Floor Statements

Mr. Speaker, I rise today in support of H.R. 3229, the National Infantry Museum and Soldier Center Commemorative Coin Act sponsored by our colleague from Georgia, Representative Westmoreland, and urge its immediate passage.

This legislation, as we have heard, authorizes the minting and sale of up to 350,000 silver $1 coins in the year 2012, with surcharges on the sale of the coin going to fund work on the National Infantry Museum and Soldier Center being built in Patriot Park at Fort Benning near Columbus, Georgia.

The new National Infantry Museum will honor the legacy of the United States infantry on a 200-acre site that links Columbus, Georgia, with Fort Benning, the home of the infantry. The museum's galleries will trace infantry history from colonial times to the present and be designed to attract and educate all segments of the population with interactive learning, opportunities, high-tech classrooms, theatres and dramatic venues for sacred ceremonies.

An active education program will make the venue a must-see attraction for school groups and students of all ages. The focus of the educational effort will be to teach history, as the history of the United States Army Infantry parallels the history and growth of our country. Additional instruction will focus on leadership skills and the Army values of loyalty, duty, selfless service, respect, honor, integrity and personal courage. Research done by an internationally known museum planning firm estimates annual visitation of up to 400,000, which will make it one of Georgia's top tourist attractions.

In addition to the museum, there will be a 7-acre parade field for infantry and basic training graduations and change-of-command ceremonies. A Walk of Honor flanked by gardens and memorials will lead visitors to the museum and a recreated World War II-era Company Street, featuring the headquarters and sleeping quarters used by General George S. Patton in 1941 will take visitors back to the scenes of our country's largest wartime buildup. The facility will include a 3-D IMAX theater restaurant and museum store.

Visitors to this museum that is scheduled to open in just over a year will meet the infantryman face-to-face and join him on his journey. They will come to understand why an infantryman does what he does, why he puts himself in harm's way in defense of an idea. Surcharges on the sale of these coins will raise funds for a long-term endowment to ensure the maintenance of this important facility.

The infantryman is historic, and it is a heroic idea to build this museum to the infantry. I urge passage of this legislation, commend my colleague for offering it, and reserve the balance of my time.

Mr. Speaker, I yield such time as he may consume to the sponsor of this resolution, the gentleman from Georgia (Mr. Westmoreland).

Mr. Speaker, I have no further speakers. I urge passage of the resolution, and I yield back the balance of my time.

Mr. Speaker, I want to thank my colleague from New York (Mrs. Maloney) for her support of this bill, and I am very excited it is before the House today.

There is a very special bond that exists between mothers and their children that words cannot describe. For the lucky ones among us, a mother--our, someone else's, or a mother figure such as a grandmother-- has made all of the difference in our lives. The tender care, unending support, and the unconditional love of a mother truly are life's greatest blessing for a child.

Every year on the second Sunday in May this Nation honors its mothers. We seek to acknowledge their tireless support and their enduring love. My colleague has spoken about how this tradition began, but I would like to go over it because it is a proud history of tradition for our State of West Virginia.

In 1868, Anna Reeves Jarvis organized a committee in her home town of Grafton, West Virginia, to sponsor a mother's friendship day. The purpose was to reunite families that had been divided during the Civil War. However, Anna Reeves Jarvis' dream of an annual memorial Mother's Day commemorating each mother for the service she renders to humanity had not gained wide-spread support during her lifetime.

However, her daughter, Anna M. Jarvis, took on her mother's cause. On May 9, 1907, the second anniversary of her mother's death, Anna invited friends to her home and outlined her plan to make her mother's dream of a nationwide day in honor of mothers a reality.

Within a year, working with Andrews Methodist Episcopal Church, progress was made and on Sunday, May 10, 1908, church services were held in which mothers were honored. They were held in Grafton, West Virginia, and in Philadelphia.

This initial celebration was only the beginning. Jarvis worked for years to popularize her idea. She wrote letters to churches and business leaders, to newspaper editors and to Members of Congress. She was even able to bring the drive for a Mother's Day observance to the attention of the President of the United States.

Her efforts were rewarded. In 1910, the governor of West Virginia, William Glassock, issued a Mother's Day proclamation. By the next year, Mother's Day services were held in all States of the Union. In 1914, President Woodrow Wilson, responding to a joint resolution in Congress, issued a proclamation setting aside the second Sunday every May for ``displaying the American flag as a public expression of our love and reverence for the mothers of our country.''

Today, Mother's Day is celebrated throughout the world. In the United States, the President and governors issue proclamations recognizing mothers, churches perform services in honor of mothers everywhere, and the hearts of all are filled with all of our love for our mothers.

This bill would authorize the minting of silver $1 coins in honor of the women who have sacrificed so much for their children. It is a small token of our love and admiration, but one that will hopefully express the love we hold for our mothers. Surcharges of the sale of the coins, as my colleague mentioned, will go to the Susan G. Komen Foundation and the National Osteoporosis Foundation for research.

I chose both of these foundations because I have great admiration for the work they do for men and women, but particularly for women as we battle the difficult tragedies of breast cancer and the growing difficulties associated with osteoporosis which over 80 percent of the people it strikes are women.

Mr. Speaker, I urge passage of this resolution, but I would like to take this opportunity to thank my mother. She has made a difference in my life. I appreciate her unconditional love and

support, her willingness to help me when I fell, and to push me forward when I could not find the strength myself.

I love you, Mom, and thanks.

With that, being from West Virginia, I would like to say, too, that our sense of community and family is very strong. We are so very proud of Anna Jarvis' vision, her idea and her dedication to celebrate her own mother, and we are proud to be known as the birthplace of Mother's Day.

Mr. Speaker, I urge passage of the bill, and I yield back the balance of my time.

Madam Speaker, I rise today because gas prices at the pump are just a symptom of our growing addiction to foreign oil and inaction by this House leadership.

For our wallets and for our national security, we need to become more energy independent. Congress should start now to develop more of our domestic energy supply. And one of those more affordable and abundant supplies of energy we have now is coal. With over 250 years of reserves, the United States has the world's largest coal reserves.

Last night I introduced H.R. 6170, the Clean Coal-Derived Fuels for Energy Security Act, to reduce our reliance on foreign oil. My bill is clear: It will establish and mandate 6 billion gallons of clean coal- to-liquid fuel by the year 2022. Coal can be converted through proven, existing modern technology into clean, synthetic oil and be economically viable, resulting in lower prices at the gas pump.

We need to be serious about becoming more energy independent. West Virginians deserve a comprehensive long-term solution that provides real stability and actually leads to the creation of new energy. Coal- to-liquid fuel will create an investment in rural communities, good- paying jobs for Americans, and cheaper energy for Americans.

Madam Speaker, today I rise to give my congratulations to the West Virginia Army National Guard, under Adjutant General Allen E. Tackett, for being the special category winner of the Army Chief of Staff Army Communities of Excellence.

The ACOE Awards are presented every year to recognize excellence in performance for installation management. The award recognizes installation improvement, innovation, groundbreaking initiatives, and dedication to efficiency, and effectiveness. The award also acknowledges support to soldiers, non-military employees, veterans, and military families who reside on Army installations.

The West Virginia Army National Guard, which has 32 units, is currently supporting missions in Iraq, Afghanistan and Kosovo. It has been rated number one in readiness for the past 11 years.

The West Virginia Army National Guard has proven itself to be an elite, efficient military force. I am so proud that they have won recognition for their outstanding performance. Among their peer installations they have gained notoriety for their work in defending the homeland, and serving the American people at home and abroad.

I want to take this opportunity to thank and honor my fellow West Virginians who serve in the Army National Guard as well as all branches of the military. Their bravery and sacrifice exemplifies the best our country has to offer.

I encourage them to continue their hard work and am confident that they will continue to impress our Nation.

Mr. Chairman, I would like to thank the ranking member for yielding to me; I would like to thank the Rules Committee for making my amendment in order; and I would like to thank the chairman of the House Armed Services Committee and the ranking member for making this an en bloc amendment.

Each of our veterans who have served this country deserves to be honored by a grateful Nation. I come to the floor today to offer an amendment that provides funding for the Authorized Provider Partnership Program, otherwise known as AP3.

Before the 2000 national defense authorization, veterans who had fully retired from the military were normally not afforded a traditional military funeral. The 2000 National Defense Authorization Act then established the AP3 program, which required the Department of Defense to provide at least the folding and presentation of a flag,

the playing of taps, and to assist with any transportation or miscellaneous expenses.

The original provisions of this bill allow the Department of Defense to waive the obligation, which has resulted now in their funding being cut from this program. My amendment will reinstate the funding specifically for AP3 to $3 million, $1 million for the three branches of the military, to continue funeral honor services.

Our veterans have served our country bravely and were prepared to take the ultimate sacrifice. We owe it to them to give them a proper and fitting sendoff in the recognition that they have served this country with honor. Their love of country will not go unrecognized.

I would like to say, each of us members have attended funerals of our veterans as they passed away, and there is very compelling and very stirring of patriotism to see our older veterans pay tribute to them by honor guard or folding or presentation of the flag. It is critical we continue this, and I hope that this amendment will be passed.

Madam Speaker, I rise today because high gas prices are placing an increasingly heavy burden on everyone, including my fellow West Virginians. As gas prices continue to spike, we deserve a sound energy policy that creates new domestic sources of energy, increases supply and puts downward pressure on gas prices.

I've supported anti-gouging legislation and called on the President to halt shipments to the Strategic Petroleum Reserve, which could increase supply and possibly save as much as 24 cents from the price of a gallon of gas.

We've also increased fuel economy standards to make each gallon stretch a little further. Yet West Virginians deserve a more comprehensive, long-term solution that provides real stability and actually leads to the creation of new energy.

From clean coal to oil exploration and drilling to our desperate need for new refineries to expanded natural gas exploration, we have a wide range of options and ways to make a difference. Unfortunately, many of my colleagues on the other side of the aisle have stood in the way of a truly comprehensive energy policy.

It's time that Congress stop the rhetoric and work for real solutions.

Madam Speaker, I rise today to recognize the induction of Sandra J. Hamlin into the West Virginia Affordable Housing Hall of Fame.

Born and raised in West Virginia and a graduate of Marshall University, Hamlin has demonstrated a commitment to affordable housing. As the executive director of the Religious Coalition for Community Renewal (RCCR), Hamlin oversees housing assistance for low income families, people with disabilities, seniors and the homeless.

In addition to her work with RCCR, Hamlin is the chair of the West Virginia Affordable Housing Trust and was instrumental in the development of EcoDwell, a partnership that utilizes an environmentally friendly home in Charleston's East End.

Madam Speaker, the West Virginia Affordable Housing Hall of Fame was created for the purpose of honoring those who are true leaders in affordable housing and have shown dedication and worked diligently to address the affordable housing in the State. Without question, Sandra Hamlin's lifetime of service merits this honor.

Congratulations, to Sandra on her accomplishments to provide West Virginians with affordable housing. The Mountain State is proud to call her one of our own.

I thank the gentleman for recognizing me.

I am on the Financial Services Committee. And we have debated and had many hearings on what we all share is an issue before us with great urgency. We are facing serious challenges here in the housing market, and I think our committee has done great work on a bipartisan basis to pass numerous measures and to listen to the concerns all across the board.

But I think the greatest concern for me and for all of us here should be that individual in that home who stays up late at night or can't sleep at night because they can't figure out how they're going to stay in their house and afford to keep their home, keep their family safe in their home, and meet the challenges of either an adjustable rate or a house that maybe has devalued so much that they feel like their only option may be to walk away from their mortgage.

So we have two bills before us today. Later on, we're going to be considering H.R. 5818, which is the Neighborhood Stabilization Act of 2008. This doesn't help that individual who can't sleep at night who we're most concerned about. The aim is to help big cities and other urban areas that have foreclosed properties, to revitalize that. That's an issue for another day. In my view, the issue we need to debate today is how we're going to help that individual who can't meet the challenges and wants to stay in their home.

And so on the larger bill that we're going to be considering later, unfortunately the bipartisan tone of our committee sort of broke down in the process. We had, I think, very spirited debates in front of our committee where our philosophies were shared and we actually found a lot of common ground, which is the way it should be. Because when an originator came forward with a bad loan or didn't ask for financials or didn't ask for background information on a potential buyer, they didn't ask, are you a Republican or a Democrat? This isn't a partisan issue. That's why I think we should have a full and open debate here, and that's why I advocated for an open rule in front of the Rules Committee.

So the solutions that we're offering today are going to be diluted because we're not going to be able to hear the debate on the floor because the Rules Committee has decided, in their infinite wisdom--and I'm a former member of a Rules Committee, so I can say that--that the majority is using a seldom used rule that will really prevent our side from offering even a motion to recommit, where we can at least have our voice heard on this floor.

So I'm very disappointed that at this day in time, when we have that person at night staying up, that family wondering how they're going to stay in their home that night, they are not going to be able to see the choices that are before us as a body where we can say, we think this is more helpful, or we think this direction is the way we should go. For that I'm tremendously disappointed, especially in light of the committee that I serve on, Financial Services, where we did have this debate and we had ideas that came forward and more ideas that could come forward on this House today.

With that, I oppose this rule.

Madam Chairman, today I want to thank, first of all, the chairwoman of the Subcommittee on Housing, of which I'm the ranking member, for her good hard work and dedicated service. We've had a lot of hearings and a lot of information, and I think we all want to try to achieve help for the homeowners or those who are on the edge.

But today I rise in opposition to H.R. 5818, the Neighborhood Stabilization Act of 2008. We all recognize that we are experiencing a sharp increase in foreclosure statistics and starts. Over the past year alone, approximately 550,000 homeowners with subprime loans began the foreclosure process.

However, we shouldn't rush to act. We must guard against adopting policies which create moral hazards and unintended consequences.

Unfortunately, we believe H.R. 5818, the Neighborhood Stabilization Act of 2008, is a bill which does both. H.R. 5818 is an unnecessary government intervention in the housing market which will bail out real estate speculators, servicers, and lenders while doing nothing to assist hardworking Americans struggling to make their mortgage payments. This bill will not keep one person in their mortgage or in their home.

The bill does this through a $15 billion authorization for grants and loans to be used to purchase already foreclosed homes from lenders, servicers, and speculators who have made bad loans or unwise investments. The Neighborhood Stablization Act will allow investors and servicers to unload their foreclosed properties to the government with the taxpayer footing the bill. Servicers and investors might even be encouraged to pursue foreclosure if this bill is enacted.

Instead of incentivizing foreclosure, Congress should be encouraging services to engage in voluntary loan work-outs and modifications. Furthermore, this bill calls on States and local governments to convert foreclosed properties into affordable rental and single-family housing. The increase in housing supply and decrease in prices creates housing affordability without government intervention.

I'm also concerned that the overly broad income targeting provisions in this bill, which will allow families making 100 percent and 140 percent of area median income respectively, to rent and purchase properties acquired with funds from this act. It is not appropriate for the government to provide housing assistance to individuals who can afford market-rate housing.

Congress should focus its efforts on keeping hardworking Americans in their homes. We should not unnecessarily intervene in the housing market in the process of adjustment after years of what has proved to be unsustainable growth. It is imperative that we recognize the primary beneficiaries of this bill will not be the thousands of Americans struggling to hold on to their home, but the lenders, servicers and speculators who bear much of the responsibility for the current housing slump.

Putting aside the issue of how massive this new program would be, the bill's ultimate beneficiaries, as I said, could be our lenders and investors and speculators; and indeed the FHA commissioner, Brian Montgomery, stated in testimony before our committee that ``this legislation may have the unintended consequences of making foreclosure a more attractive option for lenders thereby compounding the very problem of rising foreclosures that the bill purports to address.''

Madam Chairman, I oppose this bill, and I would like to reserve the balance of my time.

I would like to make a comment in reference to the chairman's comments.

I live in a small community, just barely over 50,000. And we have local government and State programs in effect right now that deal with foreclosed or blighted projects. They work together with the local nonprofits, with the local land owners and realtors, and we have problems that are moving forward.

So to say that we're not in favor of programs that would deal with foreclosure-blighted neighborhoods I think is factually incorrect.

I would like now to yield some time to the gentleman from Florida (Mr. Feeney), a member of the Financial Services Committee, 3 minutes.

Madam Chairman, I yield 3 minutes to a member of the Financial Services Committee, Mr. Roskam from Illinois.

Madam Chairman, I yield to the gentleman from Illinois (Mr. Roskam) 2 minutes.

Madam Chairman, I yield 4 minutes to the gentleman from Texas (Mr. Hensarling), a member of the Financial Services Committee.

I yield the gentleman 1 additional minute.

I yield the gentleman another 2 minutes.

Madam Chairman, I yield 4 minutes to the gentleman from Georgia (Mr. Price), who is also a member of the Financial Services Committee.

Madam Chairman, may I inquire as to how much time is remaining on each side.

I would like to reserve the balance of my time.

Madam Chairman, I would like to yield 3 minutes to the gentleman from New Jersey (Mr. Garrett), a member of the Financial Services Committee.

Madam Chairman, I yield to the gentleman from New Jersey (Mr. Garrett) 1 additional minute.

Madam Chairman, could I inquire of how much time we have remaining.

Madam Chairman, I am ready to close. I have no additional speakers as well.

I think we have heard a stark difference in opinion on this bill. I would like to make a distinction, as we have heard the discussion going back and forth, and I think the good-natured way that the debate has gone forward but also the intent of this bill is unquestionably a good intent.

But I would like to clarify to those who are listening that this bill is separate and apart from that person who can't sleep at night, that family who stays up at night trying to figure out how to meet the high cost of gas, how to meet the higher cost of food, and how to make their mortgage payment. We've been working with FHA to get people to refinance and to redo their loans so they can stay in their house, and I don't want there to be confusion concerning this bill and the next bill that we are going to be considering shortly after this.

This bill, separate and apart, is not going to help that family who can't figure out in the middle of the night how they are going to stay in their home, how they are going to pay their mortgage. These properties that we're also discussing are already foreclosed-upon properties. They're owned by investors, speculators, and financial institutions. And that's our objection. I don't believe we are in a position, and I don't think any of the speakers on our side believe we're in a position for a costly bailout for the lenders, servicers, and real estate speculators who have made risky bets on the housing market and who are now going to off-load their properties into a government program. I think that penalizes every single taxpayer, and it really penalizes that person at night who can't figure out how they're going to get up and pay their mortgage the next day, and that's the person we desperately need and we want to help and it's proper that we should help.

So I believe that H.R. 5818 is overly broad. It's a new government program that is going to end up creating a moral hazard, and it's going to end up benefiting not individuals, not people who are having trouble making their mortgage payments, not people who find themselves upside down in their house. It's going to end up benefiting, at the cost of the taxpayers, and I repeat again, lenders, servicers, and real estate speculators.

And with that, I urge a ``no'' vote on H.R. 5818.

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

Madam Chairman, I would like to claim time in opposition to the amendment.

Thank you.

While I appreciate the chairwoman's amendment, and I do believe that it does go in a direction that is much better for the bill, I still have, as I have voiced in the earlier debate, serious concerns about the bill in terms of the cost and in terms of taxpayers' dollars bailing out investors and lenders. This does not go to individual homeowners. It does not help somebody in foreclosure, an individual family in foreclosure.

And so with that, I would urge a ``no'' vote on the amendment.

I yield back the balance of my time.

Madam Chairman, I demand a recorded vote.

Madam Chairman, I offer an amendment.

Madam Chairman, my amendment is really quite simple. As we have heard myself talking and Members on my side of the aisle talking about the difficulties that we have with the bill, I realize that the odds are with it that it may pass out of this House. With that in mind, I would like to offer this amendment to what I think makes the bill better.

My amendment would very simply direct the funds to be administered through the Office of Community Planning and Development of the Department of Housing and Urban Development. This office already oversees the HOME and CDBG programs which we are very familiar with.

One of the concerns that we had with the bill was creating a whole new bureaucracy within HUD to administer this program if it were to go forward. And that is problematic any time you are creating a new bureaucracy, particularly when you are replicating some of the delivery systems that already exist within HUD. Those delivery systems exist in the Office of Community Planning and Development.

So with that, I would like to say that rather than the current language which just merely directs the Secretary to implement the program, I would prefer, and my amendment offers to direct those funds to be administered by the existing Office of Community Planning and Development within HUD which deals, as I said, with the CDBG program which we are all very familiar with working in a lot of our communities.

With that, I yield back the balance of my time.

Madam Chairman, I demand a recorded vote.

Madam Chairman, I seek time in opposition, although I am not opposed to the gentleman's amendment.

I would just like to express my support for his amendment. I think we have had this debate on the floor many times. And I want to say that we want to assure the American public, I think it's always good to reassure the American public that taxpayer funds are not going to help people here who have entered our country illegally and remain here illegally.

I would like to see, as we move forward in this debate on this and other bills, that we tighten down the types of identification that are full proof, that can be used to certify the legality of whoever the resident is residing, whether it's in public housing or in other taxpayer-funded opportunities.

I yield back the balance of my time.

Madam Speaker, I rise today to honor a civic organization in my district which will celebrate its 50th anniversary on May 6, 2008.

The Bedington Ruritan Club located in Berkeley County, WV, started on April 16, 1958 under the guidance of the nearby Marlowe Ruritan Club.

For half a century now, the Bedington Ruritan Club has served the citizens of the Bedington area community. The club takes on many civic projects including picking up litter on nearby roadways, sponsoring an essay contest and contributing to Bedington Elementary and Potomack Intermediate Schools, maintaining the ``Light Ceremony'' in Scrabble, and holding fundraisers for various community projects.

The Bedington Ruritan Club building is located on Route 11 North and once a month on Saturday's you can find the Ruritan members serving some of the best BBQ chicken in Berkeley County!

Madam Speaker, I rise today to congratulate the members of the Bedington Ruritan Club for 50 years of civic engagement and service. It is an honor to represent such a dedicated citizenry in West Virginia's eastern panhandle.

Madam Chairman, I offer an amendment.

Thank you, Madam Chairman. I also want to thank the chairman of the Small Business Committee and the ranking member of the Small Business Committee for their good hard work on this piece of legislation. I would also like to thank the

Rules Committee, of which I was formerly a member, for making my amendment in order.

I rise today to offer a very simple amendment that adds service disabled veterans to the list of targeted groups to receive consideration from the SBIR bill and SBIR board. Currently in the bill, the board, which is authorized to make recommendations to the grant awarding authorities, is directed to develop a means of how to encourage more applications from small business owners who are minorities or women. My amendment will direct the board to include service disabled veterans owners of small businesses to those who will be encouraged to make more applications from a grant pool of over $50 million.

We have a lot of our servicemen and women returning with injuries. But we want to encourage them that they can move forward with their lives and invest and prosper in a small business, and this opens up more opportunity for them.

Madam Chairman, recent studies have shown that returning veterans face unemployment rates that are nearly four times as high as that of nonmilitary laborers.

Our returning veterans should have post-military opportunities that inspire confidence and don't disappoint them.

This amendment will extend to service-disabled veterans more opportunities to succeed after serving our Nation so bravely.

Madam Chairman, I reserve the balance of my time.

Madam Chairman, I yield back my time.

Madam Chairman, I demand a recorded vote.

Mr. Speaker, I rise today on Earth Day in support of H.R. 5151, the Wild Monongahela Act: A National Legacy for West Virginia's Special Places, introduced by my colleague from West Virginia's Third District and the chairman of the Natural Resources Committee, Congressman Nick Rahall.

I'm proud to be an original cosponsor of this important legislation, and I

commend the chairman for all of his hard work on this bill.

In 1964, Congress enacted the Wilderness Act that permanently protected some of the most natural and undisturbed places in America. Today the U.S. Forest Service preserves the natural and cultural resources and values of the forest system, including those of the Monongahela National Forest for the enjoyment, education and inspiration of this and future generations.

West Virginia's wilderness is part of our history and heritage, and it is passed on as a legacy. This bipartisan bill will protect approximately 38,000 acres of the Mon Forest in West Virginia through the designation of three additional wilderness areas and expansion of three existing Federal wilderness areas including: Big Draft, Cranberry Expansion, Dolly Sods Expansion, Dry Fork Expansion, Roaring Plains West and Spice Run.

West Virginia's national forest provides an excellent outdoor experience with our State's majestic mountains, winding rivers and superb hunting, camping, fishing, backpacking and other activities. Protecting these additional acres of pristine forest will ensure that future generations will be able to enjoy the natural beauty of our home State of West Virginia.

Over the last several months I've engaged in discussion with many of my constituents, many whom are avid hunters, anglers, mountain bikers and outdoorsmen who have a unique and vested interest in the impact of the wilderness designation on their local community. The people of this area are well acquainted with wilderness, and H.R. 5151 reflects their desire to preserve their natural treasures, while maintaining important flexibility for the local residents.

Mr. Speaker, this bill is vitally important to guaranteeing that future generations of Americans can experience the natural wonder and beauty of West Virginia. I applaud Chairman Rahall and his staff for all of their hard work on this bill and all those in West Virginia who have seen it come to this point.

I encourage my colleagues to support the legislation, and I encourage each of them to experience firsthand the pristine natural beauty of West Virginia and the Mon National Forest.

Madam Speaker, I rise today to honor the 100th anniversary of the Elkins-Randolph County YMCA located in West Virginia's Second Congressional District.

For the past century, the Elkins YMCA has played an integral role in the history of the community and its people. The YMCA building was originally built with $25,000 donated by Mrs. Hallie Davis Elkins, the wife of a prominent West Virginia capitalist, Stephen B. Elkins. During the outbreak of World War I and World War II, local troops were reviewed for mobilization in front of the YMCA. The Y building was also used as a training facility for the National Guard between World War I and World War II.

Throughout its many renovations over the next 50 years, the original structure still stands in place to serve the youth, families, and senior citizens as the county's premier recreation and community center. The Elkins YMCA has the proud distinction of being one of three YMCA facilities to serve a city with a population under 10,000.

On March 22, 2008 friends and members of the Elkins-Randolph County YMCA will celebrate its 100th anniversary and name its newest addition, the Legg Family Youth Center.

I would like to recognize all of those who were a part of the Elkins- Randolph County YMCA 100 year history and wish the members and friends of the Elkins-Randolph County YMCA congratulations in celebrating its 100th anniversary.

Madam Speaker, I rise today to honor the Poca Valley Bank as it celebrates its 100th anniversary this year.

Poca Valley Bank's first branch opened in 1908 in Walton, West Virginia, situated along the Pocatalico River in Roane County. Since then, it has expanded its banking services to Clendenin, Elkview, and Sissonville in Kanawha County and Winfield and Poca in Putnam County and opened its latest branch location in Spencer located in Roane County in 2005.

Poca Valley Bank gets its namesake from the Pocatalico River that originates in Roane County. Many of the branch locations are located along the Pocatalico River that flows through Kanawha and Putnam Counties.

The bank has found its success in catering to West Virginia's rural communities with a strong foundation built upon personal attention and customer service. With its modest roots in serving small towns and its rural outlying communities, Poca Valley Bank has grown into one of West Virginia's larger banking institutions.

It is an honor to pay tribute to Poca Valley Bank, a financial institution that represents the best of America's small town banks. I wish congratulations to Poca Valley Bank as it celebrates one century of banking in the Mountain State.

Madam Speaker, I rise to honor the career and accomplishments of Charles C. Lanham of Point Pleasant, West Virginia.

For the past 50 years, he has been a leader of various civic and professional organizations addressing the needs of his community and small town banks. A graduate of Marshall University and former member of the Army National Guard, Charles began his banking career in Ripley, WV and later took a job as Vice President of Citizens National Bank in nearby Point Pleasant in 1963. He spent the next 40 years as a leader in local community banks and recently retired from his current post as Director Emeritus of the Ohio Valley Banc Corps.

Despite his prominent banking career, he is revered most for his public service. He has successfully brought results through his leadership and involvement with countless community organizations that address the needs of Mason County. His greatest contribution; however, is his work to bring attention to improving Route 35.

Charles and two of his colleagues, David Hofsetter and Jack Fruth formed the Route 35 Committee to address the dangerous stretch of highway in Mason and Putnam Counties in 1996. For the next ten years, Charles spent countless hours traveling from his home in Point Pleasant to our state capitol and the halls of Congress to advocate funding for this project.

His hard work finally paid off in 2003 when funding was first appropriated to begin the upgrade. The link of highway he so tirelessly worked to improve was named in his honor as the Fruth-Lanham Highway. In 2005, Charles answered another call to public service when he was named Senator of 4th Senatorial District where he could work to further his mission for Route 35.

Charles represents the true calling of public service. It is an honor to work with such a distinguished citizen who has contributed so much to our great state. I'm proud to call Charles Lanham a friend and a fellow West Virginian. I wish him all best in his retirement.