John Boozman

Mr. BOOZMAN

Mr. BOOZMAN. Madam Speaker, I rise this morning to honor two exceptional people honored recently by the director of the United States Marshal Service. They are two of four honored nationwide. Mike Blevins, the chief deputy marshal for the Western District of Arkansas, has been awarded the Meritorious Service Award, recognizing his exemplary service to the Marshal Service the last 31 years. Mike is a great example for all of us, and I greatly appreciate his service to community and country. Trent Thompson, an Eagle Scout, was also named Citizen of the Year by the service. Thompson's Eagle Scout project was making wood memorial markers honoring deputy marshals from the Western District who fell in the line of duty since its inception. Trent is a fine young man, and I appreciate his leadership at such a young age. I congratulate both of these people who by example indeed have done so much for the people of the Third District of Arkansas, and I congratulate them for their honors.

Mr. BOOZMAN

Mr. BOOZMAN. First of all, I would like to associate myself with the remarks that were said in the previous bill regarding the Suicide Prevention Act. Again, I just appreciate, being a member of the Veterans' Affairs Committee, I appreciate the hard work on that. It really does make us all proud. Mr. Speaker, for years the VA has awarded service-connected disability ratings, including increased ratings for the loss of use for paired organs, such as hearing, when only one organ was affected by military service. The exception is the body's visual sensory organs and it is time to remove that inequity. This brings the VA in line with eye disability as done by everyone else in figuring eye disability. As an optometrist and as an eye doctor I am very, very familiar with this and used to help figure these things all of the time, the loss of visual acuity in one eye on the other eye and the long-term effects of that stress. To me, ignoring any loss of visual acuity due to nonservice-connected causes just isn't rational. I would like to thank Congresswoman Baldwin for her excellent work in bringing this forward to the full House, and for her advocacy. She has been a real bulldog, and I mean that in a very nice way, in just really staying after this. And due to her efforts, she has been instrumental in highlighting this problem. I have very much enjoyed working with her to improve the law to better serve veterans with visual impairments. I am also pleased that the bill contains an amendment which was offered during the full committee markup to extend the VA work/study allowance benefits for 5 years. This is a follow-on to a short-term, 6- month extension we passed late last year, and will enable student veterans the ability to continue in a wide variety of work/study positions that directly benefit veterans while easing the workload on the Federal staff at VA and DOD. Current law allows work/study participants to work up to 20 hours per week. Participants perform a variety of duties such as veteran-related paperwork at schools or VA offices. Some participants perform outreach services under the supervision of a VA employee. Others perform services at VA medical facilities or the offices of the National Cemetery Administration. The VA work/study allowance is available to Americans training under many programs, such as the Montgomery GI bill, as well as the program for Vocational Training and Rehabilitation for Veterans with Service Connected Disabilities, and several other programs. The work/study portion of H.R. 797 allows us to extend the work/study program without violating the PAYGO rules by using the offsets found elsewhere in the bill. I really want to thank Chairman Filner and Chairman Buyer for working together. This was a difficult thing to get all of the needs crafted together so we could kill two birds with one stone and rectify the visual impairment part. Mr. Speaker, this is an excellent bill. I urge my colleagues to support H.R. 797.

Mr. BOOZMAN

Mr. BOOZMAN. Mr. Speaker, I rise this afternoon to honor an exceptional group of teenagers from my home district, the Bentonville High School Chamber Choir. The choir, comprised of juniors and seniors, is one of only four across the Nation chosen to go to Carnegie Hall next week for the National High School Choral Festival. Under the direction of Terry Hicks, the choir has participated in many regional and national competitions, representing Arkansas and the Third District with class. We are privileged to have students such as the Bentonville Chamber Choir living in and representing the State of Arkansas, and I commend their success. I wish them the best of luck on their performance at the world-famous Carnegie hall.

Mr. BOOZMAN

Mr. BOOZMAN. Mr. Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may consume. Mr. Speaker, we appreciate the gentlelady's work on this bill. The legislation before us today reauthorizes the Advisory Commission on Public Diplomacy through fiscal year 2009. Unique among nations, the United States maintains a vast network of formal and informal contacts with the people of the world and conducts the world's only global foreign policy. The purpose of public diplomacy is to provide this worldwide audience with information about the United States and to convey an accurate and positive image of our beloved country and our foreign policy objectives. To accomplish this mission, the United States Government has at its disposal a number of important tools, including education and cultural exchange programs, extensive and proactive public affairs programs centered in our embassies, and a network of radio and television services broadcasting accurate and objective programming to a world community. With H.R. 1003, Congress is reauthorizing the advisory commission for another 2 years to continue its important work to study our public diplomacy programs and reach some useful conclusions about how our government can do a better job of creating a dialogue with foreign audiences. I urge the commission during the next 2 years to step up its efforts to study in more detail our public diplomacy and broadcasting efforts and advise policymakers in the administration and in Congress on appropriate changes and reforms that will improve our outreach efforts to the people of the world. Mr. Speaker, I would again emphasize the importance of my bill and urge all of my colleagues to vote in the affirmative. Mr. Speaker, I yield back the balance of my time.

Mr. BOOZMAN

Mr. BOOZMAN. Mr. Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may consume. At the outset, I would like to express my appreciation for the outstanding leadership of Congressman Kirk in introducing this timely resolution. It has my wholehearted support. Mr. Choudhury is a Bangladeshi journalist and the editor of the Weekly Blitz, the largest tabloid English-language weekly in Bangladesh. He is currently facing a sedition trial for daring to reach out to Jewish and Israeli writers, as well as for speaking openly about the threat radical Islam poses in Bangladesh. Mr. Choudhury was arrested in November 2003 when he tried to attend a conference in Israel and then was subjected to brutal treatment while in prison. Although he was released last year, in large part due to the efforts of Congressman Kirk and others, the Bangladesh government refuses to drop the charges against Mr. Choudhury, apparently trying to intimidate him into silence. Last May, the American Jewish Committee presented Mr. Choudhury with the Moral Courage Award recognizing his efforts to promote dialogue between Muslims and Jews and his courage in speaking out against Islamic extremism. Unfortunately, however, the authorities in Dhaka refused to permit him to visit the U.S. to receive the honor. Mr. Speaker, Bangladesh and the U.S. have been good friends for over 35 years. Despite many handicaps, Bangladesh has made good progress in some key areas of development, including agricultural production, improved literacy rates, basic social services, and empowering women through employment and education. As the fourth most populous Muslim country in the world, a moderate and stable Bangladesh can play an important role in regional and world affairs. Today, however, Bangladesh is at a crossroads. National elections are being postponed amidst electoral chaos; meanwhile, the military appears to be playing an increasingly large role within the Bangladeshi interim government. The prospect of holding free and fair elections during the first half of 2007 appears to be much in doubt. More broadly, endemic political polarization, corruption and related governance concerns, as well as the rise of violent extremists remains substantial challenges for the Bangladeshi society. Mr. Speaker, in this context I urge the authorities in Dhaka to send a strong signal about the importance Bangladesh attaches to tolerance and the rule of law by dropping these politically motivated charges against Mr. Choudhury. I support the resolution and urge its adoption. Mr. Speaker, I reserve the balance of my time.

Mr. BOOZMAN. Mr. Speaker, I yield 4 minutes to the gentleman from Ohio (Mr. Chabot).

Mr. BOOZMAN. Mr. Speaker, I yield such time as he may consume to the gentleman from Illinois (Mr. Kirk), the author of this resolution.

Mr. BOOZMAN. Mr. Speaker, again in closing, I want to thank the chairman of the Middle East Subcommittee, Mr. Ackerman, for bringing this forward. Certainly we want to thank Mr. Kirk for his hard work and then Mrs. Lowey for making this a very bipartisan effort, and I would urge all of my colleagues to support this. Mr. Speaker, I yield back the balance of my time.

Mr. BOOZMAN

Mr. BOOZMAN. Yes. Again, I reiterate how important to my colleagues it is that we pass this resolution and support it wholeheartedly, and I thank the gentleman for his leadership in this area. Mr. Speaker, I yield back the balance of my time.

Mr. BOOZMAN. Mr. Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may consume. Mr. Speaker, last July Israel's sovereign border was violated by terrorists linked to Hamas who shot and killed two Israeli soldiers and kidnapped Corporal Gilad Shalit. Days later, terrorists linked to Hezbollah crossed into Israel and killed three and wounded two, and kidnapped soldiers Ehud Goldwasser and Eldad Regev. All three have been held captive since without medical attention from humanitarian groups like the Red Cross. No information is known on the fate of these soldiers. As proxies of the Iranian and Syrian regimes, Hezbollah and Hamas have continued to attack Israel despite Israel's withdrawal from southern Lebanon in 2000 and Gaza in 2005. Rather than view Israel's withdrawal as an act of good faith to further the cause of peace, Hezbollah and Hamas viewed these measures as signs of weaknesses to exploit. Hamas and Hezbollah, which have representatives in the Palestinian and Lebanese cabinets, believe that terrorism, murder and kidnapping are appropriate means of achieving political objectives, and have proposed negotiations to exchange these hostages for convicted terrorists now serving time in Israeli jails. I am proud to be a cosponsor of this resolution which declares that the House of Representatives stands with the State of Israel and its right to self-defense and against the barbarity perpetrated by Hezbollah, Hamas and other terrorist groups, and the rogue regimes that sponsor them. This resolution demands that Hamas and Hezbollah immediately and unconditionally release Mr. Shalit, Mr. Goldwasser and Mr. Regev, and that they provide all three with access to medical attention. The resolution also holds Iran and Syria accountable for making terrorist acts like these possible. We cannot afford to be complacent about those Islamist extremists who would seek to kill three people, violate borders with impunity and threaten the security of the Middle East and the world. As Dr. Martin Luther King noted, ``Injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere.'' I thank Chairman Ackerman for introducing this resolution, his leadership in this area, and doing so much to advance the cause of the kidnapped Israeli soldiers. This resolution is about seeking what is needed most: Justice for the innocent and accountability for the guilty. I strongly urge my colleagues to support this resolution. Mr. Speaker, I reserve the balance of my time.

Mr. BOOZMAN

Mr. BOOZMAN. Madam Speaker, I felt the need today to rise and to briefly express my deeply felt dismay over the failure of leadership concerning the problems at Walter Reed. We have witnessed a disservice to the men and women in uniform to whom we owe such a deep debt of gratitude. It is simply inexcusable. We can and must do a better job by our injured troops, especially after asking them to do so much for us. I was glad to see actions to hold the Army and hospital leadership accountable, and the President's choice to create the Dole-Shalala Commission. Both Senator Dole and Secretary Shalala have the experience to craft solutions to improve the situation. I know they will be independent and offer a sound assessment of the problem with good solutions. Ultimately, our troops deserve the best. This is a bipartisan issue, and I look forward to working diligently on it. We must not rest until our troops are assured of the medical treatment that they so rightfully deserve.

Mr. BOOZMAN

Mr. BOOZMAN. Mr. Chairman, I move to strike the last word, and I yield to the gentleman from Georgia.

Mr. BOOZMAN. Mr. Chairman, I appreciate the committee chairman's comments, and I reserve the balance of my time.

Mr. BOOZMAN. Mr. Chairman, again, I rise to support this bill, very much so. I want to thank Chairman Oberstar, Chairman Johnson, Ranking Member Mica and Ranking Member Baker and their staffs for their hard work and the efforts that they put into this. Again, I would urge my colleagues to support passage of this bill. Mr. Chairman, I yield back the balance of my time.

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

Mr. BOOZMAN. Mr. Chairman, I yield myself such time as I may consume. I rise in support of H.R. 700, the Healthy Communities Water Supply Act of 2007. I want to thank the chairwoman and the ranking member, Mr. Baker, for their hard work on this particular bill. H.R. 700 extends the pilot program under the Clean Water Act for alternative water source projects. Growth in population, increasing demands for water, and drought are resulting in water shortages in many areas around our Nation, both in the west and the east. Many communities are finding that their water supply needs cannot be met by existing water supplies. As a result, many communities and their water resource development agencies are looking at alternative ways to alleviate their water shortages and enhance water supplies to meet their future water needs. This is an important issue not only for my home State of Arkansas but for the many other parts of the country facing increasing demands for water. Adequate water is needed to sustain our country's economic growth and viability. Some of the approaches they are looking at involve reclaiming, reusing or conserving water that has already been used. H.R. 700 provides an authority to help communities meet some of their critical water supply needs through water reclamation, reuse, conservation and management. H.R. 700 authorizes $125 billion for the EPA to make grants to water resource development agencies for these sorts of alternative water source projects. The program leverages non-Federal resources by requiring a non-Federal cash of 50 percent. I urge all Members to support this important bill. Mr. Chairman, I reserve the balance of my time.

Mr. BOOZMAN. I yield to the gentlewoman from Texas.

Mr. BOOZMAN

Mr. BOOZMAN. Mr. Speaker, I rise tonight to ask my colleagues to vote against House Concurrent Resolution 63. I ask this despite the fact that I am very much in favor of the first part of the resolution before us. The first part says: Congress will and should continue to support and protect the members of the United States Armed Forces who are serving or who have served bravely and honorably in Iraq. If the resolution stopped there, it would be great. We would be sending a message that we unequivocally support our troops in Iraq, our troops who are preparing to go there, and General Petraeus is being confirmed to lead those troops. But the resolution does not stop there. It goes on and by its words takes that support away. How do you support the troops without supporting the plans of those troops? General David Petraeus was confirmed just a scant 20 days ago with much praise and fanfare. He is probably one of the most respected men to ever wear the uniform. Congress said to him, you are great, go get the job done. Now, less than a week after he took over in Baghdad, we are in the throes of the process which will essentially tell the general, sorry, we don't approve of the plan you created or are currently undertaking. Most of those criticizing this plan offer no alternative, and I say most. Some have offered an alternative, but most of those criticizing this plan have offered no alternative. Even the Iraq Study Group, a bipartisan commission of statesmen who have been heralded and quoted by the many who support this resolution, have indeed said that they support the short-term surge. This was later confirmed by Mr. Hamilton, the Democratic co-chair of the group when he appeared in front of the Foreign Affairs Committee of which I am a member. I visited Iraq five times, the last with my friend from Indiana (Mr. Buyer). I met with the troops from my State and from others across America, thanking them for their service in combating radical Islam and the insurgency and liberating a people from tyranny. I have sat down with the President and the Prime Minister of Iraq. I have told them that the Americans and the coalition forces would soon be leaving Iraq in the not-too-distant future. Their response has always been, we want you to leave but we need your help now until we can train our forces to provide our own security. America will one day hand over responsibilities to the Iraqis, but it must be on terms which are beneficial to the interests of America, Iraq and the region, while not sacrificing the progress we have made or the security that we have earned. We must do right by the Iraqi people. We must do right by our troops in Iraq tonight, and we must do right by the men and women in uniform and their families who have served and sacrificed so much. Our allies, countries in the region, in fact most of the world, agrees that if we pull out before the Iraqis are ready, it will create tremendous instability in the region, leading to the possibility of war and nuclear proliferation in the Arab states. I had the opportunity to successfully play sports at a fairly high level. Whether it was on a Boys Club team, a high school team or a major college football team, nothing emboldened our team more or made us work harder to defeat the other team than when we saw dissension on the other team. We have an opportunity this week to send a strong message to our allies, the insurgents and most importantly the men and women in uniform who ironically are in combat tonight attempting to execute the plan that is being railed against on the House floor as we speak. The message that we should send should be our will to not jeopardize the safety of those in Iraq by emboldening our enemies. We can show this by our will tonight of defeating this resolution. The other thing I would like to say is that reference was made to Washington. And I also am reading a book on John Adams that is related, certainly. And Washington did at times have to pull back. He was facing the greatest army of the time. But he did pull back. And Washington also was under tremendous pressure from Congress, under tremendous criticism. And I am certainly glad that Washington did not listen to that criticism, that he fought on. If he had not, we would probably be under British rule today.

Mr. BOOZMAN

Mr. BOOZMAN. Mr. Speaker, I also want to thank Chairman Oberstar for bringing this legislation through committee and to the floor in a very expeditious way. I rise today in support of the commonsense piece of legislation which I hope will serve as an example of working hard and smart toward energy independence in America. I have long been a proponent of this kind of affordable alternative lighting method, and energy production method, and have voted before for increases in using solar panels which produce no air pollution or a single ounce of hazardous waste. As the leader in securing our energy independence and promoting safe and effective energy alternatives, I fully support the Department of Energy's retrofitting of solar panels to reduce energy consumption and, in fact, retrofitting in other areas, Federal buildings with more such that we can get more efficient energy technology in place. I am confident that through the Department of Energy's leadership in utilizing this lighting technology, the United States, as a whole, can make significant progress towards greater energy efficiency and independence. All of us in this room have said our Nation needs to be more energy independent. There is no magic wand which will make it so. It takes many steps to get to the end of the path we are traveling, and it will take many people to make this goal a reality. Today we have the opportunity to take another step down that path. I urge my colleagues to give us the means to take this step by passing H.R. 798. I also want to commend Chairman Oberstar. Many years ago there was a country western song by Barbara Mandrell that said she was country before country was cool, through her song, and I would say that you are very much a proponent of this legislation, a proponent of these things when it wasn't cool. And as Mr. LaTourette said, perhaps if we had done some of those things many years ago, as you were insisting then, we would be in much better shape from an energy standpoint in our Nation today.

Mr. BOOZMAN

Mr. BOOZMAN. Madam Speaker, I yield 1\1/2\ minutes to Congressman Reichert of Washington. (Mr. REICHERT asked and was given permission to revise and extend his remarks.)

Mr. BOOZMAN. Madam Speaker, I yield 2 minutes to the gentlewoman from Florida (Ms. Ginny Brown-Waite), the ranking member of the Oversight Subcommittee of Veterans' Affairs.

Mr. BOOZMAN. Madam Speaker, I yield 1\1/2\ minutes to the gentlewoman from Colorado (Mrs. Musgrave). (Mrs. MUSGRAVE asked and was given permission to revise and extend her remarks.)

Mr. BOOZMAN. Madam Speaker, in closing, I just want to thank Mr. Holt for his efforts, and Mr. Brown, in bringing this forward. I can only echo what has being said in this Chamber about the value of hiring veterans and how important this is. We are a nation at war, and these men and women and their families sacrifice greatly. And so, again, I know that certainly my efforts, I think Congress and their efforts through doing things like this, all of our efforts in trying to solve the problem of putting our veterans back to work. Again, thank you very much, and a special thanks to the staff for their hard work in bringing this forward. Madam Speaker, I yield back the balance of my time.

Mr. BOOZMAN. Madam Speaker, I yield 2 minutes to the gentleman from Florida (Mr. Bilirakis).

Mr. BOOZMAN

Mr. BOOZMAN. Madam Speaker, I rise today in strong support of House Resolution 24 to reauthorize the House Democracy Assistance Commission. This type of parliamentary development program was initially seen as a tool to help 12 emerging democracies rise from the grasp of communism in Central and Eastern Europe in the mid-1990s. The Solomon-Frost Task Force assumed that successful democratic transitions in former Communist countries depended on direct involvement and at a modest cost were able to help these parliaments become effective legislatures and play a crucial part in a democratic system. One of the most evident impacts of the program was the goodwill it generated towards the U.S. Congress and the American people among these East European countries under the Iron Curtain. As the need has continued to grow and our world continues to evolve, former Speaker Hastert recognized the necessity of having this program once again. The House Democracy Assistance Commission has given the U.S. Congress the ability to guide fledgling democracies into strong, stable institutions of government by creating relationships between members of both bodies. Madam Speaker, I had the opportunity to travel to Lebanon, Kenya and Liberia on a trip not too long ago. And we were greeted in Kenya by a big guy. I am a pretty big guy myself; I am not used to looking up to people. But this individual was probably 6-5, 6-6. He was the staffer that was in charge of taking us around the capital making sure that we got where we were supposed to be. And then we had the opportunity to journey outside of the capital out into the countryside. We flew out, and this same individual greeted us in his Masai warrior outfit. And we had the opportunity to visit with the Masai, see how they ran things. But, Madam Speaker, that is how you change the world, with the relationships, helping others build the institutions that underpin democracy. That is how you change the world. Again, I want to thank Congressmen Price and Dreier for their leadership, for the tremendous job that they have done, to Speaker Pelosi for going forward and agreeing to getting things along as far as they have on this, former Speaker Hastert for his vision, and then most importantly, to the staff that does such a tremendous job of helping out and making all of those things possible.