Jeb Bradley

Mr. BRADLEY of New Hampshire

Mr. BRADLEY of New Hampshire. Mr. Speaker, I too rise with my colleague from Minnesota and my colleague from Rhode Island to speak about ``Recovery Month'' and what it means for individuals and what it means for our country as a whole. But, Mr. Speaker, today I would like to focus my remarks on a story, a life story written by one of my constituents. Her name is Lois Davieau of East Rochester, New Hampshire. I recently met Ms. Davieu when she came to my office to tell me about her long and arduous battle with crack cocaine. She asked me to share her story, a compelling story, on our House floor during the 16th annual celebration of ``Recovery Month'' in the hopes that her story will enlighten others. I would like to now read to you her personal story of addiction and recovery. Let me begin by setting the scene for you, in her words. A perfect family home on five acres of land in a small quaint country town. Everyone in town knows everyone else. My best friend Steven is a quiet boy, always a bit timid. We have always had great adventures when we play together. We hear Steven's mom yell for him, and Steven runs for the house without saying good-bye. I run to the big tree to go away for a while. I know all too well those screams. Only they are silently held within me. Later in her life, Lois has five children. And I continue her story again. So here I am with five children, and the only thing that has changed is that I am alone. My parents offered to take the three oldest children over the summer vacation so that I may work some extra hours and get ahead. But something inside of me panics. No, I think, they are the only reason that I pull myself out of bed. My mother convinces me to send them for a couple of weeks and I had no idea why at that moment. I was overcome with emotional panic. Today I know why. Crack cocaine, though, found me in my darkest and lowest points. I was so lonely and so empty. I was working 60 hours a week, 20 of which were in a bar at night. I made some friends there. They helped me feel better by bringing me into the fold. The drug helped me open up and become much more sociable; so I thought to myself, what is a little social drug use going to hurt? But 8 months later I was living under a bridge, eating oranges off of neighborhood trees and doing what I had to do to stop the vast sea of darkness and emotional pain. I tried to stop 100 times. I would go a couple of weeks, get a job, and then the darkness would swarm back in. That life lasted for about 8 months. I woke, after 3 straight days of using, in a dealer's house on a couch that was infested with fleas. I do not know what I was dreaming, but I know I woke in a complete and total hysterical panic. After sobbing and completely breaking down, I stood up, I walked to the highway. I put out my thumb and headed north. I knew the risks I was taking alone on that highway but it did not matter. I was lost. There was no one piece of me that I recognized. That is where I begin my journey to recovery. Eighteen years later is where my story of recovery begins today. Recovery for me has been a path strewn with obstacles, gifts in disguise, and self-actualization. My obstacles were both self-inflicted and socially inflicted. I start my education of recovery in a self-help group. At that time, drug addicts were not to be tolerated. They could not be mingled with alcoholics. Once again, I thought, I do not fit in. I hid in the background and listened. When I had been around long enough to be recognized, I just replaced the word ``crack'' with ``alcohol'' and everyone was happy. I did what I had to do to stay straight. When asked on a job application about drugs, I lied. When asked on an insurance form, I lied. I was surviving the best way I knew. Now I was living a clean and socially acceptable life, though lying about my disease. So today I stand, I tell you, it is not just the way it is. I am cured from my disease, and I am not recovered from my disease. Yes, it is in check. I, like most other persons with a progressive chronic disease, am in remission; but I have early warning signs and symptoms of recurrence that I watch for. I know that I am responsible for the stigma of my disease by not coming forward and allowing those who still suffer to see the hope in me. The stigma of my disease stops here and now. I am responsible for giving hope to the person who still suffers from their or a loved one's disease, because without my face, without any voice, I still suffer in silence. I am not ashamed of my disease; I am ashamed of my behavior towards my disease. Today I ask for you to feel the fear, the struggle, the challenge, the hope, the celebration that resides in this person, a person with addiction. Mr. Speaker, those are the words of one of the most compelling constituents that I have had the honor of having in my office, who told me in her heartfelt story which I have been able to relate to you of her road through the long journey to a place that many of us do not know and to the recovery. Hers is a story of hope, of compassion that we all need to feel, and a system that needs to work for people like Lois. Mr. Speaker, I thank you for the opportunity to address this great Nation.

Mr. BRADLEY of New Hampshire

Mr. BRADLEY of New Hampshire. Madam Speaker, I want to thank the gentleman from Indiana (Mr. Buyer) for the leadership that he has shown on this issue as well as the gentlewoman from Nevada (Ms. Berkley), the gentleman from California (Mr. Filner), and the gentleman from Illinois (Mr. Evans) and others. It is not often that we have the opportunity to come together to do the right thing, to do it in a bipartisan fashion. It is a tribute to the gentleman from Indiana (Mr. Buyer's) leadership and to our friends on the other side of the aisle, and all of the leadership of the committee deserve great credit for doing this. The details of this bill have been discussed by the chairman and others. I do not need to go through the details. What I want my colleagues to understand is the importance of this bill and why we are doing this bill, why we are increasing the SGLI benefit, the death benefit, and instituting an insurance benefit for injuries. Most of us have had the opportunity to visit our troops in Iraq, in Afghanistan, and in many other countries around the world, as we are fighting and prevailing in this war on terrorism. And what we have seen when we have visited our troops is the dedication, the sacrifice, the American grit and courage to get the job done to win this battle against terrorism. And when things happen, when people pay the ultimate sacrifice, when they return with disabling injuries, our country has to make sure that we match their commitment so that they are able to, if they paid the ultimate sacrifice, know that their families will have an increased death benefit; or if they have traumatic injuries, realize that there is help for their recovery and for their family. This bill does it. It is a major step in the right direction. It is one that has been done in a bipartisan fashion. And I salute the leadership on both sides of the aisle of the committee for getting the job done.

Mr. BRADLEY of New Hampshire

Mr. BRADLEY of New Hampshire. Mr. Chairman, I offer an amendment.

Mr. BRADLEY of New Hampshire. Mr. Chairman, I yield myself the balance of my time. I thank the gentlewoman from New York (Mrs. Lowey) for her gracious support and the gentleman from Arizona (Mr. Kolbe) for his gracious support, and it is my hope that the 200-or-so families that have gone through the process, that they will be able, by us taking this action tonight, I hope we can help them expedite the process to unite their families into loving, caring homes in the United States. I have met a couple of children adopted by American families, and it is a wonderful story. Anything that we can do to expedite that will be a significant step for those families. I thank both the ranking member and the chairman of the subcommittee. Mr. Chairman, I yield back the balance of my time.

Mr. BRADLEY of New Hampshire. Mr. Chairman, I yield myself such time as I may consume. First, let me begin by thanking the chairman of the committee as well as the ranking member, and the gentleman from Massachusetts (Mr. McGovern) for cosponsoring this amendment with me. It is not my intention to permanently withhold dollars that are appropriated under this bill from the country of Romania. It is my hope that by the time there is a committee of conference the issue that I will describe in just a moment will have been resolved. That issue involves preapproved adoptions from the country of Romania. A couple of years ago, I met a family in my home State of New Hampshire. The woman's name is Allyson Schaaf, and she had already adopted a Romanian baby and had a second child that had been approved by the Romanian authorities. She was one of about 200 Americans families that had their adoption cases already approved before a change in the law by Romania. Under pressure by the European Union in order to gain acceptance to the European Union, Romania changed its adoption policy without releasing the 200-or-so adopted children that already had families assigned to them here in this country. I have met with numerous Romanian officials, including the president of Romania, the prime minister and the ambassador on several occasions, and pressed the case not only for my constituent, Ms. Schaaf, but also for the other 200-or-so American families in this circumstance. These are families that have invested love, time, energy, and all of the commitment to try to unite their families in this country. It is my hope that with this amendment that would withhold some of the money for Romania, that that will be the signal that will be necessary for the Romanians to deal with this situation, to release the 200-or-so cases that have been previously approved; and then by the time the conference committee has been formed, hopefully these adoptions will have gone forward, and this amendment will no longer be necessary. Once again, I thank the minority ranking member and the chairman for working with me so hard to ensure that this amendment is the appropriate amendment in terms of the parliamentary procedure. Mr. Chairman, I reserve the balance of my time.

Mr. BRADLEY of New Hampshire

Mr. BRADLEY of New Hampshire. Mr. Speaker, I rise today in support of H.R. 1084, a bill I introduced regarding a defining historical event for my State of New Hampshire, and indeed, all of the United States. The American Civil War was the deadliest war in all of American history with casualties totaling more than all other American Wars combined. The bloodiest day of the bloodiest war came on September 17, 1862 just outside the small town of Sharpsburg, Maryland. This battle involved 93,000 men and resulted in 23,000 American casualties on the fields surrounding Antietam Creek. The battle of Antietam, even today, is the single most deadly day in all of American history. Among the soldiers fighting that day were men of the Fifth, Sixth, and Ninth New Hampshire Volunteer Infantry Regiments and the First New Hampshire Light Artillery Battery. Unfortunately, these brave men who fought and died in the Battle of Antietam do not have a marker on the field to signify their sacrifice. Although there are over 400 monuments, tablets and markers on the field of battle, none are dedicated to the brave men who fought and died that early fall day. As the 150th anniversary of the Civil War is approaching, I ask that the House help correct an unfortunate oversight and bring deserving recognition to these soldiers. In this effort, Congressman Bass and I have introduced H.R. 1084, which would authorize the establishment of a Memorial at Antietam National Battlefield for the New Hampshire soldiers who fought in the historic battle. Importantly, this bill does not authorize any Federal appropriations, nor require any local municipality in Maryland to help finance the costs of the construction or maintenance of the monument. Any monument built and maintained at the Antietam National Battlefield Park would be entirely paid for by private sources. Additionally, the design, size, and location of any monument authorized under this bill would be at the total discretion of the Secretary of the Interior and any proposals that do not meet their desires may be rejected. Citizens of New Hampshire have passionately expressed to me, through both direct conversations as well as State passed legislation, that they would relish the opportunity to at last place a deserving monument on the battleground at Antietam. In closing, I would like to call to mind an excerpt from a report issued by a correspondent of the Manchester Daily Mirror on September 20, 1862, three days after the horrific battle: For two hours there was never sharper musketry heard or seen, and New Hampshire blood flowed freely in the contest. The Ninth suffered terribly but never flinched, and every man stood before the awful carnage without one thought of yielding. Mr. Speaker, these men exemplified the steadfast bravery that is a hallmark of American soldiers across generations. On behalf of the citizens of New Hampshire, I ask for the assistance of the House in helping to furnish a proper monument to these commendable Americans.

Mr. BRADLEY of New Hampshire

Mr. BRADLEY of New Hampshire. Mr. Speaker, I rise today to honor CW4 Thomas Gerrish for his 27 years of service in the U.S. Army Reserves. CW4 Gerrish was born and raised in a family with a long history of military service. His father and grandfather served in the Navy for 20 and 30 years, respectively, and his two sons are both currently serving in the U.S. Army, with one presently on the ground in Iraq. It is evident that this strong commitment to serving one's country has made a profound impact on CW4 Gerrish's life and career path, and his own impressive record of military service reflects just that. CW4 Gerrish enlisted in the U.S. Army Reserves in 1977. CW4 Gerrish decided to enroll in flight school, where he received his aeronautical rating as a U.S. Army Aviator and promotion to Warrant Officer in 1982. He was deployed to Southeast Asia to participate in Operations Desert Shield and Desert Storm in 1989, and in 1992, he attended and graduated from the CH-47 Maintenance Manager's/Maintenance Test Pilot's Course. As an Aircraft Component Repair Platoon Leader, CW4 Gerrish was responsible for overseeing 23 soldiers, six allied shops and equipment valued at over $10 million. Later, he served as Maintenance Platoon Leader and his hard work was largely the motivating factor behind his company earning the best OR rating in the Battalion. Before retiring from military service, CW4 Gerrish coordinated aircraft maintenance prior to deployment for Operations Enduring and Iraqi Freedom. His last assignment was to serve as the Senior Warrant Officer to the Cargo Helicopter Project Manager's Office. During this assignment, CW4 Gerrish was responsible for fleet management and customer support for all CH-47 units and 461 H-47 helicopters. His leadership and technical abilities were instrumental in maintaining aircraft at the highest state of readiness and motivating and inspiring the soldiers under his command. During the course of his service, CW4 Gerrish has been awarded 24 medals and honors, including the Bronze Star and the Legion of Merit. His long and varied career exemplifies his broad experience and growth. CW4 Gerrish has proven that hard work, dedication and a strong work ethic will achieve great things in one's career, and his impeccable record classifies him as a truly outstanding soldier. He has served his state and country valiantly and I know he will continue to do great things in his retirement. It is truly an honor to recognize his accomplishments today, and I thank him for his service.

Mr. BRADLEY of New Hampshire

Mr. BRADLEY of New Hampshire. Mr. Chairman, I yield myself such time as I may consume. Mr. Chairman, I would like to begin by thanking the graciousness of the chairman of the subcommittee, as well as the chairman of the full committee, and the staff who have worked with us today to try and find an acceptable offset so that we can increase the amount of dollars in special education funding in this appropriations bill. Unfortunately, we were unable to reach an agreement, and so I am proceeding with this amendment to increase appropriated dollars in this bill by $50 million and to take $25 million from OSHA, as well as $25 million from the Department of Education, both from the administrative accounts, in both of those Departments, to fund this additional request for special education. Mr. Chairman, as you know, and as the chairman of the subcommittee and the chairman of the full committee know, we have made tremendous progress in funding our commitment to special education over the years. Yet we are falling short. Since 1976, we have increased the percentage of special education from about 7 percent to now approximately 20 percent. But having said that, and having talked about the progress that we have made, when we first passed the Individuals with Education Disability Act in 1975, the Federal Government committed to fund 40 percent of the cost of special education. Today, though we have made significant progress, as I said, going from 7 percent to 20 percent, we are still 20 percent short. Since I have been a Member of Congress, we have also appropriated in each budget that I have voted for, and the corresponding appropriations bills, nearly $1 billion more for special education in 2003 and in 2004. And in the 2005 budget this year, we budgeted $500 million, which I believe during tight budget times was an appropriate figure. Unfortunately, in the appropriations process, that figure of $500 million was cut to $150 million. My amendment today, if accepted, would restore $50 million of that funding and increase the special ed funding. Now, as I suspect most of my colleagues find when they do town hall meetings, as I do, that a constant question arises, When will the Federal Government fully fund its commitment to special education? This is a question that I answer repeatedly in my home State of New Hampshire. As people struggle with the high cost of property taxes and all of the mandates that are put upon them both by the Federal Government and by State governments, they ask me when will the Federal Government fulfill its commitment to fully funding special education. Well, I realize this amendment is a modest amendment, adding $50 million to the appropriated level for special education; nevertheless, it is important to continue to seek to do everything that we can to maintain our commitment to special education funding. Mr. Chairman, I ask my colleagues to support this amendment. Mr. Chairman, I reserve the balance of my time.

Mr. BRADLEY of New Hampshire. Mr. Chairman, I offer an amendment.

Mr. BRADLEY of New Hampshire. Mr. Chairman, I yield myself the balance of my time to close on this amendment. With all due respect to the chairman of the subcommittee, who I know has worked very hard over the years to increase our commitment to special education, I thank him for that and fully respect him for that. And I also understand the difficulty of the choices that we have to make. Nevertheless, my amendment will help us, in some small but significant way, keep the commitment that the Federal Government made in 1975 when it passed the IDEA law, keep the commitment to local taxpayers, to State-funded and local-funded education efforts that we mandate right here in Washington. It will help us keep that commitment, and I urge my colleagues to support the amendment. Mr. Chairman, I yield back the balance of my time.

Mr. BRADLEY of New Hampshire. Mr. Chairman, I demand a recorded vote, and pending that, I make the point of order that a quorum is not present.

Mr. BRADLEY of New Hampshire

Mr. BRADLEY of New Hampshire. Mr. Speaker, that brings something we have to reiterate. When the tax cuts the gentlewoman referred to were passed, we had an unemployment rate of over 6 percent. Today, that unemployment rate is 5.1 percent, and 3.5 million jobs have been created. When we talk about making our economy more competitive so that Americans can compete around the world, tax reform is a significant issue, and a stimulus package that drives jobs is a huge issue to make sure that Americans have every opportunity, anybody that wants to find a job has the opportunity to find a job. As I have noted already, making health care more accessible and more affordable through some of the reforms that I outlined will make our economy more competitive and enable businesses to better afford health care for employees and our Nation to grow. I thank the gentlewoman so much for organizing this hour.

Mr. BRADLEY of New Hampshire. Mr. Speaker, it is a pleasure to join with the gentlewoman from Tennessee (Mrs. Blackburn) to talk about an agenda that helps get Americans back to work, that wins the war on terrorism and makes our Nation secure, and an agenda that focuses on affordable and accessible health care for all. Like the gentlewoman, I go home every weekend and I do town hall meetings. I am going to do my 100th town hall meeting this weekend since I have been a Member of Congress. One of the things that keeps coming up is the cost of health care and what can we do to further that agenda. There are a lot of things that we can do and have voted on in the past and will vote on in the future. It starts with the fact that doctors with high liability costs are being driven out of the practice of medicine because of those soaring liability costs. We need to confront that. We have done that on our side of the aisle and will continue to do that. Some reasonable limits on pain and suffering awards, which some States have enacted and have seen medical liability costs come down and stabilize. In my State of New Hampshire, we have seen higher-risk specialty doctors, obstetricians, gynecologists, trauma doctors, surgeons, actually have to relinquish or curtail their practice because of soaring liability costs. What does that mean? It means people that need medical care may not be able to get it from the doctor of their choice, or they have to travel further, or it is simply not available in certain regions of my State. This is a national issue, and we need to get this on our agenda. This is something that we voted on on our side of the aisle and supported, and I hope that the other side of the aisle will join in this commonsense reform to make sure that doctors stay in business. There are other things that we can do. Small businesses have so many employees, and they constitute about 70 percent of the new jobs; but for many small businesses they are also where, unfortunately, a number of Americans cannot afford health insurance through their business, the business owners, that represents a significant number of the uninsured people in our country. So allowing small businesses the same opportunities that large corporations have, to pool together and to do so across State lines, to join through bona fide business organizations, whether it is chambers of commerce, or like-minded business groups around the country, to be able to purchase health insurance through what are known as associated health plans, is a commonsense reform that, once again, we are leading the way on. I hope that our colleagues on the other side of the aisle, and there are some that support this because it is a great idea, it will give small businesses the same buying power that large corporations have so they will get better discounts in health care. It will allow them to spread out the risk of expensive treatments and to spread out high administrative costs, all things that small businesses endure. I hope that we are able to pass this here in the House and the Senate to enact this reform. A couple of things that we have done in the 108th Congress, and we need to look at that because one of the big things that we have done is going to take effect on January 1, 2006, and that is a Medicare drug benefit for senior citizens. It is long overdue for senior citizens, especially those who are lower income, who are facing the cost of high prescription medicines, to have access through Medicare to prescription drugs so they can live healthier, more independent, longer lives. This was a reform that was adopted in the 108th Congress and will be implemented on January 1, 2006. As part of that legislation, we also allow families and businesses, if they choose to match contributions of families, to create health savings accounts, and to do so up to an amount of $5,000 for a family of tax-free dollars that they can actually use to purchase their own health insurance. So this is a reform that we both know is something that will allow people to be wiser consumers of health care because it is their money that is going for either the purchase of health care or the purchase of higher deductible health insurance. These are reforms, the Medicare drug benefit and health savings accounts, that we have accomplished in the last session of Congress. It is my hope that we will be able to push this agenda forward, this positive agenda, so we have lower liability costs for doctors and we allow small businesses to pool together to purchase health care in collective units. Now one last thing that has enjoyed bipartisan support and the President deserves a great deal of credit for, those are community health centers. I have one in my district that recently got Federal funds that is going to expand its operation, nearly double its square footage. Community health centers are alternatives to more expensive hospitalization. And they give people of lower income or people who need preventive care, primary care, better access to health care facilities. We have dramatically increased the funding for community health centers over the last several years from about $1.1 billion when President Bush became President to this budget, the Labor-HHS budget, to about $1.83 billion. This will enable more of these community health centers to be built, improve access to all Americans, but in particular lower-income Americans.

Mr. BRADLEY of New Hampshire

Mr. BRADLEY of New Hampshire. Mr. Speaker, I rise to claim the time of the gentleman from Minnesota (Mr. Gutknecht).

Mr. BRADLEY of New Hampshire

Mr. BRADLEY of New Hampshire. Mr. Speaker, I rise today to pay tribute to Wentworth Cheswill, the founding father of Newmarket, New Hampshire. On June 25, descendents of Wentworth Cheswill will gather in Newmarket to pay tribute to him and his contributions to the town of Newmarket. Wentworth served his town in varied capacity every year from 1768 to 1817, including terms as town selectman, justice of the peace and town assessor. During the Revolutionary War, Wentworth acted as the town's messenger, delivering messages between Exeter and Newmarket in a duty quite similar to Paul Revere's. As the town scrivener, he hand- copied the town's records, which date back to 1727. These town records remain a part of Newmarket Historical Society's collection. Born on April 11, 1746, in Newmarket, the son of Hopestill March and Catherine Kennison Cheswill was named in honor of Governor Wentworth. Two accounts describe him as ``colored'' as it was reported that his grandfather, a former slave named Richard Cheswill, had married a daughter of the Wentworths of Portsmouth. This union was considered a disgrace to the Wentworth family, who sent them away to the woods of New Hampshire. It is in part because of his African American lineage that Wentworth truly stands out as a leader in diversity and equality in my State of New Hampshire. In 1768, Wentworth became active in Newmarket town affairs at the age of 22. His first appointed position was as justice of the peace that same year, and he went on to serve as town auditor, coroner and moderator. The Massachusetts Historical Society has in its collection a document that is thought to be the earliest archaeological report from New Hampshire. Coauthored by Mr. Cheswill, this report was later sent to the Reverend Jeremy Belknap of Boston to be included in his history of New Hampshire. The undated document is believed to be written in 1790 or 1791 and details the aboriginal artifacts and relics he had recovered in the area surrounding Newmarket. Many historians agree that Wentworth's writing contains the seeds of modern archaeological theory. Despite the limited scope of Wentworth's writing, scholars defend his title as New Hampshire's first archaeologist. Wentworth stands for all we admired about our Founding Fathers, integrity, dedication and resolve. Wentworth's legacy has gone uncelebrated for far too long. It is due to the hard work of his descendants and Mr. Rich Alperin, president of the Newmarket Historical Society, that his contributions have finally come to light. I thank everyone for their involvement in restoring Wentworth's legacy to its rightful place in New Hampshire history.

Mr. BRADLEY of New Hampshire

Mr. BRADLEY of New Hampshire. Mr. Chairman, I offer an amendment.

Mr. BRADLEY of New Hampshire. Mr. Chairman, I yield 5 minutes to the gentleman from Connecticut (Mr. Simmons).

Mr. BRADLEY of New Hampshire. Mr. Chairman, it is with great pleasure that I yield 2 minutes to the gentlewoman from West Virginia (Mrs. Capito).

Mr. BRADLEY of New Hampshire. Mr. Chairman, I yield 3 minutes to the gentleman from Texas (Mr. Paul). (Mr. PAUL asked and was given permission to revise and extend his remarks.)

Mr. BRADLEY of New Hampshire. Mr. Chairman, I yield 2 minutes to the gentleman from Mississippi (Mr. Taylor).

Mr. BRADLEY of New Hampshire. Mr. Chairman, I yield 1\1/2\ minutes to the gentleman from New York (Mr. Crowley).

Mr. BRADLEY of New Hampshire. Mr. Chairman, I yield myself 3 minutes. Mr. Chairman, let me start out by thanking the ranking member, the gentleman from Missouri (Mr. Skelton); the chairman of the House Committee on Armed Services, the gentleman from California (Mr. Hunter); the gentleman from Colorado (Mr. Hefley); the gentleman from Arkansas (Mr. Snyder); and all of the members of the House Committee on Armed Services for the defense of our Nation and for working so hard for our troops. The gentleman from California (Mr. Hunter) and the gentleman from Missouri (Mr. Skelton) are indeed fine leaders and it is a pleasure to serve under them in the bipartisan fashion that they conduct the committee business. Mr. Chairman, let me explain this amendment because the sponsors believe that this amendment is critical to our Nation's defense. It postpones the base realignment and closure process until 1 year after a number of studies are completed and until 1 year after the troops have returned home from the Iraqi theater. The studies in question, number one, the Overseas Base Commission Report, which was released on May 9, 4 days before the BRAC list came out, what of the 70,000 troops that are slated to return to our country and the 30,000 new troops that we have authorized? Where will they be housed, on what bases? Where will the children of these troops go to school? What are the MILCON expenditures likely to be that we have to appropriate? We need to have those answers. We also need the Quadrennial Defense Review, the potential threats that our Nation faces, the force structure, the defense infrastructure. Mr. Speaker, the last QDR was completed on September 30 of 2001, so the Department of Defense is using outdated information, information that predates Iraq, predates the hostility in Afghanistan, predates the war on terror. The next QDR is slated to be completed this fall, too late for the BRAC Commission's report. Other studies that are necessary are the National Marine Security Strategy Study by the Department of Defense, as well as the Secretary's report assessing our Nation's military installation needs. Mr. Speaker, let us be extremely careful before closing 33 major bases and hundreds of smaller facilities that we have not undermined through the base closure process the security of our Nation. This amendment ensures that we exercise that necessary care and necessary restraint so important to the security of our country. Mr. Chairman, I yield 3 minutes to the gentlewoman from South Dakota (Ms. Herseth).

Mr. BRADLEY of New Hampshire. Mr. Chairman, I yield 2 minutes to the gentleman from Maine (Mr. Allen).

Mr. BRADLEY of New Hampshire. Mr. Chairman, I yield 1 minute to the gentleman from New Jersey (Mr. Holt).

Mr. BRADLEY of New Hampshire

Mr. BRADLEY of New Hampshire. Mr. Speaker, it is certainly a tribute to the leadership of the gentleman from Nebraska (Mr. Osborne) that we would be joined tonight with Members of the other side of the aisle. We went to Iraq not as Republicans, not as Democrats, but as Americans who are interested in our troops and interested in the fate of that country. It is certainly a tribute to both the gentleman from Tennessee (Mr. Davis) and the gentleman from Colorado (Mr. Udall) that they are joining us tonight. There is precious little of this type of bipartisan cooperation and certainly it is a pleasure for me to participate in it tonight. It is important that when we think about the ongoing hostilities in Iraq, that we see both sides of the picture. I think we had the opportunity 6 weeks ago to see an awful lot of positive developments in Iraq. Since then, I think we all have seen the news on the television and the spate of bombings and the threat that the insurgents are trying to bring down a newly elected government. That is horrifying, especially after the reaction that I think all six of us got in Iraq, which was positive, which is that we are starting to see light at the end of the tunnel, that the Iraqi security forces are doing much better in their ability to operate. Yes, they have a ways to go. We need more of them. There are about 152,000. We need about 300,000. But they are doing better. They still have to be able to operate independently, with a command and control structure, but General Patraeus explained to us how that is on its way, that it cannot happen overnight. The Iraqi women that we met, and perhaps this was the most telling thing when they talked about the Iraqi security forces, said that the Iraqi people are beginning to be able to trust the Iraqi security forces much more. That was so important to me, to be able to hear it straight from the horse's mouth, the Iraqi women. These are women that had endured so much, not only to be there but they had endured 30 years of horrifying events. I will touch on that in a moment. As the others who have spoken tonight have said, we also had the chance to talk to the new leadership, Dr. Ibrahim Jafari, the newly elected Shiite prime minister. One of the most important things he stressed to us is the need for a permanent constitution. The Shiites are a majority in Iraq, but Dr. Jafari recognized that in order for this experiment in Iraqi democracy to be successful, they will have to reach out to the Sunnis and to the Kurds. He promised us that they would do that. That is occurring now as we speak. Unfortunately, we are also seeing the resistance coming from some disaffected Sunnis that are trying to bring down the government. That is unfortunate. But most Sunnis, working with the majority party, the Shiites in Iraq, I believe will be able to bridge these differences working with the Kurdish people and the new president who is also a Kurd, Jalal Talabani. It was a good experience in meeting with Dr. Jafari. One thing that needs to be stressed, and I think we have all touched upon this, is the morale of our forces. We all had the opportunity. The gentleman from Texas (Mr. Neugebauer) met people from Texas, the Colorado contingent, the gentleman from Tennessee (Mr. Davis), certainly from Nebraska, I from New Hampshire, we all had an opportunity to meet troops from our home State. I was struck by their commitment to their mission, by the fact that they said their living accommodations were getting better, not just the food and the housing but that they felt as American soldiers, men and women, that they were making progress, and they saw the progress, they saw the fact that the vote had gone off successfully, that a government had been formed, and they felt part of this historic change in Iraq, and they reflected that to all of us. One thing that as we approach Memorial Day that I think is critically important for all Americans to realize regardless of how we may feel about the policy of the Iraq war, it was highlighted by a wall that was at the base in al Ansar that we saw. That wall, as I recall, had about 40 letters from a second grade class in Texas. These were letters from American school children thanking, thanking, our troops for their sacrifice. And I asked the captain, What does this mean to the men and women that are here in Iraq? And he said, It inspires us every day to get out and do our job; every day we know that the American people are behind us. So whether it is school children throughout our country, whether it is supporting the families who are still here, the spouses, the children, the parents of our soldiers, we can never forget the sacrifice that our families are making; and certainly this second grade class from Texas and millions of other classes from around the country that have sent letters to our troops, not just in Iraq, but Afghanistan and all of the countries where our troops are fighting and winning the war on terrorism, how important our show of support is for their efforts. And, lastly, let me, like others, touch on the experience that we all had in meeting with the Iraqi women leaders, members of parliament, the new ambassador to Egypt, the acting health minister, and many others. They were Shiites, they were Kurds, they were Sunnis. But they were Iraqi women who had endured so much, unspeakable horrors. At one point in the lunch we were having, we were asking questions of each other. And finally they asked me to introduce myself after about 45 minutes. And I talked a little bit about my family and my situation in New Hampshire, and I said that I was from the ``Live Free or Die'' State, and I think my colleagues all remember that every time I repeated my State motto, this really resonated with the Iraqi people because ``Live free or die'' means something in New Hampshire, it means something in America, and it means something in Iraq. So then I went on to tell them about my first experience in Iraq where I had gone to the Abu Ghraib prison. We have all heard about the abuses there, and we are dealing with those abuses as a country, as well we should. But what I saw, and perhaps some of my colleagues have seen, was what happened to 80,000 Iraqis who were executed in that prison. And I was describing this to the Iraqi women, and I realized that they were all starting to cry. I did not really know what to do because it had been such a horrifying experience to me. And then one of them said, My husband was executed in that prison. And another one said to me, My brother was executed in that prison. And I knew at that point how much they had endured on a personal level of the suffering, of the depravity, of the barbaric nature of that regime. The most important thing, I think, for Americans to realize and the whole world to realize is the tenacity and the singleness of their purpose, that they will rebuild a country if the world will support them in that effort. And that is important for us to remember as we approach Memorial Day, that they have the will to succeed if we have the will to persevere with them. I thank the gentleman from Nebraska (Mr. Osborne) for yielding to me.