Michael Castle

Mr. CASTLE

Mr. CASTLE. Mr. Speaker, I ask unanimous consent that all Members may have 5 legislative days in which to revise and extend their remarks on S. 2363.

Mr. CASTLE. Mr. Speaker, I have no further requests for time, and I yield back the balance of my time.

Mr. CASTLE

Mr. CASTLE. Mr. Speaker, it is with great pleasure that I rise today to pay tribute to the Brady Kohn Foundation and its founders, Carolyn and Andy Kohn. The Kohns began their foundation to honor a wonderful little boy, their son Brady, whose life on this earth was all too short. The work of this Foundation centers around the use of umbilical cord blood, a safe and painless way to retrieve valuable stem cells, which can be used to save the lives of many Americans. I welcome the initiative taken by the partnership of Christiana Care Hospital, the The Elie Katz Umbilical Cord Blood Program at Community Blood Services, and the Brady Kohn Foundation to publicly bank cord blood. This is the first step into truly cutting edge medical research. I am very familiar with the dedication of The Brady Kohn Foundation's founding members. Carolyn and Andy have worked tirelessly to achieve a partnership that would enable expectant mothers to have their umbilical cord blood publicly banked at no cost. The Brady Kohn Foundation will be the leader in education, awareness, and promotion of this project, inspiring expectant mothers to bank their cord blood in hopes of saving the lives of others. Christiana Care is an excellent choice for this project as they are home to approximately 7,000 deliveries per year. Of the cord blood collected, roughly 60 percent will be banked and used for medical procedures such as bone marrow transplants, while the other 40 percent will be used for research that has the potential to heal countless diseases in the future. I recognize the struggle that the Kohns have gone through to reach their goal of providing a public umbilical cord banking system. I would like to thank Carolyn, Andy, and all those involved with this valuable project. I am certain the new public cord blood banking system will have a tremendous impact on many lives in my home state of Delaware and around the United States.

Mr. CASTLE

Mr. CASTLE. Mr. Speaker, it is with great pleasure that I rise today to pay tribute to the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP), as they celebrate the 97th anniversary of their inception. The Delaware chapter of the NAACP was founded in Wilmington, Delaware in 1909, only 1 year after the initiation of the national office. The Wilmington branch of the NAACP distinguished itself locally in the equal pay battle for teachers in Delaware. The positive impact that the Wilmington branch had on our community inspired the development of other branches around the state, including lower Sussex, Milford, Central Delaware, and Newark. I would personally like to thank the past and present leaders of the NAACP in Delaware for their continued dedication to bring about peaceful movements for change. This illustrious organization's success can be attributed to leaders such as Reverend Maurice Moyer, Alice Dunbar Nelson, Louise L. Redding, Samuel Dawson, Gary Hammond, Littleton Mitchell, and Charles Brittingham. They are each heroes both locally and nationally. These remarkable trailblazers have led the battle for equality in the state of Delaware. They worked to pass the local elective ``one-person, one vote,'' fought for suitable living quarters for migrant laborers, worked for fair public accommodations throughout the state, and made extensive advancements in educational equity. The perseverance demonstrated by members of the NAACP reflects the strength of this exceptional organization. Over the past 97 years, the national organization has provided communities around the United States with strong and passionate leaders who have fought for social change. I congratulate them on the successes of the past 97 years, and I look forward to many more years of continued achievements in the future.

Mr. CASTLE

Mr. CASTLE. Mr. Speaker, it is with great pleasure that I rise today to pay tribute to the five returning Marines of Bulk Fuel Company Bravo, based in Wilmington, Delaware. During the past seven months, the five Marines of Bulk Fuel Company Bravo answered the call to duty in a highly volatile and dangerous region of Iraq. Their efforts contributed to the safety and security of an emerging democracy and our own great nation. With this sacrifice they have inspired others--including their family, friends, and neighbors. As Americans, we are mindful of what we have lost, but we are deeply grateful for all that cannot be destroyed. It is Marines like those of Bulk Fuel Company Bravo who sustain and invigorate the timeless values, principles, and extraordinary character that define our great nation. Today, I am just one of many Delawareans who would like to take this opportunity to say a sincere thank you to them for their service and sacrifice on our behalf. When they were needed, they answered their country's call, proving once again that extraordinary individuals live within each generation of Americans.

Mr. CASTLE

Mr. CASTLE. Mr. Speaker, I yield 2 minutes to the gentlewoman from Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, who turns out to be a Pittsburgh Steelers fan, which is a real insult to Philadelphia Eagles fans like myself.

Mr. CASTLE. Mr. Speaker, I yield 5 minutes to the gentleman from Minnesota (Mr. Kennedy), the sponsor who has undertaken to pursue this resolution.

Mr. CASTLE. Mr. Speaker, I yield 2 minutes to the distinguished gentleman from Pennsylvania (Mr. Fitzpatrick).

Mr. CASTLE. Mr. Speaker, I move to suspend the rules and agree to the resolution (H. Res. 657) honoring the contributions of Catholic schools.

Mr. CASTLE. Mr. Speaker, on that I demand the yeas and nays.

Mr. CASTLE. Mr. Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may consume. Mr. Speaker, I rise today in support of House Resolution 657 offered by the gentleman from Minnesota. This resolution increases the awareness of Catholic education while honoring the contributions of America's Catholic schools. January 29 through February 4, 2006, has been designated Catholic Schools Week, an annual tradition in its 32nd year and jointly sponsored by the National Catholic Education Association, as well as the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops. With this resolution we recognize the vital role Catholic elementary and secondary schools play in providing a values-added education with high standards of quality and excellence to the over 2.4 million students enrolled in Catholic schools across the country. In just my home State of Delaware, there are over 30 Catholic schools. According to the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops, Catholic schools have a graduation rate of over 98 percent, and about 97 percent of Catholic high school graduates go to postsecondary training at 4- year colleges, community colleges or technical schools. This success could be also attributed to the importance Catholic educators place on character and morals. By making the development of moral and social values an integral part of the curriculum, Catholic schools are ensuring that their students are not only good academically, but also good citizens. The theme for Catholic Schools Week 2006 is ``Character, Compassion, Values.'' This theme resonates with the Catholic schools this academic year in particular. Catholic schools demonstrated an enormous amount of character and compassion in their response to the devastating hurricanes that hit the gulf coast last year. In the wake of this national disaster, more than 300,000 students were displaced from their homes, schools and communities. Catholic schools opened their doors and hearts and welcomed these students into their classrooms. They provided these children with the opportunity to continue their studies without stopping to consider how to cover the costs of that education. Instead, the Catholic schools knew their first priority was to educate these children, and, second, figure out how to cover the greater costs they incurred. In addition, the Catholic schools in New Orleans proved to be the most resilient by becoming some of the first schools in the hurricane- damaged area to reopen their doors to students. I appreciate the great work being done by Catholic schools, their administrators, and teachers, as well as their parents and volunteers. Catholic schools carry out their servant mission by building the academic achievement, character, and values of their students. I again commend the gentleman from Minnesota (Mr. Kennedy) for introducing this resolution, and I urge my colleagues to support it. Mr. Speaker, I reserve the balance of my time.

Mr. CASTLE. Mr. Speaker, I yield 2 minutes to the gentleman from Pennsylvania (Mr. Murphy), alas another Steelers fan.

Mr. CASTLE. Mr. Speaker, I yield 2 minutes to the gentleman from South Carolina (Mr. Wilson).

Mr. CASTLE. Mr. Speaker, I ask unanimous consent that all Members may have 5 legislative days within which to revise and extend their remarks on H. Res. 657.

Mr. CASTLE. Mr. Speaker, I yield back the balance of my time.

Mr. CASTLE

Mr. CASTLE. Mr. Speaker, it is with great respect, admiration and much sorrow, that I rise today to remember the life of Morris W. King, the 52nd President of the Hartly Volunteer Fire Company. Mr. King, of Smyrna, Delaware, passed away at the age of 86. He made immeasurable contributions to the volunteer fire service in my home State of Delaware, as well as many of the surrounding States. Morris King dedicated an amazing 68 years of service to various fire fighting causes during his life. For 35 years, he was a fire line officer in the Hartly Volunteer Fire Company before being elected Chief in 1971. Over the course of his service to the HVFC, Morris held every elected administrative office in the company; he was a man dedicated to protecting all members of his community. Morris oversaw the creation and implementation of the Hartly Fire Company Ambulance Corps, which he captained for many years. After serving Hartly for so many years, Mr. King went on to hold many leadership positions within the Kent County Volunteer Firemen's Association and the Delaware Volunteer Firemen's Association. For his contributions, Morris was inducted into both the Delaware Firefighters Hall of Fame and the Del-Mar-Va Volunteer Firemen's Hall of Fame. In 1986, Mr. King was honored with the Delaware Fireman of the Year award. He was truly a man who was respected by all who knew him. While Mr. King was a well-decorated firefighter, his contributions to his country and to local community organizations cannot be overlooked. Morris was a United States Army Air Corps veteran of World War II, serving as a member of the 17th Bomb Group. He also served as president of the Hartly town council. Morris King's accomplishments are too numerous to name in this tribute. He was a treasure that our State and his family will miss greatly. I know that Morris' dedication to excellence and to public service will serve as an example to his family and friends that he leaves behind.

Mr. CASTLE

Mr. CASTLE. Mr. Speaker, it is with great pleasure that I rise today to pay tribute to the Cathedral Choir School of Delaware, who on January 25, 2006, had the honor of singing for First Lady Laura Bush at the White House. The Cathedral Choir School of Delaware was honored as one of the 17 youth arts and humanities programs that will receive the 2005 Coming Up Taller Award from the First Lady. The Choir performed two songs, the National Anthem and a Zulu anthem. This Award was created by the President's Committee on the Arts and the Humanities, and its recipients are chosen by members of the Institute of Museum and Library Services, the National Endowment for the Arts, and the National Endowment for the Humanities. The Cathedral Choir School of Delaware was selected from a group of over 250 well- qualified nominees. Led by Choirmaster and Artistic Director Dr. Darryl Roland, this wonderful ensemble boasts 53 area students whose ages range from as young as 7, to as old as 17. The main objective of the choral arts program is to help these young people, many of them disadvantaged, succeed in school and other extracurricular endeavors. While singing is the central activity, it is only one of the important skills that they take away from this program. The Cathedral Choir School of Delaware boasts an impressive list of alumni, many having been elected to leadership positions at their academic institutions and in their communities. The former Chief Justice of the Delaware Supreme Court is an example of a distinguished alumnus from the group. I congratulate and thank the Cathedral Choir School of Delaware for their contributions to the State of Delaware and to our country. Many children who have participated in the program as well as music lovers owe the group a sincere debt of gratitude, and I am pleased to be able to vocalize their appreciation. I am thrilled that a group from my home State has been honored with such an illustrious award and I wish them many more years of continued success.

Mr. CASTLE

Mr. CASTLE. Mr. Speaker, I rise today in strong opposition to the decision to attach drilling in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge to the Defense Appropriations Act conference report. This is a clear abuse of process and I urge my colleagues to join me in opposing this rule, which would allow it. The Deficit Reduction Act was an inappropriate venue to debate this important environmental issue and the Defense Appropriations Act conference report is no different. The inclusion of drilling in the Arctic Refuge is the determination of a few individuals who are willing to put national policy priorities aside for a special-interest agenda. Drilling in the Arctic Refuge will scarcely make a ripple on our dependence on foreign oil, nor will it increase our national security. Even by the most optimistic estimates, oil from the Refuge will never meet more than two percent of the energy needs in America. The Arctic Refuge represents one of the last large pristine natural environments left in our country. I strongly believe that the debate on drilling in the Arctic Refuge should be done on its own merits, not as a tagalong to the essential funding for our troops in Iraq and Afghanistan and for relief to hurricane victims. To include drilling in the Arctic Refuge in a must pass defense appropriations bill, at a time of war, is an abomination. The American people strongly support protecting the Arctic Refuge and I urge my colleagues to vote no on this rule.

Mr. CASTLE

Mr. CASTLE. Mr. Speaker, I thank the gentlewoman from Colorado for yielding me this time, and I am also pleased to rise in support of this legislation, as we did before when it was on the floor of the House of Representatives. I think it does make a difference. But we do need to understand some of the differences amongst the various things that we are talking about, because this is essentially dealing with a blood type of stem cell. It is great for use in a lot of blood diseases, as has been pointed out, particularly leukemia, lymphoma, and perhaps others at a later time. But even with those benefits, we need to stress some of the limitations. And one of them is just the difficulty of getting these and the lack of them. I have actually visited a storage location for these and have seen that as a real problem. Embryonic stem cells, which are in H.R. 810, which Senator Frist promises will be brought up sometime in the course of the next year, do not have those limitations. It allows these embryonic stem cells to be used in a way that they could be formed into any stem cell in your body, and that is just not true of the cells that are before us here today. They have the potential to treat a wide range of diseases and injuries because they can reproduce themselves almost indefinitely. The best scientific evidence in this country indicates that umbilical stem cells can do neither at this time. My point is this: we need, as far as I am concerned, to advance all of this type of research. That is really what it is all about. We need to give people an opportunity. We need to understand that one out of three people in the United States of America, and I assume across the world, and perhaps a greater percentage across the world, suffer from some type of disease that could be helped by stem cell research. For that reason, in my judgment, we need to do everything in our power here in the Congress of the United States to pass any of this legislation that would help advance the medical research that could save or help the lives of so many people across the United States and across the world. For that reason, I absolutely support this legislation. But I would beseech everybody to really understand the science and the medicine behind all of the stem cell legislation, including embryonic stem cell legislation, so that we can come to agreement as to complete stem cell research to aid everybody. And the sooner we do that, the better. Every day that is lost is a day that somebody is going to be ill longer. And we need to get about it as soon as we possibly can.

Mr. CASTLE

Mr. CASTLE. Mr. Chairman, I yield myself such time as I may consume. Mr. Chairman, let me just respond for a moment, if I may, to the gentlewoman from Texas. I do not disagree with what you are saying. Part of the reason to get reports is to understand exactly where the problems are, do we have insufficient detainee and foot patrol officers and a whole variety of other things, for all that matter, judicial personnel or whatever it may be, to take care of some of the problems that exist. It is fine to make the initial detention; but if you cannot do anything with it, you have not really achieved much in terms of perhaps preventing terrorism. So I do not disagree at all, and that is part of my goal. I do not disagree with the gentlewoman from California. I think there are a lot of holes in all this; and I do not expect immediate, strong, good reports. As a matter of fact, I think we are going to have to prod to get some of these reports. But I think it is going to give us information that is helpful. That is the reason we have come forward with the amendment, probably to underline a lot of what you are concerned about and saying in terms of what we have to improve with respect to this whole situation.

Mr. CASTLE. Mr. Chairman, I yield myself such time as I may consume. I rise to offer this straight-forward amendment to the legislation before us today. Following the attacks of 2001, it is essential that we improve our ability to track and identify terrorists attempting to cross our borders. Chairman Sensenbrenner and Chairman King have drafted legislation to better detect terrorist infiltrators, and I applaud them for their hard work on this important issue. While most of the illegal immigrants who enter the United States do so for the purposes of finding work and making a better life, there are also those that may take advantage of our porous borders to enter the country and take part in terrorist activities. In fact, recent reports have projected that as many as 4,000 immigrants from countries identified as high risk will be arrested trying to enter the country illegally this year. As we speak, terrorists are using alien smugglers and document forgers to help move people through Iran and Pakistan, and it is only a matter of time until terrorist organizations attempt to use these techniques to enter the United States. In 2004, the Border Patrol estimated that over 55,000 illegal immigrants from countries other than Mexico crossed our borders during a 10-month period. Of the illegal aliens from countries identified by the Secretary of State as sponsors of terrorism who have been ordered deported, only about 6 percent have actually been removed, and these are only the ones we know about. This legislation takes steps to enhance our border security procedures and improve our ability to identify and remove potential terrorists. As part of this effort, it is imperative that we closely monitor trends in the number of immigrants from noncontiguous nations, other than, obviously, Mexico and Canada, who enter our country illegally. After 2 years of this bill's enactment, my amendment would provide essential oversight on the effectiveness of this system by requiring the Department of Homeland Security to report to Congress on the number of illegal aliens from noncontiguous countries who are apprehended at or between ports of entry and the numbers of such aliens from countries identified by the State Department as sponsors of terrorism. My amendment would also encourage Homeland Security to develop a strategy for entering the appropriate background information of illegal aliens from countries sponsoring terrorism into appropriate security screening watch lists. With millions of illegal immigrants flooding over our vastly unsecured borders, there remains a huge vulnerability to terrorist attack. There is no doubt that al Qaeda and other terrorist groups will take advantage of any area that we fail to secure. Illegal aliens from countries known to sponsor international terrorism, in particular, should raise red flags, and Congress and the Department of Homeland Security need to closely monitor these trends. Mr. Chairman, I reserve the balance of my time.

Mr. CASTLE. Mr. Chairman, I yield myself such time as I may consume. I agree, again, with the gentlewoman from California. I am worried about her pessimism in all this as to whether we can get these kinds of reports or not. But I think it is important to do this. I think it is very important that we ask this Department to come forward with this information. This basically is, again, a study after 2 years. They have got to give us the report. But, by God, we have got to hold them to it, too. I just think we have to know how these systems are working. I do not think there is any question that the systems we have been talking about tonight on a couple of occasions could work, but they do not work because the Department has not been able to implement very well what they are prescribed to do by law already. We are not asking them to do anything different here except to do some reporting. In that case, we can start to make decisions about what is working or not. So I understand exactly what she is saying and understand her frustration, as a matter of fact; and in spite of that frustration, she is supportive and I appreciate that also. Mr. Chairman, I yield such time as he may consume to the gentleman from New York (Mr. King), the chairman of the committee.

Mr. CASTLE

Mr. CASTLE. Mr. Chairman, I yield myself the balance of my time. I agree with almost everything that the gentlewoman from California has said about this particular system. I share her concerns. I appreciate her support for my amendment and Mr. King's support as well. I think the whole business of biometrics and US-VISIT has tremendous potential that is not being realized. The reason I present this amendment is not to change anything they are doing; this is not complimenting anything that they are doing or saying that they are doing it particularly well; but to force some sort of reportorial system back to Congress, that is all this amendment does, so perhaps they will get it in their heads that they have to do better than they are doing now. The gentlewoman is right, there is a lot of disorganization and incompatibility and inconsistency in terms of what is happening, and yet it has potential.

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

Mr. CASTLE. I yield to the gentlewoman from California.