Floor Statements

Mr. Speaker, I rise to pay tribute to Frederick Douglas ``Fritz'' Pollard. This past August, Fritz, a native Hoosier, was inducted into the National Football League Hall of Fame alongside gridiron legends Dan Marino, Steve Young, and Benny Friedman. Fritz Pollard was a pioneer for African-American athletes in the NFL during the pre-civil rights era of the 20th century.

Fritz Pollard was born in Chicago in 1894; the son of a former soldier in the Union army. Upon his high school graduation, Pollard attended Northwestern, Dartmouth, and Harvard universities prior to his enrollment at Brown University in 1915.

As a young freshman halfback, Pollard led the Brown football team to victory over Harvard and Yale with Pollard producing 531 yards of total offense and six touchdowns in just two games. As a tribute to his success on the field, Pollard was named the first African-American All American running back in 1916. Pollard also became the first African- American to play in the Rose Bowl that same season. Pollard was later recognized for his stellar college career in 1954 when he was inducted into the College Football Hall of Fame.

Pollard's professional football career began in 1921 on the early Akron Pros roster. He later went on to play for the Milwaukee Badgers, the Hammond Pros, and the Providence Steam Roller.

In the NFL, Pollard electrified the game while enduring the hatred of crowds because of his race and the indignities of dressing and eating in isolation from his teammates due to Jim Crow laws and customs. He often suited up for football games in seclusion at a nearby cigar store or in automobiles. While on the field, Pollard always had to remain alert for flying rocks and at times even needed to be escorted from the field for his safety. This was in addition to the acts of discrimination he faced at hotels and restaurants.

Beginning in 1934, the NFL banned African-American players until 1946. Pollard fought this segregation by forming independent African- American touring football teams: the Chicago Black Hawks and most notably the New York Brown Bomber, to showcase African-American talent to the fans and to the NFL.

Fritz Pollard's talents extended far beyond the football field. He owned a coal company, ran a weekly newspaper, formed his own New York- based public relations firm, founded F. D. Pollard & Co., one of the nation's first Black run securities firms, a talent agency, headed a movie studio in Harlem, and produced the first black motion picture.

Today, Hoosiers still pay tribute to Pollard for the trail that he blazed for equality. The Indiana Black Expo, Inc.'s Circle City Classic football game annually showcases the talents of collegiate football players, coaches, musicians, administrators, faculty, staff and boosters to ensure that the name Fritz Pollard and his legacy are not forgotten. Frederick Douglas ``Fritz'' Pollard didn't live his life to make a living, but rather to make a difference. Pollard forged a trail followed by the 69 percent of today's NFL players who are African- American and the just over 70 percent of the NFL's players from other racial and ethnic minority groups. Pollard charted the course followed by the six African-American Head Coaches currently in the NFL, the 11 coordinators and the upwards of 170 minority Assistant Coaches.

Fredrick Douglas ``Fritz'' Pollard's induction to the NFL Hall of Fame shed a light on the early history of the NFL and Pollard's pioneering roles as the first African-American coach. To this day we in Indiana are proud to have called him our own.

Mr. Speaker, I thank the gentlewoman for yielding me time and thank the gentleman from Texas (Mr. Al Green) for promoting this issue before this country.

Violence itself is all too prevalent among us. Domestic violence in particular is devastating. It was not long ago that we were able to get the ears and the eyes of those who make a difference, the lawyers, the judiciary, the courts, who understood what it meant to be victims of violence.

I rise today on behalf of the victims who no longer have a voice, on behalf of victims who are weary and too afraid to speak out for fear that speaking out will entrap them even further if they do, speaking on behalf of the millions of women and children who suffer daily from the silent epidemic of domestic violence. This societal ill envelops all socio-economic groups, regardless of race, ethnicity, or education. It does not matter whether you live in the suburbs, a city, or more remote rural areas. It touches all of our communities.

The numbers of domestic violence are staggering. You have heard it from my counterpart, the gentlewoman from California (Ms. Watson). Surveys conducted over and over again show that one-third of women are at some time in their lives victims of domestic violence.

Regrettably, this violence against women often escalates to homicide. In Indiana there were 60 reported deaths due to domestic violence in 2003. Nationally, 1,880 women were murdered by men in 2002. I realize that sometimes the coin flips and there are women who are perpetrators of violence. We have to, as a body, as a country, address domestic violence from all sides; and I applaud the creators of this resolution to keep it before the ears and eyes of America, and would encourage the support of everyone in this body of good will, of common sense, and of understanding.

Mr. Speaker, I rise today on behalf of victims who no longer have a voice, on behalf of victims who are weary and too tired to speak out or fear what will happen to them if they do. I am speaking for the millions of women and children who suffer daily from the silent epidemic of domestic violence. This societal ill envelops all socio- economic groups regardless of race, ethnicity or education. It does not matter whether you live in the suburbs, the city or more remote rural areas; it touches all of our communities.

The number of domestic violence victims in our country is staggering. A survey conducted by the Commonwealth Fund, found that ``One-third (31%) of all women have been kicked, hit or punched, choked, or otherwise physically abused by a spouse or partner in their lifetimes. Three percent--a figure representing more than 3 million women in the U.S.--reported domestic abuse during that year.''

Each year in my home State of Indiana, thousands of women and children fall victim to domestic violence. From July of 2003 through June of 2004, 37,396 adults and 12,032 children were served in residential and nonresidential programs for domestic violence.

Domestic violence continues to be the leading cause of injury to women in this country. The agony is augmented by the fact that a great number of victims personally know their perpetrators. Sixty-four percent of women who reported being raped, physically assaulted, and/or stalked since age 18, were victimized by a current or former husband, cohabitating partner, boyfriend or date.

Regrettably, this violence against women often escalates to homicide. In Indiana, there were 60 reported deaths due to domestic violence in 2003.

Nationally, 1,880 women were murdered by men in 2002. The statistics further indicate that of these women who were murdered, 1,587 were killed by a man they knew as compared to 168 who were killed by strangers. These horrific assaults are occurring in our homes and in environments with people we know and should be able to trust.

Given these statistics, it is imperative that we reauthorize, build upon and support the Violence Against Women Act, which has paved the way for significant gains in the fight against domestic violence. Over the last 10 years VAWA has helped to decrease the incidence of domestic violence, improve services for victims, and implement positive institutional changes.

However, there is still much work to be done in our country where on average nearly 3 women a day are murdered by abusive boyfriends or husbands and up to 10 million children a year witness this violence.

We must hold legislative and judicial bodies accountable to promote and enforce laws that protect the victim and respond appropriately to the perpetrators. We must find ways to strengthen our health care response; protect the economic security of victims; ensure safe, decent and affordable housing for victims; provide additional prevention programs; support the particular needs of communities of color and native American women; address the special needs of immigrant women; provide enhanced services for military victims of domestic and sexual violence; and target resources toward children and adolescents who have witnessed or experienced domestic violence.

Since coming to Congress in 1997, I have sought to raise awareness about this silent epidemic and to encourage and support legislation preventing these abuses and violations against humanity. In order for us to put an end to violence against women we must address and educate all audiences; women, men and children. We must support the reauthorization of VAWA, ensure that it is well-funded and expand its reach.

Thank you very much, Mr. Speaker, and thank you all Americans for your prayers, your volunteerism, your most generous financial support, and all of the ways that you attempted to relieve some of the pain of those evacuees who were affected. My prayers continue.

The United States Congress, Members of the United States Congress, should board the plane transportation and go to the gulf, go to Mississippi, go to Louisiana, and all the other affected places. Congress should go, not just watch it on television, because it is very heart-wrenching, and I think we ought to be there in person.

I think we need to understand what happened to the young man whose mother cried out for help. On a Monday they promised her help was coming. On Tuesday they promised her it would be there shortly. On Wednesday it would be there in just a few. On Thursday, help is on the way. On Friday she drowned. Most heart-wrenching story that I have seen.

In my district, Calvary Temple sent nine buses after they got authorized by the American Red Cross to go down. But once they got there, FEMA would not allow them to board people on the buses. And they only allowed 12 people to get on nine buses, and the rest of the buses returned to Indianapolis empty, which is tragic.

We have some of the most sophisticated hospital ships in the whole world that sit right out here at Virginia. It took them 5 days to even get started to go down to the gulf, when it was clear that the help of the ships and the midshipmen and all the medical supplies on board were needed immediately.

We need to immediately reinstitute WPA days, Work Progress Administration days, that worked so well during the Roosevelt administration and that allowed all of these unemployed people that we have now in the South to begin to rebuild their own cities. And I know that numerous of them would be more than happy to allow the government to pay them while they rebuild their own cities. It is like Charles Dickens' ``Tale of Two Cities,'' the worst of times. But we could augment legislation to make it better times for the people that were so tragically affected. And I encourage Congress to do that.

Mr. Speaker, there have been so many comments made that I was going to make, and I will not replicate them. But in closing, I would like to remind us that every Member of this Congress should get together, not all at the same time, it is too many of them. But day after day after day we need to take a trip to the gulf, meet the people there, help serve the homeless, help serve the hungry, take clothes, our own money used, take clothes, take water, take diapers, take hygiene equipment. We need to personally be involved ourselves. And we need to get on the road right away.

Mr. Speaker, I regretfully rise today to join a growing chorus of American outrage in the wake of the Hurricane Katrina disaster on the Gulf Coast.

My purpose tonight is not to assign blame for this tragedy onto any single official or agency, but to express my shame and the shame of my constituents at the failure of our government to serve its citizens when they needed it most. Mr. Speaker, the American people know that this great Nation can do better. They deserve answers. They deserve results.

When I talk to my constituents I hear their indignation that a city like New Orleans, which lies below sea level and is so obviously vulnerable to hurricanes, was turned down repeatedly in recent years by its Federal Government for assistance in shoring up levees and reinforcing the ailing water pumps which kept the city above ground.

I hear anger that, in a city where with several days' notice of an imminent landfall of the hurricane, in a city where one third of all residents live below the poverty line, the only real option for evacuation was the ownership and deployment of privately owned automobiles.

Mr. Speaker, families living on less than $9,000 a year don't own cars. And because the hurricane came at the end of the month, low-wage earners living from paycheck to paycheck could not afford passage even if they had them. It was these poor, overwhelmingly African-American residents who were left to die in the thousands. The American public knows this tragedy could have been avoided. They deserve answers. They deserve results.

And now, with as much as 10,000 feared dead and thousands more waiting for housing, food, and other supplies, Americans from across this country who have offered their assistance and opened their cities to displaced citizens from Louisiana and Mississippi are being turned down by FEMA.

Last weekend a caravan of relief supplies and buses organized by local charities in my hometown of Indianapolis arrived in New Orleans to help evacuate the homeless to Indianapolis but was sent home by FEMA officials who insist that such generosity first pass through exorbitant layers of red tape before reaching citizens in need.

Never before has the great disconnect between the American public and its government been so clear.

The management of this disaster calls into question our readiness to deal with similar emergencies, including future terrorist attacks that may displace citizens and require massive relief efforts. But it also exposes the colossal failures of this Congress. And for that the American public deserves answers. They deserve results.

The business of this body has for too long been dominated by legislation that explicitly benefits the wealthy at the expense of our Nation's poor, such as the bankruptcy bill, the repeal of the estate tax, the President's devastating income tax proposals, and multiple bills shielding corporations from lawsuits, which are often the only means to reverse the injustices inflicted on our forgotten poorest citizens by our richest and most powerful.

Indeed, this Congress and this administration have not dared acknowledge the plight of the poor and less fortunate in this country. Now, finally, we have no choice.

In the wake of this profound tragedy, let us find the strength to face the failures of our past and turn toward policies that aim to protect all our citizens from harm.

Mr. Speaker, yesterday I introduced H.R. 3501, the ``Consumer Access Rights Defense Act (CARD) of 2005''. My bill is in response to the disastrous breach of credit card information and data privacy and continuous exposure of fraud suffered by millions of credit card consumers across the country.

My CARD ACT would require any data processing, credit or debit card businesses or other financial institutions to notify individuals when there has been a security breach compromising anyone's sensitive personal data, including Social Security numbers, driver's license or state identification numbers, credit or debit cards, or other financial account information.

Should any financial data be compromised, the bill will require notices be sent out by mail or e-mail without unreasonable delay. The bill will allow impose civil remedies for failure to notify; $1,000 per individual whose personal information was comprised or not more than $50,000 per day while failure to notify continues. The bill allows persons to sue for damages resulting from a data breach. The bill permits the placement of extended fraud alerts on credit reports. Finally, the bill will allow the Attorney General of every state to protect the interests of residents of their States when the federal government or businesses fail to notify individuals of a breach.

The bill covers both electronic and non-electronic data as well as encrypted and non-encrypted data. Furthermore, the bill sets a national standard so that individuals across the country have the same protections.

The law would be enforced by the Federal Trade Commission or other relevant regulator, or by a State attorney general who could file a civil suit. Individuals cold sue for actual damages.

Like most Americans, I was shocked to learn that the names, bank account and credit card details of possibly 40 million credit card holders have been exposed to fraud. Forty million accounts were exposed, and records pertaining to at least 200,000 admittedly were stolen, primarily MasterCard and Visa cards. Undoubtedly many people I represent could be affected by this disastrous breach of what credit companies and banks repeatedly have assured the public is a secure credit card system.

It is true that credit card holders are protected under Federal laws, including the Truth in Lending Act, which makes it illegal for banks to charge victims of credit card theft more than $50, despite the cost of purchases made on the card. And most banks have zero-liability policies, removing any financial responsibility of credit card theft from the cardholder. While the compromised data is said not to include addresses or Social Security numbers, the stolen information potentially can be used in turn to steal individual citizen's credit identify. Nearly 10 million people are victim of identity theft each year, costing consumers $5 billion in out-of-pocket losses and businesses $48 billion, according to the Federal Trade Commission. And that counts only the money loss. The Identity Theft Resource Center, a non-profit group based in San Diego, estimates the average victim spends about 600 hours trying to clear up credit problems after an ID theft.

Within days after this massive card data theft, some of that data was being bought and sold brazenly on the Internet by thieves who broker such information worldwide operating out of Russia and other Eastern European nations.

The irony of why and how the American people learned that 40 million of them, as well as others, had their financial privacy invaded should not be lost on my colleagues in this House.

We found out about this only because the State of California has a law which forces credit card companies to notify consumers when such theft happens. The Federal government has no such law, although those of us concerned about consumers rights are going to do our best to see that one is adopted quickly. At the very least, I believe, a person whose credit card information has been stolen or otherwise compromised has a right to swift and accurate notice from the issuing company or bank. For consumers fast notice of such a breach is the first, and sometimes, the only defense they have.

As member of the House Committee on Financial Services and of the Subcommittee on Financial Institutions and Consumer Credit, I am very much aware of the many credit information breaches that have occurred recently and over many months before. So many incidents like this have taken place, that I hope that this finally will spur the Congress to enact legislation to curb these frauds and protect consumers in the future.

While huge in numbers, the breach disclosed at CardSystems Solutions Inc. in California was not the first such attack on a card processor. In 2003, a Nebraska company called Data Processors International Inc., part of TransFirst Holdings Inc. had a similar breach and as many as 8 million account numbers were vulnerable. Earlier this month, Citigroup Inc. said UPS lost computer tapes with sensitive information from 3.9 million customers of CitiFinancial, which provides loans. Other companies, including Bank of America Corp., DSW Shoe Warehouse and BJ's Wholesale Club Inc., and CVS Drug Stores have also suffered extensive data theft.

While banks and credit card companies may have tighten their own security, they obviously have failed to force payment processors to meet similar high standards. Companies such as J.P. Morgan Chase & Co., Citigroup Inc., American Express Co. and MBNA Corp. said that they were not automatically alerting their customers that their information may have been exposed, but that they were ``more closely monitoring the accounts'' that may have been affected.

That simply is not good enough.

What happened in California has placed a needed spotlight on a little known, but highly sensitive part of the financial services industry; the hundreds of companies that process transactions between merchants and card issuers.

Edmund Mierzwinski, consumer program director at U.S. Public Interest Research Group, says that in his opinion ``information travels through the credit system and stops in so many places where it could be illegally used

that consumers have no idea what a hodgepodge of a system the credit card companies have created.'' He pointed out that the system is mainly designed to extract fees from consumers and businesses, ``but very little of it is designed for security.''

Even though many states are following California and adopting new laws, we in Congress should not drag our feet on this national issue anymore. We need federal protection for our people, at the very least, consumers have the right to know quickly when their private information is compromised.

In my view, here are the basic elements any protective legislation should include:

(1) Immediate notice of a breach by the card issuer to the card holder.

(2) A reasonable definition of when a ``breach'' occurs.

(3) Imposition of liability on third party card processors when at fault.

(4) A simple method of immediate assistance by the card issuer to the affected card holder to correct the problem as quickly as possible.

Mr. Speaker, I am assured that the CARD Act will be an important consumer law with teeth to rectify and strengthen consumer credit rights. I hope that this legislation will lessen the injurious liability that many of them face with no compassion from credit card companies, corporations, or the credit rating agencies, due to no fault of their own. I sincerely hope that the financial services industry will not oppose reasonable legislation to correct what is a very real and expanding national problem affecting millions of Americans.

I know some in the industry are saying that the cost of such notification is too great. But that statement flies in the fact of the numbers. The Wall Street Journal reports that the nation's largest banks profit each year by more than $20 billion in transaction fees they charge merchants on every credit card purchase made through MasterCard International Inc. or Visa USA Inc.

Surely some of that huge profit can be used for better and greater credit card security.

Mr. Speaker, as a proud member of one of the oldest black sororities in the United States, I rise today to honor and recognize Zeta Phi Beta Sorority, Incorporated, as it celebrates its 85th anniversary. Zeta was founded on January 16, 1920, by five students at Howard University, right here in our Nation's capital. A community- conscious action-oriented organization, Zeta Phi Beta has committed itself to uphold its founding principles of scholarship, service, sisterly love, and finer womanhood in over 700 communities around the world.

Zeta Phi Beta Sorority was founded on the belief that the social nature of sorority life should not overshadow the real mission of progressive organizations to address societal mores, ills, prejudice, poverty, and health concerns of the day.

Currently, under the direction of international president Barbara Moore, Zeta Phi Beta implements their national service program, Z-HOPE, which stands for Zetas Helping Other People Excel. Z-HOPE is a community outreach initiative in direct response to the Healthy People 2000 objectives established by the United States Department of Health and Human Services. Since the start of this initiative, Zeta women and their auxiliaries have touched the lives of thousands of men and women and children in more than 500 communities around the country.

Through their National Education Foundation, Zeta works with the Department of Energy to educate minority communities about the Human Genome Project. The foundation holds conferences across the Nation in both rural and urban areas.

Zeta Phi Beta also has a long-standing partnership with the March of Dimes to educate low-income mothers about prenatal care. Stork's Nest provides incentives to help pregnant women make and keep prenatal care appointments and teaches expectant parents about healthy prenatal and infant care practices. Over the past 2 years, more than 500,000 people participated in a program to raise the awareness of prematurity by taking the message to the African American and Latino churches.

In 2003, Zeta founded the Zeta Congressional Institute in efforts to increase the number of minority women who pursue careers as advocates and legislators. Zeta will encourage more minority women to pursue internships in congressional offices and executive agencies to gain firsthand knowledge of the political process.

For 85 years, the Zeta Phi Beta Sorority has worked to address the problems that confront our communities. I am proud to celebrate this momentous occasion with the ladies of Zeta Phi Beta, and I welcome them to Washington as they return here to celebrate the anniversary and the place of their founding.

Mr. Speaker, I rise today to extend my heartfelt congratulation to Mr. Rodney Stepp--a musician par excellence. Although there are many musically talented individuals in the Indianapolis area none compare to the abundance of talent, compassion and reputation of excellence.

Mr. Stepp was introduced to music by his parents at age 4. His parents enrolled him with the prestigious Jordan Conservatory School of music, Butler University, Indianapolis, Indiana. Imagine the foresight of his parents who believed their son was not too young to begin a career of music superbness.

Following the dictum: ``Unto whom much is given, much is required.'' Rodney has been widely acclaimed for his dedication to humankind.

His good work and dedication to community is evidenced by the widespread recognition bestowed upon him by: Center of Leadership Development, Entrepreneurship Award 2005; Indiana State Museum Project, Addy Award 2005; Christian Service Charities, Board of Directors, 1999- 2005, Achievement and Recognition; Addy Awards for Hoosier Lottery Commercials; Ebenezer Baptist Church, Aids Foundation, Dollars For Scholars; Indiana Black Expo; Circle City Classic, Indy Parks; Larry Conrad Vision Award, Indianapolis Downtown Inc.; United Way of America, Excellence Award; Valley Forge Freedom Foundation Award; Achievement Award United Way of America and Office of Personnel Management; Achievement Award United States Postal Service; and Honorable Discharge United States Army 1974.

Rodney is being celebrated by the Indiana History Center on July 14. His honors are noteworthy and deserving of acclaim.

On behalf of the U.S. Congress, we salute you Rodney Stepp and we wish you Godspeed.

Mr. Speaker, due to a previously scheduled speaking engagement, I was unavoidably delayed during rollcall vote No. 365. Had I been present I would have voted ``nay.''

Mr. Chairman, certainly no disrespect is intended to my colleague from Indiana (Mr. Souder). I have come to this microphone before this year criticizing Congress for meddling. I think this is another clear example of how Congress meddles in areas in which he or she has no business. I was reminded of a story in my district where a lady came home with her baby from the hospital, her 2-year-old was playing at her feet, went on the couch and got a gun, shot it, a 2- year-old, mind you, and killed the mother and the newborn baby. If the gun had been protected, that tragedy would have never existed.

Homicides remain unabated, especially among kids from 14 to 18. A lot of those guns are stolen from people's homes. If we had a mechanism that would prevent those kind of incidents, perhaps all of society would be better. I would encourage you to vote down this amendment with no deference to the author.

Mr. Chairman, I rise today in strong opposition to the irresponsible funding level of Amtrak in this bill. The funding level in this bill will kill Amtrak service. Among the 15 long-distance routes that will be eliminated is the Cardinal train, which connects my hometown of Indianapolis to Chicago and to New York City, serves over 88,000 passengers each year.

Also slated for elimination is Amtrak's Hoosier State train which connects my constituents to Chicago, serving about 18,000 passengers. In all, 100,000 Indiana passengers would be stranded without rail service. Over 1,000 Hoosier jobs will be threatened, including the 640 workers of Amtrak's Beech Grove heavy maintenance facility in my district.

This funding level is irresponsible. All transportation is subsidized by the government. When the airlines are in trouble, my colleagues do not hesitate to jump to their aid. Since Amtrak's creation, the Congress has subsidized air and highway transportation over $1.89 trillion. That is 63 times what we would have spent on Amtrak.

Let us not forget, it was Amtrak trains that brought stranded Americans home in the aftermath of September 11. I commend the gentleman

from Ohio (Mr. LaTourette), and the ranking member, the gentleman from Minnesota (Mr. Oberstar) for bringing to the floor the amendment today that would raise Amtrak funding to $1.2 billion.

In closing, let me remind my colleagues, there is not a rail service anywhere in the world that is not subsidized by the government. It is a service to consumers and should be maintained. I would appreciate unilateral, universal support of the amendment.

Mr. Speaker, due to a long-standing appointment in my Congressional District, I was unavoidably absent for the legislative day of Monday, June 27th, 2005.

Had I been present, I would have voted ``yea'' on rollcall vote 322 and ``yea'' on rollcall vote 323.

Mr. Chairman, I thank the gentleman from California (Mr. Filner) for bringing this very critical issue to the ears and eyes of the Congress as well as the ears and eyes of America.

In Indianapolis, Indiana, we have over 100,000 Medicare recipients, and in Indiana we have over 877,000. And as all of the Members know, the criminals devise ways at all times to break laws and to steal people's identity. People in nursing homes die unexpectedly, and workers, not all of them of course, steal Social Security numbers and abuse them before the Social Security Administration has an opportunity to close down that particular number.

So I appreciate very much this effort. I think it is very vital. And as I read the amendment, it is on new Medicare cards and not ones that exist at the present time. So it would not require an entire overhauling of the Medicare card system to implement this particular amendment.

And I would again commend the gentleman from California (Mr. Filner) for his insight and foresight in bringing this very vital issue to the Congress.

Mr. Chairman, I rise in support of public broadcasting.

Mr. Chairman, the Corporation for Public Broadcasting provides an essential public service and we ought to pass this amendment to restore funding for a program that works.

This budget cut hurts our children and the least fortunate in our community the most. PBS is especially critical for low-income Americans who may not be able to send their children to preschool. For millions of Americans, PBS programs like Sesame Street and Reading Rainbow are the only educational resources available to their children. PBS programs produce the most popular videos used by American teachers in the classroom.

According to a recent poll, 82% of the public thinks money given to PBS is money well spent. But if this amendment doesn't pass, PBS affiliate WFYI in my district will lose $1 million, or \1/3\ of the entire payroll for a station that reaches over a million households and 500,000 viewers every week. This is unacceptable.

But even more unacceptable is the threat this poses to the community services that WFYI provides on a daily basis to people in my district.

It provides workshops in day care centers for the most disadvantaged in Indiana.

For millions of Americans, PBS programs like Sesame Street and Reading Rainbow are the only educational resources available to their chIldren at home.

But WFYI also helps prepare low-income pre-schoolers for the first grade.

My hometown station sponsors over 400 volunteers who read to more than 2,000 Hoosiers who can't see the printed word. And there's much, much more.

Mr. Chairman, this station is not the exception. It is the norm. These services are the most threatened by this budget cut. No other broadcaster will ever offer the same level of community service that public television provides.

Let us pass the Obey amendment and restore full funding for public broadcasting.

Mr. Speaker, I rise today to commemorate the 89th running of the greatest spectacular in racing, the Indianapolis 500 held at Indianapolis Motor Speedway.

Congratulations to the winner, Dan Wheldon of Andretti-Green Racing, whose victory was not an easy one. Wheldon's winning highlight was a dramatic pass of the sensational rookie Danica Patrick with only six laps left in the race.

Although Danica Patrick may not have won, she made history. Danica Patrick of Rahal-Letterman finished in fourth place, the best finish ever for a woman.

She also had the highest starting position for a woman and was the first woman to lead a lap at the Indianapolis 500.

I would like to congratulate Dan Wheldon, Danica Patrick and the entire field of 33 drivers, their racing teams, the Indianapolis Racing League and the Indianapolis Motor Speedway for a spectacular race. Congratulations again.

Mr. Speaker, I wish to express my strong, principled and hopeful support of H.R. 810. I commend the vital leadership of my brave colleagues, Representatives Castle and DeGette, for bringing this urgent issue to the floor.

Federal funding for embryonic stem cell research is needed to help American scientists

move this research forward, research which has the potential to revolutionize medicine and save countless lives.

While adult stem cells have been very useful in treating some cancers, embryonic stem cells appear to have a far greater potential for treating disease than adult stem cells. Scientists regard embryonic stem cell research as one of the greatest hopes for the cure of medical conditions such as Parkinson's disease and diabetes due to their unique ability to develop into virtually any type of cell in the body.

Recently, researchers at the University of Miami came up with a technique to transform embryonic stem cells into the insulin-producing cells destroyed by Type-l diabetes. Such research may also help us better understand the causes of birth defects, genetic abnormalities, and other conditions that arise during the critical period of early human growth. Other possible medical applications include the repair of crippling injuries such as spinal cord damage and the ability to correct the damaging side effects of existing medical treatments like chemotherapy.

This debate is not about whether or not embryonic stem cell research will progress, for it surely will. This research is already taking place around the globe, and right here in America. The question is: will we lead the way? This debate is about American leadership in this world. For generations America has led the world in scientific advances. We must continue to support the work of our brilliant scientists and help them once again lead the world in this vitally important new field.

This bipartisan legislation would expand the scope of stem cell research while enacting stringent procedural guidelines. All activities would be subject to the strict ethical guidelines of the National Institutes of Health. No federal funds would be used to conduct research on unapproved stem cell lines. The cells used in this research will be donated voluntarily by patients of in-vitro fertilization clinics. It makes no sense, and it is just plain wrong to ban research using embryos that are being simply thrown away today.

Mr. Speaker, it is not our place as legislators to decide which medical research does and does not have merit. We must not block advances in life-saving and ethically conducted science. I commend my colleagues for supporting this critical legislation.

Mr. Speaker, I rise to comment upon and advise my colleagues in this House about the life of an illustrious educator in Indianapolis, Indiana.

Dr. Duncan N.P. Pritchett, Jr., almost universally known as ``Pat,'' began his career as an Indianapolis Public Schools teacher in 1969, fresh out of college. In time he left the classroom to lead as a principal, an administrator, and since 1997 as Superintendent of IPS, directing the education of 39,000 students in 79 schools in the heart of Indianapolis, finding innovative ways to improve their opportunities and performance. But in all of this he has stayed in touch with students and their families; he'll often be found in a classroom, reading, or at an assembly sitting in the crowd and appreciating the work of students and teachers.

Pat has been honored time and again. He was the 2002 Outstanding Alumnus of Ball State University Teacher's College. He was

chosen as the Indiana Music Educators Association's Outstanding Administrator. He received the New Millennium Education Award from the Indiana Christian Leadership Conference and Martin University. And most recently, he was honored for distinguished support of music education with the first annual VH1 Save the Music Foundation Administrator Award.

And now he has had enough: Pat is retiring and passing the challenge along to someone else. We'll miss him--he'll sure be a hard act to follow.

Pat is an extraordinary public servant. He is highly commended in his good work and I wish him and his family all the best in the next chapter of their lives.