanimous consent to have my name removed as a cosponsor of H.R. 2510.

Mr. Speaker, today I wish to congratulate two good friends from my district in California, Hans and Alma Roebbelen, as they celebrate their 50th wedding anniversary this month.

Hans and Alma were born and raised in Europe, where they experienced the horrors of World War II firsthand. Hans endured challenges as a 15- year-old prisoner of war, while Alma had to flee her homeland before the advancing Russian army at the age of only 13.

When the chaos of war finally settled, Hans worked as a journeyman carpenter. Little did he know as such a young man that he would one day become a renowned builder half the world away. Later, Hans earned an architecture degree from the University in Buxtehude, and it was there that he met and fell in love with his future bride, Alma, who had embarked upon a career as a dental hygienist.

Shortly thereafter, Alma followed a professional opportunity that took her to Stockton, California. Although he wanted to follow her, it took Hans 20 months to leave Germany, given that the government did not want to lose its architects and other professionals abroad. Happily, the couple was married on October 18, 1953, within a week of Hans' arrival in Stockton. Indeed, that date marked the beginning of great things to come.

After starting a family and managing some of the largest construction projects ever undertaken in the Sacramento area up until that time, Hans and Alma desired to start their own company. Thus began Roebbelen Construction in 1957.

Roebbelen Construction has established a long history of excellent public construction projects, such as schools and prisons. However, over the last decade, the company has also successfully completed many design/build projects for private sector clients, including: J.C. Penney Co., MCI, General Motors, Aetna, Sears, SBC/Pacific Bell, Cable Data, Target, and other firms. Together with its sister company, Kleeman Roebbelen, it is now one of the largest local private companies in the Sacramento region. It is also the only general contractor in California to have received the ISO 9001:2000 designation from the International Organization for Standardization for the management of quality in a company's products and services.

Mr. Speaker, after spending so much of their lives with the firm they started, Hans and Alma recently retired from Roebbelen Construction. Now, they are blessed with the opportunity to enjoy the fruits of their labors. They often travel and spend quality time with their three children, eight grandchildren, and two great-grandchildren.

Undoubtedly, the life Hans and Alma Roebbelen created together is a great American success story--one rooted in a love that has endured and grown for 50 years and counting.

Madam Speaker, I join with my colleagues and commend the gentleman from California (Mr. Royce), the gentleman from California (Mr. Lantos), and the authors of the bill, the gentleman from Florida (Mr. Shaw) and the gentleman from New Jersey (Mr. Payne), for this legislation.

Africa has obviously some tremendous natural resources. They have enormous problems. They have a lack of freedom in that continent and throughout most of the countries indeed of the continent, and this legislation will help those people help themselves by conserving their forests.

Let me say, I am a strong logging advocate, but logging has to be done right; and this legislation will help set that up so that we will have logging and replanting, so that we will have sustainable forest practices so that this natural resource is available for the present generation and for generations to come. This is a goal that we seek to have here, and we do have it here in the United States; and we would like to help the people in the Congo River Basin to enjoy this as well.

I am sad to tell my colleagues that when we do not have good practices, devastating results can occur. We see that, for example, in the country of Zimbabwe, which was once my pleasure to visit, presently we have a brutal dictator, anarchy reigns, and a ruling elite has taken over safari parks for their own personal hunting grounds. We have settlers invading privately owned game preserves and decimating the remaining stock of protected animals such as the black rhinoceros. We have poachers setting on fire places like the Matobo Hills in the south of the country. Indeed, this year that area was designated a World Heritage Site by the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization; and yet these illegal poachers are destroying not only thousands of acres of national park there but killing vast stocks of wildlife, many of which are endangered species.

Madam Speaker, this area of the Congo is different than Zimbabwe, but the principles are the same. We seek to apply good principles to help the people lift themselves and to grow and to develop and to achieve better health and longer life spans, and it will help them do it using their natural resources. In like fashion, we hope that other enlightened policies around the continent can be applied so that people will be able to enjoy in a better fashion the rights that God has given them.

I am delighted to join with my colleagues in supporting this legislation.

Mr. Chairman, I very much wish to thank the gentleman from Alaska (Mr. Young) and his staff and the gentleman from Minnesota (Mr. Oberstar) and his staff and also the gentleman from Tennessee (Mr. Duncan) and the gentleman from California (Mr. Costello) and their staffs for helping us on this bill.

As the economy begins to revive in this country, I am delighted that we can pass WRDA. It will do a great deal to help the economy but also to help all the communities throughout the Nation that will receive improvements under this bill.

We have struggled for many years in the Sacramento region to find a common solution to the water management problems that we have. And I am very pleased to be here today and to say that we have reached an acceptable compromise. The gentlemen from California (Mr. Matsui) (Mr. Ose) (Mr. Pombo) and I represent various parts of the Sacramento region and have reached a compromise that will address both water supply and flood control.

We could not have done this without the help of all the members and their staffs who lead this committee. I really appreciate that. It is a great effort. It will be of immeasurable benefit to our region.

Mr. Chairman, I am very pleased to lend my support for this piece of legislation.

Mr. Chairman, this Klamath Basin is represented by three Members, the gentleman from Oregon (Mr. Walden), the gentleman from California (Mr. Herger), and myself from California. It has today about 50,000 people in it. It is one of the earliest reclamation projects in the United Nations. The Reclamation Act was passed in 1902, and this was authorized by the Secretary of the Interior in that same year.

You will see here the cover of Life Magazine, January 20, 1947. By the way, it was 15 cents in those days. They have a homesteading veteran portrayed on the cover with his wife and family. People were attracted to this area by government policy to settle the area. It was a good area for farming, and it would be a benefit to the wildlife because of the refuges that existed there.

I want to show you now a picture in 2001 of a real family that lives there, tries to farm there today under the very difficult circumstances imposed by the government. This is lease land farmer Rob Crawford and his family. You can see it does not look very inviting because that is what happens when you cut the water off. It is basically a desert.

These people in our districts have suffered terribly at the hands of the government and misguided people who think they are trying to bring about a good policy. But they are not bringing about a good policy. This amendment is an anti-farming amendment. I do not care what the sponsors say. That is its effect. The wording of this amendment basically bars the alfalfa and the potatoes and the onions. Those are higher value crops. These are the crops that feed this family. But did you know that they are the crops that the wildlife feed on? The geese actually eats the potatoes after the first frost, the antelope come through for the alfalfa and the geese back again in the spring. So this is of great benefit. The law recognizes this benefit, and the whole system was set up so that this could occur.

The proponents claim that their amendment will save water. It will save no water. The crops that they will restrict us to growing, which are lower-value crops and will throw people onto welfare, there will be no less water required to grow those crops than required to grow the higher-value crops that this amendment would prohibit. This is an anti- farming amendment.

If you set the precedent today that we as the Congress will going to dictate what crops a farmer can grow, watch out the rest of you, because today it is in a small part of remote northern California and southern Oregon but tomorrow it will be all over the country as these people with their agendas come after you and your families and your way of life. Vote no on this amendment.

Mr. Speaker, I thank the gentleman from Illinois (Mr. Manzullo) and the gentlewoman from the Virgin Islands (Mrs. Christensen) for their remarks. I very much appreciate the support that they have given me on this bill and the cooperation that we have had from their staffs. I would like to acknowledge the gentlewoman from New York (Ms. Velazquez), the ranking member, as well.

Indeed, the explanation for what this bill does has been clearly articulated by both our previous speakers and so I will choose not to repeat that, Mr. Speaker; but I have a statement which I will submit for the Record.

I feel that this bill, as was explained by our previous speakers, will actually

do something to help stimulate the economy. The Premier Certified Lenders Program is an excellent program. It has been unnecessarily tied down by the problem with the requirements about the loan loss reserves. This bill, as was explained, creates a risk-based approach to loan loss reserves with sufficient safeguards and monitoring to make sure that everything is going along as we would wish it to.

In the process, however, a tremendous amount of funds will be freed up that will be used to make loans to small businesses, and as we know, as this process unfolds, that will result in the employment of more people and the generation of more capital and will trigger, indeed, the very process that we need to have happen in order to make this a more vibrant and stronger economy.

Mr. Speaker, I rise today in support of H.R. 923, the Premier Certified Lenders Program Improvement Act, legislation I introduced in February.

Over the past few years, I have had an opportunity to learn of the outstanding work that certified development companies are doing across the county and in my district, in particular. CDCs participating in the Premier Certified Lenders Program are providing thousands of loans to small businesses and helping these businesses to create jobs and wealth.

As my colleagues know, small businesses are the economic backbone of our Nation. Nearly one in four American households are either starting a business, presently owning a a business, or investing in someone else's business. Our economy depends on entrepreneurs whose spirit result in the creation of both new businesses and new jobs.

I think the best policy our government can pursue to help small businesses in this country is to get out of their way. Unshackle the American spirit from high taxes and burdensome regulations, Mr. Speaker, and we shall witness tremendous job creation and economic growth. If the government seeks to help small businesses, it should remove regulatory hurdles and provide incentives for entrepreneurs.

One successful example of government encouragement of small business expansion is the Premier Certified Lenders Program PCLP. This program was established in 1997 and allows a participating Certified Development Company, CDC, the expanded authority to review and approve SBA 504 Loan requests and to foreclose, litigate, and liquidate SBA 504 Loans made under the Program. By taking on this authority, the private sector is able to stretch limited Federal resources in order to help more small businesses.

Unfortunately, current law requires premier certified lenders to deposit and maintain 1 percent of each debenture issued in a loan loss reserve fund, from which they are to reimburse the Small Business Administration, SBA, for 10 percent of any loss. Premier certified lenders must maintain that deposit throughout the life of the loan, even as the loan matures, the debenture is paid down, and the risk is reduced.

This requirement has resulted in the accumulation of unnecessarily high loan loss reserve funds for some premier lenders. In addition, it has deterred additional premier certified lenders from participating in the program at all.

Mr. Speaker, my bill simply allows these premier lenders the option of creating risk-based loan loss reserves. It includes several safeguards to ensure that these companies do not make bad loans and put Federal taxpayers at risk. Specifically, premier certified lenders must maintain no less than $100,000 in their loan loss reserve funds; they must employ 3rd-party auditors to review their reserve funds on a quarterly basis; their auditors must be approved by the SBA; and the PCL must meet SBA performance benchmarks to retain their eligibility to hold risk-based loan loss reserve funds.

Mr. Speaker, I want to sincerely thank Mr. Manzullo, my friend and the Chairman of the Small Business Committee, for working with me to get the bill to this point. I also want to thank the Ranking Member, Ms. Velazquez for her valuable input, and Mrs. Christensen for representing Ms. Velazquez on the floor today. Finally, I want to express my gratitude to the Chairman's and Ranking Member's staff, as well as my staff, for putting in so much time and energy into this effort.

I encourage my colleagues to support our Nation's small businesses by supporting this important legislation.

Mr. Speaker, I very much appreciate the bipartisan cooperation we have had on this, and I urge the passage of the bill.

Mr. Speaker, today I wish to remember and honor an outstanding citizen, Mr. Aldo Pineschi, Sr., from the City of Roseville, California. Following a lifetime of dedication to family and community, Aldo Pineschi passed away on May 30, 2003. He was 79 years old.

After his parents emigrated from Northern Italy and settled in Chicago, Aldo was born in the Windy City in 1924. Three years later, the Pineschi family relocated to Roseville, which would remain Aldo's home for the rest of his life. Shortly after graduating from Roseville High School in 1942, he served in the United States Army during World War II in England and France. He returned home in 1945 and wed Claire Bertolucci a year later.

Aldo began his professional life by going to work for the Pacific Fruit Express (PFE) railroad just as his father did. During the nearly 20 years he was with PFE, he also helped raise his four children and attended college. He first attended Placer College (now Sierra College) and eventually completed his degree at California State University, Sacramento. He then went to work for Aerojet for several years.

In 1965, Aldo became the Personnel/Purchasing Manager for the City of Roseville. Then, from 1970 until his retirement in 1980, he served as Roseville's Assistant City Manager. In this capacity, he helped set the stage for Roseville's transformation from a once-sleepy railroad town to what is now a vibrant, well-planned community with award-winning parks, law enforcement, and city management. The City is also home to nationally-recognized, high-performing public schools. Its railroad past blends with its newer high-tech industry and thriving commercial centers. Its residential areas include dynamic new developments as well as historic neighborhoods. In short, Mr. Speaker, Roseville is a model community with a high quality of life and a bright horizon, and Aldo's vision and hard work are a large part of the reason why.

In addition to his professional accomplishments, Aldo left a legacy of volunteer service. Many remember his years-long participation with the George Buljian Cooking Crew, a group of community leaders headed by a former mayor, who helped raise over one million dollars for local charities by serving up steak dinners.

Aldo also played an active role in shaping local politics, helping to elect numerous candidates to local offices. In the late 1950s he himself served on the Roseville Joint Union School District Board of Trustees. He also made a run for the California State Senate, and in 1962, fell just 78 votes shy of becoming Placer County Clerk. His involvement in and discussion of politics was one of his loves.

However, his truest love remained his wife of 57 years, Claire. She survives him, along with their four children and seven grandchildren. These include daughter Leah and son-in-law Mario; son Alan and daughter-in-law Susan; son Aldo, Jr. and his wife Lesli; son Neil; and grandchildren Howard and Gina Gibson; Matt, Michael, and Alina Pineschi; and Evangeline and Anthony Pineschi.

Today, I join with Aldo Pineschi, Sr.'s family, friends, and community to commemorate his life of committed service, good citizenship, and uncommon decency. May he rest in peace.

Mr. Speaker, I rise to discuss legislation I introduced today called The Ginseng Labeling Correction Act. This legislation seeks to fix a technical problem with a provision that was included in the farm bill Congress passed last year.

Section 10806(b) of the Farm Security and Rural Investment Act of 2002 amended the Federal Food, Drug and Cosmetic Act by placing limitations on the use of the term ``ginseng'' as the common or usual name for plants classified within the genus Panax. The purpose of this provision was to address confusion that had arisen from products derived from different plants being labeled as ``Siberian ginseng.''

When labeling changes are enacted, the Food and Drug Administration recognizes that, in order to assure an orderly and economical industry adjustment to new labeling requirements, a sufficient lead time is necessary to permit planning for the use of existing label inventories and the development of new labeling materials.

Unfortunately, the ginseng provision Congress included in the farm bill lacked a specific effective date that would have allowed FDA's typical transition period to occur. Therefore, on May 13, 2002, the day the farm bill was signed into law, companies that had products labeled ``Siberian ginseng'' became criminally liable. This was clearly not the intent of Congress, and was simply an oversight on the part of the Senate and House in writing that portion of the farm bill. In fact, Senator Tom Harkin, the Ranking Member of the Senate Agriculture Committee, attempted to correct this omission in the FY 2003 Emergency Wartime Supplemental, PL-108-11. However, in the rush to complete work on the bill the provision was left out even though there were no objections to it.

However, this omission needs to be corrected as soon as possible. Therefore, I have introduced The Ginseng Labeling Correction Act, which states that Section 10806(b) of the Farm Security and Rural Investment Act of 2002 will become effective thirty days after the legislation becomes law.

It is my desire to have this bill move to the House floor as quickly as possible. I hope my colleagues will join me in supporting this minor, but critically important, correction to the farm bill.

Mr. Speaker, shortly we will honor someone who was an outstanding Member of the House of Representatives for a number of years here, Congressman Norman D. Shumway, who served the 14th Congressional District for 12 years prior to his retirement at the end of the 101st Congress, ending in the first days of 1991. I was privileged to be his successor to Congress.

Mr. Shumway had a distinguished career here and served on what was then called, I think, the Banking, Finance and Urban Affairs Committee and the Merchant Marine and Fisheries Committee.

He has been a long, long-time resident of San Joaquin County and served on the board of supervisors there; and he and his wife were very involved in the community, made great contributions, and soon I believe the gentleman from California (Mr. Pombo) will be bringing up a resolution to name a post office in his honor.

Norm Shumway epitomizes the type of person we would like to have representing the people of the United States, someone who believes in this country, in its values, someone who believes in faith and family and hard work, and someone who has a great appreciation for the blessings of freedom and who worked during his years here to promote the values that have made this country a great place to be.

I have not seen Norm for several years. Norm and Luana, but I consider them dear friends, and I am very, very pleased to join with my colleagues here shortly in honoring Norm for the service that he had here.

Mr. Speaker, I appreciate the chance to join in this salute to Norm Shumway as we prepare to name this post office in his honor.

In reviewing his biography, Norm has been a son of San Joaquin, and quite legitimately is. I do note in his biography he was actually born in Phoenix, Arizona, on July 28, 1934. In 1939 his family moved to California and was Norm was educated in the Stockton public school system and graduated from Stockton High School in 1952. He received his A.A. degree from Stockton which is now known as San Joaquin Delta Community College in 1954, and then as the gentleman from Illinois (Mr. Davis) mentioned, Norm began his acquaintanceship with Japan when he served a church mission there from 1954 to 1958.

When he returned from the Orient, Mr. Shumway enrolled at the University of Utah from which institution he received a Bachelor of Science degree in political science in 1960, and then he commenced his legal education and graduated with a Juris Doctorate degree from the University of California's Hastings College of Law in San Francisco in 1963.

Mr. Shumway had been a partner in a Stockton law firm, and then in 1974 a vacancy occurred in the San Joaquin Board of Supervisors, and pursuant to State law at the time, the Governor, Ronald Reagan, appointed Norm to fill that vacancy and he was later elected to the same position and was reelected in 1976, and he served as chairman of the Board of Supervisors in 1978 prior to his election that same year to the United States House of Representatives.

Norm, I think it was mentioned, and his lovely wife Luana are the parents of six children and 30 grandchildren. As has been mentioned before, he has been a very faithful member of the Church Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints and has served in numerous positions; after

leaving here and serving briefly, I think for several years, on the California Public Utilities Commission, he then served as a Mission President in Japan for 3 years. Then he and Luana returned, and I believe it was later on in the year of their return they were asked to go back to Japan again, where they served in the Public Information Office for one of the missions in the church over there; and I think they were there for perhaps another 3 years.

Norm and Luana now serve in Utah as Director of Church Hosting which involves educating distinguished visitors to Utah about the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints, its mission and its organization.

Norm is an outstanding person and has a great deal left to contribute, and is actively doing so at this time as he and his wife Luana make their home in Bountiful, Utah, where they are serving the church on this mission. I thank the gentleman for allowing me to share these comments.

Mr. Speaker, today I wish to commend and thank Sheriff Harold N. ``Hal'' Barker for his public service as the Sheriff of El Dorado County, California. His retirement in January of this year marked the end of a law enforcement career that lasted four and a half decades and spanned from Southern to Northern California.

Law enforcement is one of the most basic and honorable services provided by government. Those who put their own lives on the line to uphold peace and order and protect their fellow citizens deserve the thanks and respect of all. It is in this spirit that I thank Hal Barker for his leadership and hard work in helping make California safe and prosperous.

Hal's professional service has consisted of both excellent training and extensive experience. His formal education includes an Associate of Arts degree in Police Science from Ventura College, a Bachelor of Science degree in Police Administration from California State University at Los Angeles, and a Master of Public Administration degree from the University of Southern California. Additionally, he graduated from the P.O.S.T. Command College and graduated first in his class from the FBI National Academy, earning the Hoover Medal.

Hal first hit the street as a reserve officer in the Santa Paula Police Department in 1958, ultimately rising to the rank of captain and assistant chief. From 1974 to 1984, he was the San Mateo County Assistant Sheriff. During that time, he acted as the San Francisco International Airport Police Chief for 18 months. Then, in 1984, he began a 12-year tenure as Chief of the Folsom Police Department. In this capacity, he led the department through a period of unprecedented growth.

In 1997, Hal was appointed Sheriff in El Dorado County, and was elected to the position for a full term the following year. As Sheriff, he managed 400 employees and a $30 billion budget in a growing county.

I join with the communities he has protected to thank Hal Barker for his long and distinguished service. I am proud to call him a friend, and I wish him well in all of his future endeavors.

Mr. Speaker, today I wish to commend and thank Mr. Don Novey who recently retired as president of the California Correctional Peace Officers Association (CCPOA) for his many years of dedication to improving public safety in the State of California.

A sixth-generation Californian born in Sacramento, Don Novey earned an Associate of Arts degree from American River College. After concluding counterintelligence service with the U.S. Army in 1971, Don followed in his father's footsteps by becoming a correctional officer at Folsom State Prison. This decision was one that not only shaped his own future, but eventually resulted in dramatic changes for the entire profession in California. Although he was promoted to sergeant in 1977 and became a lieutenant in 1984, Don's most significant professional advancement took place within the leadership ranks of CCPOA.

Because of his discouragement over the generally negative perception and portrayal of ``prison guards'' at the time, Don ran to become the union's statewide vice president in 1979. Although unsuccessful in that bid, he was elected to the state presidency in 1980, thus beginning a 22-year tenure at the organization's helm. During that time, he transformed the CCPOA from a union with little political clout to one that today is arguably the most powerful and influential organization involved in state government policymaking. Under his leadership, the level of public respect for correctional officers increased substantially. At the same time, he succeeded in winning broad support from state leaders to improve training, safety, compensation, and working conditions for his colleagues.

While helping his association's membership, Don was equally responsible for helping to shape a wide array of policies dealing with public safety that have greatly benefited the people of California. Due in part to his efforts, the state strengthened its penalties for criminal behavior, especially violent crime. Don and his colleagues encouraged the California State Legislature and the governor to enact no-nonsense laws to address criminal recidivism, namely the ``Three Strikes, You're Out'' law.

It is important to note that Don's firm sense of justice is matched by his deep compassion for those who suffer injustice. In 1992, he helped establish the Crime Victims United of California; an organization which has aided those victimized by criminal behavior and their families. The group has elevated their plight in

the consciousness of elected officials and the general public, which has led to greater respect and protection for crime victims.

Don has also served in a number of other important capacities. He has been a member of the International Narcotics Law Enforcement Association, the National Intelligence Board, Governor George Deukmejian's Blue Ribbon Commission on Public Safety, the California Industrial Welfare Commission, the California Athletics Commission, and the board of the Kevin Collins Foundation, which works to locate missing and abducted children.

Don's own children and grandchildren are a high priority in his life. He and his wife, Carol, are the proud parents of Donald, Brandy, and Shanon. They also enjoy spending time with their five grandchildren. In short, his life so far has been one of hard work and achievement, patriotism and service, family and friendship. The people of California and the United States are better off for his efforts.

Now as he enjoys retirement from his career in corrections, I thank him for his service, support, and friendship. As a friend and fellow resident of my hometown of Rocklin, I wish him well in his future endeavors. I have no doubt that we have not heard the last from Don Novey.

Mr. Speaker, when it was reported yesterday afternoon that Elizabeth Smart was found alive and well, we all breathed a collective sigh of relief, thankful to God that, in this all too rare instance, there was a happy ending.

For months, we prayed in earnest for Elizabeth's safety and for the Smart family, who courageously have crusaded for their daughter despite long odds, refusing to give up their search. Driven by faith, hope and love, their tenacity never wavered. Keeping the case alive, they created invaluable public awareness that eventually resulted in her safe retrieval. In particular, I would like to send my fondest wishes to my friend, Joy Bradford, Elizabeth's aunt who along with the Smarts refused to give up looking for her niece.

I would also like to recognize the Salt Lake City community, who became an extended family for the Smarts, never faltering in support, and never relenting in a search for one of their own. Gratitude must also be extended to the four Sandy police officers that confronted Elizabeth's abductors and the people who alerted them. They are true heroes.

It is difficult to express in words how relieved and overjoyed we all are that Elizabeth is alive and back in the arms of her loving family. Our prayers have been answered. Miracles do indeed happen.

Mr. Speaker, the Conference Committee for the FY 2003 Omnibus Appropriations Bill has included language relating to the funding of the installment due on or before September 30, 2003 under the Consent Judgment entered on February 7, 2003 in Sumner Peck Ranch, Inc. v. Bureau of Reclamation. By including this language it is not Congress' intent that the United States default in the payment of that installment. Creating such a default would be unwise. Instead, the

intent of the language is to indicate that funds under the Energy and Water Development Appropriation Act are not authorized to pay such installment. By so indicating, it is further intended that payment of the Peck judgment installment is ``not otherwise provided for'' as that phrase is used in Section 1304 of Title 31 of the United States Code. Appropriations exist and are available under Section 1304 for payment of such installment, and it is intended that such appropriations be so utilized.