Floor Statements

Madam Speaker, I thank the gentleman for yielding me the time, and I just want to say I intend to vote for this. I think it is worthy of being designated as an historic site.

I yield to the gentlewoman from Florida.

Madam Speaker, I thank the gentleman for yielding me this time and for his leadership on child safety issues.

Madam Speaker, I rise today in strong support of the Child Safety and Violent Crime Reduction Act because it is a commonsense way to protect our school children from pedophiles.

Isn't it a matter of common sense to allow a local school district in Orlando, Florida to do criminal background checks on coaches, janitors, and teachers who work with our children, to make sure they are not convicted pedophiles from Georgia or some other State?

Isn't it common sense to protect young school children in the first place by keeping these pedophiles locked up with lengthy prison sentences?

Isn't it common sense that coddling repeated sex offenders with self- esteem courses and rehabilitation doesn't work, and that locking them up does work?

Madam Speaker, the best way to protect young children is to keep child predators locked up in the first place, because someone who has molested a child will do it again and again and again.

Last year, two young Florida girls, 9-year-old Jessica Lunsford and 13-year-old Sarah Lunde, were abducted, raped, and killed. In both cases the crimes were committed by convicted sex offenders who were out on probation. This law imposes a mandatory minimum punishment of 30 years for those who commit violent crimes against children, as well as a punishment of life in prison or a death sentence when that crime results in a child's death.

It is high time that we crack down on child molesters by implementing these commonsense reforms, and I urge my colleagues to vote ``yes'' on

Mr. Speaker, reauthorizing the PATRIOT Act today is literally a matter of life or death because it is helping us to win the war on terrorism.

Since we passed the PATRIOT Act in 2001, we have convicted 212 terrorists, and we have frozen $136 million in terrorists' assets.

Reauthorizing the PATRIOT Act is purely a matter of common sense. Is it not common sense that we give law enforcement the same tools to go after terrorists as they now have to go after Mafia dons and drug dealers? Is it not common sense that we can now share data between the intelligence community and the law enforcement community? Is it not common sense that we track deadly terrorists, even though they cross jurisdictional lines or switch cell phones?

I am pleased that the Senate recently voted 89-10 to reauthorize the PATRIOT Act. This legislation provides 30 new civil liberty safeguards and strengthens our port security by providing law enforcement authorities with new authority to secure our ports.

I urge my colleagues to vote ``yes'' on the PATRIOT Act.

Madam Speaker, today I rise to discuss the impact that illegal immigration has on the ranchers along the Mexican border. I recently spent a week along the Mexican-California border to see firsthand how bad the problem was and what Congress could do to fix it.

I sat down in the living rooms of four different families who own ranches along the border. One couple, Ed and Donna Tisdale, documented on home video 13,000 illegal aliens crossing their property in one year alone.

The Tisdales had their barbed wire fences cut by illegals running off the family's cattle. When their dogs barked to scare off intruders, the dogs were poisoned.

Another rancher told me about numerous break-ins at his home while his family slept, as illegal aliens tried to find food and clothing. One morning his daughters had gone out to feed their pet bunny rabbits, only to find them skinned and taken for food by illegal aliens trying to escape to a nearby highway.

Madam Speaker, the House has recently passed a tough border security bill. I urge the Senate to act now to address this problem.

Mr. Speaker, I ask unanimous consent to speak out of order for 5 minutes.

Mr. Speaker, earlier today, I had the honor and privilege of being selected as chairman of the 21st Century Competitiveness Subcommittee on the Education and Workforce Committee, which has jurisdiction over higher education.

I am here to give the American people some straight talk about higher education. Some have said we might have cut financial aid for college students. The truth is we have expanded access to college for our neediest students through the record growth of the Pell grant program.

Pell grants are the foundation of Federal student aid. As someone who attended college with the help of Pell grants and as chairman of the Pell Grant Caucus, I know how important they are for our Nation's low- income students.

Since I was elected to Congress in 2000, Pell grant funding has increased by 74 percent, from $7.6 billion to $13.2 billion today. The maximum grant has gone from $3,300 in 2000 to $4,050 today, the highest level in the program's history. The number of students receiving Pell grants has increased from 3.9 million in 2000 to 5.5 million today. We have paid down the Pell grant shortfall and secured this great program for many years to come.

Mr. Speaker, the straight talk is that Pell grants are helping more students go to college than ever before. My colleagues on both sides of the aisle realize that a first-class education is a child's passport out of poverty.

As chairman of the 21st Century Competitiveness Subcommittee, I will fight to make sure that all children, rich or poor, have the opportunity to go to college and realize their American Dream.

I look forward very much to working with my Democratic and Republican colleagues in a bipartisan manner to make higher education better for all of our students in the future.

Mr. Speaker, I move to suspend the rules and agree to the resolution (H. Res. 677) recognizing the creation of the NASCAR- Historically Black Colleges and Universities Consortium.

Mr. Speaker, I ask unanimous consent that all Members may have 5 legislative days within which to revise and extend their remarks and include extraneous material on H. Res. 677.

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

Mr. Speaker, I rise today in strong support of H. Res. 677, a measure to recognize the creation of the NASCAR-Historically Black Colleges and Universities Consortium. I thank the gentleman from Alabama (Mr. Rogers) for offering this legislation and for his support of this important partnership.

It is fitting that we are considering this resolution on the final day of Black History Month, 4 weeks during which our Nation has celebrated the countless contributions of African Americans to our Nation's history.

Historically Black Colleges and Universities, or HBCUs, have played an important role in enriching the lives of not just African Americans, but our entire country. In fact, President Bush once noted, ``Our Historically Black Colleges and Universities opened the door to knowledge when other doors were barred. And today they offer exciting opportunities to young people to contribute to their country.''

While compromising only 3 percent of our Nation's 2- and 4-year institutions, HBCUs are responsible for producing 28 percent of all bachelor's degrees, 15 percent of all master's degrees, and 17 percent of all first professional degrees earned by African Americans. And through its new partnership with the popular sport of NASCAR, the impact of HBCUs is sure to grow.

The new NASCAR-HBCU Consortium will promote diversity throughout NASCAR, including its marketing, service, and engineering departments. This is particularly meaningful as our Nation seeks to increase the number of students studying math and science in college. According to the Department of Education's most recent figures, only about 9 percent of students receiving a bachelor's degree in math or science are African Americans, so the creation of this consortium could not have come at a better time.

The United States must produce more students interested in math and science in order for our Nation to excel in an increasingly global economy. HBCUs are sure to be at the forefront of this effort.

Mr. Speaker, I applaud NASCAR for recognizing the contributions HBCUs have made to American education and culture and, more importantly, the contributions they will make in the future. I am proud that the House has taken the lead in promoting the efforts of this consortium, which will ensure new and exciting career opportunities for undergraduate and graduate students attending HBCUs. I ask my colleagues to support this resolution.

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

Mr. Speaker, I yield as much time as he may consume to the author of this important resolution, the gentleman from Alabama (Mr. Rogers).

Mr. Speaker, I do not have any more speakers, and 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, I move to suspend the rules and agree to the resolution (H. Res. 668) celebrating the 40th anniversary of Texas Western's 1966 NCAA Basketball Championship and recognizing the groundbreaking impact of the title game victory on diversity in sports and civil rights in America, as amended.

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. 668.

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

It gives me great pleasure to rise in support of House Resolution 668, which celebrates the 40th anniversary of Texas Western's 1966 NCAA basketball championship and recognize the groundbreaking impact of the title game victory on diversity in sports and civil rights in America.

Texas Western's victory occurred 40 years ago, 1966, during the midst of the civil rights movement to end discrimination against blacks. The 1954 Brown v. Board of Education decision and the Civil Rights Act of 1964 outlawed institutional racial segregation. In Vietnam, blacks were fighting and dying alongside their fellow white soldiers. Blacks were not, however, playing basketball at many schools in the South, where de facto segregation still reigned.

For Don Haskins, coach of the Texas Western Miners men's basketball team, a person's race did not matter. To him ability on the basketball court mattered more than the color of the player's skin. To Coach Haskins, the only thing that really mattered was winning.

This was the philosophy Coach Haskins used on the night of March 19, 1966. That night the Texas Western Miners made history by defeating the number-one-ranked, all-white University of Kentucky Wildcats for the NCAA basketball championship, a game of historical significance because no other college team at the time had ever started five black players in a major championship contest. In fact, when Texas Western defeated Kentucky 72-65, a game still celebrated as one of the biggest college basketball upsets in NCAA history, there were no black basketball players in the Southeastern or Atlantic Coast Conferences.

This remarkable triumph helped shift the national perception of black athletes and helped bring about the widespread desegregation of college sports. In turn, the desegregation of college sports helped to spread greater equality throughout American society.

Mr. Speaker, the man behind Texas Western's success is Don Haskins. His 38-year reign at Texas Western, now the University of Texas El Paso, allowed him to become one of the winningest coaches in NCAA history. He amassed a 719-354 record, 32 winning seasons, seven Western Athletic Conference Championships, four Western Athletic Tournament titles, and 21 post-season appearances. In 1997, Coach Haskins was inducted into the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame. He retired from coaching in 1999.

Coach Don Haskins is truly a living legend in college sports. He believed that as a coach he should recruit the best raw talent he could find no matter the player's race, background, or life story. If not for the colorblind dream of Coach Haskins to win basketball games with his team's most talented players, history may not have been made on the night of March 19, 1966.

I want to thank my colleague from Texas (Mr. Reyes) for introducing this legislation and bringing forth a lesser known, yet significant, piece of history in college athletics. I am happy to join my colleagues in celebrating the 40th anniversary of Texas Western's 1966 NCAA basketball championship. I ask my colleagues to support this resolution.

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

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

Mr. Speaker, I have no further speakers, and I will continue to reserve the balance of my time at this point.

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

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

Madam Speaker, I rise today to talk about the national security implications of illegal immigration. Last year, our Border Patrol agents arrested 155,000 illegal aliens from countries other than Mexico who attempted to cross into the United States by the Mexican border. They included illegal immigrants from Iran, Iraq and Afghanistan.

This poses a very serious national security problem, according to CIA director Porter Goss. On a recent trip to the Mexican-California border, I spoke with Border Patrol agents who had apprehended suspects on the terrorist watch list. On the day I was there, two illegals from Pakistan were captured. When we go to the airport, our names are checked against a terrorist watch list, we have to produce photo ID, we remove our shoes, we walk through a metal detector, and we send our luggage through an X-ray machine to check for bombs.

Who is doing checks on the 8,000 people who arrive here illegally every day? The House has recently passed a tough border security bill. I urge the Senate to act now in the name of national security.

Mr. Speaker, today I rise to salute the bravery of Border Patrol agents working along the Mexican border. I recently returned from a week-long trip to the Mexican-California border, where I had the opportunity to ride along with our Border Patrol agents.

I was impressed by the bravery of the Border Patrol agents who escorted me. We personally saw a Border Patrol supervisor pull an illegal alien off a 10-foot wall and arrest him despite his violent attempts to resist arrest. I witnessed another Border Patrol agent scale a 5,000-foot mountain at 2 in the morning in freezing 30-degree weather and single-handedly arrest and handcuff eight illegal aliens.

The Border Patrol agent I rode with told me that he had been shot at on several occasions. Twenty-three of his colleagues have been killed in the line of duty since 1990. For example, Border Patrol agents Susan Rodriguez and Ricardo Salinas were gunned down by a murder suspect. Agent Jefferson Barr was shot to death by a drug trafficker.

I have a message for these brave Border Patrol agents: the U.S. Congress knows you are there. We appreciate your service, and help is on the way.

Mr. Speaker, if you would have told me when I was in college that one day my idea of a romantic Valentine's Day evening would be standing around giving a speech on border security, I would have probably drank a cup of hemlock back then. But here we are, and I am happy to drink this cup of water beside me.

Mr. Speaker, I have just returned from the Mexican border, and I am here to report my findings.

We were 5,000 feet up in the mountains along the border California shares with Mexico at 2:00 A.M., freezing in 30-degree weather, with the wind howling in our faces. Eight shivering young men, illegal aliens in their late teens and early 20s, sat on the cold ground in handcuffs, grateful to be caught. One of them pleaded with a border patrol agent to find his girlfriend, Maria, who was still stuck out on one of the cliffs.

Illegal aliens like the ones I saw in handcuffs continue to enter the United States from Mexico at the rate of 8,000 per day. Today, we have 11 million illegal aliens in the United States. Illegal immigration presents a huge problem. That is why I decided to spend a week along the southern border to see firsthand how bad the problem is and, more importantly, what Congress can do to fix it.

Last year, our Border Patrol agents arrested 1.2 million illegal aliens attempting to enter the United States from Mexico. Significantly, 155,000 of those arrested were from countries other than Mexico. They included illegal immigrants from Iran, Iraq, and Afghanistan. This poses a very serious national security problem according to CIA director Porter Goss. I spoke with Border Patrol agents who had apprehended suspects on the terrorist watchlist.

One night, while I was riding along with the Border Patrol, two illegals from Pakistan were captured. One convicted sexual predator was caught trying to cross. So were wanted murder suspects, drug dealers and smugglers.

If the job of a Border Patrol agent sounds dangerous, imagine the risk to people who actually live along the border. I sat down in the living rooms of four different families who own ranches along the border. One couple, Ed and Donna Tisdale, documented on home video 13,000 illegal aliens crossing their property in 1 year alone. The Tisdales had their barbed wire fences cut by illegals running off the family's cattle. When their dogs barked to scare off intruders, the dogs were poisoned.

Another rancher told me about numerous break-ins at his home while his family slept as illegal aliens searched for food and clothing. One morning his daughters had gone out to feed their pet bunnies, only to find them skinned and taken for food by illegal aliens trying to escape to a nearby highway.

The economic impact of these illegal crossers who are successful is catastrophic. Illegal immigration costs taxpayers $45 billion a year in health care, education and incarceration expenses. The cost of the estimated 630,000 illegal aliens in my home State of Florida is about $2 billion a year, meaning every family in my congressional district pays a hidden tax of $315 each year and yet still faces artificially depressed wages because of illegal immigration.

So how do we fix the problem? Well, first, we need to crack down on employers who knowingly hire illegal workers. Jobs are the magnet attracting illegal aliens across the border, and the U.S. House has acted to make it mandatory for employers to check the paperwork of new hires or else face stiff penalties. Now it is time for the Senate to act.

Second, we complete construction of a double fence for 700 miles along the border near highly populated urban areas. For example, San Diego saw a steep reduction in crossings from 500,000 down to 130,000 when their double fence was completed.

Third, where mountains and rugged terrain make completion of a double fence impossible, we need to have a virtual fence. That is, Congress needs to appropriate money for infrared cameras that allow agents to see the entire border in day and nighttime.

Finally, we need more Border Patrol agents. Although Congress has already tripled the number of Border Patrol agents since the late 1980s, more are still needed.

Mr. Speaker, one million immigrants come to America legally each year; and my staff members spend the majority of their time helping those who want to come to our country to work hard and play by the rules.

We are protected from dangerous people entering the country at our airports. IDs are checked against the terrorist watchlist, and baggage is screened. Who is doing checks on the 8,000 people who arrive here illegally each day? Who is our last line of defense? It is a Border Patrol agent in a green uniform working alone.

At 2:00 a.m. tonight, after all of us are asleep, he will be once again working somewhere near the top of a cold 5,000-foot mountain along the California-Mexican border. He will get a radio call telling him to approach a group of illegals who have been spotted by an infrared scope and are located near the top of that mountain. He will track their footprints in the dirt and make his way toward them. As he approaches, there is something he does not know. Are these illegal aliens a group of harmless teenagers who are scared and freezing, or are they heavily armed, dangerous drug traffickers like the ones who have killed so many of his colleagues? Either way, he will approach them because it is just another day on the job.

Mr. Speaker, I have a message for that Border Patrol agent. The United States Congress knows you are there. We appreciate your service, and help is on the way.

Mr. Speaker, I thank the gentleman for yielding.

Mr. Speaker, I have just returned from the Mexican border and I am here to report my findings.

We were 5,000 feet up in the mountains along the border California shares with Mexico at 2:00 a.m., freezing in 30-degree weather with the wind howling in our faces. Eight shivering young men, illegal aliens in their late teens and early 20s, sat on the cold ground in handcuffs, grateful to be caught. One of them pleaded with the border patrol agent to find his girlfriend Maria who was still stuck on one of the cliffs.

Illegal aliens, like the ones I saw in handcuffs, continue to enter the United States from the Mexican border at the rate of 8,000 per day. Today, we have 11 million illegal aliens in the United States.

Illegal immigration presents a huge problem. That is why I decided to spend a week along the southern border to see firsthand how bad the problem was and what Congress could do to fix it.

Last year, our border patrol agents arrested 1.2 million illegal aliens attempting to enter the United States from Mexico. Significantly, 155,000 of those arrested were from countries other than Mexico. They included illegal immigrants from Iran, Iraq and Afghanistan. Our porous Mexican-U.S. border offers the perfect cover for terrorists, especially since tighter controls have been imposed at airports.

This poses a very serious national security problem, according to CIA Director Porter Goss. I personally spoke with border patrol agents who had apprehended suspects on the terrorist watch list.

One night while I was riding along with the border patrol two illegals from Pakistan were captured. One convicted sexual predator was caught trying to cross, so were wanted murder suspects, drug dealers and smugglers.

I was impressed by the bravery of the border patrol agents who escorted me. I saw a border patrol supervisor get out of his vehicle, pull an illegal alien off of a 10-foot wall and arrest him despite his violent attempts to resist the arrest.

The border patrol agent I rode with told me he had been shot at on several occasions. Twenty-three of his colleagues have been killed in the line of duty since 1990. For example, border patrol agents Susan Rodriguez and Ricardo Salinas were gunned down by a murder suspect. Agent Jefferson Barr was shot to death by a drug trafficker.

If the job of a border patrol agent sounds dangerous, imagine the risk to people who actually live along the border.

I sat down in the living rooms of four different families who own ranches along the border. One couple, Ed and Donna Tisdale, documented on home video 13,000 illegal aliens crossing their property in one year alone. The Tisdales had their barbed-wire fences cut by illegals, running off the family's cattle. When their dogs barked to scare off intruders, the dogs were poisoned.

Another rancher told me about numerous break-ins at his home while his family slept, as illegal aliens tried to find food and clothing. One morning his daughters had gone out to feed their pet bunnies, only to find them skinned and taken for food by illegal aliens trying to escape to a nearby highway.

The economic impact of crossers who are successful is catastrophic.

Illegal immigration costs taxpayers $45 billion per year in health care, education and incarceration expenses. The cost of the estimated 630,000 illegal aliens in Florida is about $2 billion a year, meaning every family in my congressional district pays a hidden tax of $315 each year, and yet still faces depressed wages because of illegal immigration.

So how do we fix the problem?

First, we need to crack down on employers who knowingly hire illegal workers. Jobs are the magnet drawing illegal aliens across the border, and the United States House of Representatives has acted to make it mandatory for employers to check the paperwork of new hires or else face stiff penalties if they do not. Now it is up to the Senate to act.

Second, we need to complete construction of the double fence for 700 miles along the border near populated, urban areas. San Diego saw a steep reduction in crossings, from 500,000 down to 130,000, when the double fence was completed there.

Third, where mountains and rugged terrain make completion of a double fence impossible, we need to have a virtual fence. Congress needs to appropriate more money for infrared cameras that enable agents to see the entire border.

Finally, we need more border patrol agents. Although Congress has tripled the number of border patrol agents since the late 1980s, more are still needed.

Mr. Speaker, one million illegal immigrants come to America legally each year, and my staff members spend the majority of their time helping those who want to come to our country to work hard and play by the rules.

We are protected from dangerous people entering the country at our airports. IDs are checked against the terrorist watch list and baggage is screened. Well, who is doing the checks on the 8,000 people who arrive here illegally every day? Who is our last line of defense? It is a Border Patrol agent in a green uniform working alone.

At 2 a.m. tonight, after all of us are asleep, he will be working somewhere near the top of a cold 5,000-foot mountain along the California-Mexican border. He will get a radio call telling him to approach a group of illegals who have been spotted by an infrared scope and are located near the top of that mountain. He will track their footprints in the dirt and make his way toward them. As he approaches, there is something he doesn't know: Are these illegal aliens a group of harmless teenagers who are scared and freezing, or are they heavily armed and dangerous drug traffickers, like the ones who have killed so many of his colleagues?

Either way, he will approach them, because it is another day on the job. Mr. Speaker, I have a message for that Border Patrol agent working tonight: the United States Congress knows you are there, we appreciate your service, and help is on the way.

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

Mr. Speaker, the number one issue my constituents raise with me at town hall meetings is the need to strengthen our border security by cracking down on illegal immigration. Why? Our current immigration system is broken, and the American people expect us to secure our borders.

We have 11 million illegal aliens in the United States. Illegal aliens continue to enter the U.S. from the Mexican border at the rate of 8,000 per day. Last year, our border patrol agents arrested 1.2 million illegal aliens attempting to enter the United States.

Significantly, 155,000 arrests of illegal immigrants were from countries other than Mexico. They included illegal immigrants from Iran, Iraq, Afghanistan.

This poses a very serious national security problem according to the testimony of CIA Director Porter Goss before the Senate Armed Services Committee on March 17 of this year.

Our law enforcement authorities believe that the mass movement of illegal aliens across the porous Mexican-U.S. border offers the perfect cover for terrorists seeking to enter the U.S., especially since tighter controls have been imposed to airports.

For example, when we go to the airport, our names are checked against the terrorist watch list. We have to produce a photo ID, we remove our shoes, we walk through a metal detector, and we send our briefcase and luggage through an x-ray machine to check if there are any weapons or explosive devices. Of course, this does not happen to 8,000 illegal aliens who enter the U.S. every day from the Mexican border. There are no terrorist background checks, no photo ID checks, no shoe removal, no metal detectors, and no x-ray machines for bombs or weapons.

In addition to threatening our national security, illegal immigration places a crushing burden on the American taxpayers who end up getting stuck with a tab for over $45 billion a year for the health care and education of illegal aliens.

Mr. Speaker, we must get serious about strengthening our border by cracking down on illegal immigration. Good fences make good neighbors, but that is only a start. We need to build more fences, hire more border patrol agents, use unmanned aerial drones to enforce the border, authorize our local sheriffs to enforce our immigration laws, and hold our employers accountable for knowingly hiring illegal workers. This bill is a step in the right direction. I urge my colleagues to take positive action today to secure our borders. Vote ``yes'' on the rule and vote ``yes'' on H.R. 4437.

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

Mr. Speaker, reauthorizing the PATRIOT Act before it expires on December 31 is literally a matter of life or death because it is helping us to win the war on terrorism.

Since we passed the PATRIOT Act in 2001, we have convicted 212 terrorists, and we have frozen $136 million in terrorist assets. Passing the PATRIOT Act is purely a matter of common sense. Is it not common sense that we give law enforcement the same tools to go after terrorists as they now have to go after Mafia dons and drug dealers? Is it not common sense that we can now share data between the intelligence community and the law enforcement community? Is it not common sense that we can now track deadly terrorists even though they cross jurisdictional lines or switch cell phones?

Now, some Members of Congress want to postpone this legislation or even filibuster it. The worst thing that these critics can say about the PATRIOT Act is that supposedly law-abiding citizens will have their book store and library habits monitored. That is a totally bogus allegation. In reality, a prosecutor seeking this information must go before a federal judge, get a

court order and prove that it is a matter of international terrorism. Now, how many times has that happened since we first passed the PATRIOT Act in 2001? Exactly zero according to the U.S. Attorney General.

I urge my colleagues to vote yes on the PATRIOT Act and yes on the underlying rule.

Mr. Speaker, I thank the gentleman for yielding.

Mr. Speaker, aiming a laser beam into the cockpit of an airplane is a clear and present danger to the safety of all of those on board the aircraft. It is only a matter of time before one of

these laser beam pranksters ends up killing over 200 people in a commercial airline crash.

These easily available pen-sized laser pointers, like the one I purchased here at the office supply here in the House of Representatives for $12, have enough power to cause vision problems in pilots from a distance of up to 2 miles.

This legislation is simple, straightforward and common sense. It makes it illegal to knowingly aim a laser pointer at an aircraft. Those who intentionally engage in such misconduct shall be fined or imprisoned not more than 5 years, or both, in the discretion of the judge.

Significantly, 100 percent of the Democrats and Republicans on the Judiciary Committee voted in favor of this legislation and it enjoys wide bipartisan support.

Mr. Speaker, I am honored that the gentleman from Virginia (Mr. Scott) and the gentleman from North Carolina (Mr. Coble), the ranking member and chairman respectively of the Crime Subcommittee, are the cosponsors of this legislation.

A recent rash of incidents involving lasers aimed at aircraft cockpits have raised concerns by pilots and law enforcement officials over the potential threat to aviation safety and security. The problem is more widespread than one might initially think.

According to the Congressional Research Service and the Federal Aviation Administration, there have been over 400 incidents reported since 1990 where pilots have been disoriented or temporarily blinded by laser exposure.

So far none of the 400 incidents involving flight crew exposures to lasers have been linked to terrorism. Rather, it is often a case of pranksters making stupid choices to put pilots and their passengers at risk of dying.

Let me give you just one real-life example of what it is like to be in an aircraft cockpit hit by a laser beam. In September of this year, I spoke with Lieutenant Barry Smith from my hometown of Orlando, Florida, who was actually in the cockpit of a helicopter that was hit by a laser beam.

Lieutenant Smith is with the Seminole County Sheriff's Office. He and his partner were in a police helicopter searching for burglary suspects at night in a suburb of Orlando when a red laser beam hit their aircraft twice. Lieutenant Smith said the Plexiglass windshield of the helicopter spread out the light to be the size of about a basketball. It shocked them.

They were flying near a large tower with a red light, and they mistakenly thought that they had flown too close to the tower. They were disoriented and they immediately jerked the helicopter back. When they realized that they were not actually near the tower, Lieutenant Smith began to worry that the light could have come from a laser sight on a rifle. He wondered if they were about to be shot out of the sky. He told me, ``It scared the heck out of us.''

In reality, it was just a 31-year-old man with a small pen-sized laser light standing in his backyard. Unfortunately, there are over 400 other stories just like this one where laser beam pranksters nearly caused fatal aviation crashes.

Surprisingly there are currently no Federal statutes on the books making it illegal to shine a laser beam into an aircraft cockpit unless one attempts to use the PATRIOT Act to claim that the action was a terrorist attack or other attack of violence, intentional, against a mass transportation system.

On February 17, 2006, a Federal judge in Newark, New Jersey, will sentence a New Jersey man who pled guilty last month to shining a hand- held laser at two aircrafts back in December of 2004. The defense attorneys for the defendant, Mr. David Banach, argued that the PATRIOT Act was supposed to be used against terrorists.

The Federal prosecutors acknowledged that Mr. Banach is not a terrorist, but they said they had no other choice but to use the PATRIOT Act since no other Federal law applied.

Clearly, this legislation before us is needed to clarify the law and make it crystal clear that we will not tolerate either pranksters or terrorists who jeopardize the safety of pilots and passengers by aiming laser beams into the cockpits of aircrafts.

Mr. Speaker, I urge my colleagues to vote yes on H.R. 1400.

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

Mr. Chairman, I rise today as a cosponsor and strong supporter of the Lawsuit Abuse Reduction Act. I am going to tell the Members why I support this legislation and what the key components of this legislation is.

First, why do we need this legislation? We need tough mandatory sanctions to crack down on frivolous lawsuits. We need to care about each other more and sue each other less. We need to get back to the old-fashioned principles of personal responsibility and get away from this new culture where people play the victim and blame others for their problems. Most importantly, we need to protect those small business people who are out there creating 70 percent of all new jobs in America. These small business people work hard and play by the rules, but they cannot afford to defend themselves from meritless litigation.

For example, if they have a suit brought against them, to take it to trial to successfully win the suit, they often have to pay over $100,000 to a defense attorney. So what do they do? They have to pay about 10 grand to settle the case to get rid of it for strictly business reasons even though they did nothing wrong.

This bill will help crack down on these frivolous suits by doing three key things. First, it provides tough mandatory sanctions, not discretionary sanctions, if a judge finds that we have a violation of Rule 11, which may include the payment of the other side's attorneys' fees. Second, this bill has teeth in it by having a three-strikes-and- you're-out penalty. Three strikes and you're out means if a judge finds that they have violated Rule 11 bringing a frivolous claim on three separate occasions, they will be suspended from practicing law in that particular Federal court for 1 year and will have to reapply for practice there. That is a tough sanction. I happen to be the author of it. But it is key for Members to know that there is a bipartisan idea, three strikes and you're out.

To my left here, you see a quote from Senator John Edwards, himself a lifelong well-known personal injury lawyer, a former Senator from North Carolina and former Vice Presidential candidate. He said in Newsweek magazine, December 15, 2003, ``Frivolous lawsuits waste good people's time and hurt the real victims. Lawyers who bring frivolous cases should face tough mandatory sanctions with a three-strikes penalty.''

Senator Edwards is not the only one who holds that view. You will see that Senator Edwards' running mate, Senator John Kerry, told the Associated Press on October 10, 2004, ``Lawyers who file frivolous cases would face tough mandatory sanctions, including a three-strikes- and-you're-out provision that forbids lawyers who file frivolous cases from bringing another suit for the next 10 years.''

President George W. Bush, back when he was a candidate, February 9, 2000 said, ``As President, I will bring common sense to our courts and curb frivolous lawsuits. If a lawyer files three junk lawsuits, he will lose the right to appear in Federal Court for 3 years. Three strikes and you're out.''

The Austin American Statesman summarized President Bush's plan as saying, ``Bush's plan includes stiffer penalties for lawsuits determined by judges to be frivolous, including a three-strikes-and- you're-out rule for lawyers who repeatedly file such claims.''

On the day before we marked up this bill in the Judiciary Committee, May 24, 2005, I visited with President Bush in his personal residence and asked him, Mr. President, do you still stand by this policy that we need three strikes and you're out to crack down on frivolous lawsuits? He said, I absolutely do. That is the policy of the White House.

So we have the Democrat Presidential candidate, Mr. Kerry; the Democrat Vice Presidential candidate, Mr. Edwards; the President of the United States; and the Judiciary Committee on a voice vote adopted this three-strikes-and-you're-out provision.

The third key element of this Lawsuit Abuse Reduction Act is language to avoid forum shopping. It is the same language that we had in the class action legislation, which was approved on a bipartisan basis by both the House and the Senate and signed into law. Essentially, if there is an accident, the claim will be brought where the accident is or where the plaintiff resides or where the defendant resides.

For example, if you lived in Orlando, Florida, like I do, and you went to your local McDonald's and you slipped on a puddle of water, you could bring your suit in Orlando, where it should be. What you could not do is say, well, I know that Madison County, Illinois is a judicial hellhole, and there are lots of plaintiff-friendly judges, and McDonald's does business up in Madison County, Illinois. We are going to go file our suit there and do a little forum shopping. That is the kind of thing that is not going to be allowed here.

In short, this is a commonsense bill that provides tough mandatory sanctions to crack down on frivolous suits and includes provisions that enjoy bipartisan support. This bill has already passed the House. I urge my colleagues to vote ``yes'' on this important legislation.