Floor Statements

Mr. Speaker, during rollcall vote No. 47 on March 6, 2003, I was unavoidably detained. Had I been present, I would have voted ``yea.''

Mr. Speaker, the original intent of this bill was a worthy one: to reimburse Social Security benefits if they are misused by people representing the recipient.

That's not controversial . . . but the provision reducing the spousal Social Security benefits for countless teachers, school support personnel, police officers, firefighters, and other public servants is most certainly controversal--and I intent to oppose the entire bill since it contains this provision that will adversely affect teachers and others across Texas. These are people we should be protecting.

We need to understand that targeting pensions of teachers and other school employees will discourage qualified individuals from entering the classroom at exactly the time when the nation is experiencing a shortage of teachers. We say we are committed to education . . . yet in this bill we are profoundly uncommitted to educators.

The teachers across the state of Texas are largely women and are not wealthy people. They depend on the benefits of both them and their spouses; nearly all are part of two-income families. We are being monumentally unfair to them by changing the rules late in the game.

Since we are ramrodding this bill through the House with non- controversial bills today, be on notice that our opposition efforts will not end here.

I am a co-sponsor of HR 594, a bill introduced in the 108th Congress that will eliminate the Government Pension Offset and the Windfall Elimination Provisions that target our teachers and other public servants by denying them the opportunity to retain their full spousal Social Security benefits.

Mr. Speaker, I am deeply disappointed that this provision was included in an otherwise good bill.

Mr. Speaker, I want to thank our chairman, the gentleman from California (Mr. Hunter) and the ranking member, the gentleman from Missouri (Mr. Skelton), for bringing this resolution to the floor.

Mr. Speaker, America's greatness is in our form of government. Our strength is the character of our people and our justice is delivered by brave men and women in the uniform of the United States. Since the Nation was attacked on September 11, Americans have bled and died, rescued countrymen, cleaned up the damage, and carried justice to our enemies in al Qaeda and their sponsors in Afghanistan. This resolution tells our men and women in uniform that this Nation is eternally grateful for their service, an important message to the troops in an atmosphere of question about the Iraqi mission.

This war has required sacrifice for many people: Our Armed Forces, including guardsmen, reserves, their families and their employers. Our citizen soldiers have undergone a serious hardship since this began, as many are beginning their second and third deployment. As we express our condolences to the families of great soldiers lost in Afghanistan and around the world, let us remember that all of our soldiers will give to this effort, and some will give their all.

I still hope that the war in Iraq can be averted, but that hope grows dimmer each day. I thank our troops for their bravery and sacrifice. We pray to God to protect our troops and to give us guidance and wisdom to do what is right.

Mr. Speaker, will the gentleman yield?

Mr. Speaker, I do agree with the chairman, and I know at least in my district we have had guardsmen and reservists being activated. They are loyal to that country and they believe in what they are doing.

And let me thank the gentleman from California for his kind words, Mr. Speaker.

Mr. Speaker, I thank the gentleman for his leadership. We appreciate that.

Mr. Speaker, due to official 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. 37 ``no,'' rollcall No. 38 ``no,'' and rollcall No. 39 ``yes.''

Mr. Speaker, I rise to offer some context for our debate today surrounding the NADBank as it relates to my district in South Texas.

I support NADBank and believe it is an important part of border development, particularly the small rural communities like San Benito and La Feria in South Texas. Hopefully, NADBank will continue to work with these municipalities to maximize their infrastructure.

But NADBank's recent decision to offer grants and resources in terms that are twice as favorable to Mexico, over injured South Texas farmers, is very troubling to me. Very briefly, it was Mexico's non- compliance--for over a decade--with a 1944 treaty that apportions the waters of the Rio Grande that bankrupted hundreds of South Texas farmers and precipitated the need for NADBank to offer assistance-- however late--to those injured by Mexico's action.

Here's what has troubled me about this; there are 2 primary reasons:

First, NADBank is offering up to 50 percent of the cost of irrigation projects to South Texas farmers in grants and the balance in low- interest loans, while making the same assistance available to Mexican agricultural interests at 100 percent grants. Since the actions of Mexico were the instigation of the injury to South Texas farmers, it is galling that NADBank is giving Mexican farmers 100 percent of the cost of their projects in grant funding, while South Texans are getting half that.

Secondly, the entire reason NADBank has a package offering relief to farmers for irrigation needs is the enormous, permanent injury to

South Texas farmers directly due to Mexico's violation of the 1944 treaty. I have been perplexed as to the reason that all four border states have access to the relief package. If the injury was to South Texas farmers, then that is who should be the target of the relief.

Of note, this bill does recognize several important things for the first time: Mexico is in default of the 1944 Water Treaty; Mexico has accumulated 1.5 million acre feet of water debt to the U.S.; and the NADBank Board should support projects in the lower Rio Grande Valley.

While NADBank is an important part of border development, the decision to give South Texas farmers--injured by Mexico's deliberate action--half what they are offering to Mexican farmers is a step in the wrong direction. Part of the problem with this policy is that it was formulated in Washington and dictated to San Antonio by officials in the Departments of Treasury, State, and the Environmental Protection Agency. When Washington dictates decisions to states and local governments without their input, those decisions are more likely to inspire anger and resentment than gratitude.

I ask my colleagues to remember this action and to encourage NADBank to re-think the wisdom of how they are distributing funds under this program.

Mr. Speaker, I rise today to pay tribute to a retiring lawman, Agent Eugenio Solis, a unique patriot who has enforced our laws and chased the bad guys his whole career. I am enormously grateful to him for his life's work.

Eugenio Solis has served South Texas with 32 years of law enforcement altogether, both as a patrol officer and as a narcotics agent. He has over 27 years with the Texas Department of Public Safety.

His superiors say he is one of the best undercover agents we have. Undercover work is dangerous, dirty work, and doing it well takes a special talent and untold bravery. Agent Solis can make a deal on the street happen quickly; he has a nose for nasty business. He can expertly hook a bad guy, buy drugs * * * and either get out of there fast, or arrest the bad guys.

Over the years he has established relationships and made contacts with all manner of federal and local officials, offering him sundry resources and contacts that make him effective on the streets.

His legendary exploits are so well known around South Texas that he has even been

recruited by other law enforcement agencies to do undercover work. In his undercover capacity, he has been fortunate; he has never had to draw his gun.

You cannot work undercover and not have a good sense of humor, and Eugenio Solis indeed possesses that. He is a famous kidder and practical joker, which can often mean that when he's swept up with the druggies to avoid detection, his fellow officers will leave him handcuffed for several hours in good-humor retribution.

Even in his retirement, he continues to work--currently with a drug task force in Kingsville. Mr. Speaker, the men and women on the front lines in our drug war are necessarily in the shadows, their faces unseen and their names unknown * * * because that is the way the business works.

He has a strong, loving family to support him. That support is vitally important to an agent whose business requires him to deprive his family of his time and attention. Druggies do not keep a schedule. His wife, Sylvia--and their children: Eugenio III and Eduardo, and granddaughter, Shelby--have been his greatest support network.

I ask my colleagues to join me in commending Eugenio Solis for his years of dedication to law enforcement, for standing on that thin blue line that protects our neighborhoods from the bad guys.

Mr. Speaker, I offered my condolences to the families of the brave men and women who flew into the heavens, representing the Earth below them as well as any flight crew could. The mix of men and women, 6 Americans and an Israeli, reflected the international cooperation of the space program, and the diverse ethnic makeup of the United States.

I met Payload Commander Michael P. Anderson some time ago. I saw him in my office in 1999 when he and other astronauts were in my office to see me after his previous trip into space. They gave me a collage of pictures from aboard their spaceship, with an American flag and mission patch. This hangs in my office and I will always remember Commander Anderson--and the other astronauts who perished with him--as special, courageous patriots.

While the tragedy will again spark the debate over the need for human space flight, in this era of technological gains, the need is clear for humans in space. For this nation to be a power in space, we must continue to be in the forefront of human exploration of space. Americans are forever looking forward, dreaming of the stars. While we mourn the fallen astronauts, our nation looks forward at the new frontier of space.

All progress in the past 40 years has taken humans only as far as the moon and our first colony on the International Space Station. That is only the cusp of the exploration of our universe. Already, we have placed a rover on mars and the possibilities and wonders of space travel and exploration are endless. We don't do that for sport; the science conducted in space without the confines of gravity is simply amazing. Today we are enjoying the benefits of the scientific and technological advances space scientists have brought back to Earth over the past 40 years--from medical science to computer chips.

The research conducted aboard the spaceship Columbia was for the good of the entire human race. The small scientific steps they were taking for our nation, and the world, continue to be giant steps for mankind, the sort that propel us forward into new space and scientific frontiers. We must never take for granted the absolute danger of each trip into space. It's called a frontier for a reason: it is dangerous and unknown. Our astronauts all know that. They ride a rocket into space, fly among the stars, then re-enter our environment through the outer layer of atmosphere that literally burns at 3,000 degrees. That is an incredibly dangerous ride, each and every time a ship goes up. It is not 100 percent safe, nor are airplanes, yet we will continue to ride in them.

The Columbia crew was conducing experiments relating to communications, energy, health and medicine. These are all the areas we must continue to explore as our Earth grows smaller, our energy supplies dwindle, and the cost of medicines spiral. Machines could not begin to conduct meticulous scientific experiments, particularly those on the human body. Only humans have the judgment necessary to explore space; we must not let our fear dictate our exploration of space.

There is no question, as long as there are brave men and women in America who dream of the stars and long to travel among them, we will have a strong, robust space program. We must continue to send brave astronauts into space, complete the International Space Station, and go further into this planetary system and galaxy in this century--and we will. We are will fulfilling the challenge issued by President Kennedy in exploring the frontier of space. We have thrown our cap over the wall of space, and we have no choice but to follow.

Lastly, let me express my concerns for citizens of East Texas traumatized not only by the streaking explosion above them, but also by the pieces of the shuttle falling from the sky around them. Texans have responded as Texans do--we pitch in and help. I am proud of the local response in the areas of Texas and Louisiana where the debris field stretches. Texans have stepped up to the plate to stand guard over pieces of debris simply because there are not enough NASA officials to guard or collect the tonnage of debris.

There is a certain symmetry in losing a space ship in the skies of Texas, the state that gave birth to the modern space program. Texas remains ever a part of the life and legacy of our space exploration. We remain dedicated to the memory of these brave men and women, and are working to find the clues to discover how this tragedy occurred.

America mourns our fallen heroes; and we will always reach for the stars in their memory.

I thank the leadership of the House of Representatives for sponsoring this resolution.