Spencer Bachus

Mr. BACHUS

Mr. BACHUS. Madam Chairman, in 1933, most of our U.S. highways were gravel-topped, we had no controlled interstates like we do today, controlled access four-lane highways; our railroads were operating steam engines, diesels were still several years off; our airlines were flying biplanes with three engines; and we had Glass-Steagall. Today we have interstate highways, they have replaced our gravel U.S. highways; we do not have any more steam engines, you have to go to China to see one; but we still have Glass-Steagall. Thank goodness that today we have a modern financial bill that is before us to vote that will save the American people $15 billion a year, that will increase privacy protections. You can tell your bank, ``No, I would rather not have that information released.'' Finally, these two things: It will increase our competitive ability against the world and the global market, our financial firms, it will increase convenience for Americans, and it will increase competition, lowering the cost of insurance, mortgages and all financial services. I urge the Members to vote ``yes'' on final passage and get us out of the biplane, steam engine age. 1933. There were no interstate highways. In fact, there were no four- lane limited-access highways in America. Most of our U.S. highways were gravel; a few were dirt. In 1933 steam engines pulled trains along America's railroads. Diesels were still a decade away. Today's college graduates have never seen a steam engine in revenue service on America's railroads. Want to see a working steam engine. You had better take a quick trip to the third world or remote areas of China, for instance, because the last few in service are rapidly disappearing. 1933. Take a trip on a jet airplane. Hardly. They were decades away. To get from city to city, if there was air service (and that was a big if), you might climb aboard a tri-engine wood-framed biplane. Today you can see that very aircraft of 1933 in the Smithsonian. Not even my generation saw them in service. However, such is not the case for our financial services laws. The law which regulates and applies to the entire financial services industry (banking, insurance and securities) today applied in 1933. In fact, it was in 1933--not the year Albert Einstein became famous, but the year he immigrated to America--that the law in effect today was enacted by Congress. You may not recall that Congress or even the events in Washington that year. The big political happening in 1933 was Calvin Coolidge's funeral. You don't recall that event? The ``Three Little Pigs'' was making its debut as one of Walt Disney's first productions. It has been several years since Walt Disney died. But our 1933 financial services laws of that day live on today. Yes, like the memory of Calvin Cooledge's funeral they are dog-eared and worn. And every bit as inefficient as a steam engine would be on today's railroad tracks or a tri-engine wood-frame biplane in service by today's airlines. Imagine wanting to travel across country and finding not only no controlled access highways, but only gravel-topped or dirt-topped highways. What an inefficiency. What an inconvenience. What a cost to the economy. How outmoded. That's exactly what America's financial services community has to contend with today. The law is no more intended for today's market than a Model T Ford. This is true of today's outdated financial services laws. It is time to bring financial modernization laws not only into the late 20th Century but revise them for the fast-approaching 21st Century. H.R. 10 is such a law. But H.R. 10 is more than just an updated or modern approach to banking. It's an improvement over existing laws. All Americans today would benefit from H.R. 10 in the following ways: Greaer efficiency in competition will drive down prices of financial services (loan rates, insurance premiums, etc.). Savings are estimated at $15 billion a year. Seeing what competition can do in sports and other businesses, it is time to find out in financial services. Imagine our American financial firms having to compete effectively in international markets restrained by laws of yesteryear. In a global economy the ability of American financial firms to compete effectively internationally is mandatory. They can only do so under modern laws such as H.R. 10. Let's increase their effectiveness to compete internationally. It is past due. Americans not only love competition and low prices, but also convenience. H.R. 10 promises better convenience and access to financial products, more choices in both urban and rural America. Time is money and convenience is paramount in today's fast-moving society. After years of trying and failing, isn't it time this Congress finally offered the convenience of modern banking to American consumers? Convenience and more choices. Not only does H.R. 10 offer improved ability for our companies to compete in the world market, more competition and choice for the American public, but it also promises increased privacy protections. Under an amendment to be offered today, which I support, the American banking customer can tell his local bank, ``I'd rather you did not show that information outside the bank.'' Americans love their privacy and what it protected. For all of these reasons, it's time, no it's past time, to modernize our financial services laws. Accomplish this and preserve American financial leadership for the 21st Century by voting yes on final passage of the Financial Services Act of 1999.

Mr. BACHUS

Mr. BACHUS. Mr. Speaker, will the gentleman yield?

Mr. BACHUS. Mr. Speaker, I thank the gentleman from Pennsylvania (Mr. Gekas) for yielding, I want to commend him for having this special order. Mr. Speaker, I want to say this to the Members: America has always been up to the challenge, whether it was building the transcontinental railroad to unite our West Coast with the rest of the Nation after the civil war; putting a man on the moon; or soldiers coming back from a war; devising a GI bill; the interstate system. Now, Mr. Speaker, we are confronted with the biggest challenge of all and that is the challenge that confronts each of us daily, and that is the challenge of disease. So I am proud to be a part of this effort in combatting it. I did want to mention two people, Dr. Beatrice Hahn of UAB, who has actually, as a result of an NIH grant, traced over a 20-year period the origins of AIDS; and also Dr. Robert Castleberry and Dr. Peter Emmanuel, who have found the origin of a very rare form of childhood leukemia which only affects children under the age of 5. That is all as a result of NIH funding. Mr. Speaker, I would like to mention two teams of University of Alabama in Birmingham (UAB) researchers both of which have made progress in conquering or controlling two of our most prolific diseases, AIDS and Leukemia. The first team, led by Dr. Beatrice Hahn and her husband Dr. George Shaw, have waged a 20 year quest which resulted in the discovery of the origin of HIV1. The Origin of HIV-1: UAB Researchers Lead Discovery Effort (Synopsis Research News, Feb. 2, 1999) UAB scientists have discovered the origin of Human- Immunodeficiency Virus Type 1 (HIV-1), the virus that causes AIDS in humans. This finding by an international team of scientists led by Beatrice H. Hahn, MD, of UAB, solves a 20- year-old puzzle regarding the beginnings of the AIDS epidemic, which now afflicts some 30 million people worldwide. Dr. Hahn presented her study on January 31 at the 6th Conference on Retroviruses and Opportunistic Infections in Chicago. A paper detailing the discovery appears in the February 4 issue of the journal Nature. Dr. Hahn, a professor of medicine and microbiology at UAB, is senior author of the paper. Feng Gao, MD, research assistant professor of medicine at UAB, is the paper's lead author. The researchers identified a subspecies of chimpanzee (Pan troglodytes troglodytes) native to West-Central Africa as the natural reservoir for HIV-1. ``We have long suspected a virus from African primates to be the cause of human AIDS. However, exactly which animal species was responsible was unknown,'' says Dr. Gao. Viruses related to HIV-1 had previously been found in chimpanzees and were given the designation SIVcpz (for Simian Immunodeficiency Virus). However, only three such infected animals were identified, and one of these harbored a virus so different from HIV-1 that most scientists questioned a direct relationship to the human virus. sophisticated molecular techniques The recent breakthrough came when Dr. Hahn and her colleagues identified a fourth SIVcpz infected chimpanzee and used sophisticated molecular techniques to analyze all four viruses and the animals from which they were derived. The researchers found that three of the four SIVcpz strains came from chimpanzees that belonged to the Pan troglodytes troglodytes subspecies. The fourth virus strain, which was genetically divergent from the other three, came from an animal that belonged to a different chimpanzee subspecies, termed Pan troglodytes schweinfurthi, native to East Africa. The scientists then discovered that all known strains of HIV- 1, including the major group M (responsible for the global AIDS epidemic), as well as groups N and O (found only in West-Central Africa), were closely related only to SIVcpz strains infecting Pan troglodytes troglodytes. The puzzle's final piece was put in place when the researchers realized that the natural habitat for Pan troglodytes troglodytes overlaps precisely with the region in West-Central Africa where all three groups of HIV-1 (M, N, and O) were first recognized. Based on these findings, Dr. Hahn and her colleagues concluded that Pan troglodytes troglodytes is the origin of HIV-1 and has been the source of at least three independent cross-species transmission events of SIVcpz. While the origin of the AIDS epidemic has been clarified, an explanation for why the epidemic arose in the mid-20th century, and not before, remains a matter of speculation. ``Chimpanzees are frequently hunted for food, especially in West-Central Africa, and we believe that HIV-1 was introduced into the human population through exposure to blood during hunting and field dressing of these animals,'' says Dr. Hahn. And she believes that, while incidental transmissions of chimpanzee viruses to humans may have occurred throughout history, it was the socio-economic changes in post-World War II Africa that provided the particular circumstances leading to the spread of HIV-1 and the development of the AIDS epidemic. ``Increasing urbanization, breakdown of traditional lifestyles, population movements, civil unrest, and sexual promiscuity are all known to increase the rates of sexually transmitted diseases and thus likely triggered the AIDS pandemic,'' adds Dr. Hahn. ``The importance of the current findings could be far reaching,'' says George Shaw, MD, PhD, a Howard Hughes Medical Institute Investigator at UAB and a principal author of the paper. ``Chimpanzees are identical to humans in over 98% of their genome, yet they appear to be resistant to the damaging effects of the AIDS virus on the immune system. By studying the biological reasons for this difference, we may be able to obtain important clues concerning the pathogenic basis of HIV-1 in humans and possibly new strategies for treating the disease more effectively.'' He further adds that a better understanding of exactly how the chimpanzee's immune system responds to SIVcpz infection compared to that of humans is likely to lead to the development of more effective strategies for an HIV-1 vaccine. bush-meat trade Finally, the authors of the paper note that transmission of SIVcpz could still be ongoing. ``The bushmeat trade--the hunting and killing of chimpanzees and other endangered animals for human consumption--is a common practice in West- Central Africa and represents an ongoing risk for humans,'' says Dr. Hahn. ``Subsistency hunting has always been a part of West-Central African culture, but increasing logging activities in the past decade have provided unprecedented access to remote forest regions and have led to the commercialized killing of thousands of chimpanzees, gorillas, and monkeys. It took us 20 years to find where HIV-1 came from, only to realize that the very animal species that harbors it is at the brink of extinction.'' ``We cannot afford to lose these animals, either from an animal conservation or a medical investigative standpoint,'' she says. ``It is quite possible that the chimpanzee, which has served as the source of HIV-1, also holds the clues to its successful control.'' Dr. Hahn and her colleagues hope that, as a consequence of their research, there will be additional measures taken to discourage chimpanzee poaching and to preserve this and other endangered primate species. The team of scientists responsible for the AIDS discovery include UAB's Ya-Lu Chen, Cynthia Rodenburg, and Scott Michael, as well as Paul Sharp and Elizabeth Bailes from the University of Nottingham in England; David Robertson from the Laboratory of Structural and Genetic Information in Marseilles, France; Larry Cummins from the Southwest Foundation for Biomedical Research in Texas; Larry Arthur from the Frederick Cancer Research and Development Center in Frederick, Maryland; and Martine Peeters from the Laboratory of Retroviruses at ORSTOM in Montpellier, France. The research was funded by the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases and the Howard Hughes Medical Institute. The second team led by Dr. Peter Emanuel and Dr. Robert Castleberry, were involved in a 13 year effort to save our youngest citizens. Dr. Peter Emanuel at UAB is one of the first recipients of the K24 awards. The K24 award is an individual grant to aid in patient-oriented research and to allow the individual to mentor younger trainees. Dr. Emanuel and his colleague, Dr. Robert Castleberry, also at UAB, have been investigating for over a decade a rare but very deadly form of childhood leukemia which affects children under the age of five. Over their thirteen years of research in this disorder they have emerged as the world's leaders for this childhood leukemia, have led the investigations revealing the cellular and genetic mechanisms which cause this leukemia, and have discovered new therapies for this dreaded leukemia. As a result of this K24 award and other grants from the NIH and the Leukemia Society of America, Drs. Emanuel and Castleberry are about to start a new treatment protocol for this childhood leukemia which will cover all of North America. This treatment protocol will include chemotherapy, bone marrow transplantation, an experimental drug, and a vitamin A derivative, the latter two being developed as a result of discoveries made in the laboratory and taken to the patient bedside, so-called ``Translational Research.'' This protocol, being conducted in close conjunction with the National Cancer Institute (NCI), will begin in the coming months. In addition, a North American registry and a web site for families and physicians alike are all in the works.

Mr. BACHUS

Mr. BACHUS. Mr. Speaker, I yield 2 minutes to the gentleman from South Carolina (Mr. DeMint).

Mr. BACHUS. Mr. Speaker, I yield 2 minutes to the gentleman from California (Mr. Gary Miller).

Mr. BACHUS. Mr. Speaker, I yield 3 minutes to the gentleman from Tennessee (Mr. Bryant). (Mr. BRYANT asked and was given permission to revise and extend his remarks.)

Mr. BACHUS. Mr. Speaker, I yield 2 minutes to the gentleman from Florida (Mr. Weldon).

Mr. BACHUS. Mr. Speaker, I yield 2 minutes to the gentleman from Texas (Mr. DeLay) in support of the legislation.

Mr. BACHUS. Mr. Speaker, I thank the gentleman from Florida (Mr. Bachus) for yielding me this time. Mr. Speaker, we are all struggling to do the right thing, and we are confronted with a case where we have a 14- or a 15-year-old girl. She is pregnant, unwanted pregnancy, as she would say, as we would say, and she is considering an abortion. Who do we involve? Well, the First Lady of the United States has said it takes a village to raise these young ladies. But do we go out and choose anyone in the village? That is what the critics seem to be saying: Anyone will do. It does not have to be the parents. It can just be anyone that happens along. We have heard that a compassionate bus driver might be the person. We have been told that the grandmother is usually the person. We are told about these aunts. But in fact, who is this so-called trusting adult that is taking this young 14- or 15-year-old girl across lines? What member of the village is it that we are substituting for the parent and their involvement and their love? Quite simply, it is the boyfriend. We do not have to speculate on that. The Department of Health and Human Services reported to this very Congress in 1995 and said in two-thirds of the cases when 15- and 16- year-old girls are pregnant it is a male adult, and the medium age of that male adult is 22 years old. It is not the grandmother that is impregnating them, it is not the loving aunt, and it is not the compassionate priest, it is the boyfriend. There is a study of 46,000 schoolchildren in California. Two-thirds of them were impregnated by adults; again, average age 22. Let me tell the Members what that study said. It said the differences in ages between the young girl and the father who impregnated her at the very least suggest very different life experiences, and bring into question issues of pressure and abuse. Another study a year earlier said, ``Obviously, these males are vulnerable to statutory rape charges and have a strong incentive to pressure the young girl into obtaining an abortion.'' That is what the California study said. That is what our own Health and Human Services study said. It is not about the grandmother, it is about the boyfriend. Finally, the study said that 58 percent of these so-called trusting adults who we are all concerned about today, 58 percent of them who take the young girl across State lines, who are they? Who in the village are they? They are the boyfriend. We have a choice to make. Do we choose the parents or the boyfriend?

Mr. BACHUS

Mr. BACHUS. Mr. Speaker, recently the Birmingham News published an article by three faculty members from the University of Alabama at Birmingham. This article, written by Bill Crunk, associate professor of counseling, and by Solange Ribeiro and Julie Russell, who are both counselors at UAB's Office of Professional Services, is insightful and worthy of attention. That's why I want to share it now with my colleagues in Congress and place it in the Record. Their research confirms that parenting is the key to raising good children. Additionally, they have found four common components necessary to raise a child in today's often violent environment: Spirituality, Ability, Fairness and Encouragement. There have been several high profile tragedies involving children recently, and we read so many of the headlines in today's newspapers and ask, ``Why?'' Many are quick to fix the blame for these tragedies on guns or on the media. The hard truth is that parenting is the core of a child's moral and social development. That is the point of the article written by these three members of UAB's faculty and it is one we should remember, again and again. I thank Professor Crunk and Counselors Ribeiro and Russell for their work and for their perceptive article, which I now place in the Record in its entirety. [From The Birmingham News, May 2, 1999] After the Mourning--Are We Really Committed to What It Takes to Improve Parenting Skills for Raising Better Children? (By Bill Crunk, Solange Ribeiro and Julie Russell) Far too frequently, headlines give accounts of children in trouble. Potentially delinquent behavior appears at earlier and earlier ages. Judges demand that parents get their children off the streets at night but fail to point out how to do it. Nationwide research in juvenile delinquency brings forth volumes of papers but few indications for possible solutions. There is something deeper that is wrong. Underneath it all is the fact that we don't know what to do with our children, because the traditional methods of child-raising no longer work and we have not learned new methods which can take their place.--Rudolf Dreikurs, noted psychiatrist and author of Children: The Challenge, in 1964. Parents today are faced with the challenge of raising a capable child in a violent society. With the tragic events in Colorado, the news media, educators, religious groups and other social institutions are all looking to find answers to the perplexing question, ``How did this happen?'' Blame is being placed on the media, guns and schools, however, the fact remains that parenting is at the core of a child's moral and social development. Research has shown that a child's behavior is a reflection of the home. Unfortunately, all too many families create an atmosphere in which a child has a strong belief of entitlement and a weak sense of responsibility. Our research in the Birmingham community found that parents overwhelmingly feel a lack of communication between parents and children contribute to violence. We found that parents feel that an inability to set limits, failure to teach empathy and compassion, failure to connect consequences to behavior, and a lack of moral education were all indicators of poor parenting. Interestingly, parents realize that exposure to media violence desensitizes other children to violence but felt that their children could distinguish make-believe from real violence. Parents felt that they could help prevent exposure to violence but on the other hand were overwhelmed with raising children in today's society. All agreed that better parenting skills were needed, yet only half of the parents felt they should spend more time with their children. On the other hand, our experiences in working with parents indicates that parents have given their parenting responsibilities to schools, day cares, government programs and others. Unbridled TV watching and computer use have put distance between the parent and his/her child. Parents are confused and worried, particularly when children seem to defy rules and mistake license to do whatever they please for freedom. They have a sense of losing control of their children. Dreikurs talked about this in 1964. More than 30 years have passed and we are still dealing with the same issues. Why? Parenting takes time, effort and an understanding of children. Four components necessary in raising a capable child in today's environment are spirituality, ability, fairness and encouragement. These are the foundation of our SAFE parenting program. Sense of empathy Spirituality, the most important task, is where a child learns values, empathy, purpose and morality. One consistent finding is that children who commit acts of violence lack a sense of empathy, respect and compassion for others. The parent's task is to create a home environment that fosters belonging and a connection to the community through our sense of spirituality. If we avoid this parenting task then we raise a child with a ``self-centered me behavior.'' Children also need to know that they have the ability to make decisions, and that along with these decisions come responsibilities. If parents fail to teach their children what freedom really means (choice, responsibility and consequence), then we foster children who take no responsibility for their actions and tend to blame others for their circumstances. Fairness in the home creates a respect for order and cooperation. If children fail to learn fairness they develop a license to behave without respect for others. Our fourth component of effective parenting, encouragement, teaches parents how to better communicate to their children that they have worth and ability to master life's challenges. Parents tend to lack skills in communication with their children. From our experience we know parents agree that communication with their children. From our experience we know parents agree that communication is extremely important in raising capable children. Unfortunately, most communication is discouraging and directed at correcting or pointing out, a child's inability to meet expectations. Without encouragement, children become discouraged and find life tasks hopeless. Dreikurs said it back in 1964: ``Far too frequently, headlines give accounts of children in trouble.'' Are we, as a community, even interested in making an effort to reach parents? How many corporations are serious about their employees' families and the community that they support? Parenting classes Aon, a Chicago-based consulting firm, found that the most loyal employees worked for employers that encouraged a balance between family and job demands. How many places of business offer parenting classes during the workday? Government and school systems say they want to do more, but do they? How many school counselors are allowed to offer parenting classes at school or in the community as part of their duties? Shouldn't parents whose child is in trouble with family court or at school be required to take parenting classes to pay back to the community for having to take over the parents' responsibilities? If we care about the child's welfare, why are divorcing parents not made to go to classes to understand the impact of such a decision on the child and how to develop parenting skills to offset some of the trauma? How many churches require parents to participate in parenting courses? If we are all so concerned, how could parents refuse? Print and TV media have made millions off the tragedy in Colorado. Have you read or seen any sponsorship of efforts to improve parenting by the media? And we ask the question, why? Will we be asking these questions 30 years from now? Hopefully these violent situations don't have to continue, but our responsibilities as parents do. We have a responsibility to our children to be good parents, and blaming the media, guns and schools won't accomplish what only we as parents can.

Mr. BACHUS

Mr. BACHUS. Mr. Speaker, war is hell, but at times it is our most dreaded necessity. At times it is unavoidable. At times it is a matter of self-defense. None of this is the case in Kosovo. This war was not, nor is it now unavoidable. It is neither a dreaded necessity, nor is it fought in self-defense against an attacking enemy. All the good intentions in the world do not justify continuing such a war. A war that has every potential for disastrous consequences and catastrophe, not only for the United States, but also for our NATO allies, and for all of the people of Europe, both east and west. The deep divisions and misgivings expressed here in Congress over continuing this war are heard throughout the Nation and among our NATO allies. These divisions and misgivings are understandable, they are justified, and they cannot be ignored. The administration has failed to make a persuasive case to Congress or to the American people. For these reasons, and consistent with my concern and support for our troops, I voted to withdraw U.S. forces from the war in Kosovo, and I will vote against ratifying this war with a declaration from Congress.

Mr. BACHUS

Mr. BACHUS. Mr. Speaker, I yield 2 minutes to the gentlewoman from Ohio (Ms. Pryce).

Mr. BACHUS. Mr. Speaker, I yield 2\1/2\ minutes to the gentleman from New York (Mr. Gilman). (Mr. GILMAN asked and was given permission to revise and extend his remarks.)

Mr. BACHUS. Mr. Speaker, we have heard speaker after speaker who has described how Rosa Parks' quiet and courageous act changed America and redirected the course of history, and for that we are all for the better. Mr. Speaker, I yield 2 minutes to the gentleman from Georgia (Mr. Lewis), one of the leaders of that movement.

Mr. BACHUS. Mr. Speaker, I yield such time as she may consume to the gentlewoman from Kentucky (Mrs. Northup).

Mr. BACHUS. Mr. Speaker, I yield 2 minutes to the gentlewoman from Florida (Ms. Ros-Lehtinen).

Mr. BACHUS. Mr. Speaker, I ask unanimous consent for an additional 20 minutes on this measure, 10 minutes to myself and 5 minutes to each of the gentlewomen.

Mr. BACHUS. Mr. Speaker, I move to suspend the rules and pass the bill (H.R. 573) to authorize the President to award a gold medal on behalf of the Congress to Rosa Parks in recognition of her contributions to the Nation, as amended.

Mr. BACHUS. Mr. Speaker, I yield 2 minutes to the gentlewoman from Maryland (Mrs. Morella).

Mr. BACHUS. Mr. Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may consume. Mr. Speaker, we are here today to honor the mother of the civil rights movement, Rosa Parks. As an Alabamian, I am proud to stand side by side with my friends on both sides of the aisle and pay respects to a native Alabamian and a civil rights heroine. Before saying more, I would also like to commend the bill's author, the gentlewoman from Indiana (Ms. Carson), for obtaining well over 290 signatures necessary to move this bill to the floor of the House. Mr. Speaker, Rosa Parks is an American heroine because she is an ordinary citizen with extraordinary courage. She had the fortitude to claim for herself the most ordinary, the most basic of civil rights, to be treated fairly and equally. She was born in Tuskegee, Alabama in 1913. She was the first child of James and Leona McCauley. Rosa Parks took a heroic stand and refused to give up her seat on a bus. Montgomery buses were boycotted for 381 days. After court cases, legislative upheaval, the bus segregation laws were changed on December 21, 1956. An aside to that, Mr. Speaker, is that Dr. Martin Luther King was appointed spokesman for the bus boycott and taught nonviolence to all the participants, and there were over 40,000 participants in that boycott. But more importantly, Rosa Parks led a prairie fire for freedom which helped ignite and inspire the civil rights movement. Ultimately, this act of courage played a major role in breaking down the barriers of legal discrimination and continues to play a role in making equality an imperative goal in America. Rosa Parks is the recipient of many awards for her efforts on behalf of racial harmony. Among them, the Springarn Award, the NAACP's highest honor for civil rights contributions, the Presidential Medal of Freedom, the Nation's highest civilian honor, and the first International Freedom Conductor Award from the National Underground Railroad Freedom Center. Rosa Parks has dedicated her life to the cause of universal human rights. She truly embodies the spirit of respect for humanity and personal freedom that is central to the American ideal. Rosa Parks by her quiet courage symbolizes all that is great in the American spirit. She endured threats of death in defending and demanding for all the most basic rights embodied in the Constitution and the Bill of Rights. This Nation has benefited immeasurably from her heroic efforts, and the U.S. Congress is proud to celebrate her achievements by awarding her the Congressional Gold Medal. Mr. Speaker, I reserve the balance of my time.

Mr. BACHUS. Mr. Speaker, I yield 2\1/2\ minutes to the gentleman from Georgia (Mr. Kingston).

Mr. BACHUS. Mr. Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may consume. I simply say that is it not ironic that Mrs. Parks, by remaining seated, stood up for all of us and for our right to fair treatment and to equality. For that, we are a better country and a better people. This is a just and overdue honor. Mr. Speaker, I yield the balance of the time to the gentleman from Oklahoma (Mr. Watts).

Mr. BACHUS. Mr. Speaker, I yield such time as he may consume to the gentleman from California (Mr. Horn).

Mr. BACHUS

Mr. BACHUS. Mr. Speaker, I ask unanimous consent to take from the Speaker's table the Senate bill (S. 531) to authorize the President to award a gold medal on behalf of the Congress to Rosa Parks in recognition of her contributions to the Nation, and ask for its immediate consideration in the House.

Mr. BACHUS

Mr. BACHUS. Mr. Speaker, I ask unanimous consent that all Members may have 5 legislative days within which to revise and extend their remarks on H.R. 573.