Floor Statements

Mr. Speaker, it is with great pleasure that I rise today to pay tribute to Brian Hartman, a tireless advocate for people with disabilities in the State of Delaware.

Brian has devoted himself, both professionally and personally, to improving every facet of life for disabled individuals. In addition to his work as project director for the Disabilities Law Program, Brian is also committed to other volunteer programs working with families and children in difficult situations.

Brian is deeply involved in each of his cases, one mother who was a client of Brian's recalls that, ``from the date of [the] hearing forward . . . we could call Brian day or evening and he would respond.'' The Disabilities Law Program of Delaware is lucky to have such a dedicated individual serving as its director.

Brian has been recognized locally as a finalist for the Delaware Jefferson Award, an honor awarded annually by the American Institute of Public Service commending outstanding public service leaders within the community. He is one of five very admirable nominees, all making exceptional contributions to the State of Delaware. No matter who is chosen as the recipient of this award, they are each deserving candidates who demonstrate that one person can truly make a monumental difference.

I congratulate and thank Brian Hartman for all he has contributed to the State of Delaware. Many disabled Delawareans and their families are grateful and I am pleased to be able to vocalize their appreciation. He is an exemplary citizen and a proud American. Thank you, Brian, for all you have contributed to the families of our State.

Mr. Speaker, it is with great pleasure that I rise today to pay tribute to J. Randall Ward Jr., for his years of service to the United Cerebral Palsy of Delaware (UCP) organization.

Randall has dedicated over 40 years of service to the United Cerebral Palsy of Delaware organization. Before Randall's efforts, the UCP's summer camp used an inaccessible swimming pool for more than 100 children and all camp activities were held in outdoor tents with portable bathrooms as the only restroom facility. Camp Manito now boasts a new campus, with a larger more handicapped accessible swimming pool. The tents have been replaced with a beautiful building equipped with many amenities, including air-conditioning and accommodations for 4 full-time staff members.

Randall has been recognized locally as a finalist for the Delaware Jefferson Award, an honor awarded annually by the American Institute of Public Service commending outstanding public service leaders within the community. He is one of 5 very admirable nominees, all making exceptional contributions to the State of Delaware. No matter who is chosen as the recipient of this award, they are each deserving candidates who demonstrate that one person can truly make a monumental difference.

I congratulate and thank Randall Ward for all he has contributed to the State of Delaware. Many children are grateful and I am pleased to be able to vocalize their appreciation. He is an exemplary citizen and a proud American. Thank you, Randall, for all you have done and continue to do for our State and our country.

Mr. Speaker, it is with great pleasure that I rise today to pay tribute to John Larock, whose work has been invaluable in forming and maintaining Miracle Workerz, a nationally recognized science and engineering mentoring program focusing on an international robotics competition.

In 1993, John began a DuPont sponsored Explorer Post which grew in 2000, to become a team. This team is affiliated with the international robotics competition, FIRST (For Inspiration and Recognition of Science and Technology). Each year, John recruits adult volunteers who reach out in the community and inspire young students to pursue the fields of science, technology and engineering. His success is a direct result of making learning fun.

John is also known for being a leader who encourages others to participate in community service. His positive outlook, tremendous vision, and unlimited energy create an environment where people want to contribute to the achievement of others.

John has been recognized locally as a finalist for the Delaware Jefferson Award, an honor awarded annually by the American Institute of Public Service commending outstanding public service leaders within the community. He is one of five very admirable nominees, all making exceptional contributions to the State of Delaware. No matter who is chosen as the recipient of this award, they are each deserving candidates who demonstrate that one person can truly make a monumental difference.

I congratulate and thank John Larock for all he has contributed to the State of Delaware. Hundreds of young people are grateful and I am pleased to be able to vocalize their appreciation. He is an exemplary citizen and a proud American. Thank you, John, for all you have done and continue to do for the children of our State.

To Chairman McKeon, congratulations on rising to the top of this very significant committee. I would also like to express my accolades to Sally Lovejoy, who has had occasion to straighten me out, even when I didn't want to be straightened out from time to time, and we appreciate that and do wish her the best.

I do rise in support of this legislation and congratulate all those who worked hard on this, because this was a very open process with a huge number of amendments as we got to where we are now. I think it is unfortunate that we are not all together on it, but I understand how those things work.

One concern that continues to rise and has done so since I came to Congress is the continuously rising cost of a college education. Tuition increases are outpacing the rate of inflation, increases in family income, and even increases in State and Federal financial aid, which have grown frequently in recent years, as we have seen. These cost increases are pricing students and families out of the college market in a time when we have reports suggesting that for the first time high school students recognize the importance of obtaining a college education. These students should not shy away because of skyrocketing costs.

It is my belief that one of the best things we can do is to talk about the issue and to force transparency into the process. H.R. 609 does just that. Parents and students, as consumers, deserve the opportunity to understand why tuition is increasing at their universities and colleges. As educated consumers, it is my hope that they will in turn have the power to demand more, to demand answers and, ultimately, drive down costs. Understanding that there are many moving parts to a solution, transparency is a good step in the right direction.

Truly, the Higher Education Act covers a great deal of ground, from student loans to campus-based aid to teacher education to graduate schools to international education. In such a large act, one of the most important jobs of Congress in the reauthorization is to ensure that fraud and abuse protections are in place and are working. During committee, two amendments I offered to meet this goal were accepted. The first would prevent for-profit institutions from competing for Federal funds; the second would retain and clarify what is known as the 90-10 rule. Both of these amendments were intended to recognize the evolution of the for-profit industry in higher education while protecting Federal funds.

Again, I support H.R. 609 and urge my colleagues to do the same.

Mr. Chairman, I offer an amendment.

Mr. Chairman, I yield myself such time as I may consume.

I am offering my amendment today with the cosponsorship of Congressmen Regula, Osborne, Van Hollen, and Ford. I support H.R. 609, and I believe with passage today we will be making some good reforms for our institutions of higher learning, parents, and students.

This amendment is intended to build upon these reforms and extend them into our Nation's elementary and secondary schools. Specifically, our amendment would authorize funding to recruit, select, train and support a national corps of outstanding recent college graduates of all academic majors who commit to teach in low-income communities and who hopefully become lifelong leaders for education.

An example of a national teach corps that would be eligible for this funding would be Teach for America. This past summer I introduced legislation which authorizes Teach for America. Currently, funding for the program has been consistent but piecemeal. The purpose of the bill and amendment, should the organization be awarded a grant, would be to provide an efficient funding stream. Ultimately, this will help the organization grow from its current membership of 3,500 corps members in over 1,000 schools in 22 regions to 8,000 corps members teaching across 35 high-need communities.

The Teach for America legislation has the support of 145 cosponsors spanning the political spectrum. The Senate has also expressed support for the program and has included language in their reauthorization of the Higher Education Act. It is my hope that today the House will show our support by including this amendment to H.R. 609.

Support extends beyond Congress. This week I spent some time with Secretary Spellings who mentioned the importance of encouraging creative avenues to the classroom and specifically referenced Teach for America. The First Lady has also taught in a Teach for America classroom.

What we know to be true is that a highly qualified teacher is imperative to the achievement of our students. This amendment will help us to make that more possible across the country. A study by Mathematica Policy Research showed that corps members effected greater gains than would typically be expected in a year, especially in math.

This year, 19,000 individuals applied to Teach for America, including, for example, 10 percent of the senior classes of Yale, Dartmouth, and Spellman, and 7 percent of the senior class of Caltech. A majority of these students then stay on in the classroom.

As we as a Nation continue to focus on closing the achievement gap, I see no better complement than a national teacher corps. I encourage all my colleagues to join me in supporting the Castle-Regula-Osborne-Van Hollen-Ford amendment.

Mr. Chairman, I reserve the balance of my time.

Mr. Chairman, I yield 1\1/2\ minutes to the distinguished gentleman from Ohio (Mr. Regula), the chairman of the appropriations subcommittee on Labor, HHS, and Education.

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

Mr. Chairman, I yield such time as he may consume to the distinguished gentleman from Nebraska (Mr. Osborne), who in many ways has probably taught more students, more young people than any of us.

Mr. Chairman, I yield the balance of my time to the distinguished gentleman from California (Mr. Dreier).

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

Mr. Speaker, I move to suspend the rules and pass the Senate bill (S. 2363) to extend the educational flexibility program under section 4 of the Education Flexibility Partnership Act of 1999.

Mr. Speaker, I ask unanimous consent that all Members may have 5 legislative days in which to revise and extend their remarks on

Mr. Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may consume.

Mr. Speaker, I am pleased to rise today in support of Senate 2363, a bill that would extend the Education Flexibility Partnership Act, also known as Ed-Flex. This important bill will allow States that have already been approved for the Ed-Flex program to continue to participate until the No Child Left Behind Act is reauthorized and the issue of appropriate administrative flexibility can be re-examined by Congress.

As some of you may know, Ed-Flex provides greater State and local flexibility when using Federal education

funds to support locally designed comprehensive school improvement efforts. This increased flexibility is provided in exchange for increased accountability for results.

Specifically, Ed-Flex allows the Secretary of Education to delegate the authority to States to waive certain Federal statutory or regulatory requirements affecting the State and local school districts and schools, if they have adopted challenging academic standards and strong provisions for holding schools accountable for student achievement.

I would also like to point out that there are some provisions of Federal law that cannot be waived under the Ed-Flex program. Those provisions include requirements relating to fiscal accountability standards, equitable participation by private school pupils and teachers, parental involvement, allocation of funds to States and local school districts, as well as health, safety and civil rights.

I am pleased that my home State of Delaware is one of the States that has been participating in the Ed-Flex program. They have used the additional flexibility provided by Ed-Flex to better serve students and schools with a high level of poverty.

I urge all of you to support the bill. In exchange for accountability, we can give States and local schools increased flexibility and more freedom from unnecessary and burdensome Federal regulations that can so often get in the way of attaining educational excellence. I ask my colleagues to support this resolution.

Mr. Speaker, I reserve the balance of my time.

Mr. Speaker, I have no further requests for time, and I yield back the balance of my time.

Mr. Speaker, it is with great pleasure that I rise today to pay tribute to the Brady Kohn Foundation and its founders, Carolyn and Andy Kohn. The Kohns began their foundation to honor a wonderful little boy, their son Brady, whose life on this earth was all too short. The work of this Foundation centers around the use of umbilical cord blood, a safe and painless way to retrieve valuable stem cells, which can be used to save the lives of many Americans. I welcome the initiative taken by the partnership of Christiana Care Hospital, the The Elie Katz Umbilical Cord Blood Program at Community Blood Services, and the Brady Kohn Foundation to publicly bank cord blood. This is the first step into truly cutting edge medical research.

I am very familiar with the dedication of The Brady Kohn Foundation's founding members. Carolyn and Andy have worked tirelessly to achieve a partnership that would enable expectant mothers to have their umbilical cord blood publicly banked at no cost. The Brady Kohn Foundation will be the leader in education, awareness, and promotion of this project, inspiring expectant mothers to bank their cord blood in hopes of saving the lives of others. Christiana Care is an excellent choice for this project as they are home to approximately 7,000 deliveries per year. Of the cord blood collected, roughly 60 percent will be banked and used for medical procedures such as bone marrow transplants, while the other 40 percent will be used for research that has the potential to heal countless diseases in the future.

I recognize the struggle that the Kohns have gone through to reach their goal of providing a public umbilical cord banking system. I would like to thank Carolyn, Andy, and all those involved with this valuable project. I am certain the new public cord blood banking system will have a tremendous impact on many lives in my home state of Delaware and around the United States.

Mr. Speaker, it is with great pleasure that I rise today to pay tribute to the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP), as they celebrate the 97th anniversary of their inception. The Delaware chapter of the NAACP was founded in Wilmington, Delaware in 1909, only 1 year after the initiation of the national office. The Wilmington branch of the NAACP distinguished itself locally in the equal pay battle for teachers in Delaware. The positive impact that the Wilmington branch had on our community inspired the development of other branches around the state, including lower Sussex, Milford, Central Delaware, and Newark.

I would personally like to thank the past and present leaders of the NAACP in Delaware for their continued dedication to bring about peaceful movements for change. This illustrious organization's success can be attributed to leaders such as Reverend Maurice Moyer, Alice Dunbar Nelson, Louise L. Redding, Samuel Dawson, Gary Hammond, Littleton Mitchell, and Charles Brittingham. They are each heroes both locally and nationally.

These remarkable trailblazers have led the battle for equality in the state of Delaware. They worked to pass the local elective ``one-person, one vote,'' fought for suitable living quarters for migrant laborers, worked for fair public accommodations throughout the state, and made extensive advancements in educational equity.

The perseverance demonstrated by members of the NAACP reflects the strength of this exceptional organization. Over the past 97 years, the national organization has provided communities around the United States with strong and passionate leaders who have fought for social change. I congratulate them on the successes of the past 97 years, and I look forward to many more years of continued achievements in the future.

Mr. Speaker, it is with great pleasure that I rise today to pay tribute to the five returning Marines of Bulk Fuel Company Bravo, based in Wilmington, Delaware. During the past seven months, the five Marines of Bulk Fuel Company Bravo answered the call to duty in a highly volatile and dangerous region of Iraq. Their efforts contributed to the safety and security of an emerging democracy and our own great nation. With this sacrifice they have inspired others--including their family, friends, and neighbors.

As Americans, we are mindful of what we have lost, but we are deeply grateful for all that cannot be destroyed. It is Marines like those of Bulk Fuel Company Bravo who sustain and invigorate the timeless values, principles, and extraordinary character that define our great nation.

Today, I am just one of many Delawareans who would like to take this opportunity to say a sincere thank you to them for their service and sacrifice on our behalf. When they were needed, they answered their country's call, proving once again that extraordinary individuals live within each generation of Americans.

Mr. Speaker, it is with great respect, admiration and much sorrow, that I rise today to remember the life of Morris W. King, the 52nd President of the Hartly Volunteer Fire Company. Mr. King, of Smyrna, Delaware, passed away at the age of 86. He made immeasurable contributions to the volunteer fire service in my home State of Delaware, as well as many of the surrounding States.

Morris King dedicated an amazing 68 years of service to various fire fighting causes during his life. For 35 years, he was a fire line officer in the Hartly Volunteer Fire Company before being elected Chief in 1971. Over the course of his service to the HVFC, Morris held every elected administrative office in the company; he was a man dedicated to protecting all members of his community. Morris oversaw the creation and implementation of the Hartly Fire Company Ambulance Corps, which he captained for many years.

After serving Hartly for so many years, Mr. King went on to hold many leadership positions within the Kent County Volunteer Firemen's Association and the Delaware Volunteer Firemen's Association. For his contributions, Morris was inducted into both the Delaware Firefighters Hall of Fame and the Del-Mar-Va Volunteer Firemen's Hall of Fame. In 1986, Mr. King was honored with the Delaware Fireman of the Year award. He was truly a man who was respected by all who knew him.

While Mr. King was a well-decorated firefighter, his contributions to his country and to local community organizations cannot be overlooked. Morris was a United States Army Air Corps veteran of World War II, serving as a member of the 17th Bomb Group. He also served as president of the Hartly town council.

Morris King's accomplishments are too numerous to name in this tribute. He was a treasure that our State and his family will miss greatly. I know that Morris' dedication to excellence and to public service will serve as an example to his family and friends that he leaves behind.

Mr. Speaker, it is with great pleasure that I rise today to pay tribute to the Cathedral Choir School of Delaware, who on January 25, 2006, had the honor of singing for First Lady Laura Bush at the White House. The Cathedral Choir School of Delaware was honored as one of the 17 youth arts and humanities programs that will receive the 2005 Coming Up Taller Award from the First Lady. The Choir performed two songs, the National Anthem and a Zulu anthem.

This Award was created by the President's Committee on the Arts and the Humanities, and its recipients are chosen by members of the Institute of Museum and Library Services, the National Endowment for the Arts, and the National Endowment for the Humanities. The Cathedral Choir School of Delaware was selected from a group of over 250 well- qualified nominees.

Led by Choirmaster and Artistic Director Dr. Darryl Roland, this wonderful ensemble boasts 53 area students whose ages range from as young as 7, to as old as 17. The main objective of the choral arts program is to help these young people, many of them disadvantaged, succeed in school and other extracurricular endeavors. While singing is the central activity, it is only one of the important skills that they take away from this program.

The Cathedral Choir School of Delaware boasts an impressive list of alumni, many having been elected to leadership positions at their academic institutions and in their communities. The former Chief Justice of the Delaware Supreme Court is an example of a distinguished alumnus from the group.

I congratulate and thank the Cathedral Choir School of Delaware for their contributions to the State of Delaware and to our country. Many children who have participated in the program as well as music lovers owe the group a sincere debt of gratitude, and I am pleased to be able to vocalize their appreciation. I am thrilled that a group from my home State has been honored with such an illustrious award and I wish them many more years of continued success.

Mr. Speaker, I move to suspend the rules and agree to the resolution (H. Res. 657) honoring the contributions of Catholic schools.

Mr. Speaker, I ask unanimous consent that all Members may have 5 legislative days within which to revise and extend their remarks on H. Res. 657.

Mr. Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may consume.

Mr. Speaker, I rise today in support of House Resolution 657 offered by the gentleman from Minnesota. This resolution increases the awareness of Catholic education while honoring the contributions of America's Catholic schools.

January 29 through February 4, 2006, has been designated Catholic Schools Week, an annual tradition in its 32nd year and jointly sponsored by the National Catholic Education Association, as well as the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops.

With this resolution we recognize the vital role Catholic elementary and secondary schools play in providing a values-added education with high standards of quality and excellence to the over 2.4 million students enrolled in Catholic schools across the country. In just my home State of Delaware, there are over 30 Catholic schools.

According to the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops, Catholic schools have a graduation rate of over 98 percent, and about 97 percent of Catholic high school graduates go to postsecondary training at 4- year colleges, community colleges or technical schools. This success could be also attributed to the importance Catholic educators place on character and morals. By making the development of moral and social values an integral part of the curriculum, Catholic schools are ensuring that their students are not only good academically, but also good citizens.

The theme for Catholic Schools Week 2006 is ``Character, Compassion, Values.'' This theme resonates with the Catholic schools this academic year in particular. Catholic schools demonstrated an enormous amount of character and compassion in their response to the devastating hurricanes that hit the gulf coast last year. In the wake of this national disaster, more than 300,000 students were displaced from their homes, schools and communities. Catholic schools opened their doors and hearts and welcomed these students into their classrooms. They provided these children with the opportunity to continue their studies without stopping to consider how to cover the costs of that education. Instead, the Catholic schools knew their first priority was to educate these children, and, second, figure out how to cover the greater costs they incurred.

In addition, the Catholic schools in New Orleans proved to be the most resilient by becoming some of the first schools in the hurricane- damaged area to reopen their doors to students.

I appreciate the great work being done by Catholic schools, their administrators, and teachers, as well as their parents and volunteers. Catholic schools carry out their servant mission by building the academic achievement, character, and values of their students.

I again commend the gentleman from Minnesota (Mr. Kennedy) for introducing this resolution, and I urge my colleagues to support it.

Mr. Speaker, I reserve the balance of my time.

Mr. Speaker, I yield 5 minutes to the gentleman from Minnesota (Mr. Kennedy), the sponsor who has undertaken to pursue this resolution.

Mr. Speaker, I yield 2 minutes to the gentlewoman from Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, who turns out to be a Pittsburgh Steelers fan, which is a real insult to Philadelphia Eagles fans like myself.

Mr. Speaker, I yield 2 minutes to the gentleman from Pennsylvania (Mr. Murphy), alas another Steelers fan.

Mr. Speaker, I yield 2 minutes to the gentleman from South Carolina (Mr. Wilson).

Mr. Speaker, I yield 2 minutes to the distinguished gentleman from Pennsylvania (Mr. Fitzpatrick).

Mr. Speaker, I yield back the balance of my time.

Mr. Speaker, on that I demand the yeas and nays.

Mr. Speaker, I rise today in strong opposition to the decision to attach drilling in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge to the Defense Appropriations Act conference report. This is a clear abuse of process and I urge my colleagues to join me in opposing this rule, which would allow it.

The Deficit Reduction Act was an inappropriate venue to debate this important environmental issue and the Defense Appropriations Act conference report is no different. The inclusion of drilling in the Arctic Refuge is the determination of a few individuals who are willing to put national policy priorities aside for a special-interest agenda.

Drilling in the Arctic Refuge will scarcely make a ripple on our dependence on foreign oil, nor will it increase our national security. Even by the most optimistic estimates, oil from the Refuge will never meet more than two percent of the energy needs in America.

The Arctic Refuge represents one of the last large pristine natural environments left in our country. I strongly believe that the debate on drilling in the Arctic Refuge should be done on its own merits, not as a tagalong to the essential funding for our troops in Iraq and Afghanistan and for relief to hurricane victims.

To include drilling in the Arctic Refuge in a must pass defense appropriations bill, at a time of war, is an abomination. The American people strongly support protecting the Arctic Refuge and I urge my colleagues to vote no on this rule.

Mr. Speaker, I thank the gentlewoman from Colorado for yielding me this time, and I am also pleased to rise in support of this legislation, as we did before when it was on the floor of the House of Representatives. I think it does make a difference.

But we do need to understand some of the differences amongst the various things that we are talking about, because this is essentially dealing with a blood type of stem cell. It is great for use in a lot of blood diseases, as has been pointed out, particularly leukemia, lymphoma, and perhaps others at a later time.

But even with those benefits, we need to stress some of the limitations. And one of them is just the difficulty of getting these and the lack of them. I have actually visited a storage location for these and have seen that as a real problem.

Embryonic stem cells, which are in H.R. 810, which Senator Frist promises will be brought up sometime in the course of the next year, do not have those limitations. It allows these embryonic stem cells to be used in a way that they could be formed into any stem cell in your body, and that is just not true of the cells that are before us here today. They have the potential to treat a wide range of diseases and injuries because they can reproduce themselves almost indefinitely. The best scientific evidence in this country indicates that umbilical stem cells can do neither at this time.

My point is this: we need, as far as I am concerned, to advance all of this type of research. That is really what it is all about. We need to give people an opportunity. We need to understand that one out of three people in the United States of America, and I assume across the world, and perhaps a greater percentage across the world, suffer from some type of disease that could be helped by stem cell research.

For that reason, in my judgment, we need to do everything in our power here in the Congress of the United States to pass any of this legislation that would help advance the medical research that could save or help the lives of so many people across the United States and across the world. For that reason, I absolutely support this legislation.

But I would beseech everybody to really understand the science and the medicine behind all of the stem cell legislation, including embryonic stem cell legislation, so that we can come to agreement as to complete stem cell research to aid everybody. And the sooner we do that, the better. Every day that is lost is a day that somebody is going to be ill longer. And we need to get about it as soon as we possibly can.

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

I would like to offer my support also for the comprehensive pension reform legislation that we are now considering. I would also like to congratulate and thank Chairman Boehner and Chairman Thomas for their hard work in getting us to a point where we can make meaningful and necessary reforms to our pension system.

It has become very clear to us that the laws governing pension plans are antiquated. This is evident from recent high-profile bankruptcies, pension plan terminations and the Pension Benefit Guaranty Corporation's, PBGC, latest report of a $22.8 billion long-term deficit. It would be criminal if Congress were to ignore these instances and not do something to protect the interests of workers, retirees and taxpayers alike.

As we have all heard here this afternoon, H.R. 2830 will strengthen pension plan funding rules, provide workers with meaningful disclosure about the health of their pension plans and protect taxpayers from a possible multi-billion dollar bailout of the PBGC. I would like to highlight a couple of provisions within the bill that I believe are also vital to the health of the system.

First, many workers and retirees in recent years mistakenly believed that their pension plans were well funded only to receive a shock when the plan was terminated. Without basic information, workers and retirees are left without the most basic tool they need to hold their employers accountable: complete and accurate information about the true funded status of their pension plans. The Pension Protection Act ensures workers and retirees are given timely, accurate and straightforward information about the health of their plans and thus their own financial future. It is my belief that requiring transparency is one of the most important things that Congress can do for employees.

Second, when pension plans are underfunded and worker retirement security is in jeopardy, excessive executive compensation packages can add insult to injury by heaping lavish benefits on executives while workers and retirees wonder if they will have any retirement benefit at all. The Pension Protection Act restricts the funding of

such executive compensation arrangements if an employer has a severely underfunded plan. Moreover, it requires plans that become subject to these limitations to notify affected workers and retirees.

Again, I thank the chairmen for their leadership, and I urge my colleagues to support the Pension Protection Act.

Mr. Chairman, I offer an amendment.

Mr. Chairman, I rise to offer this simple amendment to the legislation before us today. In the post-9/11 world, our primary concern has to be stopping terrorists from penetrating our borders. Chairman Sensenbrenner's dedication to fixing gaps in our security is commendable, and I am

proud to join him and Chairman King in improving our border security capabilities while allowing American citizens and legal immigrants to continue contributing to our economy.

Both Congress and the 9/11 Commission have identified the US-VISIT biometric entry and exit system as essential to preventing terrorists from entering the country through land borders, airports, and seaports. Currently, US-VISIT kiosks are deployed at most airports and some land borders, where travelers submit biometric information, including digital fingerprints and a photograph, and the Department of Homeland Security screens the data against terrorist watch lists and criminal record databases.

Since its implementation, US-VISIT has caught more than 900 murderers, pedophiles, and other dangerous criminals attempting to enter the United States. Still, the system records only a fraction of foreign arrivals and does not yet record when foreign travelers leave the country. While US-VISIT is presently being used at some of the busiest border crossings, the Department has yet to deploy the tracking system at all land border ports of entry.

The development of the system's exit component has also been slow; and thus our government does not yet have a reliable way of tracking visa overstays. In addition, the 9/11 Commission and other recent reports have highlighted the need for the Department to improve the interoperability of US-VISIT and its other immigration screening systems to ensure that terrorists and criminals do not slip through the cracks.

The Department of Homeland Security is already working on a plan to expand US-VISIT and eventually track every foreign visitor entering and leaving the country. My amendment would simply require the Department to update Congress on the progress of this plan by submitting a detailed time line for equipping all land borders with the US-VISIT system, developing and deploying the exit component of the system at all land borders, and making all immigration screening systems operated by the Department compatible with one another.

Improving the quantity and quality of the information in US-VISIT will undoubtedly enhance our ability to better track and identify potential security threats to our Nation. The Department already has a plan to do this, and my amendment will ensure that Congress is updated on the status of this important process.

Mr. Chairman, I reserve the balance of my time.

Mr. Chairman, I yield such time as he may consume to the gentleman from New York (Mr. King).

Mr. Chairman, I yield myself the balance of my time.

I agree with almost everything that the gentlewoman from California has said about this particular system. I share her concerns. I appreciate her support for my amendment and Mr. King's support as well.

I think the whole business of biometrics and US-VISIT has tremendous potential that is not being realized. The reason I present this amendment is

not to change anything they are doing; this is not complimenting anything that they are doing or saying that they are doing it particularly well; but to force some sort of reportorial system back to Congress, that is all this amendment does, so perhaps they will get it in their heads that they have to do better than they are doing now.

The gentlewoman is right, there is a lot of disorganization and incompatibility and inconsistency in terms of what is happening, and yet it has potential.

I yield to the gentlewoman from California.

Mr. Chairman, we can tweak them a little bit if this amendment passes because I do believe, and it has worked, and even with the limitations the gentlewoman has shown, it has worked rather well in some areas where they have actually captured people who have done things that they should not have done. I think it could do a heck of a lot more in terms of terrorism, and it should. I intend to force it. We know this department has some start-up difficulties, and we have to deal with that. Having said that, I think this is a good step in the right direction. If we stand behind it and help it work, it will help us all.

I thank the gentlewoman for her support.

Mr. Chairman, I yield back the balance of my time.