David Dreier

Mr. DREIER

Mr. DREIER. Mr. Speaker, I am happy to yield 1\1/2\ minutes to the very distinguished gentleman from Moore, Oklahoma (Mr. Cole), who serves on both the Committee on Rules and the Committee on Standards of Official Conduct.

Mr. DREIER. Mr. Speaker, at this time I am very happy to yield 1 minute to my good friend, the gentleman from San Diego, California (Mr. Cunningham).

Mr. DREIER. Mr. Speaker, I reserve the balance of my time.

Mr. DREIER. Mr. Speaker, I yield 1 minute to the gentleman from Texas (Mr. Gohmert).

Mr. DREIER. Mr. Speaker, I yield 1 minute to the gentleman from Monticello, Indiana (Mr. Buyer).

Mr. DREIER. Mr. Speaker, I am happy to yield 1\1/2\ minutes to the gentlewoman from Hinsdale, Illinois (Mrs. Biggert), a very hardworking member of the Committee on Standards of Official Conduct.

Mr. DREIER. Mr. Speaker, I yield 2 minutes to the gentleman from Miami, Florida (Mr. Lincoln Diaz-Balart), the distinguished vice chairman of the Committee on Rules.

Mr. DREIER. Mr. Speaker, I have mentioned him several times in my remarks. I am now very pleased to yield 4 minutes to my friend, the gentleman from Pasco, Washington (Mr. Hastings), the hardworking member of the Committee on Ethics who actually chairs the committee and is ready to go to work.

Mr. DREIER. Mr. Speaker, for the purpose of debate only, I yield the customary 30 minutes to my very good friend from Rochester, New York, the distinguished ranking minority Member of the Committee on Rules, the gentlewoman from New York (Ms. Slaughter), pending which I yield myself such time as I may consume. During consideration of this resolution, all time yielded is for the purpose of debate only. Mr. Speaker, this rule provides that upon its adoption, House Resolution 240 will be adopted. This will take us back to the 108th Congress's rules with regard to ethics, word for word, comma for comma, exactly the same rules that existed in the 108th Congress. Mr. Speaker, our Founding Fathers understood the need for Members to scrutinize the actions of their peers. I commend those who, over the years, have volunteered for service to the House as members of the Committee on Standards of Official Conduct. Mr. Speaker, the Father of our great Constitution, James Madison, in Federalist No. 57 said: ``The aim of every political constitution is, or ought to be, first to obtain for rulers men who possess most wisdom to discern, and most virtue to pursue the common good of society; and in the next place, to take the most effectual precautions for keeping them virtuous whilst they continue to hold their public trust.'' Now, it is not surprising that our Constitution contains in Article I, section 5 the peer review requirements for each House of the Congress. Article 1, section 5 is as follows: ``The House shall be the Judge of the Elections, Returns and Qualifications of its own Members,'' and ``may punish its Members for disorderly behavior.'' Now, Mr. Speaker, unfortunately, we have recently seen that there are those who have wanted to use the ethics process for political purposes. At the start of the 109th Congress, our great Speaker, the gentleman from Illinois (Mr. Hastert), decided, along with the membership of the Republican Conference and through a vote of the full House, to include reforms of the ethics process because we believed it was flawed and needed increased transparency and accountability. Mr. Speaker, we still believe that. The reforms adopted at the start of the 109th Congress were an effort to address the fairness of the ethics process. Now, as many of you know, the ethics complaints filed at the end of the 108th Congress placed Members in jeopardy without any notice or opportunity for due process. That is not fair to any Member or to the institution itself. Speaker Hastert justly has been concerned about the rights of every single Member of this institution on both sides of the aisle, and he has also been very concerned about the integrity of this institution in the eyes of the American people. The Members of this great body and the American people deserve a structure which provides due process in the area of ethics. Accordingly, we tried to take political jeopardy out of the ethics process with our changes at the beginning of this Congress. Now, Mr. Speaker, in spite of this ongoing issue with which we have had to contend, we are extraordinarily proud of the fact that we have been able to successfully get the work of the American people done. We have been doing the American people's business with a great deal of success. We have engaged in a rigorous debate over ideas. In just the first few months of this year, the beginning of the 109th Congress, we have shown strong bipartisan support, reaching across the aisle to Democrats and gaining support for funding for our troops, the energy bill, the highway bill, the Continuity of Congress bill, the border security issue, and other issues. And in the legislation that we just passed, 54 Democrats joined with Republicans to once again show that we are working in a bipartisan way to get the work of the American people done. The fact is, the House needs an ethics committee, and today remains without one because, unfortunately, our friends on the other side of the aisle made a decision not to organize. Mr. Speaker, this House needs an ethics committee which can begin its work. Unfortunately, we have seen our friends on the other side of the aisle choose not to organize the ethics committee. I will say that my very good friend, the gentleman from Washington (Mr. Hastings), has worked valiantly to try and reach out and bring together bipartisan compromise to ensure that the ethics committee can get down to work and do its business, so that it can, in fact, comply with Article I, section 5 of the Constitution; and it is a struggle which the gentleman has been involved in for the past several months. And unfortunately, the gentleman has not been as successful as he would like. We believe that with the action that we are about to take here today, that we can now move ahead with depoliticization of the ethics process and do the kinds of things that need to be done. Now, as I said, we stand by the rules changes that we proposed, that underscore the importance of due process and underscore the importance of ensuring that we have an ethics committee which can guarantee the rights of every individual in this institution. But I believe that it is even more important now for us to move back to the rules of the 108th Congress. Why? So that we can, in fact, let the gentleman from Washington (Chairman Hastings) and the gentleman from West Virginia (Mr. Mollohan), the ranking member, and the other members of the ethics committee begin their work. Mr. Speaker, I reserve the balance of my time.

Mr. DREIER. Mr. Speaker, by direction of the Committee on Rules, I call up House Resolution 241 and ask for its immediate consideration.

Mr. DREIER

Mr. DREIER. Mr. Speaker, Republicans and Democrats alike in this House can take a great deal of pride in the work product that has come forward in the 109th Congress. We know that for 8 years there has been an attempt to pass bankruptcy reform legislation, to finally bring some common sense to our bankruptcy law. With a strong bipartisan vote, Democrats joining with Republicans, we finally have been able to bring about bankruptcy reform. We know that frivolous lawsuits have been a tremendous problem, and class action reform is again another very important bipartisan victory that we have been able to bring about. Securing our borders. Our national security is our number one priority in this country. It has to be constitutional, but securing our borders is very important. With a strong, bipartisan vote, we have been able to pass the Real ID legislation which has now been attached to the very supplemental appropriations bill which also enjoyed very strong bipartisan support. The highway bill enjoyed strong bipartisan support with Democrats and Republicans coming together to work on this important issue. We also know that trying to save small businesses and family farms has been very important, and that is why Democrats and Republicans came together to permanently repeal the death tax, one of the most onerous taxes of all, and we also know that dealing with the prospect of a horrible terrorist attack is something that we had not contemplated up until September 11, 2001. Now we have seriously considered the prospect of that by passing very important Continuity in Government legislation which enjoyed the support of 122 Democrats along with Republicans. Mr. Speaker, just last week we saw 41 Democrats joined with Republicans to pass the very important energy legislation geared toward reducing the cost of gasoline which is one of the great challenges our constituents face. We have enjoyed those strong bipartisan victories: bankruptcy, highway, continuity in government, border security, energy, and repeal of the death tax. These are very important bipartisan victories, but it is also important to note that we have had a very important bipartisan win just today, and it is because of the policies of President Bush and the United States Congress that we have been able to see the Syrians, after 3 long decades, finally extricate themselves from Lebanon. I had the privilege of joining with a bipartisan delegation of my colleagues, the gentleman from Florida (Mr. Hastings), the gentleman from Washington (Mr. Hastings), the gentleman from Georgia (Mr. Gingrey), the gentleman from Florida (Mr. Crenshaw) join with us in going into Beirut, Lebanon. We had a chance to meet with young students who were great activists at Martyr's Square at the grave site of Rafik Hariri, the former Prime Minister who was tragically assassinated. These students said because of what the United States of America and the Coalition forces did in Iraq, laying the groundwork for 8.5 million people to vote on January 30, 2005, they were willing to stand up and free their country, and they were willing to die to ensure that the people of Lebanon would be free. Mr. Speaker, I have to say while we have enjoyed a wide range of bipartisan victories in the 109th Congress under the very able leadership of the gentleman from Illinois (Mr. Hastert), it is also very important to note that under his leadership and the leadership of President Bush, we have been able to see democracy spread throughout the Middle East. It is exactly what President Bush said, and thank God we vigorously pursued that policy.

Mr. DREIER

Mr. DREIER. Mr. Speaker, I think it is also important to note that on this trip we also had an opportunity, as we were coming back, to stop and report to our counterparts in the European parliament as we went to Brussels, Belgium. Actually, I spoke about this the other day here on the House floor, Mr. Speaker, when I introduced a resolution calling for negotiations for a U.S.-EU free trade agreement. One of the things that we have found is we were reporting to European parliaments about the importance of this, the developments that we are seeing in the region, and they were very encouraged. Of course, a number of these countries had been strong opponents, very strong opponents to our effort that had taken place in the Middle East and in Iraq. I will never forget the dinner that we had in Brussels when a socialist member of the European parliament from Lisbon, Portugal, stood up, and he was proud to be a socialist. We obviously disagreed on a wide range of issues, but what he said was that in watching both the inaugural address and the State of the Union message delivered by President Bush, in which he talked about the struggle for freedom in Iraq and other parts of the world, that he had never been more proud to hear a statement from a President of the United States, and he had never been in such strong agreement or as inspired by a statement of the President of the United States as he was by the statement from President Bush. In that meeting that we had in Brussels, we were able to get into a number of very important issues with the Europeans that impact the United States. First and foremost, and one of the main reasons that I wanted to stop in Brussels to meet with members of the European commission and European parliamentarians was that we wanted to ensure that we would not see the European Union lift the arms embargo on the sale of weapons to the People's Republic of China. I have been very gratified and I know it was not just our effort because President Bush and Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice had very successful trips. The President had one trip. Secretary of State Rice has had three trips to Europe since she has become Secretary of State, talking about the need to ensure that there is not a lifting of the arms embargo. I am happy to see that since we were there and since these other efforts have been put into place that our European allies have decided not to lift the arms embargo on the transfer of these weapons. We have other trade disputes that exist over the issue of Airbus, some other measures that were put into place by the Europeans, and it is my hope that we can begin negotiations on a European Union-U.S. free trade agreement that will allow us to address many of these concerns that are understandable and have been there. Mr. Speaker, I would be happy to further yield.

Mr. DREIER. Mr. Speaker, if I could reclaim my time, I would say to my friend, if we look at what it is that so many of these young people, in Lebanon especially, stood for, there clearly was, as I was saying, a direct correlation between what is taking place in Iraq and what it is that we are now seeing take place there; the idea of seeing in country after country people saying if they can do it, then we can, too. Now, Lebanon is a nation that has had a long history of democracy. It has been a tradition there for many, many, many decades, but obviously, when they have struggled with this control from Bashar al-Asad and Syria for such a long period of time and his father before that, Hafiz al-Asad, we need to do everything we can, and the United States played a big role in leading in the United Nations Security Council the passage of Resolution 1559 which called for the complete withdrawal of Syrian forces. I will never forget just looking into the eyes of these young people who were there saying, We are willing to die to make sure that the people of Lebanon can be free of the kind of tyranny that has been inflicted on us. Of course, we have continued to see terrorist attack after terrorist attack. Just a couple of days before we were there, there was a huge explosion in the printing factory the Saturday before we went in, and we decided it was very important for us to go anyway so that we could encourage these people and let them know that the international community stands behind them today and this immediate struggle but will be with them for the long pull as they do move towards these elections. One of the things that I am very happy about is that we in the Congress have just played a role in helping in Lebanon, and it will be in other countries, with the establishment of a new commission, the Democracy Advisory Commission, that we are going to have that will provide a chance for Members of the United States House of Representatives to directly work with our counterparts and newly- elected parliaments in other parts of the world, and obviously, Lebanon will, I believe, be a very important part of that as they begin this rebuilding effort.

Mr. DREIER. Mr. Speaker, the gentleman is absolutely right, and when one thinks about the lives that have been lost, the more than 1,500 lives that have been lost in Iraq, the lives lost in Afghanistan and the American lives lost throughout history, and of course, the coalition forces in our entire struggle in the global war on terror, all of this that has taken place is geared towards ensuring the safety and security of the American people, and that, again, it is in our interest to encourage and pursue these kinds of developments. So I would like to just close by expressing my appreciation to my friend from Marietta who not only went on the trip but stayed into Thursday evening for us to have a chance to talk about this important mission, but I also want to express my appreciation to all of our colleagues who took time out from this traditional district work period to make sure that we continue to pursue and encourage the cause of freedom and stability throughout the world. So I thank my friend for his participation, and I thank our colleagues and I thank the American people, Mr. Speaker, for the strong support that they have provided in our quest to ensure that we win this global war on terror and expand political pluralism and freedom for peoples throughout the world.

Mr. DREIER. Well, I thank my friend for his contribution. I want to say that he was very helpful in that effort as well. Mr. Speaker, I would just like to say that as we look at where we are headed in the future, it seems to me that we have gotten to the point where there is an understanding that freedom, economic freedom and political freedom, are interdependent. We need to do everything that we can to encourage people to choose their own leaders, to live under the rule of law, and at the same time, we need to encourage economic opportunity for people all over the world. One of the things that we have learned from this trip that we took is that it is a God-given right and it is something that everyone aspires to. The arrogance that has existed in the past, believing that somehow, some people may not be educated enough or have an understanding or they may be tied to some tribe or some other entity, and so the notion of thinking that they might be able to play a role in choosing their own leaders is extraordinary arrogance on the part of people who hold that view, because I believe that every single person on the face of the earth should have that opportunity to be able to choose their own leaders, to be able to seek economic opportunity for themselves.

Mr. DREIER. I am happy to say to my friend, the gentleman from Florida (Mr. Meek), that as you know, we were particularly proud of the work product we have had over the last 2 days. Of the 30 amendments that were made in order, we saw 22 of those amendments made in order offered by colleagues on your side of the aisle. And we continue to try to do everything we possibly can to ensure a free-flowing debate on a wide range of issues. And obviously the existence of these Special Orders does create an opportunity to do just that. I thank you all very much for being here. Mr. Speaker, I have taken this time out this evening to talk about a very important mission which took place over the Easter District Work Period with a number of our colleagues. And I am very pleased to be joined here in the Chamber by my very good friend, the gentleman from Georgia (Mr. Gingrey), who was a member of this delegation. It also included, this was a rules committee trip, it included the vice-chairman of the Rules Committee, the gentleman from Florida (Mr. Lincoln Diaz-Balart); the chairman of the ethics committee who is also a member of the Rules Committee, the gentleman from Washington (Mr. Hastings); and our friend from Ft. Lauderdale, we had three Floridians actually, the gentleman from Florida (Mr. Hastings of Florida); and we had another Floridian, as I said, the gentleman from Florida (Mr. Crenshaw). So this 6-Member delegation specifically went during a 12-day period, during that district work period to the Middle East. We went to a grand total of eight countries plus the Palestinian territories. And on this trip, Mr. Speaker, we were able to go into Iraq and visit the different regions in Iraq. We went to Fallujah, the Shiia area. We went into Baghdad, the Sunni area, and then we went to Kirkuk in the north which is the Kurdish area. And we had a chance to visit with our troops. We had a chance to meet with people who have been able to be among those 8\1/2\ million Iraqis who on January 30 of this year, for the first time in half a century, participated in free and fair elections. And we were able to see the struggle that is going on. Now, of course we continue to get tragic news from Iraq. This morning we got the report of 12 people who were tragically killed, a contract helicopter went down. We have had a number of our Marines killed in recent days. Just this past week, a very good friend who worked with my chief of staff, Brad Smith, who was in Iraq during the month of January last year, she was a relief worker there, was tragically killed. So, Mr. Speaker, we continue to have very, very tragic news that has come from Iraq. And we regularly see reports of these tragedies. But the thing that was so incredible for this delegation, and I know repeatedly for colleagues of mine who have had the chance to go to Iraq, is that it has shocked many, including yours truly, someone who was a strong supporter of the President, but believed that maybe looking at the January 30 elections, it might not have happened just right, so we might have considered delaying that election. Well, thank God President Bush and Prime Minister Blair and other international leaders, and leaders in Iraq, it was a mixed view in Iraq, but thank God that they went ahead and insisted on holding that election. Because they had a 58.5 percent turnout, as I said 8\1/2\ million Iraqis finally exercising the right to begin the process in this election of the 275-member transitional national assembly. And they elected this national assembly. They have put together a government within the past couple of weeks. And we in our meetings had the chance to meet with the now new prime minister; he had not been selected by the transitional national assembly at the time, Ibrahim Jaffari. We met with the interim prime minister, who is no longer prime minister, but was just for the third time yesterday a target of an assassination attempt, that being Iyad Allawi, the man who delivered a phenomenal address to a joint session of Congress here. And we, as I said a moment ago, also got to see many of our troops, the courageous men and women in uniform. And as I said, Mr. Gingrey is here with us on the House floor, but our entire delegation had the chance to stand before a large group of Marines led by my very good friend, Colonel Mike Shupp, who was there and was one of the key leaders in last November's battle of Fallujah, and to see the dedication and the resolve of our men and women in uniform is something that is inspiring to all of us. Mr. Speaker, to me, one of the most amazing things from having witnessed what we did in Iraq, is that we found President George W. Bush was absolutely right. He was absolutely right when he referred to the fact that by encouraging the effort to rid the Iraqi people of Saddam Hussein and move in the direction of free and fair elections, which, remember, many skeptics all over the world, including here in the United States, said could never happen, how in the world could the Iraqi people actually choose their own leaders? Well, the fact that President Bush insisted on doing that, he was right when he said that the example that we will see in Iraq will spread throughout the region. Well, I have to admit I was not quite as sanguine as he about this. I, of course, as everyone did, hoped that this would be the case, but I did not have the degree of certainty that President Bush obviously had. And I am so gratified that President Bush was absolutely right. And I am able to provide this report, because along with visiting Iraq, this great example that we have now seen based on what took place on January 30, we have seen in country after country, people indicating, leaders indicating that movements towards political pluralism, the rule of law, the development of very important democratic institutions is on the move. It is on the move today. Now, on this trip, as I said, as well as visiting Iraq, we went to Egypt. And in Egypt we had a wide range of meetings with leaders in that country, including the new prime minister, who for the past 8 months has served as prime minister, Prime Minister Nazif. And he referred to the fact that under President Mubarak a decision has been made to actually modify what is called article 76 of the Egyptian Constitution. That is an interesting irony that it is article 76, because we all know what an important number that is in this history of the United States of America: 1776, the year that we declared our independence. But the change in article 76 in Egypt created an opportunity for President Mubarak to establish a chance for multi-candidate elections for the first time in Egypt. We know that there have been very bold, wonderful dynamic and strong military leaders in Egypt, Gamal Abdel Nasser, who was obviously a very, very strong leader. The world remembers in the early 1980s when that dynamic very, very, very bright leader, Anwar Sadat, who had been a leader in the region, was brutally assassinated, and now we for the last 2 decades have seen Hozni Mubarak as president. All of those people, all of those people military leaders in Egypt. But, when we met with Prime Minister Nazif, he made it clear to us that the country is now moving for the first time ever towards multi- candidate elections, that, again, a very encouraging sign for us. He in fact went to the extreme of saying they today regularly have to violate the Constitution of Egypt, it is understood that they have to violate the Constitution of Egypt. Why? Because he described it as a socialist constitution, the constitution which was obviously wrought out of the era of the Soviet Union; and it is a constitution which clearly needs to be rewritten, as they acknowledged to us, and it is something that clearly will take place. He also, this is Prime Minister Nazif, referred to the fact that bold moves towards economic liberalization are taking place. In fact, one of the things that struck us was the fact that in Egypt they have just reduced the top rate, the top corporate tax rate from 42 percent to 22 percent, knowing that that is very important towards encouraging economic growth. They also are looking for their comparative advantage economically. What is it that they are doing in Egypt? We had the chance, my friend, the gentleman from Georgia (Mr. Gingrey) and I and the rest of our delegation, to visit something known as the Smart Village where many of the high tech companies that are based here in the United States have established new operations. In fact, the great leader of Microsoft, Bill Gates, had dedicated a Microsoft facility in this Smart Village just outside Cairo, Egypt. And so we, I believe, saw many, many great things come from that visit. We also visited with the defense minister. It was very impressive to see this individual, who is obviously a strong military leader, indicate when asked the question, what would it be like, would it be possible for a nonmilitary leader to actually be elected president of Egypt? And his response was, if the people of Egypt elect a nonmilitary leader, so be it; that is the way it will be. Another sign that was very, very encouraging in that country. We also had the chance to visit Jordan. In Jordan we met with the deputy prime minister who is providing great leadership in the area of economic and political reform in the country. But we also had a chance to meet with King Abdullah II. And we know that he has worked diligently to try to bring about a resolution to the Israeli- Palestinian question. He, as a Western-educated individual, is someone who has worked a lot to provide leadership on human rights issues for all in the Middle East. And in our meeting he referred to the fact that Jordan at that moment was not in the forefront of political liberalization in the region. He said to us that in 6 months we will be in touch and he assured us that Jordan will, in fact, be in the forefront. And I was happy to see that just a week or two ago he removed over half of his cabinet and is obviously on the road towards creating the kind of political liberalization to go hand in hand with the very important economic liberalization that he has already pursued. We have been part of that, of course, by virtue of our having established a U.S.-Jordan free trade agreement. So we are very, very excited to see the things that took place there and are continuing to take place there. We also had the chance to visit Israel and the Palestinian territories. Mr. Speaker, we all know what a challenge that has been for years and years and years, and we have seen attempts made to try and bring about a resolution. We happen to be in the Knesset just as they completed the vote on what was called disengagement. It was a referendum on the government and it has to do specifically with the disengagement, the removal of 3,000 settlers from Gaza. And it was a vote that by a two-to-one margin, nearly two-to-one margin prevailed for the Sharon government and an indication that great steps are being made towards the resolution of the Israeli-Palestinian issue. We also went to Ramallah in the Palestinian territories and met with a number of the leaders there, Hanan Ashrawi, a woman who has been one of the great proponents of women's rights and a leader in the Palestinian area. We met with the opponents of Mahmoud Abbas, Mr. Barghouti, and we talked about the challenges that exist in the relationship and the fact that on January 9 of this year 1 million Palestinians participated, following the death of Yasser Arafat, in this free and fair election, which is again an indication that we are seeing great progress made in that region. One of the most moving experiences we had, of course, was when we went to Beirut, Lebanon. And in going to Lebanon, Mr. Speaker, we were literally there on the heels of the tremendous uprising that we saw take place, probably 6 weeks ago at this point, when on one occasion a quarter of a million young people and other Lebanese gathered in what is now known as Martyr Square. And on another occasion a million people gathered in Martyr Square. Why? To protest the fact that for 3 long decades the Syrians have basically thrust themselves into and controlled Lebanon. And we know that there has been great civil strife in Lebanon in the past, but we have witnessed the Syrian involvement which has been so extraordinarily great in that area. Well, we stood at the graveside site of Rafik Hariri, who tragically was assassinated and we stood with students who said to us that they felt as if they had been in jail. And they said, We are in the process of breaking from this jail and we today are willing to give our lives to ensure that the people of Lebanon will be free of Syrian control. They were inspired by a couple of factors. The efforts that the United States and the Coalition forces put together to allow the opportunity for the people of Iraq to be free of Saddam Hussein and to see 8.5 million of them participate in their election, coupled with again, the tragic assassination of the revered former Prime Minister, Rafik Hariri. These events led to this huge uprising. I am very happy to report that this afternoon, or this morning, I met with the deputy chief of mission, our deputy chief of mission in Beirut. He was here in town, Chris Murray, and he talked about the reports that we have seen about 95 percent of the Syrian forces including the intelligence operation, along with the military leaving Lebanon, and he felt very strongly that by the end of April we will see all of the Syrian forces out of Lebanon. The law calls for an election to be held by the 31st of May. And we were there encouraging that election to take place. We are happy to get the report that every indication that we have is that the elections in Lebanon will, in fact, take place. And it was a great experience, a wonderful one, and very inspiring to see these courageous human beings. We met with opposition members of parliament who were there, including a man called Mr. Hamadeh, who 6 months ago was nearly killed, and you could still see the burns on his face from a terrorist attack that he had suffered. But he was willing to stand up for the cause of freedom in this country. Mrs. Mouawad, who is the widow of a former prime minister who, in 1991, had been assassinated, and a wide range of very dynamic leaders who are looking forward to a strong future in Lebanon. Now, one of the questions that exists is the commitment of the United States and the international community for the future of Lebanon because it is clear that over the past several few decades we have had a mixed record there in dealing with encouragement of support for the people of Lebanon. And I am very happy to say that this administration and the United States Congress will stand proudly with the people of Lebanon as they pursue this goal of greater self-determination, free of Syrian control. Mr. Speaker, it is important to note that this is all in the interest of our national security. This is all in the interest of the national security of the United States of America. President Bush has said time and time again, democratically elected leaders in countries do not attack others. If we can see more democracy take place throughout the world, it is obvious that we will diminish the kind of threat that has existed for the United States of America. As we encourage economic growth in country after country, I am convinced that we will see a diminution in the attraction that many young people, who are hungry, have towards international terrorism. In fact, I remember talking to a number of people who said if we had a percentage point or two of economic growth in Pakistan and Afghanistan, we might have avoided what took place on September 11 because many of the people who were involved in terrorism are seeking economic opportunity in so doing. Not all. I am not so naive as to believe that all are, but many people are attracted because they have nothing else to do and no economic opportunity. So as we encourage the economic and political liberalization that is taking place today in the region, it clearly will play a big role in focusing on stability in that long troubled part of the world; and at the same time it will play a big role in ensuring our national security and the security of the neighbors throughout that area. Now, as I said, I was joined on this trip by five of my colleagues, and it is after 7 o'clock and we finished a very long night last night working on the energy bill. We finally completed that this afternoon. I am very happy to be joined by a distinguished member of the House Committee on Rules, who was a very important part of this delegation. Mr. Speaker, I would like to yield to my friend from Marietta, Georgia (Mr. Gingrey) at this time.

Mr. DREIER. Mr. Speaker, let me say that I again thank both of my colleagues earlier for yielding to me. And I would invite them to stay and participate if they would like, and I will be happy to yield to them at any point. I know it is now 10 minutes of 7:00 and you would probably like to go. I would be happy to yield to my friends.

Mr. DREIER

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

Mr. DREIER

Mr. DREIER. Mr. Speaker, I thank my friend for yielding. I am preparing to make some remarks myself about Middle East policy in just a few minutes. But when I heard about this drop in the Dow, I just wanted to state for the record, and my colleagues may not have heard it today, that the largest gain in the Dow Jones industrial average took place today, the largest gain in 2 years, and the largest gain in about 9 months in the NASDAQ. So I just wanted to say that, for the record we had an over-200 point gain in the Dow today. How it fluctuates, I think that is just an important point I wanted to make.

Mr. DREIER

Mr. DREIER. Mr. Speaker, the Committee on Rules may meet next week to grant a rule which could limit the amendment process for floor consideration of H.R. 748, the Child Interstate Abortion Notification Act, which I suspect will be discussed by my friends, the gentleman from Maryland (Mr. Hoyer) and the gentleman from Texas (Mr. DeLay), in just a moment. Any Member wishing to offer an amendment should submit 55 copies of the amendment and one copy of a brief explanation of the amendment to the Committee on Rules in room H-312 of the Capitol by noon on Tuesday, April 26, 2005. Members should draft their amendments to the bill as reported by the Committee on the Judiciary by April 13, 2005. Members are advised that the report of the Committee on the Judiciary was filed today, and Members are also advised that the text of the reported bill should be available for their review on the Web sites of the Committee on the Judiciary and the Committee on Rules by Friday, April 22, 2005. Members should use the Office of Legislative Counsel to ensure that their amendments are drafted in the most appropriate format and should check with the Office of the Parliamentarian to be certain their amendments comply with the rules of the House.

Mr. DREIER

Mr. DREIER. I thank the gentleman for yielding me this time, and I appreciate his managing this rule. Mr. Speaker, gasoline prices, gasoline prices, gasoline prices. That is what my constituents are talking to me about. And they do not need to talk to me about it. All I need to do is go and try to fill my car up myself, which I do, and I will tell the Members that it is very clear that those prices have continued to increase. They are increasing, in large part, because of global demand and the fact that we have to do everything that we possibly can to ensure that we move in the direction of alternative sources of energy and making sure that we have access to obtain domestic energy self-sufficiency. We have a rule here which is a very fair and balanced rule. I wish we could have made a lot more amendments in order, but we made 30 amendments in order on this measure. In the 107th Congress, we made 16 amendments in order; in the 108th Congress, 22 amendments made in order; and now, in the 109th Congress, 30 amendments made in order. Twenty-two of those 30 amendments were offered by Democrats. Three of those 30 amendments made in order are bipartisan amendments, Democrats and Republicans joining together to offer amendments, and five of those 30 amendments are offered by Republicans. I believe that we are going to allow for the debate to take place on a wide range of issues. I want to congratulate all of my colleagues and committee chairmen who have worked on this. The gentleman from Texas (Mr. Barton), the gentleman from California (Mr. Thomas), the gentleman from New York (Mr. Boehlert), and my good friend, the gentleman from California (Mr. Pombo), who is here in the Chamber. Lots of people have worked to fashion this very, very important piece of legislation. It has been in the works for 6 years. We have been this close, this close to making it happen in the past, Mr. Speaker, and unfortunately, the fact that we have not been able to make it happen in the past has played a role in increasing the cost of gasoline, has played a role in ensuring that we have not been able to pursue alternative sources of energy, has played a role in making us more dependent on foreign sources of oil. So, Mr. Speaker, I will say that I believe that we now are on the verge of what will be another great bipartisan victory in this Congress. I am very proud that Democrats and Republicans have come together in large numbers on both sides to pass bankruptcy reform legislation, class action reform legislation, our Continuity of Congress bill, permanent repeal of the death tax, and passage of the REAL I.D. Border Security Act. All of these measures have passed with between 42 and 122 Democrats joining with Republicans to make sure they pass. Tomorrow, we are going to pass out this measure, again with strong, bipartisan support, ensuring that we work together to get the work of the American people done. Support this rule and support the passage of this very important legislation.

Mr. DREIER

Mr. DREIER. Mr. Speaker, it is hard to believe, but it was 2 long decades ago that we saw tyranny in Central America bring war and turmoil to our doorstep. Today, through U.S. assistance and the resolve of our neighbors to the south, civil war has been replaced by burgeoning democracies and free markets. Chaos has been replaced with the growing prevalence of the rule of law. Rather than a growing national security threat, this region has become an increasingly reliable partner in the war on terror, drug interdiction, and migration control. As fellow democracies, we are bound together by geography and a common commitment to liberty. With the Dominican Republic Central American Free Trade Agreement, we have an opportunity to solidify this success and lock in the tremendous political and economic progress that has been made. President Bush has made it clear that advancing the cause of freedom and liberty is central to our foreign policy goals. Passage of the DR-CAFTA will be a significant step forward in ensuring that the institutions of democracy and political pluralism are firmly entrenched throughout this hemisphere.

Mr. DREIER

Mr. DREIER. Mr. Speaker, yesterday the very distinguished chairman of the Committee on International Relations, the gentleman from Illinois (Mr. Hyde), announced his planned retirement for the end of this Congress. I would like to say this is my 25th year that I have been honored to serve here in the Congress, and I have served with no finer public servant than the gentleman from Illinois (Mr. Hyde). The gentleman from Illinois (Mr. Hyde) has clearly been a principled leader who has provided bold and dynamic examples for us in a wide range of areas. We all know that he was a great champion in the effort to ensure that we do not see taxpayer dollars expended on abortion-on- demand. We know the key role that he played in dealing with the challenge that we faced with impeachment. We know that in recent years he has been suffering physically. I have got to say that the Chaplain is here in the Chamber, and I will never forget at the unveiling of the portrait of the gentleman from Illinois (Mr. Hyde) when he said that he was instructed when he became the Chaplain that he refer to everyone by their given name, except for one individual. The gentleman from Illinois to him is Mr. Hyde. And while I am privileged to call him Henry, I will tell you that I will greatly miss him when he is not a Member of the next Congress.

Mr. DREIER

Mr. DREIER. I yield to the gentleman from Massachusetts.

Mr. DREIER. Mr. Speaker, reclaiming my time, the chairman of the Committee on the Judiciary is absolutely right. We reported out a modified closed rule that provided the gentleman from North Dakota (Mr. Pomeroy) an opportunity to not only offer his substitute, but he could have offered a motion to recommit. So two bites at the apple. The exact same opportunity existed on this bill which has gone through Congress after Congress with an excess of 300 votes in the past. We said a substitute would have been made in order if it had been submitted to us in the Committee on Rules.