Bob Beauprez

Mr. BEAUPREZ

Mr. BEAUPREZ. Mr. Speaker, I rise today to commend the Republic of Kazakhstan for their hospitality in hosting the first ever International Forum of Korean Youth Organizations. This forum has the goal of establishing an international framework for young Koreans throughout the world. These youth organizations are dedicated to the ideals of free markets and individual liberty. By hosting this democratic forum, Kazakhstan will further its growing international reputation as a free and democratic state. The Republic of Kazakhstan is home to more than 14 million people and is the ninth largest nation in the world. It is an active member in the United Nations and the European Organization of Cooperation and Safety. After gaining their freedom on December 16, 1991, the emerging republic adopted a constitution on August 30, 1995. Since 1998, the Korean Youth Movement in Kazakhstan, MDK, has been building relationships with different republic-minded organizations at home and abroad. By hosting the first international forum for Korean youth organizations around the world, the MDK is creating an environment to exchange experiences and build international cooperation throughout the Korean community. Mr. Speaker, during this forum, young Korean leaders from around the world will be able to tour and sample the vibrant democracy that is flourishing in Kazakhstan. I ask that my colleagues join me in commending our friends in the Parliament of Kazakhstan for their assistance and vision with this great International Forum on behalf of Korean Youth worldwide, and wish them much success.

Mr. BEAUPREZ

Mr. BEAUPREZ. Mr. Chairman, I rise today in support of House Resolution 6, legislation promoting the economic and environmental benefits of energy conservation, research and development. I commend this legislation for including further encouragement of the use of renewable energy sources. It is of the utmost importance in such internationally unstable times our great nation look for ways to improve the efficiency of fuel consumption within our own borders. It is imperative this body seeks and successfully implement sound renewable energy legislation. House Resolution 6 requires the Secretary of Energy, in partnership with the private sector, to carry out a program addressing the production of hydrogen from diverse energy sources, the safe storage and delivery of hydrogen or hydrogen-carrier fuels, the development of safe and affordable fuel cells, and the development of necessary standards and safety practices related to hydrogen and hydrogen-carrier fuels. Activities must facilitate the development of hydrogen energy and energy infrastructure, fuel cells, advanced vehicle technologies, and clean fuels in addition to hydrogen. But it doesn't stop there. I am encouraged to see that this visionary legislation also develops biomass as a source of renewable energy. Incenting the development of biomass as an energy resource will provide tremendous economic encouragement to implement effective forest management. From our existing hydropower infrastructure to new geothermal, wind and solar resources, this legislation proposes answers to the question--how do we power a modern society? It even looks to landfill gas as a source of energy. In my home district, the sharp team at the National Renewable Energy Lab is working diligently to bring renewable energy ideas to reality. For this, Mr. Chairman, I am pleased the House of Representatives has set forth such promising legislation that will strengthen renewable energy alternatives and set a precedent for future generations.

Mr. BEAUPREZ

Mr. BEAUPREZ. Mr. Speaker, along with Mr. Smith of New Jersey, Chairman of the Committee on Veterans' Affairs; Mr. Evans of Illinois, the Committee's Ranking Member; Mr. Simmons of Connecticut, Chairman of the Subcommittee on Health; and Mr. Rodriguez of Texas, the Health Subcommittee's Ranking Member, I am introducing a bill to improve health care cost recovery programs in the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA). The Veterans Health Care Cost Recovery Act of 2003 would strengthen VA's rights under law to collect third-party reimbursements from certain third parties for the costs the Department incurs in providing health care to veterans and others covered by a private or public health plan. It would specifically authorize reimbursement for services provided by VA to persons enrolled in and/or receiving treatment from VA health care facilities. The absence of a participating agreement or other contractual agreement would no longer serve as grounds for denying or reducing amounts the Department may collect from third party payers. With this legislation, the Department of Veterans Affairs would be deemed a ``preferred provider'' for purposes of collections when a payer might be a managed care or preferred provider organization or other non-traditional payer. This bill would authorize VA to receive full reimbursement for services provided to all persons with insurance, with the exception of service-disabled veterans for health care provided related to their service connected conditions. This bill would require health plans to reimburse VA for legitimate expenses associated with a covered beneficiary. A number of payers and plans that fully cover veterans have either refused to reimburse VA or have legally been unable to do so. This bill would eliminate such barriers to reimbursements to the VA system. The Veterans Affairs Committee is fully aware that the VA health care system is seriously under-funded and unable to meet the demands being placed on it by our nation's veterans. VA health care is under great stress, as increasing enrollment and rising health care costs have resulted in hundreds of thousands of veterans being forced to wait months, some even more than a year, to see a VA doctor for the first time. VA recently reported that over 200,000 veterans are waiting six months or more to be seen in VA primary care. These proud defenders of our freedom should not be told to wait because we lack the resources, or even more unthinkable--told to go away. Mr. Speaker, my bill would correct serious deficiencies in VA's ability to recover costs of care provided to patients covered by other health plans. Since 1986, VA has had statutory authority to collect from traditional insurers such as Blue Cross-Blue Shield, Aetna, Mutual of Omaha and many others. These funds are used by VA to supplement appropriated funds to maintain high quality health care. But currently, VA is unable to collect from the sizeable managed care and preferred provider sector, which accounts now for over two-thirds of all health plans in the United States. This segment of the health care industry also includes the managed care plans within the Federal Employee Health Benefits Plan. My legislation would require the private sector programs to pay VA for care it provides to covered beneficiaries. This would increase the amount of money VA could collect by hundreds of millions of dollars each year--providing funds that are desperately needed to reduce the waiting lists and promote better use of all available health care resources. Mr. Speaker, this is a sound proposal that would increase available health care dollars for veterans. I urge prompt House action on this important measure.

Mr. BEAUPREZ

Mr. BEAUPREZ. Mr. Chairman, I thank the gentleman for yielding me time. I particularly commend him for bringing H.R. 522 to the floor of this body. Before I was sworn in as a Member of Congress I was a community banker. Our family still operates a community bank back home, and I want to highlight why I am supporting this bill from particularly a community banker's position. Chairman Powell, Chairman of the FDIC, has indicated that the buying power of the $100,000 that is in reference today has deteriorated since 1980, the last time that FDIC insurance rates were adjusted to just $47,000 currently. Well, the same holds true on the lending side, and that is what I want to focus on is credit availability. One of the biggest challenges, especially for community banks like I ran back home, was to have adequate deposits to meet credit demand. Now, if the $100,000 in 1980 is representative of $47,000 worth of buying power today, similarly, demand for credit has escalated the same way. Access to those deposits is critical and insurance coverage for those deposits is one of the main criteria for large deposit customers to bring their cash to the bank, knowing that it is covered. They either spread it out among other financial institutions at tremendous burden to them, or they put it in uninsured accounts out in the marketplace, both poor options. They like to establish a relationship and like to keep that relationship. This only makes good sense. Another reason it makes such good sense is that it is a self- insurance program. The banks pay the premium that guarantees the insurance protection for these deposits. Mr. Chairman, let me again commend the gentleman for bringing this legislation to the floor of this body. It is legislation I have long supported and long encouraged, and I thank the gentleman from Alabama (Mr. Bachus) for his leadership on this issue.

Mr. BEAUPREZ

Mr. BEAUPREZ. Mr. Speaker, I thank the gentleman from New Mexico for yielding. I have been intrigued by this dialogue about the budget and especially the economic growth package, so-called, and there are a lot of ideas going around on this Hill. I want to focus for just a minute on something very near and dear to my heart, job creation. I have been in the private sector all my life and only a brief while in this distinguished body as a Member of Congress. So my mind and perhaps a good share of my heart is still back home with the folks that actually are creating jobs and doing the work around this country. In fact, just this afternoon I had an electric contractor, electrician, in my office and he was lamenting with me the state of things back home, that he is actually for the first time in many years faced with laying people off, with eliminating jobs. And that is a tragedy because these people that work for him, he is a small business owner again, they become more than just employees, they become friends; and he knows that laying them off, especially in times like this, is a bad situation and it becomes a very personal situation. So I think a concept that has tragically been lost in a great deal of this dialogue is the one of job creation and something that we really ought to be committed to. And I submit that all of us from either side of the aisle, all of us that run for public office say, we are for job creation, we are going to do that when we get to Congress. If we are ever going to do that, if we are wherever going to really mean it, what better time to mean it than right now when we see unemployment up, when we see people like my friend from back home in my home district saying he is going to have to lay people off, that we be serious about it? Let me share a couple of statistics with the Members. Relative to this much-debated dividend tax elimination, the compelling part of that argument, the big part of it for me at least, is the number of jobs that it will create. Why would it create jobs? In our society, we typically get what we incentivize, and when we incent capital formation, capital which is critical to the creation of opportunity, the creation of an expanding economy, the creation of jobs, that is what we will get. When we incent it, we will get it. So when we incent the investment in capital, the equity side of business, it only stands to reason that we are going to get an expanding economy and jobs as a result. Point of reference: It is estimated in this economic growth package that has passed this body that, on average, for the next 5 years, almost 1 million new jobs a year will be created. Some have suggested that this dividend tax elimination is not a good idea, that it just benefits the rich, and I will return to that, that it really will not benefit the average guy. The average guy is exactly who we are talking about here who needs a job. If we eliminate that, we lose almost 60 percent of the job creation of the economic growth package that we are talking about here. We reduce from that almost 1 million new jobs a year, on average, for 5 years to less than 400,000. That is tragic. That hits people right where they live, in their pocketbook, at home, and that will cost us jobs which we need. Again, it defies logic why we do that. Another critical piece of this economic growth package, if I might, is the increase in the investment credit tax deduction for small businesses from 25,000 to 75,000. Why is that such a big deal? My electrical contractor again, I asked him, If you had the option, would you use that? Yes, he would. What would you do? Well, he would buy some new equipment. He would buy a badly needed new van. He would buy some shop equipment; they fabricate a little bit. I submit to the gentleman the simple facts of life. If somebody is going to buy something, a washing machine, a drill press, a new computer, that means somebody has to design it. Somebody has to fabricate it. Somebody has to assemble it. Somebody has to ship it. Somebody has to make a box to ship it in. Somebody has to put it on a shelf. Somebody retails it. Somebody delivers it. Somebody installs it. Somebody services it. That creates jobs. That is how America works, and that is what we ought to be about in this body. And we have got an opportunity not to just stimulate, and I do not like that word, not to just stimulate this economy because typically we poke it here and it comes out there, and then we will poke back later. We ought to do some sound, long-term economic planning. That is what we have an opportunity to do here, to incent job creation. I submit to the gentleman from New Mexico (Mr. Pearce) this is a great package. I applaud him for taking leadership on the floor of this House tonight, and I pledge to him my support to seeing this economic package pass this body and, hopefully, become the law of the land. I thank him for yielding.

Mr. BEAUPREZ

Mr. BEAUPREZ. Mr. Speaker, I thank the gentleman for yielding. It is a pleasure to be with the gentleman tonight on the floor. Mr. Speaker, I rise tonight with my colleagues to commend the tremendous progress being made by our troops in Iraq. However, I am disgusted with recent media reports proclaiming setbacks and delays of our troops in battle. Mr. Speaker, such editorializing of the news represents a severe disconnect with reality. At this very moment we are within minutes of Operation Iraqi Freedom being just 1 week old. One week, Mr. Speaker. In one week, we have flown over 7,000 combat sorties, we have delivered 600 Tomahawk missiles with surgical precision such as never before seen in battle, we have moved numerous ground troops to within 50 miles of Baghdad, and we have killed or captured thousands of Iraqi soldiers. We have adapted, we have overcome, and, Mr. Speaker, we will prevail. But in the din of news reports and live briefings, the fog of battle for Americans can be information overload. We learn a lot about what is happening today. But for the next couple of minutes, Mr. Speaker, I would like to make sure that we remember what has happened before to lead us to this point. In 1979, Saddam Hussein took control of the Iraqi Government. The next year he launched a costly 8-year war with Iran that was both inconclusive and violent. In 1988, after his unsuccessful foray into Iran, he took on a less formidable enemy, the Kurdish people of Northern Iraq, his own people. Using chemical weapons and poison gas, he destroyed 1,000 to 2,000 of their villages. The death toll from that holocaust may have been as high as 182,000 people. In 1990, he once again crossed international boundaries and invaded tiny Kuwait. During that exercise his soldiers carried out orders to kill any civilian who did so little as violate curfew. In 1991, his continued aggression against Kuwait brought about the attention of the United States and the United Nations and his swift defeat during Operation Desert Storm. In the 12 years since Desert Storm, Mr. Speaker, the United Nations has passed 17 different resolutions outlining conditions under which Saddam can stay in power. He has violated them all. We now have further evidence that Saddam and his band of loyalist thugs have no respect for human life, common decency, nor even the international rules of engagement. The heinous treatment of our soldiers and the abuse of even his own citizens once again is absolutely despicable. Furthermore, Mr. Speaker, I hope the world takes note of another truth of this conflict. As Hitler was supported by the Nazi loyalists, so, too, is Saddam supported by his Baath Party fanatics. My colleague from Pennsylvania (Mr. Weldon), stood on this floor on February 25 and outlined the atrocities of the regime in terrible, gruesome detail. He described mutilated babies, crippled children, adults without limbs, dipped in acid, torture beyond the imagination of civilized people, all at the hands of Saddam Hussein and his Ba'ath party. Referring to these and the regime's other crimes against humanity, our President, our Commander in Chief said, ``If this is not evil, then evil has no meaning.'' Mr. Speaker, I could not agree more. That is why Operation Iraqi Freedom is about regime change, not just about Saddam. All those that promote terror, manufacture it, and export it must be squelched before liberation can come to the Iraqi people and peace to the rest of the world. Mr. Speaker, the bullets are flying; and our troops are in harm's way. As we continue to be briefed on their daily progress, as we see the sacrifices being made in the field by our soldiers and back home by their families, let us keep this in proper perspective. Let us remember why we are there: to end a regime of terror and liberate a people who have never known freedom. Godspeed to our troops and God bless America.

Mr. BEAUPREZ

Mr. BEAUPREZ. Mr. Speaker, it is a privilege to address the House tonight, especially this night. I suspicion that many of us came here because, as we would put it, we love this Nation. We love America. As I sit here and listened to this debate on this resolution tonight, it also crossed my mind that this is a resolution about that very thing, about loving America. Let me tell my colleagues a story about what loving America really is. I have some childhood friends back home in Colorado, Karen and Leon Palmer. I went to grade school and high school with them. They dated. They got married. They had but one son. His name is Matthew. Matthew got an appointment and has graduated from the Air Force Academy in Colorado Springs and is now a pilot in the United States Air Force. In fact, he may be one of the brave pilots that engaged Saddam Hussein just last evening. When I came back here to be sworn in for my very first time in Congress, this 108th Congress, Matthew's mother Karen came by my house and she gave me a picture of Matthew inside the cockpit of his F-16. She could tell that this action that has now been joined might be coming. She looked at me and she said, ``Bob, please take care of Matthew. Keep him safe. Keep him well equipped. I would love to have him come home, but,'' she said, and this is what love is, ``more than that, I love this Nation, and I love the ideals of this Nation, and I love what this Nation is willing to protect. If I have to sacrifice my only son for the sake of this Nation and for the sake of liberty, Leon and I are prepared to do that.'' Mr. Speaker, there is no greater love than that. There has been enough partisanship in this body tonight. We ought to check our partisanship at the doors of this great Chamber and vote in support of this resolution about love and about freedom and support our troops.

Mr. BEAUPREZ

Mr. BEAUPREZ. Madam Speaker, I rise to call the attention of the Members of this House of Representatives to a special occasion, the 85th birthday of a great American, my father, Joe Beauprez. Like many other Americans, my dad's greatness does not come from wealth, public acclaim, notoriety, titles, nor worldly deeds. Nonetheless, he has definitely achieved world class status in the roles in life he chose to follow, more inconspicuous, more anonymous than some, but roles of importance requiring great character, substance, faith, and conviction. Madam Speaker, my dad was content being husband, father and faithful servant to his God. He wanted nothing more than the unqualified love of my mother, the opportunity to work very hard and have something to show for it, to set a path for his children a bit smoother and more pleasant than the one he had to follow and, most importantly, to earn an eternal place in heaven as he believes to be God's plan. Madam Speaker, like so many of his generation, America's greatest generation, my dad's parents were immigrants. They came to America poor, with little formal education, unfamiliar with our language and our customs. She had been a weaver of fine Belgian lace. He carried her lace in a sack on foot from town to town, selling it in local markets to earn a living. Times were hard, and the First World War threatened. News of opportunity in America offered them hope. In America my grandfather shoveled coal to furnaces, and later with a loan from a neighbor, sealed with a handshake, he bought 80 acres of land, his own piece of America, something to call his own, and so much more than that sack that he owned in Belgium. Though he had never been a farmer, with will and determination he learned quickly. In time he expanded the farm, raised eight children, my dad being the sixth, and the one who would end up keeping the farm going as his own, and my home, too, for nearly all my life. Dad got to eighth grade at the local Catholic school, a 3-mile walk away. The early 1930s were not the best of times, Depression days. To keep the farm going, he came home to help out his dad and older brothers, never getting any more schooling. My mom was more fortunate, she fished ninth grade before returning full time to her own parents' farm nearby. Mom and dad got married in 1940, and this June will celebrate 63 years together, an enormous and far too unusual achievement in today's world. They raised four kids, they saw to it we all went through that same Catholic school, even though money was always in short supply when we were growing up. They wanted only the best for their kids. All of us got through high school, and off to college, too. They found a way. Used cars, patched overalls, hand-me-down clothes, lots of home-grown cooking, and sack lunches. They found a way. Many have observed that real heroes are in short supply these days, especially for our young people to emulate. Many of us worry that role models are in far too limited supply. We all certainly learn from our own experiences, learn by doing we call it, but we are also greatly impacted as we grow and develop by those powerful mentors that influence us: Teachers, coaches, neighbors, presidents, pastors and parents. I will confess, Madam Speaker, that it took far too long for me to realize it, but my dad was the best. I am so blessed to have had him as both dad and hero. By worldly standards, dad might not have had so much. Winston Churchill explained it very well. ``We make a living by what we get. We make a life by what we give.'' Dad gave so much, and has lived a wonderful, eventful, purposeful life. Allow me to simply reflect on three gifts from my dad for which I am especially grateful: First by his example, he taught me the value of hard work, of self reliance, and personal responsibility. In an age when it seems the norm to try to get along as easily as possible, dad saw differently. Dad cherished his opportunity to work the soil of that farm and to care for his livestock. Remembering the lessons of the Depression, as well as the drought years of the early 1950s, he knew he could lose whatever he had. He knew he could not do much about the weather nor the markets, the only variable he could control was his effort and his will, so he pushed himself. By sheer determination, he overcame obstacles to which most men would succumb. How hard did he work? Well, not only did he farm the soil, he maintained a large cow-calf operation, and in 1952 he started milking some cows, too, to make enough money to pay the bills. He not only tried, he succeeded, and work hard he did. In fact, he never missed a single milking of those cows until he took one day off 14 years later. Even more impressive than his unfailing work ethic was this, he never complained. He never even talked about wanting to take it easier, take a vacation, sleep in just one morning. He had a job to do and a purpose for his work. He showed up every single day, and he did it. Falling to sleep night after night completely exhausted, he would rise well before dawn the next day to do the same all over again. Secondly, Madam Speaker, as I already mentioned, soon my parents will celebrate their 63rd anniversary. The years and the hard work have taken a toll on them both. Mom broke her hip a couple of weeks ago, and is recovering in a hospital back home. Dad's memory is not quite so crisp any more. Lately he struggles to remember my name. It is a terrible disease, and a tough thing to witness. But he remembers who he loves and is even more devoted and tender to my mom than ever. In 63 years, and I lived next door to him for most of those years, I never worried once where he spent the night or if he loved my mother. A wise person once said the greatest gift a father can give their children is to love their mother. Well done, dad, I never doubted. Once again, you provided me a perfect role model for my own marriage. Madam Speaker, my dad gave me a third gift by his profound example. Regardless how deep the snow was, how much hay we had to bale, I knew right where we would be at 8 Sunday morning, in the third pew on the left of that same little Catholic church in which he was baptized. Giving back to God was simply nonnegotiable, because he knew he was blessed and wanted to say thanks. Faith, family and the value of hard work, he taught me the most valuable lessons of life, and I am eternally grateful. Madam Speaker, at a time when good examples seem hard to find, leaders often shun the responsibility to be role models. When real heroes are usually found only in history books, I have had the privilege of spending most of my life side by side with one of the all- time best. I think of my dad as a truly great American because he embodies the spirit of America, to try when the odds are against you, to love and have faith unconditionally, to dream big dreams and chase them and sacrifice for them, and to love this land, America, where the spirit inside your soul has the freedom to be as big and endless as this great Nation herself. Madam Speaker, it is for those reasons I ask to have this tribute entered into the record of the 108th Congress of the United States of America commending the life and contribution of Joseph C. Beauprez of Lafayette, Colorado, on the occasion of his 85th birthday. Happy birthday, dad.

Mr. BEAUPREZ

Mr. BEAUPREZ. Mr. Speaker, I yield a portion of my time to my colleague from California (Mr. Cunningham).

Mr. BEAUPREZ. Mr. Speaker, I rise to call attention of the Members of this House of what has been called the most significant conservation project of our time, the Continental Divide National Scenic Trail. The idea of a 31,000-mile trail stretching across 5 western States from our northern border with Canada, southward to Mexico, came into being in 1978 through congressional designation. For many of the same reasons national parks are established, national scenic trails are created to conserve the nationally significant scenic, historic, natural and cultural qualities of critical areas. In 1995, a group of dedicated citizens founded the Continental Divide Trail Alliance to coordinate and gain support for the completion and protection of this king of all trails. Within 2 years, the first border-to-border inventory of the trail conditions was completed. Alliances were forged with the U.S. Forest Service, the Bureau of Land Management, the National Park Service and the equivalent State and local agencies to plan and schedule trail development projects. To date, through efforts of the CDTA, over 300 miles of new trail was built and opened to the public. Over 1,200 miles of existing trail has been improved or rerouted and hundreds of acres of land acquired or donated for the trail's route. Through enormous effort by the CDTA, the trail is on track for completion and dedication in 2008, the 20th anniversary of its congressional designation. Mr. Speaker, the vision of our predecessors in this body to create the Continental Divide National Scenic Trail in 1978, combined with the dedication and passionate commitment of the CDTA represents the very best of public-private partnerships. Through governmental enabling legislation and regulation combined with private sector financial support and considerable sweat equity, an enormously grand conservation initiative is within a stone's throw of completion. Strategies incorporated by the CDTA over the last 7 years include local constituent involvement in public lands decision-making process, private sector financial support for Federal government initiatives, volunteerism and youths corps and conservation stewardship all found in the USA Freedom Corps and the President's Health and Fitness Initiative. Mr. Speaker, I ask that the record of this House of Representatives include this acknowledgment and compliments to the members of Continental Divide Trail Alliance. May they achieve their 2008 completion objective and may they have our collective gratitude for a job well done, knowing their efforts will preserve a national treasure for generations to come.

Mr. BEAUPREZ

Mr. BEAUPREZ. Mr. Speaker, in coming days and weeks, this body will take up issues of economic growth and taxation fairness. The President has suggested the elimination of the tax on dividends, a tax paid of course by investors, half of which I am told are senior citizens, treated as ordinary income. This tax is rightly referred to as a double tax because companies that pay dividends have already been subjected to a corporate income tax. Thus 60 percent or more of every dollar of business profit, when taxed both at the corporate and personal level, could end up in the Federal tax bucket. This seems excessive. It seems unfair. It seems a penalty on success. This is clearly a disincentive to capital investment which is critical, of course, to job creation; capital investment, which declined for eight consecutive quarters of our battered economy. Mr. Speaker, I am certain every Member of this body is committed to more job availability for Americans, especially now. Elimination of the dividend tax would be an incentive for capital investment which is necessary for job creation. Let us do American workers a favor and eliminate the dividend tax now.

Mr. BEAUPREZ

Mr. BEAUPREZ. Mr. Speaker, I thank the gentleman from Florida; and Mr. Speaker, I would like to address this subject very directly. The gentleman from Florida just mentioned moments ago the rating from the American Bar Association, the American Bar Association, as well qualified for Miguel Estrada to serve on the Federal bench. That rating, I might remind the Speaker, and I doubt that I need to remind the gentleman from Florida, they not only granted that rating of well qualified, the highest rating, they unanimously granted a well- qualified rating for Miguel Estrada to serve on the Federal bench. I would like to tell a very personal story that I just last week experienced about Miguel Estrada. Many of us were back in our districts last week. Many of us had neighborhood meetings, town meetings, meetings with constituents. I did the same; and at every meeting I went to, every meeting, certainly questions came up about the possibility of war in the Middle East and people are concerned about that and about the economy. Amazing to me, amazing to me was that people, average people, normal folks that are concerned about their everyday living know who Miguel Estrada is; and they understand clearly that an injustice is being done, Mr. Speaker. An injustice is being done to this fine American. How fine of an American is he? The gentleman from Florida explained very well. He comes here as an immigrant, barely speaks the language. He not only graduates from the university, he graduates with honors, magna cum laude from Columbia College in New York, from Harvard Law School, edits the Harvard Law Review, not exactly your average fraternity newsletter. He is not only well qualified. He is eminently qualified. He served on the U.S. court of appeals as a law clerk. He served as a clerk in the Supreme Court for Justice Kennedy. He served as the Assistant U.S. Attorney and deputy chief of the appellate section of the U.S. Attorney's office of the Southern District of New York where he argued appeals cases before the second circuit court. He served as the Assistant Solicitor General of the United States, as the gentleman from Florida already pointed out, for two Presidents' administrations, President Clinton and President Bush 41. Still he has opponents. Why? In my town meetings, again, my constituents, average Americans, they had it figured out. I asked them what do they think this is about. They said it is about politics. It is about politics. I understand that if they are talking about me. I expect the gentleman from Florida (Mr. Mario Diaz-Balart) understands that if they were talking about him. We are, after all, politicians. Mr. Estrada aspires to be a judge, a judge; and in the very definition of judge, the word ``judgment,'' that is what we expect him to do is exercise good, balanced, educated, unbiased judgment over the laws that our colleagues will pass in this Chamber, that have been passed in this Chamber by politicians, legislators before us. The folks back home understand that Mr. Estrada, who wants to be a judge, is being subjected to the judgment that is typically reserved for politicians. That is the injustice. That is the injustice that is being perpetrated on a good American, an American that has achieved the American dream; that has passed all standards; that has been nominated by a President; that deserves a fair hearing and is not getting one. Mr. Estrada, some of his opponents say he has never been a judge. How can one who has never been a judge be a judge? Well, to the average observer, perhaps that makes sense. Should he not be a judge first? Amazingly enough, I find that five of eight judges currently serving on this current D.C. circuit court, five of the eight had no previous experience as judges before they were nominated and confirmed, including two of President Clinton's appointees.

Mr. BEAUPREZ. Correct.

Mr. BEAUPREZ. They were nominated, they were confirmed, they serve on the court. It gets better.

Mr. BEAUPREZ. Mr. Speaker, it gets better. On the Supreme Court of the United States, two recent Supreme Court Justices, names that are certainly familiar to me, I expect familiar to most Americans, Byron White, Wizard White from my State, Colorado. Byron White was nominated by President Kennedy, confirmed by the Senate, served with distinction on the Supreme Court, never was a judge prior to being nominated to the highest court in the land, not just a Federal judgeship, the highest court in the land, the Supreme Court. William Rehnquist, currently the Chief Justice, of course, no prior judicial experience before being appointed to the Supreme Court.

Mr. BEAUPREZ. Mr. Speaker, if the gentleman would yield.

Mr. BEAUPREZ. Mr. Speaker, I shared some of this same information again with my constituents back home. They said, are his opponents grasping for straws? I said, well, one might conclude. Allow me, allow me to pursue the possibility, I think a reasonable possibility, that this is really about politics. What we are looking for is a judge, someone who can exercise judgment; again, one who is fair and balanced; one who can be praised and acknowledged and accepted by both people of a more liberal as well as a more conservative political bias, people who are still going to accept one who carries the title of judge, the distinguished title of judge, carries that title, carries it well and that people of all different perspectives are going to recognize their skill, their talent, their fairness, such as Ron Clay, former Vice President Gore's chief of staff. A Democrat, Vice President's former chief of staff, said this about the same Miguel Estrada: ``Miguel is a person of outstanding character, tremendous intellect and with a deep commitment to the faithful application of precedent.'' That is what judges do. ``Miguel will rule justly toward all without showing favor to any group or individual.'' I cannot think of a stronger mission statement, a stronger definition, a stronger statement about the credentials that I would hope all judges could pass before being appointed, nominated, confirmed to a judgeship as important as the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia; and I certainly hope, it is my belief, it is my prayer, that a true American hero, these are the kind of stories, these are the kind of individuals we in this body ought to be about raising up as a standard of excellence, something for our young people, for all Americans, for all citizens of the world to look at and say that is what is America. That is the best of America. That is what America is for. And yet this poor man is being persecuted, not praised and not elevated. I thank the gentleman from Florida for the time, and I thank him for what he is doing to advance the cause of this fine American.

Mr. BEAUPREZ

Mr. BEAUPREZ. Mr. Speaker, I thank the gentlewoman for yielding me time. Mr. Speaker, I rise today to join my colleagues in recognizing the 92nd birthday of President Ronald Reagan. To many Americans, President Reagan is more than a man. He is an extraordinary symbol of all that makes our society great. And as the foundation of President Reagan's greatness is his character, so it is part and parcel of our Nation's character as well. He once said, ``The character that takes command in moments of crucial choices has already been determined by 1,000 other choices made earlier in seemingly unimportant moments.'' At this hour, as Congress wrestles with crucial choice, our character is being tested, I pray vigorously that our response will be founded in a tradition of great character, of wise choices. May we look to the character of Ronald Reagan for inspiration. I will close with these words from his farewell address: ``Because we are a great Nation, our challenges seem complex. It will always be this way. But as long as we remember our first principles and believe in ourselves, the future will always be ours.'' Happy birthday, Mr. President.

Mr. BEAUPREZ

Mr. BEAUPREZ. Mr. Speaker, like many Members of this Chamber, I have often spoken with fond affection of my grandfather, a gentleman who came to the United States as an immigrant from Belgium. He did not speak the language. He spoke Flemish. In spite of his limitations, not only did he not speak English, he basically had no formal education, he embraced this country and he embraced what we all call the American dream. I am very, very grateful to that immigrant from Belgium, my grandfather, for clinging to that dream, fostering that dream, instilling that dream in me and many other of my family members and people he came in contact with over his extended life. It is what America is all about. I rise tonight to talk about someone who instills those same values, those same characteristics, that same American dream: Mr. Miguel Estrada. Mr. Estrada came to the United States of America as a teenager from Honduras. He did not speak our language. In spite of that, shortly thereafter Mr. Estrada found himself graduating Phi Beta Kappa from Columbia College in New York, later from Harvard Law School where he was also editor of the Harvard Law Review. As this Chamber knows full well, Mr. Estrada has been nominated to serve on the United States Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia. Mr. Estrada is currently serving as a partner in a prestigious Washington, D.C. law firm. He is very accomplished. He has formerly served as assistant United States Solicitor General during the Bush and Clinton administrations from 1992 to 1997, assistant U.S. Attorney and deputy chief of the appellate section for the U.S. Attorney's Office for the Southern District of the State of New York. Mr. Estrada argued 15 cases before the United States Supreme Court, both criminal and civil. He tried ten cases as a prosecutor and argued seven cases before the U.S. Court of Appeals for the second circuit as assistant U.S. Attorney, again for the Southern District of the State of New York. Mr. Estrada's credentials and achievement as a jurist are almost unprecedented, certainly well qualified for the Federal bench. I would like to cite for the record what others are saying about Mr. Estrada. The American Bar Association rates Estrada as ``well qualified.'' Ron Klain, former counsel to Vice President Gore had this to say: ``I have no doubt that on the bench Miguel will faithfully apply the precedence of his court and the Supreme Court without regard, without regard,'' without regard, ``to his personal views or his political perspectives. His belief in the rule of law, in a limited judiciary, and in the separation of powers is too strong for him to act otherwise.'' Lastly, Mr. Speaker, here is what Raphael Santiago, national president of the Hispanic National Bar Association had to say: ``Mr. Estrada's distinguished and impressive career illustrates the promise and opportunity that America offers to all immigrants, especially Hispanic immigrants . . . Mr. Estrada's confirmation will break new ground for Hispanics in the judiciary. The time has come to move on Mr. Estrada's nomination.'' Mr. Speaker, I second those comments and look forward to the day that Miguel Estrada is a member of the Federal bench of the U.S. Court of Appeals representing the District of Columbia.

Mr. BEAUPREZ

Mr. BEAUPREZ. Mr. Speaker, on rollcall No. 19, I was inadvertently detained. Had I been present, I would have voted ``yea.''