Floor Statements

Mr. Speaker, I rise today to speak about the Kate Puzey Peace Corps Volunteer Protection Act. I am a Returned Peace Corps Volunteer, steadfast Peace Corps champion, and original cosponsor of the House version of this legislation. Kate Puzey was an intelligent, brave young woman from Georgia who was tragically murdered while serving in the Peace Corps in Benin. I was

privileged to speak with Kate's family about what a remarkable person Kate was, and I am deeply inspired by the Puzey family's commitment to turn unspeakable heartbreak into important action to ensure that what happened to Kate never, ever happens again. Kate truly represented the best of what Peace Corps can be and this legislation in her honor ensures that all Volunteers will get the best possible protections and training.

I was very troubled to hear the stories of other Volunteers who have received insufficient or insensitive support during their Peace Corps service. Earlier this year, I spoke with two courageous returned Volunteers, Karestan Koenen and Jessica Smochek, and learned about their traumatic experiences of rape and sexual assault while serving in the Peace Corps and the inadequate assistance they received afterward. These two women, like every Volunteer, deserve the best possible support, and I commend them and the other returned Volunteer victims who have bravely come forward and shared their stories. Like the Puzey family, the trauma these individuals have suffered is unimaginable, but their actions have already helped to make Peace Corps a stronger agency.

I applaud Peace Corps Director Aaron Williams for taking immediate action to reform the agency's commitment to safety, sexual assault prevention and response, and security. Director Williams has worked closely with the Puzey family, returned Volunteers, and experts in victims' rights to develop new policies and strengthen existing ones to enhance the support and safety of Volunteers. These reforms include appointing the agency's first Victim Advocate, implementing a new Volunteer and staff sexual assault training, and signing a Memorandum of Understanding with the Rape, Abuse and Incest National Network (RAINN) to collaborate on sexual assault prevention. Peace Corps has also created a Peace Corps Volunteer Sexual Assault Panel which provides advice and input on sexual assault risk reduction and response strategies. The Kate Puzey Peace Corps Volunteer Protection Act both codifies and compliments the important reforms that Director Williams has put in place so that the next generation of Volunteers like Kate, Karestan, and Jessica will have the safety protections; compassionate, informed support; and necessary resources they deserve.

Mr. Speaker, Peace Corps Volunteers represent the best of what America has to offer and it is only right that America offers them the best. I thank the Puzey family, Karestan, Jessica, and all the returned Volunteers and advocates who have committed themselves to making Peace Corps a better, stronger agency. The efforts of their work will forever benefit future generations of Peace Corps Volunteers.

Mr. Speaker, I rise today to honor the life of U.S. Army Specialist Ricardo Cerros Jr., 24, of Salinas, California, who died in a firefight on October 8, 2011 in Logar Provence, Afghanistan. His last act of courage was to pull a fellow soldier to safety and shield him from enemy fire. He is a hero to the people of the United States and we express our gratitude for his service to our country. His selfless act is one that will never be forgotten.

Ricardo ``Rick'' Cerros Jr. was born November 2, 1986 in Fort Ord, California to Ricardo Cerros and Marguerite Quiroz. He spent some time in Indiana before returning to California's Central Coast when he was 8 years old. Rick attended Everett Alvarez High School in Salinas, California. There he followed his interest in service by joining the school's Navy Junior Reserve Officers Training Corps. His leadership and dedication led him to become the commanding officer of the program. Moreover, I was honored to nominate Rick to the United States Service Academies in 2004.

After high school, Rick attended the University of California, Irvine and was active with the school's Taekwondo club, becoming the first member to achieve a black belt rating. After graduating in 2010, Rick enlisted in the United States Army. He would go on and join our nation's finest as an Army Ranger assigned to Company B, 2nd Battalion, 75th Ranger Regiment.

October 8, 2011 was Rick's first combat mission. During that night raid, an enemy combatant rushed his platoon, wounding Sergeant Moore. Instinctively, Rick ran to the wounded platoon sergeant and pulled him to safety. Then he performed a heroic act by placing himself between the sergeant and the enemy. Sergeant Moore lives today because of Rick's sacrifice.

Mr. Speaker, on behalf of the entire House, I would like to extend the nation's deepest sympathies to Rick's mother Marguerite Quiroz, his father and stepmother Ricardo and Deborah Cerros, and his siblings Nicholas, Theresa and Marko Cerros. Specialist Ricardo Cerros Jr. served his nation honorably, and sacrificed his life to save a fellow comrade. He is an American hero.

Mr. Speaker, I rise today to honor the life and legacy of Rev. Richard Nance, Jr., whose leadership and social activism over the past 60 years provided inspiration for friends and colleagues alike. Rev. Nance served as the interim pastor of Antioch Baptist Church of San Jose and the First Baptist Church of Pacific Grove.

Richard was the fifth of eight children and was born and raised in South Carolina. Richard had long been involved with the ministries and at the age of twelve joined the White Plains Baptist Church in Laurens, South Carolina. He reported to Ft. Bragg in 1943 to serve in active duty in the army as a telephone and telegraph lineman with the 448th Signal Heavy Construction Battalion.

After serving in the army, Richard was licensed to preach in 1945. He was ordained in 1949 and pastored three rural churches in Laurens and Spartenburg Counties in South Carolina. He attended Benedict College in Colombia, South Carolina and received his BA in May 1950 followed by a BA of Divinity in 1953. Richard then attended Berkeley Baptist Divinity School and earned a Masters there in 1956. In June 1956, Rev. Nance willingly accepted the call to serve as pastor of the First Baptist Church of Pacific Grove and continued to serve passionately there until 1992.

Throughout his career, Rev. Nance made significant contributions to countless organizations. He served as the President of the Monterey Branch of the NAACP where his leadership allowed the branch to address housing restrictions and business and school hiring practices. Rev. Nance contributed to the efforts of both the Pacific Grove and Monterey Peninsula Ministers Associations as their President and was a member of Alpha Phi Alpha.

In addition, Rev. Nance was an active director on many boards including those of the Managers of American Baptist Churches of the West, the Pacific Grove Kiwanis, Monterey County Children's Home Society, the Alliance on Aging, The Pacific Grove Library, and the Pacific Grover Police Review Board.

Mr. Speaker, I know that I speak for the entire House in recognizing the tremendous accomplishments and contributions that Rev. Richard Nance, Jr. made throughout his bright lifetime. We honor the family that he loved and cherished: his wife Esther Collins Nance, who pre- deceased him, their sons Christopher and Marcus, and daughter Karen Small. On behalf of the United States Congress, I would like to applaud these significant efforts and honor his memory and to thank God for sharing such a wonderful leader with this community.

Madam Speaker, I rise in strong opposition to H.R. 358, the Protect Life Act. This legislation intrudes on women's reproductive freedom and access to health care and unnecessarily restricts the private insurance choices that women and their families have today. Proponents say that it would simply ban federal funding of abortion. However, as we all know, current law prohibits federal funding of abortion.

The American people want us to work together to address their top priority: creating jobs. We are now at 280 days in this Congress without passing a jobs plan. Yet the Republican Majority continues to bring legislation to the floor that restricts women's reproductive health care.

H.R. 358 is another attempt by the Majority to pass an anti-abortion policy that already failed during the health care reform debate.

Current law allows policy holders to buy abortion coverage by making separate payments, but H.R. 358 would prohibit any insurance plan from offering abortion coverage if they have even one enrollee that receives federal subsidies. Thus, it effectively forces plans to choose between not offering abortion care to the entire population of a state and offering a plan to only a small number of enrollees--which choice makes more economic sense? What do you think insurance companies will choose?

H.R. 358 also supersedes current law by expanding the current definition of health care providers to include any employee of a health care entity that provides abortion services, whether they actually provide patient care or not. Make no mistake: these newly designated health care entities can refuse to provide or refer a woman for abortion care, even when a woman's life is in critical danger.

Madam Speaker, H.R. 358 makes it clear to the American people that the Republican Majority is much more interested in dismantling

health reform and playing politics with divisive social issues than creating jobs and fixing our broken economy.

I thank the chairman for yielding.

I rise in support of this agreement. Look, Colombia is a very important country to us. It has a lot of problems, but it has incredible potential. Colombia is a big country. It's the 20th-largest trade partner with the United States. It's our best ally in Latin America. It was the oldest democracy in Latin America, the first country to accept Peace Corps. It allowed an Air Force base to be built in Colombia. Other countries haven't allowed that. They fought alongside of us and are now fighting alongside of us in Afghanistan. They help us with Mexico drug cartels by teaching the Mexican national police and military how to handle those cartels.

It's the first country to adopt a labor action plan. And let me speak to that. That labor action plan was adopted this year on April 11. You're going to hear a lot of complaints--well, it hasn't moved fast. It's only been in effect 6 months. It's already been able to organize the grocers into unions and other big industries into unions. It's the strongest labor plan ever adopted in the history of the United States trade agreements. And that's not my opinion; that's the opinion of the Secretary of Labor of this country. It's the opinion of the Congressional Research Office.

And, frankly, a lot of people say, oh, this is another NAFTA. No. No. No. It's not NAFTA. NAFTA didn't have the ILO declaration on fundamental principles and rights at work and the follow-up provisions. This is the Peru free trade agreement which we passed. It has that right here under article 17, and this is the Colombian free trade agreement. They are exactly the same. The principles are the same. Number 2 reads, effective recognition of the right to collective bargaining--effective recognition. That means that anything that stops that can be brought under this agreement, an action against the country.

So, look, you'll hear arguments today that it will create a loss of jobs. There's going to be a loss of jobs if we don't do this. Do you know that we have made a free trade agreement with every single country in Latin America except Colombia, Panama, and Ecuador? Every one of them, none of them with these labor protections. These will be the strongest. But if we don't lift those trade barriers, all the products that we send to Colombia have a tariff on them. All those other countries, they don't. All of the European countries that are entering into a free trade agreement with Colombia don't have it. Canada doesn't have it. So guess what? We're going to lose the jobs of people who make things here and send them there because it's going to be too expensive to buy them in Colombia. So we don't want to lose those jobs. We want to grow those jobs. And there's a great market in Colombia to do that.

They say union workers are not protected, and they're not allowed to organize. That's not true. In fact, the only country that counts the crimes against

labor unions is Colombia. It's the only country that has set up a ministry just to handle those crimes. And some say, oh, they haven't prosecuted enough. Some of those crimes were committed in the 1960s, 1970s, and 1980s, it's old, old hard evidence. It's hard to figure out who did it. But they have people assigned to it, they have investigators, they have judges, and they have prosecutors. They've worked those out with the Colombian labor unions as to what crimes do you want us to go after first? They're working with the unions. A lot of unions are in support of this free trade agreement because of the labor standards that we've required them to adopt.

So I would submit to you, Mr. Speaker, that the provisions in this Colombian free trade agreement are the strongest labor provisions in any U.S. free trade agreement.

If we're going to encourage progress--we're investing a lot of money in Colombia, we have Peace Corps volunteers in Colombia--if we're going to encourage growth of U.S. industries and markets in South America, and if we're going to really deal with the culture of poverty, then we have to encourage a strong future for both countries. And the only way to do that is to assure the adoption of this agreement.

Most agricultural groups across the state of California are strongly supportive of all three FTAs.

They understand that the FTAs will generate new export opportunities in their sector.

However, the California cut flower industry grows over 80% of the domestically grown flowers, supporting over 10,000 jobs and contributing $10 billion to the California economy.

They have real concerns about the pending Colombia FTA.

Our cut flower farmers are the group most adversely impacted by free trade with Colombia.

And I have been working hard to mitigate the impact of the FTA on their industry.

To their great credit, our California flower farmers do not oppose the FTA.

Together, they have developed a transportation and logistics center.

This will cut shipping costs by 22-34 percent, according to a new study by USC.

This would help level the playing field and restore competitiveness with Colombian farmers, who have received hundreds of millions of dollars in assistance from their government and ours over the past 20 years.

As reference I will point out that from 2002-2010, Colombian exports to the U.S. increased 89%.

In the same time span, the number of acres dedicated to cut flower production in the U.S. declined by 22%.

The Obama administration knows that I am a strong supporter of the Colombia FTA, and I am proud to be leading the charge in the House to pass it.

However, I have also made it very clear that I will continue to fight for funding for the new transportation center that is vital to California cut flower farmers.

I am optimistic that this vital U.S. industry that provides 20% of flowers sold to U.S. consumers will soon get the federal assistance that it needs to thrive over the long term.

Thank you, Mr. Chairman, for yielding. I look forward to this debate.

As was said, I lived in Colombia, and I have a different perspective than a lot of people. First of all, I think we have to put in perspective that the Latin American market is important to the United States. If you take Brazil, Mexico, and Colombia, just three countries, they equal the entire European trade, and they exceed the trade with Japan and China. It's a very important market.

Colombia is a country that you have heard a lot about, particularly on crime. And as you remember, there is big, big drug production and a lot of crime, particularly paramilitaries who have killed a lot of labor leaders. But what has not been stated is that Colombia is one of the few countries in the world that keeps track of crimes against people who happen to be unionists, not necessarily that they are killed because they are unionists, but because they are killed and they happen to be a member of a union. So they have this data. We don't do that in the United States.

Colombia has set up a separate ministry just to handle labor crimes and put those judges, prosecutors, investigators, and everybody in place in every single one of the departments or states in Colombia. We don't do that in the United States.

Colombia has created a protection system for unionists, including people who want to form unions, who want to advocate for unions, teachers, and retirees of unions who may be threatened because of their activity in unions. We don't do that in the United States. They have all set up a hotline, full disclosure, and you can do that anonymously. You can either email in or you can call in anonymously to the government reporting any labor violations. We don't do that in a national way here in the United States. So there are a lot of issues here that we ought to recognize when we're talking about Colombia.

But I think most of all we've got to talk about this in terms of American jobs. We sell a lot of things that we make here in America to Colombia. Let's take Caterpillar, for example. Canada has just adopted a free trade agreement. Europe is about to adopt a free trade agreement with Colombia. And we're not going to have one. That means our goods are going to be more expensive in Colombia. They're not going to buy from us. We're going to lose the market share. Caterpillar will be out of business. They'll be buying that heavy equipment from Europe, they'll be buying it from Brazil, and they'll be buying it from Canada--countries that have entered into a free trade agreement.

Let's preserve American jobs and let's think about American jobs. This is a huge exporter. In my district alone, it's the number one country in Latin America that we export produce to. So it's an important country to us.

Let the debate begin. The debate can't begin without passing the rule.

Madam Speaker, I rise to talk about the war in Afghanistan.

We've been in Afghanistan since 2001. What does that mean? I'll tell you what it means.

It means 3,650 days of violence and suffering. It means 1,695 American lives lost. It means $454 billion added to our deficit. It means that this war has got to end.

It's time to apply the Republican mantra, ``cut, squeeze and trim'' to the Afghanistan war because the cost is simply too high. Also, we can't afford to lose another life in this war. We cannot afford to spend another dollar on it.

And if our spending reflects our priorities, then we're totally missing the point. Americans don't seek war. Fifty-nine percent of likely voters want U.S. troops brought home from Afghanistan.

But I'll tell you what Americans do want. They want jobs. And if we had taken all the money we've spent on the war, we could have created almost 1 million education jobs, 780,000 health care jobs, or 364,000 construction jobs. But we didn't do that.

We have 9.1 percent unemployment nationwide, and parts of my district have over 18 percent unemployment. Almost one in every five persons is unemployed. The unemployment rate among our veterans is at least 2 percent higher than among civilians.

America can do better than this because America is a country about peace and prosperity and opportunity. These ideals don't have a price tag, but they do have a value.

So let's end this war now. Let's restore peace now. And let's show what America really believes, what our real values are: peace and understanding.

Mr. Speaker, I rise today to honor the life and legacy of Carol Lynn Hatton, who passed away on August 22, 2009, at the age of 60. Carol was born in Long Beach, California, attended local schools and graduated from Long Beach State University with a BA in Physical Anthropology and earned her Masters Degree in Developmental Psychology at San Jose State University.

Carol was devoted to her family and raised two daughters while working as the Development Officer at All Saints Episcopal Day School and at Santa Catalina High School. She valued the private education that her children received, but was never comfortable with the fact that all children didn't have the same opportunity. For this reason, she worked hard to support efforts that provided scholarships. Likewise, when Carol joined the Development staff at the Community Hospital of the Monterey Peninsula, where she was instrumental in raising the necessary funds to bring state-of-the art digital mammography equipment to CHOMP, she led a campaign that would provide diagnostic services to any woman, regardless of her income.

Following her breast cancer diagnosis in 2002, Carol routinely offered support, counsel, and friendship to other patients while bravely fighting her own battle. She felt fortunate to have had comprehensive health care coverage and though she always expressed her appreciation for having access to the finest physicians in the country, Carol believed it unfair that all women did not benefit from the same outstanding care and health insurance coverage. Carol placed tremendous value on

a level playing field. She often dreamt of winning the lottery, because, as she told her friends, ``think of all the people and organizations I could help.''

Carol herself benefited from some of her own work to help improve CHOMP's Breast Care Center. The American College of Radiology has designated the CHOMP facility a Breast Care Center of Excellence. Carol's work helped ensure that the Center can provide services to any woman regardless of income. The center offers comprehensive breast care in a single setting, same day biopsy, digital mammography, and minimally invasive diagnostic procedures using ultrasound, MRI and stereotactic guidance. Its team of specialists includes radiologists, pathologists, surgeons, radiation oncologists, medical oncologists, and plastic surgeons.

On Saturday, October 1, 2011, many of Carol's family, friends, and colleagues will gather to rededicate the CHOMP Breast Care Center in honor of Carol. Mr. Speaker, while Carol's friends and family reflect on her accomplishments on this special occasion, we honor her kindness, her courage and her spirit. We honor the family that Carol loved and cherished, her husband Dave Hatton, their two daughters Lindsay Hatton McClelland and Brynn Hatton, and their granddaughter, Hazel Hatton McClelland. The memory of Carol's love and compassion will live on in this legacy, as we rename Community Hospital's Breast Care Center The Carol Hatton Breast Care Center.

I know I speak for the whole House in calling out for special recognition of the special and intertwined relationship between Carol Hatton and the CHOMP Breast Cancer Center. Patients and their families will benefit from their work for years to come.

Mr. Speaker, as we celebrate National Breast Cancer Awareness Month, I rise today to stress the importance of getting regular mammograms. Women of all ages need to be screened for this deadly disease in order to catch it early. The earlier it is found, the higher the chance of winning the battle against breast cancer.

It has come to light in the past few years that breast cancer, once thought of as an older women's disease, does not discriminate between young and old. While it remains true that the likelihood of developing breast cancer increases with age, the incidence of breast cancer diagnoses has increased dramatically among women in their 20s and 30s. That is why it is absolutely vital that women, regardless of age, get routine mammograms.

Mammograms are a very powerful tool in the fight against breast cancer. Another tool in that fight, and one that should be performed every month, is a breast self-exam. They can help discover abnormalities in time for the doctors to successfully treat the disease and help your chances of a full recovery. Self-exams only take a few minutes of your time and could be the difference between life and death.

It is a little known fact and one that is rarely talked about, that men are also affected by this disease as well as women. While it is uncommon for men to get breast cancer, it does happen. Men should also perform breast self-exams on a regular basis.

Everyone is affected by this disease regardless of age, wealth or status, which is why it is so important to encourage your loved ones to make an appointment to receive a routine mammogram.

Mr. Speaker, I know I speak for the entire House when I urge women of all ages to seek regular mammograms; it is truly a matter of life and death.

Mr. Speaker, I rise to honor the 50th Anniversary of Peace Corps. Fifty years ago today, Congress passed legislation authorizing Peace Corps, and giving it the mandate to ``promote world peace and friendship.'' Since then, over 200,000 Americans--including myself-- have served our great country in the name of peace and friendship.

I am so proud of the 18 Volunteers currently serving from my district. Among them are Tim and Chelsea Tibbs, a husband and wife from Santa Cruz who are serving in Guyana. Chelsea created a Youth Friendly Center at a local health clinic that has been highlighted by the Ministry of Health's Adolescent Unit as one of the best models for successful and targeted programs in the region. And Tim has been working with Guyana's Regional Education Office to develop and implement teacher training modules. But Tim and Chelsea are just a few examples of how the 8,655 current Peace Corps Volunteers serving in nearly 80 countries around the world are changing lives and creating hope.

But Peace Corps also has a strong presence right here in the United States. In 1987, Peace Corps established the Peace Corps Masters International program, an innovative opportunity that enables students to combine a graduate education with Peace Corps service. In my district, the Monterey Institute for International Studies (MIIS) has 76 PCMI students, making it the fourth largest PCMI program in the country! That's an incredible 10% of the MIIS student body that has dedicated their brains and their hearts to realizing America's commitment to peace.

In honor of Peace Corps' 50th Anniversary, MIIS is hosting Monterey Institute and the Peace Corps: Celebrating 50 Years of Global Engagement on October 8th. I am honored to be a part of this inspiring day of panel discussion and movie showings that honor Peace Corps' legacy of service at MIIS.

This is just one of many celebrations around the country and around the world in honor of Peace Corps' first 50 years of service. For a complete list of events, please visit http://events.peacecorps50.org/.

I urge my colleagues to honor the past and present Peace Corps Volunteers in their districts, and I hope you will join me in celebrating America's 50-year legacy of service in the name of peace.

I rise today to honor the 50th anniversary of the founding of the Peace Corps, and today over a thousand returned Peace Corps volunteers are here in our Capitol to bring us the attention that the Peace Corps deserves.

Congress passed legislation authorizing the Peace Corps and giving it a mandate to ``promote peace and friendship.''

Since then, 200,00 Americans, including myself and Congress Members Tom Petri, Mike Honda, and John Garamendi have served our great country in the name of peace and friendship.

I am so proud that 18 volunteers currently are serving from my district in California. They include Jonathan Cotham from Monterey. He's producing 500 environmental educational books in El Salvador, which will help 6,300 folks in local schools; Joshua Twisselman from Salinas. He's teaching English in Madagascar and has an English language radio station.

Just now there are 8,655 Americans currently serving in 80 countries. But Peace Corps service doesn't end when you leave the country. This weekend, more than 1,300 Peace Corps volunteers are here in Washington, D.C. They are the advocates for peace and prosperity and goodwill that the Peace Corps embodies.

Join me in making the 50th anniversary of the Peace Corps truly an opportunity to serve our country.

Mr. Speaker, I rise today to pay tribute to a true American hero. Captain Gordon Ross Nakagawa was a career naval officer who completed his life journey with incredible dignity and grace on August 23, 2011. He was just 77 years old. Gordon's golden spirit was admired by many and will be deeply missed. I count myself privileged to have known him and know that his memory will be with us for generations to come.

Gordon was born on June 13, 1935 in Auburn, California. In 1941, Gordon, his parents Bunny and Harriet, and two brothers were sent to an internment camp at Tule Lake, California, and later to a farm labor camp in Caldwell, Idaho. In 1945, they returned to California where Gordon attended elementary school in Lincoln. There he first set eyes on his wife Jeanne. He graduated from UC Berkeley, where he served as the NROTC Midshipmen Battalion Commander.

On February 7, 1958, Gordon received his commission as an ensign in the United States Navy. He was designated a Naval Aviator in August 1959, earning the coveted Naval Aviation ``Wings of Gold.'' After receiving a master's degree in electrical engineering from the Naval Postgraduate School (NPS) in 1966, he was selected to fly Navy jets. He flew 185 combat missions in an A-6 Intruder. In December 1972, during Operation Linebacker II, his aircraft was struck down by enemy fire in North Vietnam. The North Vietnamese held Gordon as a prisoner of war at the infamous ``Hanoi Hilton'' until his release on March 28, 1973.

Gordon's service in the Navy continued until September 1989. During his career, he helped develop tactics to protect carrier groups, taught at the United States Naval Academy, and coordinated all major design competitions for U.S. Naval Aviation. He ended his active duty career as Chair of Tactical Analysis at NPS. Gordon was awarded two Legions of Merit, two Bronze Stars, two Purple Hearts, two Meritorious Service Medals, Distinguished Marksman (Rifle) Medal, Distinguished Pistol Medal, Prisoner of War Medal, and various other campaign, service, and individual awards.

Active duty retirement did not end Gordon's public service career. He continued to educate our service members at NPS and served on the Monterey Peninsula Unified School District Board for over 8 years. He was an active member in numerous organizations including the Military Officers Association of America, Naval Postgraduate School Foundation, the Marina Foundation, the Veterans Transition Center, and the Central Coast State Veterans Cemetery. His commitment to his community was honored by being named the 2004 Monterey County Veteran of the Year, and sharing the 2006 Marina Citizen of the Year with his wife.

Gordon's life is a great American story. He was a hero who defended our nation with valor, an esteemed educator who shared his knowledge with generations of students, and he was a strong leader in the community who led by example. Above all, he was a devoted husband to Jeanne; a loving father to Gregory, Kathleen, and Steven; and a caring grandfather to Ryan, Graham, and Tait.

Mr. Speaker, I speak on behalf of the whole House when I extend my deepest sympathies to the family of Captain Gordon Ross Nakagawa, and extend to them the gratitude of the nation.

Mr. Speaker, I rise today to honor Sand City Police Chief J. Michael Klein, who was recently named Police Chief of the Year by Crisis Intervention Team International. This award recognizes his work in establishing Monterey County's Critical Incident Training Academy, which trains police officers to deal with confrontations involving the mentally ill and people in crisis situations.

Chief Klein established Monterey County's Critical Incident Training Academy in 2000 to align mental health and police action. At the onset, the Academy only offered 24 hours of training a few times per year. The concept was not readily accepted in the law enforcement community and officers were reluctant to attend.

However, in 2008, Chief Klein began working with Devon Corpus, the behavioral health unit supervisor at Natividad Medical Center. Together, they increased the training to 40 hours to include lectures on mental illness and created scenarios that officers were likely to actually encounter on the job.

Today, the program is incredibly successful and continues to break new ground. The Monterey County Critical Incident Training Academy combines resources from several local groups. By incorporating resources from law enforcement, emergency service workers, mental health officials and civil rights groups, the Academy works to create more effective interactions between officers and mental health care providers, individuals with mental illness, their families, and also to reduce the stigma of mental illness. Using a similar process as hostage negotiators, the officers learn techniques to de-escalate hostile situations and are thoroughly trained in intervention with people suffering from mental illnesses, PTSD and rage.

Mr. Speaker, I would like to thank Chief Klein for his service to our community. His leadership in aligning mental health with police efforts is a model for our nation and I am grateful for his service in protecting the life and dignity of our most vulnerable citizens.

Mr. Speaker, I rise today to honor the long and distinguished public service career of my dear friend Peter Douglas. Peter is retiring after nearly 26 years as the California Coastal Commission's Executive Director, a post that he has held continuously since 1985, longer than any other director of a California State agency. In that time he has done more than any other individual to shape the California Coastal Commission and by extension the California coast we know today. So I think it appropriate that we honor his vision, dedication, and tenacity in doing as much as humanly possible to keep the California coast natural, open, and accessible.

Peter has always had a knack for pulling success from challenging circumstances. Peter's Jewish mother gave birth to him while living in Berlin, Germany, in 1942. His family managed to escape to Mexico and then, in the early 1950s, to the United States. Peter went on to graduate from UCLA in 1965 and later from the UCLA law school in 1969. After a brief law practice, Peter went to work for Assemblyman Alan Sieroty, a Democrat from Beverly Hills. And that is when I first met him and where he really started his work as a troublemaker and paradigm shifter par excellence.

In the late 1950s, my father, the late State Senator Fred Farr, authored an early version of a California Coastal Act, but the politics were not yet there to support its passage. Peter helped change that by drafting an updated version of my father's legislation that this time went to the voters as Proposition 20. As part of the grass roots campaign to pass Prop 20, Peter, with a little help from me and some others, organized a coastal bike ride along the coast from far north to the Mexican border. With Prop 20's passage the California Coastal Commission was born. Peter then went to work for the Assembly Natural Resources Committee and the Select Committee on Coastal Protection, from where he helped draft the 1976 California Coastal Act, which made the Coastal Commission permanent and set in motion the creation of local coastal plans and the other basic elements of California's coastal protection framework.

Peter then went to work for the Commission as its Chief Deputy, a position he held until his 1985 appointment as the Commission's executive director. As Executive Director, Peter led the Commission's development into the bulwark of California coastal protection that it is today. He has described the measure of his success as the things that we don't see: the wetlands left unfilled; the scenic vistas left open; the coastal habitat still available for wildlife; and even the coastal amenities now open to minorities. Others have measured his success with a catalogue of awards and recognition too long to detail here. Of course this has not come without controversy. He has frequently tangled with the rich and powerful over various coastal development proposals and has survived over a dozen attempts to remove him.

Unfortunately, illness has done what lobbyists could not. His long running struggle with cancer has forced Peter to step down from his executive director position. I know I speak for many of my colleagues, Mr. Speaker, in thanking Peter for his selfless service and in wishing him and his family and friends all the best.

Mr. Speaker, I rise today to recognize the Satellite Communications Station at Camp Roberts, California, for fifty years of service to our nation. Nestled in the rolling rangeland of California's Central Coast, Camp Roberts has a long continuous tradition dating back to WWII of training soldiers for the active duty Army and Army National Guard. Many veterans remember Camp Roberts for its beautiful vistas and searing summer heat. But there is a lesser known side of Camp Roberts history and continuing service.

Half a century ago, at the dawn of the satellite age, defense engineers focused on Camp Roberts for its ideal location for communicating with satellites stationed over the Pacific Ocean. The Department of Defense installed a satellite communications terminal on a remote hill in the center of Camp Roberts in support of the then nacent Defense Communications Satellite Program. It was the first world-wide strategic communications station of its kind to be established. Today, the Camp Roberts Satellite Communications Station, provides highly reliable, relevant, and unique advanced communications that are crucial to the combat effectiveness of the Armed Forces of the U.S., and critical to our national security.

This station is the premier Gateway for the Department of Defense, providing joint interoperable communications capabilities and the full spectrum of communications services in direct support to the President, Secretary of Defense, Joint Chiefs of Staff, Combatant Commanders, Department of Defense components, Warfighters, and civil authorities.

Camp Roberts Satellite Communications Station is one of the oldest and most prestigious operational signal assets belonging to the U.S. Department of Defense. Since its inception a half-century ago, the Camp Roberts Satellite Communications Station has flawlessly executed critical communications support during the most pivotal times in our nation's history. The unsung heroes of the Satellite Communications Station at Camp Roberts have been vital to the success of every major conflict from the fall of Saigon to the killing of Osama bin Laden, every space shuttle launch, and every disaster relief effort since Hurricane Katrina. Every day they contribute to global stability and national security and help protect the lives of the men and women serving our nation in harm's way. Indeed this House approved last year funding for a major expansion of the station and its capacity.

Mr. Speaker, I know that I speak for the whole House in commending the men and women who have served at the Camp Roberts Satellite Communications Station over the course of the past fifty years. Their efforts are not forgotten. And on the occasion of this anniversary, I want to particularly single out those on duty today, for their unceasing efforts are indeed the true monument to this important milestone in the history of our nation's defense.