Floor Statements

Mr. Speaker, I appreciate the ranking member for her hard work and for her leadership on our committee and our chairman in their working together. I appreciate those remarks, and we might call it the interim report, but it will be continuing.

Mr. Speaker, I rise in support of the motion to instruct conferees to insist upon section 344 of the House-passed bill requesting an intelligence ``lessons learned'' report on Iraq and strongly support asking for this report to be submitted to Congress as soon as possible.

Congress does its best work when it asks tough questions. The Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence has asked a lot of tough questions over the past 7 months about our intelligence on Iraq. In our hearings and our briefings, committee members' oversight trips to Baghdad, a lot of talk with dozens of the intelligence officers who fought the war and continue to fight has taken place. I admire their bravery, their patriotism, and their selfless dedication to duty as they prepared this country for what was to take place.

Even as I applaud their efforts, I feel it is my own duty to ask them tough questions, questions like, ``What did you do well?'' Questions like, ``What did you get wrong? What can be done better in the future?''

It is important to ask these questions because the answers are important. The answers are important because we thought we would be tripping over chemical and biological weapons all over Iraq, and so far we have not found any stockpiles of weapons. We need to know why.

These answers are also important for the future credibility of the U.S. foreign policy on Iran, North Korea, and other challenges around the world. And the answers are important for improving intelligence now, today, in Iraq, where our fine men and women face a dangerous insurgency.

For these reasons I believe time is of the essence. The time to ask and to answer these tough questions must begin now. I believe that instructing the conferees to insist on a timely ``lessons learned'' study is the right step forward to answering those tough questions and to making our country and our troops more secure and to be prepared and willing to do better as we go forward from this time on.

Mr. Speaker, I rise in support of the motion to instruct conferees on the Labor-HHS-Ed appropriations bill. This motion is urging support for Senator Harkin's provision, which blocks the administration's effort to gut overtime pay as we know it should be adopted.

These proposed changes will imperil an estimated 8 million workers and make them ineligible for overtime pay. Most Americans have grown accustomed to working a little extra to make a little extra in their paychecks. This helps employers and employees. These workers do not consider overtime pay as frivolous or spare change. It is not a luxury in today's shaky economy.

Many workers who earn overtime receive 25 percent of their annual income from the extra hours on the job. We should not take away a very important component to our workers. This is unfair. It is unwise. We should not penalize workers who are playing by the rules and need overtime pay.

The other body successfully adopted an amendment to prevent the administration from implementing this harmful regulation, and I remain hopeful, I remain hopeful this House will see the merits of overtime pay and agree with the need to block the regulation.

I urge my colleagues to join me, to join us in support of this motion to instruct and keep fairness for all American workers.

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

Mr. Speaker, it is my pleasure to be here. This is a very dear thing to people in my State. The gentleman made a reference to Iowa. I think if you get into the print though, you will find out that we give the 5- whatever percent, but then we take a piece of it back in the market basket thing.

So what happens here? When we are in the last position, it is a bad place to be. It is my understanding that no matter where you live, you pay the same as we go into this. We pay the same, but we do not get the same benefit.

This is doing us a lot of harm. We understand the impact this has on the older folks. Everybody thinks that just applies to them, but it applies to the whole community. When you cannot recruit doctors, you cannot retain doctors; you cannot recruit nurses, you cannot retain nurses; you cannot get technicians, you cannot retain them. You just go right on down to the mess halls, as we used to say in the Army and the Air Force. It affects the whole community, from the oldest to the youngest. You cannot buy equipment. It does not cost any less in Iowa and the rural areas than somewhere else. It is a very serious matter, and it needs attention.

So I hope that this will be accepted, that we will instruct to go and make sure that reimbursement rate is taken care of, and some equity, fairness, will take place. It is unfair discrimination, pure and simple, against States like mine, which rank last in the Nation in reimbursement, and many other areas throughout the Nation.

I find out down in Texas, there are areas out there that are as bad as we are. Yet overall, as we put all the numbers together, we go to the bottom, a rate that is less than half what the top rate is in the Nation. Something is awry. Something is wrong. We pay the same, but we cannot have the same.

Wait a minute, this is the United States of America. If we all pay the same, why do we not have the same treatment? That is not going on, and here is a chance to make that right.

So I am very hopeful, I am very hopeful, that we will not pass up this opportunity. We get to the underlying bill, the prescription drug side, that is another argument, and it affects everybody across the country. It does not affect just those of us getting a very bad shake on the reimbursement rate for Medicare. It affects everybody. I think we will keep that out in front of us for some time. I do not think that is going to go away.

But this might be the chance, this might be the chance for some parity, some equity, an opportunity to have some fairness when it comes to Medicare reimbursement.

I hope that those that have the last say on this when it comes back to us to either vote it up or vote it down will take this very, very seriously and try to treat all Americans alike. We need fairness. We pay the same, we ought to have the same result. It is a national program; it is not just for individual areas.

It is kind of interesting, I would say to the gentleman from Texas (Mr. Stenholm), talking to you and realizing out in some of the rural areas in Texas, and I am sure it is the same in parts of your district as well, that, no, it is not so. But, anyway, it certainly is in some of the rural areas, and Texas is Texas.

Mr. Speaker, it is time for fairness. We are all Americans. We are 50 States, and we are not getting treated the same. Iowa would like to be treated as everybody else. We do not want anything extra. Just treat us the same. We stand up and pay the same; we ought to be treated the same.

Mr. Speaker, as my colleagues probably know, many of them, I am president of the prayer breakfast in the House of Representatives, meeting every Thursday morning at 8 o'clock when we are here. With the announcement of tomorrow, the question has come up from several about tomorrow and the fact that it is Remembrance Day, a very important day.

We will, repeat, we will continue with the regularly scheduled breakfast, as a number of Members are going to be here. It will be the regular time, 8 o'clock, in the Members' dining room here in the Capitol building. Tomorrow at 8 o'clock, the prayer breakfast will proceed.

Mr. Chairman, I thank the gentlewoman for yielding me this time, and I thank the gentleman from Florida (Mr. Goss) for his hard work. He is truly a leader, and he treats us with fairness, and he has the best interests of our Nation in his heart, as well as the gentlewoman from California (Ms. Harman). I appreciate that very much.

I would associate myself with some of the remarks that the previous speaker just made concerning having some faith. We are two-thirds of the way there, and I think we have reason to believe we will get there.

Mr. Chairman, I rise in support of H.R. 2417. As the ranking member of the Subcommittee on Human Intelligence, Analysis and Counterintelligence, working with the gentleman from Nevada (Mr. Gibbons), who I appreciate very much his hard work and efforts, we have observed firsthand the dedication and the professionalism of the men and women on the frontline collecting intelligence around the globe. Through their sacrifices and their heroic efforts, they have helped make our Nation more secure and have contributed greatly to our military success in Iraq and Afghanistan. I am pleased that this bill provides the tools essential to intelligence collectors to meet operational goals; in particular, those related to military operations, combating terrorism, and countering the proliferation of weapons of mass destruction.

My colleagues will also appreciate that in H.R. 2417, it also requires the Director of Central Intelligence to report back to the committee on lessons learned from the war in Iraq. Careful analysis of the strengths and weaknesses of our technical systems and processes will allow both the executive branch and Congress to make better resource allocation decisions in the future.

H.R. 2417 also stresses the need for improved strategic and all- source intelligence analysis, both key to U.S. policymaker understanding of the capabilities and the intentions of rogue nations and individuals posing threats to U.S. interests. The bill further authorizes additional billets for analysts, as we all know we have to have people to do jobs, and additional funds for information technology upgrades to help analysts more efficiently do their job.

Mr. Chairman, this is a good bill. I trust my colleagues will support it.

Mr. Chairman, I move to strike the requisite number of words.

Mr. Chairman, I thank the gentleman from Florida (Mr. Hastings) for putting this before us. I think its time is overdue, and I think it is reasonable that he would have a pilot project.

I just have to think back on my own life experience, and I will not tell you about that today, in starting in a country home, way out in the country. But I go to schools a lot, and I particularly want to talk to the young folk in regard to their futures and education and what it means to them. And I often tell them my story and, again, I will not tell you tonight, but what it can do for equal opportunity. It is the road to success.

So I think that it would be very good if I can go to my African American schools, which I will, to my Hispanic community, to my Asian- Americans and all the others and say to them, this opportunity is happening and you too can be an effective person if you will get your education and come forth, and we will have a pilot project to show that; but you can come forth, and you can be in the high-level place to make sure our country is secure as the others have done before you.

So I encourage you to do this, and I am really glad that you have done this. It is a reasonable request that is needed. It ought to be done, and I am glad to hear the responses that we are hearing here tonight. I congratulate the gentleman, and I thank the gentleman.

Mr. Chairman, I yield to the gentleman from New Jersey (Mr. Holt).

Mr. Chairman, I thank the gentleman for his comments.

Mr. Speaker, as the Members know, I with many others in our Congress have served halfway around the world in a place called Southeast Asia. Sometimes we wondered how long it would take to get the equipment to us. It would take up to a month, but it always arrived. It always got there.

Mr. Speaker, I am sure all of us in this Chamber would agree that we must ensure the government operates efficiently and in a timely manner. However, a situation has come to my attention that I find very troubling.

Three months ago, the FCC adopted its Triennial Review order. I believe the economic implications of this action will be of great benefit throughout our Nation. However, the FCC has had 3 months to issue rules on this action and has done nothing. Meanwhile the companies are held hostage because, quite frankly, their hands are tied.

Mr. Speaker, how is it possible the United States can ship a large piece of military equipment halfway around the world in a shorter period of time than it takes the FCC to send its rules up a flight of stairs?

I am here today urging the FCC to complete its work and bring some certainty to the telecommunications industry so that our Nation can move forward and our economy can once again begin to grow.

Mr. Speaker, it is a pleasure for me to come and stand before my colleagues this evening, and regardless of how we got here, I think the time has come that we ought to stand together for the troops, and so I appreciate the gentleman from California (Mr. Hunter) and the gentleman from Missouri (Mr. Skelton) for bringing this to the floor.

I have to reflect on some things, as many of us have done, veterans here, as many of us are, and the lack of support for the two times I went to Vietnam. I was reflecting on that this last Monday when I went to three different communities to activate troops, went off from Fort Riley and will go to the Middle East.

I looked at the faces of the men and women and the uniform, and I realized how much I appreciated when that gymnasium in these three different towns, three different locations, that was packed to the walls, the support of the families and the community was so meaningful and so special and so appreciated.

So I support the resolution, and I encourage Members to support it, to support our men and women in uniform. God bless America.

Mr. Speaker, on April 26, 2003, more than 1200 students from across the United States will visit Washington, D.C. to compete in the national finals of the We the People: The Citizen and the Constitution program, an educational program developed specifically to educate young people about the Constitution and the Bill of Rights. Administered by the Center for Civic Education, the We the People program is funded by the U.S. Department of Education by act of Congress.

I am proud to announce that the class from Central Academy from Des Moines will represent the State of Iowa in this national event. These young scholars have worked conscientiously to reach the national finals by participating at local and statewide competitions. As a result of their experience they have gained a deep knowledge and understanding of the fundamental principles and values of our constitutional democracy.

The three-day We the People national competition is modeled after hearings in the United States Congress. The hearings consist of oral presentations by high school students before a panel of adult judges on constitutional topics. The students are given an opportunity to demonstrate their knowledge while they evaluate, take, and defend positions on relevant historical and contemporary issues. Their testimony is followed by a period of questioning by the judges who probe the students' depth of understanding and ability to apply their constitutional knowledge.

The We the People program provides curricular materials at upper elementary, middle, and high school levels. The curriculum not only enhances students' understanding of the institutions of American constitutional democracy, it also helps them identify the contemporary relevance of the Constitution and Bill of

Rights. Critical thinking exercises, problem-solving activities, and cooperative learning techniques help develop participatory skills necessary for the students to become active, responsible citizens.

The class from Central Academy is currently preparing for their participation in the national competition in Washington, D.C. It is inspiring to see these young people advocate the fundamental ideals and principles of our government, ideas that identify us as a people and bind us together as a nation. It is important for future generations to understand these values and principles which we hold as standards in our endeavor to preserve and realize the promise of our constitutional democracy. I wish these young ``constitutional experts'' the best of luck at the We the People national finals.