Jimmy Duncan

Mr. DUNCAN

Mr. DUNCAN. Mr. Speaker, as we wrap up the 104th Congress, there are three unrelated things which have come up this week which I would like to mention, all of which touch on important political issues. First, just yesterday this House overwhelmingly passed by a 3 to 1, 75 percent margin, a bill attempting to crack down on illegal aliens. The immigration reform bill passed the other body 97 to 3. Almost everyone wants us to get tougher on illegal aliens. We had already given the INS a 72 percent increase in funding over the last 3 years, 8 times the rate of inflation. Our appropriation bill this year gives them a 25.6 percent increase to $2.2 billion for the fiscal year starting October 1. Yet in spite of all this money, the INS is shirking its duty and it refusing to enforce the law and do the job it is supposed to be doing. Just 2 days ago a state trooper in Knox County, Tennessee, my home county, stopped a van, a regular-sized small van, containing 25 illegal aliens. The people were piled on top of each other. They were on their way to North Carolina. Our local law enforcement officer called the INS office in Memphis and could not even get an answer, even though this was during regular working hours. One of our local radio stations has attempted several times to get through, repeatedly, and has been unable to do so. This was the 6th time in recent months that the INS has either refused to act or even has at times told our local law enforcement officials in Tennessee to let a van of illegal aliens go. The problem is not money. No other agency in the Federal Government has received such a huge increase in the last 3 or 4 years. The problem is the system, Mr. Speaker. These people are paid the same whether they work hard or whether they work easy. Apparently, we have many in the INS who are wanting to do as little as they possibly can. Because our civil service system protects even lazy and incompetent workers, bad Federal employees can get away with almost anything. This is one of the reasons why so many people are so fed up with the Federal Government today and why we so desperately need to reform our civil service laws so that some of these Federal employees will have to start working at least half as hard as those in the private sector. Secondly, Mr. Speaker, a member of the Committee on National Security told me this week that our Bosnian adventure will ultimately cost us $10 billion. We have spent $4 billion in Haiti and, according to the Washington Post, have had our troops down there picking up garbage and settling domestic disputes. We have turned our men and women in our armed forces into international social workers, and we have spent and are spending billions in Bosnia, Haiti, Rwanda, Somalia, and especially, of course, in the former Soviet Union, where we even spent hundreds of millions constructing homes for returning members of the Soviet military. This does not even count our regular foreign aid. Any time anyone opposes throwing away all these billions overseas, they are insulted with the false label of isolationist. Yet, anyone who fairly looks at this would have to admit that the United States could carry on many close, active, friendly relationships with all nations without pouring billions and billions down foreign black holes. Let us be friends with everyone, Mr. Speaker, but you should not have to buy friends, especially with billions that we are taking away from our own children, putting their futures very much in jeopardy. We need to remember, Mr. Speaker, that we are over $5 trillion in debt and we are spending money that we do not have. We should not send our troops overseas unless there is a serious threat to our own national security or a definite U.S. vital interest involved, and neither of these is present in Bosnia. Finally, Mr. Speaker, I want to briefly mention or briefly touch on one other incident which received national publicity this week. A 6- year-old boy in Lexington, N.C., was charged with sexual harassment because he gave a 6-year-old girl a peck of a kiss on the cheek after she asked him to do so. This little boy, who knows nothing about sex, was held away from his classmates for the entire day and missed an ice cream party with his fellow students. This is taking political correctness to a ridiculous extreme. Surely, we can operate our schools with a little common sense. The school system in Lexington justified its actions based on a manual that this little boy could not have understood even if he had been told about it. Some of these extremists, I say extreme women's libbers, seem to want to turn men and women into enemies in this country, but we need to resist this. We need to stand up to this and say that some of this is wrong and ridiculous, and surely we should not have done this to this little 6-year-old boy.

Mr. DUNCAN

Mr. DUNCAN. Mr. Speaker, I rise in strong support of the conference report to H.R. 3539, the Federal Aviation Reauthorization Act. First, let me congratulate the chairman of the Transportation and Infrastructure Committee, the gentleman from Pennsylvania [Mr. Shuster], for his outstanding leadership on this bill and throughout the entire 104th Congress. He has been, in my opinion, one of the, if not the most effective and hardest working chairmen in the entire Congress. I also want to thank the ranking member of the full committee, Mr. Oberstar, and the ranking member of the Aviation Subcommittee, Mr. Lipinski, for their expertise in aviation matters and for their bipartisanship throughout this entire Congress. We have certainly accomplished significant improvements to aviation in this Nation by working together. Mr. Speaker, the Federal Aviation Reauthorization Act conference report, H.R. 3539, is a comprehensive measure that this House can be proud of. It is must pass legislation. If we do not pass this conference report, no airport in this Nation will receive any Federal grants to make much needed improvements to their respective airports. No Federal funds can be spent to improve our aging air traffic control equipment, which so desperately needs to be updated. Mandated airport security requirements will go unfunded. We just cannot afford to let these things go unfinished. We must pass this conference report. Mr. Speaker, by the end of this year, there will have been well over 500 million passengers boarding planes all across this country. Experts predict that this number will increase to more than 800 million in just 10 years time. I cannot stress enough the urgency of this legislation. We have addressed many important issues in this conference report in a very bipartisan manner and I think members on both sides and staff have done an outstanding job. We have worked throughout this entire process in a bipartisan manner and we have also worked closely with our colleagues in the Senate. This conference report is very similar to the House passed bill. Although we had a 3-year authorization, the Senate had a 1-year authorization. So we split the difference in conference and agreed to a 2-year authorization. Mr. Speaker, this legislation will bring needed and additional reforms to the personnel and procurement systems at the FAA, very similar to the FAA reforms that were included in H.R. 2276, that the House passed unanimously in March. It helps move the FAA into the 21st century in a very businesslike manner. It also incorporates and improves upon several of the aviation security measures that the House passed just 1 month ago. We have required criminal background checks for certain airport employees, required standards for airport security personnel, called for improvements to passenger profiling, to help detect bombs and terrorists, allowed bomb sniffing dogs to be used at our largest airports, and several other security improvements. In addition, the conference report also includes the pilot record sharing bill, the Child Pilot Safety Act, and the Aviation Disaster Family Assistance Act, all of which were overwhelmingly passed by the House this year. It expands the State block grant program, so that two additional States can be more involved in the allocation of Federal dollars to airports in their respective States. The conference report includes a scaled back version of the Metropolitan Washington Airport Authority legislation that the Transportation Committee favorably reported. I am very pleased that this conference report includes a new and innovative privatization pilot program, developed in our subcommittee, that will allow at least five airports across the Nation to become private. With scarce Federal dollars we need to be looking at new ways of doing things. And I think this pilot program will be very successful just as other privatization efforts have been in several other countries. It will be good for the taxpayers and the flying public. And Mr. Speaker, this conference report establishes a Commission to review alternative financing methods that will enable us to develop a stabilized funding system for the FAA in the near future. Finally, Mr. Speaker, this legislation will help every airport in the Nation. We have adjusted the formulas under the airport improvement program so that the entitlements for all but I think four airports across the Nation will be increased, and those are the four largest airports and they wanted a larger discretionary fund for the FAA and so we have take care of all of the smaller- and medium-sized airports in this bill. Mr. Speaker, the flying public pays for much of our aviation system and infrastructure through a 10-percent ticket tax. These taxes are placed in the aviation trust fund. So we have a system that is mainly payed for by those who use the system. And I hope that we can push forward again in the next Congress, like we did here in the House earlier this year, by approving Chairman Shuster's trust funds-off budget legislation. This will also enable us to make aviation security and safety improvements. And it will be mainly payed for by those who use the aviation system in this Nation. Mr. Speaker, we have an outstanding conference report that I believe every Member of the House can and should support. We need to improve aviation security and aviation safety in this Nation--and we should do it as soon as possible. We must pass this conference report today. The American people deserve nothing less. Mr. Speaker, I urge passage of this bill.

Mr. DUNCAN

Mr. DUNCAN. Mr. Speaker, let me first thank the gentleman from Pennsylvania [Mr. Shuster], the chairman of the full Committee on Transportation and Infrastructure, for yielding, and for his strong leadership in the area of transportation safety, and on this specific legislation as well. Likewise, I want to also thank the gentleman from Minnesota [Mr. Oberstar], the ranking member of the full committee, and the ranking member of the subcommittee, the gentleman from Illinois [Mr. Lipinski], all of whom we have worked with so closely and so well together this year on this legislation and on so many, many other things. Mr. Speaker, I rise in strong support of H.R. 3159, as amended by the Senate. This legislation would authorize appropriations for fiscal years 1997, 1998, and 1999 for the National Transportation Safety Board, $42.4 million for the first year, $44.4 million for the second year, and $46.6 million for the third year. The work of this agency is so very important, and the importance of that work has been emphasized most recently in the very tragic accidents that we have had, unfortunately, in this country. This legislation is virtually identical to the House bill reported favorably by the full Committee on Transportation and Infrastructure and passed unanimously by this House. The Aviation Subcommittee, which I have the privilege of chairing, held a joint hearing earlier this year regarding the requests and needs of the NTSB. I think we produced a very conservative bill, a good bill, that also allows some expansion of the NTSB activities in regard to working with the families of victims of some of these aviation accidents. Mr. Speaker, I also would like to say that I want to commend Chairman Jim Hall of the NTSB for the outstanding work that he has done. I believe the work of the NTSB, its accident reports, its recommendations, have been one of the main reasons why the transportation safety trend in this Nation is improving so favorably. H.R. 3159 includes many of the statutory changes requested by the NTSB which will help them in their efforts to conduct transportation- related investigations and promoting transportation safety. I think it is a good bill and one that deserves the support of all Members.

Mr. DUNCAN

Mr. DUNCAN. Mr. Speaker, just yesterday, the Knoxville News-Sentinel reported that a Tennessee Highway Patrolman stopped a van on I-75 which contained 25 illegal immigrants. The arresting officer attempted to contact the INS but could not even get a person to answer the phone at the Memphis INS office. He was quoted in the paper as saying: ``Immigration just took the phone off the hook.'' He repeatedly attempted to contact INS officials but all he got was: ``360 degrees of answering machines.'' So what did the trooper do? All he could do, he let illegal aliens go. Simply, he had no legal authority to detain them. This is the sixth time this year that illegal aliens have been stopped by local authorities in my district and had to be released. Six different vans containing at least 130 illegal immigrants have been let go because of the INS' refusal to act. When local officials have talked to INS, they were told that there were no funds available to send INS officers to arrest, detain, and deport these illegal aliens. The INS has received a 72-percent increase in funding in the last 3 years, which is approximately eight times the rate of inflation over that period. Almost no other Federal agency has received that type of increase in recent years. With this increase in funding, local officials have a right to be outraged by INS' inaction. I agree with them completely. One sheriff in my district has told his deputies to not even bother questioning individuals they stop to determine if they are illegal aliens because of the INS' inaction. Have things gotten so bad that law enforcement officials have no choice but to, in effect, condone the breaking of the law? The six vans that I am referring to are only those reported by the local media. Just think how many other illegal aliens travel through Tennessee without being caught. The Clinton administration bureaucrats seem unwilling to correct this situation. Mr. Speaker, I am outraged. Who do these INS bureaucrats work for, themselves, or the taxpayers? The nearest INS office to my district is located in Memphis, 450 miles away. INS claims that they cannot apprehend illegal aliens in east Tennessee because it will cost too much to round them up. Last spring, I asked the INS to open a branch office in east Tennessee or at least a more centrally located office in middle Tennessee. Despite my repeated requests, they have been very unresponsive and unwilling to provide service to east Tennessee. I have met face to face with INS officials in Washington to inform them of what is going on in east Tennessee, and I have made dozens of calls about this disgraceful inaction. In fact, this is not the first time I have had to contact the INS. Several years ago, the Sheriff's Department in Loudon County contacted me about a problem they were having with the INS and illegal aliens. After months of work and literally dozens of phone calls from my office, the INS finally responded to our concerns. In Operation South Paw, the INS conducted a series of raids that resulted in the apprehension of many illegal aliens working in my district. I am glad that the INS finally took action, but the reluctance on their part to fulfill their mission of deporting illegal aliens is inexcusable. After my most recent meeting with the INS, I was informed that the INS would add two trainees to the Memphis office. This would be an improvement, but this is not enough. Middle and east Tennessee desperately need more INS officials who will enforce the law. However, I am glad that H.R. 2202, the Illegal Immigration Reform and Immigrant Responsibility Act, includes language Congressmen Chris Cox and Lamar Smith and I incorporated into the House version of this legislation. Our language, insofar as arrest and detention, will allow local law enforcement officers to act as INS officials since it is obvious that INS officials won't take action. Specifically, it will allow law enforcement agencies to enter into agreements with the Justice Department so that local officers will be able to function as an immigration officer in relation to investigation, apprehension, or detention of illegal aliens. I want to thank Congressmen Chris Cox and Lamar Smith who worked with me in formulating this language and for the House and Senate conferees for including this language in the final version of this bill. Mr. Speaker, I believe this legislation will help to solve the problem of illegal immigration and I urge its passage.

Mr. DUNCAN

Mr. DUNCAN. Mr. Speaker, I ask unanimous consent to take from the Speaker's table the bill (H.R. 3539), to amend title 49, United States Code, to reauthorize programs of the Federal Aviation Administration, and for other purposes, with a Senate amendment thereto, disagree to the Senate amendment, and agree to the conference asked by the Senate.

Mr. DUNCAN

Mr. DUNCAN. Mr. Speaker, I thank the gentleman for yielding this time to me, and, Mr. Speaker, I rise in strong support of H.R. 3923, the Aviation Disaster Family Assistance Act. Let me first congratulate the chairman of the Committee on Transportation and Infrastructure, the gentleman from Pennsylvania [Mr. Shuster], for his strong leadership on this very important issue, and let me say not just on this issue, but I think that Chairman Shuster has led our committee through two of the most active years in the history of that committee and probably in the history of all of the committees in the Congress. He has been a really outstanding chairman, and I think the people need to know that. The Subcommittee on Aviation, which I have the privilege of chairing, held a hearing on this matter on June 19 concerning the treatment of families of passengers killed in airline accidents. We held a second hearing 2 weeks ago, and from those hearings I think we have developed some outstanding legislation. Certainly interest in this issue has been heightened by the TWA 800 tragedy, the ValuJet crash, and certain other terrible accidents that have happened. From our hearing in June we worked to develop H.R. 3923, and we did it, I am proud to say, on a bipartisan basis with strong support from our friends, the ranking members of the full committee and the subcommittee, the gentleman from Minnesota [Mr. Oberstar] and the gentleman from Illinois [Mr. Lipinski]. And let me say that I really deeply appreciate those kind words from Mr. Lipinski, and I think that I certainly can echo those words back to him because I do not think any subcommittee in the Congress has a chairman and ranking member who have a closer relationship than he and I do, and we have worked so well together, along with the leadership provided by Mr. Oberstar, who has developed such an expertise in the field of aviation and who has done so much in this area. In our hearings on this legislation we heard some very terrible and troubling stories, such as mass burials of unidentified body parts without informing family members, something that was very hurtful to these families; the throwing away of personal belongings of victims without notifying the families; constant harassment by lawyers and the media; and leaving messages about the death of a family member on an answering machine. Several recommendations to correct those problems were brought to our attention by witnesses at the subcommittee's hearing in June and also again a couple of weeks ago. H.R. 3923 would establish a reliable 1-800 telephone number assigned exclusively to handle accident-related calls from family members. It establishes a director of family support services position within the National Transportation Safety Board. It provides the NTSB with the authority to designate a third party, such as the American Red Cross, the Salvation Army, or some other outstanding organization, to be responsible for post-trauma communication and work with families. The bill requires that personal items be returned to family members and to any survivors of an accident. Under the bill, each airline is required to submit its family assistance plan to the Department of Transportation and to the National Transportation Safety Board for approval. Finally, among many other provisions, H.R. 3923 would prohibit unsolicited contact of the families by lawyers, both plaintiff lawyers and insurance company lawyers, for 30 days. And I am proud to say that I think the bar has adopted a very responsible position in regard to this, and we have a very strong letter of endorsement for this provision from the Association of Trial Lawyers of America which I will include for the Record. Finally, Mr. Speaker, H.R. 3923 will help improve the tremendous coordination that must take place at the accident site. It will help improve communication between the family members and those assisting family members. I urge my colleagues to support H.R. 3923 so that we can get this legislation over to the Senate and to the President before the 104th Congress adjourns. I think this is outstanding legislation that can be proudly supported by all Members of this body. The letter referred to follows: Association of Trial Lawyers of America, Washington, DC, September 10, 1996. Hon. Bud Shuster, Rayburn House Office Building, Washington, DC. Dear Representative Shuster: As President of the Association of Trial Lawyers of America, I wish to commend you on your consideration of H.R. 3923, which the Aviation Subcommittee will mark-up on Wednesday, September 11, and the full Transportation Committee will mark-up on Thursday, September 12. This legislation will lend much-needed support to the families of victims of airline disasters. In particular, the Association strongly supports sec. 5. This provision states the sense of Congress that state bar associations should adopt rules prohibiting unsolicited contact concerning a legal action with victims or aggrieved families within 30 days of an accident. ATLA's longstanding Code of Contact goes even further, and entirely prohibits unsolicited contact, regardless of when the accident occurred. We believe that the 30-day time period you provide in the bill is a reasonable minimum period during which victims and their families should not be bothered against their will with the sometimes painful question of compensation. However, we urge the committee to go further, by strengthening this bill to also prohibiting unsolicited contact by anyone concerning potential claims they or their loved ones may have. Until a family decides to consider its options with regard to compensation, no party should take advantage of them during this delicate emotional time. This prohibition should not extend to preventing airlines of other parties from providing for the needs of the families, such as transportation to the accident site, lodging and meals--only to communications relating to the family's right to bring an action. The shock and grief the families of aviation disasters are experiencing should be respected by all and this is not a time for outsiders to be soliciting serious discussions from the victims or their families. This rule will ensure that families, not businesses or lawyers, make the decision of when to seek compensation, and the proper mechanism for it. Further, the Association would be pleased to participate in the task force established in sec. 4 to help assure that families' privacy is not intruded upon by any party. We believe that the families must be protected, and our position in the legal community and our strong Code of Conduct gives us a unique ability and standing to contribute to such a task force. The Association of Trial Lawyers of America strongly supports efforts to help families of victims of transportation disasters. Without taking a position with regard to any of the other issues in the bill, we believe that this legislation is a valuable step toward sheltering families in the midst of a personal crisis. Again, we commend your action supporting these families. Sincerely, Howard Twiggs, ATLA President.

Mr. DUNCAN

Mr. DUNCAN. Well thank you very much, Congressman de la Garza, for those very kind remarks. You came to Congress with my father after the 1964 elections, in January of 1965, and you have had a great record. And the country owes you a great debt of gratitude for your service to your State of Texas and to this Nation, and thank you very much for participating in honor of Congressman Quillen tonight. Next, I talk about--I read the editorial in which the Bristol newspaper said that Congressman Quillen's model is one that others can only hope to emulate. We have three gray freshmen from Tennessee who are striving very hard to follow the great example set for them by Congressman Quillen, and all are doing outstanding jobs. And I would like to call on, first, Congressman Ed Bryant.

Mr. DUNCAN. Thank you very much, Congressman Rogers. You mentioned a couple times Congressman Quillen's seat, and we have already referred to it. I have to tell you one week Congressman Quillen had to leave to go home before our last vote of the week. I knew Congressman Quillen was on a plane flying home, so I sat down in his seat. And in a few minutes I got a note from the cloakroom. It said on there, message from Congressman Quillen: Get out of my seat. Congressman Quillen's staff had seen on C-SPAN I was sitting in his seat, and they sent me a special message.

Mr. DUNCAN. Thank you, Congressman Bryant. Our next speaker is the great Congressman from the Third District of Tennessee, from Chattanooga, Congressman Zach Wamp.

Mr. DUNCAN. Madam Speaker, I thank Congressman Duncan Hunter, a wonderful man, Duncan Hunter. I know Congressman Quillen will really appreciate those remarks. Let me just conclude this special order by saying that in our book, tonight is Jimmy Quillen's night in the House of Representatives, a body in which he has served so proudly and with such distinction for 34 years. As has been mentioned earlier, Congressman Quillen now has the all- time record, the record for longest continuous service in the United States House of Representatives for anybody from the State of Tennessee. Many great Tennesseans have served in this body, Davy Crockett. President Andrew Johnson was a Congressman from Congressman Quillen's district from 1843 to 1853. James K. Polk served here and, of course, our current Vice President, Al Gore, Cordell Hull served in this body; many other leading Tennesseans have served in the United States House of Representatives. But Congressman Quillen has a record that will never be broken and has served his constituents with kindness, compassion, with honor and dignity and has made his mark, certainly, coming up the hard way, coming up from I think what would be described as dire poverty today to reach this body and serve in the United States Congress. As so many others have said tonight, Congressman Quillen, you deserve this night and this tribute and so much more for all you have done for the people of east Tennessee. All of us love you. We respect you. We admire you, and we appreciate the great service that you have performed for the United States of America. You are not only a great Tennessean but a great American. We thank you for your service to this Nation.

Mr. DUNCAN. Madam Speaker, I thank Mr. Hilleary for those very fine remarks. I yield to another long time friend of mine and Congressman Quillen's, Congressman Duncan Hunter, the outstanding Congressman from San Diego, CA.

Mr. DUNCAN. Thank you very much, Congressman Gordon. Another great friend of all of ours is Congressman Hal Rogers, another one of the cardinals, one of the senior members of the House Committee on Appropriations who represents a district that touches on much of Tennessee and who has much in common with all of us from that part of the country, our good friend and outstanding leader, Congressman Hal Rogers from Somerset, KY.

Mr. DUNCAN. Thank you very much, Congressman Solomon, for those very kind words. Both of our first two speakers, Congressman Myers and Congressman Solomon, have been kind enough to say some nice things about my father. I appreciate that very much because I was very, very close to my own father. And I might say that he and Congressman Quillen were extremely close and came from very, very similar backgrounds, families of 10 children, and very, very little money, no money. Both arrived here 2 years apart. Of the 34 years that Congressman Quillen has served, for 32 of those years he has served alongside a Duncan. We have had such a wonderful relationship, our family has, over the years with Congressman Quillen . Our next Speaker is another great Tennessean. Tennessee has a history and a tradition of our State delegation, both Democrats and Republicans, working so harmoniously together for State projects. Certainly one of the leaders of that is our friend Congressman Bart Gordon, who has served on the Committee on Rules with Congressman Quillen and is here with us tonight to make some remarks about his friend and our friend Jimmy Quillen. Congressman Gordon.

Mr. DUNCAN. Thank you, John Myers, for a very moving and eloquent and appropriate tribute to our good friend Congressman Quillen. I do want to mention before Congressman Myers leaves that all of us know that Congressman Quillen has for many years sat in the second seat on the second row right here, the main seat that has always been featured on C-SPAN, so when I first got here, I developed a habit of sitting next to Congressman Quillen, and Don Sundquist sat there in the same row of seats, Don Sundquist, who is now our Governor of Tennessee. John Myers has always sat in the first seat on this second row. So one night we told him that this was a Tennessee row and that if he was going to sit there, we had to induct him in and swear him in as an honorary Tennessean. So we made him raise his right hand, and we paid John Myers the ultimate compliment and made this loyal Hoosier an honorary Tennessean. So thank you very much for your remarks about Congressman Quillen and thank you for your service, your great service to this country. Our next Speaker on behalf of Congressman Quillen is a man who has also served this Nation with great distinction and is doing so in an especially active and leading role in this Congress, ``The historic 104th Congress,'' as David Broder has referred to it, and that is a man who has been so very kind and has worked so closely with Congressman Quillen over the years, Congressman Jerry Solomon, the chairman of the powerful House Rules Committee on which Congressman Quillen has served for the past 32 years. He did not serve his first term, but I think that is a record for a Republican in the history of the Rules Committee. But perhaps you can straighten us out on that, Congressman Jerry Solomon of New York.

Mr. DUNCAN. Madam Speaker, I have requested this time tonight and have taken this special order to pay tribute to a great Tennessean, a true statesman, we think one of the finest men who has ever served in this body, and that is our good friend Congressman James H. ``Jimmy'' Quillen. Congressman Quillen has served the First District of Tennessee with great distinction and honor for 34 years. Now he is ending his 34th year and he has announced his retirement. Certainly he will be missed here, and he certainly has achieved and has earned the great respect and love of all of his constituents in east Tennessee. I will be saying more about Congressman Quillen as we move through this special order, and I will save most of my remarks for the end. But there are several of Congressman Quillen's colleagues here with me tonight who also want to take a few moments to pay their respects and say more things about Congressman Quillen. We want to start first with another distinguished veteran of this House. In this day in which term limits are so popular, many people do not realize that almost half of the House is new just since 1994, just in the last 2\1/2\ years. And so there is more turnover in elective office than at any time in history. But some of our finest Members have been some of the people who have served very long tenures in this House. I could name so many. Bill Broomfield of Michigan, John Paul Hammerschmidt of Arkansas, Chalmers Wylie of Ohio, many, many others. But one man who has served almost the entire time with Congressman Quillen and who, I think, without any question is his closest friend in the House is a great leader from Indiana, Congressman John Myers who has served in this House as a leader, as an outstanding member of the Committee on Appropriations since 1966. I want to pay tribute in introducing Congressman Myers because we are losing a great, great man in Congressman Myers, also, from this body, because he has also announced his retirement. But I want to yield at this time to Congressman John Myers of Indiana to make some remarks about Congressman Quillen.

Mr. DUNCAN. I will yield to the gentleman.

Mr. DUNCAN. I will deny that on the record. But Congressman Quillen has always accused me of having that as my system of getting him out of his seat so that I could take it over. But I can assure you and the Nation watching on C-SPAN that I am not trying to take Congressman Quillen's seat. But thank you very much for participating tonight. Since you mentioned Congressman Quillen's record, let me just read one brief statement from the Bristol Herald Courier. And it says the Bristol newspaper said this at one point about Congressman Quillen. This is from October 1994. It says: Quillen's unmatchable record of constituent service and aggressive representation for the region's interest have built him the reputation of someone who puts people first, leaving fancy Washington ways for others. His seniority has earned him the respect and deference of Presidents and Governors of both parties over the years, as well as the admiration of the legions of constituents at home. Once elected for a new term, Quillen always has approached his job as being everybody's Congressman, not just a representative of Republicans alone. It is a model others can only hope to emulate. Before I yield to some who are following in Congressman Quillen's footsteps, another man who has requested a couple of moments to speak on behalf of Congressman Quillen is the longtime chairman of the House Committee on Agriculture, Congressman Kika de la Garza. Mr. de la GARZA. Thank you very much, my colleague. Let me preface my words about our dear friend, Jim Quillen, by saying that when I came to this Congress, the gentleman's father came with me, and Mr. Quillen was already here and was very kind and generous with his time, advice, and counsel to a very lonely freshman Member. We enjoyed sometimes traveling both with the gentleman's father and his mother. And my service has been enhanced by those two gentlemen, among a few others, Mr. Quillen I consider to be a friend. He has been a dedicated servant to the Nation, to his State, to his district, working always, as has been mentioned, in a quiet, gentlemanly manner. The Myers and Quillen seats all of us respect, no matter what, the same as the Montgomery and the Gonzalez seats. I have been here 32 years and I do not have a seat yet, but I will be leaving this Congress, so there goes my seat, but I leave with very pleasant memories of individuals with whom I have served. Even though when they are your peers you really do not appreciate the greatness of the individuals, it is only when you see that they are leaving, or you leave and look back, then you see how many great Members we have had in this Congress. And certainly Congressman Duncan and Congressman Quillen were some of the great Members. Wise, dedicated, always generous with their time. One of my most pleasant associations with Congressman Quillen is that he likes Texas onions. I have to bring some Texan onions whenever they come, to him. And I have always enjoyed doing that. We do hope that all of us will one day be remembered as kindly as he will be for all he has done. And there was no, I will say it in a manner as best as I can, there was no partisanship to his service here, even though all of us knew that he belonged to the Republican Party. But he did not live in a partisan way. He did not act in a partisan way. He did not treat individuals in a partisan way. And that is how I came up in this House, with both right and left, Democrat and Republican, those Congressmen that legislated without the partisan intervention. We are missing some of that now, but hopefully it will come back to that era when these great Members participated in debate, very eloquent debate and very in depth debate on the issues. And certainly both the gentleman's father and Mr. Quillen were that type of individuals. I thank the gentleman for allowing me the time to pay tribute. This is Mr. Quillen's hour, but you cannot separate Duncan and Quillen because they worked together for all those years. And we revere their memory, Duncan's memory, and we hope that Mr. Quillen will continue serving in whatever capacity he chooses to serve.

Mr. DUNCAN. Mr. Speaker, I thank the gentleman from Tennessee [Mr. Wamp] for those very appropriate remarks. Certainly Ed Bryant mentioned Mrs. Quillen, who Congressman Quillen gives the most credit to for him being here in the first place. It is very appropriate that Congressman Wamp mentioned Frances Light Currie, because she has been the real mainstay of Congressman Quillen's staff and maybe the person most responsible for him staying here for so many years. She deserves a lot of credit and tribute here tonight also. Mr. Speaker, we have our third great freshman from Tennessee. We sometimes save the best for last. Congressman Van Hilleary represents a district that covers really the whole State of Tennessee. It goes from east Tennessee all the way over the west Tennessee, but much of it joins Congressman Quillen's district and I would like to yield to the gentleman from Tennessee, Mr. Van Hilleary.

Mr. DUNCAN

Mr. DUNCAN. Mr. Speaker, previously, my colleague and I engaged in a conversation regarding the accomplishments that Congressman Quillen has performed in the House of Representatives and the services he provided for hundreds of thousands of people in the First District of Tennessee and the entire State. I request that a copy of the attached statement from Steven Blackwell, which is representative of the views and thanks of thousands of people, be placed in the Record at this point. I would like to call it to the attention of my colleagues and other readers of the Record. Tribute to James H. Quillen, U.S. Congressman On a day when his colleagues in the House of Representatives have risen to pay tribute to the distinguished career and the dedicated public service of James H. ``Jimmy'' Quillen of Tennessee, perhaps it is in order for a constituent of Jimmy Quillen's to have the opportunity to add an additional word of praise and of thanks for the long service of this unique public servant. I enormously appreciate this opportunity to do so. For thirty-four years, since the summer of 1962, when I was fifteen years old, Jimmy Quillen has been the central political figure of Tennessee's First Congressional District. And for that same thirty-four years, since January 1963, a period of time unsurpassed by any serving Republican on Capitol Hill, Jimmy Quillen has been my Congressman. On legislative issues, particularly on matters of national defense, on the role of the United States as an international guarantor and exponent of free markets, free ideas, and free people, and on issues of sound and prudent tax and fiscal policies, Congressman Quillen has fully and faithfully represented the views I have held. In the areas of constituent services, no American of either party--or of any party or no party for that matter--could have wanted a better exponent and advocate in dealing with myriad bureaucrats at home and abroad. Those golden bulldogs awarded for watching the Treasury might equally as well have been given for tenacity in guarding constituent interests. In Republican political activities, Congressman Jimmy Quillen has exemplied the pragmatic, conservative outlook that for generations has characterized the independent-minded mountain Republicans of East Tennessee. His colleagues, the staffs of various committees, and the professionals who represent every conceivable interest before Congress know James H. Quillen as a long-term legislator and effective negotiator. I, and countless others whom he had represented throughout his tenure, know him as a man who rose from the most meager of circumstances, as man who answered his country call in time of war and sailed in harm's way to the opposite side of troubled globe, and as a hard-working legislator. But I have had the honor and privilege to know him as more as well. I am proud to have known him as a friend; I have been honored to have him as my Congressman; and, I will miss him.

Mr. DUNCAN

Mr. DUNCAN. Mr. Speaker, many taxpayers around the Nation are being ripped off by mega-millionaire sports team owners who are getting lavish stadiums built largely at public expense. We do not do this for other businesses and should not for sports teams either. To show how bad these deals are for the taxpayers, I would like to urge my colleagues and other readers of the Record to read the following National Review article, ``Pitching Socialism,'' by Raymond J. Keating. [From the National Review, Apr. 22, 1996] Pitching Socialism (By Raymond J. Keating) As a federal prosecutor and now mayor of New York, Rudy Giuliani has taken on Wall Street, the Mob, even a number of powerful city unions. But when it's time to talk baseball with George ``The Boss'' Steinbrenner, Giuliani goes weak in the knees. That's because Steinbrenner is threatening to move the Bronx Bombers to New Jersey unless he gets a new, taxpayer- financed stadium. In a city that has already endured the traumatic departure of the Dodgers and Giants for the West Coast, this bit of brinkmanship is taken quite seriously. The mayor's office, in fact, has suggested the city might be willing to shell out as much as $1 billion for some choice real estate and a new stadium. The New York Mets like the sound of this action. They are suggesting that a mere $100 million, to help fund a new stadium with a retractable dome, would keep them from moving out to the Long Island suburbs. While no other city--or state, for that matter--has even considered forking over $1.1 billion to subsidize multi- millionaire owners and athletes, stadium socialism is a serious problem across the nation. Maryland taxpayers, for example, are being socked for almost $300 million--some of the money to partly finance a new stadium for the Washington Redskins, and some to fully finance a new stadium for the former Cleveland Browns. The public in general does not support such plans, despite the popularity of professional sports. A national poll conducted by Media Research & Communications recently found that 80 percent of Americans oppose the use of their tax dollars for sports stadiums and arenas. The politicians, however, mesmerized by the glamour of pro sports and the prospect of increased revenue, seem determined to have their way. Very rarely do elected officials schedule referenda on government financing and ownership of sports facilities. And in some instances, when they have done so and the votes have not gone their way, they have changed the rules in mid game. Last September, Seattle voters turned down a proposal that would have hiked taxes to pay for a new stadium for the Mariners and for repairs to the Kingdome, home of the Seahawks. A month later, state and local officials ignored the vote and approved a $320-million plan for the Mariners' park. The economic justification for government-financed sports facilities has always been based more on spin than on substance. First, the team or elected officials will hire a consulting firm to produce studies predicting substantial economic benefits from a new stadium or arena. These studies rely on the Keynesian notion of an ``economic multiplier''-- the justification for every government ``stimulus project'' in the past half-century. The calculation works by taking the dollars ``invested'' in building a facility, adds an estimate of money to be spent by spectators at each event, and multiplies the results by an additional number to arrive at an estimate of increased economic activity. The problem is that the multiplier effect is all but impossible to measure accurately. Judgments about the catalytic effects of dollars moving through the economy amount to nothing more than statistical guesswork (a dirty little secret of the economic profession). Indeed, it is doubtful that any real multiplier effect occurs at all, because of something called the ``substitution effect.'' Simply put, the substitution effect holds that leisure dollars--that fairly limited amount of income that a family will devote to entertainment--will be spent one way or another. If there is no ballpark for a family to go to, then it will spend those dollars on some other activity, like a movie or a concert. Government-funded stadiums, then, turn out at best to be zero-sum games--a simple shifting of limited resources. This larger economic picture, however, is usually lost on politicians bedazzled by the bustling markets for red hots and frozen yoghurt in places like Camden Yards and Jacobs Field. The politicians are also oblivious to the negative effects of the higher taxes needed to pay for these facilities--like rising private-sector costs and diminished incentives for working, investing, and risk-taking. Government ventures usually wind up being net economic losses in the long run. The Toronto Skydome, opened in 1989, is a prime example. A recent report from the Pioneer Institute notes that as the Skydome was constructed, cost overruns boosted the Ontario taxpayers' portion of the total bill from $120 million to $322 million. The government's share in the Skydome was eventually privatized in 1992 for $120 million--a considerable loss. A spate of books, as well as independent studies from groups like the Heartland and Pioneer Institutes and the Brookings Institution, have expressed skepticism about economic growth owing to taxpayer-funded sports facilities. The most recent study, a 1994 Heartland Institute analysis conducted by economist Robert Baade, concluded that ``professional sports is not statistically significant in determining economic growth rates.'' There is ``no support for the notion that there is an economic rationale for public subsidies to sports teams and stadium and arena construction.'' Sports teams and their facilities are largely byproducts, not sources, of economic growth. Two other negative effects of government-owned sports facilities have become painfully obvious. First, because teams rent rather than own their stadiums, they are turning into transients, tearing up community roots (witness the Cleveland Browns) in a dash for new taxpayer-financed stadiums, relocation payments worth tens of millions, and even taxpayer-guaranteed profits (as in the deal that enticed the Los Angeles Rams to move to St. Louis). Second, team owners and players, insulated by taxpayers from the cost of stadium financing, are doing extremely well without having to exert themselves to meet the demands of their market. Fans know intuitively that something is wrong when mediocre ballplayers sign multi-million-dollar deals, or ticket prices remain the same when the team is forty games out of the playoffs. Despite general public disapproval and a lack of supporting economic arguments, even a number of conservatives have pushed for government financing of sports facilities. Leading welfare reformer Gov. Tommy Thompson of Wisconsin has kept the Milwaukee Brewers on the dole, lobbying hard for a new taxpayer-financed ballpark. And Massachusetts Governor William Weld's support for a government-financed stadium/ convention center in Boston calls into question his self- proclaimed supply-sider status. Even George Will has gone native. In the January 22 Newsweek, he wrote favorably of the state-built home of the Baltimore Orioles. While real conservatives have to love the tradition of the ballpark--the game, the hot dogs, the chatter--sentiment shouldn't dim our rationality. Markets work. If new stadiums and arenas have economic value, individuals acting in the marketplace will see that such facilities are built without any government intervention. San Francisco voters, in fact, have held fast. They have voted down taxpayer-funded stadiums on four separate occasions, and now the Giants are privately financing a new ballpark. Rudy Giuliani and his counterparts across the nation should take note, and stand up to Boss Steinbrenner and the other owners. When it comes to corporate welfare, just say no.

Mr. DUNCAN

Mr. DUNCAN. Madam Speaker, I rise in strong support of H.R. 3539, the Federal Aviation Authorization Act. This bill has been developed, as the gentleman from Minnesota [Mr. Oberstar] noted, in a very strong bipartisan manner with primary support and leadership from our outstanding chairman, the gentleman from Pennsylvania [Mr. Shuster], the ranking member of the full committee, the gentleman from Minnesota [Mr. Oberstar] who is so dedicated to aviation, and the gentleman from Illinois [Mr. Lipinski], my good friend and the ranking member of the Subcommittee on Aviation. Let me also thank every member of the Subcommittee on Aviation for their contributions to this legislation as well. I think the committee has done an outstanding job in dealing with some very difficult and complex issues. While I am sure we do not have a perfect bill, I think we have crafted a product that every Member can and should support. Any changes, any minor or technical changes that might be needed in this legislation, can be addressed in conference when we meet with the Senate. In order for needed improvements to be made to our Nation's outdated air traffic control equipment, in order for us to improve aviation security at airports around this Nation, in order for us to do all we can to improve safety for millions of traveling Americans, we must pass this legislation. The House Subcommittee on Aviation, which I have the privilege to chair, held several days of hearings on a number of issues ranging from privatization of airports to revenue diversion. The bill reauthorizes for 3 years programs administered by the FAA, including the Airport Improvement Program, the Airway Facilities Improvement Program and the overall operations of the FAA. H.R. 3539 authorizes funding to help the FAA replace the 30-year-old air traffic control equipment that has been stretched beyond its useful life. It addresses airport development financing, including the creation of a commission to review innovative financing proposals that will help both airport and FAA financing in the future. The legislation also adjusts the AIP formula so that the smaller airports, the general aviation airports, will get their fair share of funding. It increases the entitlement for every airport in the Nation. Let me repeat that, Madam Speaker. The legislation, this legislation, increases entitlement funding for every airport in the Nation, large and small alike. The bill protects current letters of intent so that ongoing airport construction projects can continue without interruption, and it retains the set-aside for noise and military airports, the noise problems that are of so much concern to many people around this Nation. H.R. 3539 increases the number of States participating in the State block grant program from 7 to 10, and it creates a pilot program permitting the sale or long-term lease of up to 6 airports across the Nation. In other words, a pilot experimental program for airport privatization. The bill imposes cost limitations on FAA housing purchases, and it imposes treble damages on anyone caught illegally diverting revenue from an airport. It also improves aviation security by permitting the FAA to require airlines to do background checks before hiring someone to screen baggage, and finally H.R. 3539 incorporates legislation that this House passed overwhelmingly last July, the Child Pilot Safety Act and the Airline Pilot Hiring and Safety Act, both very needed improvements in our aviation system. Madam Speaker, I cannot stress enough the importance of this legislation. It makes needed improvements to various programs administered by the FAA, and it will help provide the traveling public with a safer, more secure aviation system. Experts have testified that air passenger traffic will increase to well over 800 million, possibly even 1 billion, just 10 years from now, and according to FAA forecasts the number of passengers carried on U.S. airlines will increase from 597 million this year to at least 718 million just 4 years from now, an increase of at least 20 percent by the most conservative estimates. So obviously we are going to have to build new airports or at least expand existing airports around the country, but we need to make sure that that is done, that expansion, this expansion is done in the most cost-effective manner and the way that is best for the taxpayers. Madam Speaker, this legislation will move our Nation in the right direction, and it will help us meet both the immediate and long-term challenges in aviation. I strongly support this legislation, I urge every Member of the House to support it as well because this is the key legislation we will have this year to improve our aviation system and make it safer and more secure for all Americans.

Mr. DUNCAN

Mr. DUNCAN. Madam Speaker, I rise in strong support of this resolution. I believe it is very important that we provide the public access to information about the crime on the campuses of our Nation's colleges and universities. When a family chooses to move to a new town or city, they base that decision on many factors including crime rates. When a family begins to decide what college or university they will choose, they also should have the right to know about the crime rate of that area. I have been working very hard with my colleagues on this issue. In fact, I introduced legislation, the Open Campus Police Logs Act of 1995, which would require colleges and universities to maintain a daily log of all crimes committed and make these logs available for public inspection. This resolution, of which I am a cosponsor, will ensure that the Department of Education enforces the Campus Security Act that requires institutions to make crime statistics available on a yearly basis. I certainly believe this is a step in the right direction. Many States have already enacted laws which require colleges and universities to make crime statistics public. I believe every mother and father in this country should have the right to know whether or not the school they are sending their child to is a safe one. I think that each student should be able to know what kind of crimes have been committed on his or her campus. I also believe they should have access to information that will tell them where these crimes are committed. This will only help each individual student to take the necessary safety precautions to protect him or herself. Madam Speaker, I want to thank my colleagues for their hard work on this issue. I urge the passage of this resolution, and I yield back the balance of my time.

Mr. DUNCAN

Mr. DUNCAN. Mr. Speaker, I thank the gentleman from California [Mr. Doolittle] for yielding this time to me, and I rise in support of H.R. 1179, which was introduced originally by my colleague, the gentleman from Tennessee [Mr. Clement], and I certainly commend him for his work on this project. The chairman and ranking member of the committee have been recognized, and I appreciate their support, but I also appreciate the support of the gentleman from Utah [Mr. Hansen], chairman of the Subcommittee on National Parks, Forests and Lands, who was also instrumental in this bill. I am proud to be an original cosponsor of this bill, and I am proud of the work that we have done on it in the Committee on Resources. I supported this legislation because it benefits one of this Nation's most important resources, our historically black colleges and universities. H.R. 1179 will provide matching grants for restoration and preservation of historic buildings on campuses of historically black colleges and universities. During the 103d Congress almost identical legislation passed the House by a voice vote. Unfortunately, the bill did not make it to the President before the 103d Congress adjourned. The major difference in this bill and the one passed in the 103d Congress is the cost. Mr. Speaker, we have reduced the cost of this legislation by $35 million over the legislation passed in the last Congress. My family and I have been especially close to one historical black college which is specifically mentioned in this bill, Knoxville College. My father was a member of the Knoxville College board of trustees for many years, as was my mother. Knoxville College, along with other historical black colleges and black universities, has produced some of the best leaders, some of the finest leaders, we have in this Nation today. In fact, some of our past and present colleagues in the House have attended and graduated from historically black colleges and universities. Mr. Speaker, if we want to ensure that minority individuals are trained and educated to make the maximum contribution to American society, it is in our self-interest to invest in institutions which prepare them for tomorrow's technological, educational, and commercial challenges. This Nation needs black colleges and universities because they have produced and do produce some of the best and brightest in every field of endeavor. The investment called for in this bill is a very modest one, but a very wise one. Most of our Federal money, Mr. Speaker, goes to our largest universities, most often State universities. The colleges that are helped by this bill are usually, for the most part, very small colleges, but not everyone in this country, not every student, belongs in a gigantic State university. Some students, many students, need the environment that a small college offers them, and I think this is very good legislation. Mr. Speaker, I urge support for this legislation, and I urge my colleagues to support this legislation, and I urge that it be passed.

Mr. DUNCAN

Mr. DUNCAN. Mr. Speaker, I want to congratulate Dr. David G. Craig, a University of Tennessee human ecology professor, for being named as the 1996 Higher Education Teacher of the Year. This indeed is a great honor and one which Dr. Craig should be very proud to receive. The Tennessee Education Association selected Dr. Craig based on several criteria. He has demonstrated excellence in the classroom, professional merit, and participation in professional, community, and political activities at the University of Tennessee. I request that a copy of the article ``Professor Distinguished as Teacher of Year'' which appeared in the University of Tennessee Daily Beacon be placed in the Record at this point. I would like to call it to the attention of my colleagues and other readers of the Record.

Mr. DUNCAN

Mr. DUNCAN. Mr. Speaker, I rise in strong support of this legislation. Over the years our Nation has become accustomed to terrorism and acts of violence in other countries. But recent tragic events here at home, in our great Nation, have underscored the fact that we live in a dangerous world--and that we too are vulnerable to terrible acts of violence more and more every day. The World Trade Center, Oklahoma City, Atlanta, and the possibilities of TWA flight 800 being blown out of the sky by a bomb, all of these have brought terrorism to the forefront of our society. The American people are demanding, and they deserve, every amount of reasonable protection from acts of violence and terrorism that the Federal Government can muster. Mr. Speaker, the Aviation Security and Antiterrorism Act makes several needed improvements to our Nation's aviation security system. This legislation will require bomb-sniffing dogs to be used at the 50 largest airports in the Nation. It directs the Federal Aviation Administration to deploy the best available bomb detection equipment at airports here at home--similar to equipment that is now being used at several airports in Europe and Israel. The bill also requires airport baggage screeners to undergo in-depth security background checks before they are hired. We should require that all these airport security people be U.S. citizens. And, among many other provisions, the bill also directs the FBI to work closely with the FAA on security measures at our Nation's airports. Mr. Speaker, as the Chair of the Aviation Subcommittee, I wholeheartedly support this legislation. It addresses needed improvements in aviation security that I believe a majority of Americans will support. It is a good bill, a responsive bill, and I urge every Member to support it.