Geoff Davis

Mr. DAVIS of Kentucky

Mr. DAVIS of Kentucky. Mr. Speaker, I rise today in strong support of H.R. 2830, The Pension Protection Act of 2005. This bill addresses a serious issue facing our Nation. The ultimate enactment of pension reform must be a priority to this House and the Congress. I congratulate and thank Chairman Boehner and Chairman Thomas for crafting a comprehensive pension reform bill with so much support from the business and the labor communities. This legislation represents a successful compromise that will help protect workers in the auto industry and also protect the major U.S. auto manufacturers against loss of promised benefits or plan terminations. One area that remains to be addressed in conference is the issue of airline pension plans. The Cincinnati/Northern Kentucky Airport is one of the Nation's busiest. It is home to Delta Air Lines' second largest hub. Thousands of men and women in Kentucky's Fourth District work for airlines. They depend on the retirement benefits provided by the airline industry. Without a change in current law that allows air carriers with Defined Benefit plan obligations to make their pension payments over a longer period of time--20 years--it is possible that some or all of these plans will be terminated, benefits reduced and liability shifted to the American taxpayer. The airlines want to keep their promises to their employees. They want to honor their obligations. They do NOT want to terminate their pension plans nor to reduce benefits. But, they need to be equipped with the tools necessary to have a fighting chance to keep those promises. The Senate airline pension language is carefully crafted to meet the particular concerns of all the major carriers and provide them with a 20 year period to meet their obligations. Although we are not addressing this specific issue today, I strongly support continued pursuit in conference of the Senate-passed airline pension provision. Finally, I wish to thank my colleagues on the Ways and Means and Education and Workforce Committees and their staff for the hard work that has brought us to this point today. I urge all of my colleagues to vote in favor of final passage.

Mr. DAVIS of Kentucky

Mr. DAVIS of Kentucky. Mr. Speaker, I thank the gentleman for the time. I believe it is imperative in this body that we have an open and frank dialogue on issues that are of concern to us. I am disturbed and disappointed, frankly, by some of the rhetoric I have heard, because we are judged and we are acquitted and/or we are found guilty by those words, but the luxury we have is they are simply words here. The impact of those words, though, on the other side of the ocean, in the AOR, in Iraq and Afghanistan, is that in this small world, not only do our friends but also our enemies watch, and they do not understand our concept of openness, of tolerance, of free speech and spirited dialogue. Indeed, sometimes remarks that have been made in this Chamber have been used for the recruiting of suicide bombers. I think that one thing, and I would have to say quite candidly, is in our oversight: It is also important that we have oversight on our own words. The comments that were made yesterday by a man with a distinguished military record, who I do not fault one bit, fly in the face of the comments of hundreds of soldiers, ranging from junior enlisted personnel across the AOR to my West Point classmates who are commanding brigades on the ground and disagree categorically, based on the phone calls that I got last night, including one from the commander of America's premier counterterrorism organization, who asked what in the world was happening here to make those kind of comments to encourage our enemies. However, remarks irresponsibly given, not based on facts, simply do this: They place policy over politics while our young men and women are on the front line and unwittingly cooperates with and emboldens our enemies. Liberal leadership has stated that they do not have a policy on Iraq, as one of your leaders said yesterday, but will have one in an appropriate time, I am sure in time for the 2006 election. Because we are accountable for our words, I urge a yes on this rule to bring this resolution to the floor so the time for tough talking will end, and there will be accountability. If people want to make hard statements, they can be accountable for their words because of this. Because of our words, our troops are going to endure the consequences of those statements, and I urge all of you to be accountable for the statements that have been made.

Mr. DAVIS of Kentucky

Mr. DAVIS of Kentucky. Mr. Speaker, I would point out first that the childish shouting from many who have not served dishonor those who serve on the front lines with quiet resolve at this time while we have a necessary debate on this war. I am here to represent some folks who cannot speak because they are serving on the front lines right now. I received a phone call in the well of the House this evening from one of the commanders of America's premier counterterrorism organization. He shared with me his great dismay at much of the rhetoric that had emanated from this body today, making them the pawns in a political battle over what they clearly see as they are making success on the front lines. Please, your shouting and your rhetoric sends echoes to our enemies as well as to our soldiers and our friends. It is honest to have a debate, my friends, but when I am asked on the floor of this house, why are you doing to us what was done to so many veterans here by Members of this body during Vietnam, when I am told repeatedly of their successes, my friends who I served with over nearly 30 years ago and who are serving now on the front lines commanding the units, leading the units and who are serving as junior enlisted soldiers, hundreds of soldiers whose opinions fly in the face of the rhetoric shared tonight.

Mr. DAVIS of Kentucky

Mr. DAVIS of Kentucky. Mr. Speaker, I want to take a moment to share a perspective that I think is often lost in the freedoms we enjoy, the freedom to meet in this Chamber, the freedom to reflect upon the great decisions that have been made here through the generations, The decision to enter into a war, to provide freedom and the maintenance of our union, the decision to free peoples in Europe and ultimately preserve our security at home. On December 7, 1941, President Roosevelt stood in this Chamber and declared that December 7 was a day of infamy. He shared that this unprovoked attack which moved the United States to war, eventually into Europe as well. In the Korean War, we stopped Communist aggression. In Vietnam, the American people responded. During Operation Desert Storm, the American people responded. In this Chamber in September of 2001, President Bush responded to an attack that was not brought about, my friends, by some nebulous global war on terror. I think it is important that we understand this war is not about some nebulous terrorist concept. This is about Islamic extremism that chooses to impose itself on the world. These people who largely act as agents of states, these non-state actors do not follow the teachings that they purport. Yet if we look more deeply, we see that they are seeking to be true to their interpretation of that religion. In every generation there is a call upon that generation to defend the freedoms that have been purchased at such a tremendously high price. To maintain the union of our country and to free those who were enslaved cost 600,000 soldiers. In World War II, 444,000 soldiers gave their lives to provide freedom; and now we are engaged in a great struggle, a generational struggle that has been imposed upon us. I think that it is important that we understand that the freedom that our minority leader had today to say, frankly, entirely inappropriate things about our national leadership, the freedom that all of us have to disagree, the freedom that all of us have to offer alternatives, the freedom that all of us have to protest, the freedom that reporters who sometimes distort the truth and, in fact, in many cases do not even report the truth but fabricate it, all comes down to the men and women who have answered the call to duty. It is always the same. It is always the minority in the country that does that. Those who believe that there is something bigger in this country than individual selfishness and covetousness of the moment, that there is something worth risking all to protect because of those who come behind us, because they understand they are part of something bigger than themselves, bonded to something of greatness. I want to thank tonight those Marines of the Second Marine Expeditionary Force, the soldiers of the Third Infantry Division, the solders of the 101st Infantry Division, of the 173rd Airborne Brigade in Afghanistan, of the Tennessee and Louisiana National Guards who are rotating back into the United States, and all of those soldiers who are moving in and out, the Marines who are moving in and out, our airmen and sailors who support this effort, because you understand that you have accepted the call of the generations that is so important that many people do not realize. The freedom we enjoy in this Chamber was brought to us by 10 percent of the population of this country who chose to rebel against tyranny and stand for a principle that was higher than dignity of the individual, the rights and freedom of the individual, and that was purchased not simply in a declaration, but to get to the Constitution that gave us the government we have today was purchased in a great price in blood. I am convinced that if today's cynical media had to cover the Normandy invasion, the greatest invasion in history that defeated the greatest tyranny in history up to that point, had it been reported by today's media, today's cynical media, today's profit-driven media, Mr. Speaker, I believe we would have lost that war. Because the Nation would have called for a pullout because there was risk associated with that, because things did not seem to go well. Because when unforeseen circumstances that always come up in war, and anybody who has served in the military, let alone in this Chamber, unexpected things happen. I find those who have not served who are the great experts on military history do not really understand what they are talking about. Rather than commending our soldiers who have adapted to a fluid situation and the great things that have been done to support them, they provide criticism of why could that not have been anticipated? It is simple, my friends. We are fighting an adaptive and motivated and, frankly, evil enemy that has a religious doctrine that stands and flies in the face of everything on which this country was founded, on which the Constitution was based, that respects the rights of the individual, the dignity of a man, the dignity of a woman to pursue opportunities in the way in which they define. And when somebody wants to impose an attack upon this Nation, and one that was planned long before September 11, and attempts that were made long before September 11, we have no choice but to yield or to respond, and we have responded. Comments that have been made by my colleagues on the other side that talk about casualties, I can speak with some authority on that issue, having buried some of my friends. I find it interesting that they want to talk about numbers, which dishonors those who serve. I did not see any of my colleagues who talk about these numbers standing with me as I buried a friend of a friend who was killed in Al Qayyim in June over at Arlington Cemetery. They were back here at PAC fund-raisers and going to receptions and making pointless statements in this Chamber about things they know nothing about. More than that, I would suggest to you that these same people who want to talk about numbers and these liberal reporters who do not care about this Nation, who do not care about the price that was paid for the freedoms that they enjoy, where were you for the last 25 years? Where were you when 16,000 American soldiers died between 1983 and 1996 in service to this Nation? Where were you when 24,000 American men and women gave their lives between 1980 and 2004? Your comments, frankly, are despicable, dishonorable, uninformed, unhistorical, anti- intellectual and, frankly, un-American. But I respect your freedom to make those statements, because they were purchased with the blood of all of those who served. I would suggest that in this body that the liberal reporters who watch and our enemies who watch and the soldiers who watch and those who want to speak against this from their positions of ignorance and political convenience, who use our soldiers: You learned your lessons during the Vietnam War. Now you use our soldiers in a dishonorable way as human shields to advance an idea that stands in contravention to the freedoms that have been purchased at such a high price. I ask my colleagues on the other side of the aisle who have been here for many years and like to speak with false authority: Where were you when my friend Ken Maddock was killed from Task Force 160? Where were you when my classmate from West Point, Mike Scott, died? Where were you when Lee Border died or Brian Haller died in the 101st Airborne Division? I saw no requiems in this Chamber. I saw no requiems on television for them. It was not politically expedient. But now you disagree with the policy when our Nation is threatened by extremists, and soldiers and Marines and airmen and sailors have responded to that call, and you sit here mouthing your empty words. Casualties are always a great tragedy. I think the one thing that was most poignant to me as I visited my old Airborne Unit, I deployed to the Middle East with the task force of the 1/508th running aviation operations in support of them, and I went and visited that unit today in Paktika Province in Afghanistan. A CNN reporter came to one of the forward operating bases. There had been an attack on that base earlier in their deployment as they were clearing out the enemies of freedom, and not simply ending a military operation but bringing order and civil government and roads and sewers and the fact that the government can be good and the people can be helped and they can be part of something bigger than themselves, which is not a tyranny, an ideological tyranny. That reporter was looking for bad stories and refused to cover the reenlistment of every soldier in the 1/508 on that forward operating base who was up for reenlistment. That is a tragedy, and that is unfortunate. To me, I think the lesson that we have to ask ourselves is how do we get around this, how do we avoid this problem. Well, the media is not going to be helpful to this country because I think they have lost their connection with the heartland of this Nation, with the people who have borne the burden of the price of freedom through the generations. Every generation of my family has served in the Armed Forces, not in glorious ranks of generals and admirals, but in the enlisted ranks, carrying the rifles and manning the ships that provided the freedom for the people in this body to say the things that they have said. And I would say this, Mr. Speaker, I do not care about the media. What we need to do is allow these soldiers and these marines to go into every editorial board, into every Rotary Club and chamber in this Nation and let them tell their story. Let them tell their story in the communities and in the fiscal courts. Let them tell their stories in the courthouses and on the street corners, and I guarantee you that these people who purport to be experts on things they know nothing about will be discredited and things will be shown for what they are. Because you cannot refute a 100 percent reenlistment rate in units where these soldiers have borne this burden and they go back over and over again. To you military people who are watching, I want to say thank you, as a fellow soldier. To you who cherish our freedoms, I thank you. For you in the press who enjoy this freedom but you abuse it, know that the price that is paid by those who frankly have greater moral character than you, who refuse to cover the truth of what they are doing, know that it is their sacrifice, not yours, that allows you to share what you share. And finally, to those of our citizens in the heartland know that these men and women are doing a great service to prepare the way for us to adapt to the 21st century; that we will have a safe country and a community to pass these freedoms on to the next generation. I will leave you with a story from the 1/508, commanded by Colonel Tim McGuire, as he was moving northward from Shirana forward operating base to Orgune. He shared that coming back from that mission a little boy ran from a village up to his convoy. He stopped. He did not speak Pashto, and the interpreter asked the little boy what the problem was. The little boy had waved, as many of the children I saw in Afghanistan did at the Americans all the time. He asked the little boy what he was concerned about, and he said that two bad men had come into the village and put something in the road. That little boy saved potentially American soldiers. The enemy were dealt with and that village is open and free, but Colonel McGuire asked the question which encapsulates all of what this struggle between radical Islamic extremism and the values of freedom and dignity of the individual that we cherish expresses, and he said, Young man, why did you do that, knowing that there was risk associated with what that boy did. He looked at this airborne colonel in the 173rd Airborne Brigade, and he said to Tim, before you Americans came, I could not go to school. That is the contrast that we have here: freedom, opportunity, hope, true faith, or extremism, persecution, tyranny and hatred. Thank you for you who serve.

Mr. DAVIS of Kentucky

Mr. DAVIS of Kentucky. Mr. Speaker, I rise today in honor of Edward Conner, a young man from Falmouth, Kentucky, who has shown a tremendous appreciation for the service of many veterans in Kentucky through his involvement with volunteer activities honoring the Men and Women who served in our Armed Forces. Edward, or ``Eddie''--as his friends call him, is an honorary member of American Legion Post 109 and despite his young age of 15, is actively involved with organizing annual Veterans Day events in Pendleton County. Eddie often volunteers his time at the Legion Post--performing a variety of services and speaks to children at area schools about his work with veterans. Being a Member of the American Legion, I thoroughly appreciate Eddie's hard work and commend him on volunteering his time in support of veterans everywhere.

Mr. DAVIS of Kentucky

Mr. DAVIS of Kentucky. Mr. Speaker, as a fellow Ranger, I thank the chairman. It is a great honor to serve in this Chamber. I think the one thing that has been very humbling to me is the experiences I shared visiting many of my friends that I have known for 28 and 29 years, serving around the world, serving in Afghanistan, serving in Iraq; and I think that their story is never told in this Chamber. Their story is very rarely told in the American media; and if it is told, it is told almost as an afterthought. The one thing I would share that my classmates from West Point, friends from when I served as an enlisted soldier, friends who are in command of units on the ground now in the theater, returned to the United States with one common feeling towards the American media and toward the left, and that is anger at a complete misrepresentation of what they are doing. I think the thing that we need to understand very clearly is that the battle to defeat the insurgents in Iraq is not taking place in Baghdad. It is not taking place in Tikrit and Fallujah and Mosul and Ramadi. That is where the kinetic end of the business is; but the insurgents are desperate. If Abu Mosab al-Zarqawi and Ayman al-Zawahiri in Iraq and Afghanistan can make the clear statement that they see the center of gravity of this fight right here in the United States and right here in American public opinion and in the willingness of American citizens to simply accept a call to duty, that is so clear when the American people have the facts. As I travel in my district and as I have traveled in this country, the one thing I find very clearly is if an American citizen has taken a moment to speak to a soldier or Marine who has served on the ground in Iraq or Afghanistan, they have a completely different opinion, a completely different opinion of what is happening. I think the thing that is remarkable to me, and I remember when I first joined the Army, is that the members of the left mocked the military. I remember receiving the Hitler salutes and being called a baby killer if I showed up on a college campus in uniform. The thing that is remarkable to me and some of the deceit about the American left, and frankly some of the deceit I see in this Chamber when we talk about the greatest struggle that the United States has faced since the end of the Second World War, is now the American soldier, to their disgust, is being used as a human shield to attack their use in defense of this Nation and defense of our freedom. To those on the left and my colleagues on the other side who go to great lengths to talk about how much they care about the American military, where were they when 18,000 American servicemen died between 1983 and 1986 during peace and war in the service to this country? I think your lack of an answer to that ever in the media speaks for itself. When we talk about the success, I think it comes down to the fact that there is a political agenda that is driving this that has to do with taking America down at the expense of right. Moreover, I think that if we listen to what Abu Mosab al-Zarqawi and Ayman al-Zawahiri are really saying, they are more and more desperate, and ironically it feeds into the liberal media's desire to control the message in this country. I recently met with an editorial board of a major newspaper. We got into this very discussion when I met with the soldiers of an airborne unit I deployed in the Middle East with, the 1st 508th Parachute Infantry, now in the 173rd Airborne Brigade. The national media did not want to cover their successes. They were looking for disgruntled troops and could not understand why 100 percent of those soldiers wanted to reenlist. It is very simple: they believe in the mission they see on the ground. I brought this up with this editorial board about the successes of the 2nd Brigade Combat Team in East Baghdad that have totally neutralized that area, which was once very violent, working closely and receiving great support from the Iraqi people. In fact, the Iraqi people are moving more and more into the front lines providing intelligence, providing the needed information. They are in the fight. This editor of a major American daily newspaper looked me in the eye and said, ``Geoff, car bombs are more sexy than opening schools.'' My heart broke when I heard that, because for the sake of a few dollars of profit, for a bit of readership, he chose to distort the very heart of what is happening in the world in the struggle that we face. I would challenge those in this Chamber, as the left is selective, I would challenge those in this Chamber who want to talk about soldiers, and those watching on C-SPAN from around the United States, ignore the politicians. Talk to the soldiers, sailors, airmen and Marines. I would challenge that in every community in the United States of America, invite a Marine, invite a soldier who has been on the ground, who has been in the theater and served working with the Iraqi people and trained the Iraqi security forces, and who understands who an IED is, and that it is not some convenient means to beat up on the administration or to engage in partisan political attacks, but has lifted a friend who has put his life on the line out of a wreckage. I would tell you to invite those people to talk to your Rotary clubs and your chamber of commerce, talk to the editorial boards of the local paper, and bypass these people who are bent on one thing, which is deceit of the actual mission, or a complete cultural misunderstanding of what is happening, and share those successes as we hear over and over again from the troops on the ground in every unit that comes back. There are is lack of recruits for the Iraqi security forces, and our units in combat are reenlisting at rates of 100 percent, and it means one thing: they believe in the mission. They see the success. They understand the seriousness of this fight; and ultimately they care about us in this Nation enough to serve. I thank all of you men and women who are serving on active duty right now who have accepted the call to duty. My prayer is that this Nation will rise up, that citizens all across this country will rise up on the east and west coasts and in the heartland and will accept the call to duty that we have as a Nation and this generation to protect the foundation of our freedom, to finish this job and to have the forces of tyranny and suppression of truth know once and for all that they cannot prevail. That is why they will not fight us in the street. They seek to win in American public opinion in the media or in criminal attacks against innocent civilians. With that, I thank the troops for serving. I thank my colleagues for having the courage to stand in this body and point the truth out, to cut through the political rhetoric. I challenge those in the media to cover the truth of what is happening and to bring our soldiers and our Marines' stories into the forefront so the American people get a true perspective. Mr. Speaker, I thank the gentleman from California for allowing me to speak tonight.

Mr. DAVIS of Kentucky

Mr. DAVIS of Kentucky. Mr. Speaker, I am a lifetime member of the National Rifle Association and a life-long shooting sports enthusiast. I have been an outspoken supporter of second amendment rights and strongly support the original intent of this bill. I regret the legislation we are voting on today contains the Kohl- Reed storage device amendment. We need to protect the firearms industry, an industry I would like to remind my colleagues on the other side of the aisle is responsible for arming our troops, our law enforcement professionals, including the Capitol Police. But responsible gun owners should not have further limits placed on their second amendment rights. Unfortunately, it has become necessary to enact legislation to protect responsible owners, manufacturers, and sellers from frivolous liability lawsuits and criminals and others who irresponsibly handle firearms. The original legislation from the House had 257 cosponsors and the original bill in the Senate, which did not contain the Kohl-Reed amendment, had 62 cosponsors. I do not understand why then we are about to pass a measure that is a compromise of the two bills that were overwhelmingly supported by both Chambers. Among the provisions of this amendment is a requirement of using devices like a trigger lock to protect an individual from a release of liability if a criminal should take their weapon. For example, trigger locks can violate a fundamental safety rule of keeping everything out of the trigger guard until ready to shoot. The very real safety hazard is that the lock could actually depress the trigger as it enters the trigger guard if the weapon is not cleared. Having said that, though, I think it is very important and I urge my colleagues to support the Protection of Lawful Commerce in Arms Act, because we need to take immediate steps to protect the firearms industry and manufacturers and responsible gun owners from the liberal left's culture of frivolous litigation and to legislate by lawsuit.

Mr. DAVIS of Kentucky

Mr. DAVIS of Kentucky. Mr. Speaker, Cuba is a country that has a people with a diverse culture, a rich heritage, a people who came as pioneers, people who came and sought their freedom and built a future. This rich and diverse history was suppressed 46 years ago under a dark veil of Communist rejection of all freedom, of rights, of dignity and liberty of the individual. I think it is important that this resolution pass, and I rise today in its support. I cannot stress enough how important it is that human rights and human dignity be afforded to the citizens of Cuba who live in oppression under a brutal, tyrannical dictator who cares more for his own power and the advancement of his family and his cronies than his citizens who are starving and are neglected of the basic rights and privileges and necessities that we take for granted in this country. He stands against those things that we represent, and my family has seen that firsthand. My wife Pat has helped many Cuban families who have made literally the pilgrimage to freedom, in a heartbreaking decision to leave their home country, to leave all that they love, lose all of their worldly possessions, except for their dignity, their self respect, their faith and, ultimately, maintaining cohesiveness in their family, to come seek a new life here, awaiting that day when they may return to their land and live in freedom. Unfortunately, some in the international community see fit to recognize Fidel Castro as a power with whom to negotiate and placate. We must remember one thing. Still, today, even in old age, he is a dangerous man. He is an enemy of freedom and has sought on many continents to suppress that throughout his entire career of leadership of his tyrannical government. He is a suppresser of faith, the ability of his people and peoples elsewhere to express their faith in God, to practice their religion and, ultimately, he is an enemy of the future, an enemy of freedom in this hemisphere of no greater value than anyone else. On July 14, the government of France invited Castro to the French Embassy in Havana to celebrate Bastille Day, but courageous members of Cuba's democratic opposition were not invited, so they chose to peacefully protest the French decision. On the morning of the protest, Cuban security forces stormed the homes of those planning to demonstrate and arrested at least 20. This type of dictatorial behavior cannot be tolerated for any length of time whatsoever. Think about it: a dictator invited to a celebration of liberation of people and, at the same time, suppressing his own people from peacefully expressing their views. It is illogical and it is illogical for the French to accept this. For too long, the international community has danced around Castro and his Communist state, while the people live in oppression or risk their lives attempting to escape. It is not just the 20 individuals who were simply planning to protest who were arrested. Protestant Christians in Cuba are facing new regulations on house churches that can restrict religious freedom. In order to suppress one house church, I know personally of a case where a pastor was arrested on the pretext of practicing medicine without a license simply because he prayed for one of his parishioners in the house church. Imagine for a moment a place where the government supervises church services, and if an agent of the government arbitrarily decides that the church is breaking government regulations, it can shut it down. Imagine also a place where the government say that two house churches of the same denomination cannot exist within a mile and a half of each other, and imagine a place where human rights activists are taken into custody for simply commemorating the tragic deaths of 35 people who were killed when the boat they were fleeing in was rammed by authorities. Imagine all of that, and you will be imagining Castro's Cuba. Mr. Speaker, I urge my colleagues to join me in supporting this critical and important resolution for the message that it sends.

Mr. DAVIS of Kentucky

Mr. DAVIS of Kentucky. Mr. Speaker, on rollcall No. 485, I put my card in the machine but it didn't register my vote. Had it registered I would have voted ``yea.''

Mr. DAVIS of Kentucky

Mr. DAVIS of Kentucky. Mr. Speaker, I thank the gentleman for yielding to me. This tragedy is of grave proportions, as evidenced by the unprecedented meeting of the President's Cabinet here tonight, Mr. Speaker, who spent 3 hours with us discussing a wide range of responses from government agencies, of agencies of the State as well as the local level, but particularly looking at the response that was engendered by this. I think the one thing that we can clearly say, looking at history, looking at this response and looking at others is there is no substitute for leadership and initiative, particularly on the front lines and in the local level; and there are countless stories of individuals and communities who rose to the occasion, ranging from mayors of small cities, pastors of churches, small business owners who all gave of themselves to make a tremendous difference, as the military and national response was able to come into an area that was devastated and largely inaccessible. I would point out that the response has been actually unprecedented in scale. When we think about this, I would like to bring some perspective to my colleagues. No disaster, no natural disaster, has struck this Nation of the proportions that Hurricane Katrina has in terms of its devastation and its impact. Nearly 90,000 square miles were affected by this. That is an area approximately the size of Great Britain, approximately the size of the State of Wyoming. When we begin to look at that, I do not believe that there is any agency that had fully prepared or built the infrastructure for that level and certainly the city of New Orleans did not have the wherewithal, just the simple hydraulics and physics of it. But the one thing that I want to point out is that people in neighborhoods rose to the occasion, individual citizens rose to the occasion. And many of my colleagues have risen to the occasion, abandoning the legislative role during that last week of the recess, working in everything from relief positions to the gentleman from Louisiana (Mr. Boustany), one of my colleagues, a physician, who helped in the start-up of hospitals, coordinating rescue operations from his district in Lafayette. I look at communities in the surrounding States and throughout the country who have responded with an incredible amount of magnanimity, of charity, of compassion, of love and outreach to see these people have a hope and an opportunity and a future. In some ways, Mr. Speaker, I have to share candidly, as a former military professional, I was somewhat disappointed with some of the media coverage. I felt that it neglected many of the great works that were being performed by people in hidden places throughout the communities that were affected. Just as an aside, the Coast Guard rescued more people in the last week than four times what it would do in a typical year. That is simply remarkable, the ability to stage those resources in there and begin that response. When I look at the amount of rescues that have had to be performed for nearly 60,000 people who were trapped on rooftops and structures, public safety professionals, military professionals, National Guard resources from all over the United States are pouring in. Even before the storm hit, resources were being mustered around the United States, even from our own fourth district. The day after the storm, I ran into early Tuesday morning a convoy of vehicles from our own Owen Electric Cooperative that had been on two prior hurricane responses and were on their way to lower Mississippi to the central staging area. There was a concerted response of private groups, of public groups coming together to deal with the tragedy whose magnitude no one could have imagined. For a week now, we have watched the heartbreaking scenes of death and destruction in Mississippi, Alabama, and Louisiana. So many people left homeless, left without anything except the clothes they were wearing and one or two precious items that they could grab as the flood waters deluged their homes. As we grieve over this unimaginable horror, we have also watched in unmistakable awe ordinary people who have opened their hearts, their homes, their pocketbooks to these storm victims. Families who have little to spare themselves are taking in entire families of strangers simply because someone else is in need. This is the American way of selflessness and generosity. There is no ulterior motive, no agenda; and there is nothing but the simple desire to help, to lend a hand, to reinforce the dignity of every individual who is affected by this great tragedy. The city of Houston, Texas, has done something unprecedented. And I point out that in the tsunami and in other disasters in other parts of the world no country, no people have ever responded with the level of outpouring of response of individuals to local, State and Federal Government agencies as we have seen in the last 7 days. I think that is an important point of perspective that we keep in mind. The level of this tragedy was equal in magnitude to any of the countries that were hit by the tsunami, and when we look at the response of our people here, it has been simply phenomenal from a perspective of infrastructure. In that outpouring in Houston alone, 225,000 people have been received into that city. The people of Texas have set an example of compassion and leadership. Other States around the country are receiving people, colleges, universities, communities, homeless shelters even. And I look at that, and I see in virtually every State, all of our States along the Ohio Valley, where I live, are seeing the same level of compassion. It has been simply overwhelming. They have responded to a grave situation by giving hope, by giving opportunity, and helping communities to ultimately reestablish while the water is being removed, while an infrastructure that no longer exists is being put back in place. Things that are important to remember from a standpoint affecting the entire country as we are dealing with the human tragedies, we are dealing with the health care issues, as we are providing refuge for those who are affected by this storm, crews from industry, from the private sector, from our national security organizations have responded. By the end of this week, our national refineries in the gulf will be back at 95 percent of production. That is a tremendous statement. Our pipelines are going to be open again to make sure that that critical infrastructure is working. The on-water transit capability is going to be back in operation very shortly, and hopefully, we will see that port open up. Why that is so important is restoring normalcy and restoring employment, vocation, jobs and restarting that market economy and rebuilding the foundations of those communities over time. I think it is also important to remember what the national response is. During Operation Iraqi Freedom, it took nearly 6 months to stage the 250,000 troops into Iraq, including the infrastructure that they needed, only crossing one major water obstacle, a river with most of the bridges intact. As of tomorrow, there will be nearly 50,000 soldiers in the disaster area, mobilized in less than 1 week. That, again, is a testimony to the resourcefulness of the response and capability of our military, of our National Guard, and I think they need to be commended for what they are doing. Our first responders have done an outstanding job. Many are overwhelmed, out of resources, are taking the initiative to do the things that are necessary to make sure that lives can be saved, that people can be kept healthy. In my district, Kentucky's Fourth, the largest medical center, St. Elizabeth's Hospital in Florence, recently sent about 15 medical personnel, including a dozen nurses and two pallets of medical supplies to a staging center in Louisiana. St. Luke's Hospital, also in Florence, also sent medical personnel to the Gulf Coast. And my church, Grace Evangelical Free Church, is sending its third truckload of supplies to the region this weekend. Last Tuesday morning, as I mentioned, the utilities crews that were heading south, not to mention truckloads of equipment that passed through my district on I-75 headed toward the disaster areas. We have seen vehicles coming from as far away as Canada, but from all over the United States, that are converging to provide the resources to help stabilize that situation and rebuild it. This is a beacon of outstanding response. There is no perfect response to any unpredictable situation, but I want to look at and commend the adaptability of our people who have responded on the scene and those who have opened their pocketbooks, opened their resources and lent their hands from around the United States. The city of Covington, Kentucky, sent a truck loaded with water, sports drinks and other provisions to its unofficial sister city of Covington, Louisiana. There was a report of a woman who arrived in Covington in a beat-up car and who was described in a newspaper report as not looking ``like she had a penny to spend,'' but she brought $100 worth of supplies because she simply cared. Covington City officials were also waiting to learn how many people would be traveling to their area of northern Kentucky for temporary housing. Northern Kentucky University is reaching out to take in as many students as it possibly can. Communities around our district, as with many, many congressional districts around this country, are responding with an openness and a charity that I think sets an example of brotherly love and compassion that honors the spirit of our founders in this country. Then, there is Mike Detzel and Dave Yeazell who loaded up a van with 3,900 bottles of water and drove south from Florence, Kentucky, to Slidell, Louisiana. Prior to making this trip, Mr. Yeazell gave money to the Red Cross and Mr. Detzel and his wife offered spare rooms in their homes to the evacuees. But like so many others, they wanted to do more. One of the things I have always admired most about our country is our willingness to give and to want to help. We respond to international tragedies with such an outpouring of generosity that we are left breathless by the momentum. And now that we have been hit here at home by a tragedy of almost biblical proportions, it seems there are no boundaries to the generosity of our people and the response from around the United States. As difficult as this time is for the storm's victims, we must approach this carefully and orderly to be sure that the supplies reach the people who need them the most. People in the disaster areas need to know they are cared about; there is concern and outpouring from around this Nation; and this country will not let up until every person is found; and no one will be left behind. We also have to give thought to the Housing issues in the long term to those who have lost their homes in the wake of this deadly storm. So many cities throughout this nation are taking in evacuees on what is being called a temporary basis. Mobile home manufacturers in our area are responding with upgraded production and, in many cases, donated mobile homes to be sent into the disaster areas, as is happening around the country. There is a long-term need for housing, for schools, that needs to be addressed, and it will be addressed by this body as well as local governments, and it must be addressed sooner rather than later. I think those of us who are in a decision-making position who have not been directly impacted by this tragedy have overcome our initial shock. We are past denying that it is not going to turn out as badly as we think. The harsh reality is it turned out much worse than anyone could have imagined or frankly could have planned for. Now we need to focus on long-term solutions for the evacuees, the survivors and rebuilding the region and the economy and the communities that these people have spent their lives building prior to this impact. I think, in the long term, the ultimate benefit of this is going to be a great demonstration of the American spirit, Mr. Speaker, but also along those same lines, in this new world that we live in today, the silver lining in this is going to be a response to potential great disasters that could befall this country. God forbid they ever happen, but the lessons that we should learn out of this will provide the wisdom, the knowledge, the planning infrastructure to respond to far greater threats that may emerge in the future. I thank the gentleman for the opportunity to share. I appreciate his leadership on this issue and his ability to put this together on such short notice.

Mr. DAVIS of Kentucky

Mr. DAVIS of Kentucky. Mr. Chairman, on rollcall No. 391, the Kucinich amendment, I was unavoidably detained and am not recorded. Had I been present, I would have voted ``no.'' Amendment No. 24 Offered by Mr. Lantos

Mr. DAVIS of Kentucky. Mr. Chairman, on rollcall No. 390, the King amendment No. 22, I was unavoidably detained and am not recorded. Had I been present, I would have voted ``aye.''

Mr. DAVIS of Kentucky

Mr. DAVIS of Kentucky. Mr. Speaker, I rise today in strong support of this rule and the underlying legislation. I want to take this opportunity to thank my colleague, the gentleman from Georgia (Mr. Norwood), for 10 years of leadership in this body on a very critical and important issue. The opposition today just simply neglects the reality that these bills do not affect safety at all. Rather, they will improve the climate of business, and they will improve the opportunity for safety because all small business owners know that good safety makes good business, and safety is not what this is about. OSHA was founded to establish a common guideline to improve safety and, hence, to improve competitiveness nationally. But it has mutated into an organization that is seen in the business community, frankly, with fear, as one that comes with retribution, of uncertainty and subjectivity in enforcement. Each piece of legislation being considered today makes commonsense and practical reforms to the Occupation Safety and Health Administration and to the Occupational Safety and Health Review Commission to restore original intent of the act from 34 years ago. Moreover, it will restore the context and the spirit of the original intent of the law. Mr. Speaker, I have spent most of my professional life in manufacturing, working with small manufacturers who were competing in the global economy and dealing with compliance issues. I have seen this lost original intent firsthand. What was intended to provide that commonsense standard is now a confusing mass of regulations that create cost, that cost us jobs, and that damage competitiveness without affecting one aspect of safety. Indeed, 50 percent of the regulations that OSHA can shut down a business with have nothing to do with safety, but paperwork compliance. I have watched subjectivity and enforcement where one of my clients, who had never had a lost day for a safety violation, was violated repeatedly because this perfect facility had railings that were 34'' instead of 36'' tall all around their machining center, costing them tens of thousands of dollars in legal fees. Another client, who had over 100 identified safety violations that I personally noted in my report to their corporate parent, was never violated because of personal relationships and subjectivity in that particular locale. This is a travesty and misses the entire point because the workers in the one location were adversely affected by a lack of context and enforcement. Ironically, the fiercest opponents of this small business-friendly agenda have never created a job, have never met a payroll, and have never sacrificed personally to ensure their employees have had their benefits and had their salaries. I have done that, the gentleman from Georgia (Mr. Norwood) has done that, and those who are supporting this legislation in many cases have themselves. OSHA serves an important function, but I remember one thing one of my supporters, Riley, said, who started a business from scratch and has the great loyalty of hundreds of his employees in his small business: he believes that nobody should run a Federal regulatory agency or even serve in Federal elected office unless they have created one job, because it changes your world view and your outlook regardless of party. OSHA was created to protect the safety of the workforce and not to strangle small business. This legislation represents four commonsense solutions for fine-tuning OSHA to improve protection for our workers, while reducing unnecessary burdens on small business. H.R. 739 allows the review commission to waive the hard 15-day rule appeals deadline for cause. As my colleague previously mentioned, it removes ambiguities in the current law and brings context to specific situations so that there can be a climate of dialogue and compliance. Most small businesses cannot afford to maintain in-house compliance professionals, and an OSHA citation can be intimidating and confusing, regularly causing small businesses to miss that 15-day window inadvertently. This resolution simply permits a waiver for demonstrated causes or mistake. H.R. 740 increases the number of commissioners on the review commission, not to stack the deck, but to allow the backlog of cases to be able to be removed so these businesses can get back to creating jobs, generating growth in our economy, and ultimately providing a future for the generation following behind us. Currently, there are citations on appeal that have been unresolved for 8 years. We cannot compete in a climate like this. Stalemate serves no one. H.R. 741 clarifies the original congressional intent by affirmatively declaring that a review court must defer to the review commission. This brings it back into original statutory compliance and original intent. The review commission was designed to be the independent arbiter or judge. OSHA, on the other hand, serves as the prosecutor. Deference by a reviewing court should be given to the independent arbiter, not to the prosecutor. Finally, H.R. 742 allows a small business to recover its legal costs if it wins. Under current law, a small business is often faced with simply paying the penalty because it is cheaper than fighting. Too often our small businesses suffer devastating financial losses just to prove they are innocent. In the case I mentioned previously that had no safety violations, or no loss time for safety violations but was violated on silly paperwork compliance, there were jobs lost, or actually not created, more correctly, because of those tens of thousands of dollars spent paying attorneys instead of paying working families. As a former small business owner, I know the important impact of this legislation, what it will have on our small businesses, on the safety of their employees, and on the generating of additional hopeful jobs for working families. I urge all my colleagues, Mr. Speaker, to vote in favor of this rule and to support this critical underlying legislation.

Mr. DAVIS of Kentucky

Mr. DAVIS of Kentucky. Mr. Speaker, today, I rise in support of Title II in my legislation, H.R. 458. Title II regulates so-called ``military lenders,'' and provides significant safeguards to protect our armed services personnel from abusive consumer credit lending and collection practices. A number of lenders target military personnel. While most lenders treat their customers fairly, some of these creditors engage in deceptive sales and marketing practices and employ coercive debt collection practices. I know about companies like Pioneer Financial that engage in predatory lending with high rates and hidden fees and frequently refiance loans to generate more fees for the lender while providing little or no benefit to the service member. Like many others, I myself, Mr. Speaker, while a young officer in the military, was misled into thinking that the military was endorsing these types of lenders and loan products. I also know that in some instances, lenders go as far to garnish military personnel's wages or require them to agree to have their loan repaid through the allotment system. Predatory lenders have contacted or threatened to contact the borrower's commanding officer or others in the borrower's chain of command in order to collect debt. Furthermore, some lenders have required borrowers to sign documents as a condition of obtaining the loan that purportedly waive their legal rights, including the requirement that the borrower submit to mandatory arbitration of any dispute instead of being able to institute a legal action. Title II in H.R. 458 recognizes that many military personnel do not understand or appreciate their borrowing options or rights or what can happen if they do not carefully manage their finances after taking out a loan to pay off or consolidate old debts. Accordingly, under Title II, prior to the consummation of a loan transaction, military lenders also would be required to provide detailed disclosures. Mr. Speaker, in the last Congress, each of the Members who serve on both the House Armed Services and Financial Services Committees expressed concerns about these types of lenders, including predatory lenders and some payday lenders, taking advantage of members of our armed forces. As the newest Member to serve on both committees, I endorsed my colleagues' views by adding these special protections for military borrowers in Title II of H.R. 458, to ensure that all high interest lenders comply with essential safeguards that protect our men and women in the armed forces.

Mr. DAVIS of Kentucky

Mr. DAVIS of Kentucky. Mr. Speaker, I would like to take this opportunity this evening to discuss the call to duty that our armed services have accepted, the importance of standing firm in the global war on terror, a war that was imposed upon us by those who seek to destroy not only our way of life but remove all vestiges of a culture of freedom, of tolerance and opportunity from this world. It is an interesting thing that I have seen happen in the United States since the terrible days following September 11. At that time, our national populace was galvanized. The war was close at hand. People understood the pain. We all knew the emotions we feel as we saw the images over and over again on television, stories of friends and family who were touched directly by the loss of relatives or friends who had been wounded or hurt during that attack. Now we have moved back into comfortable familiarity. We are forgetting the importance of this was a war that was imposed upon us, one, I might add, that was coming whether we liked it or not. The burgeoning of radical Islamic extremist movements throughout southwest Asia, principally funded by Wahabist groups, groups like al Qaeda, other affiliated groups, were spreading quietly across the world, across the latitude 10-40 window and, yes, right even in the United States, even in cases where taxpayer dollars were going to institutions and organizations that were promoting activities that were destructive to our national way of life. Indeed, as President Bush said our freedoms not only were used against us in the initial assault of September 11, but our freedoms are used against us with salacious speech, literally calls to Jihad taking place right inside the border of this country. What do we hear from the other side in this body speaking of tolerance, of faith, of ethnic diversity, of belief? We hear nothing. We hear nothing to confront that reality. Indeed, a poignant moment came for me in the War on Terror, a war that is equally as important to this future of this Nation as the struggle was in the Second World War. This past Tuesday, I had a singular and great honor. I was invited to attend the funeral of Sergeant Michael McNulty who served in America's premier counterterrorist organization. He served all around the world, helping us to have the freedom to speak here tonight, that people could sleep in their beds safe, knowing that their men and women on the front lines were willing to lay their lives down, to go into harm's way, to stand firm, to train, to send a message to the world that our freedoms will be defended. As the honor guard fired its volley, as the bandsman played Taps, as Mrs. McNulty wept with the four children next to her, the parents of Michael sitting behind them, looking at that flag-draped casket, we looked at a casket of a man who died fighting to preserve these freedoms. He died in western Iraq, but in the background what I heard was the sound of jets leaving Reagan National Airport, traffic on the roads, the sounds of tourists in the distance. I came back over to the city, and people were going about their day-to-day business, completely unaware, oblivious to the struggle that was going on with the exception of the occasional salacious news report that the liberal media puts into the newspapers or on television, not talking about the successes, not talking about the commitment, not talking about what is at stake for the future of this country and why, as a Nation, we must rise up and have a sense of duty, a sense of resolve and a sense of commitment. One thing that we have learned in our history is to appease those who stand against our way of life, guarantees that the conflict that we seek to avoid will be brought upon us. Yet, we are not talking about this now. We hear empty rhetoric about exit strategies. We want to point to questions about the nature and motivation of, well, do we really want to be in this conflict. Mr. Speaker, I need to share with my colleagues, we did not choose to be in this conflict. This conflict was imposed upon us by groups that were intent on bringing it to our shores, and men like Sergeant McNulty were among those who are working hard to keep it from our shores, especially since September 11. As I look at this, one thing that I would share is that the best measure of the effectiveness and the belief in this mission is not public opinion polls to people who are not receiving the full story about this fight for freedom, this commitment to duty on the part of our Armed Services, the call to duty that I believe is upon every citizen of this country, as it has been for every generation that has come before us. What we need to understand is the best measure of belief in this mission in an army of the people who volunteer to serve is their morale and their commitment to stay the course. Contrary to much of the empty rhetoric and hot air that I hear from many of the talking heads who have never served this country, I might add and have no concept of the things they speak of as we talk about these alleged problems, answer me this, Mr. Speaker. Why are active components exceeding their retention levels over 100 percent? Why is the Army, the active Army, this month in June going to exceed 100 percent of its initial recruitment quota? It is because the message is getting out. I have talked to over 400 soldiers and Marines since I have been in Congress this session. I have walked the halls with the gentleman from Texas (Mr. Conaway), my colleague who is going to share his views in a moment, and talked to wounded Marines. We have spoken with wounded soldiers. Over and over, we hear one thing: a commitment to their command; a belief in the mission; and a question of why the media is not accurately reporting the successes of our soldiers, our Marines, our airmen and our sailors in the theater. We are not talking about the restoration of infrastructure that frankly did not exist in the Saddam Hussein regime in Iraq. We are not talking in the national media about the bringing for the first time in the history of this country true women's suffrage and women's rights and interest in the opportunity and the hope for families in Afghanistan. For the first time in the history of that part of the world, women went to the polls and chose a duly elected leader of the country. One of my West Point classmates jokingly described Iraq as he found it, as a country run by the Sopranos. It was not run by the rule of law. It was run by thuggery, by terror, by intimidation and by corruption. The Iraqi people were standing up. They are standing up and they are taking hold, and our soldiers and our Marines, our airmen and our sailors see that every day as they serve. They see that commitment. They see the fact that the Iraqi people want us to stand by them as they stand up so they can stand completely on their own. There are many things that we are going to address in this time tonight, but the first thing that I would like to do is introduce my colleague who has seen firsthand many of the exciting developments. He has seen firsthand the work of our civil affairs soldiers, the work of people in communities, helping them to rebuild, to have a hope and a future, a desire to raise their children and the quality of the people that we have. Mr. Speaker, I yield to the gentleman from Texas (Mr. Conaway).

Mr. DAVIS of Kentucky. Mr. Speaker, I thank the gentleman from Virginia (Mr. Cantor) for his remarks and thank him and his team for being willing before September 11 to engage in groundbreaking work in this body to bring to light this issue. It was important to mention that aviator's comments. One of the things that is not done enough in this body or frankly in the national media is to talk about the tremendous successes our soldiers, sailors, airmen and Marines are seeing on the ground, not seeing simply where our troops are involved, but also with the Iraqis helping themselves. We have had historic events over the last 3 years that have been constantly pooh-poohed by those in the media, by pundits, by those who have never served and without experience in that part of the whole. Always being prophets of doom and gloom, always seeking to minimize or remove every opportunity for success. It is almost as if some of the commentators, some in this own body, would rather have this country defeated and have this Islamic extremism rampant throughout the world, bringing a cloak of darkness over every area in the world where the light of freedom has begun to shine. I want to talk about some of the successes because they are significant when we look at the accomplishments of the troops and of the Iraqi people themselves. A year ago yesterday, there was a formal transfer of power. Iraq had a provisional government. They were in charge. More than that, we followed in January with a historic election where people freely chose their leader. Everybody was able to come out and vote, and 8 million Iraqis responded. America saw the benefit, saw the eyes and the faces of the men and women who went to vote, the tears shed by those who cast that ballot for the first time, who had lived in a culture of fear, hopelessness, and had an ambivalent feeling toward government, now were able to come together under rule of law. It took a few months to form a government. There are hundreds of tribes, thousands of clan groups, three major religious ethnic groups, yet they formed a government. The commentators and some of the people who are even in this body would say it is a failure because it took so long. If that were true, why did it take the United States when it formed from 1776 to 1787 to even have its Constitution, and then a Civil War many years later, 87 years later, to bring about the true unification of this Nation. I think the accomplishments of the Iraqi people are remarkable considering the pressures they are under. We will see a constitution that they will write and implement and, finally, full parliamentary elections where the Iraqi people elect that government internally in the country. Polling shows this clearly on the Iraq streets; people have confidence in their local leaders. There are people volunteering for the police force. The power grid is coming back. Services are being delivered in some communities for the first time in over a decade; in some places, for the first time ever. These are the projects and the work, the bulk of the time that our men and women in uniform have invested themselves in, to rebuild that infrastructure, strengthen this community and provide a helping hand, something that our men and women in uniform have done since the beginning of this country. Setting a timetable on this insurgency is wrong, and oftentimes I think we do a disservice when we say the Iraqi troops are not standing up to the quality of our Special Operations Forces. That is not the measure of success. The measure of success is that they can adequately protect their communities, that the people in the neighborhoods have confidence in them, and we have much to be very encouraged and very pleased about. At this time last year, only one battalion of the new Iraqi Army were trained and equipped. Now there are over 100. There are over 80,000 other forces in border police, Ministry of Interior forces, and facilities protection. The Iraqi government took it upon itself to develop pipeline protection battalions to protect their energy infrastructure. The jihadists are extremely violent, and only maybe 1 percent of the population. They are formed of a unique core of jihadists who have come from the outside who perform the most spectacular attacks against the Iraqi people, with al-Zarqawi being the best-known leader of that group; former Baathists who were disenfranchised, and frankly corrupt, vulgar, violent politicians whose interest is not the future of Iraq, but is to have power restored under that old regime. The positive signs we see are dialogue between the Shiite and the Sunnis. Even those who seek to reject the regime are in dialogue now. They understand that militarily there is no possible way that they can win. And the enemies of freedom in these Islamic extremist terrorist groups around the world understand very clearly that the battle for their future has to be won in Iraq. If they cannot win in Iraq against the Iraqi people, then their ideology of hatred, murder, retribution, and of intolerance will be swept away and defeated and cast, to use the President's words, literally on the ash heap of history, where it belongs. One of the exciting signs that we have seen, 2 weeks ago, Australian hostage Douglas Wood was rescued. No American forces were involved whatsoever. Iraqi security forces receiving intelligence from Iraqi citizens in the neighborhoods passed through the police chain of command, were moved along, and they rescued Douglas Wood. They set him free. They captured terrorists in the process, and I think the positive thing is they are willing to shed their blood to build their country and to provide freedom. And working together, we will be able to decrease our forces. In fact, one thing that is exciting to see is our forces are already reduced 21,000 troops since January. That is a positive step. As we reduce our footprint, they are increasing, they are strengthening; and we are not going to walk away from this until they have the infrastructure in place to be able to stand alone, and I think they are going to be an exciting partner in the future. There are a small group of regime elements, as I mentioned before, that are resisting at every turn, every opportunity to bring freedom to the very people these folks seek to govern. But they do not seek to govern from an American world view, from a Western world view based on the rule of law. They seek to govern through corruption, through extortion, and through violence. In fact, General John Vines, commander of the Multinational Corps in Iraq said that if they had a bumper sticker, the former Baathists, the Baath Party rejectionists, it would go something like this: ``If you liked Saddam, you'll love us,'' because they simply want to resume power. I think that there are some other indicators. I mentioned recruiting and retention, America's active Army components, especially units that are deployed in theater where troops continue to reenlist, to stay with their units. That is also applicable to the Iraqi security forces and the police. Recruiting remains strong. Even though attacks on Iraqis, Iraqi security forces, have approached 70 a day in some cases, that trend of men coming to join remains very strong. One of the things I deeply regretted when the police station bombing took place on February 18 and 118 people were killed, the news media sent their cameras out to show that carnage of that heinous act of murder, that atrocity. What they did not tell us, Mr. Speaker, was that the next day over 300 men were there to volunteer because their commitment was not to let thugs rule their neighborhoods and rule their cities. This is a tremendous struggle for the future of a free and democratic Iraq, freedom in that region, and ultimately one that leads to freedom at home to deal with the most pernicious threat that this Nation has faced since World War II. I think another indicator that is very positive as well is the fact that information from Iraqi citizens themselves is coming forward. Throughout the region, people tire of this. They want a stable life. They want a life of hope, a life of opportunity, a life of freedom. The fact that people braved threats of death in many communities to go out and vote, to cast that vote, shows they want to provide their children with that hope and opportunity. And I think it is a tremendous disservice to have talk in this Chamber about withdrawal timetables. Even Jon Corzine, Democratic Senator from New Jersey, made a statement today understanding very clearly, regardless of one's views, and I think there is always opportunity and one of the things we have in this body is the great opportunity to disagree openly because on both sides of the aisle on differing view points even within our own caucuses or conferences, we have a deference to the rule of law. That is not the case for the majority of the world; and when the world watches us, they are viewing our rhetoric through the filter of their world view. When we denigrate our leadership or the regrettable comments of the leadership of the minority party in the House and the Senate about our soldiers, sailors, airmen, and Marines; they are fueling the propaganda machine that emboldens the enemies of our way of life, our freedom, and ultimately that rule of law that we cherish so deeply. I think that it is important that we know that an exit strategy is simply this: it is winning the war. It is sending a clear message of national resolve. It is having a President who is willing to lead from the front, a Defense Secretary who is willing to lead from the front. Certainly our commanders in the field understand that clearly. I think it is incumbent upon those in this body that we measure our rhetoric, that we understand that the world is watching, and not use our soldiers, sailors, airmen, and Marines as human shields to advance a political agenda, regardless of which side of the aisle that comes from, Mr. Speaker. What is most important is that we stand united, that we stand firm, and that this Nation has given its word to a people that we are going to stand with them until they are free. And what makes this Nation strong is its ability, the power, and the will to keep its word and to keep its promise. And I think that that is fundamentally important. And I hear that not only, Mr. Speaker, from people from Iraq, from citizens in my district. I hear it from the soldiers, sailors, airmen, and Marines who are serving this Nation right now. Victory sets its own schedule, wrote Brendan Miniter in a June 21 Wall Street Journal column. I think it is important to understand that determination, as many of us in this body know who have run tough races, many of us who have served in the military know, that prevailing in a situation or a circumstance, a struggle that one might face in life, means staying that course, having that sense of duty and commitment, whether it is to a member of our family, whether it is to our community, whether it is to fellow servicemembers if we are serving in the military at some point. Making that commitment to stand fast is a tremendous elixir and gives hope to those also and infectious enthusiasm to stand firm, and that is the message that we need to send. I believe that we have a call to duty in this country to finish this job. We have a duty to our soldiers, sailors, airmen, and Marines to stand behind them; and we have a duty to the American people and, frankly, to the free world to stand firm. I would like to take a moment before I close to recognize the accomplishments of one particular unit. We have a unit from the great Commonwealth of Kentucky that distinguished itself and its mission serving, these citizen soldiers from the 617th Military Police Company. It was established in October 2002 and was reorganized as a combat support military police company from a headquarters detachment of a combat engineer unit. It came about as a result of force structure changes within the Kentucky Army National Guard, quite apart from the war. The company strength is currently close to 175 soldiers deployed in theater right now with about 80 in the rear detachment. The soldiers of the 617th are employed in the civilian sector with varying occupations that all of us in this body, back in our communities, those watching on C-SPAN can relate to: school teachers, law enforcement officers, nurses, retail sales and management, information technology professionals, college students, even an attorney. On 16 November of 2004, after completing training and validation at Fort McCoy, the unit departed for Iraq. The unit remains in Baghdad, and their principal purpose there is to conduct route security and convoy security, and they also support two Iraqi highway patrol stations as a backup, as a force to come alongside and to help these units stand up. The 617th has been very successful in their mission, as evidenced by the achievement and the valor of their soldiers who are willing to stay the course, who understand the importance of this mission, who see the fruits and the potential of their service and their sacrifice and that of their comrades. Soldiers in this unit have received three Silver Star Medals; three Bronze Star Medals for Valor; four Army Commendation Medals for Valor; and, additionally, 15 soldiers have received 17 Purple Hearts. This is not about counting medals; but when a unit has that level of achievement, that speaks to discipline, to esprit, to integrity, to the acceptance and the inculcation of a sense of duty that is being acted out every day that brings great honor to the Commonwealth of Kentucky, to the United States of America, and to the United States Army. And I thank those members of the unit. I would like to recognize some who distinguish themselves. One of the things that I learned in the military is what one friend said who won the Congressional Medal of Honor, which is, the valor, the commitment, and the discipline and courage of a man or woman is not measured by what they wear on their chest but some who were in a certain place at a certain time who received that recognition. I believe if we were to talk to these soldiers, they would point that out, that they were just there to help their buddies to accomplish that mission and they did what they believed was their duty, that any of their fellow soldiers would have done as well. First, I would like to recognize Sergeant Leigh Ann Hester of Nashville, Tennessee. She joined the Guard on April 20, 2001. She was awarded the Silver Star for Valor in Combat. Staff Sergeant Timothy Nein of Henryville, Indiana, joined the Kentucky National Guard on November 26, 1996, was awarded the Silver Star for Valor. Sergeant Dustin Morris of Murray, Kentucky, joined the Kentucky Army National Guard as a junior in high school under the split option program. This week, as I speak of that, it reminds me of my own journey into the Army, enlisting 29 years ago on June 21. I look at the sacrifices of these young people. He was awarded the Army Commendation Medal V device for Valor. Specialist Casey Cooper of Eddyville, Kentucky, joined the Kentucky National Guard after completing 2 years of college at Murray State University, awarded the Bronze Star Medal with V device for Valor. Specialist Jason Mike of Radcliff, Kentucky, joined the Kentucky National Guard after September 17, ``to give back to my country,'' he said. He was awarded the Bronze Star Medal with V device for Valor. Specialist Jesse Ordunez of Gilbertsville, Kentucky, joined the Kentucky Army National Guard in March of 2000, awarded the Army Commendation Medal with V device for Valor. And, finally, Specialist Ashley Pullen of Edmonton, Kentucky, joined the Kentucky Army National Guard on December 19, 2001, at the age of 17, the same age I was when I enlisted 29 areas ago while still attending high school. His award was the Bronze Star with V device for Valor. When I look at the commitment and the service of these young people, with their sense of duty and commitment, as they stand literally at the tip of spear to preserve our freedom, I am thankful that they are there, that Americans can sleep well and safely tonight as we standing with Iraqi people to see a successful mission as we accept that duty and stand with resolve.

Mr. DAVIS of Kentucky. I thank the gentleman from Texas for his commitment to our troops, to the families in his district, and in the country as a whole. I did find some of the time during both evacuations interesting. Certainly, when we were walking out of the Capitol and moving down the hill, there were gentlemen standing next to me and a policeman came up and said run. I turned to him, along with two colleagues from the other side of the aisle, and we said no. I was asked why not, and I said the first reason why not is to run in a situation like that is only going to create more disorder as opposed to calm. And the second thing, more importantly, is from a standpoint of leadership and the example that is set not only for people in this Nation, for the confidence they can have of their leadership, but more than that, the world is watching this country. It is important that the rhetoric in this Chamber and the way that Members act in this Chamber, their words and their actions reflect a commitment to freedom, to liberty and a resolve to stand firm. Somebody who has shown great resolve and steadfast leadership in dealing with the war on terror with unconventional warfare and threats emerging in this hemisphere and the other side of the world is the chairman of the House Task Force on Terrorism and Unconventional Warfare who also now serves as our chief deputy whip, the gentleman from Virginia (Mr. Cantor). He has become a good friend and is nationally recognized, and certainly recognized in this body as a leader and also a committed student of this issue, and also committed to bringing about all of his energies toward ultimate victory to preserve our freedom here at home and expand freedom in the world. Mr. Speaker, I yield to the gentleman from Virginia.

Mr. DAVIS of Kentucky

Mr. DAVIS of Kentucky. Mr. Speaker, I move that the House do now adjourn.

Mr. DAVIS of Kentucky

Mr. DAVIS of Kentucky. Mr. Speaker, I have no further requests for time, and I yield back the balance of my time.

Mr. DAVIS of Kentucky. Mr. Speaker, I move to suspend the rules and pass the bill (H.R. 358) to require the Secretary of the Treasury to mint coins in commemoration of the 50th anniversary of the desegregation of the Little Rock Central High School in Little Rock, Arkansas, and for other purposes, as amended.

Mr. DAVIS of Kentucky. Mr. Speaker, I ask unanimous consent that all Members may have 5 legislative days within which to revise and extend their remarks on this legislation, H.R. 358, and include extraneous material thereon.

Mr. DAVIS of Kentucky. Mr. Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may consume, and I rise today in support of the Little Rock Central High School Desegregation 50th Anniversary Commemorative Coin Act sponsored by the gentleman from Arkansas (Mr. Snyder). Mr. Speaker, it is easy in 2005 to lose sight of how far we have come in fewer than 50 years of desegregation. No one will deny, and most also will admit, that we have much work to do. But as we approach 50 years of separation from the mid- to late 1950s, when the real work of desegregation was done, it is worthwhile to pause and reflect. The bill of the gentleman from Arkansas (Mr. Snyder) gives us a perfect opportunity to do just that. A year or so ago, Congress approved awarding a Congressional Gold Medal for the principals of the landmark Brown v. Board of Education lawsuit that heralded the desegregation in the Nation's schools. Today, we will act on legislation to authorize a commemorative coin, noting the first major test of the Supreme Court's ruling in Brown. The nine African American students who, in the face of violence, were the first to desegregate Little Rock's Central High School, themselves earlier awarded Congressional Gold Medals, took a truly courageous step, later recognized by the Reverend Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. when he attended the first graduation of African American students from the school a year later. Mr. Speaker, this legislation authorizes the striking in 2007 of as many as 500,000 silver $1 commemorative coins, at no cost to the taxpayers, with surcharges on the sale of the coins dedicated to site improvements at the Little Rock Central High School National Historic Site, to development of interpretive and educational programs at the site, to historic preservation projects there, and to the establishment of cooperative agreements to preserve or restore the historic character of the Park Street and Daisy L. Gatson Bates Drive corridors adjacent to the site. Mr. Speaker, this legislation has 321 cosponsors, amply demonstrating its broad bipartisan appeal. I urge immediate adoption. Mr. Speaker, I reserve the balance of my time.

Mr. DAVIS of Kentucky. Mr. Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may consume. Mr. Speaker, I include for the Record an exchange of correspondence between the Committee on Financial Services and the Committee on Ways and Means. House of Representatives, Committee on Financial Services, Washington, DC, June 24, 2005. Hon. William M. Thomas, Chairman, Committee on Ways and Means, House of Representatives, Longworth House Office Building, Washington, DC. Dear Chairman Thomas: I am writing concerning H.R. 358, the ``Little Rock Central High School Desegregation 50th Anniversary Commemorative Coin Act,'' which will be scheduled for floor consideration in the near future. I acknowledge your committee's jurisdictional interest in this bill and request your cooperation in moving the bill to the House floor expeditiously. I agree that your decision to forego further action on this bill will not prejudice the Committee on Ways and Means with respect to its jurisdictional prerogatives on this or similar legislation. I would support your request for conferees on those provisions within your jurisdiction should this bill be the subject of a House-Senate conference. I will include a copy of this letter and your response in the Congressional Record when this bill is considered by the House. Thank you again for your assistance. Yours truly, Michael G. Oxley, Chairman.

Mr. DAVIS of Kentucky

Mr. DAVIS of Kentucky. Mr. Speaker, I have no further requests for time, and I yield back the balance of my time.

Mr. DAVIS of Kentucky. Mr. Speaker, on that I demand the yeas and nays.