Jim Gibbons

Mr. GIBBONS

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

Mr. GIBBONS

Mr. GIBBONS. Mr. Speaker, I move to suspend the rules and concur in the Senate amendment to the bill (H.R. 1446) to support the efforts of the California Missions Foundation to restore and repair the Spanish colonial and mission-era missions in the State of California and to preserve the artworks and artifacts of these missions, and for other purposes.

Mr. GIBBONS. Mr. Speaker, I ask unanimous consent that all Members may have 5 legislative days within which to revise and extend their remarks and include extraneous material on the bill now under consideration.

Mr. GIBBONS. Mr. Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may consume. Mr. Speaker, H.R. 1446, as amended, authorizes the Secretary of the Interior to enter into a cooperative agreement with the California Missions Foundation to support their effort to resolve and repair the California missions and to preserve the artworks and artifacts associated with the California missions. Currently, the 21 California missions of the El Camino Real, or Royal Highway, have had to rely on nominal entrance fees, sales from gift shops, donations and special events to cover their operating expenses. Unfortunately, these sources of income have not been enough to keep up with the increasing structural needs of these aging missions that date back to 1769, when Fray Junipero Serra founded Alta, California, the first Spanish mission in California. Today, over 5 million people annually visit the mission system, and it is obvious to many that outside financial help is needed. The California Missions Foundation, a charitable corporation established in California in 1998, is dedicated to raising funds for the ongoing preservation, restoration and maintenance needs of the California missions to ensure that their historical legacy is kept alive for future generations. As part of the cooperative agreement process, the Secretary must submit a proposed agreement to the Attorney General for a finding that the agreement does not violate the establishment clause of the First Amendment of the Constitution. With that, Mr. Speaker, I urge adoption by all our colleagues of this bill. Mr. Speaker, I reserve the balance of my time.

Mr. GIBBONS. Mr. Speaker, I yield myself 5 minutes to enter into and engage in a colloquy with the author of the bill, the gentleman from California (Mr. Farr). While I remain very supportive of this legislation and do support its adoption, Mr. Speaker, I believe it is important to remember that we are preserving buildings and structures that bring up uneasy memories for many who live today in California. As was noted in a recent letter to the editor which appeared in the San Francisco Chronicle, with the help of Spain's soldiers, thousands of California's Indians became slaves, directed by the friars to build the missions. After the missions were built, beginning in 1769, the Indians were forbidden to leave the mission boundaries. It is estimated that California's Indian population was about 310,000 at the beginning of Spanish rule. At the close of the 19th century, their population shrunk to approximately 100,000, largely due to the inhumane conditions under which the Indians were forced to live while serving as slaves. I would encourage the gentleman from California to request that the Department of the Interior not lose sight of these facts when awarding the grants authorized under this legislation. I believe it is important that when the missions are refurbished that it is not just the bricks and mortar which are restored, but also the truth. These facilities are deserving of our help, but they also must be restored with the acknowledgment of all those who suffered so that the missions themselves could survive. Mr. Speaker, I submit for the Record one of the letters to the editor to which I earlier referred: [From the San Francisco Chronicle, November 8, 2004] The Dark, Terrible Secret of California's Mission (By Elias Castillo) Sometime soon, the House will give final consideration to the California Mission Preservation Act, sponsored by Sen. Barbara Boxer, D-Calif., providing $10 million to help restore California's Roman Catholic Missions--those historic sites where Franciscan friars and California's Indians supposedly existed in gentle harmony. In part, the act describes how ``the knowledge and cultural influence of native California Indians made a lasting contribution to the early settlements of California and the development of the California missions.'' What the bill utterly omits is that locked within the missions is a terrible truth--that they were little more than concentration camps where California's Indians were beaten, whipped, maimed, burned, tortured and virtually exterminated by the friars. The California Indians, as the proposal says, did have a culture, but they never got a chance to contribute it to California. The Spanish crown decreed in the 1760s that the Indians were to be rounded up, baptized into Christianity and their culture destroyed. It was the same policy that Spain had followed in eradicating the complex and advanced cultures of the Mayans, Incas and Aztecs in Latin America. In 1769, that near-genocidal policy was launched, under the direction of Father Junipero Serra, with the founding of California's first mission. One scholar, Robert Archibald, has written that the missions were akin to the ``forced movement of black people from Africa to the American South.'' With the help of Spain's soldiers, the Indians were herded to the sites of the missions. Once there, they became slaves, directed by the friars to build the missions. Once within the mission boundaries, they were forever forbidden to leave. No less an authority than the U.S. National Park Service has documented and described the hellish and tragic fate of the California Indians, especially the coastal tribes. They were not warring tribes, but instead gentle harvesters who lived in equilibrium with their land and seashore. Their terrible fate at the hands of the Spanish and friars was described by Jean Francois de Galaup de la Perouse, a French explorer and sea voyager hired by the French government to report on the western coastal areas of North America. In 1786 he visited Mission San Carlos Borromeo in the Monterey area and described the severe punishments inflicted on the Indians. The friars, he determined, considered the Indians ``too much a child, too much a slave, too little a man.'' California historians Walton Bean and James J. Rawls, described La Perouse as likening the missions to the slave plantations of Santo Domingo. Yet, the Indians did not easily accede to the cruel mission life. They rebelled several times, in one instance burning nearly all of the buildings of Mission La Purisima in Santa Ynez. Historian Robert F. Heizer attributed the flare-up to the ``flogging of a La Purisma neophyte'' (as the Indians were called in the missions). In the late 1820s, Mexico rebelled against Spain and won its independence. Within a decade, it also declared that the missions had to vest half their property to the Indians while the other half went to the friars and government officials. It was the beginning of the end for the missions. By the late 19th century, the missions were in ruins, abandoned by the friars who could not continue operating them without the slave labor of the Indians, whose numbers had been decimated by hard labor, starvation and disease. It is estimated that California's Indian population was about 310,000 at the beginning of Spanish rule. At the close of the 19th century, they had been reduced to approximately 100,000. Restoration of the missions was started at the beginning of the 20th century by well-meaning persons who either ignored the cruelties inflicted on the Indians or simply were unaware of the horrors that had occurred within them. While enough historians have accurately documented those terrible ordeals, however, their findings are not well known. Visit any of the missions and there is no mention of Indians being put in stocks, whipped or chained. Instead, the usual description is of friars and Indians living side by side in peaceful harmony and happily helping each other. The California Missions Preservation Act is expected to be voted on soon. Besides the potential and obvious conflict of its violating the constitutional separation of church and state, there is the moral responsibility that if government funds are to be used in restoring the missions, the granting of those funds must be dependent on memorializing the suffering of California's native people in the missions. This nation has recently opened the National Museum of the American Indian in Washington, D.C. It is a monument to the Native Americans of North, Central and South America. The existence of the museum mandates that the ordeal of California's Indians cannot continue to be largely ignored and forgotten. Too many Native Americans died within the missions, which were supposed to be monuments to God's mercy, forgiveness and benevolence. The act must require that descriptions of the enslavement of California's Indians within the missions and the horrible ordeals they endured be clearly and visibly provided to all visitors, America has not buried the shameful history of slavery in its Southern states; instead, books have been written and museums opened so that all may forever know of the cruelties of that practice. Why then, should the shameful history of the missions be hidden and ignored? Additionally, the act must also require that funds be set aside for research to be conducted on mission grounds for the purpose of determining if mass graves of Indians exist within them. While some missions have clearly marked graveyards set aside for the friars, little knowledge exists of what happened to the thousands of deceased Indians who toiled within the missions. If sites are found containing the remains of those Indians, those areas must then be clearly marked for visitors and declared hallowed ground. California and the nation cannot continue to look the other way at what happened in the missions; it must confront that awful specter and unveil it as a dark chapter of the state's history. It does not matter that those vicious practices occurred during Spanish rule. The missions are now revered as beloved monuments. Their continued restoration must also bring to light the most frightful chamber of their history.

Mr. GIBBONS. I yield to the gentleman from California.

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

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

Mr. GIBBONS. Mr. Speaker, I continue to reserve the balance of my time.

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

Mr. GIBBONS

Mr. GIBBONS. Mr. Speaker, I move to suspend the rules and pass the Senate bill (S. 1241) to establish the Kate Mullany National Historic Site in the State of New York, and for other purposes.

Mr. GIBBONS. Mr. Speaker, I ask unanimous consent that all Members may have 5 legislative days within which to revise and extend their remarks and include extraneous material on the bill under consideration.

Mr. GIBBONS. Mr. Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may consume. Mr. Speaker, S. 1241 would authorize the Secretary of the Interior to establish the Kate Mullany National Historic Site as an affiliated site in the State of New York. The site would consist of the home of Kate Mullany, an existing national historic landmark located in Troy, New York. Kate Mullany organized and led the first all-female labor union at the Nation's first commercial laundry. When employers installed new machinery that stepped up production but made the working conditions worse, Kate Mullany led 300 workers in a week-long labor strike in February, 1864, that resulted in the owners conceding to all of their demands. Unlike many other unions of the day, the ``Collar Laundry Union'' stayed organized long after their initial battle, helping other unions along the way. I urge my colleagues to support S. 1241. Mr. Speaker, I reserve the balance of my time.

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

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

Mr. GIBBONS

Mr. GIBBONS. Mr. Speaker, I move to suspend the rules and pass the Senate bill (S. 1727) to authorize additional appropriations for the Reclamation Safety of Dams Act of 1978.

Mr. GIBBONS. Mr. Speaker, I ask unanimous consent that all Members may have 5 legislative days within which to revise and extend their remarks and include extraneous material on the Senate bill under consideration.

Mr. GIBBONS. Mr. Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may consume. Mr. Speaker, S. 1727, sponsored by Senator Pete Domenici, increases the authorization ceiling on the Federal Safety of Dams Program. This important program allows the U.S. Bureau of Reclamation to make necessary structural modifications on aging dams and helps protect the public and our natural resources. The House companion bill is sponsored by the gentlewoman from California (Mrs. Napolitano) and the gentleman from California (Mr. Calvert). Approximately 50 percent of the Bureau of Reclamation's dams were built between 1900 and 1950 before the state-of-the-art design practices were used. With more aging dams needing corrective action, the authorization level for the Safety of Dams Program will soon be exhausted. This bill not only gives the Bureau of Reclamation added financial tools to fix these structural problems for the next 10 years but requires the agency to consult with local beneficiaries on implementing these projects. I urge my colleagues to support this bipartisan bill. Mr. Speaker, I reserve the balance of my time.

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

Mr. GIBBONS

Mr. GIBBONS. Mr. Speaker, I move to suspend the rules and pass the Senate bill (S. 434) to authorize the Secretary of Agriculture to sell or exchange all or part of certain parcels of National Forest System land in the State of Idaho and use the proceeds derived from the sale or exchange for National Forest System purposes.

Mr. GIBBONS. Mr. Speaker, I ask unanimous consent that all Members may have 5 legislative days to revise and extend their remarks and include extraneous material on the bill now under consideration.

Mr. GIBBONS. Mr. Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may consume. Mr. Speaker, Senate 434, introduced by Senator Larry Craig, would authorize the Secretary of Agriculture to sell or exchange all or part of certain parcels of National Forest System land in the State of Idaho and use the proceeds derived from the sale or exchange for national forest purposes. This legislation would sell or exchange roughly 150 acres, comprised of three separate parcels, and deposit the proceeds in the fund established under the Sisk Act. The bill promotes good stewardship by consolidating scattered parcels of public land while generating revenue for property improvements rather than using taxpayer dollars. Additionally, it will finally allow for the construction of a public sewer system in the area that has been contingent on the land acquisition authorized in Senate 434. Mr. Speaker, I reserve the balance of my time.

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

Mr. GIBBONS

Mr. GIBBONS. Mr. Speaker, I move to suspend the rules and concur in the Senate amendment to the bill (H.R. 1284) to amend the Reclamation Projects Authorization and Adjustment Act of 1992 to increase the Federal share of the cost of the San Gabriel Basin demonstration project.

Mr. GIBBONS. Mr. Speaker, I ask unanimous consent that all Members may have 5 legislative days within which to revise and extend their remarks and include extraneous material on the bill under consideration.