Gene Green

Mr. GENE GREEN of Texas

Mr. GENE GREEN of Texas. Madam Speaker, we will reserve the balance of our time.

Mr. GENE GREEN of Texas. Madam Speaker, I rise to close. We have no other speakers. First, to comment on my colleague from Georgia. Coming from Houston, Texas, I have some pipeline companies that would love to have that contract from Mars to Houston to bring oil if we discover it drilling through that ice there. I appreciate, as a physician, your devotion to community-based health clinics, because that's what this bill is about, it's about reauthorizing. In fact, as we stand here today, Madam Speaker, we're actually expanding one in our district. Like I said earlier, we only have 10 in the Houston area, and our next largest city close to us has 80. So we have a job to do in Houston, in Texas--and my colleague from Fort Worth mentioned it--to expand community-based health centers. This bill will allow us to do that because it will go to the underserved community, areas in the country that really don't even have access to a community-based health center now and will have with this legislation, also with the additional authorization funds. Of course we have to go back and ask the Appropriations Committee every year for additional funding that we authorize. But that's something that we do. This is very bipartisan support for community- based health centers. That's why I would hope that we would have almost unanimous support for this legislation.

Mr. GENE GREEN of Texas. Madam Speaker, I yield back the balance of my time.

Mr. GENE GREEN of Texas. Madam Speaker, I move to suspend the rules and pass the bill (H.R. 1343) to amend the Public Health Service Act to provide additional authorizations of appropriations for the health centers program under section 330 of such Act, as amended.

Mr. GENE GREEN of Texas. Madam Speaker, I yield myself as much time as I may consume. Madam Speaker, I rise today in support of H.R. 1343, the Health Centers Renewal Act of 2008. The health centers program was first enacted 40 years ago. Today, health centers are located in 6,000 sites in all 50 States serving as the medical home and family physician to 17 million people nationally. Over the years, the health centers program has gained tremendous support from Democrats, Republicans, the Congress and the President. We don't all agree on much, but there is no doubt that the health centers program has been a great success. The overwhelming support for the health centers program may be attributed to the impact health centers have made on the health and well-being of our country's most vulnerable populations. Federally qualified health centers are local, nonprofit or public entity, community-owned health care provider serving low-income and medically underserved areas as designated by the Federal Government. Health centers provide comprehensive primary and preventive health care, with services available to all community residents where they are located, regardless of the patients' ability to pay. Community health centers have helped fill the medical void for low- income communities and uninsured individuals. The health centers program's focus on primary and preventive care has garnered savings for our health care system because the health centers provide the uninsured and underserved with access to care they would usually receive at hospital emergency rooms. By providing access to affordable primary care, health centers have also reduced the need for in-patient and specialty care in hospitals, because medical problems in health center patients are treated earlier, before they require in-patient hospital care. Studies suggest that health centers save Medicaid approximately 30 percent in annual spending for health centers due to reduced specialty care referrals, fewer hospital admissions, and emergency room visits. Forty percent of health center patients are uninsured, and 35 percent depend on Medicaid, making health centers a critical feature of our country's safety net and, for many individuals, their only source for health care services. Unfortunately, the number of uninsured in our country is 47 million and has been steadily rising, and in turn, the need for health centers are increasing. Our district in Texas and many other communities nationwide are desperately in need of more health centers. Houston has approximately 1 million uninsured but only 10 federally qualified health centers. As the fourth largest city in the United States, Houston lags far behind the number of health centers located in our area when compared to Chicago, with over 80 community health centers and the third largest city in the country. Houston is not alone in this need for more health centers. Studies show that 56 million Americans lack access to primary care or a health care home. The Health Centers Renewal Act will reauthorize the health centers program, which would address the growing need for community health centers in not only my area but throughout the United States. This legislation would authorize the increased funding necessary for our community to build on the success of the health centers program and develop additional health centers to meet our tremendous need for affordable and quality health care. This bill would allow health centers to serve approximately 23 million patients in the next 5 years. I want to thank my colleague, Mr. Pickering, who is the original cosponsor, along with the Energy and Commerce Committee and my subcommittee for their full support of this legislation. I believe the bill is truly an investment in the future of health centers for the medically underserved communities throughout our country. Madam Speaker, I reserve the balance of my time.

Mr. GENE GREEN of Texas. Madam Speaker, I ask unanimous consent that all Members have 5 legislative days to revise and extend their remarks and include extraneous material on the bill under consideration.

Mr. GENE GREEN of Texas

Mr. GENE GREEN of Texas. Madam 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 under consideration

Mr. GENE GREEN of Texas. Madam Speaker, I move to suspend the rules and pass the bill (H.R. 5669) to amend the Public Health Service Act to reauthorize the poison center national toll-free number, national media campaign, and grant program to provide assistance for poison prevention, sustain the funding of poison centers, and enhance the public health of people of the United States.

Mr. GENE GREEN of Texas

Mr. GENE GREEN of Texas. Madam Speaker, later this year the Department of Education will formally be renamed after a former teacher, who became president and made equal opportunity to education a national priority. President Lyndon Baines Johnson pioneered many issues such as civil rights, voting rights, but his education leadership stands out even among those accomplishments. President Johnson was a very human figure but his legacy is with us in many major ways today. Lyndon Johnson's first priority in life was education, and he was the first ``Education President.'' As we approach President Johnson's 100th birthday on August 27, I would like to submit the following article which appeared in the Austin-American Statesman highlighting the profound legacy President Johnson had on America's education system, and the renaming of the Department of Education Building. [From the Austin American Statesman, October 28, 2007] LBJ Finally Gets His Due in Washington (By David H. Bennett) Washington is a city of monuments; the Mall hosts buildings, statues and walls commemorating big achievements (saving the union) and small ones (inventing the screw propeller). But until now, Washington had no monument to a man who left an enormous mark, not only on American government, but on the lives of our people: Lyndon Baines Johnson. Until this year, the only thing named for LBJ in the capital area was a Memorial Grove, a clump of trees on the Potomac in Virginia. But when the Department of Education building is formally renamed for LBJ on September 18, it will finally provide Washington recognition for the man who fundamentally reshaped the role of government in the United States. On one level, ignoring LBJ in Washington simply replicates what has happened in politics and academia. For Republicans and those on the right, the Johnson years have always been anathema. He promised to be the ``education president,'' the ``health president'' and the ``poor people's president.'' He did all of that and more, earning the enduring hatred of those who loathe government. But more surprising is that the man who presided over that spectacular legislative run of victories for activist government that he called the ``Great Society'' has been the forgotten man by the party he once led. At Democratic conventions, FDR, Truman, and Kennedy are the iconic figures to whom speakers pay homage; LBJ goes unmentioned. Historians too seemed to look past LBJ--textbooks and history classes often pay little heed to the achievements of Johnson's domestic agenda. For many, it seems. the shadow of Vietnam obscures everything else about LBJ's career and accomplishments. That is a serious misreading of history, as a brief review of Johnson's legacy makes clear. It is his educational agenda that will be deservedly memorialized in the naming ceremony. The 1965 Elementary and Secondary Education Act was landmark legislation. It did not have a fancy title like ``No Child Left Behind,'' but the ESEA marked the first time the federal government committed to helping local school districts--and with funding, not directives. The 1965 Higher Education Act provided scholarships, grants, loans and work study programs--hundreds of billions of dollars worth--that made college possible for millions who could not afford it before. In addition, LBJ, himself once a school teacher in a desperately poor Texas district, was the president who first recognized and funded bilingual and special education. But education is only part of the story. Medicare transformed the health delivery system for older Americans, having helped almost 50 million citizens stay out of poverty and live longer. Medicaid has served over 200 million needy people since its creation. The Heath Professions Act helped to double the number of doctors graduating from medical school. LBJ's ``War on Poverty'' would later become a whipping boy for right-wing critics, but Head Start, Upward Bound, VISTA, the Job Corps and other poverty programs made their mark across the years, despite diminished resources and lack of commitment in some subsequent administrations. And it was the political genius of the man who ``knew the deck on Capitol Hill'' that played a critical role in pushing through the landmark Civil Rights and Voting Rights Acts in 1964 and 1965. There is much more. In a nation which no longer seems to address infrastructure needs, Johnson's White House gave us the Urban Mass Transit Act, bringing MARTA to Atlanta, BART to the San Francisco Bay and, of course, Metro to Washington. And Johnson was truly a pioneer of environmentalism, spearheading the Clear Air, Water Quality, Clean Water Restoration, Solid Waste Disposal and Motor Vehicle Air Pollution Control Acts. Johnson also gave us regulatory protections like product and child safety, truth in packaging and truth a lending legislation, as well as the creation of

Mr. GENE GREEN of Texas

Mr. GENE GREEN of Texas. Mr. Speaker, I stand in strong support of H.R. 6049, the Renewable Energy and Job Creation Act of 2008. I have always believed that as a Nation we should wean ourselves from our dependence on fossil fuels and invest in the energy of the future. After several attempts, the House of Representatives has finally found an appropriate balance to promote the technologies of tomorrow in a way that will benefit our long term energy security. This legislation has much to be proud of. It will extend the tax credit for producing electricity from renewable sources of energy which will enable Texas--the Nation's number one producer of wind energy--to continue adding clean energy and jobs to our economy. It also extends the investment tax credits for solar energy, fuel cells, and energy-efficient appliances for the home, and it creates new tax credits for plug-in hybrid vehicles and renewable energy tax-credit bonds. And after learning of the unintended consequences that corn-based ethanol has had on our environment and global food prices, this legislation rightly includes a six-cent reduction in the ethanol tax credit and creates a new credit for the production of cellulosic biofuels. Aside from energy provisions, I am pleased this legislation includes several sections extending benefits for members of the military and veterans. Extension of the rules allowing military personnel to treat their combat pay as earned income, extending specialized mortgage bond rules for veterans, as well as a provision allowing reservists to make penalty free withdrawals from the retirement accounts if called to active duty for 180 days or more will benefit those who have served our country, and provide added financial options for their families if necessary. Finally, H.R. 6069 will extend the state and local sales tax deduction which assists taxpayers in Texas who do not pay a state income tax, and it provides almost $10 billion of additional tax relief for individuals through an expansion of the refundable child tax credit and a new standard deduction for property taxes. Mr. Speaker, I want to thank my good friend and colleague, Chairman Rangel, for producing a bill that enhances our energy and job security and that has support from both sides of the aisle. I urge my colleagues to support this legislation.

Mr. GENE GREEN of Texas

Mr. GENE GREEN of Texas. Mr. Speaker, I stand in strong support of H.R. 6022, Strategic Petroleum Reserve Fill Suspension and Consumer Protection Act, introduced by my good friend from Texas, Representative Nick Lampson, and Representative Peter Welch. Today's rising petroleum and gasoline prices are set by a complex mix of factors, including global crude prices, increased world and U.S. demand, refinery capacity and maintenance schedules, gasoline imports, prescriptive fuel mandates, and geopolitical events. Most of these factors are out of our effective control. For those that aren't, like the proper management of fuel supplies in the Strategic Petroleum Reserve, SPR, I believe Congress should do all we can to help reduce the cost of energy to American consumers. H.R. 6022 requires the Interior and Energy Departments to discontinue the acquisition of oil and shipments to the SPR until the end of this year, and permits fill to resume if the average price of oil does not exceed $75 a barrel. The bill also allows petroleum shipments ordered under existing Interior Department contracts to be shipped to the reserve. This legislation is strongly needed because the current administration has also not been properly managing the SPR for American consumers. The SPR exists to protect us during an energy crisis, and is almost full to its 727 million barrels of oil capacity. But while the cost per barrel of oil continues to skyrocket, the administration continues to purchase high-priced oil off the market to put into the SPR, limiting the amount of oil available. When oil prices are very high, we should release SPR oil into the market to increase supply, as the Department of Energy did in response to Hurricane Katrina. While not expected to significantly reduce prices, some studies suggest suspending the purchase of oil for the reserve could reduce gas prices anywhere between 5 to 24 cents a gallon. Every cent helps. While there is no quick fix for gasoline prices, I hope Congress will also address America's need to produce additional domestic energy, both conventional and renewable, to ensure the reliability and affordability of our Nation's critical energy supplies.

Mr. GENE GREEN of Texas

Mr. GENE GREEN of Texas. Madam Speaker, I rise today to discuss the issue of the uninsured in recognition of National Uninsured Week in our country. In recent years the cost of health care has grown wildly. Those who can afford private or employer-based health insurance are fortunate. Unfortunately, 47 million Americans lack health insurance, including nine million children--and in Texas one out of every four individuals is without health insurance. We need a national health care plan, but until we make it a national priority, Congress will continue to make incremental steps. That's why Congress has worked so hard to include more children under the State Children's Health Insurance Program (SCHIP) and I have introduced the Health Centers Renewal Act (H.R. 1343), the Community Mental Health Services Act (H.R. 5167) and the Ending the Medicare Disability Waiting Period Act (H.R. 154). Ten years ago Congress created the SCHIP to help provide health insurance for children of low-income workers. These are hard-working families whose jobs don't offer employer-sponsored health insurance, or whose dependant coverage for children is unaffordable. Nationwide there are approximately 9 million uninsured children. Alarmingly, more than 1.5 million of those children live in Texas. Our state had significant barriers against the enrollment of new children in SCHIP, and even has policies that have kicked kids out of the program. As a result, Texas SCHIP enrollment has dropped from about half a million in 2003 to 350,000 in 2007. While children are unceremoniously removed from SCHIP, the number of uninsured continues to grow in our state. There are about 1.5 million Texas children in households earning less than 200 percent of the federal poverty level and 750,000 to 850,000 of them are eligible for Medicaid or SCHIP coverage. Three fourths are not enrolled in either program, meaning there are 200,000 to 300,000 kids in Texas who are eligible but not enrolled in SCHIP. Tragically, the state doesn't even use the all the funds the federal government has provided for our children who are going without basic care. Eventually the money--more than $850 million in the last seven years--goes to other states or back to the Federal government. Bipartisan majorities in both houses of Congress have supported an expansion of SCHIP that would help solve some of Texas's problems twice over the last year. Sadly, President Bush vetoed our efforts both times, but we will not give up until our children have the health care they need. In the meantime, we have opened other fronts in the battle to improve the quality of health care in our country. The Health Centers Renewal Act was introduced last year and approved by the Subcommittee on Health on April 23, and will go to the full committee soon. Health centers represent our Nation's largest primary health care system and serve as a medical home to more than 15 million Americans, most of whom are uninsured or have low incomes. By providing people who are medically underserved with primary and preventive health care, the health centers reduce the need for expensive specialty care in hospitals and emergency rooms. The Health Centers Renewal Act will allow health centers to nearly double the number of individuals they can serve. The Community Mental Health Services Improvement Act, which was introduced in January, will improve medical care for often-neglected mental health patients. Community mental health organizations serve more than six million adults and children across the country. Many of these people are Medicaid beneficiaries, children in foster care, the destitute, homeless and uninsured. Unfortunately, community mental health centers have been chronically underfunded for many years and struggle to meet the basic health needs of the people they serve. This bill will allow mental health care providers to recruit medical primary care doctors to care for patients with serious mental illness. Patients with mental illnesses die on average 25 years earlier than the average American, demonstrating the criticality of the need for better health care. The Ending the Medicare Disability Waiting Period Act was introduced last year would close a loophole that allows more than a million people with disabilities to go without medical care for extended periods of time. When Medicare expanded in 1972 to include individuals with significant disabilities, Congress stipulated that they had to first receive Social Security Disability Insurance (SSDI) for two years before becoming eligible for Medicare, resulting in a three step process. First, the Social Security Administration has to determine SSDI approval. Second, an individual has to wait five months before receiving SSDI benefits. Third, after receiving SSDI benefits an individual has to wait two more years before they can receive Medicare coverage. More than 26 percent of individuals with significant disabilities have no health insurance during this two-year wait. Before becoming disabled, most of these people worked full time and paid into Medicare like everyone else. Now, when they need help the most, they are required to wait without coverage. This bill would phase out the two-year wait over 10 years and completely eliminate the waiting period for people with life- threatening conditions. Finally, I strongly support restoring funding for the Healthy Community Access Program, which in my community has helped enroll an additional 250,000 individuals in Medicaid and CHIP, while also directing the uninsured away from the ERs and toward an appropriate health care home. To address this issue, I introduced the Community Coalitions for Access and Quality Improvement Act, H.R. 3561. This legislation would provide grants to community health access coalitions to implement best practices proven to reduce health care costs, achieve better health outcomes and improve access to health care for uninsured and low-income Americans. Congress should enact legislation to provide all Americans with health insurance. Ideally, no child, no disabled worker, and no uninsured woman would suffer from a lack of adequate health care. As we work toward that goal, Congress should take every opportunity to put in place policies that provide as many people as possible with quality, affordable health insurance.

Mr. GENE GREEN of Texas

Mr. GENE GREEN of Texas. Madam Speaker, I yield myself as much time as I may consume. Madam Speaker, I rise today in support of H. Res. 1086 recognizing today, May 6, through May 12 as National Nurses Week. As a cosponsor of this resolution, I am proud to lend my voice in support of our Nation's nurses. Continuing in the illustrious tradition of Florence Nightingale, the founder of modern nursing, nurses today continue to attend to our Armed Forces overseas. These brave men and women place themselves at risk in war zones, including the conflicts in Afghanistan and Iraq, to tend to our injured soldiers. Besides tending to the wounded abroad, nurses are also on the front lines of our health care system here at home. Whether their primary function is to care for our aging population or to provide immediate aid to the sick and injured, our nurses provide quality patient care and support to keep our health care system running. As the Nation continues to face a nursing shortage, with a projected 1 million new nurses needed by 2016, it is especially important that everyone is aware of the sacrifices nurses make on a daily basis for our country. We must continue to encourage more young people and those seeking a change in career to join the nursing profession. The resolution before us encourages all Americans to observe this week as National Nurses Week by showing appropriate recognition to nurses and creating programs and activities during the week to demonstrate the importance of nurses. I would like to thank my colleagues and former nurses, Congresswoman Eddie Bernice Johnson, Congresswoman Carolyn McCarthy, and Congresswoman Lois Capps, for their leadership on this measure. Again, I reiterate, they are former nurses, although I don't know if you are ever a former nurse. I urge my colleagues on both sides of the aisle to join me in support of the resolution and its adoption. Madam Speaker, I reserve the balance of my time.

Mr. GENE GREEN of Texas. Madam Speaker, I yield 5 minutes to my good friend and colleague from Texas, Congresswoman Eddie Bernice Johnson, who literally I have served with since 1973 with just a little break in the service.

Mr. GENE GREEN of Texas. Madam Speaker, I yield 3 minutes to a colleague on the Energy and Commerce Committee and a good friend, Congresswoman Lois Capps, and also a nurse.

Mr. GENE GREEN of Texas. Mr. Speaker, I yield 3 minutes to our fellow Energy and Commerce member, Congressman Towns from New York.

Mr. GENE GREEN of Texas. Madam Speaker, I move to suspend the rules and agree to the resolution (H. Res. 1086) recognizing National Nurses Week on May 6 through May 12, 2008.

Mr. GENE GREEN of Texas. Madam Speaker, I ask unanimous consent that all Members may have 5 legislative days to revise and extend their remarks and insert extraneous material on the resolution under consideration.

Mr. GENE GREEN of Texas. Mr. Speaker, in closing, I join my colleague from Nebraska in encouraging all of our Members to support this resolution in recognition of National Nurses Week. I yield back the balance of my time.

Mr. GENE GREEN of Texas. I yield 3 minutes to our colleague from New York, Carolyn McCarthy.

Mr. GENE GREEN of Texas

Mr. GENE GREEN of Texas. Mr. Speaker, I rise today in support of H.R. 493, the Genetic Non-Discrimination Act. This bill is the product of 10 years of hard work by my colleague Ms. Slaughter and I applaud her for her efforts to pass this bill. The sequencing of the human genome was an amazing scientific advancement, and has contributed to the rise of genetic testing to inform patients of their proclivity for disease. Thanks to genetic testing, individuals with a risk of an illness can take precautionary steps ahead of time to ward off disease, which will contribute to lower health care costs over time. However, it is critical that we protect individuals from any discrimination that could result from the information these tests reveal. The results should not be used by health insurers to deny anyone coverage or increase their premiums because of a pre-disposition to a certain disease. And the results should not be used by employers to discriminate against employees based on their predisposition to disease. The passage of this bill will encourage individuals to seek genetic testing if they so desire without fear of losing their health insurance and give them the ability to seek early medical treatment. One segment of the health care marketplace was excluded from the bill's protections--the long-term care insurance market. This bill was never intended to regulate the long-term care insurance market, and I understand that current statute treats long-term care insurance differently. However, individuals that determine that they are at high-risk for developing Alzheimer's disease will undoubtedly begin planning for their long-term care and probably purchase long-term care insurance. Despite all of the good intentions in this legislation, the bill would allow long-term care insurance underwriters to refuse to cover or charge individuals predisposed to such disease higher premiums for a disease they have yet to develop and may never develop. As we move forward, Congress should ensure that future legislation extends the patient protections inherent in this bill to consumers who want to plan for their future and purchase long-term care. With that, I am pleased to support this important legislation and send this bill to the President.

Mr. GENE GREEN of Texas

Mr. GENE GREEN of Texas. Madam Chairman, I rise in strong support of this bill to improve worker protections. The Combustible Dust Explosion and Fire Prevention Act would force the U.S. Occupational Safety and Health Administration to issue rules regulating combustible industrial dusts, like sugar dust, that can build up to hazardous levels and explode. While OSHA already has the authority to issue such a rule without Congress passing new legislation, the agency has failed to act despite the fact that the dangers of combustible dust have been well known for years. In 2006, following a series of fatal combustible dust explosions, the U.S. Chemical Safety Board conducted a major study of combustible dust hazards. It identified 281 combustible dust incidents between 1980 and 2005 that killed 119 workers, injured 718 others, and extensively damaged industrial facilities. Time and time again we have seen this administration fail to take necessary actions to protect workers, and without action by Congress, it appears OSHA has no plans to act on combustible dust regulation. As recently as February of this year, we saw the tragedy that can be caused by combustible dust explosions. The combustible dust explosion at the Imperial Sugar Company in Port Wentworth, Georgia, was a senseless tragedy that, like similar incidents, could have been prevented with OSHA regulation and oversight. The bill has three main components. First, it directs OSHA to issue interim rules on combustible dust within 90 days. Second, it directs OSHA to issue final rules within 18 months. The rules would be based on effective voluntary standards devised by the National Fire Protection Association, a nonprofit organization, and in addition to items required in the interim rules, would include requirements for building design and explosion protection. Lastly, it directs OSHA to revise the Hazard Communication Standard to include combustible dusts. Madam Chairman, I urge my colleague to join me in supporting this resolution to make sure OSHA takes necessary actions to protect workers.

Mr. GENE GREEN of Texas

Mr. GENE GREEN of Texas. Madam Speaker, I rise today to commend Dr. Charles Grant for his community service and his friendship for over 20 years. Dr. Grant has been an educator for 35 years and for 25 years has served at San Jacinto College North. His positions have included: instructor of Management Development, director of Continuing Education, dean of Continuing Education, and vice president of Instruction and for the last 10 years, he has served as president of San Jacinto College North. Dr. Grant is a graduate of the first class from North Shore High School, in Texas, and received his degree from San Jacinto College. Dr. Grant has been an active part of the North Channel Area chamber of Commerce for many years, where he was chairman of the board in 1997 and was selected board member of the year for 1995. Dr. Grant is a member of North Shore Rotary Club since 1987, serving as president for the 2002-03 year, named a Paul Harris fellow, and was awarded rotarian of the year for 2004-05. Dr. Grant is a charter sponsor of San Jacinto College North Rotaract Club for 25 years; Rotary District 5890 Rotaract chair for seven years; serving on the Rotary International Rotaract Committee for three years and as the Rotary International Rotaract chair for 2005-06. Dr. Grant has served as the college coordinator for CDS International's German-American Youth Exchange Program for 24 years and has hosted, along with his wife, Gail, a German exchange student. And so it is with great pleasure that I recognize Dr. Charles Grant, for his service to San Jacinto College North and I congratulate him on his continued commitment to community service.

Mr. GENE GREEN of Texas

Mr. GENE GREEN of Texas. Madam Speaker, I rise today to commemorate one of the most important events in Texas history. Monday, April 21, Texans celebrated San Jacinto Day. In the past I have missed this event because I had to be in Washington for votes, but this year I was able to be at home in Texas, and actually be at the battleground where Sam Houston and Santa Anna fought over one hundred and seventy years ago. On that day in 1836, approximately 900 Texan and Tejano volunteers overpowered a larger, professional Mexican army of conscript soldiers, after defeats at Goliad and the Alamo. These outnumbered volunteers succeeded because they were fighting against tyranny and they were fighting for their homeland. In the words of the Texas Declaration of Independence, the people's government had be ``forcibly changed, without their consent, from a restricted federative republic, composed of sovereign states, to a consolidated central military despotism.'' The Texas Revolution proved the bonds of freedom are stronger than ethnicity, as many Tejanos sacrificed their lives for Texas' freedom at the battles of Gonzalez, Bexar, Goliad, the Alamo, and San Jacinto. The war was not between Anglos and Hispanics, it was a struggle between all Texans and the military dictatorship in Mexico City. Texans and Tejanos knew then what we know now--freedom requires sacrifice. Our young people going to or coming back from fighting in Afghanistan or Iraq are very aware of this hard fact of life. Texas culture places high honors on heroes willing to sacrifice their lives for a better life for their fellow man, and Texans are known around the world as an honorable people who respond to the call of duty. While our young people are answering today's calls of duty, we should not forget those who have bravely answered the call in the past. In that spirit. I want to highlight the work by the San Jacinto Chapter of the Daughters of the Texas Republic, who made the preservation of the San Jacinto Battleground possible by petitioning the Legislature to purchase the acreage and by donating their treasury to complete the sale in 1900. The San Jacinto Chapter of Daughters and the Texans Veterans Association did tremendous work to ensure that the legacy lived on, and the importance of the park has only expanded since then. The park not only has the San Jacinto Monument to recognize the brave men that defeated the military dictator General Santa Anna, it is also home to the Battleship Texas, which is a symbol of Texans' sacrifices in World War I and World War II. Thankfully, through federal appropriations and state and local funding, the restoration and preservation of Battleship Texas is moving forward as part of a multi- year effort to collect the necessary funding for the restoration of this great historical site. The funding will help with the Battleship Texas Foundation's plans to restore the Battleship Texas and convert it into a museum. This is an important project not only to honor those in our past, but to educate future Texans who may have to answer future calls to service about our tradition of defending freedom. As part of our historical preservation efforts, we are also working on the Buffalo Bayou National Heritage Area, which will stretch from Buffalo Bayou in East End Houston to San Jacinto Battleground, including the Ship Channel and the Baytown Nature Center. The Heritage Area will help the history of the establishment of the Texas republic. The restoration of the Battleship Texas and the establishment of a Buffalo Bayou National Heritage Area will go a long way to ensure that new generations of Texans know their tradition of bravery. With an understanding of where they came from, future Texans will continue to respond to calls to service, and Texans will continue to be respected and admired around the world.

Mr. GENE GREEN of Texas

Mr. GENE GREEN of Texas. Mr. Chairman, I rise today in support of H.R. 2830, the Coast Guard Reauthorization Act of 2008. I would like to thank both the Chairman of the Transportation and Infrastructure Committee, Chairman Oberstar, and especially the Chairman of the Coast Guard and Maritime Transportation Subcommittee, Chairman Cummings, for their leadership in crafting this important piece of legislation. I have always been a strong supporter of the Coast Guard and providing it with the resources necessary to protect our Nation's coasts, ports and waterways, particularly the Port of Houston which I represent. H.R. 2830 is also important to me because it contains provisions relating to the security of vessels and facilities that transport or process Liquefied Natural Gas--or LNG--in the United States. Demand for clean-burning natural gas is building up across our economy, and energy proposals Congress has passed and is currently considering will only accelerate this demand. I believe all of us here agree on the need to ensure the safety of LNG shipments to the U.S., but Congress should do so in a responsible way that does not unnecessarily impede future shipments of this clean-burning fuel. Chairman Cummings understood these concerns and included new language that would maximize the resources available to the Coast Guard for enforcing LNG security zones; maintain the multi-mission function of the Coast Guard; and mitigate bureaucratic hurdles in the LNG security process. While not perfect, these changes are an improvement from the original bill and reflect a more workable approach than first proposed. I want to again thank my good friends Chairman Cummings and Chairman Oberstar for working with me and other Members to consider America's need for both energy security and homeland security when crafting this legislation. I urge my colleagues to support H.R. 2830.