Ed Case

Mr. CASE

Mr. CASE. Mr. Speaker, I rise today as a proud member of the Congressional Asian Pacific American Caucus so ably led by the gentleman from California (Mr. Honda) to join my colleagues in commemorating our Asian Pacific American community at the outset of APA Heritage Month. And I do so with deep respect, great pride, humble appreciation and eager anticipation. Respect, for the great challenges generations of Asians and Pacific Americans have faced in our country and overcome and still face and will overcome. Pride, for the profound role my own Hawaii, has played in the nurturance and maturation of our APA communities throughout our country. Appreciation, for the rich tapestry APAs have woven in the fabric of our national identity. And anticipation, for what certainly lies ahead for our APA communities in writing the next great chapters in the ongoing narrative of this great country. Mr. Speaker, nowhere in our country is the story of Americans of Asian and Pacific Island descent better illustrated than my own Hawaii, where well over 50 percent of our population is Asian and Pacific American, where our Asian and Pacific American community has achieved the pinnacle of success in all facets of local, statewide, national and international life, and where a majority of all marriages and a majority of all children share more now than one ethnicity, more likely than not an ethnicity of the Asian and Pacific Americans. And the story of APAs in Hawaii is a rich and compelling story which acts as a microcosm of the story of our very country. Of course, it started millennia ago when the ancestors of our indigenous peoples, the native Hawaiians, came to Hawaii from their ancestral homelands to the south, joining other indigenous peoples in the U.S. mainland and Alaska in the original settlement of our country. And it continued in the last 200 years with the great migrations from Japan and China. And in the last 100-plus years, with still further great migrations from Korea and the Philippines. And then in the last half century from the Pacific islands such as Samoa, Tonga, Fiji and Guam. And amazingly it continues since to this day, in the last quarter century, from Vietnam and Cambodia and Laos and the other nations of Micronesia, Melanesia and Polynesia. And throughout, of course, many, many other immigrants from other Asian and Pacific countries, India and Pakistan and Sri Lanka and Bangladesh, Thailand and Indonesia and Malaysia and much more. So when we pause to honor the rich and diverse heritage of our APA communities, we honor the capital of the APA world, my Hawaii, a beacon to the world of what can be. Yet what is throughout our country is not where it can and should be, for there remain challenges aplenty. There is always the specter of racism and discrimination. Yes, less than there was, less overt, less on the surface than it has been, but insidious enough and there enough to flare up with very little warning, a specter against which constant vigilance is required. And there are still unique challenges in economic and social advancement for the APA community and unique conditions to be addressed in health care and education and other areas. And there are still goals of fundamental fairness to be accomplished with many of our APA communities, most notably, in my case, Federal recognition for our native Hawaiians. But while we must remember tonight these challenges and what we must do, we also remember all that is good and great in our APA community. Let me give you just one great example, because we remember tonight that hard on us is the centennial of sustained immigration from the Philippines to our country, the 1906 exodus from the mother country to the sugar plantations of Hawaii, an exodus that accelerated in 1946 and on and now has yielded fully 2.4 million citizens of our country of Philippine descent. Yes, it will be a great year for the Filipino community of celebration, with barrio fiestas and song and dance and remembrances of the pioneers and those who succeeded on their broad shoulders. But in many ways, what we celebrate tonight is the recognition that for the Filipino-American community, the celebration of their centennial will be a celebration in miniature of the Asian and Pacific American experience in our country, for the story of our APA community is the story of our America, from its earliest beginnings to its latest arrivals, a story still unfolding as, for example, is happening right on the floor of this U.S. House of Representatives, with my congressional page appointment, Awapuhi Dancil of Makawa, Maui, a junior at Kamehameha Schools and undoubtedly, no doubt about it, a leader in the making for the APA community and for our country in the future. And so this is a story worth telling over and over again as we do here again tonight. Mahalo and aloha.

Mr. CASE

Mr. CASE. Mr. Speaker, I rise today to extend my deepest congratulations to the incredible students of Kahuku High and Intermediate School for their great achievement in winning 4th place at the national finals of the We the People: The Citizen and the Constitution program, held in Washington, DC from April 30 to May 2, 2005. These outstanding students from my Oahu's North Shore underwent months of intensive study and hard-won victories to earn the right to represent Hawaii in the finals, where they competed against a class from every state in the country and demonstrated a remarkable understanding of the fundamental ideas and values of American constitutional government. This is the second consecutive year in Hawaii's 9-year history at this rigorous competition that Kahuku has competed in the final 10. This is truly a wonderful accomplishment that our whole state is deeply proud of! I want to again commend Kahuku's great teacher, Sandra Cashman, for her unending commitment to her students and for producing new generations of responsible citizens. Commendations are also in order for State Coordinator (and State Representative) Lyla Berg and District Coordinator Carolina Kaanehe for fostering development of what will surely be our leaders of tomorrow. However, ultimately this competition is by and about our outstanding students. So I would like to extend my heartiest congratulations to each and all of them by entering their names for posterity into our Congressional Record: Genevieve Allen, Yesenia Arevalo, Amanda Baize, Bonnie Cameron, Meri Ching, Dannah Christensen, Krystle Corpuz, Oliver Howells, Lorna Kekua, Jokke Kokkonen, Jacquelyn Lautaha, William Law, Catalina Markowitz, Ajri McArthur, Sara Mirels, Brad Rasmussen, Ashley Rillamas, Lizette Sauque, Noelle Spring, Shirly Tagayuna, Joseph Trisolini, and Morgan Wright. You have all done your Hawaii proud, and we wish you only best wishes and aloha in all of your future endeavors.

Mr. CASE

Mr. CASE. Mr. Speaker, I rise today in strong support of H.R. 749, the Expanded Access to Financial Services Act of 2005. I do so as the proud representative of Hawai`i's Second District, in which our nation's credit unions have a long and rich history, and as one of my Hawai`i's 742,000 credit union members. H.R. 749 will allow credit unions to provide expanded services to both members and non-members otherwise eligible for membership. These expanded services include the issuance of travelers' checks and money orders, and electronic funds transfers. Most specifically, this bill, if signed into law, will in part enable many more of our citizens to transfer money overseas to family members and others with greater ease, thereby assisting our personal and financial interests. For it is a fact that our country is facing its highest level of immigration since the Depression era, with over 28.4 million foreign-born individuals residing in the United States. My Hawai`i is no exception. According to the most recent Census Bureau's American Community Survey, Hawai`i, with 17.9 percent, has the fourth-largest percentage of foreign-born residents in the United States. An overwhelming majority of Hawai`i's foreign-born population is from Asia. According to the Susannah Wesley Community Center, a private, nonprofit agency contracted by the State of Hawai`i to provide immigrant services, Hawai`i's largest immigrant population--fifty percent of all incoming immigrants--hails from the Philippines. It is crucial to these populations and others that our financial institutions provide quick, efficient, and economical means by which monies may be transferred to their countries of origin and elsewhere. Unfortunately, our nation's financial infrastructure has been slow to offer such services, especially in the less urbanized and rural parts of our country such as my district where our credit unions have long filled an important community-based financial services function. As a result, there is a growing population of ``unbanked'' individuals, particularly immigrants, and a costly and inefficient money transfer process. The World Council of Credit Unions, along with the Credit Union National Association, offer credit unions a remittance product called the International Remittance Network (IRnet). IRnet is an electronic funds transfer service providing credit union members a safe and inexpensive way to send money overseas and domestically, and provides service to over 40 countries in Latin America, Asia, Africa and Europe, including the Philippines, Mexico, and Australia. IRnet significantly decreases the costs for individuals to transfer funds overseas. Over the past four years, the advent of IRnet and enhanced competition among our financial institutions offering money transfer services has driven down remittance costs for consumers. The average cost today of sending $300 to Mexico is between $13 and $14, or 4-5 percent of the amount sent, compared to the average cost four years ago, which was between $30 and $32, or 10-11 percent. This legislation will expand the range and number of people eligible for the use of IRnet and thereby lower the costs paid by the consumer for these services through increased competition within the marketplace. In the process, it will also encourage a larger number of our newly-arrived citizens and residents to utilize our credit unions and other financial services. H.R. 749 will not harm or otherwise risk our country's financial or monetary security, as IRnet utilizes real-time monitoring of transactions against the Specially Designated Names, SDN, list from the Office of Foreign Asset Control. What this bill will do again is to help more people in our communities with more and better ways to provide for their personal and economic needs and obligations overseas while preserving basic homeland security protections. Mr. Speaker, I commend my colleague from Pennsylvania, Mr. Gerlach, for introducing this bill. I look forward to working with him and our nation's invaluable credit unions to see this measure through into law.

Mr. CASE

Mr. CASE. Mr. Chairman, let me make four quick points on this amendment. First of all, I completely and wholeheartedly support it. Second, the credit for this amendment goes to my colleague and the senior Democrat, the gentleman from Hawaii (Mr. Abercrombie) who I thank. Since I have almost all of the agriculture in my particular district, this shows teamwork. Third, this morning, in Kahalui, Maui, the price of a premium gallon of gas was $2.98 per gallon. Across the street from that gas station, stands one of the most highest yield sugar plantations in the whole world, a sugar plantation that is threatened across the way, threatened across the board. If we can produce ethanol from that sugar plantation, we can kill a bunch of birds with one stone. We can preserve agriculture in this country. This is revolutionary. If we can produce meaningful energy from prickly pears, or whatever you want, from sugar, all power to it; it is going to work for all of us. If we can save the sugar industry by producing energy from the sugar industry, it will be good for us, and it will be good for many of the other issues that we care so much about. I urge adoption of this amendment.

Mr. CASE

Mr. CASE. Mr. Speaker, today marks a most auspicious day for the County of Maui, all of which I am most proud to represent in our Congress. The County of Maui, encompassing the four Islands of Maui, Moloka'i, Lana'i and Kaho'olawe and their roughly 140,000 residents, was created one hundred years ago today. Tonight my colleagues and fellow citizens are gathering in the Maui County Building in Wailuku, onetime home of my greatgrandparents, Daniel and Kathryn Case, to celebrate Proclamation Day and kick off a yearlong celebration of this milestone. As our business here keeps me from that ceremony, I have forwarded some remarks to be read there, and ask that those remarks and my best wishes for Maui County be inserted into the Record. Mahalo! ``Happy Centennial to Maui County!'' Mr. Mayor, colleagues in public service, and fellow citizens, aloha! And Happy Centennial, Maui County! I so deeply appreciate the invitation to be your keynote speaker at this great event honoring the one hundredth anniversary to the day of the proclamation of the four great islands of Maui, Moloka'i, Lana'i and Kaho'olawe as the county of Maui. And I so equally regret that vital votes today in our nation's capitol make it impossible for me to come home in time to be with you personally. But please know that I am very much with you in spirit on this great day, and that I truly look forward to joining you at other events in this centennial celebration year. Of course, the roots of Maui County lie deep, back generations, centuries and millennia before its creation on April 14, 1905. It gave birth, with its sister counties, to the native Hawaiian people after the voyages from the south, and nurtured and sustained our indigenous culture through its refinement and time of greatest peril. In Post-contact times, it fostered the evolution of Hawaii's economy, through whaling and into sugar and pine, and the evolution of Hawaii's peoples, through in-migration from east and west. But it is in the last century that this vital and unique part of our Hawaii has truly come into its own as the county of Maui. From not even 30,000 citizens in 1905, Maui county now is home to around 140,000 of us. From an agriculture- based economy, Maui county pioneered the modern tropical resort at Ka'anapali and later Wailea and Lanai, the modern ecotourism movement, and a growing high-tech industry. From the great struggles and rebirth of Kaho'olawe to the Hawaiian language immersion schools of Moloka'i and Upcountry, Maui County led the modern-day renaissance of the Hawaiian people. And in our modern e-world, Maui County now boasts its own universally recognized brand domain: Maui.gov! Yet the history of Maui County has always been about its people. From the indigenous Hawaiians, through the great waves of immigrants from Japan and Portugal, whose descendants--the Yoshinagas and Yokouchis, the Tavares and Cravalhos, and so many more--have been so intertwined with the county's progress, to the great migration from the Philippines, which commenced one hundred years ago next year, to the mainlanders and Canadians of recent decades who have made this their home, to our most recent citizens, the next generations from Mexico and Laos and the Marshall Islands: Maui County has always been the epitome of our Hawaiian melting pot, the place that could justly claim credit for having produced so many firsts such as Congresswoman Patsy Takemoto Mink and Governor Linda Lingle. And each of us could and can lay claim in some way to our own Maui heritage. Take just two families who lived here one hundred years ago under quite different circumstances. One a Kansan and his wife who moved to Wailuku at the turn of the century--he was the first politician in the family when he ran successfully for Maui County attorney in 1905, then went on to be ``the judge'' for over two decades. And the other an immigrant family from Fukuoka, Japan who moved to Pu'unene, also at the turn of the century, to work in the sugar fields, before moving on a decade later to Kona Mauka on the big island. The first my great-grandparents, Daniel and Kathryn Case and the second my wife, Audrey's grandparents, Sentaro and Shina Hirata. Centennials are about looking back, but they are as much about looking to the future, about tying what has been with what is and what can be. And as we look at where we are and where the road ahead lies, we can see clearly some of the paths and challenges we face, while some are more murky, and others cannot be seen at all. But if and as we honor the past and recognize how we got here, we cannot but have confidence in our future. And for Maui County it always has been about people--about us. About how we treat and care for each other and for those beyond our shores, and about how together we care for our Aina. Maui County's first hundred years have been good because we hewed to the course lit by these principles, and we pause today to say mahalo to all who came before us who deserve credit for guiding us to this point. But we also pause to recommit ourselves to what has made Maui County strong, because success doesn't just happen, and it is now our responsibility to see Maui County's second century off to a good and sustainable start. I am truly proud and humbled to represent the very best of our Hawaii and country in our Congress at this watershed in Maui County's rich history, and again truly appreciate the opportunity to take this part in this great celebration. Happy birthday, Maui County, and best wishes for our new century. Aloha!

Mr. CASE

Mr. CASE. Mr. Speaker, I rise today to provide some good news out of Afghanistan. On December 11, 2004, members of the 2nd Battalion, 5th Infantry Regiment of the United States Army organized and completed an Afghanistan adjunct to the Honolulu Marathon in the Tarin Kowt area of the country. Subsequently, on January 30, 2005, the 25th Infantry Division (Light) Headquarters Company personnel organized the running of Honolulu's Great Aloha Run in-country. Both races were resounding successes. On February 15, 2005, I wrote to the President to ensure that he was aware that these events had occurred. I am including a copy of my letter to follow these remarks. Mr. Speaker, I hope that you and our colleagues are as impressed as me that members of our Armed Forces were able to organize and conduct such multi-faceted events, given the perilous security situation throughout most of the country and these soldiers' many other duties. I urge all other members to join me in lauding these troops for their accomplishments and spirit. Washington, DC, February 15, 2005. The Hon. George W. Bush, President of the United States of America, The White House, Washington, DC Dear Mr. President: This is to ensure your awareness of two recent events in Hawaii and Afghanistan that I am sure you will agree represent the best of our country. As you know, my Hawaii is ideally suited and dedicated to physical fitness. It is also home to a larger component of our country's armed forces, over 10,000 of whom are now serving in Iraq and Afghanistan. Two major events on Hawaii's outdoor calendar are the Honolulu Marathon, reportedly the third largest marathon event worldwide, and the Great Aloha Run, an event attracting thousands of residents and visitors. This year, the organizers of both events teamed with our military to recognize our troops serving overseas, many of whom participate in these and other events when they are home in Hawaii, in organizing and conducting these events in Afghanistan as well. Specifically, on December 11, 2004, Honolulu Marathon day, members of the 2nd Battalion, 5th Infantry Regiment, USA organized and completed the Honolulu Marathon--Afghanistan in the Tarin Kowt area of the country. And on January 30, 2005, Great Aloha Run day, the 25th Infantry Division (Light) Headquarters Company personnel organized the running of the Great Aloha Run--Afghanistan. All 153 participants in the Honolulu Marathon--Afghanistan were treated like every finisher of the Marathon: each received the same medals, certificates and tee-shirts. An official timing system was flown in and the finishing times were placed on the Marathon's website along with all other finishers from the race in Honolulu. I would like to highlight the reaction of the winner of the Marathon, First Lieutenant Mike Baskin; he burst into tears as he remembered his four fellow soldiers who had recently been killed. While only military personnel ran in each race, those who ran in the Great Aloha Run--Afghanistan endured sub-freezing temperatures and, more importantly, raised money for local Afghan charities, including an orphanage in downtown Khowst. Because of its shorter distance, the race was conducted in four separate locations throughout the country, including Bagram Airfield and Forward Operating Base Salerno. I wanted you not only to know of these heartwarming efforts, but also have the opportunity to provide whatever recognition you may wish to the organizers of both events in both Hawaii and Afghanistan and, more important, to our great troops, who demonstrated the finest spirit of our armed services under difficult circumstances. Mahalo nui loa! With Aloha, Ed Case, U.S. Congressman, Hawai`i, Second District.

Mr. CASE

Mr. CASE. Mr. Speaker, I rise today to express my continued disappointment with the proposed budget for the Small Business Administration. The budget request for fiscal year 2006 is $593 million, nearly $100 million below what was requested last year, representing a ten percent decline in program funding. These funding cuts are coming from some of the most important programs within the SBA, including the 7(a) loan program, Disaster Loan Program, and the Program for Investment in Microentrepreneurs (PRIME). Mr. Speaker, I hope that as this House considers the budget resolution, we can remember the important service that the SBA provides to all of our constituents. To remind my colleagues of the importance of the SBA, I have included an article that appeared in the March 16, 2005 edition of the Honolulu Advertiser. Entitled ``SBA Faces Budget Cuts,'' this article highlights several individuals in my home state whose businesses would not have survived without the timely assistance of the SBA. [From the Honolulu Advertiser, Mar. 1, 2005] SBA Faces Budget Cuts (By Catherine E. Toth) If Pablo Gonzalez didn't get $30,000 worth of government- backed loans over the past five years, he would have had to shut down his juice bar. Fortunately, the U.S. Small Business Administration provided guarantees for two loans--one in 2000, another in 2002--that allowed Gonzalez to expand his business. Since then sales at Lanikai Juice Co. have increased nearly 15 percent every year, Gonzalez said. He hopes to open a second location sometime soon. ``As a small business, your chances to survive are more difficult,'' said Gonzalez, who moved to Hawai'i eight years ago from Barcelona, Spain. ``You have to live with higher prices and less profit. . . . If It weren't for SBA, honestly, I don't think I'd still be here.'' Nearly 20 million small businesses nationwide have benefited from technical assistance, loans and grant programs offered by the SBA. Its current business loan portfolio of about 219,000 loans worth more than $45 billion makes it the largest single financial backer of U.S. businesses in the nation. But the agency may find it harder to carry out its mission next year if Congress approves proposed cuts to its fiscal 2006 budget. The proposed budget for SBA is $593 million, a 13 percent decline from the agency's 2005 request and a 36 percent drop over the past five years. More than 50 small-business programs, including those in Hawai'i, are slated for cuts or elimination in the proposed budget, up from 35 last year. Among those slated for elimination are the agency's Microloan program, its startup loan program for low-income entrepreneurs, and the SBIC Participating Securities program, its flagship venture capital program. (As in fiscal 2005, the 7(a) loan guarantee program--the agency's primary business lending program--will not be subsidized. Instead of taxpayer funds, it will be sustained entirely on an increase in fees by lenders and borrowers.) This doesn't bode well for entrepreneurs who can't get conventional loans, especially with the Hawaii Community Loan Fund, a lender of last resort, filing for bankruptcy last month. ``(The Microloan program) is very worthwhile because you're helping people who couldn't get a start,'' said Dr. Tin Myaing Thein, executive director of the Pacific Gateway Center, which administers SBA's microloans. ``This is for people who don't have a chance with the bank, who would have no chance at all to start their own business. We have so many success stories here.'' Abracadabra Cabinets at Campbell Industrial Park fell into a slump after the terrorist attacks of Sept. 11. Owner Joanne Gibeault needed some extra cash to keep her business going. But she couldn't get a loan or a line of credit from her bank. So she turned to SBA. Through the agency's Community Express loan program, which offers microloans to small-business owners, Gibeault got $15,000 last year to pay bills and grow her business. Since then the business has grown nearly 50 percent, she said. Her biggest problem now is finding experienced cabinet- makers to hire. ``We had a hard time recovering after 9/11, like everybody did, but it took a little longer for us to catch up,'' said Gibeault, who lives in Makakilo. ``We struggled for a while. . . . The loan was just enough to get us over and keep the business going.'' Gibeault started her custom cabinet company 10 years ago in Kailua. A journeyman cabinet maker, Gibeault had no experience operating a business. She took classes and attended seminars offered by the Hawai'i Women's Business Center. Funding for these centers also is slated for cuts in the proposed budget. ``I can build stuff,'' Gibeault said. ``But I didn't know how to run a business when I started. These programs are definitely needed.'' As with the Women's Business Centers, funding for the agency's Small Business Development Centers may be cut or, at the least, remain flat, despite a request to increase its funding to $109 million from $88 million the year prior, said SBDC state director Darryl Mleynek. The Hawai'i SBDC receives $500,000 from the federal government and $638,000 from the state annually. That amount hasn't changed for more than five years. This year the Hawai'i SBDC requested another $584,000 in funding from the state to help with growing operating costs. Expenses have increased about 17 percent over the past four years, Mleynek said. ``What we do is extremely important,'' Mleynek said. ``Working with small businesses offers state governments the fastest opportunity for creating sustainable economic development. And the reason is because small businesses are such a large part of our economy and when they get assistance, they increase their sales rapidly, they hire new people, and all of that comes back very quickly.'' While his program competes with others, in particular social programs, for funding from the state, Mleynek is confident that lawmakers will realize the value of investing in small business to the overall health and growth of the economy. And he's hoping for extra money in light of potential cuts to federal funding for the center. ``I believe the Legislature understands the value of putting money into our program, but money these last few years has been very tight,'' Mleynek said. ``To put money into one program and not another, those are very difficult choices. . . . But I'm cautiously optimistic.''

Mr. CASE

Mr. CASE. Mr. Speaker, I wish today to express my unqualified support for House Resolution 55, reprinted below and of which I am a proud cosponsor, recognizing the 100th anniversary of Rotary International, and in doing so to acknowledge the truly inspiring work of generations and millions of Rotarians over the last century. Mr. Speaker, can there be a better example of selfless public service than that of Rotary International? From humble beginnings in Chicago in 1905, the world's first service club now claims 1.2 million Rotarians in some 31,000 Rotary clubs in 166 countries. And it has found a special home in my own great State of Hawaii, with 41 clubs operating in all four counties, from Hanalei Bay to Hilo Bay. The secret of Rotary International's success is that it evokes our innermost desire to give back to our worldwide community, as captured in its motto: Service Above Self. Its now famous Four-Way Test--Is it the truth? Is it fair to all concerned? Will it build goodwill and better friendships? Will it be beneficial to all concerned?--is a lighthouse not only for its own efforts but for those of all of us. One hundred years of individual, community, statewide and countrywide projects have solidified Rotary International's reputation and collectively earned it widespread recognition. But no project better exemplifies the spirit, success and potential of Rotary International than PolioPlus, its partnership with the World Health Organization, United Nations Children's Fund, and Centers for Disease Control and Prevention to eradicate the scourge of polio from the face of our earth. Most of us of adult age in our country remember the polio scares and tragedies of decades past, but we do not regard polio as a credible threat to our own children due to widespread immunization and other advances. That is not true universally: polio still exists and strikes randomly, especially in South Asia and Africa. In 1985, Rotary International undertook a truly breathtaking endeavor: to eliminate polio through universal immunization. And with its partners in the U.S. Agency for International Development's Polio Eradication Initiative--and funding from many governments including $260 million since 1996 of our own--it has brought polio to its knees: 1988's 350,000 cases internationally are today's couple hundred. But we all know that the last few steps of any marathon are often the hardest, and so it is with polio. I certainly saw the challenges in my trip last year to Afghanistan--one of just six countries where polio is still endemic--where the challenges in simply reaching some of the most remote and isolated communities in our world are staggering. Yet with the end so near Rotary International's efforts have been redoubled, and I want to tell you about just one inspiring contribution: that of Rotarian Bob ``Motorcycle Bob'' Mutchler and his wife, Patti. For the last seven years Bob, himself a victim of polio, and Patti have undertaken several marathon motorcycle rides across our country and world to highlight PolioPlus and raise funds for polio's endgame. Bob and Patti recently kicked off their last PolioPlus Ride, the ``Centennial Ride'', in our Hawaii, aiming to cover all fifty states ending in Alaska this summer. On Tuesday, March 15th, they and local Rotarians and other well-wishers started their engines in my hometown of Hilo and set off on the first leg of their latest adventure, a trip around my Big Island, followed by rides around Maui and Kauai and capped by a journey around Oahu on Saturday, March 26th, which I was honored to start. They're now off riding the Mainland, taking our aloha with them; you can follow their journey at www.polioplusride.org. where Patti's keeping a journal. Bob and Patti Mutchler exemplify the spirit of Rotary International, as did Mike Nelson, President of the Rotary Club of Volcano on the Island of Hawaii. Mike embraced the Mutchlers' efforts and chaired their Centennial Ride in Hawaii. Tragically, he lost his life in an auto accident on February 23rd; the ride was dedicated to him, and we remember him with the deepest appreciation and admiration as representing the true essence of Rotary. Mr. Speaker, what an incredible century Rotary International has had, epitomizing the very best of our country, our world and our human race. We pause, in House Resolution 55, for a brief moment to recognize and honor Rotary's achievements, but I know that Rotarians everywhere, while appreciating our actions on behalf of all of our citizens, would have us move beyond as soon as possible to the remaining and urgent tasks at hand. Mahalo, and aloha!

Mr. CASE

Mr. CASE. Mr. Speaker and fellow citizens of our country, and especially of my Great State of Hawaii, and of the great County of Maui, celebrating its centennial this year and the place to where my own great-grandparents moved and made their life home in 1900, aloha. ``Maui no ka oi,'' Maui is the best, not just because of its scenery and lifestyle, but because it has always been an innovator, and because, like all of our Hawaii, it takes care of its own. And there is no better example of the true spirit of Maui than Maui Economic Opportunity, Inc., which I stand today to congratulate on the occasion of its 40th anniversary. Mr. Speaker, Maui Economic Opportunity, Inc., MEO, is a private, nonprofit Community Action Partnership Agency, which was chartered on March 22, 1965, by Federal mandate under the Economic Opportunity Act of 1964. MEO provides an enormous array of community services annually to over 20,000 people throughout Maui County, encompassing the four islands of Maui, Molokai, Lanai, and Kahoolawe. MEO's model is ``Helping People, Changing Lives.'' Its mission is simple and direct: to help the poor, the elderly, children and youth, persons with disabilities, immigrants, other disadvantaged people, and the general public to help themselves, so that they may become self-sufficient. MEO has more than fulfilled this mission. In 2003, for example, MEO was one of only four agencies out of 1,000 community action agencies nationwide to receive an Agency of Excellence Award from the National Community Action Partnership. This prestigious award, for MEO's superior administrative operations and program excellence, is a true testament to its advocacy and its outstanding services tailored to the specific and often unique needs of Maui County. Among those many services, MEO provides the largest specialized transportation program in Maui County, with vehicles carrying the elderly, low-income, persons with disabilities, youth, Head Start children, and the public, 7 days a week and up to 18 hours a day. MEO's award-winning Head Start program provides services to 384 children through 14 centers countywide. The MEO YouthBank, including an AmeriCorps program, provides opportunities for youths ages 14 to 26 to work, learn and prepare for their future. The MEO community services staff works tirelessly in challenging situations, providing emergency assistance, job placement, training and other support services. The MEO Development Corporation provides loans and training to start small businesses, create jobs, and boost the community's economy. MEO's Anlace Hispano provides services to the Hispanic-speaking and immigrant population, and the Being Empowered and Safe Together reintegration program serves individuals making the difficult transition from prison back into the community. Moreover, MEO has never hesitated to go above and beyond its core mission in times of dire community need. In the aftermath of 9/11, for example, MEO, in partnership with the County of Maui, distributed $1.5 million to residents affected economically when Maui's tourism industry slumped. Just a few weeks ago, MEO volunteered its services to assist employees dislocated through the destruction by fire of Kahului Mall. Of course, the secret of MEO's success has always been its wonderful, dedicated and caring staff, led by some truly extraordinary executive directors throughout the last 4 decades. My former State House of Representatives Speaker and colleague, Joe Souki, well laid the groundwork for the modern era and was followed for the last 2 decades by the irrepressible Gladys Baisa, who will soon retire. Maui County will truly miss your leadership, Gladys; but you and MEO chose well in your successor, Sandy Bas. So you can see, Mr. Speaker, that Maui Economic Opportunity, Inc., has truly created a better community for everyone and richly deserves these happy birthday greetings before it moves on into a bright and equally rewarding future. Mahalo, and aloha.

Mr. CASE

Mr. CASE. Mr. Chairman, I thank the gentleman, and I am very happy that the gentleman from Tennessee (Mr. Cooper), my predecessor speaker, spoke of what happens next. Because I think as I look at this budget and I ask myself what is really wrong with this budget, of course, we are going to hear a lot of detail this afternoon and it is easy to get lost in the detail, and frankly it is easy for detail to obscure the underlying principles and rationale for a budget. But let us get beyond the detail and ask ourselves a basic question, how long out does this budget go? Can you believe that this budget only goes 5 years? It only goes out 5 years. Now, what if I came home and I told my wife, I have got a great family budget, it goes one year, knowing that I have a balloon payment on my home mortgage the following year? What if my accountant gave me a 3-year budget for my family, knowing that I would retire in the fourth year? What if my business ran a 5-year budget, and I knew that I had to replace my entire plant inventory in the sixth through the tenth year? I think I would be told to get out of budgeting. And what if I told you that this budget goes 5 years, because the consequences of the budgetary policies that are inherent in this budget come home to roost after that 5 years. And what if I told you that for that exact reason in prior years we have run 10-year budgets, but we did not do it in the last couple of years. And why would we do this? Because the consequences are obscured beyond that 5 years. I know what I think about that, and I know what the Democrats think about budgeting only until it hits the fan, and that is wrong.

Mr. CASE

Mr. CASE. Mr. Speaker, I rise today to reintroduce my bill from the 108th Congress that will provide greater flexibility in issuance of temporary visitor visas to the alien relatives of citizens in urgent and compelling circumstances involving those citizens such as life- threatening or terminal health conditions or memorial services. In doing so, we will assure that our own brothers and sisters are provided basic compassion and family unity in their time of need. The post-9/11 world demands that our immigration policy ensure our national security. So let me say up front that nothing in this bill forecloses U.S. consular prerogatives in that regard. However, after this prerequisite has been met, we need to provide for a greater accommodation than current law and practice allow of immediate and urgent needs of our own fellow citizens for relatives seeking temporary admission due to extenuating circumstances. Specifically, my bill allows such applicants to overcome the statutory presumption against immigration for a brief stay occasioned by a demonstrated and immediate family obligation or need involving a parent, child, sibling, grandchild, or grandparent. My office has been involved in numerous cases in which many of my constituents were left heartbroken at the news of a nonimmigrant visa denial for such occasions as to attend a funeral or visit a terminally ill family member. There are also instances where the immediate relative of a U.S. citizen or legal permanent resident has been denied entry into our country to donate a matched organ to a family member. These families were willing to purchase plane tickets, arrange for accommodations, in short everything anyone of us would do for a visiting loved one. Temporary visa applicants had documentation to prove that they had every reason to return to their country of origin: they maintained homes, businesses, bank accounts, and had other family members, often small children, that would remain behind. Yet it was to no avail, and families were left separated for important, often life- changing, events. These are some examples: The parents of a 27-year-old U.S. citizen who was murdered by her husband were barred from attending her funeral, which had to go on with out them. They were thereby prevented from then comforting their 5- year-old granddaughter. All told, they have made over a half-dozen I8- hour bus rides to the U.S. Embassy in Manila to obtain travel visas, only to have their applications turned down every time as they were deemed to not have sufficiently strong ties to their own country. A terminally ill naturalized U.S. citizen who has not seen any of her siblings for more than 20 years wanted to see just one of them one last time. A sister had applied for a nonimmigrant visa to be able to visit and care for her sibling and, in the process, would voluntarily leave behind her own husband and young children in the Philippines for this purpose. Unfortunately, her visa application was recently denied. The main reason cited was that her husband's income was too modest and she was not currently employed. A recent article in the Honolulu Advertiser detailed the gripping story of Francisco Guerrero, a U.S. citizen who for the past 6 years has had to undergo dialysis treatment for several hours three times a week in Honolulu, while in the Philippines, his son Glenn, not a U.S. citizen, is willing to donate a life-saving kidney that is considered a near-perfect match. Yet Glenn has been denied a temporary visa to visit the U.S. for the operation because our consulate has determined he does not have a demonstrated intent to return to his country thereafter. I include the text of that article at the end of my remarks today. These are compelling stories of a well-intentioned Federal immigration policy gone very wrong. I suspect that many of you have similar stories affecting families in your district. Again, the problem these stories graphically illustrate and the solution my bill offers have nothing to do with preserving our homeland security. These applicants were subject to a security review like other applicants, and nothing in the Compassionate Visitor Visa Act would alter that. The reason for the rejection of such applications lies instead in the application of the presumption clause in current immigration law. In practice, applicants for nonimmigrant visas are presumed to be at risk of defaulting on their visas and remaining in our country illegally unless they can affirmatively prove that they will return to their countries. In the cases above, the applicants provided documentation to overcome this presumption and demonstrate they had every reason to return to their country of origin: they maintained homes, businesses, bank accounts, and would leave other family members, often children, behind, but to no avail. The Compassionate Visitor Visa Act says that the presumption clause, as applied to close family members of U.S. citizens or legal permanent residents that are seriously ill or who have died, is wrong and should be changed. It is focused on the wants and needs not of the applicant, but our own fellow citizens. Opponents of the bill may argue that the result would be to detract from homeland security and enhance the default rate on nonimmigrant visas. First, again nothing in this bill changes or compromises procedures designed to identify and weed out security threats, so that cannot be used as an excuse to avoid the focus of this bill. Second, this bill does not say that consular officers cannot consider evidence of applicants' willingness to honor visa terms and return to their countries, but it does say that the deck won't be virtually impossibly stacked against them from the get-go. And third, this bill applies only in the narrow case of an applicant whose close family member has a serious illness or has died or has some other similar family emergency, as demonstrated by proof to the satisfaction of the consular officers. I stand here today willing to take the chance of loosening the standard for those most in need because it is the right thing to do. Our U.S. consulates are not entitled to deny an American his or her life. I urge passage of the Compassionate Visitor Visa Act. [From the Honolulu Advertiser, Feb. 13, 2005] Denial of Visa Stymies Filipino Organ Donors (By Frank Oliveri and Vicki Viotti) For six years, Francisco Guerrero has had his blood cleansed by a machine for several hours three times a week at St. Francis Medical Center in Honolulu because his kidneys have failed. In the Philippines, his son, Glenn, studies architecture and waits with a life-saving kidney that is considered a near-perfect match for his father. But the U.S. government won't grant the 28-year-old a temporary visa because he can't prove he'll return to the Philippines. The U.S. Consulate in Manila says the Lawag City resident fits the profile of an undesirable visitor--someone who poses a risk of overstaying a temporary visa because of his background and his homeland's tenuous situation. Glenn Guerrero has only a part-time job, is relatively poor and already has a pending application to emigrate to the United States. The Guerreros' plight is not uncommon at St. Francis, the only organ transplant center in the Central Pacific. There are at least 15 Filipino patients there who face the same bureaucratic roadblocks to getting a visa for an organ donor, and all have been rejected. They have all but given up hope of bringing their relatives to the United States for the life-saving surgery. No patients are known to have died while trying to cut the red tape after finding a donor match. But hospital officials said many Filipinos have a rare blood type and die while waiting for a kidney because they never find a match. The issue, according to interviews with immigration experts, hospital staff, patients and their families, is the intense scrutiny of the visa applications from potential Filipino organ donors since the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks. Before 9/11, St. Francis successfully processed about three visa applications a year to bring organ donors to the states. Since then, the immigration laws have stayed the same but officers at the consulate who review applications have gotten tougher. They search for clues giving them reasonable assurance that the organ donors will return to the Philippines. ``We don't determine between a medical visit or a trip to Disneyland,'' said Kelly Shannon, spokeswoman for the Bureau of Consular Affairs at the U.S. State Department. ``Congress wrote the law, and it is virtually unchanged since 1952. It requires the assumption of an intention to emigrate. You have to show a reason to compel your return home.'' Francisco Guerrero, 59, does not understand why Glenn's intent to save his father's life isn't enough to support the younger man's visa application. ``Sometimes they should try to be more understanding of the situation,'' the elder Guerrero said. ``I think these people don't care. They should think of the purpose of the person who is coming here.'' Key Issues for Filipinos There are 389 other patients in Hawai'i who are waiting for a kidney--a wait that can last up to seven years. More than 100 of those patients were born in the Philippines. U.S. Consulate officials say Filipinos are treated in the same way as any other foreign nationals who wish to come to the United States on a temporary visa. But with few systems in place to track visitors once they have arrived and note when they have departed, overworked officers at the consulate are often the only line of defense against unwanted visitors. ``They have gotten tougher,'' said Jessica Vaughan, a former chief consular official at the U.S. Consulate in Port of Spain, Trinidad. Vaughan is now a senior policy analyst for the Center for Immigration Studies in Washington. The law requires consular officials to assume that every applicant hopes to move to the United States permanently, according to Vaughan. It places the burden on the applicants to prove they would return to their home country. The issue is complicated for Filipino organ donors because: Many applicants are poor, with little property and money or a good job to return to in the Philippines. Filipinos already are one of the largest groups seeking permanent visas to the United States. Any person seeking a temporary visa, who also has requested a permanent visa, faces likely rejection for a short stay. In some cases, officials are so backlogged in reviewing visas that only now are they considering applications dating back to 1990. There are already an estimated 85,000 Filipinos who live illegally in the United States. Officials say it is likely that most of them simply overstayed their temporary visas. Hawai'i lawmakers have asked the State Department to look into the organ donor cases at St. Francis. Rep. Ed Case, D-Hawai'i, said he plans to reintroduce a bill to remove any presumption that an applicant intends to stay in the United States if they are coming here for family emergencies. Rep. Neil Abercrombie, D-Hawai'i, co-sponsored the bill when it was first introduced in late 2003. Hawai'i's two senators have written letters to the State Department asking officials there to take a close look at the problem. ``I'm willing to take the chance of loosening the standard because he or she has demonstrated his or her mother is going to die on the island of Maui,'' Case said. ``It is the right thing to do.'' Case said he supports keeping the borders safe. But the current law ``puts a disproportionate burden on the Filipino community and that's not fair,'' he said. The U.S. Consulate, Case said, is ``not entitled to deny an American his or her life.'' Expenses, long waits Since 9/11, the total number of all types of visas granted in the United States has declined because there have been fewer applicants. Vaughan, the former consular official, stresses that each application is evaluated one at a time. ``It's not discrimination,'' she said. ``It may be that more people qualify from Japan than in the Philippines. The conditions in that country--economic, social or political conditions--are factored into the consular officer's decision.'' Although the Philippine government has taken an interest in the transplant patients at St. Francis and their families, one official concedes there isn't much it can do. ``We cannot intervene,'' said Eva Ditita, Philippines deputy consul general. ``We can help on the Philippine side and facilitate their papers, but the ball is on the (U.S.) State Department side. This is a humanitarian undertaking.'' Complicating matters is the lengthy--and expensive-- application process. Cathy Bailey, transplant evaluation coordinator at St. Francis, said it takes about a year to compile all the medical information required for a kidney donor in another country, compared with about three months for a donor in the United States. The U.S. government also requires a long list of documents, from income-tax returns and bank statements, to prove the kidney recipient can support the organ donor for the six months they are required to stay in the United States. Tissue and blood tests for each potential donor cost about $3,500, and the results are good for only a few months before they must be performed again, Bailey said. The donor also must pay for travel to Manila for an interview with U.S. Consulate officials and pay for hotel expenses while there as well as for medical tests and doctors' fees. She said most kidney patients rely on Medicare to pay for the surgery, which costs about $200,000, and for about $30,000 worth of drugs annually to ensure the body does not reject the donated organ. Patients don't travel to the Philippines for the surgery because Medicare would not cover drug costs upon their return. ``They almost always come to me crying,'' Bailey said. ``It's not like I can do anything. It is very costly for these people.'' Lahaina woman's plight Hilaria Taborada, a 51-year-old Lahaina cashier, has spent a lot of money on medical tests and visa fees and untold hours worrying about her future ever since she was diagnosed with kidney failure in 1999. One nephew was determined to be a good match as a donor but was too ill to undergo the surgery; a visa application by another nephew was rejected in December because it was deemed that he had no compelling reason to return home. Taborada undergoes dialysis at home, but still must travel to the hospital for frequent tests. ``How many times I'm going back and forth to the hospital,'' she sighed. ``I always have infections.'' Taborada's brother is transferring his own property to the nephew in the hope that the U.S. government will recognize the property as a reason for the nephew to return to the Philippines. Vaughan said that when she worked for the U.S. Consulate in Trinidad, the refusal rate for nonimmigrant visas for people from that West Indies nation (Trinidad and Tobago) was 50 percent. She said most of the people she dealt with had similar backgrounds as those Filipinos seeking temporary visas. ``Officers do the best they can, based on the information and time they have available,'' she said. But ``it's a very imperfect science.''

Mr. CASE

Mr. CASE. Mr. Speaker, I rise today to reintroduce a bill that will provide for the expedited reunification of the families of our Filipino World War II veterans who have become citizens of the United States. This body has many times over recognized the courage and commitment of the Filipino troops who fought alongside our armed forces in the Philippines during World War II. In 1990, we provided a waiver from certain naturalization requirements for these veterans, and many thereafter became proud citizens and residents of our country. Most recently, in the 108th Congress, we provided a long-delayed and long- denied measure of justice by granting them a partial measure of veterans benefits which were unjustly denied to them in 1946. But a huge gap still remains, for we did not allow naturalization in 1990 to the children of these same veterans. What my bill does is allow for the sons and daughters of those veterans that became U.S. citizens through the process established in 1990 to have priority in their respective immigration categories. These are real-life issues, for the stories of families who have waited years, even decades, to be reunited are heartbreaking. For example, a veteran and his wife living in Hawai`i filed immigration petitions for two of their six adult children; they have waited over ten years for a visa to be issued to either. Another veteran petitioned successfully for his wife's immigration visa, but has not been as successful with the applications for their five adult children. Again, this family has been holding on for ten years with the hope that they will one day live in the U.S. as a complete family. As we all know, our Filipino World War II veterans are entering the sunset years of their lives. We have addressed some small measure of the need to give adequate veterans benefits for their commendable service. I look forward to working with my colleagues in recognizing and providing for the reunification of these families of our Filipino World War II veterans.

Mr. CASE

Mr. CASE. Let me conclude by making one other point that came out of our Committee on the Budget hearings just a week ago when I asked Office of Management and the Budget Director Bolton, hey, I have not heard much about debt. I have heard plenty about deficits, but I have not heard much about debt. Of course, frankly, I speculate that the reason is it is a lot easier to talk about reducing the deficit in half. But if we only reduce the deficit in half every year, we are still talking about compounded total debt because that is borrowed every single year. So it is not good enough to talk about reducing the deficit in half. It is a matter of balancing our books.

Mr. CASE. We are not talking about additional debt service on the additional debt that will be incurred as a result of the first three. Those do not enter into the additional interest payment. So what we are really talking about, I guess the point I am trying to make and trying to get clarity from the gentleman, is that when we are talking even under the President's own budget of an increase of 60 percent in the national debt, assuming we agree to this budget straight out, we will assume if the President gets his way on privatization and on the Alternative Minimum Tax which we all want to do on the reasonable costs of the war, on other initiatives, not to mention further cuts in any taxes or continuation of any tax reductions, we are talking about trillions of dollars of additional debt during that same period.

Mr. CASE. Nor are we talking about the costs of the war which are now projected to be astronomical if we project out over a reasonable period of time. That is additional debt.

Mr. CASE. In the same spirit, we are not talking in this budget about any fix to the Alternative Minimum Tax, right?

Mr. CASE. Absolutely, in 4 years. And the point that the gentleman is making now, and by the way, that is a 60 percent increase in the total national debt in just a few short years, so obviously something is out of whack. Now what the gentleman is pointing out in the chart that he is pointing us to right now is that essentially when we talk about this national debt, we are not talking, we are not including some very key aspects here. We are not talking about the cost of the privatization plan, right?

Mr. CASE. Yes, that is absolutely right. The gentleman has an excellent chart that demonstrated that earlier, that under this President's own budget the interest on the national debt will double or more in the next 5 years while every other program is remaining basically at the same level of funding. So the question that I have got, I am looking here at the President's own budget, noting that in 2004 we had a total national debt of $7.3 trillion. That was just a year ago and that was up, as the gentleman pointed out earlier, by $2 trillion just over a few years. So we are going up pretty darn fast. I am looking here at the President's budget. This is the President talking; this is not us talking. It shows here in 2010, just 5 short years from now, we will have, according to this President's budget, a national total debt of $11.1 trillion. So $7.3 trillion last year. Under this budget, we are going to $11.1 trillion and, of course, that is the aggregate, is it not?

Mr. CASE. Mr. Speaker, I want to be clear that I understand exactly what the gentleman is saying. I appreciate very much the opportunity to have this opportunity to learn from the gentleman. I want to go back to the context that we are talking about for just a second because I did take the opportunity to read the budget that came out of this administration. More specifically, I took the opportunity to read the historical tables because I think it is important for us to see what has been before we can talk about what is coming up in the future. And we have talked already quite a bit about the total debt, and I am very happy that the gentleman is focusing on debt because we can talk about deficits, annual deficits every single year, but it is not as if annual deficits are static. If you have got deficits every year, you are borrowing it from somewhere; that means that debt goes up. If you have a deficit of $300 billion this year, that is borrowed money. Another deficit the next year, $600 billion.

Mr. CASE. I thank the gentleman for his good work, and I am happy to learn at his feet.

Mr. CASE

Mr. CASE. Mr. Speaker, I appreciate my colleague yielding me time, and it humbles me to follow the previous speaker in light of his service. I rise in full support of this resolution and wish to fully associate myself with the comments of my colleagues with respect to the heroic rescue missions carried out 60 years ago by units of the U.S. Army in the Philippines. It allows us to follow anew not only their efforts but also the heroic effort of many, many members of the Filipino citizenry, including the Filipino scouts who rose up and fought alongside U.S. Armed Forces in the Philippines during the Second World War and allied themselves very much with the Allied effort. I also want to take the opportunity in this resolution to highlight, as the previous speaker said, the work undone, on a broader scale, which includes almost 2,000 of our own still unaccounted for in the Vietnam War. In that spirit, I want to highlight the great commitment shown by our Joint POW/MIA Command, JPAC, which is operated by the Defense POW missing personnel office. JPAC is headquartered in Hickam Air Force Base, Hawaii. It was activated in October of 2003, and its mission is to achieve the fullest possible accounting of all Americans missing, worldwide, as a result of our Nation's previous conflicts. Of course, the highest priority of JPAC is return of any living American that remains a prisoner of war, but equally important is bringing resolution to the families who still await news of their loved ones. JPAC was created from the merger of the Central Identification Laboratory-Hawaii and the Joint Task Force Full Accounting and contains almost 425 personnel. One-quarter are Navy civilians and the rest handpicked soldiers, sailors, airmen and marines. Every individual attached to JPAC is chosen through the specialized skills necessary for the command's unique mission. Some brief facts about JPAC and the Central Identification Lab- Hawaii. Even today, they are still identifying roughly two individuals each week formerly listed as missing. They have identified remains from World War I, World War II, the Korean War, the Vietnam War and the Cold War, and in each of those cases where it is possible, repatriation ceremonies, with a full honor guard, are held nearly every month at Hickam Air Force Base in Hawaii. As the remains are brought off the plane in flag-draped caskets and moved to ground transportation, a multiservice honor guard salutes the remains while family members, veterans and members of the Armed Forces offer their respects. It is also true that JPAC's work extends well into the realm of diplomacy because especially with the countries of Asia, where we had former enemies, JPAC and its efforts have often meant the initial unifying factor, the item on which we can all agree, and they have definitely led in many cases to rapproachment between previous enemies. In addition to its primary mission of identifying, recovering and repatriating the remains of the POWs and MIAs, JPAC personnel also support nontraditional and humanitarian missions as well. For example, in the recent tsunami effort in southeast Asia, JPAC deployed their two teams of eight people, including a forensic anthropologist, forensic dentist and other specialists to assist the Government of Thailand to identify and recover the bodies of more than 3,500 individuals who died there. I have here for inclusion with my remarks at this point an article that recently appeared in the Honolulu Star Bulletin entitled ``Joint POW-MIA Accounting Group Using DNA Expertise,'' which acutely describes some of these humanitarian efforts and which contains this very poignant remark: ``Everybody is given a name when you are born, and everybody should have a name when you die. That's what we do.'' [From the Honolulu Star-Bulletin, Jan. 21, 2005] Joint POW-MIA Accounting Group Using DNA Expertise (By Craig Gima) Phuket, Thailand.--At the Tsunami Victims Assistance Center, unanswered questions hang in the air around the bulletin boards where family members have posted pictures of missing friends and relatives. The photos--a haunting reminder of lives probably lost-- mean there are lives in limbo, families holding on to hope, however faint, unwilling to accept death without proof. The large crowds of family members that gathered here daily right after the tsunami are gone now. The people who show up are sometimes friends continuing the search or, as in the case of a visitor earlier in the day, a brother who believes his sister needs his help. ``If his sister is dead, he doesn't want to know now,'' said Verity Cattan-Poole, a volunteer at the center who speaks both Thai and English. ``He wants to find her. He thinks possibly that she's somewhere and lost her memory, and he wants to be there to help her.'' ``In their heart of hearts, I think they know,'' Cattan- Poole said. But ``if you have a loved one who has died, you need closure.'' A little more than two hours north of the center, an international team of forensic scientists that includes members of the Hawaii-based Joint POW-MIA Accounting Command are trying to bring closure to families. JPAC is best known for its work in recovering and identifying the remains of U.S. service members from Vietnam and other wars. But it has deployed teams before to disasters, including the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attack on the Pentagon, the Korean Air crash in Guam and the bombing of a Marine barracks in Beirut, Lebanon, in 1983. Two teams of eight people, including a forensic anthropologist, a forensic dentist and mortuary affairs specialists, have been helping the Thai government identify and recover the bodies of more than 5,300 people who died in the tsunami. Most of the work is done at Wat Yan Yao, a Buddhist temple about two hours north of Phuket. JPAC also helped coordinate the delivery of supplies and materials such as lights and tents from the U.S. military's relief effort and is helping to set up a temporary morgue, donated by Norway, near the Phuket airport. On Wednesday, JPAC members joined thousands of Buddhist monks at a candlelight service at a stadium in Takua Pa, a city in the province north of Phuket where about 4,000 people died. Organizers said the memorial service was multi- denominational, offering prayers to comfort survivors and to help those who died find happiness and peace in the afterlife. Many of the team members are now returning to Hawaii. A smaller group will remain for an undetermined time. At a briefing in Hawaii earlier this month, Gen. Montague Winfield, the commander of the unit, said his men and women were prepared to go when they saw the extent of the tsunami devastation. Winfield said they had just finished a plan on how to deploy quickly in the event of mass casualties anywhere in the world. Still, while the JPAC team members had planned what to take and to get their equipment there in the event of an emergency, ``nobody can adequately or fully prepare for something of this magnitude,'' said Dr. Robert Mann, deputy scientific director at JPAC. ``In this situation here, you're going to be dealing with a lot of children, and a lot of people here have kids,'' he said. Mann, who was at the same briefing as the general, said the forensic scientists in Hawaii are experts at extracting and using DNA to identify remains. They are also bone and teeth experts. Bone structure, Mann explained, can show whether a person is of Caucasian or Asian descent, a man or a woman. Dental records also can help with identification when fingerprints are not available. ``Everybody is given a name when you are born, and everybody should have a name when you die,'' Mann said. ``That's what we do.'' JPAC is a vital part of our Nation's ongoing commitment to its service members, and we in Hawaii are proud and humbled by their commitment to their mission. This mission on behalf of all of us must continue until every last unaccounted American citizen is accounted for.

Mr. CASE

Mr. CASE. Mr. Speaker, let me begin by completely embracing and endorsing the comments of the gentleman from California (Mr. Filner) earlier today in support of H.R. 302, a continuation of a long fight for justice for our Filipino veterans. I say, as the representative from the district out of 435 in our entire country containing and holding the largest number of Filipino Americans, this is exactly what we must do to bring justice and conclusion to this sorry story in our history. But I rise here today to highlight another issue which goes as well to the very heart of our collective obligation to our Nation's veterans, whether they be members of our greatest generation, like Hawaii's own 100th Battalion and 442nd Regimental Combat Team, or those lost tragically in the deserts and streets of Iraq and Afghanistan, and that is our promise that our fallen be buried with their comrades in our great national cemeteries, be they Arlington or my own National Cemetery of the Pacific. Despite this most elemental undertaking, increasing numbers of veterans are facing a dire situation. Currently, 11 States do not have a national cemetery operated by the Department of Veterans Affairs, and an additional six States, including Hawaii, have national cemeteries that no longer accept casket remains. To assist with this indefensible shortfall, a number of States, including Hawaii, have worked with the VA to construct and operate State veterans cemeteries. Established in 1978 to complement the VA's National Cemetery Administration, the State Cemetery Grants Program assists States in providing grave sites for veterans in those areas where VA's national cemeteries cannot fully satisfy their burial needs. On most of the neighbor islands of Hawaii, my district, we have State cemeteries operated under this program. Specifically, grants from the State Cemetery Grants Program may be used only for the purpose of establishing, expanding or improving veterans cemeteries that are owned and operated by a State or U.S. territory. Aid can be granted only to States or U.S. territories, not to private organizations, counties, cities or other government agencies. VA can now provide up to 100 percent of the development cost for an approved project. For establishment of new cemeteries, VA can provide for operating equipment. VA cannot and does not provide for the acquisition of land so that the States are solely responsible for providing locations for such cemeteries. State cemeteries operated and established under the grant program must conform to the standards and guidelines pertaining to site selection, planning and construction set forth by VA. Cemeteries must be operated solely for the burial of service members who die on active duty, veterans and their eligible spouses and dependent children. Any cemetery assisted by a VA grant must be maintained and operated according to the operational standards and measures of the National Cemetery Administration. After construction, the administration, operation and maintenance of a State's veterans cemetery is solely the responsibility of the State government, and the National Cemetery Administration has no further financial obligation to the State for the burial of veterans, with one important exception, which is the nub of this speech. Currently, the Secretary of Veterans Affairs is authorized to pay a plot or interment allowance up to $300 per burial to a State for expenses incurred by the State for the burial of eligible veterans in a cemetery owned and operated by the State if the burial is performed at no cost to the veteran's next of kin. This benefit is administered by the Veterans Benefit Administration, and the State must apply to VBA to receive it. A great program, a great supplement to the assistance by our States of the national obligations to our veterans. But despite the $300 currently provided to State governments for each veteran buried in a State veterans cemetery, the true cost is as much as $750 per burial and rising. Thus, even with the partial reimbursements provided by the VA, State governments with no available Federal cemeteries pay millions of dollars to fulfill our Federal commitment to provide a final resting place for our veterans. This shortfall is particularly painful during the current budget difficulties faced by many States across our Nation and has the inevitable result, as it has in Hawaii, of inexcusable shortfalls in available State veterans cemeteries, both in burial plot availability and especially in operation and maintenance of existing facilities. This is certainly again the case in Hawaii which operates several State veterans cemeteries through VBA assistance that are stretched way beyond their means. I could go down the list, but the one that comes to mind most quickly is the West Hawaii Veterans Cemetery on my home island of Hawaii. The bill I introduce today proposes a simple modification in an otherwise solid Federal program, to raise the Federal reimbursement for veteran burials in State cemeteries where there is no Federal VA option from $300 to $750 per burial. The price, a minimal $5 million annually as priced last year by the CBO. This is fair and necessary and will enable us to fulfill this most basic obligation. I ask for my colleagues' support. Mahalo.

Mr. CASE

Mr. CASE. Mr. Speaker, I am proud and humbled to again cointroduce with my Hawaii colleague, Mr. Abercrombie, during this 109th Congress, as we did in the 108th Congress, the Native Hawaiian Government Reorganization Act of 2005. Identical legislation was introduced today by Hawaii Senators Akaka and Inouye, again marking a united commitment by Hawaii's entire delegation to the most vital single piece of legislation for our Hawaii since Statehood. This legislation affirms the longstanding political relationship between Native Hawaiians, the indigenous peoples of our Hawaii, and our federal government, and extends to Native Hawaiians the time-honored federal policy of self-determination provided other indigenous peoples under U.S. jurisdiction. Mr. Speaker, allow me to be direct: this is crucial to the Hawaiian people and to our Hawaii. The stakes are nothing more or less than the survival and prosperity not only of our indigenous people and culture, but of the very soul of Hawaii as we know and love it. I speak to you today on behalf of all of Hawaii's people and all those worldwide for whom Hawaii, in all of her forms, be they natural, environmental, cultural, social, and spiritual, is a truly special and unique place. And I say to you that that Hawaii--the Hawaii that is the indigenous home of all Native Hawaiians, that my own ancestors and many other non-Native Hawaiians committed themselves to since recorded Western discovery in 1778, and that so many throughout the world continue to view as a beacon for what can be in our world--that Hawaii has never been so at risk as today. It is at risk because it is a creation of and rests upon the foundation of our Native Hawaiian people and culture, and their survival and prosperity are at risk. As they go, so goes Hawaii as we know it, and a Hawaii which is not Hawaiian is not a Hawaii I can bear to accept. Nor is federal recognition for Native Hawaiians exclusively a Hawaii issue. Census figures show that our country is home to more than 400,000 Native Hawaiians, with 160,000 living outside of Hawaii. And clearly the preservation of the Hawaii that so many throughout our world have come to know and love is of great concern to so many well beyond our borders. So our goal is not only reaffirming the longstanding historical and legal relationship between Native Hawaiians and the United States, not only delivering fairness and justice to Native Hawaiians, but ensuring the very survival and prosperity of our Native Hawaiian people and culture and, through them, Hawaii itself. And this is a truly common goal, evidenced by broad-based support among Hawaii's political leaders, and Hawaiians and non-Hawaiians alike, which spans ethnic, partisan and other distinctions. The goal of assisting Native Hawaiians is not new to our Federal Government. Beyond a longstanding relationship that was reaffirmed when Hawaii became a territory in 1900 and a State in 1959, over 160 federal statutes have enacted programs to address the conditions of Native Hawaiians in areas such as Hawaiian homelands, health, education and economic development based on Congress' plenary authority under our U.S. Constitution to address the conditions of indigenous peoples. These have been matched by state and quasi-autonomous entities such as the Office of Hawaiian Affairs and the Department of Hawaiian Home Lands, and private entities like The Kamehameha Schools. And they have borne fruit with a renewed focus on unique Native Hawaiian needs and a renaissance of Native Hawaiian culture. Federal recognition is the means by which these indispensable efforts can be carried forward into the next generation of Native Hawaiian governance. Federal recognition is also the time-honored means of memorializing our government's relationship with the indigenous peoples of the contiguous 48 states and Alaska. There, either government-to-government treaties or the Bureau of Indian Affairs recognition process or legislative recognition have extended self-determination and affirmed relationships. Although the difference between those peoples and Native Hawaiians is exclusively geographic, such means have simply not been either available or exercised in the case of Native Hawaiians. Nor is the concept of extending federal recognition to Native Hawaiians a new one. The enactment into law in 1993 of the Apology Resolution (P.L. 103-150) expressed a national commitment to reconciliation efforts between Native Hawaiians and the Federal Government. Subsequent efforts through the Departments of Justice and Interior, as well as the White House Initiative on Asian Americans and Pacific Islanders established by executive orders of both Presidents Clinton and Bush, yielded federal recognition legislation and the inclusion of Native Hawaiians in federal programs and services as top priorities. During the 106th Congress, the House even passed federal recognition legislation for Native Hawaiians on September 26, 2000. Most recently, the Department of Interior also moved forward on the establishment of the Office of Hawaiian Relations. Structurally organized under the Assistant Secretary for Policy, Management, and Budget, the new office is a welcome and positive step forward in coordinating policies within the Department as they affect Native Hawaiians. Already, the Department oversees pertinent issues such as Hawaiian home lands, historic preservation, the Native American Graves Protection Act, the Native Hawaiian Culture and Arts Program, and the consideration of Native Hawaiians in natural resources management, including at our Hawaii national parks. The time has clearly come for our Federal Government to strengthen its relationship with Native Hawaiians in order to resolve longstanding issues and ensure the survival and prosperity of the Native Hawaiian people and culture and of their special home. For all of us in Hawaii, Mr. Speaker, and in fact for all Native Hawaiians, wherever, throughout our country and world they may live, I urge the passage of this vital legislation.

Mr. CASE

Mr. CASE. Mr. Speaker, I rise today to express my strong support for H.R. 3242, the Specialty Crops Competitiveness Act of 2004. I am a proud co-sponsor of this bipartisan bill, and I congratulate its author, Congressman Ose, and his staff for this significant accomplishment. I represent a rural agricultural district spread over the 7 inhabited islands of Hawai`i, where all of our crops are specialty crops. Except for sugarcane, the great majority of Hawai`i's crops are not grown in any other State, nor are they the traditional Farm Bill ``program crops.'' Therefore, programs to assist Hawai`i's specialty crop producers of crops like pineapple, tropical flowers, coffee, algae, cacao, and vanilla are very limited. And even though we have crop insurance programs for only two crops--macadamia nuts and nursery crops (fewer than any other State)--we are not designated as one of the States underserved by crop insurance programs. For these and other reasons, my State receives less Federal support for agriculture as a percentage of the value of its agriculture than any other State. At the same time, we face unique challenges due to our distance from markets, quarantine requirements, and a transition from plantation to small-scale diversified agriculture. This transition has been extremely painful for many who traditionally were employed in good agricultural jobs in sugar or pineapple as well as for our rural island economies. I requested assignment to the House Agriculture Committee during my first full term in Congress to do what I can to enhance the future of agriculture in my State and to see that my State receives its fair share of assistance. For this reason, I come to the floor today to extend a sincere mahalo to Chairman Goodlatte and Ranking Member Stenholm and their staffs for their assistance in ensuring that Hawai`i's specialty crops, from coffee to ginger root to kava, will be in fact be covered by this worthy bill.

Mr. CASE

Mr. CASE. Mr. Speaker, I rise today to introduce a bill to authorize expansion of Hawai`i Volcanoes National Park located on the Island of Hawai`i. This bill would authorize expansion of the park's boundaries to allow the National Park Service to acquire 656 additional acres between the 1,000 and 2,000-foot elevation marks in the Kahuku district makai (oceanside) of State Highway 11. This property, which is a part of the historic Kahuku Ranch, most of which has already been added to the Park, includes extensive natural and cultural resources. These Kahuku lands encompass the southwest rift zone of Mauna Loa, one of the most massive volcanoes in the world. The geologic features of the proposed acquisition--three large pit craters--provide vestiges of native forest and other unique attributes. The property also includes ranch buildings, walls, and pasture lands that are reminiscent of nineteenth and early twentieth century ranching and contain remnant ranchlands that are not currently represented to the public by any National Park in Hawai`i. These buildings would provide public, office, educational, and research space for a much- needed satellite headquarters for this portion of the 333,000-acre park. And locating these services in these historic structures will preserve more of the natural resources of the park in an unspoiled condition. The property also provides magnificent open landscape views and vistas that offer a glimpse into a cultural landscape that has remained unchanged for decades. The geologic, biologic and cultural resources contained on this property will also enhance the quality of the park for its legislated purpose and as a World Heritage Site and International Biosphere Reserve. In addition, the park has a well-developed partnership with adjacent landowners in management of native ecosystems and historic landscapes and acquisition of this makai section of Kahuku will help to facilitate this partnership. The Hawaii House of Representatives passed H.R. No. 56 in the 2001 session supporting acquisition of the Kahuku Ranch as part of Hawaii Volcanoes National Park and the Hawaii State Senate passed a similar resolution. I would be very grateful for the support of my colleagues for this important bill. Mahalo!