Floor Statements

Mr. Speaker, this House needs more ethics reforms, rather than less. And the package before the House makes a positive step, but falls short in several key areas.

The most important ethics reform that is missing from this package concerns taxpayer-funded pensions for Members of Congress convicted of a felony. Under current law, both Congressmen Traficant of the Democratic Party and Cunningham of the Republican Party would still be eligible to collect a taxpayer-funded pension, even after being indicted and convicted beyond a shadow of a doubt by a jury of their peers of a felony.

Stopping taxpayer funded pensions for lawmakers who break the law is not a new issue. My home State of Illinois, a State not known for its clean government, in that State, we, at least, kill pensions for lawmakers who break the law, and we have done so for 30 years.

Ten years ago, Speaker Pelosi voted for H.R. 4011. That would have killed pensions for Congressmen for a conviction on any one of 21 separate felonies. She was right then, and it would be right now to terminate taxpayer-funded pensions for lawbreakers.

Mr. Speaker, Democratic Congressman Brad Sherman and I joined to support these very reforms in the last Congress. And we, at least, passed limited reforms and allowed the Senate at least to consider them.

But today, the 100 hours fails to take up this issue. None of these pension killing reforms are in the package or are currently scheduled.

I take what the gentleman from Massachusetts (Mr. McGovern) says very seriously, that he has made a commitment to bring up legislation to kill pensions for Members of Congress convicted of a felony.

I have introduced legislation, H.R. 14, to do exactly that, modeled after the legislation supported by former Speaker Hastert as well as Speaker Pelosi. These are commonsense reforms, already part of the law of the land in the land of Lincoln, and long ago should be part of the ethics reforms of this House.

Mr. Speaker, I would like to announce to the House that Henry Hyde has made a major decision in his life.

Mr. Speaker, I yield to the gentleman from Indiana.

Madam Speaker, I ask unanimous consent that all Members may have 5 legislative days in which to revise and extend their remarks and to include extraneous material on S. 2370.

Madam Speaker, we meet here today to commemorate the service to the United States of our colleague Henry Hyde of Illinois. Henry

Hyde, from our Sixth Congressional District, currently is retiring as the chairman of the House International Relations Committee and has become one of the most intellectual and respected Members of the House.

Henry comes from Chicago Earth. Raised as a Catholic and a Democrat, he was an all-city basketball center when he went off to college in Georgetown and then enlisted in the Navy. Henry Hyde served our country in the United States Navy from 1944 to 1946, serving in the Lingayen Gulf and then the Reserves from 1946 to 1968, finally retiring from the Navy as a commander. After the war, he finished college and law school and practiced law in Chicago and in 1958 switched parties, convinced that Republicans were in line with his anti-communist beliefs. He ran for the House in 1962 and lost by a six-point margin.

He then ran for the Illinois House in 1966. He served as the majority leader between 1971 and 1972. He ran for Speaker of the Illinois House, but didn't make it after a narrow battle.

Henry was elected to the Congress in 1974, after originally planning to run as president of the Cook County Board until Congressman Harold Collier told Henry that he was not going to run for Congress again. Hyde's first campaign for Congress was against the Cook County State's Attorney, Edward Hanrahan, and in that race Henry won by a victory of 53 percent.

It was a big Democratic year in 1974, but what a leader the people of the Sixth Congressional District elected when they chose Henry Hyde, not only as chairman of the International Relations Committee but also of the Judiciary Committee and someone who had a key role in expanding the fight for freedom and democracy in Central America.

I first worked closely with Henry Hyde when I served in the United States State Department on behalf of the Central American Peace Process. It was Henry Hyde, his intellect and his voice, that saw the growing danger in Central America. It was Henry Hyde that helped lead this House on a bipartisan basis to back the democracy in El Salvador in its resistance against a communist-backed insurgency. It was Henry Hyde that worked with the Assistant Secretary of State Bernard Aaronson to back elections in Nicaragua where for the first time a communist dictatorship was lulled into an election and then defeated by the people there. It was Henry Hyde that really laid the groundwork in this House as a minority Member on behalf of a new pro-democracy strategy in Central America that ended all of those terrible wars in El Salvador and Nicaragua and in Guatemala, laying the groundwork for peace, the Central American Free Trade Agreement, and much greater prosperity and security.

Today, we, his colleagues, mark his service, since 1974 in this House of Representatives, as an intellectual leader.

I would now like to recognize Congressman Ray LaHood for his remarks on the service of Henry Hyde to our country.

Madam Speaker, I would like to yield now to my colleague from Illinois (Mr. Shimkus).

Madam Speaker, I would now like to yield to another admirer because Henry had so, so many admirers on both sides of the aisle and one of them was our colleague from Illinois (Mr. Davis).

(Mr. DAVIS of Illinois asked and was given permission to revise and extend his remarks.)

Madam Speaker, we have a number of admirers of Henry Hyde. One who served with him longer than almost any other Member in the House of the Representatives is my colleague from California, Congressman Lungren.

Madam Speaker, Henry Hyde was known as a strong Republican partisan, but he also had a number of bipartisan achievements, one of them in backing the assault weapons ban, also in supporting Jesse Jackson, Jr. on his effort to build a third airport in Chicago at Piaton. And one of the men who have worked with Henry Hyde and seen his legacy is my colleague from Illinois, Congressman Lipinski, and I yield to him.

Madam Speaker, I yield to the majority leader.

Madam Speaker, I would like to recognize one of his subcommittee chairmen, Congressman Royce from California.

I yield to the chairman of the Agriculture Committee, another

Henry Hyde aficionado, the gentleman from Virginia (Mr. Goodlatte).

(Mr. GOODLATTE asked and was given permission to revise and extend his remarks.)

I thank the chairman. Pat Durante, who has worked for Henry Hyde since 1974, said that Henry is now in the Guinness Book of World Records as having done the most number of parades of any sitting Member of Congress at that time.

To mark that service, I yield to my colleague from Illinois (Mr. Manzullo), the chairman of the Small Business Committee.

I thank my colleague from Illinois.

Madam Speaker, I would just note that the conference report on the bill that we just filed, H.R. 5692, is called the Henry J. Hyde United States-India Peaceful Atomic Energy Cooperation Act of 2006.

To mark that bipartisan spirit of Henry's leadership on our foreign policy, that partisanship should end at the water's edge, I recognize my colleague, Congressman Faleomavaega.

I yield to my colleague, Henry Hyde, a neighbor and colleague representing DuPage County, the gentlewoman from Illinois (Mrs. Biggert).

Madam Speaker, I yield to the gentleman from Illinois (Mr. Hastert), the Speaker of the House, and also a next-door neighbor of Henry Hyde in his service.

Madam Speaker, I ask unanimous consent that all Members have 5 legislative days within which to revise and extend their remarks and include extraneous material on the matter of my Special Order today.

Mr. Speaker, our American body politic is turning to a renewed examination of Iran, its government, and our relations with that country. It has become an important member of the OPEC oil- producing cartel. Iran is also a state sponsor of terrorism and a leading voice for one part of Shia Islam.

Recently, Iran elected a new president, a leader who replaced a moderate but ineffectual office holder who had presented Iran in a softer light, hiding a continuing policy of supporting terror and a nuclear program largely hidden from the view of the Nuclear Nonproliferation Treaty that Iran signed and the U.N. inspectors who enforced it.

Iran's new president, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, has presented an entirely new face for the government of Iran. We have heard various quotes by the Iranian president in news media sources, but nowhere have all of President Ahmadinejad's statements on key topics been presented in one place for a review by the American public and our allies. Recently, I asked the Congressional Research Service to compile a list entitled ``Ahmadinejad In His Own Words'' and I present it to the House today. History can be a very good guide in informing us on the direction of countries, of movements of dictators. When we are well informed, we may see the warning signs of dangers ahead so that the American people, our government, and our allies can respond with the most effective and least costly policies to avoid a coming danger. Our past teaches us that we failed to see the coming danger from Germany and Japan, and that mistake led us into a very costly Second World War. Conversely, President Truman saw the threat of the Soviet Union, and his response, including the Marshall Plan, the Voice of America, and NATO, helped the United States avoid a third and costly world war.

Our lessons teach us that tyrants or would-be tyrants often tell us what they are going to do long before they do it. And if we listen, if we truly listen, then the warnings that we are given can move us to action to avert a humanitarian crisis or even a future war involving the United States or our allies. President Ahmadinejad has been prolific on the subject of Israel, of Jews, and of the Holocaust.

And who is this new president of Iran? Mahmoud Ahmadinejad was born in Garmsar, southeast of Tehran in 1956. He is the fourth son of an Iranian iron worker who had seven children. He and his family migrated to Tehran when he was one year old. He got his diploma and was admitted to the University of Science and Technology in the field of civil engineering, where he ranked 130th among nationwide university entrance exams in 1975. He was accepted as an MS student at that same university and in 1986 got his doctorate in the field of engineering and traffic transportation and planning.

Following the 1979 Iranian revolution, he became a member of the ultraconservative faction of the Office for Strengthening Unity. Between universities and theological seminaries, the OSU was established by Ayatollah Mohammad Beheshti, one of Khomeini's key collaborators, to organize Islamist students against the rapidly growing Mojahedin-e Khalq. When the idea of storming the American embassy in Tehran was raised by Ahmadinejad's OSU, he also suggested storming the Soviet embassy as well.

With the start of Iraq's war against Iran in 1980, Ahmadinejad rushed to the western fronts to fight against the enemy, and he volunteered to join the special forces of the Islamic Revolution's Guard Force in 1986. He served in the Revolution Guards Corps in intelligence and security operation.

Ahmadinejad was a senior officer in the Special Brigade of Revolutionary Guards stationed at the Ramazan Garrison near Kermanshah in western Iran. It was there at his headquarters of the Revolutionary Guards' extraterritorial operations that he helped mount attacks on Iran's borders. His work in the Revolutionary Guards was related to the suppression of dissidents in Iran and abroad, and he personally participated in covert operations in Iraq around the city of Kirkuk.

With the formation of the elite Qods, Jerusalem, Force of the Iranian Revolutionary Guards, Ahmadinejad became one of its senior commanders. He directed assassinations in the Middle East and Europe, including the assassination of Iranian Kurdish leader Abdorrahman Qassemlou, who was shot dead by senior officers of the Revolutionary Guards at a Vienna apartment in July of 1989. Ahmadinejad was a key planner of that murder. He also is reported to have been involved in planning an attempt to assassinate author Salman Rushdie.

Ahmadinejad served as a governor of Maku and Khoy cities in the northwestern West Azarbaijan province for 4 years in the 1980s, and he was an adviser to the governor general of the western province of Kurdistan for 2 years. While serving as a cultural adviser to then Ministry of Culture and Higher Education in 1983, he was appointed as governor general of the newly established province of Ardebil. He was elected as the exemplary governor general for three consecutive years, but in 1997 the newly installed Khatami moderate administration removed Ahmadinejad from his post as a governor general.

Ahmadinejad returned to university to teach in 1997, and there he also became involved in the cultural and political work of Ansar-i Hizbullah, the Followers of the Party of God, a violent Islamic vigilante group.

In April of 2003, Ahmadinejad was appointed the mayor of Tehran by the capital's municipal council, dominated by hard-line Islamic Iran Developers Coalition. As mayor, he reversed many of the policies of previous moderate and reformist mayors, placing serious and religious emphasis on the activities of cultural centers, turning them into prayer halls. He also closed fast-food restaurants and required all male employees to have beards and wear long sleeves. He instituted the separation of elevators for men and women in municipal offices and also suggested the burial of bodies of the martyrs of the Iran-Iraq war in the major city squares of his capital, Tehran.

Ahmadinejad was also a member of the hard-line Islamic Revolution Devotees' Society. While they endorsed another candidate in the 2005 election, it was Ahmadinejad that emerged out of that flawed process, for it was during the elections in 2005 in Iran that thousands of moderate candidates were knocked off the ballot by Iran's ruling council of clerics. As one of the candidates still allowed to be on the ballot, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad won the presidency on June 24, 2005.

Now, since being elected the president of Iran, Ahmadinejad has left no

doubt about his views on Jews, Israel, and the Holocaust. On October 25, 2005, in advance of Iran's Jerusalem Day, established by Ayatollah Khomeini, he wrote at a conference for the Society Defense of the Palestinian Nation and Islamic Students Union. In his speech, he described his vision for an age-old confrontation between the world of Islam and, as he put it, the world of arrogance, that is the West, portraying Israel and Zionism as the spearhead of the West against the Islamic nation.

He emphasized in that speech the need to eliminate Israel, which he said was an attainable goal. He delivered this speech before several representatives of Hezbollah and its leader, Hassan Nasrallah, and Hamas leader Khaled Mash'al.

Speaking to a student conference entitled, ``A World Without Zionism,'' Mahmoud Ahmadinejad stated: ``Very soon this stain that is Israel will vanish from the center of the Islamic world, and that is attainable. The people who sit in closed rooms cannot decide this matter. The Islamic people cannot allow this historic enemy to exist in the heart of the Islamic world. I hope that Palestinians will maintain their wariness and intelligence, much as they have pursued their battles in the last 10 years. This will be a brief period, and if we pass through it successfully, the process of eliminating the Zionist regime will be smooth and simple.

``Our dear Imam Khomeini ordered that the occupying regime in Jerusalem be wiped off the face of the earth. This was a very wise statement.''

On April 15, 2006, at the opening of a conference on supporting Palestinians he said, ``Like it or not, the Zionist regime is headed towards annihilation.''

On April 27, 2006, he stated in a speech in the western Iranian town of Zanjan, carried on live state television, ``The regime in Israel will one day vanish.''

On May 11, 2006, in a reference to Israel, in a speech to students and instructors at the University of Jakarta, ``I advise all of you to pack up and move out of the region before being caught in the fire they have started in Lebanon.''

On July 8, 2006, speaking to regional officials at the opening of a two-day conference in Tehran on the security of Iraq he said, ``The basic problem in the Islamic world is the existence of the Zionist regime, and the Islamic world and the region must mobilize to remove this problem.''

On July 29, 2006, during an emergency meeting with Muslim leaders he said, ``The real cure for the Lebanon conflict is the elimination of the Zionist regime, but there should be first an immediate cease- fire.''

On August 3, 2006, in a speech before the Organization of the Islamic Conference, to Presidents and Prime Ministers and policymakers of 17 Muslim-majority nations in Malaysia, a major international conference, he said, ``The Zionist regime is fraudulent and illegitimate and cannot survive.''

On October 19, 2006, speaking to crowds of people in Islamshahr, southwest of Tehran, he said, ``The regime in Israel will be gone, definitely. You,'' the western powers, ``should know that any government that stands by the Zionist regime from now on will not see any result but the hatred of people.''

Earlier this year Congressman Steve Israel and I had lunch with Iran's Ambassador to the United Nations in New York. After a businesslike 20-minute discussion, the Ambassador for the Islamic Republic of Iran entered into a 30-minute monologue on how he believed the Holocaust in Europe had not happened.

After about half an hour I interrupted the Ambassador and told him I was surprised that he used our time to discuss the Iranian nuclear nonproliferation commitment, under a treaty that Iran had signed, to instead discuss issues: number one, of which there was no significant debate about the Holocaust occurring; number two, on events happening over half a century ago; and number three, all occurring outside Iran.

Iran's Ambassador said that his President had ordered him to deny the Holocaust. It was no accident. And on several occasions, we have seen President Ahmadinejad has tried to convince his people that indeed there was no Holocaust.

On December 1, 2005, in a speech to thousands in the southeastern city of Zahedan in southeastern Sistan va Baluchistan Province, and this was carried on Iranian television, he said, ``Today, the Europeans have created a myth in the name of Holocaust and consider it to be above God, religion and the prophets. If you committed this big crime, then why should the oppressed Palestinian people pay the price? This is our proposal: If you committed the crime, then give part of your own land in Europe, the United States, Canada or Alaska to them so the Jews can establish their country.''

On April 24, 2006, at a press conference in Tehran, he said, ``Every German-born is indebted to the arrogant and greedy Zionists. Sixty years after the war, why do the Palestinians have to burn in the crimes of Zionists under the pretext of the Second World War.''

And on December 8, 2005, speaking at a press conference on the sidelines of an Organization of the Islamic Conference antiterrorism summit in Mecca, Saudi Arabia, he said, ``Today, they have created a myth in the name of the Holocaust and consider it to be above God, religion and the prophets. If you,'' Europeans ``committed this big crime, then why should the oppressed Palestinian nation pay the price? You should pay the compensation yourself. This is our proposal: Give a part of your own land in Europe, the United States, Canada or Alaska to them so that the Jews can establish their country.''

This is President Ahmadinejad in his own words that I place before the House, all accurately translated and provided in one place by the Congressional Research Service to present clearly a rising danger to our allies in Israel and to the West in general.

Tomorrow we will see the results of the bipartisan Iraq Study Group report. This report is the work of serious men and women. It will lay out well thought out proposals for the United States in the Middle East.

One proposal that it may contain is to increase our dialogue with Iran. Now we should always talk with every country and every leader, but we should have this dialogue with Iran in an informed way so our discussion is clearly led by knowing with whom we are speaking. We should not begin our dialogue with Iran from a position of ignorance as to what the president of Iran has already said to large crowds in published works and on their national television.

What I have laid before the House this afternoon is Ahmadinejad in his own words, so that as we begin a new phase of U.S. relations in the Middle East, we begin by learning more and knowing about this man and what he believes and what he thinks he must do to the world.

I was looking briefly at a recently translated quote by another leader who said, ``Why does the world shed crocodile tears over the richly merited fate of the small Jewish minority? What has happened to the conscience of the world when millions in Germany are suffering from hunger and misery? I ask the American people: Are you prepared to receive in your midst these well-poisoners of people and the universal spirit of Christianity?''

It may sound like a recent speech from President Ahmadinejad. It was actually the works of Adolf Hitler published in the magazine Staatszeitung.

Looking at these words, we have an eerie echo of the past, but potentially a warning of the future. I lay them before the House today so we see them all clearly for who this leader is, what he has stated publicly, and where he would like to take his Nation and its relation with his neighbors in the Middle East.

I want to thank Peter Black, senior historian for the U.S. Holocaust Memorial Museum, and Greta Stults and Harold Edinger for their help in these translations.

With that, we have laid Ahmadinejad, in his own words, before the House on this very special week for U.S. foreign policy in the Middle East.

Mr. Speaker, as co-chair of the House Great Lakes Task Force, I rise today to honor former Chicago Alderman Bernie Hansen for his outstanding service as a member of the Great Lakes Fishery Commission. As a member of this prestigious, binational commission, Alderman Hansen worked tirelessly to support measures that protect the Great Lakes fishery and helped to improve the regional economy and environment. He held several positions on the commission including Chair, Vice-Chair, U.S. Section Chair, and Chair of the Finance and Administration Committee. He retired from the commission earlier this year after 12 years of dedicated service.

The Great Lakes Fishery Commission was established by the 1954 Convention on Great Lakes Fisheries, a treaty between the United States and Canada. The commission is responsible for conducting fisheries research, making recommendations to the government about how to improve fish stocks of common concern, and, most notably, controlling the destructive, invasive sea lamprey. U.S. commissioners are appointed by the President of the United States and serve because they are honored to do so, without compensation.

Alderman Hansen excelled at his job as commissioner. As a sitting Chicago Alderman, his knowledge of the Great Lakes' political landscape was a great benefit to the commission, particularly during the work of the Great Lakes Regional Collaboration, convened under President's Bush's Executive Order for the Great Lakes. He vastly improved communications between the commission and elected officials, he consistently brought new and relevant issues to the commission's attention, and he helped the commission better manage and evaluate its programs. He left a lasting mark on many commission products and programs including the Strategic Vision for the First Decade of the New Millennium and the communications program.

Alderman Hansen is a life-long resident of Chicago and served as Alderman for 20 years, retiring in 2002. He is particularly proud of his role on the City Council for environmental and recycling legislation, which gave Chicago one of the most aggressive and workable recycling programs in the country.

Alderman Hansen is a true asset to Chicago and to the Great Lakes region. Because of his work on the commission, the fishery is stronger, the environment is healthier, the people of the region are better off, and the commission itself is a better institution. I ask my colleagues to join me in thanking him for his remarkable service to the Great Lakes.

Mr. Speaker, today I am introducing a resolution with Congresswoman Nita Lowey (D-NY) calling ``on the Government of Bangladesh to drop sedition charges pending against Bangladeshi journalist Salah Uddin Shoaib Choudhury. We introduce this resolution today to coincide with beginning of Mr. Choudhury's sedition trial. Mr. Choudhury faces these charges because of his belief in an interfaith dialogue between Jews and Muslims and articles he published critical of Islamic extremism. Under Bangladeshi law, sedition is a crime punishable by death.

Mr. Choudhury is a journalist in Bangladesh known for his views on expanding dialogue between Muslims and Jews, developing ties with Israel, and criticizing the rise of Islamist parties in Bangladesh. Mr. Choudhury was detained in November 2003 at Zia International Airport in Dhaka, Bangladesh, on his way to board a flight bound for Tel Aviv, Israel, to participate in the annual Hebrew Writers Conference. Mr. Choudhury's passport was seized, along with considerable sums of money and several personal items. On that same day, police raided his home and newspaper, seizing files, computers, and other valuables.

Since Bangladeshi law prohibits travel to Israel, Mr. Choudhury was first cited for a minor passport violation. He subsequently was charged with sedition, accused of espionage as an Israeli spy, and incarcerated for 17 months. He was subjected to harsh interrogation techniques, and received no treatment for a debilitating case of glaucoma.

Despite public pledges from senior Bangladeshi government officials that all pending legal action against Mr. Choudhury would be dropped, the government pressed forward on its prosecution of Choudhury for sedition. Mr. Choudhury won PEN USA's ``Freedom to Write Award,'' and was presented with the American Jewish Committee's prestigious ``Moral Courage Award'' in absentia in Washington DC. Mr. Choudhury's newspaper offices were bombed by Islamic extremists in July, and he was attacked by a mob in his office on October 5. Then a judge with alleged ties to an Islamic extremist group ruled that Mr. Choudhury must stand trial for sedition.

For his message of moderation and interfaith dialogue, Shoaib Choudhury is facing unjust criminal charges in an effort to silence him. Congress must send a clear message: we cannot allow moderate voices in the Muslim world to be silenced.

The resolution I introduce today calls on the Government of Bangladesh to drop all charges against Shoaib Choudhury, return his passport and possessions, and end his harassment I want to thank Congresswoman Nita Lowey for being the lead co-sponsor of this legislation. I look forward to working with her and my other colleagues on this important human rights initiative.

Mr. Speaker, I want to honor a true hero and patriot who passed away on Wednesday evening, September 27th. A pioneer for African-Americans everywhere, Frank Sublett was one of 13 men who broke the Navy's color barrier in 1944. Dubbed the ``Golden 13,'' these men bravely stood up in the face of racism in the Armed Forces and

entered Naval Training Station Great Lakes, Illinois. In February 1944, Frank became one of the first 13 African-American commissioned naval officers. The Golden 13 scored higher on standard tests than their white counterparts and went on to serve with distinction and fight the Nazis in the Atlantic and the Japanese in the Pacific. Frank Sublett continued to serve until the war ended in 1945.

When I first met Frank I was inspired by his story. And when I learned that he and other members of the World War II Black Navy Veterans were raising money to build a memorial honoring African- American Navy veterans from World War II, I wanted to help. I am saddened that Frank Sublett will not be standing next to me when we dedicate the memorial in North Chicago on Veterans Day. I hope that this monument to the courage of Frank and his comrades in arms will inspire young people to dedicate themselves to public service, whether in the military or as a civilian.

I want to offer my condolences to the Sublett family, especially to Frank's wife, Susan. Frank will be missed, but the memory of the Golden 13 will live on.

Mr. Speaker, I thank my colleague from Illinois who put together this legislation as a leader in Congress. Along with Congressman McCall of Texas, you have outlined an alternative energy and renewable fuels future for the country in a bipartisan way, along with the gentleman from Tennessee.

The U.S. imports nearly 5 billion barrels of oil a year. And there has been a recent decline in the price of gas across the United States, but we need oil independence to protect us from a volatile world of oil markets, increasing global pollution, and unstable leaders in Iran and Venezuela. We know that alternative energy and renewable fuels equals national security for the United States.

This legislation will accelerate the development of advanced and clean technologies. It promotes the implementation of solar photovoltaic, wind, geothermal and hydropower. It establishes a research and development program for the conversion of coal into pipeline-quality fuel.

In my State of Illinois, we have a 250-year American supply of coal, one of the largest supplies in the United States; and with the development of clean coal technology we can better utilize a vast resource to help out the energy independence of the United States.

The grants, incentives and programs established in this bipartisan bill have the potential to save American consumers billions of dollars, create thousands of new jobs and dramatically decrease energy consumption and pollution. In achieving the goals set forth in this bipartisan bill, we end our addiction to foreign oil and enhance our national security.

Mr. Speaker, on a day in which we look at the loss of a colleague in this House, in which we see vigorous foreign policy debate, what is being missed without a single reporter in the gallery is bipartisan legislation working on an alternative-energy future for the Nation. It is a story that should not be missed, both parties joining together to make sure that we enhance renewable and alternative fuels and that we make sure that America leads.

Mr. Speaker, I rise today to recognize Westgate Elementary School in Arlington Heights, Illinois, for being named a 2006 No Child Left Behind Blue Ribbon School.

Nearly 600 students, kindergarten through 5th grade, attend Westgate Elementary. The teachers and faculty at Westgate are focused on providing hands-on instruction that motivates and excites children about learning. As a result, these students consistently score above state and national averages on standardized tests in all subject areas.

Westgate Elementary is among 250 schools from across the nation chosen by the Secretary of Education to receive this acknowledgement. These schools have distinguished themselves by embodying the goals of reaching high standards and closing the achievement gap. Schools selected for this honor either have students from all subgroups that have demonstrated significant improvement or have students that achieve in the top 10 percent of their state on statewide tests.

This is a great honor for the 10th district, and I congratulate the principal, Dr. Kevin Dwyer, the students, and teachers at Westgate Elementary for this achievement.

Madam Speaker, I rise in strong support of S. 2430, the Great Lakes Fish and Wildlife Restoration Act. I would like to thank Mr. Kildee (D-MI) for his leadership on this critical effort to restore one of our nation's most precious natural resources.

The Great Lakes Fish and Wildlife Restoration Act reauthorizes the Fish and Wildlife Service to double the annual grants to States and tribes for the enhancement, conservation and restoration of fish and wildlife habitats in the Great Lakes. Since 1998, $3.9 million in federal funds and $2.7 million in non-federal matching funds were directed toward these efforts. The Act clearly draws vast participation from the Great Lakes communities in restoring this tremendous resource.

A key component of this legislation is wetland restoration. In Illinois, wetlands provide protective habitats for the forty percent of the state's endangered species and help stave off major flooding. Unfortunately, a staggering ninety percent of Illinois' wetlands have been destroyed. Through grants provided by the Great Lakes Fish and Wildlife Restoration Act, 68 acres of rare wetlands in the northeastern Illinois' Nature Preserves were restored. Another eight wetland restoration projects were undertaken in the Chicago area. We must provide the authorization and management to continue such restoration and reverse the rapid rate of wetland destruction around the Great Lakes.

I want to thank Chad Lord from the Healing Our Waters--Great Lakes Coalition, Cameron Davis of the Alliance for the Great Lakes, and all the other organizations that work tirelessly on behalf of our environment and the Great Lakes. I urge my colleagues to support this bi-partisan legislation so that we may continue our mission to provide for the long-term sustainability of this treasured ecosystem.

Mr. Speaker, on Monday September 25, 2006, I missed the following votes: Rollcall No. 471: H.R. 5059, To designate the Wild River Wilderness in the White Mountain National Forest in the State of New Hampshire, and for other purposes.; Rollcall No. 472: H.R. 5062, To designate as wilderness certain National Forest System land in the State of New Hampshire; and Rollcall No. 473: H. R. 6102, To designate the facility of the United States Postal Service located at 200 Lawyers Road, NW in Vienna, Virginia, as the `Captain Christopher P. Petty and Major William F. Hecker, III Post Office Building'. Had I been present, I would have voted ``yea'' on Rollcall No. 471, Rollcall No. 472, and Rollcall No. 473.

Mr. Speaker, I would like to express my strong support for the three bills under consideration this week relating to the crisis in Darfur, Sudan. These bills, H.R. 3127, the Darfur Peace and Accountability Act of 2006 conference report, H. Res. 723, which calls on the President to take immediate steps to improve the security situation in Darfur, and H. Res. 992, which urges the President to appoint a Presidential Special Envoy for Sudan, all take concrete steps towards ending the genocide in Darfur.

The situation in Darfur, Sudan is increasingly concerning. Nearly three million Sudanese citizens will require emergency assistance in the next year. Sudanese government forces support Janjaweed Arab militias that commit crimes against humanity, including genocide. More than one million people were driven from their homes since February 2003, while over 150,000 people took refuge in neighboring Chad. The hundreds of thousands of displaced people who remain in the Darfur region are confined to government controlled camps. Using Sudanese government resources, the Janjaweed militias rape, attack and prey upon these helpless victims.

We must hold the Sudanese government accountable. I commend Representative Henry Hyde (R-IL) for introducing the Darfur Peace and Accountability Act of 2005. I am a cosponsor of this important bill that intensifies sanctions on the Government of Sudan, particularly targeting those responsible for genocide, war crimes, or crimes against humanity.

The United States should do more to end the brutal killing and ethnic cleansing of civilians. We must bring war criminals to justice. I was glad to see H.R. 3127, the Darfur Peace and Accountability Act conference report pass the House of Representatives yesterday by voice vote. I urge President Bush to sign this important bill which takes significant measures to bring a lasting peace to this war-stricken region.

I am also a firm supporter and cosponsor of House Resolution 992, which urges President Bush to appoint a Special Envoy for Sudan. I joined Representative Frank Wolf (R-VA) in sending a letter to the President requesting he appoint a Special Envoy earlier this summer. I was pleased to hear President Bush declare in his speech to the United Nations General Assembly that he is appointing former USAID Administrator Andrew Natsios to be the new Presidential Special Envoy for Sudan. Earlier in my career I worked closely with Mr. Natsios to tackle one of the worst humanitarian crises of the 1990's. Natsios coordinated food aid during the North Korea famine which saved tens of thousands of lives. Mr. Natsios is an experienced diplomat, and I am confident in his ability to coordinate American policy in the region to resolve this conflict.

Despite the sincere efforts of our government, which has led the international community in providing nearly $440 million in emergency supplemental aid this year, millions of victims continue to live in camps under horrible conditions. Murderous militias continue to slaughter innocent civilians. We have a duty to bring an end to this humanitarian crisis. I urge my colleagues to join me in supporting these bills that demonstrate America's leadership in defense of those who need our help the most.

Mr. Speaker, on rollcall Nos. 474 and 475, I was unavoidably detained. Had I been present, I would have voted ``yea.''