Floor Statements

Madam Speaker, I rise today to recognize an individual who has distinguished himself as a good coach, a dedicated teacher, and a family friend--coach Mike Dowling, who is retiring after 28 years as football coach at Cardinal Mooney High School in Sarasota.

Coach Dowling has led the Cougars to five undefeated regular seasons, six district championships, and one regional championship. His overall record of 189 to 102 is certainly impressive. Over 150 of his players have gone on to play college ball and his winning teams have enhanced school spirit and the educational mission of the school.

But a good coach does more than win games; he is also a positive influence on his players. Coach Dowling has helped hundreds of kids reach their full potential both on and off the field. In addition to teaching them how to catch, throw, tackle, and win, he helped teach them good sportsmanship and ethical conduct. His efforts on the field have helped his players build character and taught them how to show and earn respect, play fair, and be responsible--and our society as a whole is better for it.

Although his history students will still benefit from his efforts in the classroom, his players and many fans will miss him on the sidelines next fall. I congratulate Mike on a winning career and I look forward to seeing him in the stands.

Madam Speaker, I rise today to pay tribute to Manatee County Sheriff Charlie Wells who will retire on April 2nd after 41 years in law enforcement. Sheriff Wells is an honorable public servant whose selfless dedication, vision, and leadership has helped to protect the more than 300,000 residents of Manatee County and earned him the respect of the community as well as his colleagues in law enforcement.

Charlie Wells was first elected sheriff in 1984 and took office in January of 1985. He was reelected five times, serving a total of 22 years, which makes him the longest serving sheriff in the history of Manatee County.

Among his greatest achievements is the enactment of the Stop Turning Our Prisoners Act, which he helped pass to require inmates to serve at least 85 percent of their prison sentence. He is also credited with pioneering and implementing several other innovative programs designed to help keep kids in school and out of trouble. They include the establishment of:

A Police Athletic League recreation complex which was expanded from a recreational program to one of Florida's first charter schools;

The first boot camp program in Florida for juvenile offenders to promote discipline, education, physical fitness, and respect for self and others;

A school resource officer to promote positive relationships with youth;

Child Protection Services to consolidate services and ensure the safety of children with family related problems; and

Victims First, which is a charity organization that provides scholarships to children whose parents have been murdered or sent to prison as a result of murdering the other parent.

Also, under this leadership, a new jail complex was built and the agency of 1,100 employees became nationally accredited in both corrections and law enforcement.

The six-term Sheriff also served in various capacities with the Florida Sheriffs Association including president and chairman of the Legislative Committee.

He began his law enforcement career with the Florida Highway Patrol where he worked for 15 years as a state trooper. He also worked for one year as an investigator with the State Attorney's office and served for two years as the Chief of Police for the City of Bradenton.

He ends his career with the successful arrest of kidnapping suspect Vicente Beltran-Moreno who is charged with kidnapping a 13 year-old boy.

Charlie Wells has prevented, investigated, and solved countless crimes. I thank him for his tireless efforts to protect the people of Manatee County and wish him the very best in retirement.

Mr. Chairman, I offer an amendment.

Mr. Chairman, I yield myself such time as I may consume.

Mr. Chairman, my amendment is a simple one. It requires the Secretary of Defense to submit to Congress a report on the feasibility of a soldier patient tracking system to improve the medical holdover process.

In the aftermath of the Walter Reed scandal, we heard criticism about the medical hold and holdover process, which requires injured soldiers to stay in certain facilities until evaluated and treated.

We heard the story of U.S. Army Staff Sergeant John Shannon who testified before the House National Security and Foreign Affairs Subcommittee and he said, ``I had been given a couple of weeks' appointments and some other paperwork upon leaving ward 58, and I went to all of my appointments during that time. After these appointments, I sat in my room for another couple of weeks wondering when someone would contact me.''

The Buchanan amendment would require the Department of Defense to

identify and report to Congress ways of making the medical holdover system more responsive and effective for military personnel like Staff Sergeant Shannon.

I believe every servicemember should have complete, on-demand information with respect to his or her status as a medical holdover. No soldier should sit in their room for weeks wondering about their treatment and when their next appointment might be. The Department of Defense must closely examine ways to give servicemembers real-time information regarding the key milestones in their physical and medical evaluation process.

By requiring a report to Congress, my amendment would make certain that we are knowledgeable in considering all available options when it comes to improving the medical holdover process for troops and their families. I urge my colleagues to support the Buchanan amendment.

Mr. Chairman, I reserve the balance of my time.

I thank the chairman and the ranking member and the House Committee on Armed Services and their staff.

Mr. Chairman, I yield back the balance of my time.

Mr. Speaker, I rise today in opposition to this resolution. I oppose the resolution not for what it says, but for what it does and what it will lead to.

As someone who enlisted at the age of 18 and spent 6 years as a member of the Air National Guard, I can tell you firsthand that this resolution will undermine our troops' morale and diminish their ability to accomplish their mission.

Passage of this resolution is also a first step towards cutting funding for our troops, and that is something that I absolutely cannot support.

Mr. Speaker, the war in Iraq is an important part of the global war on terror. Failure in Iraq will go beyond being a disaster for American foreign policy. Failure would destabilize the country, destabilize the Middle East, and make America less safe.

The American people are well aware of al Qaeda's plans to turn Iraq into a staging area to spread global terrorism. Failure in Iraq would also result in diminished influence and credibility for America at a time when global alliances are critical to address threats from Iran and North Korea.

Mr. Speaker, this week I have been briefed by the U.S. intelligence officers, foreign ambassadors from the region, and I have reached out to many of my constituents, including Colonel John Saputo, who served in Iraq, and Colonel Lee Kitchen, who served in Vietnam. We all agree that although legitimate questions can be raised about whether this surge strategy will prove successful, the stakes are too high, the threats to America too great to walk away without giving our troops one last chance to restore order in Iraq. Passage of this resolution would deny our military leaders and our troops this one last opportunity.

Like all Americans, I want to bring our troops home safely, successfully and soon, but now is not the time for an immediate withdrawal. Now is the time to support our troops, support the values they fight for, and do everything possible to give them the best chance to succeed in their mission. This resolution does nothing to help in those efforts. In fact, it does the opposite. It is for this reason that I must oppose this resolution.

Mr. Speaker, I rise today to ask my colleagues to join me in cosponsoring legislation, H.J. Res. 21, which would add a balanced budget amendment to the United States Constitution. The amendment sets the financially responsible goal of balancing the budget by the year 2012.

Currently, the national debt is $8.6 trillion. Each taxpayer's share of that debt is almost $29,000. In fiscal year 2006, over $400 billion of taxpayers' money was spent on interest payments to the holders of the national debt.

Last year the interest paid on the national debt was the third largest expense of the Federal budget. The debt is increasing by over $1 billion every day. Our economy is ready for us to set this important priority.

Last year alone Federal revenues increased 11.8 percent. Receipts this year have grown by 8 percent so far in the first quarter compared to last year in that first quarter. Forty-nine out of 50 States, including my home State of Florida, currently have a balanced budget. It is time that we follow the lead there and balance the budget for the country.