Floor Statements

Mr. Speaker, I rise today in support of S. 2486, the Veteran's Benefits Improvement Act of 2004. I would like to thank my colleagues for bringing it to the floor for a vote.

As you may know, S. 2486 would expand educational and housing benefits to qualified veterans and their dependents. With the rise in cost for educational services and home loans, our Nation's veterans are required to supplement the high costs through loans that can become financially burdensome. With the expansion of these two benefits, we can better ensure they are given the opportunity of continuing their education and purchasing their own home.

In addition, I am glad to see the inclusion of important language to provide housing and automobile benefits to veterans disabled by VA medical treatment or vocational rehabilitation. As you may know, I am a sponsor of H.R. 843 which aims to address this same issue by providing full service-connected disability to persons injured while under the care of the Department of Veterans Affairs. Although this bill does not provide full service-connected disability to injured persons, I am certainly glad to see this piece of legislation included in the bill.

I believe this bill will provide them with the resources needed to fulfil their dreams and long term goals for education and home ownership. In addition, this legislation will solidify the care for our veterans welfare and health while under the care of the Department of Veterans Affairs.

Mr. Speaker, I strongly urge my colleagues to support the passage of this important bill.

Mr. Speaker, I rise today in support of H.R. 3936, the Veterans Health Programs Improvement Act of 2004. I would like to thank the sponsors of this legislation, Chairman Chris Smith and Ranking Member Lane Evans for their work to bring it through the House Veterans Affairs Committee and to the floor expeditiously.

Among other important actions, H.R. 3936 would provide the needed funding to assist our homeless veterans. As a Vietnam veteran and Member of Congress, I know the importance of addressing and appropriately funding programs to end homelessness among our veteran population. I feel this legislation is a step in the right direction to meet this need.

Sadly, today's homeless veteran population are men and women who have resorted to living out in the streets of the very same country they committed to serve. In addition, nearly half of this population consists of veterans who served with me in Vietnam.

Mr. Speaker, I can't stress enough the importance of this legislation, especially at a time of conflict that is increasing the veteran population. We should not forget the sacrifices made by our Nation's veterans. Instead, we need to uphold our promise to care for those who have answered the call to duty.

Mr. Speaker, I strongly urge my colleagues to support the passage of this important bill.

Mr. Speaker, I rise today in strong support of an important event that I am proud to say will soon take place in my congressional district of El Paso, Texas--Border Binational Health Week. Through the efforts of federal, state, and local stakeholders and community members in the United States and Mexico, Border Binational Health Week will raise awareness and strengthen our commitment to overcoming border health challenges.

The border is a very dynamic region and a gateway for diseases such as gastrointestinal illnesses, a tuberculosis, and HIV/AIDS, and a disproportionate number of border residents suffer from chronic illnesses like cancer, heart disease, and diabetes. It is impossible to stop the spread of diseases at the border, so we must work together, bi-nationally, to address health concerns and combat illness. In short, Mexico and the United States must be partners in achieving our common goal of solving health problems along the U.S.-Mexico border.

As part of that critical effort, I am pleased to announce that Border Binational Health Week will be held from October 11-17, 2004, and is being sponsored by the U.S.-Mexico Border Health Commission. The Commission, along with many partners on both sides of the border, has worked diligently in developing the agenda for this extremely important event.

The theme for Border Binational Health Week is ``Families in Action for Health.'' Some of the many topics to be highlighted are improving access to health care, reducing health disparities, and increasing immunization rates. The week will also include community mobilization efforts, informational presentations, policy forums, models of excellence programs, and health careers and professional exchanges--all illustrating the steps to a healthier border and advancing the goals of the Healthy Border 2010 initiative.

I ask my colleagues to join me in commending the efforts of the U.S.- Mexico Border Health Commission and all those involved with Border Binational Health Week, and in wishing them a productive and successful week of events.

Mr. Chairman, I ask unanimous consent to claim the time in opposition to the amendment, although I rise in support of the amendment.

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

Mr. Chairman, I rise today in support of the Kirk amendment to H.R. 10. This amendment requires the President to submit to Congress a report detailing the best way to incorporate the Drug Enforcement Administration into the intelligence community.

The El Paso Intelligence Center, or EPIC, is an asset of the Drug Enforcement Agency. It is located in El Paso, Texas. It is the Nation's singular, multi-agency, tactical intelligence center for drug, alien, and weapons trafficking intelligence. Supporting Federal, State, and local law enforcement officers, EPIC also provides information regarding homeland security, homeland defense and counterterrorism to its member agencies. During my 26\1/2\ year tenure with the United States Border Patrol, I was able to utilize the services of EPIC, leading to a personal appreciation of the important role that the El Paso Intelligence Center plays in homeland security defense.

Currently, EPIC accomplishes its mission by processing requests for information received from Federal, State and local law enforcement personnel on persons, modes of transportation, organizations or addresses that are suspected of being engaged or associated with some type of criminal activity. Officers have 24 hours a day, 7 days a week access to the information in its database. It gives them the ability to query and provide simultaneous access to a number of other Federal databases. The El Paso Intelligence Center provides analysis of drug movement events, trends and patterns. They also do research on criminal investigations and communication intercept exploitation in support of its many different customers.

It is well known that there is a link in my opinion between illegal narcotics and the funding that it creates for terrorism. The El Paso Intelligence Center understands this link and is known around the world for its ability to connect the dots between actions and players.

The DEA plays an important role in this Nation's war on terrorism and war on drugs, and should be more fully integrated with our intelligence community. For those reasons, I urge my colleagues to support the Kirk amendment.

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

Mr. Chairman, I yield 2 minutes to the gentleman from Washington (Mr. Larsen).

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

Mr. Speaker, I thank the ranking member for yielding me this time, and I congratulate him and my good friend, the chairman, and the great staff on both sides of the aisle for a great job on this bill.

Mr. Speaker, as ranking member of the Subcommittee on Strategic Forces, I rise in support of this bill. The chairman of our subcommittee, the gentleman from Alabama (Mr. Everett), and I agreed on most of the issues that came before our subcommittee, but on those few issues that we did not agree on, the debate was always cordial and respectful. And I want to thank my good friend and colleague, Chairman Everett, for his leadership and for his friendship. I thank him so much for working to get this done.

In conference, our subcommittee had jurisdiction over legislation that will greatly improve the lives of tens of thousands of Cold War heroes and their families. In 2000, Congress enacted the Energy Employee Occupational Illness Compensation Program Act, which set up two different programs, one administered by the Department of Labor and one by the Department of Energy. To eliminate many flaws in the DOE program, this conference report transfers the DOE program to the Department of Labor, establishes a clear compensation system, and ensures that workers will receive their medical benefits and compensation for lost wages by making it a mandatory spending program.

These workers may not have worn military uniforms, but they built the weapons that deterred the Soviet Union throughout the Cold War, and they were literally poisoned while doing this. I thank my colleagues on both sides of the aisle and in both Chambers for working to fix these important programs.

I also want to speak to another very important issue to all of us that was handled by the Subcommittee on Military Readiness on which I also serve. Almost half of our military family housing units are rated today in very poor condition. Our conference report tackles this shameful problem by saving the military housing privatization initiative. This program was nearly killed by budget resolutions in both Chambers, which neglected to make budgetary headroom that needed to be lifted so that the statutory cap on spending would provide that growing room.

A number of us have been fighting to rescue this program all year long. I am proud to say we finally prevailed, and tonight the program is saved and military families will have their housing renovated and, in some cases, rebuilt. If we had not eliminated the limit, however, the privatization housing program would have reached the cap within a couple of months and our efforts to eliminate substandard military family housing, which we all very much care about within the United States, within the next 5 years would have been derailed.

Mr. Speaker, this bill contains many, many items. I support most of it. And while I disagree with a few, the fact that we are finally and fairly compensating our sick Cold War workers and the fact we are rescuing the privatized housing program, and thus helping

50,000 military families over the next 2 years alone, makes this bill worth supporting.

Mr. Speaker, I urge all my colleagues to support this bill.

Mr. Speaker, as Ranking Member of the Strategic Forces Subcommittee, I rise in support of this bill. Chairman Everett and I agreed on most of the issues that came before our subcommittee, but on those few issues where we did disagree, the debate was cordial and respectful. I thank my friend and colleague, Chairman Everett, for his leadership.

In conference, our subcommittee had jurisdiction over legislation that will greatly improve the lives of tends of thousands of Cold War heroes and their families. In 2000, Congress enacted the Energy Employee Occupational Illness Compensation Program Act, which set up two different programs--one administered by the Department of Labor and one by the Department of Energy (DOE). The Labor program focused on DOE employees with three specific diseases: chronic beryllium disease, silicosis, or cancer caused by radiation. The DOE program was for workers who suffered from illnesses other than those three diseases. The DOE was charged with helping these workers recover lost wages through their state workers' compensation system.

By all accounts, the Labor Department has efficiently covered medical costs and provided compensation to those affected workers or their survivors under their charge. Unfortunately, the DOE program was conceptually flawed and wrought with incompetence and mismanagement. To date, 25,000 workers have filed claims with the DOE, but relatively few have had their claims processed--and even fewer have received any compensation.

To eliminate the many flaws in the DOE program, this conference report transfers the DOE program to the Department of Labor, establishes a clear compensation system, and ensures that workers will receive their medical benefits and compensation for lost wages by making it a mandatory spending program. These workers may not have worn military uniforms, but they built the weapons that deterred the Soviet Union throughout the Cold War, and they were literally poisoned while doing so. I thank my colleagues on both sides of the aisle and in both chambers for working to fix these programs.

I want to speak to another important program handled by the Readiness Subcommittee, on which I also serve. Almost half of our military family housing units are rated in poor condition. Our conference report tackles this shameful problem by saving the Military Housing Privatization Initiative (MHPI). This program was nearly killed by budget resolutions in both chambers which neglected to make budgetary headroom needed to lift the statutory cap on spending. A number of us including Solomon Ortiz, Joel Hefley, Chet Edwards, and Ike Skelton, among others, have been fighting to rescue this program all year long. I am proud to say that we finally prevailed. If we had not eliminated the limit, the privatized housing program would have reached the cap within a month or two and our efforts to eliminate substandard military family housing in the United States within the next five years would have been derailed.

Mr. Speaker, this bill contains many items. I support most, and I disagree with a few. But the fact that we are finally and fairly compensating our sick Cold War workers and the fact that we are rescuing the privatized housing program--helping 50,000 military families over the next two years alone--make this bill deserving of bipartisan support.

Mr. Chairman, I thank the ranking member for yielding me time, and want to thank our new chairman for working on a bipartisan basis.

Mr. Chairman, unfortunately, we had passed three amendments that have been stripped out of H.R. 10. Having said that, I have been a member of the Subcommittee on Terrorism and Homeland Security of the Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence for nearly 4 years now. Through that subcommittee's work, I have focused on the issue of strengthening our intelligence response to terrorism. I have also served on the Joint Congressional Inquiry of 9/11, and for almost 8 years on the House Committee on Armed Services. So I understand the importance of intelligence to our troops in the field.

We must reform the intelligence community to avoid another 9/11, but the bill before us today is not the way to do it.

H.R. 10, from my perspective, Mr. Chairman, is just too weak. The National Intelligence Director created under the bill would not have the minimum necessary control over funding and appointment of officials or personnel assignments. For example, if the National Intelligence Director cannot hire and fire people, they do not really work for him or her.

In both the Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence and the Committee on Armed Services markups, I offered amendments to strengthen the hiring and firing authority of our National Intelligence Director, using the language of the Collins-Lieberman bill passed by the Senate and endorsed by our White House, The 9/11 Commission and 9/11 families.

The Senate's completely bipartisan bill would properly implement the Commission's recommendations. The House bill is not bipartisan, and my amendments in committee failed on basically party-line votes.

I believe that today we should be adopting a bill to be closer to the bipartisan Collins-Lieberman effort on the Senate side. The voters, and the 9/11 families, in whose honor we work, deserve the strongest efforts to make this happen.

Our ability to counter future attacks from al Qaeda and other terrorist groups demands a bipartisan effort. Sadly, Mr. Chairman, we fail that test today with H.R. 10. I urge my colleagues to vote against it.

Mr. Speaker, I submit for the Record the text of the Ortiz amendment as agreed to by the House Armed Services Committee on May 12, 2004 and as was to be printed in the House record as agreed to by a colloquy between Representative Hunter and myself on May 20, 2004. The text of the Ortiz amendment follows:

The committee understands that the Secretary of Defense

purchases `bio-chem protective suits' from the National

Center for Employment of the Disabled. It is also the

committee's understanding that the NCED is an entity

recognized under the Javits-Wagner-O'Day Act (41 U.S.C. 46-

48c), as an entity that creates jobs and training

opportunities for people who are blind or who have other

severe disabilities.

Mr. Speaker, I rise today in strong support of S. 2363, to revise and extend the authorization for the Boys and Girls Clubs of America.

For almost a century, the Boys and Girls Clubs of America have provided underprivileged youth across our country with a safe environment in which they can grow and learn to become well-rounded, responsible, and productive citizens. These youth are surrounded by caring adults who encourage them to reach their fullest potential and provide them with a range of experiences to enhance their lives and build character. This organization is a very worthy and positive influence in the lives of many underprivileged young people.

My district has greatly benefitted from the Boys and Girls Clubs of America. For the last 75 years, this organization has provided thousands of El Paso youths with programs dedicated to their educational and social well-being. El Paso is fortunate to have five locations throughout the community, all led by an exemplary professional staff. The authorization of additional Boys and Girls Clubs facilities throughout the country would be a positive step toward ensuring a bright and hopeful future for our youth. Organizations such as the Boys and Girls Clubs of America should always be able to count on our support, for they are instrumental in shaping our country's future.

Mr. Speaker, I rise today in strong support of S.J. Res. 41, commemorating the opening of the Smithsonian's National Museum of the American Indian.

For the first time in our Nation's history, the American public is being provided with a venue in which they can explore and develop a deeper understanding of this rich culture, its history, and the issues that affect these communities. Our Native American citizens have long been awaiting this day.

My district is fortunate to have one of the three Native American reservations in Texas. The Tiguas of Ysleta del Sur founded one of the oldest communities in the Southwest over 300 years ago. They have faced many hardships, but they continue to thrive and persevere as a united community. It is a great honor to have the Tiguas share their rich culture and history with the El Paso community, and I am glad to see that all Native American communities will now be able to do the same with the rest of the Nation in this beautiful new museum.

Mr. Speaker, I encourage all Americans to visit the National Museum of the American Indian when in Washington, DC, and I urge my colleagues to show their support for this very worthy resolution.

Mr. Speaker, I rise today in strong support of H. Res. 771, expressing the thanks of the House of Representatives and the Nation for the contributions to freedom made by American POW/MIAs on National POW/MIA Recognition Day.

Today we honor the sacrifices made by POW/MIAs and remember our brave men and women in uniform whose fate remains unknown. We owe these heroes more than we could ever repay through mere words for what they have done for our country. However, with National POW/MIA Recognition Day and this resolution, we remind all Americans to keep their memory close in our minds and hearts.

Mr. Speaker, as a Vietnam veteran, I have witnessed firsthand the heroism of America's soldiers, sailors, airmen, and marines in combat. May we never forget those who were held as POWs in defense of our country, and those who paid the ultimate price for America and are still missing in action. In their memory, and on behalf of the families of all MIAs, may we also renew and strengthen our dedication to bringing those missing in action home at long last. I proudly fly the POW/MIA flag in both of my congressional offices and I encourage my colleagues, and all Americans, to do the same.

Again, Mr. Speaker, I strongly urge my colleagues to join me in honoring our Nation's POW/MIA heroes by supporting the passage of this very important legislation.

Mr. Speaker, I rise today in support of H. Con. Res. 407, of which I am an original co-sponsor, saluting the life and courage of the late Commander Lloyd ``Pete'' Bucher, United States Navy (retired) and the crew of the USS Pueblo.

Mr. Speaker, I am proud to say that two of the USS Pueblo crew members, First Class Petty Officer Donald R. Peppard and Seaman Ramon Rosales, hail from my Congressional district of El Paso, Texas. Both were among the gallant men who served their country honorably in the face of much hardship. As you know, the members of the USS Pueblo, under the leadership of Commander Bucher, endured 11 months of excruciating captivity at the hands of the North Koreans without knowing if they would return to their loved ones.

Mr. Speaker, this is merely a small recognition paying tribute to the late Commander Bucher and the crew of the USS Pueblo, for this country owes much more to them than we could ever reciprocate. I strongly urge my colleagues to join me in honoring the brave men of the USS Pueblo by supporting the passage of this bill.

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

Mr. Chairman, I would like to thank Chairman Kolbe and Ranking Member Lowey of the Foreign Operations Appropriations Subcommittee, as well as others on the Committee, for their support of funding for Latin America. On average, funding for programs in Latin and Central America was slashed by 11 percent from fiscal year 2004 levels in the President's fiscal year 2005 budget. As the Chair of the International Relations Task Force of the Congressional Hispanic Caucus, I was outraged to see that the President's budget cut development assistance to the region by almost 10 percent and child survival and health programs by almost 12 percent from fiscal year 2004 funding levels. While decreasing assistance funding in Latin America, the Administration has planned to increase foreign aid in other parts of the world. My colleagues on the Committee have committed to undo this injustice to Latin America and have directed funding for the region at at least fiscal year 2004 levels.

It is critical that we extend assistance to Latin America. In this region, extreme poverty, hunger, and economic disenfranchisement are resulting in instability--preventing democracy from taking root and growing. We should reach out to our neighbors and allies, working together to make the future brighter for thousands of children living in poverty and hunger throughout Latin America.

For this reason, I am pleased that the Committee has included language that is strongly supportive of the Cooperative Association of States for Scholarships (CASS) Program funded by the U.S. Agency for International Development under this legislation. As the Committee report indicates, this program has been highly effective in fostering economic growth and development in a number of countries in Central America and the Caribbean. I am also pleased to say that CASS students who have studied over the years at El Paso Community College have added greatly to the vitality of that campus. Furthermore, those students have, as part of their program, extended themselves through valuable community service in the El Paso area.

I took special note of the reference to the long history CASS has had in Haiti. Indeed, I have had the chance to learn about CASS participants from Haiti and how they have returned to their home country to make real contributions to strengthening the economy of that nation which desperately needs their help and that of the international community. They have gone into fields such as computer technology, management of micro-enterprise development, drug abuse prevention and development of

sustainable agriculture. Their life stories since participating in CASS make clear that this program is effectively achieving its mission.

In light of the fact that the bill also provides an additional $50 million for Haiti through the Economic Support Fund, I hope that the Committee will join me in encouraging USAID to commit a portion of those additional funds specifically to expanding the CASS program in Haiti. The success of the program there and its strength in training individuals in fields which can truly make a difference in Haiti's future: infrastructure repair, environmental management, sustainable agriculture, among others, offer an opportunity to see that these additional funds are put to work quickly through a program that will, no doubt, bring quick returns in terms of enhanced economic and social well being for the people of Haiti.

Again, I appreciate the Committee's attention to this particular program, and I hope that through CASS and other programs, we will seize the opportunity to assist our neighbors through the promotion of economic and social development in Latin America. I appreciate the Committee leadership's commitment to work on further increasing funding for the Latin America region during conference and I lend my support to that effort.

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

Mr. Speaker, about 2,500 military families at Fort Bliss, Texas, which is in my district, are planning, or were planning, to live in new, improved homes thanks to the military housing privatization plan that is scheduled, or was scheduled, to start this year.

However, because of this rule, this rule will prevent these families and thousands of others across the country from receiving the same improved housing they desperately need and they deserve. The Residential Communities Initiative, RCI, is a Military Housing Privatization Initiative that aims to eliminate inadequate housing on Army bases by 2007.

I want to thank my friend, the gentleman from Texas (Mr. Edwards), and the gentleman from Michigan (Chairman Knollenberg) who have worked very hard to support our troops and to get a provision in the MILCON appropriations bill to increase the cap for the MHPI program.

But this irresponsible rule would effectively strip that provision from the bill. So today I want to ask and urge my colleagues to vote against this rule so that military families across the country can receive improved housing that they so desperately need and so much deserve. At a time when our men and women in uniform and their families are sacrificing so much for our Nation, this, I think, is the very least we can do.

And I want to remind all of you, all of you, my colleagues, that it is not enough to say that we support our troops. It is not enough to say that our troops are performing professionally. It is not enough to say that our troops are performing heroically and then turn around and shaft their families by eliminating this critically needed military housing initiative.

Our troops, their families, and America are watching what we do here today. If you vote for this rule, you are voting against our military families. Let us reject this rule and put our money where our mouths have been. Let us not just talk the talk time and time again on this floor, but it is time to walk the walk. Support our military families. They are watching what we do, and they will hold those responsible accountable, as they should.

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

Mr. Speaker, it is a sad day today. I do not know if anybody else is as ashamed as I am that we are going through this kind of a process. When I think back at the times I have visited Iraq, five times that I have visited in Iraq, and I sit across the table, whether it is for breakfast, for lunch or for dinner, with the soldiers, they look at us and they have a trust that we are going to do the right thing. They look at us, and they know that we are going to represent their best interests.

In my district at Fort Bliss, Texas, there are about 2,500 military families that have been looking forward to getting a benefit from this program that we are talking about here. We were looking forward to it.

It is clear to me that what we are doing here today is a lot of political CYA and nothing substantial apparently is going to come from it. Shame on us for not having the guts to stand up and do what is right for our military families, and shame on us for passing emergency legislation, supplemental bills, that give $20 billion, $21 billion, whatever that figure is, to reconstruct neighborhoods, give garbage trucks and all of these other things in Iraq, when we cannot even do the basic thing for our military families.

So here we are in this situation here, where we are talking about what a great job our military is doing, how proud we are of them and how we consider them heroes; and at the same time, we cannot find a process to give their families who are sacrificing beyond what most of us can imagine, who are sacrificing, we cannot give them decent housing.

Shame on us. We call this the people's House? We ought to be ashamed of each and every one of these machinations that we put ourselves through.

So it is a sad day for me. It should be a sad day for all of us. But, most of all, as I look at my watch and it is sometime after midnight in Iraq, those soldiers are putting their lives on the line for us for everything that we hold dear. We ought to have enough guts to do whatever it takes to find the money, to ensure that the money is there.

I will tell you very honestly, I do not have the knowledge of the intricacies of the budget and all of these other things that my honorable colleagues have, but I do know one thing: do not run a sham on our military families. That is all they care about. All they want to know from us is, as they look in our eyes, that they can trust us, that we are going to deliver for them like they deliver for us every day. Shame on us.

Mr. Speaker, at Fort Bliss in my district, nearly half of the NCOs attending the Sergeant Major's Academy live in beautiful recently built homes. The other half live in what is affectionately referred to as ``Bedrock.'' While there is something nice about returning home to a neighborhood where your neighbors are Barney and Fred, it's not the neighbors that make this area of family housing on Fort Bliss resemble Bedrock--it's the fact that despite noble efforts by the folks at Fort Bliss, the houses are in poor shape and look like they were built in the Stone Age.

About 2,500 military families at Fort Bliss were looking forward to living in new or improved homes, thanks to the Military Housing Privatization Initiative (MHPI) that is scheduled to start this year. The Army's arm of this program, the Residential Communities Initiative (RCI), aims to eliminate inadequate housing on Army bases by 2007 through the construction of new homes, the improvement of current structures and the incorporation of community features such as recreation centers into military posts. At Fort Bliss, this means that ``Bedrock'' will be a thing of the past.

MHPI is an extremely cost-effective measure because contractors pay the up-front costs and recover their investment through rental payment. MHPI also stimulates local economies by providing job opportunities in the construction and maintenance of homes and facilities. Unfortunately for the 2,500 military families at Fort Bliss and for thousands of other families across the country, MHPI is threatened by a funding cap which will be reached in November of this year.

Mr. Speaker, earlier today, I stood on the floor of this House to urge my colleagues to vote against the rule for the FY05 MilCon appropriations. The rule would have stripped a provision from the bill to ensure that the MHPI program would continue. The passage of that rule almost ensures that this important provision will be eliminated from the appropriations bill. The bill now before us, H.R. 4879, contains language that is nearly identified to the military housing privatization provision in the MilCon appropriations bill. This bill is basically a face saving measure by the Republicans. This suspension bill that increases the housing cap does not keep out faith with our men and women in uniform. If the provision is in the MilCon appropriation bill, it will be committed to Conference and the Senate must deal with it. If, on the other hand, it is passed as a Suspension, the Senate is under no obligation whatsoever to consider the measure, and we have no idea if it will ever see the light of day--in short, the odds that it will become law are dramatically decreased. Mr. Speaker, this bill is a cynical gesture and a slap in the face of our brave men and women of the armed services. Our men and women in uniform and their families deserve the very best--and adequate housing is the least that we can provide for them. Unfortunately, this bill falls far short of ensuring that they will get the housing they so need and deserve.

Mr. Speaker, I thank the gentleman for yielding, and let me say, Mr. Speaker, that I associate myself with his comments. As a member of Congress, a veteran who has been to Iraq five times and have sat many, many times across from our men and women in uniform, as they look into our eyes and they show not just their commitment and their professionalism but their trust in us to do the right thing, and sometimes I wonder if we are not betraying our obligations of doing the right thing for them.

So tonight, Mr. Speaker, I want to talk about an issue that is vitally important to our country and to the men and women that are fighting and defending our freedoms in Iraq, Afghanistan and other parts of the world.

Mr. Speaker, time and again attempts by this House to acquire documents related to the Abu Ghraib prison abuse scandal have been defeated, largely on party line votes. During consideration of the intelligence authorization bill, I offered an amendment, both in committee markup and on the floor of this House, to require the Department of Defense to turn over documents related to the handling and the treatment of detainees in Iraq, Afghanistan, Guantanamo Bay and elsewhere, including those documents that would come from the Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence and documents that had been already asked for, not just by our Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence but by other committees in this House.

Both of these attempts, attempts to find answers to the questions that all Americans are asking and that all Americans are expecting us to answer, have failed, again, largely on party line votes.

Last Thursday the House Committee on Armed Services met to mark up H. Res. 689 and H. Con. Res. 472, two resolutions that are a direct result of the prisoner abuse scandal. H. Res. 689 would require the Secretary of Defense, the Secretary of the State and the Attorney General to transmit to the House information produced in connection with the investigations into allegations of abuse against prisoners and detainees in Iraq, Afghanistan and at the U.S. base in Guantanamo Bay, Cuba.

Unfortunately and disappointingly, the committee ordered that this resolution be reported to the House with an adverse recommendation. This is the second time in less than two months that the House Committee on Armed Services has failed to order the production of documents that could assist this committee in understanding and working towards a resolution of the prisoner abuse scandal.

In June the committee adversely reported H. Res. 640, a bill that sought documents associated with the investigation by Army Major General Antonio Taguba into the prisoner abuses at Abu Ghraib prison in Iraq. I am deeply disappointed in this committee and at the partisan politics that are keeping America from learning the truth about what happened at Abu Ghraib.

Instead of supporting this fact-seeking resolution last week, Republicans on the House Committee on Armed Services preferred H. Con. Res. 472, a resolution expressing the sense of Congress that the apprehension, detention and interrogation of terrorists are fundamental elements in the successful prosecution of the global war on terrorism, and that the protection of the lives of the United States citizens at home and abroad.

Fundamentally, this resolution is mired in a lot of partisanship and may ultimately hurt our men and women in uniform. I am deeply concerned about the unintended consequences that could result from the adoption of such a resolution.

By effectively absolving ourselves from adhering to the Geneva Conventions and instead following our own standards of ``humane treatment for those in our custody,'' we open the doors for the rest of the world to do the same to our own troops.

In the words of former prisoner of war, the Nation's first ambassador to Vietnam and past Congressman Pete Peterson, ``I know what life in a foreign prison is like. To a large degree, I credit the Geneva Conventions for my survival. While the Vietnamese rarely abided by the rules, the international pressure on them to do so forced them to walk a fine line that ensured that they not perpetrate the sort of shocking abuses at Abu Ghraib.''

It is imperative, Mr. Speaker, that we live to the same standard that we expect other nations to abide by in the horrific event that they capture our soldiers. I am disappointed that the Republicans on the House Committee on Armed Services would prefer to have this resolution passed through our committee in the House rather than a resolution seeking the truth about what occurred at Abu Ghraib.

While we eventually voted to postpone marking up this resolution, the committee, however, is scheduled to take it up again this week. I hope that before then our colleagues will see the grave dangers that lie in insisting on

dismissing such behavior and not blaming it just on a handful of soldiers but instead recognizing it for what it is, a failure of our system and our failure on this committee and in this House to do our oversight responsibilities.

Mr. Speaker, I stand here tonight as a concerned American, a concerned Member of Congress, and I join my colleague from Missouri in asking our colleagues to do everything that we can to exercise our oversight responsibilities. It is the right thing to do. It is what our men and women in uniform expect us to do as they sit across the table from us in places such as Tikrit, Mosul and other parts of faraway lands. They trust us. We cannot fail them.