Floor Statements

Mr. Speaker, in a few days Americans will see the face of the enemy. He will set foot on American soil and speak before the United Nations.

President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad of Iran, the person who denies the Holocaust ever happened and wants Israel decimated and destroyed, insists he is not making nuclear bombs but just nuclear power. No one believes him, and why should we?

This is the same man who is accused of holding U.S. soldiers hostage after taking the U.S. embassy in Tehran. And some people say this picture proves it; here he is with an American hostage that he is holding.

But the Iranian attack on our embassy in 1979 is overshadowed by IEDs in Iraq, supplied by Iran, to kill American soldiers every day. In a recent interview, he did not deny having suicide bombers ready to strike America.

We would never have invited Lenin, Stalin, Hitler or Mussolini to the U.S. Now we are welcoming this terrorist on American soil. Instead of receiving keys to the city, shouldn't he receive keys to the jailhouse?

And that's just the way it is.

Mr. Speaker, I appreciate Chairman King's work on this bill showing that it is a national security issue and not just a problem that we have in the Southwest. Many in this Congress have been following what they believe to be the absurd anti-American prosecution of two Border Patrol agents, Ignacio Ramos and Jose Compean, who were doing their jobs to protect the U.S. border and protect drugs from entering America.

Instead they were improperly put on trial for what the U.S. Attorney who prosecuted this case said was the unlawful pursuit of an illegal invader into this Nation who was bringing 800 pounds of dope into this country.

One part of the bill that I wish to highlight is section 5. This portion directs the Border Patrol to make clear the policy on pursuit and whether the authority should even be expanded. The Border Patrol lists among its objectives to detect, apprehend and deter drug smugglers. Our Border Patrol agents in the field need a clear, all- inclusive pursuit policy to show that we are serious about defending the border.

This bill will show our Border Patrol agents we are more concerned about them and border security than we are about drug smugglers. Anything less makes our Border Patrol nothing more than highly specialized and trained Wal-Mart greeters.

I urge adoption of this bill.

Mr. Speaker, the battle on the second front continues, and the U.S. Government shows it is on the wrong side of the border war.

Two border patrol agents named Ramos and Compean chased a drug dealer down on the Mexico-Texas border. Gun shots were exchanged. The drug smuggler fled back to safety in Mexico, leaving his van and 800 pounds of dope on the American side.

The U.S. decided to prosecute. The U.S. Attorney went to Mexico, found the drug dealer, took him to America, treated his bullet wounds, and then, get this, gave him immunity to testify against agents Compean and Ramos for their shooting him, the criminal.

Both border agents were convicted by an overzealous prosecutor that was looking for pelts in her belt. She appeared to have more loyalty to Mexico than to America because she was on the wrong side.

Both agents await sentencing. The two border agents should have been given medals and sent back down to the border to bag another drug dealer instead of being prosecuted.

Yet another example of how our government is more concerned about illegals and drug dealers than they are about America and Americans.

And that's just the way it is.

Mr. Speaker, more news from the second front, the border war continues. He is not even in office yet, but he is already planning the invasion into America like Generalissimo Fox did.

Commander Felipe Calderon's election is being disputed and his opponent is trying to set up a parallel government. But his top concern is what many Americans call our biggest crisis, illegal entry into the United States.

Instead of dealing with the turmoil, corruption and economic problems in Mexico, Calderon is vowing to push immigration amnesty through our Congress by letting millions of Mexicans into the United States.

Generalissimo Fox tried unsuccessfully to intimidate Congress by pushing an amnesty bill, but Commander Calderon is even more arrogant by telling the press the White House is even on board.

This undeclared war against the United States results in making Mexico's problem an American problem.

Our Nation needs to understand that we are being invaded, and we must be engaged in this undeclared war by having the moral will to protect our borders.

And that's just the way it is.

Mr. Speaker, Congress is back in session, and our first major piece of legislation, to protect horses. You see, three or four places in America buy old horses and sell the meat to the French, for goodness sake, so we are going to protect American horses.

So we are going to protect American horses, the likes of Silver, Trigger and Buttercup, from the carnivorous French. This horse security bill will even provide a sanctuary or rest home for those old horses. Well, this Congress needs to be as concerned about border security as we are about horse security.

We need a border security bill with no add-ons that even the Senate will approve. Deal with border security before we talk about the contentious issues of immigration and illegals in this country. Why are we putting horse security at the forefront and not border security?

The American public expects and deserves better. Protecting America's borders should be our first priority. That needs to be our first duty. Stop the invasion at the border, then we can worry about the Europeans eating our horses, otherwise our country will ride off like the Lone Ranger and a ``Heigh-Ho Silver'' into the sunset of history.

And that's just the way it is.

Mr. Speaker, the battle for the border continues. Our recent terrorism hearings on the crimes inflicted on America by illegals brought forth almost universal testimony that illegals in this country contribute a vast over-percentage of violent crime and street crime, from theft to rape to murder.

Only one witness, a banker, said illegals do not affect crime rates in his border town of Laredo, Texas, this despite the overwhelming contradictory testimony of his own sheriff and numerous lawmen.

When the banker was questioned about his motives, that his bank makes money off deposits by illegals, and they are shipping their money south, he told the Wall Street Journal he felt attacked.

Well, it is American communities that are under attack, Mr. Speaker. The banks and the wire services that profit off illegals can and should charge a fee for each transaction. That money would be used to compensate crime victims and pay for health care and education costs of illegals. Americans are paying these costs of illegals. Now it is time illegals pay.

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

Mr. Speaker, we have all suffered setbacks in our lives. For most of us, millions of people are not watching as monumental tragedy unfolds in a matter of seconds.

This was the case for family and friends of the astronauts who tragically died in the Columbia Shuttle disaster in 2003. In that instant, the folks at NASA lost their friends and coworkers in the Space Shuttle Columbia tragedy. It was a moment they will never forget. It was a moment that has created great sorrow and an intense pressure for perfect missions.

NASA employees, have vowed to use hard work and determination, to never again make the same mistakes. It is with that determination that they completed their second journey into space after Columbia, and it was a perfect mission.

Today I congratulate all seven members of the STS-121 mission, and the countless men and women who supported them throughout their successful 13-day, five million-mile journey. This second successful space mission since the Columbia tragedy, marks the new standard of success NASA has resolved to meet and exceed.

The Commander of STS-121, Col. Steve Lindsey was also mission commander on a space flight in 2001. He flew as pilot on 2 previous shuttle missions, and he has logged more than 1,000 hours in space. A graduate of the U.S. Air Force Academy, and the Air Force Institute of Technology he has been the recipient of many awards and medals, including the Distinguished Flying Cross, three NASA Space Flight Medals, the NASA Outstanding Leadership Medal, and the NASA Exceptional Service Medal. He and his wife Diane have three children.

Pilot Mark Kelly has logged 12 days in space. His dream to become an astronaut started with Alan Shepard, the first American to fly into space. A graduate of the U.S. Merchant Marine Academy, he flew 39 combat missions in Operation Desert Storm. He has logged over 4,000 flight hours in more than 50 different aircraft and has served as a pilot on STS-108. With this latest mission, he has logged almost 25 days in space. He is also the father of two children.

Mission Specialist Michael Fossum, wasn't always an astronaut. Before riding into the heavens he was a NASA Systems Engineer, charged with evaluating the use of the Russian Soyuz spacecraft as a viable emergency escape vehicle for the space station. He also represented the Flight Crew Operations Directorate during the redesign of the International Space Station. Once a Capsule Communicator, CAPCOM, in Mission Control, Fossum was able to log more than 306 hours in space during STS-121. He and his wife Melanie have four children.

Mission Specialist Lisa Nowak, a graduate of the U.S. Naval Academy, made her first space flight on STS-121. She also logged 13 days of space flight time. A former Mission Commander and EW Lead of the Electronic Warfare Aggressor Squadron 34, she also worked in the Astronaut Office Robotics Branch and in NASA Mission Control as prime communicator with on-orbit crews. She and her husband have three children.

A Harvard graduate, Stephanie Wilson served as an astronaut on STS- 121, her first mission into space. She has completed extensive research on controlling and modeling large, flexible space structures. She has worked for the Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena, California, and was a member of the Attitude and Articulation Control Subsystem for the Galileo spacecraft. After working in Mission Control Wilson worked in the Astronaut Office Shuttle Operations Branch, with the Space Shuttle Main Engines, External Tank and Solid Rocket Boosters.

Mission Specialist Piers Sellers is an expert on how the Earth's biosphere and atmosphere interact. His studies have included computer modeling of the climate system, satellite remote sensing studies and climatological field work coordinating aircraft, satellites and ground teams across the world. Sellers also worked part time in Moscow as a technical liaison on ISS computer software. This is his second mission and he has logged more than 559 hours in space, and 6 spacewalks. He and his wife have two children.

Finally, Mission Specialist Thomas Reiter, of Germany is the only astronaut to stay in space during STS-121. He will live aboard the International Space Station and return to Earth aboard Shuttle mission STS-116 or a Russian Soyuz in a few months. He has trained as a cosmonaut and was also involved in European Space Agency, ESA, studies of manned space vehicles and the development of equipment for the International Space Station. He and Russian colleagues were on the crew of ESA-Russian Euromir 95 mission to the Mir Space Station. Reiter was the on-board engineer for the record-breaking 179-day mission. He performed some 40 European scientific experiments and performed two spacewalks. He and his wife have two sons.

Each astronaut on this mission and the countless people who supported them accomplished great tasks, to help our space program move forward, in characteristic giant steps.

NASA equipped this shuttle with more cameras to improve views and data from all angles of the shuttle during and after launch. Piers Sellers and Mike Fossum performed spacewalks to test equipment, remove and replace power, command and data cables on International Space Station equipment. They also tested techniques for inspecting and repairing the Shuttle mid-flight while also successfully transferring 14 tons of equipment to the ISS.

Mr. Speaker today I congratulate the NASA space program for enduring great tragedy, and turning it into a monumental success, again. They are doing what we all hope to have the strength and power to do during times of great adversity, they are facing the challenge and then conquering it.

I wish everyone involved in our space program the very best as they embark on future missions which will no doubt, continue to change our country for the better. That's Just the Way It Is.

Mr. Speaker, this House has much tradition and history. We start each day every day with a prayer to the Almighty, the Pledge, and the flag is displayed in the center of this House. Above that flag, appropriately so, is the phrase, ``In God We Trust.''

Fifty years ago this month, President Eisenhower signed legislation declaring this to be our national motto. Our great leaders believed in this self-evident truth.

Benjamin Franklin said at the Constitutional Convention, ``The longer I live, the more convinced I see this truth, God governs the affairs of men, and if a sparrow cannot fall to the ground without his notice, is it probable that an empire can rise without his aid?''

President George Washington, in his first inaugural address said: ``It would be improper to omit in this first official act, my fervent supplications to the Almighty Being who rules this universe, who presides in the councils of nations.''

And finally, Thomas Jefferson said, ``Our liberties are the gift of God.''

Mr. Speaker, we must and shall preserve, believe and uphold America's motto, ``In God We Trust.''

And that's just the way it is.

Mr. Speaker, illegal entry into our homeland negatively affects our economic security. Illegals are driving up the costs for health care, education, Social Security and other Social Services. Americans pick up the tab for these bills because illegals do not pay their way.

Tim and Susan Jacob of Groves, Texas speak out on this fact. They say, ``It should be evident more than ever that the U.S. does not have the infrastructure for 12 to 20 million illegals. This summer we are seeing rolling blackouts, complete power outages, gasoline above $3 a gallon, Houston streets are overloaded with automobiles and illegals driving without insurance. We have hospital closings and poor performance of the public school system. Shut down the borders, enforce the existing laws and prosecute employers who hire illegals.''

Mr. Speaker, common sense rings true again. We cannot ignore the negative impact of illegal entry. It is morally wrong to make Americans pay the costs for foreigners illegally in our Nation.

And that's just the way it is.

Mr. Speaker, I want to talk about three stolen children and three fathers.

Adam Walsh, a 6-year-old in Hollywood, Florida, disappeared on July 27, 1981, from a shopping store. His mother told him to play video games while she paid for a lamp. When she turned around, he had disappeared from the store. Apparently, the management had told him to leave.

On August 10, 1981, Adam's decapitated head was found in the water at Vero Beach, Florida. The rest of his remains have never been found.

Otis Toole, a serial killer, confessed to killing Adam in 1983. Police were not sure he was the killer, although he confessed again, but later recanted. Toole died in 1996 on death row for other crimes, and Adam's murder technically remains unsolved.

His father, John Walsh, partner in a hotel management company, lived the ``All-American Dream'' with his family in Hollywood, Florida, but the effect of his son's death, Adam, was devastating. He lost everything, not only his business, his home, but his pride, Adam Walsh.

He began campaigning for missing and exploited children, and his drive

created the Missing Children Assistance Act of 1984, which established the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children. Also, John and his wife established the Adam Walsh Child Resource Center, and he has been host on ``America's Most Wanted'' since 1988. This TV program helps capture the worst criminals in America. He still is married and he has three children now, and he works daily to protect our children.

Polly Klaas was abducted from her bedroom in the middle of the night on October 1, 1993, by Richard Allen Davis in California. He later strangled her and sexually assaulted her, and in December of that year, Davis led police to her body, and they discovered that she had been buried alive. Davis, a previously convicted felon, was sentenced to death in September 1996. He is on death row now in California waiting to be executed, as he needs to be.

Marc Klaas, her father, worked in a Hertz car rental center in San Francisco prior to her death. Memories of his daughter Polly were sitting on the couch, watching her favorite show ``The Simpsons.'' She had a love for performing. She also loved to play her clarinet and would have loved to have been an actress.

But the effect of her death, Mr. Speaker, in the words of her father, Marc, he said, ``I wanted to be dead for 10 years. No one has affected my life so positively and nothing has affected my life so negatively.''

After her abduction and murder, Marc gave up his business and dedicated his life to protecting our children. He is the founder of the Klaaskids Foundation, a nonprofit organization; and in 1994, he was instrumental in establishing the ``three strikes, you're out'' law in California. A third felony conviction means those criminals go to prison for 25 years to life.

Mr. Speaker, number three, Jessica Lunsford, 9-year-old girl in Florida. She was abducted also from her bedroom on February 23, 2005, by a repeat sex offender, John Couey. This occurred in Homosassa, Florida. He repeatedly sexually assaulted her, and then he buried her alive in his backyard.

It is interesting to note that ``America's Most Wanted'' helped capture this individual.

On March 18, 2005, Couey confessed to raping and killing Jessica and told police where she was buried. He is waiting trial; and, hopefully, the folks in Florida will administer their corrective punishment, the death penalty, in his case.

Mark Lunsford, her father, normal guy. In fact, he moved to Florida to protect his children. He was in the Army after high school and he loved his kids. He just worked as a heavy equipment operator at a recycling center. He says about his daughter that she loved to work with him and operate this heavy equipment. They took care of each other because that is what families do.

The effect of her death has helped him to also work for children. He is helping get Jessica's Law passed in 18 States, which increases the minimum penalty for sex offenders to 25 years for first offenders.

Mr. Speaker, these three fathers from three different backgrounds had a child stolen from them by a child predator. As a father of four and a grandfather of five, there would be nothing worse than to have a child murdered.

I know all three of these fathers. In fact, two of them are in Washington today. They are still fighting for kids, and they are here today because the President signed the Adam Walsh Child Safety Act to toughen up registration of child predators.

Twenty-five years ago today, Adam Walsh was kidnapped.

Mr. Speaker, children are our greatest resource, and every time a child is born, God is making a bet on the future of our culture. We are not judged by the way we treat the rich, the famous, the powerful, the influential. We as a society are judged by the way we treat the weak, the innocent, the children.

The voices of these three children, the roll call of the dead, Jessica, Polly and Adam, call from the graves for justice. America must be the land that concerns itself with the protection of its children, and we must win this war against those child terrorists who steal the lives of our children.

And that's just the way it is.

Mr. Speaker, I ask unanimous consent that the proceedings had during the recess be printed in the Record.

Mr. Speaker, it was described as ``more than 2 hours in hell.'' Those are the only words a central Texas sheriff could utter about the brutal attack of an 18-year-old girl.

Driving home one night, she was run off the road by two illegals just fired from their jobs for showing up to work hung over. She was corralled just 2 miles from her house near Mexia, Texas, but she couldn't have been further from safety. They forced her into their vehicle, then drove around as they raped, beat and stabbed her numerous times. When they had finished their sinful crime, they tossed her bloody body in a ditch and left her for dead.

When she reached a house nearby after crawling over a half mile, she lay on the porch and the woman inside heard her say, ``I'm going to die.'' The woman who found her covered in blood said she would never as long as she lived get that look on her face out of her mind.

Javier Martinez of Mexico and Noel Hernandez of Honduras will have their day of judgment in a Texas courthouse very soon, but the two countries these outlaws come from should be held accountable and pay reparations to the victim of this assault.

And that's just the way it is.

Mr. Speaker, I want to thank Mr. Upton for his work on this bill.

As co-founder of the Victims Rights Caucus, I strongly support this bill. Our Attorney General Gonzales says that one out of every five children in America is approached sexually on the Internet. In recent months, Congress and the national news media have put intense focus on the problem of Internet predators. Parents obviously have a responsibility to monitor what their kids see at home, but they leave home. They go to school, they go to libraries, and this bill helps parents parent better.

Social networking sites such as MySpace and chat rooms have allowed sexual predators to sneak into homes and solicit kids, and this bill requires schools and libraries to establish those protections to prevent children from accessing MySpace and chat rooms while in school and libraries unless parents are there or unless there is supervision.

The bill also requires the Federal Trade Commission to issue consumer alerts and establish a Web site alerting and educating parents and teachers about Internet sexual predators. Those people live among us. They prey on our youngest, our children, and they will do anything in their power to solicit those children.

So this raises the awareness and the protection of our children, and I strongly support this bill.

Mr. Speaker, more news from the second front. The battle for the border is continuing. When our government does not monitor illegal entry into our homeland, all types of bandits come through.

One was Ramon Ramos. He and his accomplice, Francisco Salcedo, were stopped by Texas State Trooper Steven Stone for speeding in Tyler, Texas, 400 miles from the border. They were wearing body armor and armed with knives, handguns and assault rifles, and they were looking for trouble.

Ramos showed Trooper Stone a forged driver's license, and then, at point blank range, started shooting. Trooper Stone was shot six times and left for dead. Ramos and Salcedo then led other law enforcement officers on a high speed chase.

Ramos was recently convicted and sentenced to 14 life sentences. Why 14? Well, he tried to kill 13 other people, including peace officers in his blazing gun battle with the law.

Salcedo will get his day in court later this week.

Trooper Steven Stone miraculously survived.

Mr. Speaker, these crimes against peace officers could have been avoided had the Federal Government done its sworn duty to protect the borders from illegal entry.

And that's just the way it is.

Mr. Speaker, I request permission to take Mr. Jones's time.

Mr. Speaker, there is more news from the second front. This is the border, and the news is not good. It is disturbing.

There is word tonight that some men and women charged with protecting our borders could be making their yearly salary in just a matter of days by taking bribes. That is right, bribes.

Border Patrol agents, our the first line of defense in the fight to secure America's borders, may have dirty money on their mind instead of illegals, all the while they are compromising national security for a fist full of dollars.

This month, two Border Patrol supervisors pleaded guilty after accepting $200,000 in bribes and working with the illegals to come into the United States. These supervisors were working on a test program set up between the Border Patrol and the Mexican Government where human smugglers, coyotes as we call them, were arrested in the United States and were supposed to be deported back to Mexico for prosecution. This is the same program that these officials have been raving about. They even came to Washington and testified before Congress that 82 suspected smugglers were returned back to Mexico last year.

But what is worse is these supervisors used a government vehicle to bring two smugglers across the border. One bought his way out of jail for a $10,000 bribe while another shelled out $6,000 in bribes so he wouldn't be shipped back to Mexico. Then these two agents, new best friends of these two individuals, dropped them off at a Wal-Mart parking lot.

Their case isn't the only one that is under investigation. In fact, it is far from it. Other Border Patrol agents charged with upholding our laws and our sovereign borders are facing Federal charges and investigations. Border Patrol agent Oscar Ortiz was in fact not even a United States citizen, an illegal himself, and he used a false birth certificate to, get this, Mr. Speaker, become a U.S. border agent and work on our border. His lies were only discovered as he conspired to smuggle in over 100 different people into the United States.

Another example: two Border Patrol agents, brothers, have vanished into the darkness of Mexico because they were being investigated for smuggling drugs and illegal immigrants into the United States. Once they figured out that the Federal Bureau of Investigation was out to capture them, they took off and disappeared, as I said, into Mexico.

Two other agents were indicted for taking bribes and allowing illegals to cross our border for a few dollars.

Experts say targeting border agents is an easy task. You see, here is what happens. On the other side of the river, they watch our border agents with binoculars. They say coyotes look for weak inspectors and then they test them to see whether or not they are lawful.

The way they do it is they send someone across the border, someone like a woman, who will flirt with the agent until he lets her in and the people that are with her in. Once this occurs, then these individuals are approached by these coyotes to see if they will let more people in, all in the name of money.

Mr. Speaker, our national leaders are divided over what to do with immigration, what to do with the people that are here illegally; but the country cannot be divided over corruption on the border by border agents. Americans

aren't okay with people buying and flirting their way into the United States. They demand safe and secure borders and honest and upstanding Border Patrol agents.

Make no doubt about it, most of our Border Patrol agents are honest hardworking men and women. But we must make an example of anyone who breaks the immigration laws, no matter which side of the border they live on. From time to time, we point out even on this House floor corruption of some Mexican Government officials that work along the southern border when they are helping drug smugglers and coyotes all in the name of filthy lucre, so we cannot tolerate a few border agents who, in the name of money, sell out America and insult the good name of most of our border agents.

So all of those who make money off of illegal entrants should be accountable, and it makes no difference, Mr. Speaker, who they are. The rule of law should be enforced. It is illegal to enter the United States without permission. That is the rule, and it should be enforced by honest border agents. And people that enter illegally should be held accountable.

It makes no difference who those people are, whether they are illegals that cross, whether they are narcoterrorists that bring money or drugs into the United States to sell, whether they are coyotes, or whether they are illicit businesses in the United States that exploit illegals that are working here, or whether they are corrupt border agents. All of these must be held accountable for the actions they commit, because the border is a national security issue.

And that's just the way it is.