Floor Statements

Madam Speaker, I rise today to honor a Pittsburgh resident and a constituent of mine, Lieutenant Colonel Paul Moore, Jr. Lieutenant Colonel Moore is retiring from the United States Army after an illustrious 22-year career protecting the safety and freedom of our great nation.

His career began while attending college at the University of Indiana of Pennsylvania, where he was enlisted in the Army Reserves as a wheeled vehicle mechanic while getting

his degree in criminology. Upon graduation, he received his first active duty assignment with the 3rd Armored Cavalry Regiment, stationed in Amberg, Germany. He was quickly assigned to a number of leadership positions while stationed there, including M1 Abrams tank platoon leader, scout platoon leader, support platoon leader, and executive officer.

The experiences he acquired in his first active duty assignment included the field that he would eventually devote the majority of his career to--military intelligence. Colonel Moore helped provide valuable intelligence to our service men and women across the globe to ensure they completed their missions efficiently and safely. He served the intelligence community as Detachment L commander for the Washington field office during Operation Desert Storm, Chief of the Military Intelligence and Electronic Warfare Team, Product Manager for Information Warfare within Program Executive Office Intelligence, and as the Army's Senior Systems Coordinator for Information Operations.

Lieutenant Colonel Moore has received countless awards and decorations from his years of service. These include, but are by no means limited to, the Legion of Merit, Defense Meritorious Service Medal, The Joint Service Commendation Medal, the Army Commendation Medal with Oak Leaf Cluster, Global War on Terrorism Service Medal, and The Army Achievement Medal with Oak Leaf Cluster.

Albert Einstein put it perfectly when he said ``only a life lived for others is a life worthwhile.'' Lieutenant Colonel Moore has exemplified a life lived in the service of others. I want to commend Lieutenant Colonel Moore and thank him for his long and honorable service to our country. I wish him a happy retirement and many years of joy with his family and friends.

Madam Speaker, I rise today to bring attention to an upcoming expression of caring and activism. Tomorrow, March 20, would have been Fred Rogers' 81st birthday. It also marks the second annual ``Won't You Be My Neighbor Day,'' a day each year dedicated to furthering the efforts of Pittsburgh native Fred Rogers, known to many as Mr. Rogers from the long-running TV show ``Mr. Rogers' Neighborhood.''

Fred Rogers spent most of his adult life nurturing the development of self-assured, well-rounded, and caring young people.

Family Communications, Incorporated, the nonprofit organization founded by Fred Rogers in 1971, is asking all Americans to put on their favorite sweater tomorrow and undertake some act of neighborliness or caring--anything from striking up a friendly conversation with your neighbor to helping out in your neighborhood, so long as it helps create closer communities and exemplifies what it really means to be a good neighbor.

I hope my colleagues and people across the country will join me in honoring Fred Rogers' remarkable life's work by observing ``Won't You Be My Neighbor Day'' tomorrow.

Mr. Speaker, I was hoping that I would get 6 minutes, 1 minute for each Super Bowl. But we will settle for 5. I can't tell you how courageous it is to hear my good friend and colleague, Mr. Lynch, a New England Patriot fan, have to stand up here on the House floor and say such wonderful things about the Pittsburgh Steelers. I'm sure this is going to hurt him back home in his district. And Steve, I appreciate those gracious words.

This was a gritty team. In the beginning of the season, not too many people picked the Pittsburgh Steelers to be in the Super Bowl. We were said to have the toughest schedule in the NFL. And there was some talk that we might not even win our division. Cleveland was seen as the up- and-coming team in our division, and with the schedule, things just didn't look like they were going to fall in place with the Steelers.

We had a young coach, Mike Tomlin, 36 years old. He has only been head coach for a couple of years. And Pittsburgh just wasn't one of the teams mentioned when you talked about who is going be in the Super Bowl. But this was a gritty team, emblematic of the people they play for, the people of the city of Pittsburgh. And they finished the season with a 12-4 record.

When you look at the four toughest schedules in the NFL, three of those four teams didn't finish with winning records. Only one did, the Pittsburgh Steelers. And they did it behind the Nation's best defense, the number one defense in the NFL, the Pittsburgh Steelers. We went on to beat the San Diego Chargers and the Baltimore Ravens to get into the Super Bowl. And then one of the most exciting games I have ever seen in my lifetime, and I have watched lots of Steeler football, and I want to compliment the Arizona Cardinals, that team played a great game. I don't think many people mentioned the Arizona Cardinals when it came to who was going to be in the Super Bowl either. And they deserve a lot of credit for the way they played that game and how hard they fought.

Pittsburgh really dominated them for quite some time, and they came back in the fourth quarter. And for a while, it looked like we didn't know what hit us. But then, as Ben Roethlisberger has done 18 other times in his career, he took the Steelers down on a final drive to win the ball game with just 35 seconds left as Santonio Holmes made a catch that was ballerina like in the way he was able to keep his two feet in bounds. And when we first saw it on television, it looked like he was out of bounds. But the replay clearly showed that he had caught that ball. So Pittsburgh now has been in seven Super Bowls. We have won six of them.

As someone who has been born and raised in Pittsburgh, my grandparents, when they came from Ireland and Italy, they ended up in the little town of Pittsburgh. We've been there ever since. I can tell you that this is a blue collar team, a team that plays with grit, determination and character. And that character is emblematic of the ownership of the Steelers, the Rooney family. There isn't a better family in football. And the Steelers played because of the way the Rooney family has set the standard for that. We are privileged in the House of Representatives to have the grandson of the founder of the Pittsburgh Steelers here, and one of my chief cosponsors of the bill.

So along with the entire Pennsylvania delegation, my colleagues, Tim Murphy and Jason Altmire, we want

to congratulate the Rooney family. We want to congratulate the people of the city of Pittsburgh. This team epitomizes the tough, resilient spirit of the city of Pittsburgh in southwestern Pennsylvania. I'm proud to represent these folks. And I hope my colleagues will join me in recognizing six-time Super Bowl champs, the Pittsburgh Steelers, on the occasion of this latest victory.

Mr. Speaker, do I have any time left?

I normally don't yield to people from cities that have sore losers. But my good friend, Mr. Stupak, who represents the Green Bay Packers, has asked for some time to dispute the resolution. And I guess in the spirit of camaraderie, I will yield him some time.

Reclaiming my time, Mr. Speaker, I would just say to my good friend from Green Bay, I feel your pain. I understand what it's like to be on the losing end. You know, Pittsburgh went through 40 years of teams that didn't have winning records, so we understand how it feels to be a Green Bay fan.

Mr. Speaker, I rise today in support of H.R. 6445, which will provide important relief to veterans who are catastrophically disabled.

I would like to mention that this bill also contains legislation that I originally introduced as a freestanding bill--H.R. 6114, the Simplifying and Updating National Standards to Encourage Testing of the Human Immunodeficiency Virus Act of 2008--or the SUNSET Act. I introduced this legislation several months ago to modernize the HIV testing policies of the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs.

The current HIV testing policies used by the VA were mandated in the Veterans Benefits and Services Act of 1988. These policies are now 20 years old, and they fail to reflect everything we've learned about HIV testing and treatment over the last two decades.

Twenty years ago, it took a long time for patients and health care providers to get the results of HIV tests. Today, safe non-invasive tests are available that can provide reliable results in only 20 minutes. Moreover, under the current testing policies, half of all HIV- positive veterans in the VA health care system don't get diagnosed until they've already suffered significant damage to their immune systems. Many of these veterans are already receiving health care services through the VA--diagnosing these veterans earlier would enable the VA to provide them with medical care that could extend their life expectancy and improve their quality of life.

Consequently, I believe that the VA should adopt a more modern policy on HIV/AIDS testing, including the testing of all incoming patients for HIV/AIDS unless a patient specifically opts out.

The VA wants to adopt such policies--while maintaining its counseling and data privacy policies--but since the VA's HIV testing policies are mandated by law, Congress must enact a new law to change them. That's why I introduced the Simplifying and Updating National Standards to Encourage Testing of the Human Immunodeficiency Virus Act of 2008.

This legislation would simply repeal the section of the 1988 law that set out the HIV testing policy the VA must use. This would allow the VA to adopt up-to-date policies that would improve the health care provided to veterans with HIV/AIDS.

I want to thank my friends and former colleagues on the Veterans Committee, Chairman Filner and Chairman Michaud, for supporting the SUNSET Act and moving it expeditiously through the Committee. I'm also grateful to my friend Representative Cazayoux for his eagerness to include this provision in his bill. H.R. 6445 deserves our consideration and swift enactment into law with or without the SUNSET Act, but this bill, which includes the SUNSET Act as well, will do even more to help some of our most afflicted veterans.

I urge my colleagues to support this important legislation.

Madam Speaker, I rise today to correct the misinformation about autism that shock jock Michael Savage spread on his syndicated radio show last week.

Mr. Savage claimed that many diagnosed cases of autism were fraudulent, and that, ``In 99 percent of the cases, it's a brat who hasn't been told to cut out the act. They don't have a father around to tell them, `Don't act like a moron.' ''

Madam Speaker, I've known a number of families dealing with autism over the years, and I can tell you unequivocally that none of the children with autism I've met fit that deplorable description.

But don't take my word for it. There have been decades of peer- reviewed, scientific research on autism, and the evidence is clear. Autism spectrum disorders are real, and they affect over 1 million Americans today.

Mr. Speaker, I suggest, if Mr. Savage wants to find someone acting like a moron, he should simply look in the mirror.

Will the gentleman yield?

Mr. Speaker, as manager of the Democratic team, we want to congratulate our friends over on the Republican side in what had to be one of the most exciting games, certainly for the fans to watch, a little less exciting from our perspective. I just want to say our guys, the top of the seventh inning, we were down 8-4, and it was our last at-bat. And it would have been easy to fold. But our guys came back, scored six runs to put this game into the bottom of the seventh inning in one of the most exciting games we've seen. I think parity has finally arrived in the House baseball game.

We look forward to playing our friends across the aisle next year.

The big winner, of course, is our charities, the Washington Boys & Girls

Clubs and the Washington Literacy Council. We have co-MVPs this year. Joe Baca pitched another outstanding performance for the Democrats. And one of our new Members, who caught an outstanding game and who had a hot bat for us, Chris Murphy, was our co-MVP.

Once again, if you have to lose to somebody, Joe Barton is the kind of guy you don't mind losing to. He is a great gentleman, a big fan of the game and one of my dear friends.

Congratulations, Joe. Congratulations to the Republicans.

Will the gentleman yield?

If we're going to have so many new players next year, we might have some extras for you.

Will the gentleman yield?

Since the oil companies apparently don't want to drill in all of this land that's accessible to them today, and since our friends on the other side of the aisle want so desperately to get oil out in America to lower gas prices, I would ask them to join Democrats in asking President Bush to release 10 percent of its gross 70 million barrels of oil in the economy immediately, not 10 years down the road once we start some new drilling project, but immediately we could have oil in the domestic economy just by releasing 10 percent of the SPR without affecting any national security concerns and gasoline prices could come down.

So I hope my friends on the other side of the aisle will join us in asking President Bush to do that immediately.

Madam Speaker, I rise today to recognize the artistic ability of a young woman from my Congressional District, Manami Kitazawa of Woodland Hills High School.

Manami is the winner of the 2008 14th Congressional District of Pennsylvania's High School Art Competition, ``An Artistic Discovery.'' Manami's artwork, an intricately detailed charcoal drawing, was selected from a number of outstanding entries to this year's competition. Fitly works from ten different high schools were submitted to our panel of respected local artists.

Manami is an exchange student from Japan who is spending a year attending high school in my district in Pennsylvania. I am certain that her family in Japan and her host family here in the United States are both proud of her artistic talents as well as this accomplishment.

Manami's artwork wilI represent the 14th Congressional District of Pennsylvania in the national exhibit of high school students' artwork that will be displayed in the United States Capitol over the coming year. I am certain Manami had no idea that one of her drawings would hang in the U.S. Capitol when she applied to study in the United States.

I encourage my colleagues as well as any visitor to Capitol Hill to view Manami's artwork, along with all of the other winning artwork that will be on display in the Capitol tunnel. It is amazing to walk through this corridor and see the interpretation of life through the eyes of these young artists from all across our country--and in Manami's case, from across the globe.

I would like to recognize all of the participants in this year's 14th Congressional District High School Art Competition, ``An Artistic Discovery.'' I would like to thank these impressive young artists for allowing us to share and celebrate their talents, imagination, and creativity. The efforts of these students in expressing themselves in a powerful and positive manner are no less than spectacular. I hope that all of these individuals continue to utilize their artistic talents. and I wish them all the best of luck in their future endeavors.

Madam Speaker, I rise today to honor Byron Janis, internationally recognized as one of the world's greatest pianists. The story of his life is one of immense talent, dedication and perseverance which has captivated audiences and inspired others across America and around the world.

Byron Janis was born in McKeesport, Pennsylvania, in 1928. At the age of 15, Mr. Janis made his orchestral debut, and by age 20, had made his Carnegie Hall debut in front of a sold-out audience. Later, Mr. Janis was selected to be the first American performer to participate in a cultural exchange between the United States and the Soviet Union in 1960. On November 2, 1960, the New York Times wrote, ``If music could replace international politics, Byron Janis could consider himself an ambassador''. So successful was Mr. Janis' performance that the Soviet government invited him back just two years later for a six-week tour of the country. Since that time, Mr. Janis has performed for American Presidents and received acclaim around the world. Mr. Janis has been honored both in America and abroad with such distinctions as the Distinguished Pennsylvania Artists Award, the Gold Medal from the French Society for the Encouragement of Progress, and the Harriet Cohen International Music Award. He has also appeared on the Tonight Show with Johnny Carson, Good Morning America, 20/20 with Barbara Walters, and CNN.

Perhaps Mr. Janis' greatest contribution to America lies not in his graceful work at the piano, but rather the tremendous perseverance and unbreakable spirit he has shown in the face of significant adversity. In 1973, be was diagnosed with arthritis in both his hands and wrists, an affliction which seriously threatened his ability to continue practicing the craft he loved. Reflecting his will and determination to rise above the obstacle which was placed in his path, Mr. Janis once said, ``I have arthritis--it doesn't have me.'' For 12 years, Mr. Janis continued performing, often in great pain, while keeping his condition a closely held secret.

While announcing his affliction at the White House in 1985, Mr. Janis also declared he was assuming the role of Ambassador for the Arts for the Arthritis foundation. Through his music, he has raised a significant amount of money for the Foundation's work and research. More importantly, however, his story of determination is one which serves as an inspiration and makes Mr. Janis a role model for Americans with disabilities. In spite of his condition, to this day, Mr. Janis is still performing before admiring audiences. Mr. Janis is living proof that the American spirit can and will prevail in the face of challenges large and small.

2008 marks Mr. Janis' 80 birthday as well as the 60th anniversary of his first performance at Carnegie Hall. Each year, Congress honors individuals who have distinguished themselves with acts of courage and determination which capture the essence of the American spirit and serve as an inspiration to those around them. The life and accomplishments of Byron

Janis--as a musician, ambassador, and role model--embody the best in American culture and values. I ask my colleagues to join me in honoring Mr. Janis on the occasion of these two noteworthy anniversaries.

I thank my friend from North Carolina.

Mr. Speaker, I rise today to urge my colleagues to approve H.R. 3541, the Do-Not-Call Improvement Act of 2007.

The national do-not-call registry was established in 2003 and is managed by the Federal Trade Commission and enforced by the FTC, the Federal Communications Commission, and State law enforcement officials. Most telemarketers are not allowed to call your number once it has been on the registry for 31 days. If they do, you can

file a complaint against them with the FTC and they can be forced to pay a fine.

The Federal do-not-call registry is one of the most successful government programs ever created. Over 132 million telephone numbers have been added to the registry since its creation. Unfortunately, current regulations require that the registry remove individuals' numbers after 5 years. Consequently, starting in June of 2008, millions of people will begin receiving telemarketing calls again. Many of them don't realize that their listing has expired and that they need to add their number to the do-not-call list again if they want to block telemarketers' phone calls.

It makes no sense to force people to sign up every couple of years. Unfortunately, that's just what will happen if action isn't taken. And that's why I introduced this legislation along with my good friend from Mississippi, Chip Pickering, to make registration with the Federal do- not-call list permanent.

My legislation, the Do-Not-Call Improvement Act of 2007, would make the numbers on the Federal do-not-call registry permanent. Under this legislation, someone would only have to sign up for the do-not-call registry once. Without passage of this act, over 50 million phone numbers will be purged from the registry within the next year. The hassle for consumers will be tremendous, with no real payoff.

Now, when a consumer signs up for the do-not-call list, they expect a roach motel where their numbers go in and the telemarketers can't check them out. But for those few individuals who are worried that they might change their mind at some future date, I want to make clear that this bill will still allow individuals to take their names off if they choose to, and it gives the FTC explicit authority to scrub numbers that are invalid or don't belong on the list.

There is no need to risk Americans being removed from the do-not-call list unless they want to be removed, and the best way to deal with this nightmare is to end it before it starts. As I said when I introduced this legislation, I suspect there are very few people saying, ``Gee, I really miss those telemarketing calls at dinnertime. I wish the Government would just take me off that do-not-call list.'' Well, if this bill is enacted, individuals won't have to worry about signing up for the do-not-call list every 5 years.

Mr. Speaker, I want to thank the AARP, the Consumers Union, the Center for Democracy and Technology, Consumerist.com, and the American Teleservices Association for endorsing this bill. It's a great day when consumer groups, senior groups, privacy groups, and yes, even telemarketers, can agree on making the do-not-call list better.

I urge my colleagues to join me in passing this legislation. By signing up with the national do-not-call registry, over 130 million Americans have told telemarketers, ``Don't call us; we'll call you.'' Let's save them the hassle of having to have sign up time and time again.

In closing, I want to thank my friend Chip Pickering. I want to thank Energy and Commerce Committee Chairman Dingell, Ranking Member Barton, Commerce, Trade and Consumer Protection Subcommittee Chairman Bobby Rush and my good friend Cliff Stearns. And I also want to thank several staffers who have worked so hard on this bill: Gregg Rothschild, Consuela Washington, Shannon Weinberg, Brian McCullough, Will Carty. And finally, I want to thank Hugh Carroll of Mr. Pickering's staff and Kenneth DeGraff of my staff for all of their hard work.

I encourage my colleagues to join me in passing this bill and making one of the most popular Federal services even better.

Madam Speaker, I rise today to congratulate Carnegie Mellon University's Tartan Racing Team and its autonomous driving robot vehicle, ``Boss,'' on placing first in the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency's Urban Challenge, held November 3, 2007 in Victorville, California.

This contest pitted 11 autonomous vehicles against each other on a course of suburban and urban roadways. Its goal was to help develop robotics technology that can keep military personnel out of harm's way and prevent civilian automotive accidents.

Boss was the fastest of the competitors by a large margin, averaging 14 miles per hour over the approximately 55 mile course and finishing 20 minutes ahead of the second-place finisher.

Carnegie Mellon University's Tartan Racing Team has been working hard to produce revolutionary new robots that can dramatically improve driver safety. To accomplish these goals, Team Leader Dr. William ``Red'' Whittaker has put together a team of researchers, faculty and staff that is unparalleled in the robotics world.

I want to recognize each of these outstanding individuals by name. They are Joshua Anhalt, Hong S. Bae, Drew Bagnell, Christopher Baker, Bob Bittner, Thomas Brown, George Clancy, M. N. Clark, Dominic Dagradi, Michael Darms, Daniel Demitrish, John Dolan, Dave Duggins, Dave Ferguson, Tugrul Galatali, Michele Gittleman, Sam Harbaugh, Martial Hebert, Tom Howard, Alonzo Kelly, David Kohanbash, Maxim Likhachev, Bakhtiar Litkouhi, Nick Miller, Jim Nickolaou, Kevin Peterson, Brian Pilnick, Raj Rajkumar, Paul Rybski, Varsha Sadekar, Bryan Salesky, Sebastian Scherer, Ed Schlesinger, Young-Woo Seo, Bob Shafto, Todd Shupe, Reid Simmons, Sanjiv Singh, Jarrod Snider, Spencer Spiker, Anthony Stentz, Josh Struble, Evan Tahler, Chris Urmson, Ziv Wolkowicki, Vincent Zeng, Shuqing Zeng, Wende Zhang and Jason Ziglar.

The Tartan Racing Team's success must also be credited to its relationship with its sponsors. The longstanding Carnegie Mellon-GM Collaborative Research Lab brings hardware integration and system engineering skills to the team, for example. Tartan Racing's other partners include Caterpillar, Continental AG, Intel, Google, Applanix, TeleAtlas, Vector, Ibeo, Mobileye, CarSim, CleanPower Resources, MA/ COM, NetApp, Vector CANtech

and Hewlett Packard. I think we can all agree it's hard to beat a team with a bench like that.

As the Congressman representing Carnegie Mellon, and as co-chair of the Congressional Caucus on Robotics, I ask my colleagues to join me in honoring the Tartan Racing Team and Carnegie Mellon University for their innovations in robotics and for their DARPA Grand Challenge Victory.

Mr. Speaker, 3 years ago, Congress declared the atrocities in Darfur to be acts of genocide. Since acknowledging this genocide, we have implemented unilateral sanctions against the Sudanese Government. We've authorized funds for peacekeeping and humanitarian assistance in the region. We've called for concerted international action to end the abominations in Darfur, yet the genocide continuous.

There have been 400,000 people killed, 2.5 million have been forced out of their homes, and 1 million continue to live under the constant threat of bombing, rapes, murder and torture by government troops and the janjaweed militias.

International diplomacy has failed to force Sudanese President al- Bashir to stop pursuing his genocidal policies.

We cannot afford to fail anymore. Every possible means must be employed to pressure the Sudanese Government to allow the rapid deployment of an international peacekeeping force large enough to protect the civilian population in Darfur.

Mr. Chairman, reserving the right to object, could I ask my friend what the subject is?

Mr. Chairman, in the interest of comity, I am going to remove my objection and let the gentleman proceed.

Or as my colleagues on the Democratic side have referred to me, the former manager of the Democratic team.

I want to say that I agree with my good friend, Joe Barton, on one thing: The real winners last night were the charities, the Washington Boys and Girls Club and the Washington Literacy Council. This is a great tradition in its 46th year.

It was a hard-fought game. We have this very charitable gift on the Democratic side where we manage to have one inning where we completely fall apart and give the Republicans a bunch of runs. Last night was no exception.

We had a stellar performance from Joe Baca who walked no batters, struck out four and only gave up one earned run of those five. The other four were compliments of the rest of the Democratic team.

I want to publicly apologize to those members who came out to practice every day and didn't get a chance to play. That is the one thing I do feel bad about. We will try to do better next year.

Our congratulations to the Republicans.

Announcement by the Acting Chairman

Madam Speaker, I rise today to recognize the artistic ability of a young woman from my Congressional District, Kristen Hrizo of West Mifflin High School.

Kristen is the winner in the 2007 14th Congressional District of Pennsylvania's High School Art Competition, ``An Artistic Discovery.'' Kristen's work, a piece utilizing pencil, ink, watercolors, color pencil, and marker, is entitled ``A Walk in the Jungle.''

Kristen's artwork was selected from a number of outstanding entries to this year's competition. I am certain that her family is proud of her artistic talents as well as this accomplishment.

It gives me great pride and pleasure that Kristen's painting will be representing the 14th Congressional District of Pennsylvania in the national exhibit of high school students' artwork that will be set up in the United States Capitol in the coming weeks. The winners of the Congressional Art Competitions held in each Congressional District will be displayed in that exhibit.

I encourage my colleagues as well as any visitor to Capitol Hill to view Kristen's artwork, along with all of the other winning artwork that will be on display throughout the next year. It is amazing to walk through this corridor and see the interpretation of life through the eyes of these young artists from all across our country.

I would also like to recognize all the other participants in this year's 14th Congressional District High School Art Competition, ``An Artistic Discovery.'' I would like to thank these impressive young artists for allowing us to share and celebrate their talents, imagination, and creativity. The efforts of these students in expressing themselves in a powerful and positive manner are no less than spectacular. I hope that all of these individuals continue to utilize their artistic talents, and I wish them all the best of luck in their future endeavors.

I want to congratulate all of the participants in this year's 14th Congressional District Art Competition and thank them for sharing their gifts with us.

Madam Speaker, I rise today to pay tribute to Robert L. Pitts, a champion of civil rights, integration, respectful dialogue, and nonviolence in southwestern Pennsylvania, Tomorrow night, the Allegheny County/City of Pittsburgh League of Minority Voters will honor Mr. Pitts for his many contributions to our community.

Like the rest of our country, Pittsburgh and southwestern Pennsylvania have struggled long and hard with what has been aptly described as our country's original sin--slavery, and all of the racism, disclimination, segregation, and violence that have stemmed from it.

I'm pleased to say that a great deal of much-needed progress has been made in the last 50 years--and much of the credit for that progress belongs to civil rights leaders like Robert Pitts. Our region is truly fortunate that this great civic leader has chosen to make Pittsburgh his home for the last 30-odd years.

Despite family misfortune and a difficult childhood, Mr. Pitts has made many contributions to southwestern Pennsylvania, and our Nation, in his many different occupations and activities over the last 60 years. He served his Nation in the Air Force and its predecessor, the Army Air Corps, for 20 years. He worked to end racism in the Catholic Church for the Diocese of Pittsburgh for nearly 10 years. He worked to promote equal employment opportunities in Pittsburgh as Administrator of the Agency of Western Pennsylvania and as Chair of the Pittsburgh NAACP's Labor and Industry Committee. He served as an elected public official--and notably as the first African-American mayor in western Pennsylvania. He ran his own business and worked as a private sector consultant for a number of years. He has given generously of his time as a volunteer on a number of local boards and organizations. And, finally, he has been a friend, mentor, and advisor to countless men, women, and children throughout his life. In short, he's been a dynamic force for good and an influential community leader for his entire, blessedly long and productive life.

On behalf of the people of Pennsylvania's 14th Congressional District, I want to commend Mr. Pitts and thank his family for sharing him with us.