Tom DeLay

Mr. DeLAY

Mr. DeLAY. Mr. Speaker, if the gentleman will yield, I cannot foresee that we could get to the Department of Defense appropriations bill next week with all of the bills that we are trying to get to the floor, but I do anticipate the Department of Defense appropriations bill being one of the first bills we would do the following week.

Mr. DeLAY. Mr. Speaker, if the gentleman will yield, I would assume, without preempting what the Committee on Rules might do, that both appropriation bills would come under the normal, traditional rules that we have had in the past on appropriations bills, which is pretty open rules.

Mr. DeLAY. Mr. Speaker, as the gentleman knows, the bill was introduced last Friday. Members should be aware of that for those who are interested to see what is in the bill. It is very difficult to answer the gentleman's question, not having the bill marked up and looking at what the ultimate outcome of the bill might be. And again, I do not want to preempt what the Committee on Rules does. As the gentleman knows, a bill coming from the Committee on Ways and Means, particularly a bill like this which has so many issues in it, amendments are traditionally not allowed, but substitutes are considered. And we will just have to work through that as we work through next week to decide one way or another whether a substitute or a number of substitutes would be offered, or allowed to be offered.

Mr. DeLAY

Mr. DeLAY. Mr. Speaker, I ask unanimous consent that all Members may have 5 legislative days within which to revise and extend their remarks and include extraneous material on H. Res. 664.

Mr. DeLAY

Mr. DeLAY. Mr. Speaker, I ask unanimous consent that when the House adjourns pursuant to Senate Concurrent Resolution 116, it do so as a further mark of respect to the memory of the late Honorable Ronald Wilson Reagan, the former President of the United States.

Mr. DeLAY

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

Mr. DeLAY

Mr. DeLAY. Mr. Speaker, I ask unanimous consent that the business in order under the Calendar Wednesday rule be dispensed with on Wednesday next.

Mr. DeLAY

Mr. DeLAY. Mr. Speaker, James Vincent DePierri was a soldier of the greatest generation and one of my constituents. He passed away on August 7, 2000. The following eulogy was written by his son-in-law, Dalton Smith, and delivered at the funeral by his son, Jim DePierri. James Vincent Depierri--Soldier, Survivor He was only 21 years old that cloudy overcast day. It was the 6th of June, 1944. He had been anxiously waiting just offshore for hours that seemed like days. Men beside him were saying prayers and writing their last letters to their loved ones, for they knew what lay before them that fateful day, D- Day--the Allied Invasion of Normandy. Thousands of American soldiers died that day on the beaches of Normandy, the worst casualties having been inflicted on Omaha Beach. As luck would have it, that is where a young soldier named James Vincent DePierri would be going ashore. Young Jim DePierri would be lucky that day. He survived one of the worst battles and the greatest infliction of casualties the United States Armed Forces has ever endured. Jim DePierri was a survivor. It no doubt comes as news to even his closest friends that Jim was even in World War II, much less that he was one of those brave souls who stormed Omaha Beach on D-Day. Jim was not the kind to brag of his exploits or for that matter even mention his experience. It would probably also be news that Jim DePierri participated in 4 other of the major battles of World War II, including the Battle of the Bulge. Jim DePierri was a survivor. It may be that having seen so many of his fellow soldiers die all around him that Jim considered every day he had on earth thereafter to be a blessing. His service to the church may have been his way of trying to silently repay what I am sure he believed to be a gift from God, the gift of life. The real benefactors of that gift are here today embodied in his children, Carol, Patty, Jim and Sharon along with the love of his life, his wife, Rose, and their grandchildren. His first grandson, my son Jordan Vincent Smith, asked me one day if Papa Jim had been in the war. When we inquired, we were astonished to learn of how much Jim, who never spoke of the war, was involved in World War II. That was many years ago, but I had read of soldiers who had never received their medals, so I gave the information to Jim and he wrote off to the Army. What came back was a box full of medals, that would have filled the chest of any soldier's uniform, including a medal for 114 days of duty on the front lines. But you would have never known from Jim that he had even been in the Army. It has been said that his was the greatest generation. With quiet heroes like Jim DePierri, a man of character, determination and forthrightness, there is no doubt in my mind that his was the greatest generation. Those of my generation can only read about or see the film of those great battles. To have been there was clearly a privilege. They considered it their duty. A duty owed to one's country that those of us who were not there can only imagine. That is not to say that we should forget or let pass into distant memory, the heroes of this country. Soon they will all be gone, but to those of you who knew Jim DePierri, who know a silent hero like Jim, or who may have been one of those fortunate souls to have been afforded the honor of fighting for their country and the freedom that we now enjoy, please do not let another day go by without thanking them and their generation of heroes or knowing how much you are appreciated. Luckily, we had the opportunity to thank Jim. On the 50th anniversary of D-Day, we took Jim and Rose out to dinner, without saying why (I am not sure I even told his daughter, Patty, my wife). The Italian restaurant was full that evening, but I took it upon myself to stand up, get the attention of the whole restaurant and propose a toast to Jim DePierri and all of the soldiers who risked their lives for us on that 6th day of June 1944. Jim was embarrassed, but glad someone cared. In subsequent years, I would send Jim clippings of editorials on Veterans Day and subsequent anniversaries of D- Day. He would not say anything to anyone else, except maybe Rose, but he always appreciated someone remembering. Today we are here to remember Jim DePierri, a soldier, a survivor, that most never heard of, but without whom we may not be here today enjoying the freedom he helped to preserve. Thank you Jim DePierri and I will assure you that your grandchildren and all future generations will remember their grandfather and great grandfather and his service to his country. Jim DePierri, a hero, of the greatest generation.

Mr. DeLAY

Mr. DeLAY. Mr. Speaker, I offer a privileged resolution (H. Res. 663) and ask for its immediate consideration.

Mr. DeLAY. Mr. Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may consume. Mr. Speaker, he was a gift to us: the healthy, hearty child handed down from God to John and Nelle Reagan in Tampico, Illinois, in 1911; the strong, athletic young man handed up from the bustling, laughing, big-shouldered Midwest of his youth; the underrated actor, the underrated labor leader, the underrated politician; and the visionary who foresaw America's victory in the Cold War and brought about that victory with wit, will, and undaunted valor for 8 heroic years. Everything that America is, and everything that mankind can be, was in our 40th President: wisdom, mercy, humor, honesty, honor, and courage. In an hour of doubt and fear, Ronald Reagan rose in the West, reminded his Nation of its unique mission in history, and with the help of a few million friends, worked the great miracle of the age. And he did it all smiling through the condescending insults of his critics, who, bless their hearts, could never quite get past his infuriating optimism. They said Ronald Reagan could ruin the economy, but in fact he led it to heights of strength and prosperity never before witnessed in history. They said Reagan would provoke our enemies to war, but in fact he bent our enemies to surrender without firing a single shot. They said Ronald Reagan was an ``amiable dunce,'' but in fact he was a fearless intellectual warrior, who marshaled words like soldiers to fight battles of ideas across a table or across a continent, and won. Which is why his death, even after a decade of slow, agonizing decline, comes as a shock to all of us. For Ronald Reagan was not just a man. He was the personification of an idea. And not just an idea, but the idea: the irreducible American idea that this Nation, founded by a generation of heroes upon the self-evident truth of equality under God, is possessed of a special commission in the affairs of men. According to Ronald Reagan, and according to Washington, Lincoln, Roosevelt, and Kennedy before him, America is not just another Nation. Instead, we are the last, best hope on Earth; the torch of freedom guiding mankind through the darkness; the living promise to all times and men that despite the relentless march of tyranny, the ultimate victory of liberty is assured. And people wonder where he got his optimism. Of course Ronald Reagan was an optimist. He was an American. In his life, the United States pulled the world through the Great Depression, two great world wars, and back from the brink of nuclear holocaust. And all the while, despite all the hardship, indeed perhaps because of it, America got stronger, richer, and, as far as he was concerned, better. Reagan's confidence and optimism in his country were simply extensions of his confidence and optimism in his countrymen. He knew the things Americans had done, repelling the British, freeing the slaves, settling the West, liberating Europe, shooting the Moon, and simply could not see this arc of history as anything but the irresistible advance of freedom against oppression; or as Reagan sublimely put it: ``We win, and they lose.'' ``We'' are those who seek to defend human dignity, and ``they'' are those who seek to stifle it. This was not a mere political calculation. To Ronald Reagan, the innate dignity of man was a spark of the Divine, a light created in God's image that the darkness could not overcome. He saw it as his role in our Nation and America's role in the world, for that matter, to liberate people from the shackles of government, so that they might first enjoy their right of self-determination, and then share with their neighbors the blessings of faith, hope, and charity. Reagan knew these were the virtues that built our Nation and remain the essential ingredients of American achievement, the tonic that has sustained the United States for more than 200 years, in Emerson's words, as ``the country of tomorrow.'' Reagan loved that quote, and the idea behind it; that even as we stand today as the oldest democracy on Earth, we remain the youthful champion of liberty and justice, best poised of all nations to lead mankind in the uncertain future. He believed it was true because he knew it had to be. He knew that without the American Nation, that is without the American people and their steadfast adherence to the true and the good, the West could fail in the Cold War and fail the cause of freedom around the world. And so he never let failure become an option. From the earliest days of his administration, President Reagan stood before the world and proclaimed the United States' commitment to freedom. He called the Soviet Union the Evil Empire and declared that ``regimes planted by bayonets do not take root.'' He met with Pope John Paul II and pledged to assist and equip the Solidarity movement in Poland. He called the Soviet's bluff at Reykjavik and went to the Brandenburg Gate to challenge Soviet Leader Mikhail Gorbachev to ``tear down this wall.'' Around the world, his words and deeds filtered down to the oppressed citizens behind the Iron Curtain who knew, for the first time, that the American President and his people were coming to the rescue; that the truth about the evils of Communism was being exposed to the world, and that the West had made a conscious decision that the Cold War was not to be managed, but fought and won. To Ronald Reagan, the answers to the world's problems were ``not simplistic,'' ``but they were simple.'' In foreign policy, evil must be confronted. Domestically, more government is not the solution; it is the problem. Publicly, honesty is the best policy. And privately, follow the golden rule. This was not merely the recipe for a spectacular career, which dominated and forever altered the map of the world, or for the national pride he restored to an America that, under his watch, became freer, stronger, and more prosperous than any nation in history. It was also the recipe for a full life of love and friendship, an ineffable romance with his wife, Nancy. In short, he left the world a better place than he found it and left his country with policies in place to solve problems great and small. It is for us, then, who inhabit the world he shaped, to finish the work he began. For we honor him best not by our words today, but our deeds tomorrow, and the next day and the next, to do right by each other, right by our Nation, and right by our responsibilities to history. Though he may no longer be with us, Mr. Speaker, we still live in an Age of Reagan. Come Friday afternoon, he will be laid to rest, after making one final journey home to his beloved California coast. But even as we say our tearful goodbyes that evening, and the sun sets out West over the Pacific, we will find in ourselves the strength to carry on without our hero. We will simply do as Reagan did at the end of any long and difficult day. We will turn and look to the east with anticipation and wonder, and wait for another hopeful dawn. Mr. Speaker, I yield such time as she may consume to the gentlewoman from California (Ms. Pelosi), the minority leader.

Mr. DeLAY. Mr. Speaker, I yield such time as he may consume to the gentleman from Illinois (Speaker Hastert).

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

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

Mr. DeLAY

Mr. DeLAY. Mr. Speaker, I ask unanimous consent that it shall be in order at any time to consider in the House House Resolution 664: the resolution shall be considered as read for amendment; the previous question shall be considered as ordered on the resolution to final adoption without intervening motion, except (1) 2 hours of debate on the resolution on the legislative day of June 8, 2004, equally divided and controlled by the Majority Leader and the Minority Leader or their designees; (2) one motion to adjourn offered by the Majority Leader or his designee on the legislative day of June 8, 2004; and (3) 3 hours of debate on the resolution on the legislative day of June 9, 2004, equally divided and controlled by the Majority Leader and the Minority Leader or their designees; on each demand of the Majority Leader or his designee, it shall be in order to debate the resolution on the legislative day of June 8, 2004, for an additional hour equally divided and controlled by the Majority Leader and Minority Leader or their designees; and, notwithstanding the operation of the previous question, the Chair at any time may postpone further consideration of the resolution until a time designated by the Speaker.

Mr. DeLAY

Mr. DeLAY. Mr. Speaker, I ask unanimous consent that when the House adjourns on Monday, June 14, 2004, it adjourn to meet at 8:30 a.m. on Tuesday, June 15.

Mr. DeLAY

Mr. DeLAY. Mr. Speaker, I ask unanimous consent that it may be in order at any time on Tuesday, June 15, 2004, for the Speaker to declare a recess, subject to the call of the Chair, for the purpose of receiving a joint meeting of His Excellency Hamid Karzai, President of the Government of the Transitional Islamic State of Afghanistan.

Mr. DeLAY

Mr. DeLAY. Mr. Speaker, I ask unanimous consent that the call of the Private Calendar be dispensed with on Tuesday, June 15, 2004.

Mr. DeLAY

Mr. DeLAY. Mr. Speaker, I was honored to serve as Honorary Co-Chair of the Churchill Centre and Churchill Archives Centre Gala Dinner on June 1, 2004, along with Senators Warner and Lieberman and Sir David Manning, KCMG, British Ambassador to the United States. Over the past few months and until July 10, 2004, the Churchill Centre and the Churchill Archives Centre have been instrumental in bringing the exhibit ``Churchill and the Great Republic'' to the Library of Congress. This is the first major exhibit in the United States dedicated to the memory of a man who saved a nation, a leader who stood in defiance of evil, and a warrior-poet who gave voice to mankind's will to freedom. Winston Churchill understood that the battle his nation faced in World War II was not a test of weapons as much as it was a test of will. He understood--as a matter of fundamental reality--that evil, no matter how terrifying, only exists to the extent that people of good- will allowit to exist. That was the lesson of World War II: that sooner or later, evil will become aggressive. While the outsize proportions of what was being prepared inside the Third Reich throughout the 1930s could hardly be imagined, the fact remains that throughout Hitler's military build-up, the continent of Europe and the rest of the world whistled past the graveyard. And while perceptive voices--most notably that of Sir Winston himself--implored the West to act before it was too late, the West chose not to act, at a cost of 60 million lives. Today, the civilized world faces a similar choice. An aggressive evil that spent a decade steeling itself for war finally pounced. As we did 60 years ago, the United States and Great Britain have led a coalition in opposition to it. That aggressive evil, while down, is not out. What is not open to debate, it seems to me, is the need for the trans-Atlantic alliance to maintain its moral and political clarity about the war on terror. Our enemy, like it was 60 years ago, is not so much a collection of men as a collection of ideas, or rather, a collection of lies, principal among them the lie that with enough violence and intimidation, human cruelty can subdue human freedom. Politics aside, the responsibility today of the two nations honored by Churchill's citizenship is to remain vigilant--and vigilantly honest--about the earth's gathering storms. Mistakes will be made, and lives will be lost, but in the end, civilization must be defended, and the sword and shield of that eternal defense must remain the cooperation and friendship of the British and American people. That is the legacy of Churchill, a legacy which--despite our individual loyalties and prejudices--we can all agree on and honor.

Mr. DeLAY

Mr. DeLAY. Mr Speaker, I thank the distinguished gentleman from Maryland for yielding to me. Mr. Speaker, the House will convene on Tuesday at 12:30 p.m. for morning hour and 2 p.m. for legislative business. We will consider several measures under suspension of the rules. A final list of those bills will be sent to Members' offices by the end of this week. Any votes called on these measures will be rolled until 6:30 p.m. On Wednesday and the balance of the week, we plan to consider several bills that respond to the urgent demand for national action on energy policy: The Arctic Coastal Plain Domestic Security and Abandoned Mine Lands Reclamation Reform Act, The Renewable Energy Project Siting Improvement Act, The Energy Policy Act, The Energy Science Act and The U.S. Refinery Revitalization Act. I thank the gentleman for yielding and would be happy to answer any questions.

Mr. DeLAY. Mr. Speaker, the bills are being worked on as we speak. We anticipate many of them being introduced today, if not today, tomorrow. Most of the bills have already been considered or voted on in the past on energy policies. We do not anticipate the need for any committee action on many of these bills. Some of them are suspension-type bills, and we anticipate bringing some on suspension calendar and then others by rule.

Mr. DeLAY. That is correct.

Mr. DeLAY. Mr. Speaker, if the gentleman will yield further, we are taking some of the bills and issues out of the House-passed energy bill that did not find their way into the conference report that is pending before the Senate that the House has already passed. So the major piece of legislation, the Energy Policy Act of 2004, is a restatement of the energy conference report that is pending in the Senate, the ANWR AML bill. There are amendments against ANWR that have failed, but we have had votes on ANWR in this House in the debate on the energy bill leaving the House. The U.S. refinery revitalization bill is a bill that we anticipate being on suspension. The ANWR AML bill will be under rule.

Mr. DeLAY. That is correct. That is what we call the ANWR AML bill.

Mr. DeLAY. We are bringing them home, Mr. Whip.

Mr. DeLAY. Mr. Speaker, I am not privy to the work done by the relevant committees, the most relevant committees, the Committee on Resources and the Committee on Energy and Commerce, as to what they have done or not done with the minority, but as far as the gentleman's question on when Members will be able to see those bills, obviously, as soon as they are introduced, they will be available.