Leonard Boswell

Mr. BOSWELL

Mr. BOSWELL. Mr. Speaker, due to personal business in Iowa, I was unable to return to Washington for votes on Monday, September 17, 2007. If I had been here, I would have voted ``yea'' on H.R. 3246, H.R. 1657 and H.R. 3527.

Mr. BOSWELL

Mr. BOSWELL. Madam Speaker, I rise today to honor the life works and career of a local Iowa luminary. Born in Grand Island, NE, Dic Youngs-- or ``Youngsy'' to his fans--has become a legend of regional radio in the Des Moines metro area, attracting loyal listeners from every Iowa demographic over his half century of commitment to the air waves. With the announcement of his retirement from 93.3 KIOA this July, it is proper that we should honor a man who has come to be so cherished in the hearts and homes of several generations of Iowans. Dic Youngs has always had panache, and he has basked in the community spotlight since his youth. As a young man attending East High School in Des Moines, his athletic prowess earned him many distinctions, and he gained substantial notoriety within the greater conference community throughout his athletic career. At the age of 16, Dic's radio career was kick-started as he championed a KSO amateur DJ contest, and was given a position at radio 1460 KSO, Des Moines. Soon after, he began broadcasting the sounds of the sixties from his ``KSO Fish Bowl'' studio, which was originally located in the display window of a downtown shop. He was a ``smash'' with Des Moines area teens, and by charming them with his skillful spins and witty words, he established a loyal fan base from the very beginning. Dic started his time at 93.3 KIOA in February of 1966, after a brief hiatus from Iowa radio, and remained there for nearly 42 years. During his time at KIOA, he was known for his afternoon broadcasts and the ``Original Saturday Night Oldies Show.'' But Dic did more than DJ during his time at KIOA--he was also an exceptional philanthropist, and was passionately involved in the local community. As a member of the KIOA High Hoopers Basketball team, he helped raise nearly one million dollars for various charitable causes, and he is known in the region for his 50 hour radiothons to benefit the Variety Club of Iowa; the grand total of his personal fund-raising efforts climbing to nearly $500,000. He has orchestrated 26 ``Rock and Roll Reunions'' at the Iowa State Fair, and was responsible for the crowd-pleasing ``KIOA Good Guy Reunions.'' Many Iowans will remember Dic as the man whose voice and musical repertoire filled lazy afternoons and memorable Saturday nights, as the man who first introduced them to the Beatles, and as the man whose steadfastly positive presence in the community has been an inspiration and a blessing to so many. I ask my colleagues to join me in honoring the life and career of Dic Youngs. We congratulate you and wish you the best of luck in retirement.

Mr. BOSWELL

Mr. BOSWELL. Madam Speaker, I rise today to honor a young Iowa woman whose inspired, gymnastic talent has made her a key player on the international Olympic stage. Shawn Johnson, age 15, is quickly becoming a force to be reckoned with amongst some of the best female gymnasts in the world. No stranger to media attention, Shawn was honored this week as ABC News' ``Person of the Week.'' A Des Moines native, Shawn began practicing gymnastics at the age of six, as a way to channel excess energy. Originally thought to be incapable of attaining the grace that modern gymnastics requires, Shawn's future as a world-class gymnast looked rather bleak. However, with the right coach, hard work, and a positive attitude, she was recently named ``World Champion'' at the contest in Stuttgart, Germany. This year alone, she has been named the 2007 U.S. National Champion, the AA and Beam Champion in Lisburn, the 2007 American Cup All-Around Champion, and the ``all-around'' gymnast at the 2007 Pan-American contest, among many others. Aside from her athletic aptitude, Shawn is also an exceptional student, and having just started her junior year at Valley Southwoods High School in West Des Moines, she is interested in her high school football team, horseback riding, scrap-booking, and spending time with her friends and family. Shawn feels that the discipline she has learned from her involvement in gymnastics has helped her to excel in other areas of her life. I ask my colleagues to join me in congratulating this impressive and determined young lady. We wish you the best of luck as you continue to represent your community and your country in all of your athletic endeavors.

Mr. BOSWELL

Mr. BOSWELL. I thank the gentleman for yielding his time on this issue we have just mentioned here. I would first like to thank the Agriculture appropriations committee for their hard work on this legislation. It's a thoughtful piece of legislation, and I do plan to support it. Mr. Speaker, I do need to express my concern and disappointment on an amendment I was planning to offer along with Representatives Costa, King, Salazar, and Radanovich that was not made in order. Even though Representative Spratt's amendment, which replaced section 738 dealing with horse slaughter, was accepted by the Ag appropriations committee and addresses some of the large issues, including transportation and animal health inspection, it fails to address one major issue. With 100,000 horses abandoned each year in the United States, and animal adoption facilities overflowing, how, how are we supposed to deal with these animals? Having spent most of my life involved in animal agriculture, I understand many of the issues firsthand. I have worked with a variety of animals, dairy cows, feeder pigs, to my current cow-calf operation, and we have always had horses on the farm, even today. In fact, I can share with you that on the 4th of July, this past 4th in my hometown of Lamoni, Iowa, I was awarded first place in the horse hitch category, a beautiful horse and buggy. Mr. Spratt's amendment that was accepted by the committee does not address this issue of what to do with the additional 100,000 unwanted horses with nowhere to go and no one to take care of them. The burden will fall to the American taxpayer. Just housing and fitting one horse costs around $1,900 per year. Mr. Spratt's amendment will cost $127 million in just the first year alone for these animals. I want to be very clear: I love horses. I have owned horses my entire life, and they have been some of the most loyal companions over the years. But I do have major concerns to the fact that we are making it illegal for horses to be slaughtered for human consumption, but not addressing what we are going to do with these horses and how we are going to care for them. We all should have a major concern and do something about it. This problem is not simply going to go away. I thank the gentleman for the time. I would again like to reiterate my disappointment over not being allowed to offer my amendment, but I do support the bill.

Mr. BOSWELL

Mr. BOSWELL. Madam Speaker, I thank the gentlewoman for yielding me this time to speak on this very important occasion. As an original cosponsor of this resolution, I join with my good friend and colleague, and many others, Representative Braley of Iowa, as we celebrate the great service this unit has given. They are brave people. You have heard the time they served. They returned home with the distinction of being the longest serving Iowa National Guard unit since World War II. I want to personally thank them for their service to our country. The brave men and women who make up the unit are something that we are very proud of, and I feel some relation to them, as others do in the Congress, because of my own past service in another war. So I appreciate it very much. And I am also aware of the sacrifices made by the families. And I think you should know that as the troops were coming up the highway, as they passed under bridges, there were VFW and American Legion and other services and families who were on the bridges with flags walking them home, making them know how much they were appreciated and how much they were missed. Those families play a very important role, which we should all appreciate, in ensuring freedom and liberty. So I want to thank the mothers and fathers and the spouses and the sons and daughters who had and have loved ones serving around the world. I appreciate the opportunity to speak here tonight, and hope that we can raise up and give recognition and appreciation to all of our men and women who serve our country and do it with distinction. We should be very proud. I am, and I know all of us are

Mr. BOSWELL

Mr. BOSWELL. Mr. Chairman, I must recognize Mr. Arcuri and Mrs. Gillibrand for their great work. The farmers of their State ought to be very proud that they have spoken out, and we have listened and we want to make things better. I want to thank them for this amendment that he has agreed to withdraw, and to say the following: that the moving renewable industry and its impact on feed cost has been something that the House Agriculture Committee has monitored closely. The Subcommittee on Livestock, Dairy, and Poultry even held a hearing on this issue earlier this year. As the United States moves toward energy independence and a stronger renewable fuel base, the cost of production has increased for our producers. This issue affects my district especially, since it is one of the largest and a major ethanol producing area. We must work together, and we will work together, to find the balance between feed and fuel, and ensure that one important industry is not hurt by the other. So I encourage my distinguished colleague to withdraw his amendment, with the understanding that I will work with him in conference or wherever to make sure his concern about the cost of feed and fuel is incorporated in the final version of this bill for dairy producers.

Mr. BOSWELL

Mr. BOSWELL. Madam Chairman, I thank the chairman for his hard work. Madam Chairman, how many times do we have to hear over and over and over from the borrow-and-spend community across the aisle here? I hope that they would remember there are positive things that happened. We brought the livestock community together. They are moving forward. It is good for America. We brought the dairy community together. For perhaps the first time, there is no dairy war going on because they sat down in a compromise. We can't thank them enough. You might remember that. Also, we addressed the issue of mandatory country of origin labeling. We worked out a compromise. We are going to go forward and meet the consumers' wishes on that. As chairman of the Livestock, Dairy and Poultry Subcommittee, I cannot say how pleased I am for those compromises and the overall steps this legislation takes. Is there still room for improvement? Sure, there is. But the Agriculture Committee came together and wrote a farm bill for 50 States that would not only benefit farmers, ranchers and rural America, but benefits everyone. As everyone walks away today at the time when we finish this bill, I would like them to remember one thing: Every man, woman and child has a vested interest in agriculture. By ensuring that our producers have an adequate safety net, we in turn ensure we have the safest, most plentiful and affordable food in the world.

Mr. BOSWELL

Mr. BOSWELL. Mr. Chairman, I've just conferred with the Chair of the subcommittee, and he has asked me to offer it and withdraw it, and we will work on it before we go to conference. So out of my respect for him and the ranking member, of course I will do that. I would just like to say this: In the last 2 years, we have done a little bit more than this for this good cause, and it's something that's helping law enforcement out across the country. And it's not big bucks, it's pretty small. But then again, you've got to work with where you're at. But it does increase law enforcement agencies' access to records on persons who pose a risk to local communities. I can assure you that the law enforcement agencies need this access, as we think about the things that happen to our children and older folks and so on, to be able to access that good information. So with my appreciation, Mr. Chairman, I will ask unanimous consent to withdraw, with looking forward to working on this at a later point.

Mr. BOSWELL. I will yield to the gentleman.

Mr. BOSWELL. Well, I know your sincerity, and I know the ranking member's sincerity in this area. You have worked very hard on it. And I accept that, with appreciation.

Mr. BOSWELL. We will have some interesting discussion, and I look forward to it. Thank you for letting me have this moment. I ask unanimous consent to withdraw the amendment.

Mr. BOSWELL. Mr. Chairman, I offer an amendment.

Mr. BOSWELL

Mr. BOSWELL. Mr. Speaker, I rise today in support of House Resolution 553 recognizing the passing of Lady Bird Johnson and her contributions to the United States. Lady Bird Johnson, the wife of the late President Lyndon B. Johnson, passed away last week at the age of 94. We will remember this former First Lady as a woman deeply committed to her husband and his presidency, as well as a calm and elegant figure during a tumultuous time in American history. Lady Bird took an active role during her husband's time in the White House. Before environmentalism was a part of American political life, she lobbied Congress to clean up the landscape of the United States. Through her efforts, the National Highway Beautification Act and the Clean Air Act became law and the Nation's Capital received a much- needed makeover to its landscape. After she left the White House, she founded the National Wildflower Research Center in Austin, Texas, which was later named in her honor. The center continues Lady Bird's efforts to preserve this country's natural landscape and beauty. Lady Bird also influenced many other policies and initiatives during the Johnson administration, including the War on Poverty, Head Start, and the landmark 1964 Civil Rights Act. She was awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom by Gerald Ford in 1977 for her efforts both in and out of the White House. Through her numerous accomplishments, we will continue to remember her as a wife, mother, and passionate and dedicated American. While it is with sadness that I mark the passing of this wonderful individual, I am proud to be able to commemorate her incredible contributions to our nation.

Mr. BOSWELL

Mr. BOSWELL. Mr. Speaker, I thank the chairman for this opportunity to speak. I rise in support of this legislation. Much has been said these past years about the extent of the U.S. engagement in Iraq. The Iraqi people have made progress. Saddam is gone. They have had elections. We are told they have got over 300,000 Iraqi police and soldiers trained, equipped, and in the field. They are engaged in a civil war, and we cannot be involved in trying to referee that. As well as others in this body, I have been given assurances that they have that many troops. I believe the war in Iraq has had a serious negative effect on the readiness of our brave men and women in uniform who are serving with honor and distinction. Their deployments and, oftentimes, redeployments without adequate time at home to rest and train is affecting our Nation's ability to meet future contingencies. As it stands today, listen up, as it stands today, we do not have, repeat, do not have a single combat-ready brigade ready to be deployed. The United States cannot chart the destiny of the people of Iraq. The Iraqi Government must take responsibility for its own nation, and this legislation puts us on the path to see to that worthy and noble cause.

Mr. BOSWELL

Mr. BOSWELL. Madam Speaker, I would like to take this moment to share some information about who just offered our prayer, my pastor in Washington, DC. Dr. French is Pastor Emeritus of the Community of Christ Church located at 3526 Massachusetts Avenue, N.W., Washington, DC. He served the congregation for 25 years before retiring. Previous to his assignment in Washington, he held pastorates in Boston, Philadelphia and Des Moines. He has served as a pastor for 50 years. Reverend French holds degrees from Grace University, Iowa University, Drake University, and Temple University. He has done graduate work at Harvard University and studied at Princeton Theological Institute. Dr. French for the past 28 years has been a licensed clinical member of the American Association of Marriage and Family Counselors. He has been active in this discipline and currently is licensed in the State of Maryland. Dr. French is presently serving on the board of trustees for Graceland University. When his faith group started a theological seminary, he was asked to serve as one of the first board members. Previous to these appointments, he served for 10 years on the board of Park College in Kansas City. Reverend French is a member of the Rotary Club of Washington, DC, having joined in 1981. He has served on the Rotary Foundation and is presently on the governing board for Washington Rotary. He has the distinction of being the only pastor to be elected president of the Washington Club in its 84-year history. While in Washington, Reverend French has been involved in many community activities, including working with St. Luke's in establishing a neighborhood shelter for men. Dr. French has been appointed to the following boards and commissions during his ministry in Washington: President Clinton appointed him to represent the White House on the USO governing board. In this capacity, he visited various military installations and helped to provide a support program for the Armed Forces and their families. Dr. French was appointed by the National Institutes of Health to serve as a representative of the National Conference on Health Fact Finding Board. The board was designed to research and explore the needs in minority health and education. He was selected for the Board of National Conference on Ministry to the Armed Forces. This board provides opportunities for all denominations who so wish to have chaplains from their faith in the various military services. They also work closely with the Chief of Chaplains in helping to provide ministry to the troops. Reverend French served on this board for 12 years. And, lastly, Dr. French was asked to be a delegate on the United States Attorney General's Commission on Pornography. This study ended with recommendations presented to Congress. For the past 25 years, he has represented the parent church of his denomination in governmental affairs, providing liaison service to the various agencies of the government as well as to the Congress. On occasion he has been invited to offer the opening prayer for both the House and Senate. Dr. French is married to E. LaVon Crum French, a lawyer who served the U.S. House of Representatives Small Business Committee for 9 years, who is sitting in the galley. The following 17 years she served in a special magisterial appointment as Special Master for the National Childhood Vaccine Injury Program for the U.S. Court of Federal Claims. She retired in April of 2005. A son, Colin V. French, is a tax lawyer in Dallas, Texas. He is married to Amanda, also a lawyer, and they have two daughters, Carolyn and Kelsey. Dr. Kelsey French is a clinical psychologist and is married to Vince Bzdek, the news editor for the Washington Post. They have two children, a daughter, Zola, and a son, Xavier, and live in Washington, DC.

Mr. BOSWELL

Mr. BOSWELL. Mr. Speaker, I would like to thank my good friend and Colleague Mr. Tom Latham for his leadership on H. Con. Res. 164, which authorizes the use of the rotunda of the Capitol for a ceremony to award the Congressional Gold Medal to Dr. Norman Borlaug. I am honored to know Dr. Borlaug. He is a great humanitarian who is credited with saving over a billion lives. No small task but for Dr. Borlaug it was all in a days work. In 1944, Dr. Borlaug participated in Rockefeller Foundation's pioneering technical assistance program in Mexico. He was a research scientist and worked on high-yield and disease resistance cereal grains. His work changed production agriculture, as we know it today. Dr. Borlaug is also credited with beginning the `Green Revolution' in Mexico, Asia, and Latin America. He won the Nobel Peace Prize in 1970 for his groundbreaking work in world agriculture and his work to end world hunger. Through this he envisioned a prize that would honor others who had made contributions to helping feed the world. Dr. Borlaug's life is marked with accomplishments; one such accomplishment was founding the World Food Prize, which is now located in Des Moines, Iowa. The World Food Prize recognizes contributions by individuals who have worked to improve the quality, quantity and availability of the world food supply. Dr. Borlaug is an amazing man and because of him billions of lives have been saved. The implications of his life's work will be felt for years to come. I again thank Mr. Latham for helping to ensure this true American hero is properly honored.

Mr. BOSWELL

Mr. BOSWELL. First, I, too, would like to join with others in our appreciation of Chairman Skelton and Mr. Duncan for their good work, 58 unanimous votes coming out of committee. That says a lot. Madam Chairman, I think it's important for us to realize some things in the future that are going on with our forces that many of us who participated over the years, you and I, have got some concern about, that's readiness. If you haven't talked to your adjutant generals back in your home State, you ought to do that. You ought to have a talk with them, because it's something we ought to address. I know the ranking member and chairman understand this, but we have to do it. You have got a good bill. You have done what we ought to do. We have to think about what happens next. I think we have to realize that there is some disparity about what is going on, even in the Iraq operation, because we have to figure out what we want to do in the future. What do we want as the policy, as the structure, as we think about the added forces that we are going to have to do. We think about deployment. You know, they tell me that about 80 percent of the casualties over there, and probably some of you have more accurate information, are from the infantry. But they are only about 20 percent of the force. You think about that, there's something going on here that's evolved in all of this that we haven't really addressed. We are thinking about the dearth of those who are reenlisting in the very important rank, the backbone of the Army, and I would guess the Marines as well, and that's the E-6. There are more of those that are doing the leadership positions throughout a various variety of things, as well as the O-2s and O-3s. And those are young people, younger people, who have got some amount of service, but they have got to talk to their families about reenlisting and continuing on. They are not staying, and this ought to be a concern. We have got to address that, and we have got to do that in the very, very near future. So we have to sit down and say, what is our structure, what is our policy, before we go ahead and do the things that we have to do.

Mr. BOSWELL

Mr. BOSWELL. Madam Chairman, I rise in support of this bill. I feel it is a step in the right direction. I have to take note that there is almost a self-righteousness of those that have been in charge for all these years and want to criticize, you have only had the driving of this ship for 4 months. You're doing a good job. Keep your head up and keep going forward and the country will be safer. This bill does a number of things. One thing for sure that we recognize, all of us that have served in this capacity, that the people that go out there and gather intelligence, they put it on the line. The things they do, if the Nation understood the risks they take, the things they will do to try to make us safe, they would be very appreciative. This bill also recognizes something that we have been overlooking now for several years, that there is a need to increase the gathering of information or opportunities for people to learn languages. Around the world, this world we live in, there is much need to have innovative ways to explore new language opportunities. The need is there. This bill will require that, and that is a good step forward at least. It also recognizes the need to take an aggressive approach to the gaps in our knowledge about Korea and Iran and around the world. We know there is a threat there and we are going to have to do more about it. We have tried before; we are trying again. This bill will do it and require the DNI to report back to us on a quarterly basis so we can assess and give oversight and do a better job of recognizing this need. So, Mr. Chairman, I appreciate your hard work. Keep it up. Support the bill.

Mr. BOSWELL

Mr. BOSWELL. Mr. Chairman, I offer an amendment.

Mr. BOSWELL. Mr. Chairman, I yield myself such time as I may consume. Before I explain the amendment, I would like to thank Ms. Johnson and Mr. Oberstar for their hard work. We have finally got something out here to work with. I thank the gentleman from Louisiana and the gentleman from Florida for working together with us. It is something that our country needed very, very badly, and was overdue. Mr. Chairman, I rise in support of this amendment that is highly important to the State of Iowa constituents and also a number of folks in northern Missouri. As a member of the Transportation and Infrastructure Committee, I would like to especially give my appreciation for this opportunity that is before us today. My amendment is critical to the future availability of quality drinking water for farmers, residents and businesses in southern Iowa and northern Missouri. Rathbun Regional Water Association is the largest rural water system in Iowa and one of the largest in the United States. Rathbun Regional Water Association supplies potable water to 60,000 people in the rural areas of 15 counties and 41 communities in southern Iowa and northern Missouri from the association's water treatment plant at Rathbun Lake. Rathbun Lake is the source of raw water for the treatment plant. Rathbun Rural Water Association has experienced steady growth in the demand for potable water. In response to this demand, Rathbun Rural Water Association doubled the capacity of its treatment plant in 2000 and made improvements to its distribution system. Rathbun Rural Water Association has completed an analysis of future water demand in its service territory. This analysis indicates that Rathbun Regional Water Association must take steps to meet continued growth in demand for potable water. The ability to secure the rights of the remaining drinking water pool in Lake Rathbun, a facility managed by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, is critical to meet demand. There are 15,000 acre-feet of water supply storage in Rathbun Lake. Rathbun Regional Water Association has purchased the rights to 6,680 acre-feet of this water and storage from the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers. It is essential that they be able to acquire the rights of the remaining over 8,000 acre-feet of water supply storage in Rathbun Lake in order to satisfy the growing demand for potable water in its service territory. This remaining acre-feet in water would provide access to approximately 2.7 billion gallons of water. The amendment submitted today takes two critical steps to ensure the availability of water for the region. First, it directs the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers to grant Rathbun Rural Water the right of first refusal to contract for any increment of the remaining water supply storage allocation in Rathbun Lake. This language is in accordance with the recommendations in the Rathbun Lake Reallocation Report approved by the chief of engineers on July 22, 1985. Second, it allows Rathbun Regional Water Association to contract for the remaining water supply storage allocation in total, or incrementally as dictated by the demand of the potable water demand in the association's service territory, at such time as the full amount of storage may be purchased. This amendment ensures access to quality water supply for rural residents, small communities and businesses in southern Iowa and northern Missouri. It enables Rathbun Rural Water to better manage the expense of purchasing water storage allocation in a manner that reduces the financial burden on its customers and ensures the vitality of Rathbun Regional Water Association to fulfill its commitment to an extensive rural area. I join with my colleague from Iowa, Congressman Loebsack, in this request, and I urge my colleagues to support this amendment. Mr. Chairman, I reserve the balance of my time.

Mr. BOSWELL. Thank you, Mr. Oberstar, and the gentleman from Louisiana, I appreciate your help and your work with us on this. I would join again with Congressman Loebsack and urge passage of this amendment.

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

Mr. BOSWELL

Mr. BOSWELL. Thank you, Chairman Filner, and all of you on the Veterans Committee that worked together on this, both sides of the aisle. We are doing the right thing, and we know that. I would associate myself with all the comments that have been made from Chairman Filner and Mr. Miller and all the rest, so I will not try to repeat them. But I might just share a little bit to whoever might be watching about why this bill came to pass. As we all know, a number of veterans returning from Afghanistan and Iraq, particularly Iraq, this phenomena is taking place, perhaps more so than ever before in our history. It is a concerning thing. All wounds are not visible. I think it has been a little hard for us to realize that we have to recognize this, and we are doing it. I just want to share with you some many, many months ago, when I had the occasion to respond to the Omvig family in Grundy Center, Iowa, not too far from Waterloo, and you will be hearing from Mr. Braley shortly, I went and talked to them and realized the suffering they were feeling. This family, this father and this mother, Randy and Ellen, their son came home after 11 months, someone they loved very much, of course as all parents do, and they realized something was wrong, wasn't right. They wanted to do anything they could to help, but the frustration of not knowing what to do, trying to help, not knowing what to do, not having professional help, others reaching out in the community and so on, keeping Joshua as close as they possibly could, and knowing that things were not going well. And then one tragic morning, as he left to go to work, and his mother was right there with him, and walked out to his pick-up truck, rolled up the window, with his mother standing just outside the window, and took his life. It should never have happened. In this day of technology, we can test our young men and women going in and coming out of the services, and the technicians and the experts tell us that they can identify with a test they give that a person is suspect to this situation, the possibility of wanting to commit suicide. They say over 1 out of 100 give it consideration coming back from Iraq. Now, if we have that ability to test, and we do, then it is appropriate that we take these steps that we are taking today to cause and affect our Veterans Administration to follow up and follow through and save every life we possibly can. We can't bring Joshua back, but we can do all we can possibly do to prevent it from happening to others. So I am very appreciative today. I of course rise in strong support of this. And I do this in the name of Joshua, by the name of Randy and Ellen. I know the day I sat with them in a little restaurant in Grundy Center, we talked about what we were trying to shape into this bill. I wasn't sure I should, but then I asked them, I said would you mind if we named this after your son? They kind of looked at each other and talked about it, and they said they would be honored. Now, they are continuing in their grieving, but they are reaching out to others. The calls they are getting to help others to get through this situation is a good thing. They are stepping forward and doing that, and I am very proud of them. So I hope we can get this message to them that we are responding, and the time is now. Please support this bill. Thank you so very much. With more and more veterans returning from tours of duty in Iraq and Afghanistan, many new issues have arisen regarding veterans' mental health care that has not received attention in the past. Some estimates have found that almost 1,000 veterans receiving care from the Department of Veterans Affairs commit suicide each year and one out of five suicides in the United States is a veteran. We must do better for our veterans and I believe this legislation is a step in the right direction. This legislation grew out of a great tragedy. Almost a year ago I learned of a young man from Grundy Center, IA, Joshua Omvig, who experienced undiagnosed PTDS after returning from an 11-month tour in Iraq. His friends and family, mother and father Ellen and Randy, knew he was having a hard time adjusting to civilian life but did not know how to help him. Help was not available. Then, in December of 2005, Joshua tragically took his life. He was only 22 years old. Over the past year I have learned that Joshua was sadly not a unique case. After I heard Joshua's story I was shocked to find that one in 100 Operation Iraqi Freedom veterans have reported thinking about suicide. We treat their physical wounds; now it is time to also treat their mental ones. All wounds are not visible. I'd like to say a few words about Joshua's parents, Randy and Ellen Omvig. Out of their personal loss they have championed a cause to help all veterans and their family members. I have met with the Omvigs on numerous occasions; most recently I saw them this past Sunday, and I'm so impressed by their commitment to help others--the young men and women who have served our country. They are true heroes. I am proud to stand here in support of this bill and I encourage the House to pass H.R. 327 today and ensure all veterans receive the care they need. Not all wounds inflicted in combat are visible, now is the time to treat them.

Mr. BOSWELL

Mr. BOSWELL. Mr. Speaker, I move to suspend the rules and pass the bill (H.R. 478) to designate the Federal building and United States courthouse located at 101 Barr Street in Lexington, Kentucky, as the ``Scott Reed Federal Building and United States Courthouse''.

Mr. BOSWELL. Mr. Speaker, I ask unanimous consent that all Members may have 5 legislative days within which to revise and extend their remarks and to include extraneous material on H.R. 478.