Jimmy Duncan

Mr. DUNCAN

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

Mr. DUNCAN

Mr. DUNCAN. Madam Speaker, I rise today to honor a Tennessean on his 70th birthday whose scientific accomplishments have had an incalculable impact on the medical community and our Nation. In 1969, Dr. Ronald Nutt received a PhD in Electrical Engineering at the University of Tennessee. In the nearly 40 years which followed, he pioneered technology which has saved countless lives and brought distinction to East Tennessee and the University of Tennessee. Even those who have never heard of Positron Emission Tomography (PET) probably know someone who has been helped by it. PET is a non-invasive technique which can map the entire body with molecular imaging. Pioneered and internationally marketed by Dr. Nutt, PET is a critical tool today in medicine, and the method is widely used in the fields of oncology, cardiology, and neurology. PET has saved countless lives by innovatively detecting tumors, improving biopsies, and helping to determine the stage of a disease. The effect of PET scanning was so extraordinary, Dr. Nutt was named Distinguished Scientist of the Year in 1999 and received the TIME Magazine Medical Innovation of the Year honor in December 2000. Dr. Nutt's lifetime of developing this technology has led to many other discoveries. He is the holder of dozens of patents in the field of electrical engineering, with many more still pending. Prior to his work on PET technology, Dr. Nutt took a products business from a single employee to a $10 million a year business in the 1980s. Today, he sits on the board of directors of several companies and continues to be a leader his field. Dr. Nutt is not only an example of American ingenuity, but his work is also the benchmark for success in his field. His professional accomplishments are equal in scope only with his personal character and continued devotion to family, community, and many worthy causes. Madam Speaker, in closing, I urge my colleagues to join me in celebrating the career of Dr. Ronald Nutt on the occasion of his 70th birthday. His work is far from over, but his impact is already certain.

Mr. DUNCAN

Mr. DUNCAN. Mr. Speaker, I have no further speakers, and I yield back the balance of my time.

Mr. DUNCAN. Mr. Speaker, I yield myself as much time as I may consume. Mr. Speaker, H.R. 831 introduced by our distinguished colleague, Don Young, conveys approximately 12 acres of National Forest System land to the City of Coffman Cove. The City of Coffman Cove, Alaska, is a small community with about 200 residents that developed around the Tongass National Forest logging camp and work site. The 12-acre Forest Service site is now in the middle of town, and a new ferry terminal is planned for an adjacent parcel. The location of most of the Forest Service site makes it difficult and inefficient for the Forest Service to manage and an obstacle to the future development and design of the city's downtown. Conveyance of the Forest Service site would benefit both the Forest Service and the city in this regard. In short, this noncontroversial bill simply conveys to Coffman Cove a small parcel of Forest Service land for which the Forest Service has no use. I urge my colleagues to support the bill.

Mr. DUNCAN

Mr. DUNCAN. Mr. Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may consume, and I will simply rise to say this: I believe that Chairman Rahall has adequately described this bill. I reserve the balance of my time.

Mr. DUNCAN. I have no further speakers, and I yield back the balance of my time.

Mr. DUNCAN

Mr. DUNCAN. Mr. Speaker, oil has hit $118 a barrel. Gas is $3.50 to $4 a gallon. Fox News this morning said some experts say it will be $5 a gallon by later this summer. Most environmental radicals and extremists seem to come from very wealthy or very upper-income families. They want gas to go even higher so people will drive less. Perhaps the wealthy leaders of the Sierra Club and some of these other environmental groups aren't being hurt, but they are really hurting the poor and the lower income and the working people of this country. We don't need to produce all of our oil here domestically, but if we would just start producing a little bit more, then some of the OPEC countries and foreign energy producers would hold their prices down. We need to not let this country be sent into a deeper recession by environmental extremists and radicals.

Mr. DUNCAN

Mr. DUNCAN. Mr. Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may consume. Mr. Speaker, it's appropriate that the Snake River Birds of Prey National Conservation Area be named after Morley Nelson. Morley Nelson demonstrated how private voluntary wildlife conservation efforts can be far more effective than big Federal programs and showed that punitive laws, like the Endangered Species Act, can inhibit and interfere with more creative approaches. He worked with Idaho Power to redesign their towers and power lines so eagles would not be electrocuted when they landed on them. This not only saved the eagles; it saved Idaho Power the substantial cost of power disruptions. He worked with private falconers to create a captive breeding and release program that was so successful, the peregrine falcon was one of the first species taken off the endangered species list. The Fish and Wildlife Service has yet to achieve a comparable recovery after more than 30 years. I am pleased to see Morley Nelson recognized for his great conservation achievements. Mr. Speaker, I yield back the balance of my time.

Mr. DUNCAN

Mr. DUNCAN. Mr. Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may consume. H.R. 5151 will designate portions of the Monongahela National Forest in West Virginia as wilderness, and it is my understanding that Members of Congress whose districts are affected support the bill. Although we should give considerable deference to those who have been elected to represent the people in the area, I do not necessarily agree that wilderness designation is always the wisest conservation decision we can make. Wilderness designation is the most restrictive policy we can impose on an area, and there are often far better, more creative ways to conserve our forests and other natural areas. In many instances, it is a mistake to foreclose active management options that can improve fish and game habitat, increase recreational access and lessen the severity of wildfires. And to protect our economic well- being, provide jobs for young people and protect our national security, our country is going to need continued access to the rich resources our own public lands provide. We now have over 100 million acres in wilderness areas, and we keep adding to that at a record level. And we are very close to getting to the point where that's beginning to hurt us economically at a time when we don't need more blows to our economy. Nevertheless, I do wish the people of West Virginia good luck living around these wilderness areas, and I know that they, like the people of my State, will in the long run prove to be better guardians of their mountains, rivers and wildlife than bureaucrats in Washington. I yield back the balance of my time.

Mr. DUNCAN. Mr. Speaker, at this time I yield such time as she may consume to the gentlelady from West Virginia (Mrs. Capito).

Mr. DUNCAN

Mr. DUNCAN. Madam Speaker, I rise today to celebrate the 125th anniversary of the National Crittenton Foundation, a national organization dedicated to supporting and empowering young women and girls at-risk. More than a century ago, founder Charles Crittenton and his colleague, Dr. Kate Waller Barrett, began an international movement to help homeless, pregnant women and their babies. Today, the unique partnership between The National Crittenton Foundation and the Crittenton Family of Agencies carries on this mission through a national network of affiliated independent, local organizations. As a leading member of the Crittenton Family of Agencies, the Florence Crittenton Agency in Knoxville, Tennessee has worked tirelessly to ensure that the children, families, and pregnant young women of East Tennessee have the best possible services. I am proud to have such an upstanding organization located in my congressional district. Founded in 1896 under the proud leadership of Mrs. Annie McGhee McClung, the Knoxville organization experienced a period of decline during wars and the Great Depression, but the challenges facing young women and girls remained. Seeing the great need that still existed, seven Knoxville community leaders signed a second Charter of Incorporation on October 1, 1963, ushering in a new era of innovative services and support. Through its active participation with The National Crittenton Foundation and the Crittenton Family of Agencies, the Florence Crittenton Agency in Knoxville continues to strengthen communities and have a positive impact on East Tennessee. In closing, Madam Speaker, I ask that my colleagues join me in recognizing the National Crittenton Foundation and Knoxville's Florence Crittenton Agency on this historic occasion and thank them for their ongoing commitment to our communities and to our country.

Mr. DUNCAN

Mr. DUNCAN. Mr. Speaker, oil prices have reached $112, $113 a barrel, an all-time high. Gas prices have reached an average of $3.50 a gallon and in some places even higher, and the only people who seem to be happy about this are Sierra Club and some of these other environmental groups. I have noticed that almost all of these environmental radicals or environmental extremists seem to come from very wealthy or very upper-income families. They are elitist types, and perhaps they're not concerned when their policies destroy jobs and drive up prices because who they're really hurting are the poor and the lower income and the working people in this country. As the previous speaker, Mr. Poe, pointed out, now some of these environmental groups, their policies are causing food prices to go up worldwide and, in many countries, leading to starvation. But once again, the environmentalists are hurting the poor and the lower-income and the working people. So perhaps they don't care. About a year and a half ago in one of my newsletters I wrote this: I said, many experts are still predicting that the price of oil, and thus the price of gas, is going to go way back up. Environmental groups think this is good because it will force people to drive less. However, many people already have difficulty paying their gas bills, especially people from small towns in rural areas where many people have to drive long distances to go to work. And I might add, Mr. Speaker, that when you drive these gas prices up, as some of these environmental groups want, to $4, or $5, or $6 a gallon so people will drive less, you'll put the final nails in the coffins of some of the small towns in rural areas. The environmental groups loudly complain about urban sprawl, but yet their policies are leading to more urban sprawl as they continue to drive up these gas prices. Syndicated columnist Walter Williams wrote recently, ``If I were an OPEC big cheese, I would easily conclude I could restrict output and charge higher prices were U.S. oil drilling restricted. I would see environmental groups as allies and make `charitable' contributions to help them reduce U.S. output,'' and that's something I thought for quite some time that these OPEC and countries and foreign energy producers I'm sure are contributing big money to these environmental groups, and they're receiving huge multi-million dollar contributions that they were refusing to disclose the source of. Leonardo Mangeri, of the Italian energy company ENI, said, there are proven oil reserves now, economically and technologically recoverable, of 1.1 trillion barrels, or 38 years of world usage. In addition, he says there are another 2 trillion barrels of recoverable reserves that will be obtainable as technology improves over the next few years. Also, the International Energy Administration, Mr. Speaker, estimates that at current prices, it will be economic to recover at least another 2 trillion barrels of petroleum from tar sands and oil shale. Just a couple of months ago, I wrote in another newsletter this: Gas prices are far too high and probably will go even higher. They could be much lower, but very powerful environmental groups want them to go higher so people will drive less. Thus, we have put 85 percent or 611 million acres of the outer continental shelf off limits to oil production. We will not allow drilling in 99.9 percent of Alaska where oil could be found, and have prohibited or restricted production in other parts of the U.S. We've also placed so many rules, regulations and red tape on all types of domestic energy production that small- and medium-sized businesses cannot compete or even enter these industries in the first place. All of these productions can be done in environmentally safe ways. Some of these environmental groups help the big business giants and foreign energy producers tremendously, but they are really hurting lower- and middle-income people.

Mr. DUNCAN

Mr. DUNCAN. Madam Speaker, the front page of the Washington Post today carries a story about $295 billion in cost overruns at the Pentagon; $295 billion. That is a mind-boggling, almost incomprehensible figure to anyone who stops to think about it. The headline reads, ``GAO Blasts Weapons Budget.'' Listen to this story. Government auditors issued a scathing review yesterday of dozens of the Pentagon's biggest weapons systems, saying ships, aircraft and satellites are billions of dollars over budget and years behind schedule. The story continues, ``The Government Accountability Office found that 95 major systems have exceeded their original budgets by a total of $295 billion, bringing their total cost to $1.6 trillion and are delivered almost 2 years late, on average. Apparently, there are no fiscal conservatives at the Pentagon. Apparently they believe that the Congress will just keep giving them more money, no matter how wasteful or inefficient they become. Of course, almost all the defense contractors hire plenty of admirals and generals, so almost all of these contracts are sweetheart deals anyway. It is what the International Herald Tribune a few years ago called the ``revolving door'' at the Pentagon. $1.6 trillion in total costs, and $295 billion in cost overruns, and this was just on the major systems. No telling how much more was wasted on the smaller contracts. $295 billion would run the entire government of Tennessee, schools, health care, roads, prisons, parks, and on and on for the next 11 years. Then, on top of all this waste, the request for the Iraq War for the coming fiscal year is $189 billion, or over $500 million a day. Apparently we are having so much success over there that we have to give them more money, more troops and more contractors than ever before. There is nothing fiscally conservative about the war in Iraq. Conservatives, above all, should realize that any gigantic government bureaucracy is always going to ask for more money and always find reasons to justify it. And Congress is afraid to cut the Defense Department for fear of being seen as unpatriotic. Yet, it is a very false and very blind patriotism that allows the Pentagon to continually waste mega billions and allows the Defense Department to spend like there is no tomorrow. In a few short years, we will not be able to pay all of our Social Security, Medicare, veterans' pensions, veterans' health care and many other things if we do not bring Federal spending under some type of control. In a newsletter I sent to my constituents in Tennessee a few weeks ago I wrote these words before I knew about these cost overruns I've spoken about today. ``Jonah Goldberg wrote in a recent issue of National Review that the `insight that involvement abroad fuels the expansion of the state was central to the formation of the modern conservative and libertarian movements.' ``In other words, perpetual war leads to bigger government and goes very much against traditional conservatism. ``Yet some conservatives have fallen into a trap of never questioning any military expenditure even though there is great waste and overspending in the military just as there is in any giant government bureaucracy. ``Our Constitution is a very conservative document, and our founding fathers felt very strongly that we should have civilian control of the military: ``Service in our military is very honorable and patriotic, but we need strong national defense, not international defense. ``We simply cannot afford to be the policeman of the world, and with the speed of communication and transportation today, we do not need our military in so many countries. ``Conservatives should support an efficient, fiscally conservative military, but it should not believe in turning the Department of Defense into the Department of Foreign Aid as it is in many ways today.''

Mr. DUNCAN

Mr. DUNCAN. Mr. Speaker, first I want to commend David Walker for his years of service as U.S. Comptroller General, heading up the Government Accountability Office. Mr. Walker is a highly respected CPA from Atlanta and for the last few years has been trying to be a Paul Revere about the horrible financial condition of the Federal Government. He has appeared before many Congressional committees and on television and has traveled around the country trying to sound the alarm about our $9 trillion national debt, and, even worse, our $53 trillion in unfunded future pension liabilities. Two days ago in the Washington Times he was quoted from testimony he gave about Iraqi oil revenues. ``The Iraqis have a budget surplus,'' Mr. Walker said. ``We have a huge budget deficit. One of the questions is who should be paying.'' Stewart Bowen, Inspector General for Iraq reconstruction, said increased production, along with the highest oil prices in history, ``coalesce into an enormous windfall for the Iraqi government.'' Mr. Bowen said Iraqi oil revenue is now around $60 billion, and probably headed higher. Most estimates are that we have been spending approximately $12 billion a month on the war in Iraq, a really astounding figure if you stop to think about it. However, even worse, the request for this fiscal year is $189 billion, or $15.75 billion a month. This comes out to $500 million a day. There is certainly nothing fiscally conservative about the war in Iraq. William F. Buckley, Jr., was an inspiring figure to almost every conservative Republican. In the current issue of the New Republic, John Judis begins an article about Mr. Buckley in this way: ``In the last years of his life, William F. Buckley, Jr., who died on February 27 at the age of 82, broke with many of his fellow conservatives by pronouncing the Iraq war a failure. He even expressed doubt about as to whether George W. Bush is really a conservative, and he asked the same about neoconservatives.'' Mr. Buckley wrote in 2004 that if he had known in 2002 what he then knew, he would have opposed the war in Iraq. More significantly, in June of 2005, he wrote, ``A respect for the power of the United States is engendered by our success in engagements in which we take part. A point is reached when tenacity conveys not steadfastness of purpose, but misapplication of pride.'' Mr. Buckley continued, ``It can't reasonably be disputed that if in the year ahead the situation in Iraq continues as bad as it has done in the past year, we will have suffered more than another 500 soldiers killed. Where there had been skepticism about our venture, there will then be contempt.'' The major difference is that instead of just 500 more soldiers killed, we have had more than 2,000 killed since Mr. Buckley wrote that. Earlier in 2005 he had written that the time had come to get out. There is nothing traditionally conservative about the war in Iraq. It is huge deficit spending. It is massive foreign aid. It is placing really the entire burden of enforcing U.N. resolutions on our taxpayers and our military, when conservatives have traditionally been the biggest critics of the U.N. This war has gone against every traditional conservative position. In addition, our Constitution does not give us the authority to govern Iraq, which is what in reality we have been doing. All this against an enemy whose military budget was only a little over two- tenths of one percent of ours, most of which was used by Saddam Hussein to build castles and protect himself and his family. Iraq was no threat to us whatsoever. As the conservative columnist Charley Reese wrote, ``The war in Iraq was against a country that was not attacking us, did not have the means to attack us, and had never expressed any intention of attacking us. And for whatever real reason we attacked Iraq, it was not to save America from any danger, imminent or otherwise.'' Similarly, nationally-syndicated columnist Georgie Ann Guyer wrote a few months after the war started, ``Critics of the war against Iraq have said since the beginning of the conflict that Americans, still strangely complacent about overseas wars being waged by minorities in their name, will inevitably come to a point where they will see they have to have a government that provides services at home or one that seeks empires across the globe.'' Finally, Mr. Speaker, we have to choose. Do we keep spending mind- boggling amounts of money in Iraq, or do we keep our promises to our own people? We cannot afford to do both.

Mr. DUNCAN

Mr. DUNCAN. Mr. Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may consume. And I appreciate the remarks of our distinguished Speaker, and also Chairman DeFazio. And I would like to also add my voice to support for this House Resolution 936. This resolution was introduced by Representative Blumenauer and cosponsored by Chairman Oberstar, Highways and Transit Subcommittee Chairman DeFazio, the subcommittee of which I have the privilege of being the ranking member, and Representative Petri, to honor the 200th anniversary of the Gallatin report on roads and canals, a first-of-its-kind assessment for Federal interests and investment in our Nation's transportation infrastructure. In 1808, when he presented the report, Secretary of the Treasury Albert Gallatin urged the Federal Government to focus on three basic concepts. The first concept was that it is appropriate for the Federal Government to finance transportation projects that transcend local needs. Second, only projects that yield a return on investment should be constructed. Third, a nationwide system of transportation is essential in the interest of national defense. All of these concepts that Gallatin proposed 200 years ago are relevant to the challenges that our Nation faces today and in the future. I also appreciate that the resolution has incorporated the need for a new national transportation plan. Ranking Member Mica has, for some time, advocated for a new national transportation plan that provides a long-term strategic approach to funding our Nation's transportation infrastructure system so that we can continue to be competitive in a worldwide economy. I believe that Secretary Gallatin would have supported this type of vision for the future of our transportation system, and I certainly hope that my colleagues will as well. I have said many times, Mr. Speaker, that the people in Tennessee use the roads in Ohio and California, and people in New York and Michigan use the roads in Tennessee. There is very much a significant and legitimate national interest in our transportation system in this country. Also, I appreciated the Speaker's remarks about the need to invest in and improve our Nation's infrastructure. I heard someone say about the last stimulus package that what we were really doing was borrowing money from China so that the people could go out and buy Chinese products. If we spend money on our infrastructure, we will be spending that money here and the money will be going to American workers to do these projects. And many of them are very, very necessary. Mr. Speaker, I think this resolution is very appropriate, and I urge my colleagues to support this. Mr. Speaker, I reserve the balance of my time.

Mr. DUNCAN. Mr. Speaker, I have no other speakers, and once again I urge support for this resolution. I will say this: We have had many, many hearings in the Transportation and Infrastructure Committee about the need to greatly improve our infrastructure in this country. We attempted, in the last highway bill, to put in some environmental streamlining. These projects are taking about three times as long and costing about three times as much because of environmental rules and regulations and red tape. We have got to speed up these infrastructure projects. The other developed nations are doing these projects in a third or half the time that we are, and that's going to really harm this country in the future if we don't speed these projects up. Also, if we don't have more domestic energy production, we're going to make ourselves much more vulnerable to foreign energy producers, but we're not going to be able to afford the infrastructure projects that we really need to do in this country. So those are two thoughts that we need to take into consideration when we consider a resolution like this. But I commend my colleagues, Chairman DeFazio and Mr. Blumenauer and Mr. Petri, for this resolution, and I urge its support. Mr. Speaker, I yield back the balance of my time.

Mr. DUNCAN. Mr. Speaker, I have agreed to reserve my time so the Speaker may be yielded to.

Mr. DUNCAN

Mr. DUNCAN. Madam Speaker, I rise today to recognize Knoxville College, a predominantly African-American institution in my hometown. On March the 6th, Knoxville College will hold its 110th Founder's Day Celebration. The school was founded by Reverend Joseph Gillespie McKee, a Presbyterian minister who came to the United States from Ireland in 1852. It was during the American Civil War that Mr. McKee settled in Nashville, Tennessee and organized the school for black people. East Tennessee was settled primarily by very poor Irish and Scots- Irish immigrants and in 1875 the school was moved from Nashville to Knoxville, Tennessee, where it stands today. Thousands of graduates have gone on to serve our country and communities well in their chosen fields. Today, many young people come from all over the United States and several other countries to receive the special attention that Knoxville College can give. I am very proud to have this College in my hometown, and I am sure they will continue to serve its students well for many years to come.

Mr. DUNCAN

Mr. DUNCAN. Madam Speaker, I had the privilege this past Saturday to attend the 100th birthday party for Mrs. Lois Kelly. Mrs. Kelly is a very special, even amazing, woman. She has the beauty and spirit of a woman 20 years younger. It is simply hard to believe she is 100. She is still very active, and I was told she recently bought a new Cadillac. The article below by Robert Booker, describes her much better than I ever could. Suffice it to say that through her work in education and her church and home, she has helped make this Nation a much better place. Lois Kelly is a great American, and I was very honored to join many others in her birthday celebration. I would like to encourage my colleagues and other readers of the Record to read the column by Mr. Booker, which ran in the February 26 issue of the Knoxville News Sentinel. Lois Kilgore Kelly--A Century of Service (By Robert J. Booker) Two years ago while moping around the house suffering from one of those virus things, I got a delightful telephone call. I had committed to participating in a program in the city but had to cancel. Unfortunately, when the word of my illness circulated, some people had me sicker than I really was. The phone call I got offering assistance came from a 98- year-old woman who wanted to make me some soup or go to the drugstore for me. I had to chuckle at the thought of a woman of that advanced age running an errand for me. But it was no surprise that Lois Kilgore Kelly would make such an offer. I had known her almost 60 years and was very familiar with her community activities. She is one of the most outgoing, energetic, enthusiastic people one can meet. She can be seen attending various community functions, participating in organizational meetings and offering sympathy at funerals. She seems to be everywhere and drives her own car to get there. Seventy-nine years ago ``The Knoxville Negro,'' a book of 1929 published a chronicle of black life in Knoxville and noted Mrs. Kelly in its youth section. Under the heading of ``Who's Who Among the Negro Youth of Knoxville 1928-1929,'' the publication said. ``The sons and daughters of today are the fathers and mothers of tomorrow. This section offers a view of prospective Negro leadership.'' The 1929 sketch on her said, ``Lois Kilgore is preparing to make a worthwhile contribution to the educational field. Her ambitions are to become a good housewife and to teach. She recites and is an active member of the Church of God.'' I first met Mrs. Kelly in 1947 when I became a seventh- grade student at Green School. although she was not one of my teachers, I saw her many times. It seems that she always had a smile as she does today. I have never seen her when she is not cheerful. She was born in Kingsport, Tenn., Feb. 23, 1908, and moved to Knoxville at an early age and attended the Normal Department at Knoxville College. She graduated from Knoxville Colored High School in 1927 and received her bachelor of arts degree in elementary education from Tennessee State University in Nashville in 1931. Mrs. Kelly began her teaching career in 1932 in Covington, Tenn., before returning to Knoxville in 1934 to teach at Green School. The principal was Charles W. Cansler who had been her principal when she was a student at Knoxville Colored High School. She said it was an honor to have him select her as one of his teachers. She taught there 22 years. She later taught at Cansler Elementary School named for Cansler's mother. She also taught at Maynard and Lonsdale elementary schools before retiring in 1994 after 60 years of service in the school system. Early in her teaching career, she was visiting a friend in Nashville and met Curtis Kelly, an up and coming young man who, she said, ``swept her off her feet.'' They married in 1940 when he moved here to take a job with the Tennessee Valley Authority. After his service in the Army he attended Meharry Medical School of Dentistry and set up his practice here in 1951. Mrs. Kelly and her husband became very active in the Democratic Party and worked tirelessly to register people to vote. They worked at the polls and helped to sponsor rallies to bring out the vote. along the way, she took, time to be active in the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People and held various offices at Shiloh Presbyterian Church, where she has been a member for 74 years. During the sit-in movements of the 1960s, she helped to transport Knoxville College students to and from the picket lines. On Feb. 23, Nu Zeta chapter of Zeta Phi Beta Sorority held a reception to honor Mrs. Kelly on her 100th birthday at Mount Zion Baptist Church. Hundreds of friends and well- wishers turned out for the occasion. She has been a member of that sorority for 74 years and has served as financial secretary, treasurer and undergraduate adviser she is well know throughout the sorority's South Central Reigon. Bonita Gillespie, Nu Zeta chapter president and close friend of the honoree, says when Mrs. Kelly is asked to describe her long life, she responds, ``I just lived.'' Gillespie says that, despite Mrs. Kelly's age, ``She still drives her own car, shops for groceries, goes to the mall, attends aerobics at the O'Conner Senior Center, watches her favorite soap operas, plays bridge at every opportunity, and does whatever else she decides to do. She is glued to the TV set when Tiger Woods plays in a golfmatch.'' Some of those other things are to pick up friends to chauffeur them to activities and to call those not feeling well to see if they need her to run an errand.

Mr. DUNCAN

Mr. DUNCAN. Madam Speaker, I was recently visited in my office by one of my constituents from the second district of Tennessee, Julie Rich. Julie is one of six winners in a nationwide contest for the March for Life Education and Defense Fund of 2008. I would like to call to the attention of my colleagues and other readers of the Record her winning poem. One Less Angel Will Cry A guardian angel looks up from Earth And prays each day to the Lord in the hope That one particular baby will survive until birth The mother does not want it; she is scared She has by now reached the end of her rope O Lord! Please let the child be spared! She throws up her hands and yells, ``I'm through! I don't want to be in this position I will abort. It's something I must do!'' The angel wept What a horrid decision! Up to heaven the angel and the baby's soul leapt The gates were wide open and the soul was ushered in And why not For one whose lifespan was tremendously thin? The devastating thought of abortion should be left far behind It is like a blot On all of mankind ``Build Unity on the Life Principles throughout America. No Exception! No Compromise!'' We must be strong with these words, America Because millions upon millions have died this way Abortion has claimed too many lives Babies perish like this every single day What if it had been you? One of the ones killed? You would not know Your body would have been chilled Mothers please do not tell your infants goodbye Let the babies live, let them grow! And one less angel will cry

Mr. DUNCAN

Mr. DUNCAN. Madam Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may consume. Madam Speaker, I would like to voice my strong support for H.R. 409, and I would also like to commend Chairman DeFazio and the gentleman from Massachusetts (Mr. Capuano) for bringing this bill to the floor at this time. On August 2, the Transportation and Infrastructure Committee passed an earlier version of this bill on a voice vote. I believe that the entire committee agreed with the main objective of this bill, to ensure that our Nation's highway tunnels are safe. But some members had concerns about the new tunnel inspections directly competing with ongoing bridge inspections. This substitute bill addresses these concerns. This bill requires the Federal Highway Administration to establish a new national highway tunnel inspection program in consultation with State DOTs and other knowledgeable organizations. The new tunnel inspection program is modeled directly on the existing highway bridge inspection program and addresses three major areas: One, it establishes national highway tunnel inspection standards to ensure tunnel inspection uniformity. Secondly, this establishes a national tunnel inventory to publish the findings of all tunnel inspections. And thirdly, it develops a national program for training and certification of highway tunnel inspectors. This bill will make tunnel inspection requirements consistent with the current bridge inspection requirements. I think this is a concept we can all agree on. There are approximately 400 highway tunnels in the United States, and we need to make sure that those tunnels are safe. But there are more than 580,000 road and highway bridges in the United States, including almost 55,000 interstate bridges. I'm pleased that instead of having tunnel inspections compete directly with highway bridge inspections, the substitute bill before us makes tunnel inspections eligible for funding from other highway programs: the Surface Transportation Program, the Federal Highway Administration administrative expenses, or surface transportation research funds. I hope that if this legislation secures Senate passage and becomes law, we can further fine-tune the tunnel inspection funding source issue so that the different tunnel inspection activities are funded from the appropriate program. Again, I voice my support for H.R. 409, and I urge its passage. Madam Speaker, I reserve the balance of my time.

Mr. DUNCAN. Madam Speaker, I have no additional speakers, and I simply will urge passage, and yield back the balance of my time.

Mr. DUNCAN

Mr. DUNCAN. Madam Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may consume. Madam Speaker, I would like to also voice my support for House Resolution 772. House Resolution 772 was introduced by Chairman Oberstar, Ranking Member Mica, Highways and Transit Subcommittee Chairman DeFazio, and myself to recognize the 75th anniversary of the American Highway Users Alliance, a broad national coalition of organizations representing motorists and businesses. The American Highway Users Alliance is a nonprofit advocacy organization with the mission to promote safe, uncongested highways and enhanced mobility. The group's membership includes over 300 national trade associations, corporations, small businesses, and other State and local nonprofit groups. They represent over 45 million highway users. Since 1932, the group has fought for road and bridge investments that will save lives, promote economic growth, improve quality of life, and protect freedom of mobility. The American Highway Users Alliance focuses its campaigns on fair highway use taxation, Federal highway policy and funding, and responsible environmental policy. The American Highway Users Alliance is an important voice for the interests of motorists and businesses and has been an active participant in every major national highway and traffic safety law passed over the last 75 years. I strongly support this resolution and congratulate the American Highway Users Alliance on its achievements and on its 75th anniversary. Madam Speaker, I urge all my colleagues to support this resolution.

Mr. DUNCAN. Madam Speaker, I have no other speakers, and so I yield back the balance of my time.

Mr. DUNCAN

Mr. DUNCAN. Mr. Speaker, Bruce Fein is a nationally syndicated columnist who was a high-ranking official during the Reagan administration. He does not support a neocon, globalist, world policeman-type of foreign policy for the U.S., a foreign policy that used to be considered as the policy of liberals. Last week, Mr. Fein wrote a column describing the traditional conservative view. He wrote: ``Non-intervention and global neutrality should be the national security creed of the United States. Every soldier deployed abroad should be returned to deter and defend the United States at home. Non-intervention and neutrality everywhere, coupled with the threat to annihilate any United States attacker would make the country safer, freer, and more prosperous. Foreign adventurisms create more enemies than they destroy. He also quoted George Washington's farewell address, in which President Washington warned against ``overgrown military establishments which, under any form of government, are inauspicious to liberty, and which are to be regarded as particularly hostile to republican liberty.'' In other words, Mr. Speaker, the traditional conservative view is what was expressed by President Bush during the 2000 campaign when he came out very strongly against nation building and said the U.S. needed a more humble foreign policy.