Floor Statements

Mr. Speaker, disturbing news: the U.S. military is smaller in size than any time in the last 50 years and continues to shrink, according to USA Today. But those who apply are larger than ever.

Only 1.4 million people wear the military uniform; 95 percent of those are Reservists and National Guard troops. So the number of full- time military troops is small considering 300 million people live in the U.S. So why the shrinking military? One reason, more Americans do not qualify. To be in the best military in the world one must be

in good medical shape, but two-thirds of the 17- to 24-year-olds that volunteer are disqualified. The number one reason? They are overweight. We have too many young people who are too big to join up.

This Nation as a whole cannot continue to travel the ever-widening path of obesity because large people don't fit into the military. As the size of the military unfortunately trims down, the waistline of those who apply continues to grow.

Mr. Speaker, overweight kids have become a national security issue.

And that's just the way it is.

Mr. Speaker, on the desolate Arizona-Mexico board last week, a border agent was apprehending seven illegals when a fight broke out at the scene. The border agent shot one of the illegals. The Mexican Government, in its self-righteous arrogance and without knowing any of the facts, has already condemned the border agent.

President Calderon, like Generalisimo Fox before him, is partly responsible for this incident. Why? Because his government encourages illegals to sneak into America. The blood of the dead is on the hands of the Mexican Government.

Meanwhile, back in Texas, a criminal illegal from Mexico, having been deported several times, is charged with

the murder of a Houston police officer by shooting him in the back. Don't hear much outrage and protest from President Calderon on this case. Why not? President Calderon needs to quit blaming the U.S. for problems he is responsible for in Mexico because his people are fleeing Mexico's third-world environment. He needs to quit encouraging illegals to go to America. He needs to quit making his problem our problem; otherwise, more Americans and Mexicans will continue to die on the border.

And that's just the way it is.

When foreigners commit crimes, serve their time, they should be sent back to their native land; but some jurisdictions ignore this commonsense idea and foreigners are not deported. In fact, an audit ordered by this Congress showed that foreign citizens get arrested, go to jail, and on an average--get this--six more times they are arrested after they are released from American jails and not deported. That's right, foreigners commit a crime, go to jail, then cities let them hang around to commit more crime in the ``Land of the Free.''

The Federal Government has even dumped taxpayer dollars into jurisdictions to help the cost of jailing these foreign criminals. Some jurisdictions take the money but don't help with sending these outlaws back home. San Francisco took $1 million, but, folks, it is a ``City of Refuge''; in other words, give us your tired, your poor foreign criminals who steal and rob that are yearning to be free, and we will let them stay in the City by the Bay.

Foreigners who commit crime should go to jail and then be sent back across the seas where they belong.

And that's just the way it is.

I want to thank my friend from Texas for yielding some time.

Mr. Speaker, where I come from in southeast Texas, that area of the State is called the energy capital of the world. We have numerous refineries, petrochemical plants, and hundreds of offshore rigs. Energy byproducts from these areas are shipped all over the country, even to States that won't allow refineries and, heaven forbid, those offshore rigs near their shores.

This is a tax bill, and Economics 101 says when you tax something, you get less of it. Now, we will get less energy because of this bill.

This tax bill will discourage energy independence. It will increase gasoline prices; it will discourage American exploration; it will increase dependence on foreign countries and OPEC; it will cost Americans jobs, especially those in my district. It takes money and invests it in alternative energy.

Investment is a politically correct word for Federal subsidies for special interest groups. Alternative energy is necessary, but this bill doesn't do that, and this bill breaks a contract this government signed. Now we want to legalize contract breaking with oil companies like they do in Bolivia and Venezuela.

So if this bill passes, Americans need to get their checkbooks out because Americans are going to pay more at the pump. Americans always have to pay.

Mr. Speaker, a new terrorist has just been captured in Florida. Not an international terrorist, but a homegrown domestic one.

The facts are hard to comprehend, but here they are, according to the Associated Press. A husband took his wife on a canoe trip, and finding a wilderness spot, he took her ashore and then he raped her. He tied his naked wife to a tree and assaulted her with the butt of a knife. He let her hang on the tree for over 2 hours, then he took her off and raped her again. All the while, get this, he was videotaping this ghastly, dastardly crime. This crime is one of intimidation, degradation and humiliation.

Mr. Speaker, rape is a crime where the deviant tries to destroy the soul of the victim. When the assault occurs in the family, the domestic rape is even worse.

Now the hubby is facing a multitude of criminal charges, as it ought to be. Wives are not male property and these crimes are not to be excused as a domestic problem.

The offender should be given quick, accurate justice, and then tell him to pack his toothbrush, because justice is a thing we are going to find and demand life behind bars in this case.

And that's just the way it is.

Mr. Speaker, the Federal Government, this body, the body down the hallway, for some time has been talking about amnesty, amnesty for anywhere between 12 million and almost 20 million illegal people in the United States.

Well, I would like to talk about amnesty, but not for people who are illegally in the country, because I am opposed to that. But I would like to talk about amnesty for Americans, citizens, and I only want to talk about amnesty for two of those citizens. They are border agents who have been convicted of so-called civil rights violations of an illegal drug smuggler bringing drugs to the United States.

Two border agents, Compean and Ramos, today went to the penitentiary for 11 and 12 years for doing this. They work on the Texas-Mexico border, a volatile war zone. The border is the second front, and while on duty patrolling the sovereignty of our country, they come across a drug dealer driving a van full of about 780 pounds of marijuana. That does not mean anything, but it is worth a million dollars. That does mean something, something we can relate to.

A confrontation occurs, drug dealer abandons the van, tries to flee back to Mexico, has an altercation with the border agents, shots are fired, he runs to Mexico.

The next thing we find out, our Federal Government chooses to go to Mexico, find this drug dealer, learns that he has been shot, bring him back to America, treat his wounds at American expense, give him a deal, a backroom deal, to testify against the border agents because they did not follow some policy of reporting shots being fired. So they go to court, give the drug dealer amnesty, give the drug dealer immunity.

While waiting to testify, the old drug dealer goes back to Mexico and picks up another load of dope, almost 1,000 pounds of drugs, gets caught by different border agents. Once again, not prosecuted by the Federal Government because the Federal Government is so determined to prosecute border agents, not drug dealers; and after the trial, the border agents were convicted, and now they went to the penitentiary.

Our Federal Government had a choice to make in this case, whether or not to stand on the side of the lawless drug dealer or stand with our border agents who try to enforce the rule of law. Our government chose poorly. They sided with the enemy. They sided with the outlaws. They sided with illegal drug dealers and prosecuted our border agents. I ask the question, why?

If the border agents violated some policy or rule, suspend them, give them days off, demote them, but send them to the penitentiary for 12 years when the drug dealer goes free? This does not pass the smell test or, as we say in Texas, that dog just don't hunt, Mr. Speaker.

So we are asking a very simple thing, some of us from Congress, about 55. We are asking the President to grant amnesty to these two border agents. The administration, Federal Government, talks about amnesty. We just want it for two folks, and the President has the constitutional power to pardon and parole. The President exercised that power, that is his right under the Constitution, almost 100 times in the last 6 years. We are simply asking that the administration exercise the pardon power and pardon these two border agents and send the message to the Border Patrol and all these sheriffs who work on the border, trying to enforce the law, that we will stand beside

you when you try and enforce the law; and also send the message to drug dealers that we are not going to work with you, we are not giving you a deal, we do not work backroom deals with drug dealers; we support our Border Patrol on the Texas-Mexico border.

So, Mr. Speaker, we hope that we get a response from the Federal Government on this pardon. So far, we have not received anything. I think the Federal Government is blissfully indifferent to the plight of these two border agents, and so we would hope that this gets some attention from folks across the country. Over 200,000 people have signed petitions asking that the President pardon both of these border agents; and we hope that that does occur because justice in this case did not occur, because our government chose to be on the wrong side of the border.

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

Madam Speaker, judges have the public duty to protect children from sexual deviants, including those from Vermont.

Mark Hulett molested a 6-year-old girl for 4 years. Reports indicate he even had a history of abusing women. But when he went to court for the child molesting charge, Judge Edward ``Cushy'' Cashman of Vermont put the molester in jail for only 60 days and ordered some ``Kum-Ba- Yah'' type of treatment.

The crime against this little girl is a human rights violation. The judge condoned the violation by not punishing the criminal. Has the judge made Vermont a safe sanctuary State for child molesters?

Almost everyone in America knows, except Judge Cushy, that you cannot cure child rapists. You keep them away from kids. You lock them up in jail. Why do you think we build those prisons? Judge Cushy should be held accountable and removed from the bench, then given sensitivity training on the effects of being raped as a child.

Justice will only be served when judges are as concerned about the molested as they are about the molesters, but for now the Judges Hall of Shame has a brand new member.

And that's just the way it is.

Mr. Speaker, last Wednesday, January 10, 2007, the flag flew at half mast in the small coastal town of Sabine Pass, Texas. The neighbors had learned of the sacrifice of their hometown son, Specialist Ryan Berg, who was 19. He was fighting the war in the land of Iraq.

Army Specialist Ryan Berg was an American soldier. When others his age were talking about going to college or working in the nearby refineries, Ryan went to the local Army recruiter's office on his 18th birthday and joined the United States Army, knowing America was at war in Iraq and Afghanistan.

He was proud to be an American, and Ryan chose to serve his Nation. He wanted to make a difference by being an American soldier. Ryan Berg had spent his entire life in Sabine Pass, Texas, and he knew everybody in town. Ryan always planned on returning to his home to live and raise a family after he finished his duty with the United States Army and for America.

Like his mother and his father, Ryan attended and graduated from Sabine Pass School. The Sabine Pass School has all the grades in just one building. Ryan played football, basketball, and golf. Childhood friends of Ryan knew him as an outgoing and friendly guy. One of his friends said, ``There wasn't anything or anyone he didn't like, and everybody liked him.'' He was a gentleman who always helped others who needed it in Sabine Pass.

Ryan knew his calling after high school was to join the United States Army. He simply wanted to protect his country, like he had protected those he knew and loved all his life. He was stationed in Fort Hood, Texas. Ryan met his wife, Katy, in September of 2006, just a few months ago. The young newly wed couple soon received the news that Ryan, like so many others before him, would be sent to the desert sands of Iraq.

He was deployed to Iraq on October 4, 2006, and he was assigned to the 1st Battalion, 12th Calvary Regiment, 3rd Brigade, Alpha Section, 3rd Platoon.

Ryan called home weekly, but the thunder of battle sometimes forced him to quickly end those phone calls. As the 2006 Christmas season approached, Ryan was given last-minute leave to spend the holidays at home in Texas with his family and his neighbors in Sabine Pass.

During Christmas, Scottie, Ryan's mother, held her son tightly and told him that she was not going to let him go back to Iraq. Ryan replied, Mr. Speaker, ``I've got to go back over there. I've got to make it safe for my wife, my mom, my dad, and all those I love.''

Mr. Speaker, amazing people, these Americans who go to war. On January 4, 2007 with nearly a year to go in Iraq, the teenager returned to the battlefront to fight against these insurgents and their terror against the people of Iraq. Ryan was only in Iraq for 5 days when he was shot by a hidden enemy sniper. The wound was fatal.

Last week, 19-year-old U.S. Army Specialist Ryan Berg became the first son of Sabine Pass, Texas, to be killed defending freedom in that land far, far away, of Iraq. For his courage during combat, Ryan was awarded the Purple Heart and the Bronze Star.

The news of his death at the hands of the anarchists stunned the Berg family and the people of Sabine Pass. Through their tears, Ryan's mother and father, Scottie and Travis; his brother Brad, his sister Marissa, and his new wife, Katie, and countless other relatives and friends have, in their anguish, honored the American warrior.

Ryan's loved ones expressed their pride of his service to America and the bravery their soldier exhibited throughout his career. They also asked for the community to pray not only for Ryan but for those soldiers still amid the dusty trenches fighting for freedom and securing liberty.

Those who knew Ryan, and I have a photograph of him, Mr. Speaker, those who knew him, remember his loyalty to his family and to his friends, but not only as a man who never knew a stranger, but Ryan devoted his life to guarding them from danger, those especially who could not stand up for themselves.

This Nation owes its gratitude, its liberties, its freedom, to people like Specialist Ryan Berg and to brave soldiers who have walked the path of sacrifice for the rest of us.

So God bless Sabine Pass, Texas and God bless the Berg family and God Bless Ryan Berg.

It has been said that when the Roving Legions went into battle one of their generals once told his men, ``How you yet live will echo throughout eternity.''

Ryan, your deeds will always speak the example of the spirit of the American soldier.

And that's just the way it is.

Mr. Speaker, Carlos Granados had a bad temper and a bad attitude toward women. This violent predator that had assaulted at least two prior girlfriends moved in with Katherine Jiminez and her 3- year-old son, Anthony, in 1998.

He continued his demonic trait of abuse and began beating her up. She ordered him to leave. Carlos exploded. He attacked her, stabbing her over 30 times, slit her throat, and killed the baby she was pregnant with. The last words Katherine heard her 3-year-old son, Anthony, scream in horror were, ``Don't kill me. I don't want to die. Don't kill me.'' Carlos stabbed Anthony in the heart. Katherine lay helplessly in a pool of her own blood for over a day until she was rescued, but she survived.

On Wednesday, the State of Texas put Carlos Granados in the ground. He was executed for his crimes against women and children.

Katherine's story is not a rare occurrence in the United States. One in four women will become victims of domestic violence in their lifetimes; their children will be likely victims as well.

Love never comes with black eyes, bruises and battery. My grandmother used to tell me, ``You never hurt someone you claim to love.'' Wise words then, and the law now.

And that's just the way it is.

Mr. Speaker, in the darkness of back rooms and the whisper of secret phone calls, American citizens may have been betrayed. Has our government become the Judas?

For the past 2 years, our Federal Government has secretly negotiated and cooperated with the Mexican government to provide illegals a reward for breaking American law. Not only will illegal entry be forgiven by amnesty but, get this, illegals will be able to apply for and collect American Social Security. The cost of such betrayal is millions of dollars. Hardworking citizens are going to be robbed of Social Security money that they are entitled to. Now many Americans and legal immigrants may not receive Social Security benefits because they will be going to illegals.

Mr. Speaker, illegals are not citizens of this country, and they should not be taking the benefits entitled to law-abiding American citizens and legal immigrants. It is morally wrong to expect Americans to pay money to people that are not even supposed to be on our soil. Illegals should not receive Social Security benefits. The welfare of America is being sold for 30 pieces of silver.

And that's just the way it is.

Mr. Speaker, I bring you news from the second front: the border war continues.

Ninety years after his example, Pancho Villa would be proud knowing that armed banditos from Mexico continue to invade the United States border to harass U.S. citizens, and the U.S. Government won't do what is necessary to stop this invasion.

The Associated Press reports on January 3 of this year: gun-toting Mexican outlaws encountered U.S. National Guard troops along the U.S.- Mexico border near Sasabe, Arizona. After supposedly bringing drugs into our land, these outlaws were headed back home to Mexico when they overran this Arizona National Guard ``outpost.''

Make no mistake about it. These criminals were not ``undocumented migrant workers'' who daily cross the U.S. border illegally, but fierce outlaws armed with AK-47 automatic rifles. They were taking full advantage of our weak border rules of engagement policy, or shall I say non-policy.

According to the National Guard, the gunmen defiantly approached our border troops in what was described as an ``aggressive manner.'' But instead of holding steady against this threatening approach, our Guardsmen fled. That's right, they retreated. Why? Because it is the policy that the National Guard may not fire their weapons unless fired upon or in danger of serious bodily injury and can only fire if no civilians are in close proximity.

In other words, when approached by armed intruders, the National Guard must flee. With these restrictions, the hostility left troops with the only choice they had, follow the retreat when confronted policy.

An ongoing investigation into the January 3 threat is being conducted by the U.S. Border and Customs Patrol. A spokesman for the U.S. Customs and Border Patrol stated, ``The exceptional job of these agents and troops is angering drug dealers, and that is probably the reason that they were so bold, and that heightened frustration may be connected'' with the incursion on January 3 and overrunning the outpost.

These narcoterrorists act as if America is their country and the National Guard are the intruders. Our government must allow our troops to engage the criminal invaders. If they come onto our land armed, we should fight, not flee from the scene. The war on the border is escalating. Ignoring these attacks only encourages Mexican drug dealers to be more aggressive in their criminal enterprises.

Homeland security begins at home by protecting our borders from these illegal invaders. In the days of Pancho Villa, banditos encroached upon the border on horseback. But U.S. soldiers and Texas Rangers fought back and took control of our border. Now these banditos come across by any means necessary: in Humvees, in the backs of trucks, on foot, and they are saddled with deadly fire power. They traffic drugs, illegal aliens, and they are armed while doing it.

In 1916, our government ordered thousands of National Guardsmen to protect the borders and to protect U.S. citizens. General John J. Pershing did that. He defended our borders, and he chased banditos back to Mexico.

In 2007, the U.S. Government has once again called the National Guard to protect and defend. But the U.S. engagement policy is beneficial only to the intruders by not allowing the National Guard to defend themselves or our sovereignty with their weapons.

How is the National Guard to shield our country from this invasion when they can't capture armed bandits? Or should they be called ``undocumented firearm enthusiasts''? If our National Guard is on the border, they should be allowed to protect our country from hostile invaders using any means necessary. After all, they are the National Guard, not national bird watchers. Let's not send our National Guard or border agents to perform a task with a no-detain or no-shoot policy. Otherwise, how can they protect America?

Armed renegades attacking our borders are invaders and should be treated as such. Mexico refuses to crack down on their criminals encroaching on U.S. land. In fact, they encourage this intrusion.

Has our Nation lost the moral will to protect our border? We protect the border of other nations. We protect the Korean border. We protect the Iraqi border. Let us protect our own border. A line must be drawn in the sand ordering these desperados to leave or the U.S. Calvary will deal with them like General Pershing did 100 years ago.

And that's just the way it is.

Madam Speaker, A bullet tells a story . . . Tells lawmen the gun it belongs to, identifies the outlaw that fired it. In Jefferson County, Texas, it proves an attempted capital murder.

Gang thugs--with disregard to the property of others--robbed a used- car lot in Port Arthur, TX. When the owner appeared, a coward amid the cloak of darkness fired his pistol.

Unaware he was an expert marksman, the wounded owner was able to return fire, striking the hidden gunman.

The bullet, pointing to the triggerman, now lays embedded in the suspect's forehead.

Refusing its removal, search warrants were issued ordering doctors to extract it.

Doctors backed down and have ignored the Judge's order. The excuse by the doctors: the removal would require the suspect to undergo surgery.

These doctors are confused who the real victim is. Not the outlaw with the mark of Cain, but the valiant survivor who took on his would- be assassin.

In direct defiance of a judge's order, citing the criminal's alleged right to deny treatment, these doctors have thumbed their noses, like insolent children, at our Nation's criminal justice system.

Madam Speaker, this ought not to be. Justice must be served . . . the bullet must tell its story.

And that's just the way it is.

Mr. Speaker, in the small border town of Rocksprings, Texas, where drug smugglers and human smugglers sneak across the Rio Grande into America, lone Deputy Sheriff Gilmer Hernandez was on patrol. In the stillness of the vast night, a speeding Suburban runs a red light. Deputy Hernandez, 25, stops the vehicle, but suddenly, without warning, the vehicle takes off. Deputy Hernandez says the vehicle tried to run him down. The lawman fires several shots, one of which shoots out the rear tire, just like in the movies.

The vehicle stops, and eight or nine illegals jump out and take off running into the sagebrush. One illegal had a minor injury from a bullet. The U.S. Government rounds up six or seven of the illegals and, guess what, prosecutes Deputy Hernandez, claiming he recklessly discharged his firearm and uses the illegals as witnesses against the lawman during a trial.

Citizens of his town are mad. One said, ``Our deputy's in jail for doing his job.''

Mr. Speaker, another example of how the Federal Government is more concerned about people illegally invading America than it is about the men who protect America. Once again, our government is on the wrong side of the border war.

And that's just the way it is.

Mr. Speaker, it is said that justice is the one thing you should always find. You have to saddle up the boys, you have to draw a hard line. Justice is the one thing you should always find.

Those lyrics are from a song by Willie Nelson, not quite the legal scholar most of us would think, but a true statement nonetheless.

But justice is the one thing you can't find on the Texas-Mexico border, and recent events show that.

Not too long ago, two of our border agents, Jose Compean and Ignacio Ramos were doing their job on the Texas-Mexico border, on patrol keeping illegals out of the United States.

They come in contact with a drug dealer who sees them and takes off running in his van. His van happened to have 700-plus pounds of marijuana. That is not just for personal use, Mr. Speaker, that is worth $1 million on the market in Texas. He sees the two drug agents. He flees, jumps out of the van and tries to cross the Rio Grande River. The facts are in dispute as to what occurs. There is a fight with the agents. The agents say the drug dealer had a weapon pointed at them. After the smoke cleared, the drug dealer gets shot in the buttocks and runs back to Mexico.

I say: Well done, border agents. Give them a medal. But that is not what our Federal Government decided to do. Our Federal Government decided to go to Mexico, find this drug dealer, a habitual offender that brings drugs into the United States, and give him immunity to testify against the two border agents, bring him back to the United States and let him testify in a so-called trumped up civil rights violation.

But while waiting to testify, he crosses the border again and given immunity, yes, a second time for bringing drugs into the United States.

After the trial was over with, both of these drug agents were prosecuted for enforcing the law, doing the job that they are supposed to. A week from today, these two border agents will be taken to the Federal penitentiary to serve 10 and 11 years respectively.

Mr. Speaker, this ought not to be. Our Federal Government chose the wrong side in this case. They chose the enemy side in this case.

Mr. Speaker, what are our border agents to do when somebody flees, being a drug dealer, and tries to go back to Mexico? What are they supposed to do? Are they supposed to say, ``Halt in the name of the law''?

Mr. Speaker, those days are over in this country.

So either they can enforce the law or they can't enforce the law. Enforcing the law on the Texas border is unenforceable. It is a lawless border because our Federal Government always chooses the wrong side.

Today, Jose Compean and his wife, Patty, were here in Washington, DC. Many Members of Congress in this House on both sides talked to them about the facts of this case and their lives and how it has been changed. All Jose Compean ever wanted to do was be a border agent for the United States and protect the dignity of this country, and he is being punished for that.

So our government had a choice, the choice to be on the side of the drug dealer or the border agents; the choice to be on the side of the illegals or the legals; the side of crime or crime fighters. And our government chose poorly, Mr. Speaker. This ought not to be.

My prior career before becoming a Member of Congress was as a judge in Texas. I heard over 25,000 felony cases of all types. And I am here to tell you, based on what I know about this case, a great injustice has occurred not only to our border agents but to our country.

Our Federal Government needs to take a stand for border security, enforce the rule of law and support those that we have put down to the border with few utensils to protect the dignity of this country.

Yes, Mr. Speaker, justice is the one thing we should always find. We had better find it on the Texas-Mexico border, or injustice will rule the day and this country will pay for it by failing to enforce the rule of law in failing to keep illegal drug dealers out of this Nation.

And that's just the way it is.

Madam Speaker, in West Texas, football has been king since the beginning of time. Other sports were ``foreign'' to the flat, dry plains. Then somebody from a college in Indiana showed up, with a round ball and changed the Texas sports landscape. Bob ``The General'' Knight became the head coach of the Texas Tech Red Raiders men's basketball team--yes, basketball. On January 1, 2007, the threshold into a new year, Knight crossed another important threshold--becoming the winningest coach ever in NCAA Division I basketball with a total of 880 victories. This record came in a win, by Texas Tech, over the University of New Mexico Lobos, with a score of 70-68. The previous record holder was Dean Smith, head coach of the University of North Carolina. Coach Knight has made basketball at Texas Tech into a cause and crusade.

A review of Knight's collegiate coaching career is in order. We start where Knight, himself, started--the West Point Military Academy. It was there that Knight earned his first head coaching job at the extraordinarily young age of 24. It was at West Point that Knight earned the nickname ``The General.'' His tenure at West Point produced a basketball record of 102 wins and 50 losses.

After West Point, Knight went on to the basketball state of Indiana, and the University of Indiana Hoosiers, in 1971. Leading the Hoosiers is where the achievements began to pile up in the trophy room. Knight's accomplishments boast three National Championships (1976, 1981, and 1987), a never replicated, undefeated season (1976), eleven Big Ten Conference titles (1973-1976, 1980-1981, 1983, 1987, 1989, 1991, 1993), National Coach of the Year (1975, 1976, 1987, 1989), and Big Ten Coach of the Year (1973, 1975, 1976, 1980, 1981). As a Hoosier, Knight averaged a 73% success rate with 662 wins and 239 losses.

Outside of the NCAA national championships, Knight has led teams to three other championships. In 1979, the Hoosiers won the NIT Championship. Also, in 1979, Knight coached the Pan American team to a gold medal. In 1984, Knight had the privilege of leading the U.S. men's basketball team to a Gold Medal at the Summer Olympics in Los Angeles. On May 13, 1991, Knight was memorialized when he was inducted, for his coaching, in the Naismith Basketball Hall of Fame.

In 2001, Knight accepted the head coach position at Texas Tech and quickly turned the program around into a winning organization. Coach takes ordinary players and teaches them to perform above their ability. We can expect to see the Red Raider's basketball team to continue to excel in the future.

Finally, it is worth noting that Knight's accomplishments extend beyond the court, beyond the victories--He is first and foremost a teacher. High graduation rates mark his teams, and many excellent players, most notably Isaiah Thomas, have gone on to professional and Hall of Fame glory. Also, 16 former assistant coaches of Knight have gone on to become head coaches at the collegiate level.

So, Madam Speaker, as the New Year rings in, I commend Bob Knight for excellence in leadership of America's youth. The West Texas sports landscape has, yes, changed forever.

That's just the way it is.