Floor Statements

Madam Speaker, it is with great pride that I rise before you today to recognize Barbi Vavra and Don Neyland, two brave Liberty County Sheriff's Office employees from the great State of Texas. Their lives of service to the community are extraordinary examples of self sacrifice. It gives me great pleasure to recognize these two outstanding Texans before Congress and this Nation.

Sergeant Don Neyland with the Liberty County Sheriff's Office has bravely served the people of Liberty County as a police officer and investigator for 19 years. Yet, his life of service is all the more impressive because he suffers from serious kidney problems. One fateful day in 2009, Sergeant Neyland learned from doctors that he would need a kidney transplant. Soon his family members all began getting tested to see if they would be able to donate a kidney; but no match was found. Still continuing to hope, Sergeant Neyland decided to hand out brochures to coworkers about becoming a living kidney donor.

Twenty one year old coworker and friend, Barbi Vavra who is a clerk at the Liberty County Sheriff's Department read one of those pamphlets and decided to get tested. She turned out to be a perfect match and agreed to donate one of her kidneys to Sergeant Neyland. The surgery took place yesterday, March 2nd, and the two are doing very well in recovery.

Texas might have lost a hero and friend to Liberty County. Instead because Barbi decided to share the ``gift of life'' Sergeant Neyland and now our great State has one more hero to look to. This gift is truly inspiring.

The State of Texas and our Nation is a better place because of people like Barbi Vavra and Don Neyland. I am honored to recognize Barbi and Don, true Texans, for their example of heroism and selflessness to each other and to their community.

Mr. Speaker, as the war against international terrorism continues in Iraq and Afghanistan, I bring you news from the third front, the U.S.-Mexico border, the real inconvenient truth. Recently, the U.S. consular office in the border town of Reynosa, Mexico, closed indefinitely. U.S. officials are barred from the area. The reason, because there are kidnappings and murders and Old West- style shoot-outs in the streets, all on account of violent drug lords fighting over turf on the poorest border.

The United States is not doing enough to stop the international drug cartels and the human smugglers. The greatest Nation on Earth is failing the American people by not adequately protecting the border. Drugs and people are going north, and money and guns are going south. The border has become a war zone that affects good people on both sides of the border. We're sitting on a powder keg that we ignore at our own peril. While we have troops overseas to protect the borders of foreign countries, we should be just as concerned about our own sovereign border.

And that's just the way it is.

Madam Speaker, today the Second District of Texas is proud to honor the Port of Port Arthur for their designation as a Strategic Seaport by the Department of the Army's Military Surface and Distribution Command. They join the nearby Port of Beaumont and the Port of Corpus Christi as the only Strategic Seaports on the Gulf Coast.

The Port of Beaumont is U.S.'s busiest shipper of military cargo, being home of the 842nd Transportation Battalion. The Port of Port Arthur has handled their overflow since November 2007, totaling 9 ships. Now after this honor, Port Arthur can continue to work on overflow while also receiving shipments directly.

The convenient connection between these two ports allow for the ability to quickly and efficiently mobilize and deploy military forces as well as equipment and supplies. The Sabine-Neches Ship Channel is the only one in the Nation with two Strategic Ports, making it the most vital military shipping portal in the U.S.

This designation for the Port of Port Arthur is shared with only a small percentage of U.S. seaports. Port Arthur beat out 11 other Gulf Coast ports, including ones in Houston and New Orleans, for the decoration. The Port of Port Arthur hopes to add jobs for those associated with the shipping industry, which would be an outstanding benefit for all of Southeast Texas.

The Port of Port Arthur has worked since 2000 to upgrade their facilities to meet the military's qualifications. They have worked hard to strengthen the port's ability to serve more customers and there's no more important customer than our nation's military.

The Second Congressional District of Texas commends the Port of Port Arthur and their employees for their hard work and dedication to make this designation possible. Port Arthur can now stand shoulder to shoulder with the finest ports in the world.

Mr. Speaker, I rise today because this is a unique day in

the history of the great State of Texas. Today, March 2, marks Texas Independence Day; and on this day 174 years ago, Texas declared its independence from Mexico and its dictator, Santa Anna.

In 1836, in the small farm village of Washington-on-the-Brazos, 54 Texians--as they called themselves--gathered to do something bold and courageous: they signed the Texas Declaration of Independence from Mexico and once and for all declared that the people of Texas do now constitute a free, sovereign and independent republic.

As these determined delegates met to declare independence, Santa Anna and his 6,000 enemy troops were marching on an old beat-up Spanish fort, a mission that we call the Alamo. There, Texas defenders stood defiant and stood determined. They were led by a 27-year-old lawyer by the name of William Barrett Travis. The Alamo and its 187 Texans were all that stood between the invaders and the Republic of Texas. And behind the cold, dark, damp walls of that Alamo, Commander William Barrett Travis sent the following letter to Texas requesting aid. Here is what this appeal said in part:

``To all the people of Texas and Americans throughout the world, I am besieged by a thousand or more of the enemy under Santa Anna. I have sustained a continual bombardment and cannon fire for over 24 hours, but I have not lost a man. The enemy has demanded surrender at its discretion, otherwise the fort will be put to the sword. I have answered that demand with a cannon shot, and the flag still waves proudly over the wall.

``I shall never surrender or retreat. I call upon you in the name of liberty and patriotism and everything dear to our character to come to our aid with all dispatch. If this call is neglected, I am determined to sustain myself for as long as possible and die like a soldier who never forgets what is due his honor and that of his country. Victory or death.''--William Barrett Travis, Colonel, Texas Army.

After 13 days of glory at the Alamo, Commander Travis and his men sacrificed their lives on the altar of freedom. However, those lives would not be lost in vain. Their determination did pay off, and because heroes like Travis, Davy Crockett and Jim Bowie held out so long, Santa Anna's forces took such great losses they became battered and demoralized. As Travis said, ``Victory will cost them more dearly than defeat.''

The Alamo defenders were from every State and 13 foreign countries. They were black, brown, and white. Their ages were 16 through 67, and they were all volunteers. They were mavericks, revolutionaries, farmers, shopkeepers, and freedom fighters; and they came together to fight for something they believed in: freedom and independence.

General Sam Houston, in turn, had the time he needed to devise a strategy to rally other Texas volunteers to ultimately defeat Santa Anna in the Battle of San Jacinto on April 21, 1836.

The war was over, and the Lone Star flag was visible all across the broad, bold, brazen plains of Texas.

Texas remained a nation for 9 years and claimed land that now includes part of New Mexico, Oklahoma, Colorado, Kansas, Wyoming, even up to the Canadian border.

In 1845, Texas was admitted to the Union by only one vote when a Louisiana Senator changed his mind. By treaty with the United States, Texas may divide into five States, and the Texas flag is to fly even with the U.S. flag and not below it.

So, today, we remember that Texas was a glorious nation once and won freedom and independence because some fierce volunteers fought to the death for liberty over tyranny.

One of my grandsons is named Barrett Houston in honor of Travis and General Sam.

In Colonel Travis' final letter from the Alamo, he signed off with 3 words: God and Texas, God and Texas, God and Texas.

I will yield.

In reclaiming my time, thank you.

And that's just the way it is, Mr. Speaker.

Madam Speaker, it is Sam Houston's birthday. He was born in Virginia on March 2, 1793. He lived primarily in Tennessee, but he got to Texas as fast as he could.

Houston fought with Davy Crockett and Andrew Jackson during the Creek Indian wars of 1812. Later, he served as a Congressman and a Governor of Tennessee.

Sam spent time throughout his life living with the Cherokee Indians where the chief adopted him, naming him ``the Raven.'' He finally pulled up stakes and took off for Texas to help the Texas cause for independence against Mexico. In 1836, General Sam and the boys successfully led the Texi'ans at the Battle of San Jacinto against Mexico, and Texas became a free and independent nation.

Sam Houston was president of the Republic of Texas, and 9 years later, when Texas joined the Union, he became Governor and then a U.S. Senator. He is the only person in United States history to have served as a Governor and a Member of Congress from two States. The City of Houston and one of my grandsons, Barrett Houston, is named in his honor.

And that's just the way it is.

Mr. Speaker, the number of new unemployment benefit claims jumped last week to 496,000 Americans. More people out of work, more people looking for those promised jobs.

Meanwhile, a year later, we're bogged down debating the administration's $1 trillion government-run health care bill, a government-created problem that most Americans flatly reject.

Our priorities should be getting people back to work. Get government off the back of small businesses, the real creator of jobs.

But the talk around town is to raise taxes. John Marshall said, ``An unlimited power to tax involves the power to destroy. There is a limit beyond which no institution and no person can bear taxation.''

Tax hikes for more Federal boondoggles won't create any jobs. Leave money in the hands of the people who earned it, the American public.

Meanwhile, 15 million Americans are unemployed.

And that's just the way it is.

Madam Speaker, The Veterans of Foreign Wars, VFW, celebrated its 110 years of service recently. Decades ago on September 29, 1899 a small group of Spanish-American war veterans came together to speak on behalf of the many veterans who returned home wounded or sick. With no medical care or pension, these brave men were left to fend for themselves. The first three chapters were formed and rapidly gained popularity throughout the United States, and by 1936 proudly declared a membership of almost 200,000 veterans.

The VFW has been in the forefront of helping convey the acknowledgments and benefits deserved to those who fought for our country. I would like to name a few achievements of the VFW. They assisted in establishing the Veterans Administration, the GI Bill for the 20th Century, and fought for compensation of war related injuries and illnesses.

Today, the VFW and Auxiliary volunteer in the community and donate to college scholarships and provide financial assistance to service men and women and their families. Their list of accomplishments is long and diverse. I would like to thank each member and the VFW as a whole for their steadfast hard work in giving back to those who gave so selflessly.

Mr. Speaker, the Canadian Premier of Newfoundland, Danny Williams, snuck into the United States recently for some stealth health care. Now, why would the Canadian Premier come to the United States for heart surgery? Because his life depended on it.

``My heart, my choice, my health'' he proclaimed. When it came down to it, he didn't trust his life to Canada's government-run health care system. Imagine that.

The Canadian Premier said after the very successful American heart surgery, ``I did not sign away my right to get the best possible health care for myself when I entered politics.''

The American people have said they don't want to be forced into signing their lives away with government-run health care either. When life and death decisions are put in the hands of government bureaucrats, it's unhealthy for everybody.

Just ask the Canadian Premier. When it came down to a matter of his own life or death decision, the Canadian Premier chose private health care and American heart surgeons over the Canadian nationalized system.

Sounds like ``private health care for me, but not for thee.''

And that's just the way it is.

Mr. Speaker, the administration's new budget proposal will strangle small business. But there's one small business the new budget is targeting with both barrels: the small, independent mom-and-pop oil and gas producers.

Getting energy out of the ground is a tough business, and it's expensive. These wildcatters hire a lot of people and risk a lot of their own money to find oil and natural gas. Banks don't lend money to these people for risky propositions; so a group of investors has to come together and risk their own money to drill in an oil or gas well, and the Federal Government gives incentives for taking this risk with a tax writeoff for part of their drilling expenses, because, frankly, America needs this energy.

The removal of the tax deduction plus new taxes on all energy producers will be in the billions. But removal of tax deductions especially hurts small businesses that take the risk. Ninety percent of the wells drilled, owned, and operated in this country are independent small operators. Let me repeat. Ninety percent of the wells drilled, owned, and operated in this country are independent small operators. They're called the ``wildcatters.''

These independent operators go out and hire other businesses to drill oil wells. They hire geologists to help find the right place to drill for oil and natural gas. Backhoe drivers clear the drilling areas. Truck drivers haul equipment and make deliveries. The food service industry feeds the independent crews. And these taxes threaten the whole infrastructure that supports the independent oil and gas industry.

According to the Texas Alliance of Energy Producers, 88 percent of natural gas in Texas comes from small independent operators. These wildcatters represent the independent spirit of this Nation that has made us the greatest country in the world, the small businesses that are the backbone of this country.

If we stop the tax incentives, this in essence puts a new tax on these independents. It will kill off these small businesses, decrease discovery of new oil and natural gas in our Nation, and it will choke off the infrastructure that promotes and provides most of America's natural gas. Now, my question is, why would the administration intentionally put people, including many blue collar workers, out of business and out of work?

These new taxes are punishing the little guy, and when they go after the little guys, they're going to have to stop the drilling. There will also be fewer refineries.

Natural gas is the clean burning transition fuel of the future, and you have to drill a hole in the ground to get it. Natural gas will be the bridge until we have something else to transition to. We can't switch to an all-illusionary green energy resource that doesn't yet exist overnight. But we have 100 to 150 years of proven natural gas reserves in just our own country. You have to drill for it. It's in the ground. Some of it's underwater. But it's a clean-energy fuel.

How can the administration justify subsidizing a green technology that doesn't even exist but they won't let the small oil and gas independents deduct a part of their risk drilling for natural gas?

Nearly 60 percent of our oil comes from other countries all over the world, and most of those countries don't like us. If we kill off the independent oil and gas industry in America, what are we going to do? Try to import more oil?

I probably represent more refineries than any other Member of Congress. If this legislation passes, it will cost southeast Texas billions of dollars in new taxes. It will hammer the refinery industry and put thousands out of work.

Now, why would the administration target America's energy producers? Why would we want to send more money to countries in the Middle East? Why would we want to send more money to Hugo Chavez? Wouldn't that money be better spent on American energy provided by American companies who offer jobs here in America?

So what are we going to do right now if we drastically reduce America's energy production, if we cut our ability to deliver natural gas? Are we going to just sit at home and freeze in the dark?

Most places, except in big cities, there is no public transportation. How are people supposed to get to work? Where I represent in southeast Texas, people drive to work. Their vehicle sometimes is their car--it's called a pickup truck.

The energy-killing policies are proposed by the administration this year, not 10 years from now, but it's in the next budget. It will kill off American jobs. It will kill off productivity. It will make America more vulnerable to our enemies, and it will send money, American money, overseas, and it will continue to make us dependent on foreign countries for our oil. It's not a good idea to destroy America's energy industry. The government should not tax our energy industry out of business.

And that's just the way it is.

Mr. Speaker, in the Netherlands, it's against the law now to hurt somebody's feelings. Don't dare offend anyone or the speech police will cart you off to the courthouse and try you for the violation of the insensitivity laws.

Dutch lawmaker Geert Wilders made a documentary movie of real terrorist acts, real radical Islamic clerics encouraging violence in the name of hate; now, Wilders is on trial for insulting Islam. He is charged with discrimination and incitement to hatred.

The Dutch Ministry of Justice has stated, ``It is irrelevant whether Wilders might prove his observations to be correct. What's relevant is his observations are illegal.''

In Amsterdam, truthful insult speech is a crime. What kind of free society says truthful speech can be illegal?

Freedom of speech is a universal human right granted by God, especially if the speech is political or religious or truthful. All who believe in the human right of free speech should be offended and insulted by the insensitive words of the Amsterdam courts.

And that's just the way it is.

We keep hearing about how great the trillion-dollar stimulus bill was and how well it has worked. It has been 1 year or so, so lest we forget, let's see where some of that stimulus money got spent.

In Buffalo, New York, the State university got about $400,000 to study the effects of drinking malt liquor while smoking pot. For 3 weeks, 100 people are paid $45 a day of taxpayer money to drink malt liquor and smoke a little marijuana--this party stupor paid for by Americans throughout the country.

Taxpayers are footing the bill for other parties, like the one in Boca Raton, Florida. But this one is not for people, this one is for lab mice. That is right, Atlantic University is getting about $15,000 for two summer researchers to measure how alcohol affects a mouse's motor functions. I wonder where the PETA people are on this one. Now, do these drunk lab mice count as jobs saved or jobs created? We don't know.

We are not through. In Nebraska, we are funding another wasteful bridge project. First we had the Cornhusker Kickback, and now Americans are sending $7 million to Thelford, Nebraska, to build a bridge. That doesn't sound so bad, but this $7 million bridge is so 168 people don't have to wait so long to cross a railroad track. Sounds like we are wasting money. By the way, that is $43,000 per person waiting for that train.

And the U.S. Forest Service is getting $2.8 million in stimulus money to spend on wildfire management in Washington, D.C. But the problem is Washington, D.C. doesn't have a national forest. But that doesn't make any difference to the bureaucrats. In Washington, you don't need a forest to get wildfire management funds; you just need out-of-control spending.

The Florida Department of Transportation, and this is my favorite one of all, is spending $3.4 million in stimulus funds to build a turtle tunnel in Tallahassee. A turtle tunnel in Tallahassee, Florida; $3.4 million. That is about four times as much money as the average working American will earn in their entire life. But the stimulus slush fund is doling out $3.4 million for the turtle tunnel for turtles to cross the highway. Before we had a stimulus bill, Mr. Speaker, how did the turtle cross the road? For that money we could get the turtles limos to cross that street.

The Picher Housing Authority in Oklahoma, here is another one, received $135,000 in stimulus money to remodel homes and businesses at the Tar Creek Superfund site. The most obvious problem with that scenario is the Tar Creek Superfund site is scheduled to be destroyed. It is going to be remodeled and then destroyed. Only the Federal Government would spend taxpayer money to fix up a home and then a few years later pay to tear it down.

Mr. Speaker, this whole philosophy of the stimulus project and fiasco is a flawed premise. It is the idea that we can take taxpayer money and give it to the government, and then the government can decide how special folks, special projects will get that money and spend that money for government make-work programs. See, these aren't real jobs; these are jobs that the taxpayers have to pay for, jobs that aren't permanent, that will eventually go away.

Real jobs are not created by Uncle Sam. Real jobs are created by the private sector. We call those people small business communities. And they can make real jobs where other taxpayers don't have to pay for those jobs. And that is when more businesses have more of their own money, rather than paying taxes to the Federal Government so the government can decide which special friends throughout the government to get this stimulus money.

Mr. Speaker, the American people are fed up with this insanity. They are telling Washington stop the spending. They are saying no, stop the spending. Stop the wasteful projects. Stop the fraud, stop the abuse. Stop borrowing money. We don't have the money for all these projects, so we borrow it. And of course we borrow it from our friends, the Chinese. Sixty percent of our debt is owned by the Chinese. And of course someday there is going to be a day of reckoning. We are going to have to pay back that money. And that will be paid back in the form of taxes or it will be paid back by people yet to be born.

The White House seems to want to spend the people into the poor house, mortgage off their homes, the mineral rights, and then pay for this massive spending bill.

And that's just the way it is.

Madam Speaker, on rollcall Nos. 49 and 50 I was prevented from voting due to official business in the district. Had I been present, I would have voted ``yea'' on both.

Madam Speaker, after more than fifty years of working for The Beaumont Enterprise newspaper, Marie Richard has decided to retire. She is the longtime assistant to the editor and very well known throughout the company and the community.

She began her newspaper career in 1959. At the age of twenty, she started working for the Beaumont Enterprise newspaper, and now at the age of seventy, she is ending her wonderful career.

She is recognized for fortifying relationships with the newspaper's customers; an aspect of her job she has enjoyed the most. She is also recognized for her work with the newspaper's

annual holiday fund drive. Her dedication to the people of the Second District of Texas is truly heartfelt.

Madam Speaker, the Second District of Texas is proud to have such a wonderful individual in its community. We have no doubt that the newspaper will miss Marie Richard and her dedication to the people of Beaumont, Texas.

Mr. Speaker, where, oh where, have the jobs gone?

Where, oh where, can they be?

With the people so mad and the economy so bad

Where, oh where, can the jobs be?

Well, the administration is planning on killing the Constellation space program at NASA. This will cost about 7,000 scientists and engineers their jobs at NASA in Houston. About 30,000 people nationwide in related work will be looking for jobs.

NASA has led the United States into being the world's greatest exploration country, and now the shuttle program is also ending. So in the future, if Americans wish to travel in space, they will need to hitch a ride with the Russians because we won't have the vehicles to travel in space. And of course China intends on being the number one space exploration country in the future as well. It looks like we are giving away our leadership and our dominance in space.

So where, oh where, have the jobs gone?

Where, oh where, can they be?

They are going overseas to the Russians and Chinese

That's where they shall be.

And that's just the way it is.

Madam Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may consume.

Madam Speaker, I'm proud to join my colleague, Mr. Murphy, in supporting and sponsoring H.R. 3695, the ``Help Find the Missing Act'' or ``Billy's Law,'' as we call it.

It's my pleasure today to speak in support of a commonsense piece of legislation that probably should have been passed years ago. I would like to thank my colleague, Congressman Murphy, for taking this worthy cause and asking me to work with him on it.

I'd also like to thank a citizen of our Nation, Janice Smolinski, the mother of Billy Smolinski, for whom this bill is named. Without her devotion and the time that she spent on this issue, Billy's Law never would have happened. Her work, along with the response of her representative, Congressman Murphy, to create this legislation is an example of Congress working the way our Founders intended it to.

Janice Smolinski talked to her congressman, Mr. Murphy. He listened. He responded. He moved quickly, and thus this piece of legislation is brought to the House to solve this problem.

In the years since her son's disappearance, Janice Smolinski has worked to improve our Nation's reporting system for the missing so that other families do not have to suffer as she did. As we vote today on Billy's Law, it is imperative for us to remember how important this bill is to people like Janice Smolinski all over the country.

There is a great need to improve our Nation's tracking of missing persons and identification of unknown and unidentified remains. This bill is a big step in fulfilling both of these goals.

Every year, tens of thousands of Americans disappear. They go missing, never to be seen by their loved ones again. In 2009, there were more than 100,000 missing persons records active in the FBI's National Crime Information Center.

Simultaneously, medical examiners and coroners across the country are holding tens of thousands of unidentified remains. There are an estimated 40,000 sets of unidentified remains being held by coroners throughout the country.

But as of January 2009, the NCIC database contains only 7,000 records of unidentified remains. This means that medical examiners and coroners offices are not recording in the NCIC database many of the unidentified remains they hold. Consequently, it is likely that many missing person cases remain open for failure to connect missing person profiles with unidentified remains that are being held.

There are many Federal, State, local, and nonprofit databases designed to help, but these databases are not sufficiently accessible to the public, and they do not do a good job of sharing information with each other.

Billy's Law addresses all of these concerns by increasing funding for a national, online repository and reporting system called NamUs, the National Missing and Unidentified Persons System. Billy's Law provides that the

FBI's NCIC database share information on missing and unidentified persons with the NamUs database system.

The goal is to have corners, medical examiners, law enforcement agents, and the public all reporting information to and getting information from one centralized Web site, NamUs.

Billy's Law also requires the Attorney General to establish a program to provide grants to qualifying medical examiners, coroners and law enforcement agencies for the purpose of facilitating better reporting of missing persons and unidentified remains to the NCIC and NamUs databases.

Having served as a prosecutor in Texas for over 8 years and a felony court judge for 22 years, I know firsthand the toll that violent crime puts on communities, but specifically on families. This pain is made even worse when a family of a victim is not able to determine what exactly happened to their missing loved one. Often, families have to wait for months or years until they can find closure. Some families, like the Smolinskis, never find out what happened to their loved one.

Shortly after I was elected to Congress, I started the Victims' Rights Caucus. This Caucus is a bipartisan group of Members of Congress, cochaired by myself and Mr. Costa from California, that supports legislation and advocates for policies that will help victims of crime in the United States and the families of victims. H.R. 3695 is one of these bills.

Billy's Law is supported by the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children, the National Organization of Police Associations, and the National Association of Medical Examiners.

I urge all my colleagues to support this bill.

I reserve the balance of my time.

Madam Speaker, I yield 3 minutes to the gentlewoman from Florida (Ms. Ginny Brown-Waite) who is a cosponsor of this legislation and who has also worked in the past on similar legislation.

I yield myself such time as I may consume.

I want to thank the chairman, Chairman Scott, for bringing this legislation to the House floor as quickly as he has done, and, of course, Mr. Murphy from Connecticut, the excellent job he has done to bring this legislation to our attention and make sure that this House creates a system where people can find their loved ones.

As a parent, the worst thing that any parent could hear is the fact that their child has disappeared. That would bring terror and fear into any parent. As a parent of four kids, I know that. I think about that constantly.

When Janice Smolinski learned that her son, Billy, had disappeared, she, like every mother would do, was relentless in finding out as much as she could about his disappearance. Unfortunately, she met a lot of stone walls in the criminal justice system. She had put posters up all over her neighborhood. She called everybody she knew. She called the police, and she got on the Internet trying to find out ways she could locate Billy. She was relentless in that pursuit.

And then she came in contact with her Congressman. The old statement ``call your Congressman,'' it worked, and it should have worked in this case and it worked well.

I commend her and other people like her who work to find their loved ones but also to make our system better. So when people that disappear, we are able to find out as much as we can about their disappearance and where they are because we're all in this together.

My grandmother used to say that there is nothing more powerful than a woman who has made up her mind. This is a perfect example of that. Janice Smolinski, a mother, a lady, has done everything she can to find Billy, and now it's time for Congress to do what it can to make sure that all of these different organizations that have information are connected through the Internet, through sophisticated technology, so that we can keep up with all of these children who turn up missing.

I yield back the balance of my time.