Floor Statements

Mr. Chairman, I rise in support of the bill before us to reject the BRAC recommendations; and I thank the gentleman from Illinois for his work on this bill.

While this process has proceeded during a global war, many of us in Congress--including me--have taken issue with the timing. Doing this during a war and before we establish our global military footprint through the Quadrennial Defense Review sends the wrong signal to our allies and to the soldiers and families who may depend on services at the bases we are closing.

I have fought this from the get-go. The BRAC list hit my South Texas district hard with the closure of Naval Station Ingleside in San Patricio County. It was a base into which the taxpayers of Nueces County and the State of Texas plowed $50 million to assist the Navy in bringing the base there.

The main thing that worries those of us in South Texas--and elsewhere along the Gulf Coast--is that after BRAC the Gulf of Mexico will be a less safe place for all of us. We have been concerned over the past couple of years about the illegal immigrants known as OTMs--other than Mexicans--that are routinely released by law enforcement into the U.S. population. Many law enforcement officers believe we have--or could be--releasing potential terrorists who will do us great harm.

Our nation's refining capability and trading lanes run through the Gulf of Mexico. For these reasons--and many more--we must have a Navy presence in the Gulf. After BRAC, there will not be a single surface Navy base in the entire Gulf. The Gulf holds the nation's bread basket and is the primary provider of petrochemicals and refined products to power the nation's cars, heaters, and other machines we depend upon hourly in our daily lives.

Those are my primary concerns. Now, the other concerns I have deal primarily with how the South Texas community I represent will recover from the economic devastation that is part of a base closure in local communities. As BRAC Chairman Principi said in an early statement, this will be a tsunami in South Texas.

So if the House chooses to support the BRAC list today, we will bear no ill will . . . and we will work very hard to make the transition as painless as possible.

While our community is less concerned about the disposition of the property itself--it should revert to the local port--we believe the local community should not have to pay a $200 million cost to retain the base. We are increasingly concerned about the enormous task before us in the coming years: how to deal with depressed property values after the base is to close . . . how to retrain the area workforce . . . and how our schools and housing market can recoup the losses we will most certainly feel in the coming years.

That will be the challenge before us in South Texas for probably the coming decade if the House today fails to adopt my colleague's bill to disapprove the BRAC recommendations.

Mr. Speaker, I rise today to pay tribute to a true American patriot: Irene De Los Santos from Brownsville, Texas. On October 22, 2005, Ms. De Los Santos will be 99 years young. She has seen the greater part of the 20th century and has been at the forefront of numerous historical events while serving as an outstanding example for her community.

Since she had a profound understanding of what the early 20th Century was like, before women were finally given citizenship in this great Nation, and allowed to vote. As. De Los Santos cherishes this precious right and never lets an election pass her by.

She has voted in every Brownsville election since 1929 and remembers her $1.75 poll tax vividly. What is most amazing and admirable is the fact that Ms. De Los Santos is still an active member of the community and encourages everyone to participate fully in our democracy by both voting and working at the polls. Her daughter remembers riding along in the back of the car as they went from house to house encouraging members of the community to vote when she was only 8 years old.

Ms. De Los Santos is a powerhouse of politics in the South Texas community, and her support for various candidates is sought and cherished. I am so proud that she has been one of my strongest supporters throughout my 23 years in Congress.

Irene has lived a long and rewarding life, and watched our most important national events unfold: the passage of the 19th Amendment, the rise and fall of dictators around the world, the passage of the Civil Rights Act, and countless other memorable events in our Nation's history. Through it all, Ms. De Los Santos says she has enjoyed her life and would not change anything.

Her extended family includes three sons and two daughters, 16 grandchildren, 29 great-grandchildren, 11 great-great grandchildren, and 10 great-great-great grandchildren. Everyone, that totals to 71 potential votes, and we all know that elections have been won or lost by fewer votes. Even now, Ms. De Los Santos encourages her entire family to vote and continues to look on as her fellow voters come in and out of the polls.

Today I ask my colleagues to join me in recognizing this extraordinary woman for her contributions to her community and our Nation, and for her active participation our Nation's history. May the next century be as wonderful for her as the past 99 years.

Mr. Speaker, I rise today to offer my sincere congratulations to the people of the Republic of Azerbaijan as they celebrate the 14th anniversary of their Independence from the Soviet Union. On October 18, 1991, Azerbaijan adopted its Constitutional Act on Independence declaring their independence as a sovereign state.

Having lived under Soviet rule, the people of Azerbaijan have a great appreciation of living in a democratic civil society and understand that they need to continue to democratize and hold free and fair elections in order to develop and integrate into western structures.

On November 6, 2005, Azerbaijan will hold important parliamentary elections. As a sign of his commitment to ensuring free and fair elections, President Ilham Aliyev issued an Executive Order earlier this year outlining important steps that will be taken prior to the election. Since then great progress has been made to: allow all political parties to organize rallies free from violence and intimidation, welcome domestic and international election observers, provide appropriate access to media, and ensure central and regional authorities create the necessary conditions for exit polls.

Azerbaijan has come forward as a strong strategic partner and ally not only to the United States but also among the democratic societies in our world. I congratulate Azerbaijan on this important day and look forward to them having free and fair elections next month.

Mr. Speaker, today, I rise in strong support of designating October 15, 2005 the 3rd Annual Latino AIDS Awareness Day.

HIV and AIDS have wrecked havoc on millions of lives across the globe for over two decades, ending lives before their time. Today in America, over a million Americans, or about 1 in 300, have HIV or AIDS--a statistic that this Congress must acknowledge. For every American living with HIV or AIDS, a family is traumatized.

Even more staggering is the distribution of those victims. While Hispanics are roughly 14 percent of the population of the United States, they account for 20 percent of America's HIV/AIDS population. To date, nearly 100,000 Hispanics have died with AIDS. Since Hispanics are the fastest growing minority group in the United States, our challenge is even greater.

Minority groups have been hardest hit by the disease, adding another burden on families struggling to make ends meet. Another troubling fact is that as many as 1 in 2 people with HIV/AIDS don't even know they have the disease.

And the fastest growing group of people contracting HIV is young people, putting a tenuous hold on their young lives and future. The more attention we place on HIV/AIDS, the closer we get to eradicating this vicious disease. We have to talk about it, the causes and the prevention.

I encourage all of my colleagues to support Latino AIDS Awareness Day and work to educate Hispanics and other constituents about HIV and AIDS. Education and facts are the best way to wipe out ignorance about HIV/AIDS in the Hispanic populations, and every other demographic in our Nation.

Mr. Speaker, I rise to recognize an outstanding citizen, teacher and coach from Corpus Christi, Texas: Phil Danaher. Coach Danaher reached an historical milestone on September 9, 2005, by achieving his 300th high school football victory and becoming a member of an elite group of coaches who have amassed such a record.

Coach Danaher is currently serving as the athletic director and head football coach at Calallen Independent School District and is in his 35th year of coaching. He is the winningest active coach in football and is surpassed by only three other coaches in number of victories.

Coach Danaher played high school football for Harlingen High School in Harlingen, Texas, where he was two-time All-District, and two-time All-Valley as quarterback. He continued his love for the game by playing college football at Angelo State University.

Mr. Danaher has proudly served as head coach for Calallen High School for the past 22 years, after beginning his career at San Antonio Edison as an assistant head coach. He later served as head coach for Dilley and Hamshire-Fannett high schools from 1974 to 1983 before arriving at Calallen in 1984.

His remarkable coaching talent was evident from the start, leading Dilley to the district championship and capturing three more district championships over the next 9 years at Hamshire-Fannett. Prior to Mr. Danaher's arrival, Calallen High School had not been to the playoffs in 29 years. After just one season, Coach Danaher turned the program around and led the school to the playoffs for 20 consecutive seasons.

However, for Coach Danaher, it is not all about the number of victories he accumulates. Mr. Danaher believes the real honor in coaching lies in the fact that the athletic program has made a difference in the lives of countless players who have come and gone over the years.

On the night of his 300th career victory, Coach Danaher graciously thanked the fans and his team for their significant contributions. When history remembers Coach Danaher, his win-loss record will be noted--but his most enduring legacy will be his record for teaching young people how to make the most of their talents and their lives.

Mr. Speaker, I ask that my colleagues join me in honoring Coach Phil Danaher for his outstanding achievements and dedication to our south Texas community.

Mr. Speaker, on Thursday, September 22, 2005, I was not present to vote, on H.R. 2123, the School Readiness Act of 2005, as I was in my district making preparations for Hurricane Rita's landfall.

Had I been present, I would have voted as follows:

The vote on final passage would have been a difficult one for me, but I would have ultimately been forced to vote against the bill. Using Federal funding to run a program should preclude that program from discriminating in hiring decisions. Our country has a strong tradition of religious freedom, and I cannot support a vote that chooses to ignore that. However, that should not diminish the fact that I remain a strong supporter of education and the Head Start program.

Additionally, as a Hispanic member of Congress, I recognize the importance of civil rights in our country. America has fought hard to rectify transgressions of the past, and to turn back that work is not a position I can endorse. H.R. 2123 unanimously passed out of committee-- demonstrating clear bipartisanship and maintaining the longstanding civil rights provision which has been part of the Head Start program since 1972. It was designed to protect over 198,000 Head Start teachers and staff and over 1,450,000 parent volunteers from employment discrimination based on religion in federally-funded Head Start programs, and should not have been eroded.

Rollcall No. 478--``no''; rollcall No. 479--``yes''; rollcall No. 480--``yes''; rollcall No. 481--``yes''; rollcall No. 482--``yes''; rollcall No. 483--``yes''; rollcall No. 484--``yes''; rollcall No. 485--``yes''; rollcall No. 486--``no''; rollcall No. 487--``yes''; rollcall No. 488--``yes''; rollcall No. 489--``yes''; rollcall No. 490--``yes''; rollcall No. 491--``no''; rollcall No. 492--``no''; and rollcall No. 493--``no.''

Mr. Speaker, I thank the bipartisan leadership--both for the whole House and for the Appropriations Committee--for this urgent response to our neighbors and families in the Gulf Coast region.

The notion of refugees in America is a foreign concept for us, but I know the American family will respond fully and completely in relocating the people who have fled the Gulf region; and who must now necessarily migrate north and make temporary lives somewhere else for at least the next few months.

I want to note something interesting to my colleagues. Just last week before the Base Closure and Realignment Commission, BRAC, I pointed out to the commissioners that the Gulf of Mexico has serious security needs.

With the BRAC recommended closures of Naval Station Ingleside and Ellington Air Field in Texas, and the closure of NS Pascagoula in Mississippi, we were leaving the Gulf of Mexico vulnerable to an attack that could disrupt our oil supplies--both the wells in the Gulf and the refineries along our southern coast--and our vital trade routes. Post- BRAC, we will have not a single surface Navy ship in the Gulf of Mexico.

Mother Nature painted a very vivid picture for all of us of how a major disruption in the Gulf can affect our Nation and our economy.

I will be talking to DOD officials and my colleagues on the House Armed Services Committee to pursue a Center of Excellence for Homeland Defense and Security in the western Gulf of Mexico.

Again, I thank the House for this rapid attention to the dire need for relief to our neighbors in Louisiana, Mississippi and Alabama. I support the bill, and urge swift passage.

We must come to grips now with the fact that this is just our first drop in the bucket; this ongoing rescue and relief effort will be monumental and long term. It will be years before New Orleans and the Gulf Coast can be rebuilt. It will take our money, it will take our energy, and it will take all our hearts.

Mr. Speaker, due to important congressional business, I was unable to vote during the following rollcall votes. Had I been present, I would have voted as indicated below: rollcall No. 417: yes; rollcall No. 418: yes; and rollcall No. 419: yes.

Mr. Speaker, I was unable to vote during the following rollcall votes. Had I been present I would have voted as indicated below. Rollcall vote No. 401--``no''; rollcall vote No. 402--``no.''

Mr. Speaker, due to important business in my district, I was unable to vote during the following rollcall votes. Had I been present, I would have voted as indicated:

Rollcall vote No. 363--``yes''; rollcall vote No. 364--``yes''; rollcall vote No. 365--``no''; rollcall vote No. 366--``no''; rollcall vote No. 367--``no'', and rollcall vote No. 368--``yes.''

Mr. Speaker, due to business in my district, I was unable to vote during the following rollcall votes. Had I been present, I would have voted as indicated below.

Rollcall No. 324: ``yes''; rollcall No. 325: ``no''; rollcall No. 326: ``no''; rollcall No. 327: ``yes''; rollcall No. 328: ``no''; rollcall No. 329: ``no''; rollcall No. 330: ``yes''; rollcall No. 331: ``yes''; rollcall No. 332: ``yes''; rollcall No. 333: ``yes''; rollcall No. 334: ``no''; rollcall No. 335: ``yes.''

Mr. Speaker, I rise today to congratulate Corpus Christi's Calallen High School Varsity Baseball team on winning the 2005 4A State Championship last weekend, winning the championship game 10-3. This is the second time the Wildcats have dominated Texas high school baseball, the first being in 2000.

The Cats' won their first victory against the Wichita Falls Riders-- an impressive 12-2 game, with seven hits and a grand slam by sophomore Ryan Duke. The game was called in the fifth inning, by way of the 10- run ``mercy rule.'' But mercy was the last thing the Wildcats showed their next opponents, the Waco-Midway Panthers.

Calallen earned the title through sheer power at the plate, with 13 hits and 10 runs, all scored by the fourth inning. Leading the Cats at bat in the championship game were Seniors Jonathan Vest, Luke McCall, Wes Callihan, Randy Haughton, and Sophomore Ryan Duke.

Wildcat pitchers Seniors Chip Nance and Brandon Key, and Sophomore Ryan Duke provided the other power station for the Cats on the mound. Nance boasted nine strikeouts in six innings and held the Midway Panthers to five hits, earning MVP honors in the championship game.

South Texas is proud of these young men as is their coach, Steve Chapman, to whom the victory came as no surprise. With such talented players and excellent coaching, it seemed only right that this would be the year. Besides receiving an impressive ring to commemorate their victory, these boys have learned the endurance, discipline, self- sacrifice, and determination that it takes to be the champions.

In high school sports, as in life, the way to winning is hard work and a can-do spirit every day, both in practice and on the field. Sports teach young people many things, most importantly how to be gracious In defeat and in victory. That will be as important as how they play the game of life.

I congratulate the Wildcats, for their hard work which paid off handsomely. The following roster of players earned the title of Champions: Chip Nance, Wes Callihan, Jonathan Vest, Tyler Marrou, Cameron Lucky, Ryan Miller, Brandon Key, Corey Schick, Steven Vidaurri, Bucky Bryan, Randy Haughton, Sean Hoelscher, Paul Flores, Ryan Duke, Jared Verret, Daniel Alonzo, Luke McCall, Matt Brynestad, Kyle Plumley, and Jacob Kaup.

The Coaches who led them to victory are: Coach Steve Chapman, Asst. Coach Rudy Salinas, Asst. Coach Jon Irvine, Asst. Coach Micheal Watson, and Asst. Coach Jose Luis Lopez.

Madam Speaker, I rise in support of H. Con. Res. 159 because now it is more important than ever for our Nation to show our support for our warfighters. While our Armed Forces are engaged in struggles in Afghanistan against the terrorists that attacked our Nation--and deployed against insurgents in Iraq--they represent the interests of our Nation.

We are at war; and the people who carry the guns and go after our enemies have a job that is harder than any of us can imagine. This Nation asks our men and women in the armed service to carry out a mission in which their lives are frequently in danger. Many do not come home to their families' arms. The ones who do come home must cope with new realities in their lives, and in the lives of their families.

As a senior member of the House Armed Services Committee, there's a wisdom to our recruitment. First, you recruit a soldier. When he re- enlists, you recruit the whole family. Much of our retention problems stem from families simply not being able to handle the emotional strain of a loved one serving, plus the financial detriment military service can present.

While loved ones are away serving our Nation in uniform, families are left with only one parent and all the responsibility of the family. In the case of National Guard and Reserve service members, it nearly always leaves the family with much less earning power and the entire family must make do with less. This breeds a number of challenges for military families.

While we in Congress must do all we can to help those families financially and with appropriate health care and other quality of life components . . . the least we can do today is to have a special week to recognize the difficulties that our military families live through every day. We must remember their sacrifices every day, but it is useful and educational to take a week to officially honor the sacrifice of the families of those who wear the uniform of the United States.

Mr. Chairman, I rise in support of the Bonilla provision to delay implementing mandatory country of origin labeling, which is known as COOL, for meat and meat products for 1 year. This distinction is important. This delay is for meat and associated products alone. In the 2002 farm bill, we added the COOL requirement for fruits and vegetables. The conference, however, expanded the mandate to meat, fish, perishable agricultural commodities, and peanuts. As most things not vetted by committees, these regulations brought a number of problems and unintended consequences. Several government and private studies have identified numerous costs added, especially for consumers.

American families should not pay the price for marketing beef without it being any safer than it is now. The House has previously voted to delay mandatory COOL in order to review the law and develop a voluntary option. The Bonilla provision to delay COOL labeling for meat is the right thing to do. I ask the House to join me in keeping this provision and oppose the motion to strike.

Mr. Speaker, I rise today to offer the thanks of this body to a democratic friend, Taiwan, the Republic of China, for their recent generous gift to the Pentagon Memorial Fund.

9-11 scarred our souls and forever changed the way we view enemy attack and the security of our Nation. The Pentagon is known globally as the place our military policy is created and recommended for implementation. It is a prominent part of the government commanded by the Chief Executive and maintained by the United States Congress.

The targeted component of the surprise coordinated attack there shocked and appalled the civilized nations and people on the planet. This Nation lost 184 souls across the river on that day. The sight of smoke coming from the Pentagon is a picture seared in my memory from that day, seen as I ran out of the U.S. Capitol.

Part of the salve applied to our national injury is in honoring the memory of the 184 men and women who perished on 9-11. So, as a member of the House Armed Services Committee, I thank Taiwan for their part in helping to immortalize their memory by contributing to the Pentagon Memorial Fund. And I ask unanimous consent to include in the Record the Washington Post story announcing the generous contribution.

[From the Washington Post, May 5, 2005]

Taiwan Aids Pentagon Memorial Fund

The government of Taiwan has donated $1 million to the

Pentagon Memorial Fund, according to James L. Laychak, the

fund's president and chief executive. About $6.5 million has

been raised to finance the memorial, which is to be built

with private funds. Families of victims of the Sept. 11,

2001, attack on the Pentagon began a fundraising drive in

April 2004 with a goal of $30 million--$20 million for

construction and $10 million for a maintenance fund. Taiwan's

gift is the second for $1 million; the first came from the

Anheuser-Busch Foundation.

``The donation does not simply represent our offering of

support for the victims of

9-11,'' said David Tawei Lee, a government representative, in

a prepared statement, ``but also express our appreciation for

the symbols of freedom.'' The memorial on the Pentagon's west

lawn will have 184 cantilevered benches, one in memory of

each of the victims of the terrorist attack.