Floor Statements

Mr. Speaker, the United States has no permanent diplomatic presence in Tibet. Our closest consulate is located in Chengdu--1,500 miles away from Tibet's capital of Lhasa.

During the recent violence, the Chinese government sealed off the Tibetan Autonomous Region to U.S. diplomats and foreign journalists. America has no permanent office to monitor the situation and to assist U.S. citizens.

Last week, I authored appropriation language to establish a permanent diplomatic presence in Lhasa, Tibet. The language is supported by the Dalai Lama's special envoy, Lodi Gyari. The U.S. State Department has no opposition to it, and the Chinese ambassador to Washington has welcomed its discussion.

I urge my colleagues to support this initiative to demonstrate our bipartisan commitment to the people of Tibet and the expanding diplomatic presence of the United States.

I thank my colleague from Oklahoma, and appreciate the leadership, and especially my friend from Washington for bringing forward this legislation. It is a strong resolution that follows up on a congressional recognition of 2008 as the International Year of the Reef in support of research and development to preserve coral reefs around the world.

We all know that coral reef systems are vital to the ecology of our planet. They provide food and jobs and recreation to millions of people around the world. Most importantly, they provide key environmental benefits, including resistance to climate change and protection of shorelines from harmful erosion.

Coral reefs and their surrounding ecosystems are now under siege. They face damage from marine vessels, destructive fishing methods, development, and especially increased ocean pollution. Climate change has contributed to increasing sea temperatures, which also threaten these critical habitats. According to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, 60 percent of the world's coral reefs may be destroyed by the year 2050 if the present rate of destruction continues.

The International Coral Reef Initiative deemed 2008 as the International Year of the Reef. It established a global campaign to raise awareness about the value and importance of coral reefs and their threats to sustainability. The effort also aims to mobilize action to develop and implement innovative solutions and strategies to protect and preserve this important natural resource.

It's very important for the United States to lend its support and resources to this effort. I would also say it's very important for the Congress to complete its work on another piece of legislation that my friend and I backed, the Tropical Forest and Coral Reef Conservation Act, H.R. 2185. My colleague, Mr. Baird, and I supported this resolution, which is based on legislation coauthored by myself and Mr. Hastings of Florida. It would offer a key ``debt for nature swaps'' in developing countries to protect key coral reefs.

This legislation was based on work by my previous colleague, the former Member from Ohio, Rob Portman. We worked together since the late 1980s to pioneer a new strategy to support international ecology; that is, offering reductions for the debt of developing nations in return for investments in protecting key ecosystems. Using this technique, we created the largest park in the Western Hemisphere, the Beni Biosphere Reserve in Bolivia.

All combined, debt-for-nature swaps have now saved an area 50 times larger than Yellowstone National Park. The key addition of the Tropical Forest and Coral Conservation Act is to extend this debt-for-nature authority to the Department of the Treasury to protect coral reefs. This legislation passed the House overwhelmingly on October 9, 2007, but still remains pending in the Senate. Like so many other things, we would like to see the Senate complete the good work of the House of Representatives.

My hope is that by passing this legislation we continue to call attention on the attack of coral reefs across the world, on their critical role in preserving the biological diversity of the world, and especially the United States and its Caribbean coastline, and, most importantly, to pass the Tropical Forest and Coral Reef Conservation Act, so that we can offer more than just help on a resolution, that we can have visible support to developing nations so that they can protect their coral reefs, much as the United States should do on our own shores. I thank the gentleman from Washington.

Madam Speaker, I rise today to honor the 30th Anniversary of St. Mary of Vernon, a well-established church located in the 10th district of Illinois.

In 1978, Father John Finnegan went to Lake County to establish a new parish in the Vernon Hills area. The first Mass took place on August 15, 1978, in a rented space at Hawthorn Jr. High School. Three years later, in 1981, the church moved into their new Worship Center which doubled as a building for Mass as well as for social and community activities. In December of 2005, the church moved into a new church building, fulfilling their dream. Despite the acquisition, the congregation takes pride in the fact that it is the people inside the church's walls that make St. Mary of Vernon what it is.

The parishioners of St. Mary of Vernon are dedicated to the Catholic education for all ages. Their goal is for all activities and gatherings to have a spiritual dimension and regular participation in these programs helps develop a community within the church.

Going beyond themselves, St. Mary of Vernon believes in serving the needs of their surrounding community. Through outreach programs, people feel welcome in the church at all times. To maximize their impact, they also partner up with other congregations and community efforts.

This year we pause to celebrate the church's 30th Anniversary and their impact on our community. I commend St. Mary's for their accomplishments over the years and know they will continue to do great things in the years to come.

Madam Speaker, yesterday Shelley Berkley and I, along with 55 of our Democratic and Republican colleagues, sent a bipartisan letter to President Carter calling on him to cancel his meeting with Hamas leader Khaled Meshal.

The State Department lists Hamas as a foreign terrorist organization, and Hamas terrorists are responsible for the murders of at least 26 American citizens, some of them teenagers, children and infants.

Here are two of the victims, 3-month-old Shmuel Taubenfeld and 3- year-old Tehilla Nathanson. They are the faces of American citizens with their light extinguished by Hamas terrorists.

If you live in Illinois, New York, New Jersey, Massachusetts, Ohio, California, North Carolina, Connecticut, Pennsylvania, or Florida, then Americans from your State have been murdered by Hamas.

President Carter, do not meet with the man who ordered the deaths of our fellow citizens.

Madam Chairman, I have an amendment at the desk.

Madam Chairman, in conjunction with the majority and minority, I ask unanimous consent that we consider the modified amendment that I have at the desk.

Madam Chairman, I rise in strong support of the Beach Protection Act because it is critical that we protect millions of Americans who use the public beaches each day, like the ones in my own congressional district. Unfortunately, many beaches go unmonitored or face severe delays and do not receive testing results in time to protect the public health. Without proper monitoring and notification, thousands of citizens risk illness due to growing contamination. This legislation provides authority for funding for rapid testing of recreational waters that can save millions from unnecessary beach closings or even hospital bills.

We must not ignore also far more dangerous toxins which have far- reaching effects on the most vulnerable members of our society--our children. Mercury pollution is a serious problem for my district in Northern Illinois, as well as nationwide.

I would like to present to the House a chart which shows mercury depositions for 2001. What it shows here is a picture of both the West Coast, the Midwest and the East as mercury hot spots where further monitoring should be used to protect the public health.

In my own area, the Chicago region, other data shows we could be one of the hottest mercury hot spots in the country. Today there are more than 700 bodies of water throughout the United States that are impaired by mercury. The Great Lakes are particularly vulnerable to this exposure as 36 percent of mercury emissions are generated in the Great Lakes region. In fact, there are currently no less than 18 separate fish advisories for mercury contamination in our region. And yet the Great Lakes remain a source of food, and especially drinking water, for 30 million Americans. This undoubtedly contributes to the recent estimate by the U.S. Government that more than 300,000 American babies are born each year with a risk of mercury pollution.

I will note in my own State of Illinois, pregnant women test 14 times above the background level for mercury in their blood.

We are just at the beginning of learning what mercury deposited in our waterways are doing from American coal plants and other industrial sources.

Some scientists estimate also that 36 percent of mercury settling into U.S. ground soil and waterways comes from Asia, particularly China. We know that China is home to 20 of the 30 most polluted cities on the planet, and their extensive use of coal affects their water and their air in their mercury pollution.

In light of the newly discovered data on global mercury sources and new atmospheric modeling methods, it is critical that we revise the outdated monitoring and testing procedures for this dangerous toxin.

My amendment would require the administrator of the Environmental Protection Agency to update existing monitoring protocols and develop updated testing recommendations for the existence of mercury in the Great Lakes coastal waters, sediments and fish. Funds for this effort would not come out of scarce resources set aside for beach monitoring and testing.

To the chairman and the ranking member who have helped me out with this, I want to thank you for your leadership on this and helping support this amendment in protecting the Great Lakes.

As we enter the summer months when mercury deposition is the highest, I urge my colleagues to support the amendment to help safeguard the future of our generations and the Midwest's most precious natural resource.

Mr. Chairman, I would seek to break up the partisan tone of this debate and offer this bipartisan amendment because I think looking at increased testing and protocols to monitor mercury pollution, making sure especially in the Great Lakes, the source of drinking water for 30 million Americans is safe, we should adopt this amendment.

I yield back the balance of my time.

Mr. Chairman, today I am pleased to rise in support of the National Landscape Conservation System Act. This bipartisan legislation, supported by the National Wildlife Federation, EarthJustice, The Nature Conservancy, Sierra Club and more, would officially establish America's newest conservation system. With 26 million acres of land under its jurisdiction, the National Landscape Conservation System, NLCS, protects our nation's crown jewels.

From the Lewis and Clarke National Historic Trail to Nevada's Red Rock Canyon, this legislation works to conserve the fabric of the West. In 2000, the Secretary of the Interior established the National Landscape Conservation System to protect the best of the lands and waters managed by the Bureau of Land Management. This bill provides statutory recognition of the existing National Landscape Conservation System as well as its permanent establishment as a land conservation system equivalent to that of the National Park Service. At no cost to the taxpayer, Congress has the opportunity to protect these lands for millions of Americans for generations to come.

Nothing in this legislation changes the way in which NLCS lands are currently administered, including hunting and recreation management. H.R. 2016 adds no land to NCLS, nor does it contain any provisions diminishing private property rights. Following in Theodore Roosevelt's footsteps, I strongly encourage my colleagues to join me in passing this landmark legislation.

Mr. Speaker, The Washington Post reports that President Carter will visit Syria next week to meet with a Hamas assassin, Khaled Meshal. The State Department lists Hamas as a foreign terrorist organization, and it is responsible for the murder of at least 26 American citizens: David and Nava Applebaum of Ohio, killed just before Nava's wedding; Alan Beer of Ohio; Marla Bennet of California; Benjamin Blustein of Pennsylvania; David Boim of New York; Yael Botwin of California; Dina Carter of North Carolina; Janis Ruth Coulter of Massachusetts; Sara Duker of New Jersey; Matthew Eisenfeld of Connecticut; Tzvi Goldstein of New York; Judith Greenbaum of New Jersey; David Gritz of Massachusetts; Dina Horowitz of Florida; Rabbi Eli Horowitz of Illinois; Tehilla Nathanson of New York, age 3; Malka Roth of New York; Mordechai Reinitz of New York; Yitzhak Reinitz of New York; Leah Stern of New Jersey; Goldie Taubenfeld of New York; Shmuel Taubenfeld, 3 months old, of New York; Nachshon Wachsman of New York; Ira Weinstein of New York; and Yitzhak Weinstock of California.

President Carter, the voices from the grave beseech you, do not meet with the man that ordered the murder of these American citizens.

I urge Members to sign our letter asking former President Carter not to meet with the killer of American citizens.

Mr. Speaker, yesterday Al-Hayat reported that former President Carter will visit Syria to meet with Hamas leader Khaled Meshal.

The State Department lists Hamas as a foreign terrorist organization. It is responsible for the murder of at least 26 American citizens, some of them teenagers, children, and infants, like David Applebaum of Ohio, Nava Applebaum of Ohio, Alan Beer of Ohio, Marla Bennet of California, Benjamin Blutstein of Pennsylvania, David Boim of New York, Yael Botwin of California, Dina Carta of North Carolina, Janis Ruth Coulter of Massachusetts, Sara Duker of New Jersey, Matthew Eisenfeld of Connecticut, Tzvi Goldstein of New York, Judith Greenbaum of New Jersey, David Gritz of Massachusetts, Dina Horowitz of Florida, Rabbi Eli Horowitz of Illinois, Tehilla Nathanson, age 3, of New York, Malka Roth of New York, Mordechai Reinitz of New York, Yitzhak Reinitz of New York, Leah Stern of New Jersey, Goldie Taubenfeld of New York, Shmuel Taubenfeld of New York, Nachshon Wachsman of New York, Ira Weinstein of New York, and Yitzhak Weinstock of California.

President Carter, the voices of these victims in the grave beseech you: Do not meet with the man who ordered their murders.

Offered By: Mr. Kirk

Amendment No. 7: Redesignate sections 9 and 10 of the bill

as sections 10 and 11, respectively.

After section 8 of the bill, insert the following:

Madam Speaker, just this morning, The New York Times posted this headline: ``JPMorgan and Fed Bail Out Bear Stearns.'' The ``subprime loan problem'' is mushrooming. Unless we take action with temporary relief targeted to keep families in their homes, we risk creating a patchwork ``bailout plan'' that will grow beyond our ability to monitor and will be impossible to dismantle.

Despite today's headlines, the American residential mortgage market remains healthy overall. Homes worth $20 trillion secure just over $10 trillion in mortgages, and over 90 percent of mortgage loans payments are not in default or foreclosure. However, one sector, subprime loans, is in distress. Over 7 million homeowners closed subprime loans between 2003 and 2007. An estimated $1.3 trillion in subprime loans are outstanding, and half of these have adjustable rates. More than 20 percent have fallen past due. Over half of pending foreclosures are the result of failed subprime loans. The worst is not over. During 2008, the interest rates paid by 1.8 million subprime borrowers with $362 billion of adjustable rate mortgages will reset upward, sharply, and continue to rise every 6 months. Lenders have mortgage assets on their balance sheets they cannot sell at a fair price, and borrowers are wincing at the sharply higher reset interest rates they must face later this year.

In today's Washington Post, Alex Pollack, former president of the Chicago Federal Home Loan Banks and now a resident scholar at the American Enterprise Institute, reminds us of ``A 1930's Rescue Lesson''--the Home Owners Loan Corporation, better known as ``HOLC''. This Government corporation was given the authority to purchase troubled home loans from lenders at a discount for 3 years, then liquidate when its ``workout'' mission was complete. HOLC's participation in the troubled 1934 mortgage market assured liquidity, restored confidence, and rescued 800,000 families from the threat of foreclosure. In 1951, HOLC completed its task, returning its initial capital contribution to the Treasury, with a profit.

I am introducing legislation to re-establish the Home Owners Loan Corporation, capitalizing it with $25 billion that can be deployed immediately to purchase up to $300 billion in troubled home loans. The new corporation will have the mission of fulfilling HOLC goals established in 1933, in a way that: keeps borrowers in their homes, and foreclosures to a minimum; does not bail out careless lenders or speculative investors; limits the cost to taxpayers; is temporary.

Its board of directors would include representatives from the Treasury, the Government Accountability Office, the FDIC, HUD, and the Office of Federal Housing Enterprise Oversight.

HOLC21, like its predecessor, will limit its purchases to mortgages secured by primary residences. And, like its predecessor, it will liquidate when its job is complete. This temporary emergency program is meant to be a lifeline to subprime borrowers, preventing a downward spiral into recession. Its doors will not be opened to allow lenders to dump their assets on the Government without recognizing the cost of imprudent credit decisions. HOLC21 would purchase or guarantee mortgages on primary residences that are past due or in default, adjusted to a balance equal to 90 percent of a fair valuation of the collateral property as set by HOLC21. In markets that have seen property values drop, lenders will have the choice of recognizing their loss and selling a mortgage to HOLC21, or holding the loan and waiting for housing values to improve.

Alex Pollack describes HOLC as ``sensible temporary actions'' designed to ``bridge the bust'' and ``be withdrawn as private market functioning returns.'' The private market needs temporary Federal support. Let's make sure it is temporary, efficient, and targeted to homeowners.

Mr. Speaker, I am the first House appropriator to swear off earmarks and join 32 of my colleagues, including Senators Feingold and McCain, as well as Chairman Waxman and Leader Boehner. I'm told that Senators Clinton and Obama are considering supporting this effort.

The Constitution put the spending power in the House, and I used this to support my district. But like other powers, this congressional power could be abused; and, increasingly, we approve low- or no-quality spending to win approval for our own community: you get yours, I get mine, and the kids get the bill.

No more for this appropriator. We should ask: Should the taxpayers pay for a $320 million bridge to connect a town of 8,000 to an island, population 50? No.

Should the taxpayers spend $243,000 on Chez Panisse to create a gourmet organic school lunch program featuring ``Comte cheese souffle with mache salad'' or ``Meyer lemon eclairs with huckleberry coulis''? No.

Common sense says we should put an end to such spending. I would urge the House to enact the Wolf-Kingston reforms with a moratorium on earmarks.

Mr. Speaker, I am four for five on veto overrides of our President, but this is not one of them.

This bill limits our intelligence professionals at a time when we need more people in the Office of the Director of National Intelligence. The bill fails to provide tools to monitor foreign terrorist communications when we should be monitoring more of them. And it also provides less resources to our own intelligence community, not more.

The bill also does have earmarks in which the committee delayed publication. Senators McCain and Clinton and Obama all now support a complete moratorium on earmarks this year, but this legislation does not do that.

We not only hamstring our intelligence community by this bill, we waste millions of dollars on no or low quality earmarks that have little utility to the intelligence community. We should bring back this bill without any spy pork.

Mr. Speaker, I still serve in the intelligence community. We all know that torture is illegal, and we all read the papers and know that all Republican and Democratic candidates for President are against waterboarding. So, in January of this year, that will be over, but the rest of the issues in this bill will not.

Does this bill hamstring our community? It does. Does it fund 26 items of spy pork? It does. And for these reasons, we should not pass this flawed piece of legislation.

Madam Speaker, today, along with my colleague Rob Andrews, I am introducing a bipartisan resolution to condemn Iran's continued persecution of its Baha'i minority.

In 2006, Iran's Armed Forces Command Headquarters ordered the Ministry of Information, the Revolutionary Guard, and the Police Force to identify members of the Baha'i Faith in Iran and monitor their activities.

In that same year, we saw the largest roundup of Baha'is since the 1980s. The Iranian Interior Ministry ordered provincial officials to ``cautiously and carefully monitor and manage'' all Baha'i social activities. The Central Security Office of Iran's Ministry of Science, Research and Technology ordered 81 Iranian universities to expel any student discovered to be a Baha'i.

In 2007, the situation worsened. More than two-thirds of the Baha'is enrolled in universities were expelled once identified as Baha'is. Police entered Baha'i homes and businesses to collect details on family members.

Twenty-five industries were ordered to deny licenses to Baha'is. Employers were pressured to fire Baha'i employees and banks were instructed to refuse loans to Baha'i-owned businesses. Baha'i cemeteries were destroyed.

In November 2007, three Baha'i youths were detained for educating underprivileged children. The following month, the Iranian Parliament published a draft Islamic penal code, requiring the death penalty for all ``apostates''--a term applied to Baha'is and any convert away from Islam.

This government-sponsored persecution must end. The world cannot be silent as Iran prepares to ethnically cleanse its Baha'i minority.

I urge my colleagues to join us in cosponsoring this bipartisan resolution condemning Iran's persecution of the Baha'is, calling for the immediate release of three Baha'i youths and calling on Iran to reject a recent draft Islamic penal code requiring the death penalty for all ``apostates.''

Madam Speaker, I'd like to talk about 10 Americans showing America's best face from the 10th Congressional district. Today I rise to honor 10 very special individuals from my congressional district who are making a difference for the United States overseas. These ``Ten for the Tenth'' go beyond dedicating themselves to building a stronger community here, but also show the best face and values of America overseas.

Marillyn Tallman, from Highland Park, has been working for more than 60 years, leading the fight against anti-Semitism. After a trip to the Soviet Union in 1968, Marillyn joined Chicago Action for Soviet Jewry to fight human rights violations against Jews. Since 1972, the Highland Park-based Chicago Action has been a vocal advocate for the third largest Jewish community in the world, sponsoring fact-finding missions, linking synagogues with communities in the former Soviet Union, and pressing for legislative action.

Lori Dillon, from Lake Forest, works closely with Eric Peasah at the Counter Trafficking Center to support the rescued children sold into child labor in Ghana. They have been working to save hundreds of trafficked children. Lori started a pen pal program where children in the Lake Forest community write to rescued children in Ghana offering support. She also started a child trafficking awareness initiative at the Deerpath Middle School and Lake Forest High School where her daughter, Claire, is a sophomore.

Zack Harris, of Glencoe, was a New Trier freshman when he learned about and studied the conflict in Darfur, and he became determined to help. As an 8th-grade student and president of the Central School in Glencoe, he organized a ``Dance for Darfur,'' a fundraiser for the Luol Deng Foundation, which works with the World Food Program in Darfur, to assist in food distribution. The ``Dance For Darfur'' was the first charity dance ever held at the school, and helped raise awareness, and over $1,000, with over $5,000 more contributed by the community.

Gene Marks, of Northbrook, realized that many Latinos in the 10th Congressional District come from only three villages in Mexico: La Luz, Tonatico, and San Jose. Last year Northbrook purchased a new ambulance for the Fire Department, and instead of scrapping the fully operational older ambulance, Gene contacted my office and arranged with our Latino Advisory Board member, Miguel Arizmendi, to donate this ambulance to Tonatico, Mexico, the first ambulance they will ever have, where it will benefit thousands.

Connie Duckworth, of Lake Forest, after retiring as a partner and the managing director of Goldman Sachs, she founded Arzu to better the lives of Afghan women. This nonprofit group provides sustainable incomes and access to education for many women in Afghanistan by selling homemade rugs here in the United States.

The Fred Outa Foundation in Northbrook, in 2006 Susan Vaickauski of Northbrook and Maryann Gibbs of Gurnee founded this foundation to raise money for a girls school in Kenya. The foundation provides school supplies, food and medicines, all for Fred Outa's school in Kenya.

The International Sharing Ministry in Libertyville was created by Libertyville's St. Joseph's parish in 2005 to build an elementary school for the children of Mailisita in Tanzania. Additionally, the organization is now building a guest house in Moshi to generate revenue for people traveling in the country or climbing Mt. Kilimanjaro. To date, they have raised over $100,000 and built five classrooms already.

Pastor Stackhouse of Waukegan, who from May 2007 to July 2007 led his church members at Sign of the Dove Church in Waukegan and North Chicago to institute a water system and clean rainwater for local residents in Masaka, Uganda. This is notable because his community of South Waukegan and North Chicago is a lower-income community. But they are representing the United States very well overseas.

Wendy Abrams of Highland Park is one of the leaders in the fight against climate change. Wendy developed and implemented Chicago's ``Cool Globes'' art and public awareness exhibit along the lake front. In conjunction with the city, 123 five-foot-tall globes were designed for artists on environmental themes to raise awareness about reducing our carbon footprint.

The COVE Alliance of Indian Creek, in April 2005 formed a nonprofit organization serving orphaned and vulnerable children in central Uganda. Parishioners are actively involved in fund-raising, as well as mission trips to Kapeeka, Uganda.

Finally, an honorable mention to Dr. Wayne Goldstein, who is a doctor to

doctors in Sierra Leone. These 10, with an honorable mention, 11 Americans, have led the best face of the United States overseas from my congressional district.

Madam Speaker, today I introduced a resolution calling on the Department of Defense, the U.S. Geological Survey, and the National Science Foundation to support a mission to recover the remains of three naval aviators in Antarctica.

On December 30, 1946, a Navy aircraft participating in Operation Highjump over Antarctica crashed, killing three of the nine on board. Among those killed in the crash of the ``George One,'' as the seaplane was known, was Radioman Wendell Hendersin, the brother of Betty Jean Spencer of Mundelein, Illinois.

Along with the other casualties, Hendersin was buried in a common grave near the crash site. Although the survivors held a small service, Hendersin never received a proper burial.

After 2 weeks stranded on the ice, the survivors were rescued, but the remains of the three Americans were never recovered. At the time, servicemembers killed overseas were usually buried abroad. Due to the risks involved at the time, the Navy decided against undertaking a recovery mission. In the 61 years that have passed, Department of Defense policy changed and technology now makes a recovery operation likely to succeed at lower risk.

Thanks to the efforts of the U.S. Geological Survey, the location of the George One is known. The USGS estimates that the wreckage is under about 165 feet of ice. With the location known and the technology in place to launch a successful recovery mission, the time has come to bring these brave naval aviators home.