Wayne Gilchrest

Mr. GILCHREST

Mr. GILCHREST. Mr. Speaker, I thank the gentleman for yielding me time. Mr. Speaker, I only knew Mr. Dixon for a few years; but after a vote on the House floor, we would often walk back to our offices together. As a much younger Member, Mr. Dixon and I would discuss the usual things you might suspect Members of Congress would talk about, the international community, the domestic situation, doing the Nation's business, the recent vote that we just took, the very volatile nature of a democratic process. But the most heartfelt things that I would remember that Mr. Dixon and I would discuss would be our families and the things that mattered most to the heart back home in our respective districts, with our family members, with our children, with our friends, and the nature of what it meant to be a Member of Congress. So we often think about the icons of America who are most in the news, who are most spoken of on a daily basis. But Mr. Dixon was that gentle, kind, most profound icon that this Nation can have, because he did the Nation's business in the most honest way. This place, the House floor, has lost the friendly presence of Mr. Dixon; but his spirit, I am sure, will dwell within each of us. So our heart goes out to lessen the sorrow that those who loved him most dear are feeling at this time.

Mr. GILCHREST

Mr. GILCHREST. Mr. Speaker, I yield such time as he may consume to the gentleman from California (Mr. Hunter).

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

Mr. GILCHREST. Mr. Speaker, I move to suspend the rules and pass the bill (H.R. 5477) to provide that gaming shall not be allowed on certain Indian trust lands in California that were purchased with certain Federal grant funds, as amended.

Mr. GILCHREST. Mr. Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may consume. Mr. Speaker, this legislation, authored by the gentleman from California (Mr. Hunter), will establish a moratorium on the approval by the Secretary of Interior of the relinquishment of a release of a health clinic until that relinquishment has been approved by tribal resolution by each of the seven tribes which would comprise the Southern Indian Health Council in Alpine, California. The clinic was acquired and constructed with Indian Community Development Block Grant funds and was constructed by the Southern Indian Health Council. I ask for Members to support this legislation. Mr. Speaker, I reserve the balance of my time.

Mr. GILCHREST

Mr. GILCHREST. Mr. Speaker, Sid Yates--his tenure in Congress embodied knowledge, humility, and tolerance, the pillars that support the essence of democracy.

Mr. GILCHREST

Mr. GILCHREST. Mr. Speaker, we are here Thursday evening, and we all know that we are going to be here tomorrow, Friday. What I would like to tell my colleagues, all of them on both sides of the aisle, is that we are here to continue the process of legislating. Some of the things that we are trying to work out here, one, for example, is to provide health care prescription drugs for Americans that need that service and do not have it right now. We are working to create a system where no legal immigrants are turned away from our shores. We are working to ensure worker safety and much-needed, in certain circumstances, compensation for those who are injured in a variety of ways. We are working to build schools for those municipalities around the country that need new construction. We are working to enhance the economy by stimulating productivity in the private sector. Some of that is by a tax structure. Some of that is opening new markets overseas. We are working here, Mr. Speaker, to find ways to make this great country energy independent. We are working here, specifically what we will do tomorrow is to ensure that the environment is clean and sustainable. Now, how do we do all those things while we are here working? Well, it is pretty fundamental. We as Members of Congress, both the Democrats and Republicans, and the two Independents, we come here every day, we exchange information. There is a sense of tolerance for somebody else's opinion. Then we vote. If you get 218 votes, you have the majority. Our fundamental democratic process is based on the majority. So if we have 218 votes, then that bill is passed out of the House and goes over to the Senate. We hear a lot about gridlock and partisan politics, both here on the House floor and in the media, certainly. Well, I am here to say that partisan politics is actually the strength of our system. That means each of us is allowed to come here and express our deeply felt convictions without fear of any retribution or retaliation. When we stand here and disagree with the Democrats or Republicans disagree with Republicans, or Republicans disagree with the President, that is the strength of our Nation, which is the diversity of thought. Now, one cannot express one's difference of opinion in Cuba. One cannot express one's difference of opinion in Iraq to Saddam Hussein because one would disappear and never be seen again. But here on the House floor, the fundamentals of democratic process is that every individual Member of Congress, whether one is the Speaker or a new freshman, has an opportunity to be a responsible advocate for what one believes. If one can talk to 218 Members, and they see one as credible and one has the right information, then one will get their vote, and one's bill will pass. So the strength of our country is that we each have the availability to us, because of our Constitution, to express our heartfelt convictions. There is one other thing that we need to do here on a regular basis, but especially now before this general election, is to tap the energy of the American people with all their diversity and their initiative and innovation. We need to inspire the American people to participate in the democratic process so that all of us collectively together can make the possibilities for this Nation and this world limitless.

Mr. GILCHREST

Mr. GILCHREST. Mr. Speaker, will the gentleman yield?

Mr. GILCHREST. Mr. Speaker, I thank the gentleman for yielding. I understand the gentleman from Maryland's discussion about a specific Federal purpose like the Head Start Program or a specific Federal purpose like school construction or a specific Federal purpose like reducing the size of classrooms for teachers. But in this particular instance, there are specific needs that this money can fill. For example, in the school district in Somerset County, where Crisfield students go to high school, there is no new construction that is needed. There are no new teachers needed, because classroom sizes are already small and getting smaller because the community is reducing in size. What is desperately needed in that poor, lower shore community, where salaries are very low, is some technology. So this particular program as distributed across the country can help in school class size, school construction, but in that community specifically these dollars spent by the local school district can help in the arena of enhancing those teachers, in training, technology, and computers.

Mr. GILCHREST

Mr. GILCHREST. Mr. Speaker, I thank the chairman for yielding me the time. Mr. Speaker, as previous speakers have said, I would like to also add my comments and praise and respect to the gentleman from Pennsylvania (Chairman Shuster) of the Committee on Transportation and Infrastructure. It has been my experience in dealing with the gentleman from Pennsylvania (Chairman Shuster) that we have had for a number of years an honorable, professional relationship. The chairman has helped with this package of restoration bills to restore a number of problems throughout this Nation, and I want to thank him for that. We are here to pass the conference report that will do a great deal as far as restoring America's estuaries and other problems throughout our coastal regions and the Great Lakes of the United States. We are here because our approach to these problems has not been the best in the past. Our approach to deal with the Nation's estuaries and the Great Lakes have been the responsibility of, for example, the Corps of Engineers, Fish and Wildlife, Department of Agriculture, EPA, National Marine Fisheries Service, U.S. Geological Survey, and the list goes on and on and on; and each of those Federal entities has been responsible for a certain piece of the whole. Now, they have also been responsible for things like dredging, which degrade estuaries; bulldozing; the building of dams; draining; paving; sewage discharge. The list goes on there as well. Each of those areas, draining, bulldozing, sewage discharge, dredging, damming, air pollution, all of those things has a degrading, fragmenting effect on our estuaries. And each of the Federal agencies has approached each of those entities as something distinct and separate. What this legislation does is it brings all of those Federal agencies and their appropriate counterparts on the State level, the local level, and the private sector and it sees the estuaries as a whole. The entire ecosystem not only will be researched and studied, but will be restored. The grasses will be replanted. The oysters, instead of oyster bars, will have oyster reefs. The migrating songbirds will have a place to rest on the way to South America. The migrating Canada geese or the snowgeese or the shad or any other fish species that we can think of will come back because the ecosystem, instead of being fragmented, will begin to become whole. Mr. Speaker, I urge my colleagues to vote ``aye'' on the conference report. I thank the gentleman from Pennsylvania (Mr. Shuster), chairman of the committee, once again for his help with this legislation.

Mr. GILCHREST

Mr. GILCHREST. Mr. Speaker, I thank the gentleman from Pennsylvania (Mr. Shuster) for yielding me this time. Mr. Speaker, I appreciate the chairman engaging me in a colloquy with an issue in my district that has been ongoing for a number of years, and many of us that live in the First Congressional District of Maryland, which is the main stem of the Chesapeake watershed, for discussing this issue. The previous speaker talked about the Corps of Engineers restoring a rather unique body of water on the planet called the Everglades, and the effort that our committee and this Congress has done to restore the waters and the ecosystem for that magnificent place. What we are trying to do in the Chesapeake Bay is very similar. The Chesapeake Bay has had a program to restore this estuary for about 20 years now, and we continue to make pretty good progress. The Corps of Engineers, to a large extent, has been very helpful in that effort. One of the problems in our area is, however, that there are bits and pieces of human activity that continues to degrade our watershed, our estuary, that marine ecosystem. One of those pieces that will have an adverse effect on the Chesapeake Bay is the deepening activity by the Corps of Engineers to an area called the Chesapeake and Delaware Canal, or the northern approach to the Port of Baltimore. The Corps of Engineers has conducted a feasibility study on whether or not this will benefit the taxpayers, or even the port, since 1988. From 1996 to this point, the Corps of Engineers has, through its own numbers, recognized that the benefit to cost ratio or the benefit to the taxpayers is not there; the financial justification for deepening this canal has not met the Federal criteria, which means that there will be no increase in commerce due to the deepening of the C&D Canal. So, in my judgment, since there is some adverse environmental degradation because of the deepening, there is no increase in commerce based on the Corps' own numbers, we should not spend $100 million, and that is the actual cost of this project to go forward. If we are going to spend $100 million, it should have some justification or we should have some value to that amount of money. So I appreciate the chairman's concern over this issue, and we will continue to work on this.

Mr. GILCHREST. I yield to the gentleman from Pennsylvania.

Mr. GILCHREST

Mr. GILCHREST. Madam Speaker, pursuant to clause 1 of rule XXII and by direction of the Committee on Transportation and Infrastructure, I move to take from the Speaker's table the bill (H.R. 820) to authorize appropriations for fiscal years 2000 and 2001 for the Coast Guard, and for other purposes, with a Senate amendment thereto, disagree to the Senate amendment and agree to the conference asked by the Senate.

Mr. GILCHREST

Mr. GILCHREST. Mr. Speaker, I move to suspend the rules and pass the bill (H.R. 4643) to provide for the settlement of issues and claims related to the trust lands of the Torres-Martinez Desert Cahuilla Indians, and for other purposes, as amended.

Mr. GILCHREST

Mr. GILCHREST. Mr. Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may consume. Mr. Speaker, I rise in support of H.R. 1651, the Fisherman's Protective Act Amendments. This bill makes a number of fishery conservation improvements in several important laws. Title I amends the Fisheries Protective Act to extend current law so that reimbursement may be provided to owners of U.S. fishing vessels illegally detained or seized by foreign countries. Since this provision has expired, the bill will ensure that U.S. vessels illegally seized or fined by a foreign nation are able to seek reimbursement in the future. Title II establishes a panel to advise the Secretaries of State and the Interior of the Yukon River salmon management issues in Alaska. The U.S. and Canada had an interim agreement regarding management of the salmon stocks of mutual interests in the Yukon River, but the agreement expired in March of 1998. When the interim agreement expired, it was unclear whether the advisory panel was still authorized to recommend salmon restoration measures. This bill codifies the Yukon River Salmon Panel and authorizes the panel to advise the Secretary of State and the Secretary of the Interior on the management, enhancement, and restoration of Yukon River salmon stocks and perform other activities that relate to the conservation and management of the Yukon River salmon stocks. Finally, Title III authorizes the Secretary of Commerce to acquire, purchase, lease, lease-purchase, or charter and equip up to six fishery survey vessels. These vessels are one of the most important fishery management tools available to Federal scientists. Because they conduct a vast majority of fishery stock surveys, their reliability is critical to fishery management. The information obtained using them is critical for the improvement of regulations governing fisheries management. This bill is virtually identical to the measure that overwhelmingly passed the House last year; however, it does not include the extraneous measure added in the other body dealing with the harvest of bluefin tuna using spotter planes in the North Atlantic. This is a good conservation bill, and I urge an aye vote on this measure. Mr. Speaker, I reserve the balance of my time.

Mr. GILCHREST. 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 H.Res. 579.

Mr. GILCHREST. Mr. Speaker, I move to suspend the rules and agree to the resolution (H. Res. 579) providing for the concurrence by the House with an amendment in the Senate amendment to H.R. 1651.

Mr. GILCHREST

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

Mr. GILCHREST

Mr. GILCHREST. Mr. Speaker, I urge support for the legislation, and I yield back the balance of my time.

Mr. GILCHREST. Mr. Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may consume. (Mr. GILCHREST asked and was given permission to revise and extend his remarks.)

Mr. GILCHREST. Mr. Speaker, S. 1849, introduced by Senator Joe Biden from Delaware, designates approximately 190 miles of segments and tributaries of White Clay Creek in Delaware and Pennsylvania as a component of the National Wild and Scenic Rivers System. Companion legislation was also introduced by the gentleman from Pennsylvania (Mr. Pitts) who deserves major credit for crafting this bill. White Clay Creek is the watershed for more than 69,000 acres in southeastern Pennsylvania and northwestern Delaware. White Clay Creek is an important source of drinking water and also contains recreational, cultural, and scenic resources. Although much of the land around these segments is privately owned, surveys by private property owners have indicated general support for this legislation. In 1991, Congress authorized the White Clay Creek Study Act, which directed the National Park Service to prepare a study of the eligibility and suitability of White Clay Creek as a Wild and Scenic River. This law also directed the National Park Service and White Clay Creek Study Task Force to develop a watershed management plan for the area. The study indicated the segments identified in this bill as both suitable and feasible to be designated into the Wild and Scenic Rivers System. Mr. Speaker, during the committee proceedings on this bill, an amendment was passed which excluded some smaller segments that are not yet suitable for designation and established the width of the river segments for the wild and scenic designation at 250 feet. We believe that these changes are necessary and, hence, have amended the Senate bill to include them. Mr. Speaker, all of the 15 local governmental entities within the watershed have passed resolutions supporting the designation and implementation of the management plan. This bill has the additional support of the minority and the administration. I urge all my colleagues to support S. 1849, with an amendment. Mr. Speaker, I reserve the balance of my time.

Mr. GILCHREST. Mr. Speaker, I move to suspend the rules and pass the Senate bill (S. 1849) to designate segments and tributaries of White Clay Creek, Delaware and Pennsylvania, as a component of the National Wild and Scenic Rivers System, as amended.

Mr. GILCHREST

Mr. GILCHREST. Mr. Speaker, I urge an ``aye'' vote on this legislation, and I appreciate the gentleman from American Samoa for helping out with this legislation.

Mr. GILCHREST. Mr. Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may consume. Mr. Speaker, today we are considering H.R. 2798, a bill that authorizes the Secretary of Commerce to provide financial assistance to qualified States and tribal governments for salmon conservation and habitat restoration activities. The qualified States include Alaska, California, Idaho, Oregon, and Washington. The tribal government from each State is also eligible to participate in the program. Mr. Speaker, the bill authorizes $200 million to be apportioned to the States and tribes for activities that will protect salmon or restore salmon habitat. While the Federal Government has spent millions of dollars on salmon restoration, the efforts have been successful. This bill will direct funds to the State and local projects where the money will do the most good. The States are required to match the Federal funds reported annually to Congress on the use of the funds and their consistency with the act. The Secretary reports annually to Congress on the tribal governments' use of the funds and every 2 years on each States use of the funds. Administrative uses of the funds are capped at 3 percent for the States and tribes, and 1 percent for the Secretary. The bill clarifies that the funds be given to the States in a lump sum and allows the States of Washington and Idaho to use funds for habitat restoration and conservation of endangered bull trout in addition to salmon. In addition, the bill includes language authorizing the Northern and Southern funds for the Pacific Salmon Treaty. These funds were created last year when the U.S. and Canada came to an agreement on a 10-year management scheme for salmon species covered under the treaty. The 1999 agreement also created a transboundary panel under the treaty; and this bill creates that panel, authorizes its participants and allows them to be compensated for time spent working on the panel. Finally, the bill includes a section that allows the commissioners to the International Pacific Salmon Fisheries Commission and the North Pacific Fisheries Commission to get a review of their pension. These individuals are U.S. citizens and have been paid in Canadian dollars and have been harmed by the differences in the exchange rate. This bill would allow for review in a lump sum payment out of existing funds if an inequity has occurred. Mr. Speaker, this is an important conservation bill and will do a great deal to conserve salmon and restore salmon habitat in the Northwest, and I urge an aye vote on the legislation. Mr. Speaker, I reserve the balance of my time.

Mr. GILCHREST

Mr. GILCHREST. Mr. Speaker, I ask unanimous consent that all Members may have 5 legislative days within which to revise and extend their remarks and to include extraneous material on H.R. 2271, as amended.