Michael Castle

Mr. CASTLE

Mr. CASTLE. Mr. Speaker, I yield such time as he may consume to the gentleman from Louisiana (Mr. Vitter).

Mr. CASTLE. Mr. Speaker, I yield such time as he may consume to the gentleman from Louisiana (Mr. Vitter).

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

Mr. CASTLE. Mr. Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may consume. Mr. Speaker, I rise to ask my colleagues to support H. Res. 26, which recognizes the contribution of America's Catholic elementary and secondary schools and congratulates these schools, students, teachers and parents for their dedication to education in our country. I would like to thank the sponsor of the legislation, the gentleman from Louisiana (Mr. Vitter), and the gentleman from Ohio (Mr. Boehner), the chairman of the Committee on Education and the Workforce, for bringing this resolution to the floor today. Mr. Speaker, I would like to share some remarkable facts about Catholic schools. They are widely acclaimed for their academic success. For example, the graduation rate of Catholic schools students is about 95 percent, while less than 5 percent of Catholic high school students drop out of school, and over 80 percent of Catholic high school graduates go on to college. Catholic schools also teach a diverse group of students. Over 26 percent of students enrolled are minorities. Catholic schools provide more than just an excellent scholastic education. They emphasize and promote the lifelong development of a student's moral, intellectual, physical, and social values. They produce students dedicated to their faith, values, families, and communities. In Delaware, I am proud of the contributions of the 32 Catholic schools that operate there. There are too many to name, so I will insert a list of those schools in the Record. Archmere Academy, Christ Our King School, Christ the Teacher Catholic School, Corpus Christi School, Holy Angels School, Holy Cross Elementary School, Holy Rosary School, Holy Spirit School, Immaculate Heart of Mary School, Our Lady of Fatima School, Our Lady of Grace Kindergarten, Padua Academy, Salesianum School, St. Ann's School, St. Anthony of Padua Grade School, St. Catherine of Siena School, St. Edmond's Academy, St. Elizabeth's Elementary School, St. Elizabeth's High School, St. Hedwig Elementary School, St. Helena School, St. John The Beloved School, St. Joseph's Academy, St. Mark's High School, St. Mary Magdalen School, St. Matthew's School, St. Paul's School, St. Peter School, St. Peter's Cathedral School, St. Thomas More Academy, St. Thomas The Apostle School, and Ursuline Academy. Each one of these schools is following a long tradition of educating students to be the future leaders in our society. I offer them my gratitude for their dedication to this tradition. Mr. Speaker, I ask my colleagues to support this straightforward resolution. Mr. Speaker, I reserve the balance of my time.

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. 26.

Mr. CASTLE. Mr. Speaker, I move to suspend the rules and agree to the resolution (H. Res. 26) honoring the contributions of Catholic schools, as amended.

Mr. CASTLE. Mr. Speaker, I yield such time as he may consume to the gentleman from Ohio (Mr. Boehner), the chairman of the Committee on Education and the Workforce.

Mr. CASTLE

Mr. CASTLE. Mr. Speaker, reclaiming my time, I thank both the gentlemen. I am not entirely appeased by what I heard. Obviously, I believe the judges should be in there, but I do take your word for it on that basis. Again, this is legislation, in my judgment, we should not be considering at 1:15 in the morning. It should have happened a lot earlier in the day, and it would be over in the Senate already. But so be it. Hopefully, the word of everybody tonight will be held up.

Mr. CASTLE. Well, reclaiming my time, my sense is that this bill will not pass in the other body, and perhaps in this sense it should not pass, and I think it should have passed today. As it is, I am getting some acknowledgment over there on that side. But I think it is extraordinarily important. I cannot stress how important this is. I cannot stress how stressed our courts are as a result of this. It has been very disruptive to the entire district court practice, because the district court judges have actually had to do this in my State and a lot of other jurisdictions that are missing judges and with expired terms. So we have a tremendous judicial problem in this country, and this needs to be acted on immediately. Again, I think bankruptcy is probably going to be a subject for next year. The way it has been handled today, it will not get through the House and Senate. But if it did, the aspect of the judges absolutely has to take the highest priority at the earliest possible time.

Mr. CASTLE. I yield to the gentleman from Missouri.

Mr. CASTLE. Mr. Speaker, reclaiming my time, the gentleman from Missouri (Mr. Blunt) is here now. If I could inquire of the gentleman as part of this inquiry his representations concerning these new judges and what would happen to them in the future, if this legislation were to pass tonight and then were to pass the Senate tomorrow.

Mr. CASTLE. I yield to the gentleman from Pennsylvania.

Mr. CASTLE. Mr. Speaker, I would like to enter into a colloquy. I had an earlier discussion with the gentleman from Missouri (Mr. Blunt), who is not on the floor as I can see now, the new whip, if somebody knows where he is. I would like to discuss this with the sponsor of the legislation. I am concerned about the new judges. To me it is absurd that we are at this point anyhow. We should have passed this bill earlier today. But of those 28 new judges, four of them would be in Delaware. As the gentleman knows, Delaware's bankruptcy court is extraordinarily busy, and even after the four new judges would still have the highest caseload of any court in the United States of America. As it is now, we are borrowing courts from actually the gentleman's jurisdiction, from Pennsylvania, on a regular basis to handle the bankruptcy matters there. I understand that this was deleted from the bill because it could present apparently some sort of budgetary point of order, as I understand the circumstances. There are 28 new judges, and I think there are some expired judges there. Do we know how many expired judge terms there are? Does anyone on staff know?

Mr. CASTLE

Mr. CASTLE. Mr. Speaker, I rise today to pay tribute to the late Sergeant James P. Connor, Delaware's 14th Medal of Honor winner and the only Medal of Honor recipient to be buried at the Delaware Veterans Memorial Cemetery in Summit, Delaware. This medal was presented to Sergeant Connor, in honor of his distinguished service to this country during WWII. The Medal of Honor, since its inception after the Civil War, remains the country's highest military decoration. Sergeant Connor was Delaware's only living Medal of Honor recipient, having received the medal for his dedication and leadership to his men on a campaign to protect an Allied landing during WWII. After being seriously wounded by a hanging mine, Sergeant Connor continued to lead his troops onto a French beach, in order to knock out the German positions. In the midst of additional assaults, Sergeant Connor's troops achieved their objective and captured 40 prisoners. Following his retirement from the military, Sergeant Connor continued to be very active in helping to ensure that other Delaware veterans would be remembered. On November 13, 2002, the Delaware Commission of Veterans Affairs will hold a ceremony to dedicate the circular drive and unveiling of a historical marker at the Delaware Veterans Memorial Cemetery, in honor of Sergeant James P. Connor. Mr. Speaker, allow me to recognize today, Sergeant James P. Connor, for his valor and commitment to his Country and as an outstanding United States citizen and Delaware resident. At a time when our Country is facing the possibility of war, it is very fitting for us to remember Sergeant James P. Connor, a soldier who was tremendously dedicated to preserving our Country's freedoms. His commitment to the United States during World War 11 has earned him a permanent place in Delaware's and our Country's history, and I want to commend and thank his family for sharing his tale of heroism with us.

Mr. CASTLE

Mr. CASTLE. Mr. Speaker, nearly 3 years ago, I introduced legislation to transform the Department of Education's Office of Educational Reform and Improvement, OERI, into a streamline, more independent and more scientific ``Institute of Education Sciences.'' Today, nearly 6 months after the House of Representatives passed the bill unanimously, we are poised enact long-overdue reforms to ensure that education research is based on science--not fads or fiction. This year, President Bush signed landmark education reforms into law, demanding new and more challenging standards of accountability from our States and improved student achievement from our schools. Recognizing that any successful education reform effort requires the best information on how children learn, the words ``scientifically based research'' appear more than 100 times in the new law. The reason for the focus on ``scientific'' research is simple; educators need to know what works if they are to improve student achievement. For that reason, among other things, my legislation: Replaces OERI with a new streamlined National Institute of Education Science; insulates Federal research, evaluations and statistics from inappropriate partisan or political influences; ensures high quality standards; creates a ``culture of science; by allowing the Director to attract the best researchers, evaluators and statisticians to the Institute; and, ensures that technical assistance is responsive to the needs of States and schools. If we are to lift those who are struggling to achieve proficiency in reading, math and science, we must expect scientific rigor. And we must ensure that `what works' in education informs classroom practice. My legislation does just that. Of course, this legislation would not have been possible without the hard work of members on both sides of the aisle and both chambers of Congress. In particular, I want to thank the full Committee Chairman John Boehner, Ranking Member George Miller and my Subcommittee Ranking Member Dale Kildee as well as Chairman Kennedy and Ranking Member Gregg for their assistance and their strong support throughout this process. I also want to thank Secretary Paige, Assistant Secretary Russ Whitehurst and the staff at the Department, whose counsel and technical expertise were invaluable. Last, but certainly not least, I want to thank the staff who put in countless hours to get this legislation right--Doug Mesecar, Bob Sweet, Sally Lovejoy, Alex Nock, Denise Forte, Jane Oats, Tracy Locklin, and Denzel McGuire. They all deserve our thanks and appreciation. As there will be no conference report to accompany this legislation, I would like to take this opportunity to clarify a few points. The comprehensive centers under this act will provide essential technical assistance and professional development to help our States and schools advance the goals of the No Child Left Behind Act. It is our intent that the reference to ``local entities'' or ``consortia of such entities'' in section 203 include regional educational agencies as among those eligible to receive grants. As my colleague, Mr. McKeon, has informed me, the state of California has a consortium of eight regional offices of education that provide hands-on technical assistance and professional development directly to schools in southern California. It is our intent that the regional offices of education will continue to be eligible to participate in our improved structure. Finally, I would like to clarify the intent of section 117(d), regarding the supervision and removal authority of the Director. This section does not mean that the NCES Commissioner operates independently of the Director of the Institute. In fact, the Statistics Commissioner is an officer of the government and has the authority fulfill the duties stipulated in section 154 and section 155 of the bill, such as the authority to enter into contracts and the authority to supervise the technical work of the Statistics Center. However, since NCES is a part of the Institute it, along with the other National Education Centers, it ultimately subject to the oversight of the Director of the Institutes. Discharged from the Committee on Education and the Workforce and Passed H.R. 5601, to amend the Child Abuse Prevention and Treatment Act to make improvements to and reauthorize programs under that Act, and for other purposes.

Mr. CASTLE

Mr. CASTLE. Mr. Speaker, I thank the distinguished chairman of the Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence not only for yielding to me but for the extraordinary work he does for this country on a day-in- and-day-out basis in a very difficult circumstance right now. The vote on the resolution to authorize the use of force to disarm Saddam Hussein is one of the most important decisions we will ever have to make as Members of the House of Representatives. Every Member of Congress wants to do what is right, not only for America but for the entire world. Today I speak both as the Representative of the people of Delaware and as a member of the Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence. Like many, I have been traveling throughout my State over the past few weeks, and Iraq is on everyone's minds. Individuals have crossed the street to give me their opinions, and seniors have approached me at our annual beach day event. I have received many personal letters, e-mails, and phone calls from people who have taken the time to sit down and really think about this very difficult issue. They know Saddam Hussein is a tyrannical dictator and would like to see him go. They hope war can be avoided but also want to support the President. They want to know if immediate military action is necessary and if the risks to our young men and women in uniform are necessary; how will other nations respond if the United States decides to enter the conflict without United Nations' support; what could be the effect on the stability of the Middle East and the fate of the Iraqi people. I share many of their concerns. That is why I have tried to gather as much information as possible by reading reports, attending briefings, and talking with other Members of Congress. Here is what I have learned: the security of our Nation is at risk. For the past several months, I have participated in intelligence hearings on the September 11 terrorist attacks and have studied the hatred some nations and groups have toward America. Saddam Hussein is encouraging and promoting this hatred by openly praising the attacks on the United States. The Director of Central Intelligence recently published an unclassified summary of the evidence against Saddam Hussein, and it is substantial. We know that Iraq has continued building weapons of mass destruction, energized its missile program, and is investing in biological weapons. Saddam Hussein is determined to get weapons-grade material to develop nuclear weapons. Its biological weapons program is larger and more advanced than before the Gulf War. Iraq also is attempting to build unmanned vehicles, UAVs, to possibly deliver biological warfare agents. All of this has been done in flagrant violation of the U.N. Security Council resolutions. Some may react to this evidence by saying that, in the past, other countries have had similar arsenals and the United States did not get involved. But as President Bush has told us and as Secretary of Defense Rumsfeld reiterated yesterday in a meeting, Saddam Hussein's Iraq is different. This is a ruthless dictator whose record is despicable. He has waged war against his neighbors and on his own people. He has brutalized and tortured his own citizens, harbored terrorist networks, engaged in terrorist acts, lied, cheated, and defied the will of the international community. Mr. Speaker, I have examined this information and some of the more specific classified reports. The bottom line is, we do not want to get caught off guard. We must take all precautions to avoid a catastrophic event similar to September 11. In recent meetings, the National Security Adviser, Dr. Condoleezza Rice, rightly called this coercive diplomacy. It is my hope that through forceful diplomacy, backed by clear resolve, we can avoid war. Unfortunately, Saddam Hussein's history of deception makes a new attempt to disarm him difficult. Additionally, our goal to disarm him must also be connected to a plan to end his regime, should he refuse to disarm. For all these reasons, I would encourage all of us to support this resolution as the best resolution to make this happen.

Mr. CASTLE

Mr. CASTLE. Mr. Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may consume. Mr. Speaker, first, with respect to the gentlewoman from the District of Columbia (Ms. Norton), she has been working on this tirelessly from the beginning of it. In fact, as we were getting started, she came to see me and started to talk to me about it. I saw the wisdom after a couple of visits and have heartily embraced it ever since. I am glad that it is going through the House again, and hopefully we can get it through the Senate. While we are not exactly providing statehood, we are in no way hurting statehood. I think that statehood will be, if anything, enhanced by this, and not hurt by it. I thank Joe Pinder of the Committee on Financial Services staff. He has worked long and hard on these issues. While it is nice to say this program has worked so well, there was a great deal of resistance to this program at a whole variety of levels, and it took a lot of studies and a lot of people having to be convinced before it could work. I would like to say finally, on the economics, some people might wonder how this makes money. For the millions of people listening on C- SPAN, I would just point out that it costs about 4 cents to make a quarter. And when they are issued eventually by the Federal Reserve to the banks, they receive 25 cents for each quarter, so there is a 21- cent float. And as long as that float is out there, it is money that can be used by the Federal Government and is money on which the Federal Government does not have to pay interest. In that sense, that money is able to be used without having to borrow other money. The reality of this program is that all these coins are being collected. So it is almost a permanent matter of 21-cent conversion, so, as a result, the Treasury has benefited and will continue to benefit. We talked about a billion dollars with these six new coins. That is probably a correct estimate over some period of time. That is the economics of this, in addition to the education aspects of it, and another reason why this has been a program which has been so greatly successful.

Mr. CASTLE. Mr. Speaker, I move to suspend the rules and pass the bill (H.R. 4005) to provide for a circulating quarter dollar coin program to commemorate the District of Columbia, the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico, Guam, American Samoa, the United States Virgin Islands, and the Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands, and for other purposes.

Mr. CASTLE. Mr. Speaker, I ask unanimous consent that all Members may have 5 legislative days within which to revise and extend their remarks and to insert extraneous material on H.R. 4005.

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

Mr. CASTLE. Mr. Speaker, I yield myself the remainder of my time. I thank the gentlewoman for her kind comments, and hopefully we can speed this through the Senate as well.

Mr. CASTLE. Mr. Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may consume. Mr. Speaker, I rise in support of H.R. 4005, the District of Columbia and United States Territories Circulating Quarter Dollar Program Act sponsored by the gentleman from New York (Mr. King). As Members are aware, the 50-State quarter program that began in 1999 has been a truly successful effort. I had the privilege of serving as the Chairman of the then-Domestic and International Monetary Policy Subcommittee at the time the 50-State Quarter bill was signed into law. The program calls for the production over 10 years of quarter dollar coins with the reverse, or back, of the coins depicting scenes representing each of the 50 States. Five are produced each year. That program has been wildly successful. It is not uncommon for people to stop and examine the change in their pocket before making a transaction, perhaps saving a new quarter out of a pocketful. The result has been as much as a five-fold increase in the demand for quarters. But the bottom line is that every time someone looks at the back of a quarter, they learn something about the State represented. At the time the bill was moving through Congress, not everyone was convinced that it would be a great success. This skepticism kept us from including the District of Columbia, Puerto Rico and the territories in the program. Because the program has been a wild success, it is appropriate for us to create a sister program for the District of Columbia, Puerto Rico and the territories. The District of Columbia, Puerto Rico and the territories are not States, but they are certainly part of the United States' history. In the case of the territories, particularly, I know we could all stand to learn a little more about them. Therefore, I think it is self-evident that this program is a good idea. It creates an entirely separate program from the State quarters program, so there is no confusion that inclusion somehow confers statehood. The gentlewoman from the District of Columbia (Ms. Norton) may have different thoughts about that, but that is the way it had to be done. The program would run for 1 year when the other program finished, issuing all six quarters in that year, 2009. And if the history of the State quarters program is any guide, the D.C. and territories' quarters taken out of circulation permanently by collectors would total as much as $1 billion which would accrue to the U.S. Treasury in the form of money deposited into the general fund. Mr. Speaker, this is a good program. It is identical to H.R. 5010, sponsored in the 106th Congress by the gentleman from Alabama (Mr. Bachus) and passed by the House 377-6 after a convincing hearing in the Committee on Banking and Finance. It is educational, and it would raise a little money for the general fund as well. It deserves the support of all Members. I urge its immediate passage. Mr. Speaker, I reserve the balance of my time.

Mr. CASTLE

Mr. CASTLE. Mr. Speaker, I rise today to acknowledge some of the improvements that have been made to H.R. 556 since it was reported out of the House Financial Services Committee earlier this year. I also want to express my continued concerns about some remaining problems with the bill that I hope will be resolved as this bill moves through the Senate and is ultimately reconciled with the House language. There is no doubt that illegal internet gambling is a serious issue that merits effective solutions. Today, it is much too easy for children to use their parents' credit cards to gamble on the internet creating financial burdens for the family. My concerns about this legislation should not be interpreted by anyone to mean I have a diminished concern for the seriousness of this problem. To the contrary, I want Congress to enact solutions that are truly effective and that will not exacerbate the problem. My first concern is that this legislation will fracture the unity so essential to regulating the financial services industry. Provisions in this bill that grant the US Attorney General and State Attorney Generals the authority to seek injunctions from the courts against financial institutions that may be having their payment systems manipulated to transact illegal internet gambling will result in 50 different rules for what is necessary for a financial institution to comply with this law. This lack of uniformity will create a disruptive and confusing patchwork of rules that will take resources away from what is needed to solve this problem. Instead, I believe this bill should strike the injunctive section and retain the section that allows the banking regulators to establish regulations for the types of quality control systems financial institutions should have in place to guard against internet gambling. This regulatory section was a vast improvement to the bill reported out of the House Financial Services Committee earlier this year. According to a recent interim study by the independent U.S. Government Accounting Office (GAO), currently, financial institutions are estimated to be stopping eighty percent of internet gambling transactions using their current internal policies against internet gambling. Banking regulators would have the ability to gather information about which policies are the most effective and promulgate rules for the industry to further increase the success rate of blocking illegal internet gambling transactions. This type of regulatory expertise will not be available to 50 different state judges who have full court dockets and will not likely have the time to fashion an effective and efficient injunctive remedy. My second concern is that this legislation may exacerbate the extent to which internet gambling is used as a money laundering tool. The interim GAO study reported that using credit cards for money laundering transactions carried high risks for criminals due to the record-keeping in these transactions and the transaction limits on these cards. Unfortunately, e-cash transactions do not present these same risks so this bill could serve as a roadmap for criminals to money launder through e-cash. Mr. Speaker, as the 107th Congress draws to a close, this legislation is unlikely to be considered by the Senate in time to reach consensus and be delivered to the President for signature. Therefore, should the House consider this legislation again in the next Congress, my hope is that the bill supporters will be open to changes. The GAO is scheduled to complete its report on this issue in November 2002. I am hopeful that its final report will provide some direction to Congress on a better way to address the serious problem of internet gambling.

Mr. CASTLE

Mr. CASTLE. Madam Speaker, I move to suspend the rules and agree to the concurrent resolution (H. Con. Res. 484) expressing the sense of the Congress regarding personal safety for children, and for other purposes.

Mr. CASTLE. Madam Speaker, I yield myself 30 seconds just to thank the gentleman from Texas (Mr. Lampson) for all the work he has done. They say nice things about the rest of us in terms of what we have done, but he has spearheaded the movement to help in this area of safety of children and deserves a tremendous amount of credit for that. I just wanted to make sure that was understood. Madam Speaker, I yield such time as he may consume to the distinguished gentleman from Pennsylvania (Mr. Gekas).