John Culberson

Mr. CULBERSON

Mr. CULBERSON. Reclaiming my time, this language was worked out with the assistance and cooperation of Metro. I urge my colleagues to vote ``no'' against the amendment to guarantee Houston voters the right to approve this plan.

Mr. CULBERSON. Mr. Chairman, I move to strike the requisite number of words. Mr. Chairman, I would like to speak in favor of the language in the bill and against the amendment. I point out to the Members that the Inspector General for the Department of Transportation, Kenneth Mead, testified to our Subcommittee on Transportation, Treasury and Independent Agencies appropriations that the highway trust fund has shown a decline in revenues of about $18 billion less this year than projections that were made originally in April of 2001, and as a result of the declining revenue coming into the highway trust fund that highway and transit programs will see continuing constraints on their ability to improve mobility, safety, and economic growth unless taxes are raised, a greater portion of the financing burden is shared by State and local governments, or greater reliance is placed upon the general fund to supplement highway trust fund receipts. I strongly support the gentleman from Oklahoma's (Chairman Istook) language in this bill because this simply allows Texans to run Texas. Governor George W. Bush, when he ran for Governor originally, I had the privilege of serving longer under Governor Bush than any other Governor I served under in the 14 years I served in the Texas legislature, and Governor Bush was elected Governor of Texas to let Texans run Texas. The language in the bill simply allows each State to choose on their own how to spend that revenue. The Nation today faces an ever-growing national debt that has now exceeded $7 trillion, which is absolutely inexcusable. We must pay it off. We face a growing national Federal deficit that we must balance. We simply must balance our Federal budget. I strongly support the gentleman from Oklahoma's (Chairman Istook) constitutional amendment to require a balanced budget. In light of our deficits at the State and local level, in light of deficits at the Federal level, in light of a declining highway trust fund, I think it is only prudent to give the States the option to choose how they will spend this 10 percent of these highway trust funds on hike and bike trails, as they may choose to do in the State of Oregon; or some other State may choose to decide to take some of that 10 percent and invest more of it into any other type of transportation project that they believe will help move people and reduce travel time and reduce congestion. The bottom line is, I think, Mr. Chairman, this language that is in the bill will allow every State to make those decisions on their own through their State legislatures, through their State highway commissions. I think that the genius of our system of government is that it is built around the concept of letting each State make local decisions on their own, and this language in the bill does that. I strongly urge Members to vote against the amendment and support the gentleman from Oklahoma (Chairman Istook) in voting ``no'' on the amendment and allowing Texans to run Texas and each State to make these decisions on their own.

Mr. CULBERSON. If I could, reclaiming my time, this is not the place to debate the merits of this plan. Would the gentlewoman debate me in Houston on the merits of this plan?

Mr. CULBERSON

Mr. CULBERSON. Mr. Speaker, I pay tribute today to an outstanding representative from the State of Texas, Rodney C. Lester, PhD, CRNA. Dr. Lester will soon complete his year as national president of the American Association of Nurse Anesthetists (AANA). I am very pleased that one of Texas's own was tapped as the 2002-2003 president of this prestigious national organization. Founded in 1931, the AANA is the professional organization that represents more than 30,000 practicing Certified Registered Nurse Anesthetists (CRNAs). CRNAs administer more than 65 percent of the anesthetics given to patients each year in the United States. They provide anesthesia for all types of surgical cases and are the sole anesthesia provider in two-thirds of all rural hospitals, providing these medical facilities with obstetrical, surgical, and trauma stabilization capabilities. They work in every setting in which anesthesia is delivered including hospital surgical suites, obstetrical delivery rooms, ambulatory surgical centers, and the offices of dentists, podiatrists, and plastic surgeons. Dr. Lester received his PhD in health education from Texas A&M University in College Station, Texas; his master's of science in nursing from the University of Tennessee, Memphis, Tennessee; and his master's in business administration from Drury College Breech School of Business, Springfield, Missouri. He is currently the Nurse Anesthesia Division director and associate professor of clinical nursing at the University of Texas Health Science Center-Houston, School of Nursing. He also serves as a member on the Admissions, Progression and Graduation Committee at the school. Previously, he was the director for the University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center, Department of Anesthesiology and Critical Care in Houston, Texas. Dr. Lester has served terms as president and vice president for the Texas Association of Nurse Anesthetists. Adding to his professional accomplishments, Dr. Lester has become nationally recognized in both publishing and speaking on anesthesia-related topics over the years. In addition to his service to the AANA, Dr. Lester served his country in the United States Army as an officer and certified registered nurse anesthetist. He recently retired from the Army after 5 years active duty and 24 years as a reservist. Mr. Speaker, I ask my colleagues to join me today in recognizing Dr. Rodney Lester, PhD, CRNA, for his notable career and outstanding achievements.

Mr. CULBERSON

Mr. CULBERSON. Mr. Speaker, with some personal experience, having served 14 years in the Texas Legislature, and having many friends who serve in the Texas House, and having just been elected in the 2000 election, I felt compelled to come to the floor and offer some personal perspective on the, I think, highly improper and blatant partisan attacks that the Democrats are making that have absolutely nothing to do with homeland security. The Inspector General has already made a report on whatever allegations the Democrats are making. The Inspector General has already determined that everything that was done was properly done. The majority leader's office has said repeatedly, and this is confirmed by the Inspector General's report, that there was no contact between the majority leader's office and the Department of Homeland Security. This is an irrelevant distraction from the core important work that this Congress and the Nation must do in protecting our borders, in preventing people from coming across the border who might pose a threat to the security of this Nation. The Democrats in Texas who walked off the job in the regular session of the legislature did so in a way that the public in Texas, the people of Texas recognized was improper; that it was wrong for them to walk off. And in fact it is incredible to me that the Democrats who walked off the job did so in a way that completely defied the majority will of the people of Texas. Since Reconstruction, since 1876, the Democrats have controlled the State of Texas. We just elected a new Republican majority to the Texas House. The Texas Senate is now Republican. Our Governor is Republican. The Federal courts have controlled our prisons for up to 25 years. I led the effort to regain control over our Texas prison system from Federal Judge William Wayne Justice. Our State courts control our school finance system. Federal courts control our mental health hospitals in Texas. And it is entirely proper, in fact it is essential under our constitutional republican form of government that the people control their institutions, that the people control the way their congressional districts are drawn, and a majority of the people of Texas elected a Republican Legislature to pass Republican legislation. Now, I can attest, as the Republican whip in the Texas House, that I still have tread marks on my back from being run over every day by Ann Richards and Speaker Pete Laney. I always got right back up and dove into the fighting, fighting the tax increases the Democrats passed repeatedly in Texas, fighting Ann Richards and the Democrats' creation of the first income tax on businesses in Texas. I got right back up after they passed those new tax increases, and I did not give up and walk out. It is a part of the process that you make your best argument in the legislative body, and if you lose, that is majority rule. I think it is also very instructive that the Democrats chose to walk out to protect their own political hides. They did not walk out to protect some minority group or some special interest group they are so fond of. They walked out to protect their own political hide. It is very revealing for the people of the United States to see that the Democrats choose to pick up this kind of dust, to make this sort of distraction, to walk out and shut down the entire legislative process to protect their own political power, to protect their own political hides rather than to go and walk out or make this big statement in defense of some group or some budget cut that they might have disagreed with. I think it is entirely appropriate that the Inspector General's report has shown that everything that was done was done so properly. And also, the Speaker of the House has authority in Texas, as the Speaker does here, to place a call in the House and use the law enforcement authority at his disposal to find members, to locate them and bring them back on the job. This House Chamber has been locked down before to keep Members in the Chamber so they would do their job, and it has been done several times in Texas. In fact, while I was there, the Democrats did walk out once in protest over failure of the legislature to create a pre-kindergarten program, I think in 1991. But again, here they walked out to protect their own political skins. I urge the House to vote against this amendment.

Mr. CULBERSON

Mr. CULBERSON. Mr. Speaker, I have joined the Congress after serving 14 years in the Texas House of Representatives, and in every one of those years the State of Texas operated under a Federal court order controlling our prison system. We have operated under Federal court orders controlling our mental health hospitals. We have operated under State court orders controlling our school finance system; and as a committed Jeffersonian, I fought strenuously to be sure that the people of Texas through their elected representatives would control our prisons, our mental health hospitals, and, above all, our school finance system which our legislature will deal with in a special session later this area. One week from today, the Texas legislature will meet again in a special session to exercise the will of the people of Texas to control the way our congressional districts are drawn. That special session that will begin in 1 week has been the subject of much attention nationally in the preceding weeks; and of all the different analyses that I have seen done, the most eloquent, the most insightful analysis of what is taking place in the State of Texas in congressional redistricting was written by a young woman, Laura Childers, who expressed her opinion on the pages of the Houston Chronicle on May 15 of 2003. I would like to share her words with the Nation and with the Congress. Laura Childers wrote: ``I am not a Republican, and I am not a Democrat. I am a naive 17-year-old girl who has yet to cast her first vote. Maybe looking to the actions of my elders shall help to coach me in the manner that a ballot should be cast. This should be particularly useful in the presidential elections in November, upon which I, along with millions of my fellow young comrades, will have reached the powerful age of 18. So far I've learned a lot. ``It appears that the distinction of party and not of morality is what is supposed to define a politician in American legislatures today; am I correct? Take the recent Democrat walkout from the Texas House of Representatives. What I gather from this incident is that it does not necessarily matter to the defending exiles that Texas citizens voted the Republican majority into office for the explicit reason of passing Republican legislation. In fact, I've heard statements from Democrats and their supporters that going against the American public's will is a very patriotic thing to do. This leads me to believe that the old, apparently outdated, reasons for government institutions no longer stand. The hopes and dreams of Presidents George Washington and Abraham Lincoln for a voice in the government for every American, regardless of position or belief, have been shattered. ``The creation of the democratic experiment of the United States of America was designed to see if it was possible for men to rule themselves. For the first time in modern history, there existed a haven where there were no dictators, no kaisers, no kings and no queens. There were the people, the voters, the common man. The people were to rule themselves by imposing a type of controlled majority rule in the place of a tiny group of monarchial individuals. Representatives were to be elected by popular vote with the mission to represent and act upon the beliefs and wishes of their electors. Political parties naturally formed between groups of representatives who symbolized common wishes of their voters. In order to further promote these wishes, political parties unified with one another. The legislation proposed by the parties was made in the interest of the voter and was overturned or affirmed depending on the will of the majority. Thus bills were passed by population representatives in an effort to advocate for the bulk of all those represented. ``When people impede this delicate process, they encumber the right of every American voter to fair representation. By not allowing a majority rule but forcing a type of minority monarchy, the great voice of the American public has been silenced to a sickly whisper. In the place of a free democracy with freedom for all and dishonesty toward none, a type of legal party regime has been set up, and the rights of American individuals have vanished. If one party is allowed to manipulate government institutions on any level, State or national, as the group of Democrat representatives in leisure at an Oklahoma resort have, our rights as Americans have been breached. We have been denied the Government power granted to us upon the signing of our Constitution. ``If this is the way that the tumultuous ship of today's Government, the institutions of 2003, is intended to be steered, then this is not the America that I had thought it was, been taught it was and hoped it was. ``If the America I'd dreamed of and prayed for does not, in fact, exist and Thomas Jefferson's `boisterous sea of liberty' has long since dried to a shadowy pit of political regimes and power-hungry abusers of our Mother Freedom, then I will fight for the hopes of Washington and I will battle for the lessons of Lincoln. If America is to be true to herself, if man still be just, then let our Lady Liberty's voice be heard to mend this crack entrenching on our precious, sacred, irreplaceable bell of liberty, our vote.'' I am proud to say that Laura Childers is a constituent. She is a junior at Memorial High School in congressional district seven that I am so proud to represent, and I believe Laura Childers understands precisely what the American Constitution is about, what majority rule means, and what it means that the people of Texas have for the first time since 1876 voted in a new Republican majority in the Texas legislature, and Laura understands that it is the people of Texas and not the courts who should draw congressional districts.

Mr. CULBERSON

Mr. CULBERSON. Mr. Speaker, I had the privilege of serving 14 years in the Texas House; and the Texas prisons were under the control of the Federal courts, the public school system there is under the control of the State courts, the mental health system is under the control of the courts. We have advocated in Texas control over too many functions of government to the courts. As a Member of the legislature, I fought tenaciously to regain control over those institutions. This redistricting discussion is one that the legislature is constitutionally obligated to do. The legislature has held hearings, as they are supposed to do. Anyone with an idea on how to change boundaries can submit those suggestions to the legislature. For the Texas State legislators to have shut down the entire legislative process really shows utter desperation. Frankly, they have resorted to the political equivalent of suicide bombing and blowing up the entire legislative process rather than debating, as they should, on the floor. I got out and voted in the 14 years I was there regularly, fighting an income tax the Democrats created. I was beat and defeated on that vote. Republicans were defeated on many, many votes throughout the years. We never walked out. We never left. They have a duty to do their job. They ought to be back in Austin taking care of the people's business.

Mr. CULBERSON

Mr. CULBERSON. Mr. Chairman, I move to strike the last word. Mr. Chairman, I think the best evidence of the President's success in winning this war against terrorism is the silence outside, the absence of any attack on our homeland since September 11, when terrorists used 737s as fuel air bombs and flew them into buildings, two in New York and one here. I think it is proof of the President's good judgment, the fact that we can trust this good man; that he has so successfully fought this war against terrorism, war on terrorism that he has prevented any further attacks in the United States. With the knowledge that he has of the scope of the threat and where it lies around the world, the President of the United States made the measured judgment to go after the dictator in Iraq, not only to enforce the sanctions that the United Nations imposed, not only to free the Iraqi people from this terrible, brutal dictator; but, most importantly, Mr. Chairman, the President of the United States of America is fighting this war to protect Americans here at home. This war is being fought and will be won to free the Iraqi people, enforce the U.N. sanctions; but most of all, and I cannot stress this enough, the President is fighting this war to protect our constituents, to protect our families, to protect Americans in their neighborhoods from further terrorist attacks. So when the French, Germans, Russians, Chinese, and Syrians stood up and actively opposed American intervention, British intervention in Iraq, the French were, in essence, endangering our own homeland, endangering our constituents and our families. It is absolutely unacceptable that the French, the Germans, the Russians, the Chinese, and the Syrians who have opposed the United States' efforts to protect ourselves against terrorist attacks should be allowed to profit from the reconstruction of Iraq. I am proud to be a cosponsor of this amendment with the gentleman from Minnesota (Mr. Kennedy) and the gentleman from Washington (Mr. Nethercutt) to make sure that, as the guardians of the Federal Treasury, that the Congress of the United States will not permit any Federal tax dollars to be used to purchase goods or services from any company or any business from France, Germany, China, Syria, or Russia, because those countries actively engaged in preventing United States from protecting ourselves, freeing the Iraqi people, and enforcing the U.N. resolution. I am proud to be a cosponsor of this resolution and urge all Members to vote for it.

Mr. CULBERSON

Mr. CULBERSON. Madam Speaker, the book of Proverbs teaches that the greatest profession, the most valuable profession on Earth, is our good name, and by that measure, Sam Johnson is one of the wealthiest men in America. It has been my privilege to serve with Sam in the Texas house, to sit next to him on the floor there, and my great privilege to serve with him here; and I have seen firsthand Sam's devotion to duty, to his country, to honor, to his core principles. Sam Johnson does not take polls to help him decide how to vote. He has been a mentor to me, to all of us who serve with him. We love him and admire him, and we are immensely grateful to him for his service to this Nation, and it truly is one of the great privileges of my life that I have had the privilege to be here with him, to serve with him; and I salute him and thank him so much for his service to this country.

Mr. CULBERSON

Mr. CULBERSON. Mr. Speaker, on Sunday, February 2, 2003, Interfaith CarePartners will celebrate the unprecedented milestone of one million hours of volunteer community service. On behalf of the people of Texas' Congressional District Seven, I want to congratulate and honor Interfaith CarePartners for their incredible accomplishment and for their remarkable service to our community. Interfaith CarePartners, founded in 1985, has evolved into a national movement of faith-based volunteerism that promotes, sponsors, and conducts volunteer caregiving and associated activities in partnership with churches and synagogues. They are ``Houston's caregiver,'' sponsoring the nation's original and largest faith-based caregiving program with 1,600 volunteers in 83 congregations who serve approximately 1,000 families per year, and providing 60,000 hours of volunteer service for frail adults and children. Volunteers also provide in-home care and caregiver respites to more than 3,600 Alzheimer's and dementia-affected families, frail elderly, and other chronically or terminally ill adults, severely impaired children, and people with AIDS. Partner congregations span the theological spectrum within Protestantism, Roman Catholicism, and Judaism. Interfaith CarePartners has earned the gratitude of all the families they have helped and the admiration of everyone who knows their work and the depth of their selfless devotion to improve the lives of their neighbors. Today, we honor and thank Interfaith CarePartners for their extraordinary achievement in reaching one million hours of volunteer community service. I would like also to congratulate Nancy Reagan, Dr. John McGovern, and Chip Carlisle and Wells Fargo for receiving the Sustaining Presence Award, an annual award presented to distinguished individuals and organizations whose commitments and activities constitute an exemplary contribution to the creation of caring communities. All of you exemplify the best of America.

Mr. CULBERSON

Mr. CULBERSON. Mr. Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may consume. I urge support for this important legislation by the Members of the House. It is noncontroversial and simply technical corrections.

Mr. CULBERSON. Mr. Speaker, I move to suspend the rules and pass the bill (H.R. 5599) to apply guidelines for the determination of per-pupil expenditure requirements for heavily impacted local educational agencies, and for other purposes.

Mr. CULBERSON. Mr. Speaker, I ask unanimous consent that all Members may have 5 legislative days in which to revise and extend their remarks on H.R. 5599.

Mr. CULBERSON. Mr. Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may consume. Mr. Speaker, it is my privilege today to rise in support of H.R. 5599, which is a noncontroversial and very straightforward piece of legislation to make technical amendments to the Impact Aid program. I want to thank the gentleman from South Dakota (Mr. Thune) for sponsoring this legislation and for his diligence in bringing this bill before the House today. This legislation makes three technical and, as I say, very noncontroversial corrections to the Education Code. First, the bill will correct a drafting error that occurred during the reauthorization of the Impact Aid program. This technical correction will allow the Department of Education to continue to use their current methodology in interpreting regulations, the process by which they determine which small school districts qualify for heavily impacted status. Secondly, the bill will allow the Bonesteel-Fairfax School District in South Dakota to continue to remain eligible to receive Impact Aid funding for 1 year, to allow them to resolve a financing issue at the local level that would otherwise have a significant impact on their budget. Districts such as this one have a great deal of federally or nonprivately owned property. Therefore, this Impact Aid funding is essential for them to continue to operate at funding levels that they have already budgeted for. So this is a very, very important correction that is vitally necessary. Finally, Mr. Speaker, this legislation requires the Department of Education to accept as timely filed a late application from a school district in Oklahoma that will allow them to continue to receive their Impact Aid funding on time. This legislation is very simple and straightforward, Mr. Speaker. It is a technical bill that contains technical corrections to the Education Code. We on the Committee on Education and the Workforce wanted to be certain that any errors that occurred during the drafting process were corrected and any school district that might suffer as a result of changes or potential misinterpretation of the Impact Aid formulas would be corrected by this legislation. I again want to thank the gentleman from South Dakota for offering this legislation, and I want to urge my colleagues in the House to support it. Mr. Speaker, I reserve the balance of my time.

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

Mr. CULBERSON

Mr. CULBERSON. Mr. Speaker, I rise today in strong support of our President and this resolution that will authorize him to use the United States Armed Forces to confront the threat posed by Iraqi dictator Saddam Hussein. I believe that this is a vote about trust. As many of my colleagues have stated, the Constitution of the United States grants Congress the power to declare war, and designate the President as the Commander in Chief. I trust President Bush and his Administration to make the right decisions with our armed forces. He has shown that he is a thoughtful and deliberate wartime president, and Congress should give him the authority to continue performing his duty on behalf of all Americans. This vote is our expression of trust in the President, and I hope that all Americans will express their trust in the President when they go to vote in November. Mr. Speaker, this resolution gives the President the necessary flexibility to confront the threat posed by Saddam Hussein through diplomatic or military means. I will support any diplomatic efforts taken by the Administration, but I am convinced that military action will be necessary in the end. In the past, Saddam Hussein and his regime have only responded to military force, and this resolution will guarantee that option to the United States. Mr. Speaker, we must not wait until Saddam Hussein or terrorists that he has supported have the capability to attack the United States with weapons of mass destruction. Today, with this vote, Congress will give the President the discretion and the freedom to act whenever he thinks it is necessary to protect all Americans. At this critical point in history, inaction is not an option. We must destroy the capability of this evil dictator to hold his own people and the people of the world hostage. He must be stopped, and he must be stopped now. I would encourage all of my colleagues to join me in voting for his historic resolution. The safety of the United States hands in the balance.

Mr. CULBERSON

Mr. CULBERSON. Mr. Speaker, I ask unanimous consent to dispense with the call of the Private Calendar.

Mr. CULBERSON

Mr. CULBERSON. Mr. Speaker, I thank the gentleman for yielding me this time on this important debate that I am hopeful there are many people out there watching tonight. I am pleased to join with the gentleman from Mississippi (Mr. Taylor) and with my colleague, the gentleman from Texas (Mr. Sessions), in supporting this constitutional amendment which tracks the language that has been adopted in many State constitutions across the country. I am pleased to hear the gentleman from Mississippi (Mr. Taylor) say that he will support this amendment to the United States Constitution tonight, limiting the ability of the United States Congress to raise taxes, because it is all too easy to raise spending here. I think it is important to remember what the gentleman from Arizona (Mr. Flake) said is occurring today in the State of Arizona. Because Arizona has a tax limitation amendment that requires a supermajority before taxes can be raised, the State of Arizona is going through precisely the debate that the gentleman from Mississippi (Mr. Taylor) so correctly points out that we ought to be engaged in here is how do we control spending. Arizona is first asking, what can we do as a legislature to control spending before we go to raise taxes, because Arizona has a two-thirds supermajority requirement before taxes can be raised. Mississippi has a three-fifths supermajority requirement before they can raise taxes. The State of Arkansas has a three-fourths requirement. California requires a two-thirds supermajority; Colorado, a two-thirds supermajority; Delaware, a three-fifths supermajority; Florida, a three-fifths supermajority. Louisiana, Missouri, Montana, Nevada, Oklahoma, Oregon, South Dakota, Washington, all of these States have supermajority requirements in their State constitutions to control tax increases because the power to tax is the power to destroy. The founders, the authors of those State constitutions recognized that it is important to force the debate in those legislative bodies to focus on controlling spending first and to limit the ability of those legislatures to increase taxes. This would be an extraordinarily healthy thing for the United States Congress to have this requirement in the U.S. Constitution to force us all to think carefully before we raise spending and, above all, to make it more difficult for us to take more money out of the American taxpayers' pockets. Mr. Speaker, I am proud to join the gentleman from Texas (Mr. Sessions) in coauthoring this important legislation.

Mr. CULBERSON

Mr. CULBERSON. Mr. Speaker, the Members of this Congress have many reasons to support this legislation, and again I believe it illustrates a fundamental difference between the Republican and Democrat philosophy. We trust people to manage their own money and their lives with intelligence. Nearly 42 million Americans have saved about $1.7 trillion in 401(k) plans, and under current law those people must either hire their own investment advisor, rely on an employer-sponsored advisor, or make investment decisions on their own; whereas this legislation, the Retirement Security Advice Act, will give workers access to professional investment advice from the administrators of their own plan for the first time, as long as those advisors make a full disclosure concerning any potential conflict. The bill also protects employees by holding the financial advisor, not the employer, personally liable and subject to other criminal penalties if they act on behalf of any interest other than that of the investment portfolio or those who contribute to it. Finally, Mr. Speaker, the best part of this legislation is that it is completely voluntary. The bill strengthens retirement security and gives workers access to expert investment advice when they need it. I urge my colleagues to join me in supporting it.

Mr. CULBERSON

Mr. CULBERSON. Mr. Speaker, I move that the House do now adjourn.

Mr. CULBERSON

Mr. CULBERSON. Mr. Speaker, the House is meeting today to lend 110 percent support to our Commander-in-Chief, President George W. Bush. Every Member of Congress is completely unified in our support for President Bush to do whatever is necessary to rescue the wounded and attend to the victims and their families, and to identify those responsible for this atrocity, hunt them down, and bring them to justice. These attacks are an act of war against the people of the United States. We will eradicate these terrorists wherever they may be and punish anyone who harbored them, anyone who gave them a nickel, and anyone who gave them comfort and aid. Members of Congress are furious and outraged, but we will be thoughtful and deliberative in our response. Above all, we will support our Commander-in-Chief. As Congress and our President decide how America should respond, we must be sure to remember Benjamin Franklin's warning that those who ``give up essential liberty to obtain a little temporary safety deserve neither liberty nor safety.''

Mr. CULBERSON

Mr. CULBERSON. Mr. Speaker, the House is meeting today to lend 110 percent support to our Commander-in-Chief, President George W. Bush. Every Member of Congress is completely unified in our support for President Bush to do whatever is necessary to rescue the wounded and attend to the victims and their families, and to identify those responsible for this atrocity, hunt them down, and bring them to justice. These attacks are an act of war against the people of the United States. We will eradicate these terrorists wherever they may be and punish anyone who harbored them, anyone who gave them a nickel, and anyone who gave them comfort and aid. Members of Congress are furious and outraged, but we will be thoughtful and deliberative in our response. Above all, we will support our Commander-in-Chief. As Congress and our President decide how America should respond, we must be sure to remember Benjamin Franklin's warning that those who ``give up essential liberty to obtain a little temporary safety deserve neither liberty nor safety.''

Mr. CULBERSON

Mr. CULBERSON. Mr. Chairman, I rise in very strong support of the Norwood amendment, because I am completely committed to protecting the 10th amendment right of the States to enact a Patients' Bill of Rights. I came here on January 3 after serving 14 years in the Texas house. I am a coauthor of the Texas patients' bill of rights. I served longer under Governor Bush than any other governor. I helped carry all of his tort reforms in 1995. I helped pass this patients' bill of rights in Texas in 1997. So I know firsthand that this legislation the gentleman has drafted does not preempt the Texas patients' bill of rights, as has been stated. This bill protects the rights of States to regulate health care and to pass medical malpractice laws. Mr. Chairman, I know that George W. Bush is a man of honor, integrity, and a man of his word; and he and the gentleman from Georgia (Mr. Norwood) have both given us their word that if there is any doubt that this bill would in any way preempt or restrict the rights of the States to regulate health care or protect patients' rights, they will fix it in conference. I believe the language they have now protects the rights of States. I strongly support the amendment, and I urge Members who believe in the rights of States to protect the rights of patients at the State level to support this legislation.

Mr. CULBERSON

Mr. CULBERSON. If I could reclaim my time and in response say that the Metro has indicated they are willing to have an election, but we have not seen the election occur yet. Metro moved forward very rapidly to build this rail plan from downtown Houston out to the Astrodome without asking for voter approval. They could have asked for voter approval, a simple referendum had they chosen to but did not. There are also other mechanisms to allow for a vote and they chose not to do so. The cost of the rail plan coupled with the immense amount of subsidy that is going to be required, when you compare the cost of rail systems in other cities, the cost per rider to taxpayers is about $3,000 a year, the subsidized cost per taxpayer in Los Angeles for each rider is about 9,000 tax dollars a year and in Dallas about $4,000. The geography, the growth patterns, the work patterns in the city of Houston are such that I am not sure that we could support it. In fact every town hall meeting I have held and where I have asked questions on this issue to my constituents, the overwhelming response of my constituents is that almost all of them need their cars in order to get to work. Because of the unique nature of our city, because of where the job centers, the economic centers of Houston are spread out around the metropolitan area, the bottom line is there must be an election and I strongly support the gentleman from Texas (Mr. DeLay) in his call for an election before any transportation dollars are spent on the construction of a rail system in Houston. I urge Members to vote against the amendment so that there can be a vote in the city of Houston.

Mr. CULBERSON

Mr. CULBERSON. Mr. Speaker, the physical boundaries of the district I represent in west Houston, district seven, we were very, very blessed and fortunate to have escaped the flooding, in large part. We had a few very small isolated pockets of flooding, but the businesses of many of the people I represent were affected; and the entire city, of course, suffered a devastating blow as a result of the flood. I was extraordinarily impressed to have seen firsthand the work of the emergency rescue personnel who were staging their operation out of my district in west Houston, out of Tully. The weekend the flooding began, I spent time there at the headquarters where the search and rescue teams were coordinating their efforts, bringing in resources from all over the State of Texas. The Colorado River Authority contributed personnel and equipment; the San Antonio Fire Department contributed personnel and equipment. There were resources from every corner of the State there to help the people of Houston; and it was an extraordinarily impressive operation, to see the ability of these rescue personnel to come in right away, right after the flood, to rescue people from their homes to save them from life-threatening situations. It was also instructive for me to see as a new Member of Congress that there was, immediately after that initial period of rescuing people, a gap in services where the City of Houston, the county was unable in many cases to actually get in to some of these neighborhoods that were so devastated to help people clean up their property, take care of the day-to-day essentials of living, which had all been brought to a screeching halt. What particularly impressed me is that in that gap, between the time the rescue services came in to pluck people off their roofs and get them to hospitals and the time when the city and the county were able to really come into those neighborhoods and help, that gap, which was largely unfilled by local government, was filled spontaneously and almost immediately by the churches of Houston, by the civic associations, by individual Houstonians stepping forward to help their own neighbors and family members. Therefore, I ask all of my volunteers, all of the people that were gracious enough to help me throughout the last year's election campaign and the people I know throughout west Houston, to contribute their volunteer time, their money and their efforts through their local churches and civic associations, but in particular through their churches, to help relieve the flood victims. I think there is no better example of what President Bush has been talking about; there is no better example of faith-based initiatives than what took place and is taking place today in the City of Houston, with churches like Second Baptist, like our very own memorial drive of the United Methodist Church, which is stepping forward with volunteers and assistance, to help people tear out carpet, to get their homes restructured, rebuilt, their lives restructured where they do not have insurance. That final phase of the recovery that is going on now, which will go on for months to come, is where the Federal Government can really step forward to help. That is why I am proud to be a cosponsor of this resolution. It is a very, very good example of the unity that is so necessary among the members of the Texas delegation, the Houston congressional delegation, and working together, not only through this resolution to say ``thank you'' to all of the rescue personnel, but, more importantly, for us all to work together to find ways to ensure that the people who have lost their homes to fill the gap between what private insurances covered and what is not covered; that the Federal Government is there to help pay for the reconstruction, the relocation of families, and to do whatever is necessary to provide every available Federal dollar to repair the damage done to homes, to the Texas Medical Center, to all that irreplaceable research that was damaged as a result of the flood. The Houston area congressional delegation, the congressional delegation from Texas is unified and focused in doing everything that we can to ensure that the damage is repaired as fast as humanly possible. Mr. Speaker, I want to reassure the people of Houston and the people of Texas that the money will be there to rebuild, to repair, and to, for the long term, plan for and prevent future floods of this type because of the unified and focused approach of the Houston and Texas congressional delegations.