Bob Filner

Mr. FILNER

Mr. FILNER. Mr. Speaker, on rollcall No. 85, I was unavoidably detained due to flight cancellations. Had I been present, I would have voted ``yea''.

Mr. FILNER

Mr. FILNER. Mr. Speaker, on rollcall No. 86, I was unavoidably detained, due to flight cancellations. Had I been present, I would have voted ``yea.''

Mr. FILNER

Mr. FILNER. Mr. Speaker, I rise to celebrate with my colleagues the 180th anniversary of Greek independence. Greek culture has been a foundation for the world, spreading from the dense forests of India to the shores of the United States. Its contributions pervade the sciences, arts and literature, and political theory and practice. The most important influence came from the polis (city-state) of Athens. Unlike the city-states of Corinth, whose mastery of trade and commerce gave it prominence, or Sparta, whose discipline and military gave it strength, Athens drew its power from ideas. The leaders of Athens recognized the equality of its citizens; that progress would be made in stressing not the strength, class, or wealth of any individual, but his ability. Recognizing that ability is a product of each person's character and not an attribute fated in birth, they strove to promote opportunity for each Athenian citizen to live to the best of his abilities. They concluded that in order for its society to be open, free, and just, the optimal type of government was one in which the people could directly participate in their governance. Because of its democracy, Athenian civilization achieved unparalleled influence, not only during its time, but historically as well. But we are also paying tribute to the re-emergence of Greek independence. After hundreds of years of governance by foreign powers, the people of Greece rose up as gloriously as their mythological heroes to overcome the Ottoman Empire. Greece's triumphant return to independence in 1821 symbolizes that the light of democracy can only be eclipsed, but never extinguished. Yet we also learn from the Greeks that there can be a negative effect of military, financial, and cultural success: hubris, or arrogant pride. This, as much as anything else we learn from Greek civilization, is crucial for us to understand and learn. Greece, at the height of its power, because of complacency, neglect, and pride became a victim of its own success. And we must learn from this failure as much as from its success. In the spirit of Greek thought and examination, we must ask ourselves: Will we be guilty of inciting our adversaries, of manipulating our neighbors and allies? Will we destroy the rights and life of an individual so the majority will not be bothered by criticism and truth? The United States owes many of its achievements to what we have learned, or borrowed, from the Greeks. Our two histories are very much intertwined. We now bask in the light of our own Golden Age. But we must realize that what befell the Athenians, the Spartans, and the Corinthians could happen to us. What we do with our Golden Age dictates our future for years to come. The decisions we make, both domestically and internationally, are critical to our future, even at the height of our power. What will be said of us two millenia from now? Will we be judged a success--or a failure? Today, we celebrate the freedom of those who first gave birth to the very concept. The enduring legacy of Greece lies as much in the triumph of regaining independence as much as in its first establishment. We honor the Greek spirit and celebrate the liberation of a people and culture whose gifts transcend all ages.

Mr. FILNER

Mr. FILNER. Mr. Speaker, I rise today close to the 59th anniversary of Bataan Day, April 9, 1942, to recognize the brave soldiers who were captured on this day and forced into the infamous Bataan Death March. I was honored to travel to the Philippines a few years ago to commemorate this day with then-President Ramos. The fall of Bataan in World War II involved the surrender of 70,000 soldiers, 12,000 of whom were Americans and 58,000 Filipinos. Many died on the death march, and those who survived were imprisoned under inhumane conditions where countless more died. These soldiers and their comrades foiled plans for a quick takeover of the region and allowed the United States the time needed to prepare for victory in the Pacific. We can recognize their courage and bravery by passing H.R. 491, the Filipino Veterans Equity Act, which would recognize the great courage and bravery of the Filipino veterans in World War II and specifically on Bataan Day April 9, 1942.

Mr. FILNER

Mr. FILNER. Mr. Speaker, I thank the gentleman from California (Mr. Baca) for this special order and for his resolution, H. Res. 105, that will bring us toward a great national recognition for Cesar Chavez. We call today in the strongest possible terms for Cesar Chavez's birthday on March 31 to be recognized as a Federal holiday. This great national hero should be recognized with a national holiday. This Nation, this world, lost a great civil rights leader nearly 8 years ago, when Cesar Chavez died after a tireless struggle for social change. March 31 is a State holiday in my State of California, and countless schools, roads, libraries and other public institutions have been named after Cesar Chavez. It is now time that the entire Nation honor his enduring legacy with a Federal holiday. We will hear tonight the poignant story of Cesar Chavez's life. I want to talk about the impact of his life on my life, and on the life of my constituents, and on the life and soul of this Nation. He brought dignity and respect to farm workers who organized themselves and became an inspiration to all people engaged in human rights struggles throughout the world. It is time we pay him the respect that he deserves. His work was holistic, helping to empower farm workers on their basic rights. Influenced by the writings of Gandhi and other proponents of nonviolence, he began to register his fellow farm workers to vote and then to educate them about their rights to a safe workplace and a just wage. Through the use of a grape boycott, Cesar Chavez, Delores Huerta, and others in the fledgling United Farm Workers were able to secure the first union contracts for farm workers in the United States. These contracts provided farm workers with the basic services that most workers take for granted today, services such as clean drinking water and sanitary facilities. Because of Cesar Chavez's fight to enforce child labor laws, farm workers could also be certain that their children would not be working side by side with them and would instead attend the schools that he helped to establish. He made the world aware of the exposure to dangerous chemicals that farm workers and consumers face every day. Cesar Chavez's influence extended far beyond agriculture. He was instrumental in forming the Community Service Organization, one of the first civic groups in the Mexican-American communities of California and Arizona. He worked in urban areas, organized voter registration drives, brought complaints against mistreatment by governmental agencies. He taught community members how to deal with governmental, school and financial institutions and empowered many to seek further education and politics. During a time of great social upheaval, he was sought out by people from all walks of life to help bring calm with his nonviolent practices. Our country's leaders joined Cesar Chavez literally, and often figuratively, in prayers and acts of solidarity in his many fasts for justice. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., sent Cesar Chavez a message on the occasion of Chavez's first fast. Dr. King told him, ``Our separate struggles are really one. A struggle for freedom, for dignity and for humanity.'' There are countless stories of judges, engineers, lawyers, teachers, church leaders, organizers and other hard-working professionals who credit Cesar Chavez as the inspiring force in their lives. I count Cesar Chavez and his work and nonviolent message among his most strong early influences. Cesar Chavez will be remembered for his tireless commitment to improve the plight of farm workers, children and the poor throughout the United States, and for the inspiration his heroic efforts gave to so many Americans. Mr. Speaker, I have introduced legislation in every Congress since 1995 to create a Federal holiday to honor Cesar Chavez, and, along with the gentleman from California (Mr. Baca), to teach all of America about Cesar Chavez. Surely we can do this and pass such a resolution. Mr. Speaker, I urge my colleagues to cosponsor H. Con. Res. 105 or H. Con. Res. 3. We must follow the lead of California, a State that knows the fruits of Cesar Chavez's labors firsthand, and designate March 31 as a Federal holiday to commemorate his birth. We should in Congress join all of those who have paid reverence to Cesar Chavez and to make sure that we honor him from this time forward by declaring March 31 as a Federal Holiday in honor of Cesar Chavez. Mr. Speaker, I thank the gentleman from California (Mr. Baca) for his efforts tonight.

Mr. FILNER

Mr. FILNER. Mr. Chairman, I thank the gentleman from Ohio (Mr. Kucinich) for yielding the time to me. Mr. Chairman, I rise as the ranking member of the Committee on Veterans' Affairs, Subcommittee on Health, in support of the Progressive Caucus budget, and to say that the Republican budget on the floor does not meet the needs of our veterans. The budget this year not only provides merely for an inflationary increase for our health care for our veterans, but in the 2nd and the 3rd years of this budget, it actually is a decrease for our veterans. Mr. Chairman, I hope the gentleman from Iowa (Mr. Nussle) can explain why our veterans in the years 2002 and 2003 of the budget resolution are cut from in the budget.

Mr. FILNER. We will get back to the gentleman. When we have a veterans community that is waiting up to 2 years for health appointments, when we have 500,000 claims backlogged at this moment, claims for adjudication of benefits that are mounting at $10,000 a week, this budget that the Progressive Caucus has meets those needs, whereas the budget resolution of the Republicans does not. Our budget is supported by those who made up the independent budget, a coalition of veterans groups who said that the President's budget is short and the budget was short by up to $2 billion. This is what we need for our veterans. We need to make sure that their health care is provided for in a timely basis; that their claims are adjudicated in a timely fashion. We have a GI bill today, Mr. Chairman, that pays merely $500 a month to go to school. You cannot go to college with that kind of stipend. The Progressive Caucus budget actually begins to fund the Montgomery GI bill so we have a benefit that means something for our veterans. It is a decade since the Persian Gulf War. We do not know what caused that illness, and we have no treatment for it. The budget of the majority has no funds for research into the Persian Gulf War illness. I can go on and on. I say to the majority, my colleagues do not have a surplus unless we paid the bills. We have not paid our bills to our Nation's veterans. We have not lived up to our commitment. Vote for the Progressive Caucus budget.

Mr. FILNER. Mr. Chairman, will the gentleman yield?

Mr. FILNER. The gentleman did not answer my question.

Mr. FILNER

Mr. FILNER. Mr. Speaker, I thank the gentleman from Illinois (Mr. Evans) for yielding the time to me. Mr. Speaker, I rise today also in support of the Veterans Hospital Emergency Repair Act. I, too, want to thank the gentleman from New Jersey (Mr. Smith), Chairman of the Committee on Veterans' Affairs, and the gentleman from Illinois (Mr. Evans), the ranking member, and the gentleman from Kansas (Mr. Moran), chairman of the Subcommittee on Health, for their leadership in developing what I think is a very important bill. Mr. Speaker, I particularly want to thank the gentleman from New Jersey (Mr. Smith) for supporting a provision that I strongly advocated to allow more seismic correction projects to be completed. VA's Capital Investment Board has given the San Diego VA Medical Center one of its highest priorities for funding in the fiscal year 2000, but this project and many other seismic projects have exceeded the threshold the original bill would have authorized. Mr. Speaker, I am pleased that the amendment on the floor today allows the Secretary of Veterans Affairs to identify four seismic projects that exceed the $25 million threshold by as much as $5 million and use this authority to address them in fiscal years 2002 and 2003. The damage sustained, Mr. Speaker at the VA Puget Sound Health Care system in Seattle, Washington recently reminds many of us of the risk and disruption that VA staff and veterans using VA services may experience as a result of an earthquake. Sadly, we were also reminded of the tragedy experienced back in 1971, when 46 VA patients lost their lives during the San Fernando earthquake. The VA has identified more than 60 projects that require seismic fortification. We cannot continue to turn our heads while VA patients and employees are in harm's way. The damage sustained at Puget Sound might typify the type of damage we would see up and down the West Coast in the event of seismic activities, at Palo Alto, at Long Beach, at San Francisco, at West Los Angeles and, of course, at San Diego. San Diego's VA Medical Center requires new exterior bracing and enhancements to the existing seismic structures. The costs of not completing these projects, Mr. Speaker, may be measured in lives, rather than in dollars. Again, I would like to thank the gentleman from New Jersey (Mr. Smith) and the gentleman from Illinois (Mr. Evans) and the gentleman from Kansas (Mr. Moran) for working on this much-needed legislation. Mr. Speaker, I urge all of my colleagues to vote for H.R. 811.

Mr. FILNER

Mr. FILNER. Madam Speaker, for 10 months California has burned while the Federal Government has fiddled, and the fire is spreading. For 10 months California and the entire western United States has faced an economic disaster, while the Federal Government has refused to lift a finger to help, and that disaster is spreading. Every business, every resident, every school, every local government has been robbed, virtually at gunpoint, while the Federal Government has looked the other way. Madam Speaker, I am talking about the electricity crisis that is in California and spreading soon throughout the Nation. We face an economic threat that makes the current downturn in the stock market pale by comparison. If we do not act soon, every American will be forced to pay for this crime. Madam Speaker, many of my colleagues have joined me in calling upon the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission to comply with its mandate, to fulfill its mission to ensure that rates are just and reasonable; yet we continue to pay exorbitant, yes, criminal rates for electricity and natural gas. Madam Speaker, I, along with many of my colleagues, have asked the President and the Secretary of the Department of Energy to act, and what we have been told is that the markets will work. We have asked the U.S. Department of Justice to enforce our laws, and we have not received a response. We have been told that the energy crisis is simply a matter of supply and demand; yet if one looks at the facts, that is not an adequate explanation. Last summer in the year 2000, demand rose by less than 5 percent over the previous year; yet prices doubled, tripled and then went 50 times what they had been. Demand is less than a third of last summer, and yet prices reach up to 50 times the then- price. Last week in San Diego and the rest of California, we experienced rolling blackouts. Was this due to high demand? No. One-third of our production was simply off-line; 33 percent of our power-producing plants went out of operation. It is becoming clearer and clearer to everyone that we are being robbed. This is a clear example of the abuse of market power, of criminal antitrust violations; and it is occurring not just in electricity, Madam Speaker, but in natural gas also. The front page of my hometown newspaper today says: ``Market for Natural Gas Was Rigged, Firm Bought Control of Pipeline to Manipulate the Price, the Federal Energy Commission Was Told.'' Last November this commission declared that the electric rates being charged in San Diego and California by this energy cartel were unjust and unreasonable, and therefore illegal; but the commission refused to act. They basically said rob the State blind, and boy did the cartel do it. The FERC has issued some findings of market manipulation, but the prices are criminal that we are paying today. Madam Speaker, we in California, like those in Oregon and Washington and the rest of the West, we are being bled dry by this energy cartel. California is paying $2 million an hour for electricity, $45 million to $50 million a day, sometimes $80 million, over $1.5 billion per month. This cannot keep up if our economy is going to survive. What we have is a situation in which a mere handful of private companies control the market and use that power to artificially drive up the prices. This is market manipulation. This is a violation of antitrust laws; and yes, this is criminal behavior. Madam Speaker, I say we in California know we need more capacity and more generation, and we are doing that. We need more conservation, and we are doing that. The Governor of California has taken steps in these areas to do the maximum that can be done, but still the prices that we are paying today, and will pay in the future, unless FERC acts, are criminal. I have a bill, H.R. 268, which would direct the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission to set cost-based rates for electricity in this situation where the rates are illegal and provides for the refunds to the consumers and to the utilities of California the $20 billion that they have stolen from our State in just the last 10 months. Madam Speaker, many seem to think that this is only a California problem. Many people say California brought it on themselves, let them dig themselves out. But the reality is this is everybody's problem. That is why the vast majority of Western governors have urged that cost-based rates be imposed by FERC. This disaster is affecting the entire Western region already, and it is going to spread quickly. According to the New York Times, State agencies from New England, the Midwest and the Mid-Atlantic have filed complaints about the high prices with FERC. The Energy Secretary of this Nation warned that New York may face similar problems next summer. This is a national problem. We had better act now.

Mr. FILNER

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

Mr. FILNER

Mr. FILNER. Madam Speaker, on rollcall No. 52, I was unavoidably delayed by flight cancellations. Had I been present, I would have voted ``yea.''

Mr. FILNER

Mr. FILNER. Madam Speaker, on rollcall No. 51, I was unavoidably delayed by flight cancellations. Had I been present, I would have voted ``yea.''

Mr. FILNER

Mr. FILNER. Mr. Speaker, I thank the gentlewoman for yielding me this time, and I thank the gentleman from California (Mr. Hunter) for bringing us this resolution. The gentleman from California (Mr. Issa) and all of us from San Diego County are here jointly to express the deep sorrow that has fallen upon our entire county and our entire country. And by condemning this act of violence, Congress is expressing the collective sorrow felt around the Nation not only for the victims but for another lost teen who chose to express his frustration with a gun. We especially pray for the families and the whole school family of the slain students, Randy Gordon and Brian Zuckor; and we hope that their lives can be put together again. Since the tragedy at Columbine High School, and up through this tragedy in Santana High School, much has been written about the prevalence of guns in our community and violence in our media. But it seems to me from all these examples that we have had, one thing is clear, not just those who excel, not just those who are popular, not just those who have special needs as defined by law, have got to get our attention. Every child, all kids, we need to get each and every one of them involved in activities, in learning, in fun, especially the ones who sit quietly, who may not demand attention, who may not excel, who may not be popular, who may not be involved. I guess I have to say to our distinguished majority whip, we are not talking about putting restrictions on people's behavior, we are talking about, as the gentleman from California (Mr. Issa) said, our positive responsibility as human beings. In a column that was written after Columbine, the noted journalist William Raspberry wrote, The sad fact is that there are people who, for too many of us and often for themselves, do not matter. There are people in our schools, in our offices, on our streets who know they don't matter to the rest of us, who exist, if at all, as objects of ridicule and derision: As nerds, as nobodies, as fatties, shorties, as crips, as dummies, as losers. Probably all of us spend some portion of our lives not mattering, though most of us have refuge in places like home, the workplace, church, or a social group where we do matter a great deal. But some of us have no such refuge, apart from our fellow nonmatterers. And of that sad group, some will make sure they matter in the time-tested way of mattering: Through violence. The tendency is for the rest of us to respond to the violence and think we have dealt with the problem. We institute new rules or new dress codes. We remind ourselves of the signs to be watched for and forget that there are still people who do not matter. The hardest point to absorb, says Mr. Raspberry, is the need to start paying attention to those who see themselves as outcasts, not just because it may prevent violence but because there simply should not be human beings who do not matter. At Santana high school, at Columbine, in every community, it is our responsibility to let every child know that they do matter. In a society where kids are often latchkey kids, where kids and parents often watch different TVs even when they are in the same house, when we come and go in our neighborhoods without speaking, we have to find better ways to let people know that they do matter. Our hearts go out to all the Santana High School family as they put their community back together.

Mr. FILNER

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

Mr. FILNER

Mr. FILNER. Mr. Speaker, last summer I was on the floor many times as the Congressman from San Diego, California, with a grave electricity crisis and said, ``The rest of California better watch. The rest of the West of the United States better watch. The rest of the United States better watch, because they are next.'' Sure enough, they are next. Let us talk about this electricity crisis today and how we are going to get out of it. Let me remind Members that San Diego, California, was ground zero in this crisis. Our county became the first area in California where full electricity deregulation occurred in both retail and wholesale prices. Within 60 days, Mr. Speaker, our prices to families, to those on fixed incomes, to small business doubled and then tripled. There was no end in sight. In fact, dozens of small businesses were forced to close their doors. Panic literally engulfed San Diego, and the State legislature responded with a deferred cap on retail prices; that is, a cap on the real cost of electricity that would be deferred for several years. So each month since last August the debt for San Diego consumers, the debt for San Diego businesses, has mounted monthly. What caused this incredible price increase? Yes, supply was tight, but demand was less than the previous summer had been. The cost of production had not even risen at that point significantly. The answer, Mr. Speaker, the answer was market manipulation, in my view criminal manipulation by a wholesale energy cartel. There is evidence that has been supplied to the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission, the Attorney General of the United States, the State of California Attorney General, our local district attorneys, evidence of supply illegally withheld, transmission data falsified, and ``laundering'' of electrons to avoid California price cap. Based on such evidence last December the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission, known as FERC, found wholesale prices in California to be illegal. Yet, incredibly enough, up to last week no action, no corrective action, was taken. Last week FERC said, hey, we know there has been some overcharge in California. In fact, $69 million should be refunded. I say to FERC, that is way too little, way too late. That is the price we are now paying in California for electricity in a day and a half; in a day and a half we pay the $69 million. What FERC is saying to the energy cartel is, go and rob the State blind. Boy, did they do it. Today's crisis is still fundamentally all about obscene and illegal wholesale prices. Yes, we all know we need new generating capacity. Yes, we need more conservation. Yes, we need to focus on renewable resources. But the State of California, Mr. Speaker, is today paying $2 billion an hour, $45 million a day, $1.5 billion per month, for electricity. Our major utilities are in de facto bankruptcy, and the energy cartel has sucked almost $20 billion, that is $20 billion with a B, out of the State economy in just less than a year. California is just part of a regional electricity grid. The obscene prices have spread to Oregon and Washington. Idaho and New Mexico are next, and the rest of the West will soon follow. What has been the response of this administration to what will surely be a national disaster soon? They say, drill for oil in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge and let the markets work. I say, Mr. Speaker, there is not a market in electricity. The President's corporate friends, like Enron of Houston, now control our electricity future. Since the administration cannot or will not act, Congress must by immediately passing my legislation, H.R. 268, the Electricity Consumers' Relief Act. What this bill does is require that FERC set immediately cost-based rates for electricity, and require that energy producers and marketers that profiteered from their illegal rates in California refund the overcharge to our consumers and our utilities. Only this legislation will make California whole again economically, and give us time for the Governor's longer-term program to take effect. We know from evidence in San Diego that there was power in California during our whole electricity crisis. Even at stage 3, turbines were taken out of circulation when businesses in San Diego were being shut down. It was not being provided because the energy cartel wanted to make the market work for increased prices. They have gouged California consumers. They have forced small businesses to close their doors. They have brought our utilities in our whole State to their knees. Yet their quarterly reports show increased profits by nearly 1,000 percent. It is time for Congress to act. We must hold this cartel accountable and provide the relief that Californians and all Americans so desperately need and deserve.

Mr. FILNER

Mr. FILNER. Mr. Speaker, today I recognize Joseph S. Francis, a man named by the San Diego Business Journal as ``San Diego's Top Labor Leader''. On March 2, 2001, Joe is retiring from the position of Executive Director of Labor's Community Service Agency, an agency he founded in 1985. Labor's Community Service Agency is a non-profit organization, committed to serving workers, their families and the larger community. It develops partnerships with government, business, and labor--so these sectors can cooperate in making our city a better place to work and live. As Executive Director of labor's Community Service Agency, Joe has developed many programs that address the needs of workers in San Diego. He is also currently the editor of the Messenger, Vice President of Job Training Associates, Board Member of the San Diego Carrier Museum, and a member of the San Diego County Board of Economic Advisors. His past positions include Executive Secretary of the San Diego-Imperial Counties Labor Council and Director of the Committee on Political Education (COPE). Joe was honored with a Distinguished Service Award by the San Diego-Imperial Counties Labor Council in 1996. Raised in New Bedford, MA, Joe moved to San Diego in 1953. He first worked at Convair, followed by the San Diego Fire Department where he was involved in the local Firefighters Union. He was elected director of the Union Board in 1965--and later served as Secretary and then President of Local 145. In 1980, he was elected Executive-Director of the San Diego-Imperial Counties Labor Council with an overwhelming two- thirds of the vote. Although organizing workers is his primary focus, Joe has also contributed to the community through his service on the Boards of the following organizations: United Way, the San Diego Technology Council, the Salvation Army, the Regional Employment Training Consortium, and as President of the San Diego Convention Center Corporation. On the occasion of Joe's retirement from service as Executive Director of Labor's Community Service Agency, I want to sincerely thank him for his far-reaching vision, his relentless passion, and his tireless service to the working men and women in San Diego and throughout the nation. Joe, you serve as a model of dedication and energy which we will follow as we strive to carry on the work that you have begun.

Mr. FILNER

Mr. FILNER. Mr. Speaker, today I pay tribute to Alan Cranston, a man who walked among us as world leader, candidate for President, Senator, public servant, businessman, writer, reporter, public speaker, athlete, and artist--a true Renaissance man. He had a passion for civil rights, freedom of the press, nuclear disarmament and environmental causes. He worked selflessly to try to make the planet a better place for us all. I was honored to know Senator Cranston personally and fortunate to benefit from his advice when I was first elected to Congress. We celebrate today his noteworthy efforts on the international level for world peace, especially helping to end the Vietnam War and to improve our relations with the Soviet Union. He was a leader in Senate consideration of the SALT I and SALT II treaties, Middle East peace, and reduced military spending. In 1996, he entered private-sector work on nuclear disarmament, as Chairman of the Gorbachev/USA Foundation and later founding the Global Security Institute, both San Francisco-based think tanks. Senator Cranston authored bills to create three major national parks and to expand two others, seven park wilderness areas and 51 forest areas. He was the original author of the California Desert Protection Act, finally enacted in 1993. He was the second-longest serving U.S. Senator from California--and was Democratic whip seven times and Chairman of the Veterans' Affairs Committee. His work in the Senate included not only the international peace and environmental efforts already mentioned, but he was in the forefront in the fight for affordable housing, mass transit to combat air pollution and traffic congestion, reducing our dependence on foreign oil, choice and women's rights, veterans' rights and medical care, education, civil rights and civil liberties, immigration reform, and the prevention of drug abuse and crime. He was a Stanford University graduate, an early San Francisco home builder, a foreign correspondent for International News Service (now part of the United Press International), and an author of ``The Killing of the Peace'' which the New York Times rated one of the 10 best books of 1945. This book was written about the Senate's decision in 1919 to keep the United States out of the League of Nations, in an effort to help the United Nations avoid a similar fate. He was also athletically gifted. He was a world-class quarter-miler in the mid-1930s and resumed his sprinting at the age of 55. In 1984, as one of eight Democrats running for President, he could be found sprinting barefoot through the hotel hallways. He credited his participation in track with teaching him the need to focus. He said he could have been in the Olympic Games in 1936 and was good enough but didn't quite make it because he did not concentrate enough. That taught him a lesson that stayed with him throughout his life: success requires discipline and focus. His artistic bent was evident by the three of his oils that hung in his Senate office. When praising someone of such wide and varied interests and talents, the tributes often end up listing accomplishment after accomplishment. And, as impressive as that may be, such tributes often miss the soul of the man. The life of Alan Cranston presents us with these goals. To put the good of country and of the people of our nation first. To work tirelessly for the causes we believe are important. To understand that, working together, we really can change the world! We will miss him deeply, but we pledge to remember his dedication and to carry on his work.

Mr. FILNER

Mr. FILNER. Mr. Speaker, I wish today to say a few words in the memory of one of the outstanding jurists of our nation who passed away on January 28, 2001, after a long illness. The Honorable Earl B. Gilliam served on the United States District Court for the Southern District of California, which includes the 50th Congressional District that I represent. Judge Gilliam was born on August 17, 1931, in Clovis, New Mexico, and spent his early years in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma. As a boy, he moved to San Diego, California with his family where he attended local primary and secondary schools before graduating from San Diego High School and later San Diego State University, with a business degree, in 1953. Judge Gilliam's many years of distinguished service to the legal community began in 1957 when, having just graduated from Hastings College of Law, he was admitted to the California Bar and appointed Deputy District Attorney for the County of San Diego. In 1961, he started his own general practice, and two years later Judge Gilliam was appointed to the Municipal Court, becoming the first African-American to sit on the San Diego bench. In 1971, Judge Gilliam became the Presiding Judge of the Municipal Court, and in 1975 he was elevated to the Superior Court by California Governor Jerry Brown. Five years later, President Jimmy Carter appointed him to serve on the United States District Court for the Southern District of California. In his long and distinguished career, Judge Gilliam presided over numerous noteworthy trials of regional and national importance. Whether these cases dealt with drug trafficking, fraud, tax evasion, bribery or civil matters, Judge Gilliam's fair and professional approach to the law laid the foundation for his solid reputation both within and outside the legal community. In 1969, Western State School of Law in San Diego (presently known as Thomas Jefferson School of Law) recruited Judge Gilliam as an adjunct professor. With a background in business administration, economics, civil and criminal law, and trial practice, Judge Gilliam proved to be an inspirational and devoted instructor for the Contracts, Torts, Criminal Law, Trusts, Community Property and Trial Practice courses. In civic activities, Judge Gilliam actively promoted the value of education for youth, for women, and for his fellow lawyers. He generously gave time and effort to his community in countless ways. He served on the boards of numerous civic, professional and charitable organizations, including the YMCA, the Urban League, the Salvation Army, Western State University and the University of California at San Diego. The community in turn, has repeatedly acknowledged his contributions. He was named Young Man of the Year by the San Diego Junior Chamber of Commerce in 1965 and Golden Man of the Year in 1981. In 1982 he was honored twice--he was the recipient of the prestigious Trial Judge of the Year award by the San Diego Trial Lawyer's Association and San Diego's African American Lawyer's Organization honored him by changing its name to the Earl B. Gilliam Bar Association. Judge Gilliam was named Legal Professional of the Year in 1994 by the City Club and Chamber of Commerce and in 1995 he earned the Sharp Hospital Foundation's Eagle Spirit Award and the NAACP's Civil Rights Pioneer Award. Mr. Speaker, we have lost not only one of our nation's great legal minds but a true friend who contributed so much to so many. He will be truly missed.

Mr. FILNER

Mr. FILNER. Mr. Speaker, I rise today to talk about my City of San Diego in the State of California and the incredible energy crisis that we are going through. Yes, we are still experiencing it. We have not yet solved it. I have heard comments from Members of this body and the other body, comments from the White House, which seem to indicate an unwillingness to take action to work with California through this crisis. I say to my colleagues in the Senate and I say to the administration, we are all in this together. If California falls, the rest of the Nation cannot be far behind. We are the largest State in the union. We have experienced rolling blackouts, utilities on the verge of bankruptcy. If my colleagues do not think this has had an impact on our national economy, listen to Alan Greenspan, as he testified to the Senate just last week. He said that California's crisis is not isolated. It is not an aberration, and it is a problem that the whole Nation must address and must address quickly. We should pay heed to Mr. Greenspan. And I say to the President, I think the President is going in the wrong direction on this issue. A hands-off approach by the Federal Government, as the President has suggested, is not going to solve this problem. Yes, we are increasing our generating capacity. Yes, we are redoubling and retripling our efforts to conserve, but an important piece of this problem has been the wholesale prices that have been charged to our utilities and our consumers. The obscene wholesale prices that have been charged. And only the Federal Government, I say to the President, only the Federal Government, through our Federal Energy Regulatory Commission, has the authority to regulate this wholesale price. For the President to say that California must solve its own problems ignores the fact that the generators and marketers of electricity, a seven-member monopoly, in fact, that is based in States like Texas, have run up huge, huge profits, 800 percent, 900 percent in their latest reports. While California, and soon other parts of the Nation, will suffer. Sacramento alone, California alone cannot regulate these wholesalers, I say to the President. This is Washington's responsibility, and it is that responsibility that we must take. I have a bill just introduced today, the California Electrical Consumers Relief Act of 2001, to take that responsibility head on. In a case like San Diego and California, where FERC has already found, through its investigation, our wholesale rates to be unjust and unreasonable, and, therefore, illegal, illegal, I say to the President, in that situation, my bill would establish what is called cost-based rates. That is the costs of generation plus a reasonable profit, for wholesale electricity, not just in California, but throughout the western States. This is a regional problem. We must tackle it regionally. It sets those prices retroactively back to last June when this crisis started. This is not a cap. This is not an arbitrary figure. This is a reasonable rate based on a market-based formula which allows the generators to make a profit, but protects the consumers. Mr. Speaker, FERC knows how to set those rates. They have the rationale. They have the procedure. They should do it, and we should order it. For those rates, under my legislation, that were charged above the legal cost-based rates that we have in California and San Diego and have been paying since last June, my bill requires the refund of those obscene profits, the difference between what was charged us and the cost-based rates that FERC determines should be refunded, a billion dollars to the consumers of San Diego, Mr. Speaker. $12 billion to the State of California. These were ill-gotten gains by a cartel of the large energy generators and marketers, and that money must be returned to the Californians who are suffering. And as we watch the news and as we listen to what is going on, please remember the Governor of California and the California legislature can do a lot about our State's problems, but they cannot order refunds. They cannot set wholesale prices. We are stuck in California with the economic disaster that that implies, a billion dollars worth of debt in San Diego, $12 billion sucked out of our State by these power generators. We cannot look to Sacramento to solve that; only we can do it. I ask President Bush to act, and act quickly. The President cannot take a hands-off approach.

Mr. FILNER

Mr. FILNER. I have an objection to the electoral votes from Florida.

Mr. FILNER. I thank the President.

Mr. FILNER. No, it is not in writing, but I rise in solidarity with my colleagues who have previously expressed their objection.

Mr. FILNER

Mr. FILNER. Mr. Speaker, on rollcall No. 603, I am on ``leave of absence'' for the week of December 11. Had I been present, I would have voted ``nay.''