Chris Cannon

Mr. CANNON

Mr. CANNON. Mr. Speaker, I ask unanimous consent that all Members may have 5 legislative days within which to revise and extend their remarks and include extraneous material on S. 2045, as amended.

Mr. CANNON. Mr. Speaker, I move to suspend the rules and pass the Senate bill (S. 2045) to amend the Immigration and Nationality Act with respect to H-1B nonimmigrant aliens, as amended.

Mr. CANNON. Mr. Speaker, I yield 2 minutes to the gentleman from California (Mr. Rohrabacher).

Mr. CANNON. Mr. Speaker, I yield the balance of my time to the gentleman from California (Mr. Dreier) to close. Let me point out that the gentleman from California (Mr. Dreier) has been the fire and the work behind the bill in getting it to this point.

Mr. CANNON

Mr. CANNON. Mr. Speaker, I thank the gentleman for yielding time to me. Mr. Speaker, I rise today in support of H.R. 238, sponsored by my good friend, the distinguished gentleman from California. The Alien Smuggling Prevention and Enforcement Act addresses the serious and growing problem of professional smugglers who violate our Nation's borders carrying not illegal drugs or bootleg alcohol, but human cargo. These alien smugglers are active throughout our country, not just in the border States, but in my home State of Utah and many others. We have tightened our Nation's borders in recent years, making it more difficult for people to enter the United States illegally. The demand for entry, however, has not decreased because of tighter border controls, but the desperation of those seeking to get in has increased. Worldwide, people yearning to be free are willing to pay a tremendous price to gain entry to this great country by whatever means necessary. The situation has produced a new, contemptible breed of predatory smuggler who specializes in taking advantage of people in exchange for the promise to get to America. Those people who put their hopes for new life in America into the hands of an alien smuggler often find their fondest dreams have turned to their worst nightmare. Inhumane conditions are the norm as aliens find themselves packed into cargo containers for days or weeks, abandoned in the desert without basic supplies, or dumped in the sea miles from shore. Some media reports have produced a portrait of conditions which sometimes rival those imposed by slave traders during the ``middle passage'' two centuries ago. For this misery, aliens pay smugglers exorbitant fees, whether they are successful or not. Some of those who are successful in entering America must pay off their admission through years of indentured servitude in sweatshops, or are forced to live lives of crimes or prostitution. Many find themselves robbed, raped, brutalized, or even murdered by the smugglers to whom they have entrusted their lives without ever reaching our shores. This legislation today is not aimed at the poor, tired huddled masses of aliens seeking freedom, but at those who take advantage of those same aliens by preying upon their misery. The bill increases enforcement efforts against alien smugglers, and increases penalties for those who are caught. Today's vote can help bring some truly despicable criminals to justice. I thank my friend, again, the gentleman from California (Mr. Rogan), for taking the lead on yet another important issue and working hard to move it to completion. He is truly a tremendous asset to this body. I urge my colleagues to support this fine effort to address a serious problem and vote for this bill.

Mr. CANNON

Mr. CANNON. Mr. Speaker, I want to thank my friend and colleague the gentleman from Pennsylvania (Mr. Peterson) for the opportunity to speak on his special order and for his effort in putting this together. Tonight we have heard about many of the blessings that we get from rural America. We get timber and paper products. The gentleman from Pennsylvania spoke about that. We have oil and gas. The gentleman from Oklahoma spoke about that. We have minerals extraction. The gentleman from Nevada spoke about that. And the gentleman from Pennsylvania (Mr. Sherwood) spoke about exporting kids. Also, the gentleman from Pennsylvania (Mr. Weldon) spoke about the number of children, the young people, from rural America who get involved in the military. So we have these great, great resources that we have been exporting. But on the other hand, there now is a turnaround and we are getting more and more people back in or at least more and more people want to come back to rural America, and technology is allowing that to happen. I would like to talk for just a couple minutes about technology and education in rural America and why that is so compelling and why that is going to change the nature of what we do in America so that people can go back to where they came from where they enjoy life, where they have clean air and they have beautiful scenery and they have good friends and where they can leave their cars unlocked when they go to church. We have a number of things that are happening in technology that are happening at a breathtaking rate. And, frankly, we do not see them. We have had so much change that these new developments are coming faster than we can really understand. But on the cutting edge of technology today, we have two or three different things that are going on. In the first place, we have all seen the plummeting prices and the decrease in the size of computer equipment. That is going on at an increasing rate. And we are going to see a time within the next year or so when you can take a little small computer that has all the power of a major computer and it will operate off of radio frequency and it will do so at a very rapid rate, so that every kid in the world in the next 4 or 5 years is going to have the opportunity to be educated at a very high level. I would like to think that in the next few years we will see a time when we will have advertisements instead of send $15 to feed a child for a month, we will see ads to send $15 to educate a child for a month and every child in the world will have the opportunity to get a post- doctoral education off the Internet. That is partly because of the devices that are coming onto the market. In addition to those devices, we have this great new technology with radio frequency and the ability to communicate a signal sometimes through multiple repeaters, so that we should be able to take satellite signals and get those down to every child and every person on Earth; and that certainly includes everyone in rural America. And finally, we are seeing terrific growth in the ability to compress data so that we can do much, much more with a smaller band width. So, for instance, in my State of Utah, Emery County, a little rural county in the State of Utah, every person in that county, because of the foresight of the local telecommunications company, now has access to DSL broad band telecommunications. That DSL is going to be a big enough pipeline to do almost anything that anyone could imagine they would want to do. And that takes the jobs into rural Utah and raises the life-style there. Now, I would just like to wrap up by talking about the difference in perspective here. We have a battle going on. It is a cultural war. We see that battle going on with the Boy Scouts of America and the attempt to revoke their charter. We see that battle in many other places. But the battle really comes down to a battle between urban America and rural America. The Democrats have taken a very clear position. The Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee chairman, the gentleman from Rhode Island (Mr. Kennedy), in referring to the 2000 elections, said on June 21, 1999, as reported in the Providence Journal, ``We have written off the rural areas.'' ``We have written off the rural areas.'' Now, the following day the minority leader said he did not mean to say that. He did not say he did not mean what he said. He said he did not mean to say that. Because that gave away the strategy of the Democratic party. And it was probably unthoughtful. But it has never been recanted, as far as I know, by any leader of the Democratic National party. No one has said, we are actually going to court the rural vote. And in fact, everything they have done has been shown to be a movement away from rural. They tax rural people the same they do everywhere else, but they move the programs into the urban areas under the Democratic regime. That is not right. There is a digital divide today and that digital divide can be healed and overcome between rural and urban America if we let the free market work. But if we tax everyone in America and move that money to the urban areas, then we lose the opportunity to bring back to the rural areas the basis for jobs and economic growth that make the rural part of America so great.

Mr. CANNON

Mr. CANNON. Mr. Speaker, I rise today in support of the underlying legislation which includes within it an important bill that I sponsored in the House, the Methamphetamine Anti-Proliferation Act of 2000. Methamphetamine is a powerful and dangerous drug. It differs from other popular illegal narcotics because it can be made from readily available, domestically produced, legal but dangerous chemicals and substances. It puts both human life and the environment at risk and it is reaching epidemic proportions. Meth has become the fastest growing illegal narcotic in America. Within the last five years, meth use has increased in some communities by as much as 300 percent. In some areas meth accounts for as much as 90 percent of all drug cases. An increasing amount of meth is imported, but there are also hundreds of small ``Mom and Pop'' clandestine labs manufacturing meth in my State of Utah and throughout the country. Cheaply produced, but with a street value as high as $1,500 an ounce, it is no wonder that meth has become the drug of choice for gangs and criminals. This legislation that I sponsored, and which we consider today, will address the proliferation of methamphetamine and club drug manufacturing, trafficking, use, and addiction in America. It provides Federal, State, and local law enforcement officials with tools and training to combat the methamphetamine and club drug epidemic in America today. It furthermore authorizes comprehensive prevention and treatment programs to combat abuse and addiction as well. H.R. 2987 provides funding to the Drug Enforcement Administration [DEA] and Office of National Drug Control Policy [ONDCP]. These additional resources will be used to assist State and local law enforcement officials in methamphetamine investigations and establish additional DEA offices in rural areas. It provides training for toxic methamphetamine waste clean up, and authorizes federal reimbursement to states and localities for meth lab cleanup expenses. H.R. 2987 also increases penalties for amphetamine production, trafficking in meth precursor chemicals, and drug manufacturing that creates a risk to human life or to the environment. The bill also contains provisions to address the problems associated with ``Ecstasy,'' gamma-hydroxbutyric acid (GHB) to so-called ``date rape drug,'' other enumerated ``club'' drugs, as well as similar controlled substances. And finally, the bill contains a number of provisions authorizing effective and science-based methamphetamine and club drug prevention and addiction treatment programs and federal resources for those programs. Mr. Speaker, by passing this bill today we will be upholding our responsibility to provide additional federal resources that will help local law enforcement take back our cities and towns from the rising tide of methamphetamine and club drugs. I thank all the Members who worked on this bill for their efforts, and urge my colleagues to support this legislation.

Mr. CANNON

Mr. CANNON. Mr. Speaker, first of all, I would like to thank the subcommittee chairman, the gentleman from Alabama (Mr. Bachus), for his efforts to bring this bill to the floor, and also my colleague from Utah (Mr. Cook), for his hard work in moving this issue forward. As many of the Members know, it takes 290 cosponsors on a bill to move a commemorative coin bill forward, and that takes a lot of effort. So I would also like to thank all of my colleagues who have worked with us to cosponsor this bill and bring it to this stage. We are going to have the Winter Olympics in Salt Lake City in February of 2002, and while in Utah we like to think of these as our Olympics. In fact they are America's Olympics, and it has been wonderful to work with our colleagues to help support that idea that this is the American Olympics. I am personally proud of the Olympics because about 80 percent of the venues are going to be in my district, and frankly I know there are a lot of Congressmen who believe they have beautiful districts, but none are nearly so beautiful as mine. And so we invite everyone to come to the Olympics and to see another one of these areas in my district like Moab, where we have the Great Red Rock country where people go down and bike. This commemorative coin is really about athletes; and now that we have the Summer Olympics going on in Sydney, it is good to consider just for a moment the benefits that they will get. We expect that this commemorative coin will raise about $6 million, which will be split evenly between the U.S. Olympic Committee and the Salt Lake Olympic Committee, and the proceeds of that money will all go to training athletes. So this is a great way to perpetuate the American tradition of winning the Olympics, as we are currently doing.

Mr. CANNON

Mr. CANNON. Mr. Speaker, I rise today in opposition to this dangerous bill that attacks a treasured American institution, the Boy Scouts of America. A small group of extremists on the minority side is attempting to revoke the charter of an organization that has done much good. The attack today is because this private organization, the Boy Scouts, demands traditional moral rectitude from its members. This attack on the Boy Scouts alone would be repugnant to most Americans. But today's attack goes beyond just the Boy Scouts. It is an attack upon the fundamental values of America. Our debate on this bill is just one skirmish of a much larger cultural war for our Nation's heart and soul. The gentlewoman from California (Ms. Woolsey) has laid out the legal and governmental opposition to the Boy Scouts. This war is a big deal, and it will affect us all. Mr. Speaker, perhaps no civic organization has done as much as the Boy Scouts to instill the core American values of faith, loyalty, duty, honor, patriotism, community service, and individual responsibility in the young men of this Nation. We will prevail today in defeating this attack on the Scouts, but only because the spotlight of American's attention has been focused on our opponents. Some on this side disavowed this bill they once co- sponsored because the glare of attention has exposed the extremism of their views. Mr. Speaker, I urge my colleagues and fellow citizens to oppose this bill.

Mr. CANNON

Mr. CANNON. Mr. Chairman, I yield myself such time as I may consume. First of all, I would like to thank my dear friend, the gentleman from New Jersey (Mr. Rothman) and for his kind words. We got to know each other when we cohosted our freshman class in the evening that we held at the Holocaust Museum and while we differ on a number of issues, there are some things that draw us together as Americans and as friends. Mr. Chairman, I yield such time as he may consume to the gentleman from Ohio (Mr. Regula), the chairman of the Appropriations Subcommittee on Interior. (Mr. REGULA asked and was given permission to revise and extend his remarks.)

Mr. CANNON. Mr. Chairman, I yield myself such time as I may consume. Mr. Chairman, I would like to thank the gentleman from California (Mr. Lantos) for his very kind words. The gentleman knows I have been a great admirer of his for many years, in fact 25 years ago when I first met his beautiful daughters before he was a congressman. Mr. Chairman, I yield as much time as he may consume to the gentleman from Ohio (Mr. LaTourette), a fellow council member on the Holocaust Museum.

Mr. CANNON. Mr. Chairman, I yield such time as he may consume to the gentleman from Utah (Mr. Hansen).

Mr. CANNON. Mr. Chairman, I yield myself such time as I may consume. Mr. Chairman, I would like to close by encouraging Members of this body and other Americans to visit the museum. I thought I might do that by telling my personal experience with the museum. First of all, I would like to thank the ranking member of the committee for his support and help during this debate and the development of the bill. I was born in 1950, shortly after World War II; and, as I went through high school, one of the kindest, most thoughtful professors, teachers, that I had there was a Jew who had survived the holocaust. He had a colleague, who I never had a class from, but who had a son that was my age, so I became friends with the three of them. One of the most stark experiences of my youth was to see those two teachers of history roll up their sleeves and show me a tatoo that had been put on their arms by the Nazi regime. That framed much of my view of the world and of history and of the role of government, frankly, and it was very important to me. Since the opening of the museum, I have visited it several times; and it is a tremendously personal experience to go through that museum. You are confronted with the best and worst in the impulses of human beings as you go through it. It is an intimate experience. We do not have many survivors of the Holocaust left who can give the impression to young people that those two great men gave to me. So I would encourage everyone to go through and visit the museum. I will say that it is a stark experience. There are places that have barriers so that small children cannot see some of the demonstrations of the inhumanity of man to man. They are worth looking at and considering. Mr. Chairman, let me just say it has been a great pleasure to work on this bill with all of those involved.

Mr. CANNON. Mr. Chairman, I yield myself such time as I may consume. Mr. Chairman, I introduced this legislation to reauthorize the United States Holocaust Museum because the museum serves an important function in remembering the past. This marks 7 years of success for the museum, which is visited by millions of people each year through its acclaimed exhibitions, education opportunities, publications and outreach programs. Created by a unanimous act of Congress in 1980, the museum continues to receive strong support and recognition. In addition to its primary mission of advancing and communicating knowledge of the Holocaust history, the museum offers an opportunity for its visitors to reflect upon the moral and spiritual questions raised by the Holocaust. The success of the museum clearly demonstrates the public's deep interest in contemplating and gaining valuable lessons from the Holocaust. The museum has had 14 million visitors, of which about 3.7 million have been children. In addition, 61 heads of state have visited, along with 2,000 foreign officials from 130 nations. In response to public demand, the museum has developed an educational and scholarly outreach program, with traveling exhibitions in 27 cities over the past several years. The teacher program serves 25,000 educators across the United States annually. Their Web site has received 1.5 million visits each year. The museum has received recognition internationally as a center for Holocaust research and remembrance. There has been a dramatic growth in its collections, including more than 35,000 artifacts, 12 million pages of archived documents, 65,000 photographic images, oral histories from over 6,000 individuals, a library of over 30,000 volumes in 18 languages, and a renowned registry of Holocaust survivors and their families with a total of 165,000 listings. The museum is an invaluable reference service for the public, with the Museum archival, photo, historian's office and library staff responding to over 18,000 requests each year for information, guidance and services. These accomplishments demonstrate the museum's extraordinary public service and the success it has achieved on the National Mall, across the United States and internationally. The museum's mission to carry the legacy of Holocaust education and conscience forward into the 21st century is important. The museum is key to strengthening our ability as Americans to understand history's painful lessons, to help us overcome the worst of human impulses, and to improve our future. I might just point out here that the Holocaust that we are dealing with is not just that of the Nazi atrocities leading up to and through World War II. We have had a large number of nations who have persecuted and murdered their citizens. In Cambodia we have had about 2 million people murdered. East Timor had 200,000. In Uganda, 750,000 people were murdered. And in Rwanda recently 800,000 people. Armenia had about 600,000 people murdered and in Russia if you include not just the decisions to murder citizens but the stupidity of the command economy, somewhere between 80 and 100 million people died at the hands of the government or at the decisions of the government. The bill before us authorizes necessary appropriations to more effectively operate and maintain the museum. None of the funds are authorized for construction purposes. Federal appropriations for the museum have averaged around $31 million annually for the last 5 years and the budget request for fiscal year 2001 is $34.6 million. Donated funds have averaged approximately $21 million for the last 3 years, with expected donations of $21.4 million in 2001. When the National Academy of Public Administration studied the functioning of the museum, they recommended several minor changes which are incorporated into this legislation. Among them are the ability to retain revenue from activities undertaken by the museum and several slight organizational changes to make the museum more efficient. This bill will support the mission of the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum and its enduring role in our society. As a member of the museum's council I am proud to be a sponsor of this legislation. Several of our colleagues are also members of the council. The gentleman from New York (Mr. Gilman), the gentleman from Texas (Mr. Frost), the gentleman from California (Mr. Lantos), and the gentleman from Ohio (Mr. LaTourette) contribute to the important cause of the museum and council by serving on the council. I urge my colleagues to join me and the 24 original cosponsors in voting for this legislation. Mr. Chairman, I reserve the balance of my time.

Mr. CANNON. Mr. Chairman, I yield such time as he may consume to the gentleman from Ohio (Mr. Regula).

Mr. CANNON

Mr. CANNON. Mr. Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may consume. Mr. Speaker, again I would just like to reiterate that this bill simply corrects a legal anomaly. The City of Duchesne is using this water and should bear title to it. I urge my colleagues to join with me in supporting this legislation. Mr. Speaker, I yield back the balance of my time.

Mr. CANNON. Mr. Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may consume. Mr. Speaker, I am glad to have the opportunity to discuss H.R. 3468, the Duchesne City Water Rights Conveyance Act on the House floor. This legislation gives the city of Duchesne rights to water owned by the United States Indian Service. Duchesne is currently using this water and has used it since the city was established. Since this law corrects a legal anomaly, some historical background may be helpful. When the Uintah Indian Reservation was opened for settlement in 1905, land was auctioned to the highest bidder under the Township Act and the City of Duchesne was created. The acting Indian agent of the reservation filed two applications to appropriate water with the Utah State Engineer. These applications were intended for irrigation and domestic supply in the City of Duchesne under the township provisions. For many years now, attempts to place the water rights in the name of Duchesne City have failed despite acknowledgments by all interested parties that the water rights were meant for Duchesne City exclusively. Since the United States Indian Service no longer exists, there is no way to transfer these water rights without legislation. In fact, this bill is at the request of the Utah State Engineer. Mr. Speaker, Utah is an arid State and water is a valuable resource. The very nature of water rights ownership can be contentious. For this reason, the legislation is urgent and necessary. The City of Duchesne and the Ute Indian Tribe have worked hard on this legislation, and they hope to transfer these water rights during this session of Congress. The Ute Indian Tribe will benefit by this proposal, being able to connect to the Duchesne City Municipal Water System without any water impact or connection fee. Furthermore, no members of the tribe connecting to the municipal water system will be required to give up rights to water or water rights that they hold in addition to the municipal water. The version of the bill that is before us today includes language worked out between the Department of the Interior, the Ute Indian Tribe, and the City of Duchesne. We now include findings that ensure that the full history of these water rights is known. Additionally, there is language that would ensure that tribal rights and current water rights are protected. I would like to thank all those who have worked on this bill. Mayor Kim Hamlin, Councilman Paul Tanner from Duchesne, and Craig Smith, special counsel on water have worked hard to coordinate with the Department of the Interior and have come up with the compromise language that we now have before us. Again, Mr. Speaker, I am grateful for the opportunity to bring this before the House of Representatives. I look forward to resolving this problem for the City of Duchesne.

Mr. CANNON. Mr. Speaker, I ask unanimous consent that all Members may have 5 legislative days within which to revise and extend their remarks, and include extraneous material therein, on H.R. 3468.

Mr. CANNON. Mr. Speaker, I move to suspend the rules and pass the bill (H.R. 3468) to direct the Secretary of the Interior to convey certain water rights to Duchesne City, Utah, as amended.

Mr. CANNON

Mr. CANNON. Mr. Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may consume. Mr. Speaker, I am pleased to be discussing H.R. 3236, which I introduced with my colleague, the gentleman from Utah (Mr. Hansen). This legislation authorizes the Secretary of Interior, through the Bureau of Reclamation, to enter into contracts with the Weber Basin Water Conservancy District to allow the delivery of non-Federal project water for domestic, municipal, industrial, and other beneficial purposes using facilities associated with the Weber Basin Project. Such congressional authorization is required by the Warren Act and there are a number of Western reclamation projects which have already been given such authority including the Central Utah Project. The Weber Basin Conservancy District constructed the Smith Morehouse Dam and Reservoir in the early 1980s with local Weber Basin funding resources creating a supply of non-Federal project water. There is now a need to deliver approximately 5,000 acre feet of this non-Federal Smith Morehouse water supply along with approximately 5,000 acre feet of Federal Weber Basin Project water utilizing some federally built project facilities to the Snyderville Basin Area of Summit County and to Park City. These are rapidly growing areas of my congressional district. The Weber Basin Water Conservancy District entered into a memorandum of understanding and agreement in 1996 to deliver this water approximately 14 miles from Weber Basin Weber River sources upon the execution of an interlocal agreement with Park City and Summit County. The Warren Act requires that legislation be enacted to enable the district to move ahead with this agreement with the county and Park City to deliver the water utilizing Bureau-built Weber Basin Project facilities. The Utah State Engineer last year stopped approval of new groundwater sources in the area. We do not have any more wells that we can drill there. This, along with the tremendous growth in the area, due in part to the 2002 Olympics, has led to an immediate need to import water to the area. The area to be served is within the taxing area of the Weber Basin District, and there is a definite need for a public entity to build a project to supply an adequate, reliable, and cost-effective water delivery project to meet future demands. I hope we can pass this legislation to enable the District to expeditiously construct this project. Mr. Speaker, I reserve the balance of my time.

Mr. CANNON. Mr. Speaker, I ask unanimous consent that all Members may have 5 legislative days within which to revise and extend their remarks, and include extraneous material therein, on H.R. 3236.

Mr. CANNON. Mr. Speaker, I move to suspend the rules and pass the bill (H.R. 3236) to authorize the Secretary of the Interior to enter into contracts with the Weber Basin Water Conservancy District, Utah, to use Weber Basin Project facilities for the impounding, storage, and carriage of nonproject water for domestic, municipal, industrial, and other beneficial purposes, as amended.

Mr. CANNON. Mr. Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may consume. Mr. Speaker, I would just once again state this legislation is needed to continue the development of much-needed water resources in the Weber Basin Water Conservancy District. I urge my colleagues to join me in supporting this necessary legislation. Mr. Speaker, I yield back the balance of my time.

Mr. CANNON

Mr. CANNON. Madam Speaker, I rise today to honor Utah's pioneer heritage. The State of Utah is celebrating the arrival of the first company of Mormon pioneers in the Salt Lake Valley today. These pioneers and the many wagon and handcart companies that followed on the trek from Nauvoo, Illinois, believed that they could build a better way of life in the West. They were tough. They suffered blistering and freezing temperatures. Many succumbed to the limited food supplies. They walked more than a thousand miles from Illinois to Utah, and many died along the way. Those that survived had the strength necessary to thrive in the desert and harsh climates of the West. Evidence of their toils surrounds us today. There is a ditch in Wayne County, Utah, that brought water 5 miles from a mountain lake to the farms in the valley. The amazing thing about this simple irrigation ditch is that it was built by hand. More water would disappear into the sandy soil than could be used for the crops at the end of the ditch. But all their hard work, in the words of Isaiah, made ``the desert blossom like a rose.'' There are several dams in my district that need repairs. The discussions about those repairs are centered around the roads needed to be built to bring the equipment in. The dams had been built over 100 years ago by Mormon pioneers by hand. Hand repairs were not an option now because the builders ``were much tougher back then.'' These dams, as well as countless landmarks, buildings and cities stand today as evidence of the Mormon pioneers' strength and determination. They were central to the westward expansion, providing a place of rest and resupply for travelers heading to the gold fields of California and the Oregon territory. Their strengths, self-sufficiency, and determination have become the cultural foundation of the West. I am proud to be the descendent of the Mormon pioneers and to live with the fruits of their labors. I am proud to join my fellow Utahans in honoring and celebrating our pioneer heritage. The desert truly has blossomed like a rose.

Mr. CANNON

Mr. CANNON. Mr. Speaker, I would like to begin by saying that I agree with the comments of my friend the gentleman from Virginia (Mr. Wolf). Gambling is a pernicious vice. H.R. 3125, the Internet Gambling Prohibition Act of 2000, is well- intentioned but I do not think it succeeds in what it is attempting to do. Instead, this legislation creates legislation that is unenforceable and places great regulatory burdens on Internet service providers and represents the first full-blown regulation of the Internet passed by this body. This bill will expand gambling online and undermine the State's authority to regulate gambling. The carve out for parimutuel betting will allow for parimutuel betting nationwide even in those States where gambling is currently illegal. A business licensed and regulated in one State will be allowed to take bets from someone located in other States regardless of whether the State where the bettor is located has authorized such activity. All the bettor would need to do is dial into the licensed business taking the bets. This would constitute a closed loop. Anyone who so desires would be able to load the software to be able to perform this function on his computer and the States would not be able to enforce their laws. Internet service providers are burdened by being required by the Government to act as enforcers of this law. By passing this bill, we will be deputizing ISPs with the task of denying their customers access to any site that allows wagering. The courts will need to issue a court order to each and every ISP in the country telling them to shut off access to any offending site, and the ISP will be required to put in place filters to ensure that none of their subscribers can gain access. What is the cost? Let me assure my colleagues that it is not just monetary. ISPs, in order to be in full compliance with this law, will need to monitor what sites its customers are visiting. Keeping up with the sites that allow gaming will be impossible for most ISPs. AOL may have the resources to monitor the activity on every site accessed by its servers, but Rocky Mount Internet based in Utah does not. ISPs now have or will soon have the technology to shield the identity of its customers. People will be able to access gambling sites anonymously, rendering it impossible for this law to be enforced. With this technology, both the gambling site as well as the subscriber will be able to mask the address from Federal agents. Any filters required by the law will, therefore, be rendered useless. This legislation is harmful and ultimately unenforceable. We should reject this legislation.