Darlene Hooley

Ms. HOOLEY

Ms. HOOLEY. They go on almost daily. I just want to mention another county. Tillamook County, which is a small coastal community. It is county that has struggled. And they struggle with high-paying jobs. They have had a terrible year with floods and wind storms. About everything bad that can happen to a county has happened to Tillamook County especially in this year. But they are having to layoff anywhere from 25 to 60 employees, they do not know yet. But literally they will reduce their county road fund by half. Again, it is a county that has struggled with floods. They have had a lot of repairs. I tried to get into Tillamook County to go look at the damage from floods. I found out, well, actually I couldn't get in from the north, I couldn't get in from the east, you had to go clear around and come in going south to north to actually get to Tillamook County. So many of their roads were just wiped out, and yet they are going to lose a good percentage of their county road fund.

Ms. HOOLEY. I thank my colleague for yielding. I just want to talk a little bit about the commitment the Federal Government made. We made this commitment, as one of my colleagues said, almost 100 years ago, that we were going to help those counties that had a lot of timber. I used to be a county commissioner. Over 50 percent of the Clackamas County was in Federal forest land, which means we didn't get revenue from it. When we first started this program, when we cut the timber, then we got revenue sharing. It was in lieu of taxes because this was land we couldn't tax, couldn't develop, couldn't tax. Then when the forest land came along, obviously those numbers were cut. The rural counties had a double whammy. They lost good-paying jobs and they lost that revenue sharing. Almost 7 years ago, when we reauthorized this program to say we are going to help our rural communities, they are really important. I mean, rural communities, I think, are what keeps us the kind of country we are. I mean, that is where so many of our values were started. We said we were going to help them, and we were going to help with roads, and they have just the number of miles a rural county has, we are going to help with roads. We would help with those rural schools so that all of our children had a chance to go to school and have a good education. We said we would help with law enforcement, so we were trying to help those counties make sure they could keep going. I want to tell you every county in my district is very frugal. I do not see programs that are wasteful. They spend every dollar they have as well as they can spend it. If this, if we do not get the money for this program, let me talk a little bit about what is going to happen to some of my counties. One of my counties is Polk County. It is a small rural farming community. It is not as big as one of the counties you were talking about. It only has 740 square miles. The county will essentially go down to five deputies from 18 now; six of those are paid by the Grand Ronde Tribe, and they can only patrol a small portion, but they will lose at least seven deputies. They have started a wonderful program to go after meth and drugs. They have been very successful. That program is going to be gone. The county jail is going to lose two positions, and let me tell you something, they are already at the State minimum on county positions. I don't know what they are going to do when they lose two more. I don't know how they operate. They have a small district attorney's office. They are going to lose a secretary, and they are going to lose a DA, but this is just typical of what is happening in every county. Now, I know you put up this chart, and I want to put it up one more time, because I think it is really important; and this is a chart that is what has happened to Federal timber receipts. All you have to do is look since 1994, you can see in 1990, it was the highest, or 1988, and then it has gone down and down and down. So the counties are no longer getting money from the timber receipts. The only way we can keep these counties going is through this program that allows us to make sure that we can continue our rural communities and that we can continue our schools, that we can continue law enforcement. You talked a little bit about search and rescue. A couple of my counties have had huge cases this year where, and, again, you talked about loss of life with the climbers on Mount Hood, we talked about the Kim family. Search and rescue, when you have a county that has a lot of wilderness, you get people that are lost. We all feel badly when someone is lost, and none of us will hesitate to go look for that person, but it means it takes resources, it takes money to make that happen. So the loss of money for these rural counties is just devastating to them. We made a promise, and I don't know about you guys, but I grew up in a family that said, if you make a promise, you keep that promise. We need to keep our promises to our counties.

Ms. HOOLEY

Ms. HOOLEY. Mr. Speaker, and Mr. Chairman, thank you so much for all of your leadership on this issue. I applaud you. In my three decades of public service, I don't think I have ever seen a problem as pervasive or as damaging as the methamphetamine epidemic that is sweeping our country. Meth is a serious threat to public health and safety, not only because of the highly addictive nature of the drug and what it does to the user, but also the ease of production and the danger of toxic chemicals used to manufacture it. These toxic chemicals cause significant property damage from residue contamination in the floors and the walls of the house, to fires, even deadly explosions. Chemicals used to make meth are highly flammable and toxic. It is estimated, for every pound of meth produced, we have 6 to 7 pounds of toxic waste. And meth addicts don't care where the toxic chemicals end up, often dumping the waste down the drain or onto the ground, leaving it to contaminate the community's water supply and their soil. In conversations with local health officials in my district, they have stressed to me the harmful health effects that living not only in the former meth houses but even next door to one can have on people, particularly children and the elderly. Because the meth epidemic began in the west coast before moving east, Oregon has long been a leader in the fight against meth and the destruction it brings to our communities. We have been a leader in developing standards for the cleanup of meth labs, setting standards for decontamination and certifying that a property has been cleaned by a State-licensed contractor before it is sold or rented. Oregon's standards have been seen as the highest in the Nation. I would encourage the EPA to look at Oregon as they develop national standards. But we need a consistent Federal standard that is based on research and best practices. When the cost to clean up a small, single family home can easily reach $15,000, we need to make sure that we are spending our money wisely by using the best possible remediation methods. This bill will help us do this. I urge my colleagues to support H.R. 365.

Ms. HOOLEY

Ms. HOOLEY. Madam Speaker, I rise today to urge my colleagues to support the EDUCATE Act that Congressman Van Hollen introduced today on behalf of myself and Congressman Mike Ferguson. I believe that this bill is one of the most important pieces of legislation that will be introduced in this chamber this year because it speaks to the Federal Government keeping a promise to children. When Congress passed the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act of 1975, we made a commitment to our country's special education students. By providing only half of the promised funding in recent years, the Federal Government has passed on another unfunded mandate to States and local school districts and failed to honor our promise that students with special education needs deserve the best education possible. Despite the fact that current law requires the Federal Government to match State IDEA costs at 40 percent, the President's budget in recent years has included funding for less than half of the Federal Government's IDEA obligation. Budgeting shortfalls at the federal level and the rising cost of special education have forced local school districts to assume a larger percentage of the funding burden. As a result, they have had to seek out alternative funding sources such as higher taxes or diverting monies from other educational initiatives in order to comply with IDEA requirements. Now I know that many of my colleagues have been angered with the funding that IDEA has received in the past few years, and a few of them have introduced their own legislation to correct this funding shortfall. But I believe that the EDUCATE Act is the most fiscally responsible funding solution that has been offered. In the current fiscal climate and with the PAYGO requirements that have been put in place, this legislation offers the most responsible means of achieving our goals. It will do no good if we succeed in providing these children with a quality education and then leave them a country in financial ruin. I am proud to have been involved in the crafting of this legislation and I hope that my colleagues will support it.

Ms. HOOLEY

Ms. HOOLEY. Madam Speaker, I am here today in this hallowed hall with a heavy heart and troubled spirit. Here, but a few hours ago, we assembled in keeping with an annual ritual that proclaimed our Union to be strong, our nation to be sound. Sadly, I must contest that notion. We are not as strong as we could be, as we should be, we are not what we would be without Private First Class Ryan Hill. For this past week, Private Hill was killed in Baghdad, Iraq. As a member of the 1st Infantry Division, he and his unit were performing duties in keeping with our efforts to foster peace and stability. America lost someone special when we lost Ryan. He represented the better angels of our nature, he was the kind of young American we need more, not less. Immediately following high school, Private First Class Hill joined the military to fight for his country, his community--to fight for his family and friends. Far too often we find ourselves standing here, recognizing the loss of heroes. Private Hill died while on patrol. Using an improvised explosive device--a weapon without honor, without conscience--our enemies stole from us the America that would have been. Right now, the community of Keizer, Oregon is seeking comfort in the life and noble sacrifice of Ryan Hill. This we must do; he answered the call of service voluntarily and fulfilled his duty without hesitation, without complaint. Private First Class Hill was a model soldier, he was the kind of young man that made everyone around him better. In correspondence home, he recognized the dangers--he knew well the price of freedom--and yet he soldiered on despite his situation. His enthusiasm and compassion made Ryan a beacon of hope for his comrades in arms in the shadow of the loss of several friends just a short time ago. That shadow is now a little denser, a little darker--it reaches farther than before. And this shadow makes the future, our future, less than what it would have been. I am here today asking us all to consider well the choices before us. We have an opportunity to ensure the life and death of Private Ryan Hill are not forgotten, that his sacrifice endures within our memory. Let us recommit ourselves to making this Nation a place worthy of the gift Ryan Hill has given us; let us commit ourselves anew.

Ms. HOOLEY

Ms. HOOLEY. Thank you, Mr. Miller, for yielding time. Americans have always seen access to higher education as one way to help them live out the American dream. Starting with the Greatest Generation and the GI Bill, our Nation's citizens have been able to pursue an education beyond high school because of Federal assistance. Today's job market is increasingly knowledge driven, and people are deciding they need skills beyond what is taught in high school. Whether it is 2 years, 4 years, public, private or community based, students are realizing there are economic benefits to expanding their skill set beyond a high school education. An educated workforce will also stem the flight of jobs overseas. When I meet with the college students in my district, one of their biggest worries is, how am I going to pay off my student loans. I was talking to one young woman who had a great job. She said, I have to find a new job. She said, there is no way I can keep this job and still pay off my student loans. As college tuition continues to skyrocket, more and more students are turning to loans to help meet the costs. In my State, the average debt for students coming out of a 4-year school is $15,000. This legislation will save those students, on average, $4,400 over the life of the loan. I applaud Chairman Miller and his committee for the work they have done on behalf of American students and recent college graduates. They have done the work necessary to prevent higher education from again becoming a luxury of just the wealthy.

Ms. HOOLEY

Ms. HOOLEY. Mr. Speaker, last year I held over a dozen town hall meetings throughout Oregon about the new Medicare prescription drug program. And what I heard is it is overly complex and too expensive. But it doesn't need to be. Lifting the ban that prevents the Department of Health and Human Services from negotiating lower drug prices on behalf of Medicare beneficiaries is one simple fix that would make medicine a whole lot more reasonable for seniors and taxpayers. Almost every store in the Nation will offer you savings if you buy in bulk; but the Medicare program, one of the largest purchasers of prescription drugs in the Nation, is currently prevented from negotiating a bulk discount. What is the cost of this inefficiency? Zocor helps lower cholesterol and is one of the most common drugs prescribed to seniors. At the VA where they can negotiate, you can get a year's supply for $130. Under Medicare, it will cost $1,200, a 900 percent price difference. No reasonable person would pay $23 for a gallon of milk when you can buy it at Safeway for $2.65. The State of Oregon has bulk purchasing power to negotiate for lower prescription drug prices from pharmaceutical companies for thousands of low-income and uninsured Oregonians. We know the practice works, allowing more people to be covered, enhancing lives and using taxpayer dollars wisely. In the last Congress, I started a petition that would force the House leadership to consider giving Medicare the ability to negotiate for lower prices because we knew if we could get the issue on the floor, it would pass. Well, we have a new Congress, a new majority. We will finally overturn that ban on negotiations and defeat the forces that have prevented fiscal responsibility. I ask my colleagues to join me in supporting H.R. 4, commonsense cost-saving legislation.

Ms. HOOLEY

Ms. HOOLEY. Mr. Speaker, I rise today to support H.R. 1, Implementing the 9/11 Commission Recommendations Act of 2007. With this legislation we finally have a real opportunity to address the unfulfilled recommendations of the bipartisan 9/11 Commission on improving homeland security, preventing terrorists from acquiring WMD, and developing strategies for preventing the spread of Islamic terrorism. While I support H.R. 1, there is one area of concern that I believe we could do more to improve and that involves security improvements to our ports and incoming containers. Certainly, screening containers is important but it isn't enough. We have to start with the basics. The idea of screening 100 percent of all cargo containers is a formidable task that is expensive and extremely time consuming. I believe we should strive to meet these goals, however, this could take many years and cost billions of dollars before we achieve that objective. In the meantime, there are many inexpensive basic steps that we can take to make our ports and containers more secure. Tampering of containers in route to the United States is a genuine threat. Today, containers are only protected by a simple bolt seal. All it takes to defeat our current container security is bolt cutter. Fortunately better technology is available. For over 3 years, the Department of Homeland Security and Customs and Border Patrol have been developing a Container Security Device or a CSD. The job of a CSD is simple. It attaches to the inside of a cargo container, protected from the elements and anybody who might want to remove or disable it. It monitors and records door openings--authorized and unauthorized. The CSD can then report those breaches to port or customs authorities. It sounds simple and it is simple. These devices are currently being used by the private sector--companies like Starbucks--to safeguard their shipments worldwide. But unbelievably, despite extensive evaluation by DHS, CBP and commercial entities, it still has not been deployed in even a pilot program in the supply chain. Today, we don't know where a container has been, whether someone has opened the doors or who actually stuffed it. CSD technology that is available today can provide critical security information. It is also important to note that the CSD program is available at little cost to the Federal Government and to shippers. At less than $20 per shipment, we have a chance to make a real difference in port security. The administration should move to deploy CSD technology and do it at soon as possible.

Ms. HOOLEY

Ms. HOOLEY. Mr. Speaker, I am honored to recognize Mr. William Benedetto, who was recently the first Oregonian to be awarded the 2006 U.S. Maritime Literature Award for his book Sailing Into the Abyss. Mr. Benedetto's service to this country began when he enlisted in the U.S. Coast Guard after finishing high school in Maine in 1946. During his time with the Coast Guard, Mr. Benedetto served on every coast in the areas of search and rescue, port security and with the U.S. Merchant Marine. He was commended by the Coast Guard for performing rescue operations when Hurricane Betsy hit New Orleans in 1965. Mr. Benedetto retired from the Coast Guard in 1974 after moving to Oregon and beginning his college career. He graduated from Portland State University in 1977 and from the University of Oregon Law School in 1980. After practicing law for 20 years, Mr. Benedetto retired and completed his longtime goal of writing a book. Sailing Into the Abyss was published in 2005 and was awarded the 2006 U.S. Maritime Literature Award in June of this year. I believe I speak for the great State of Oregon when I say we are proud to call Mr. Benedetto a writer, a serviceman, and an honorable citizen of our State and country. Congratulations Mr. Benedetto.

Ms. HOOLEY

Ms. HOOLEY. Mr. Speaker, I want to take this opportunity to publicly thank Chairman Boehlert for the kind of job he does every single day on committee, which is working across the aisle and trying to make this world a better place for people, a little safer, and to really look at the future. He cares very much about the future. And I thank the gentleman from Oregon for all of his work on this legislation and for yielding me this time. Mr. Speaker, I join my colleagues not only from the west coast but across the country in support of this legislation. I know that the impetus for this bill was the horrible destruction and loss of life that occurred in Southeast Asia in December of 2004. But one only has to look at last month's news and the tsunami warnings issued along the west coast after an earthquake in Japan to understand that the threat is very real and very important. In the last 2 years, I have made a lot of trips to the Oregon coast, and talked with many constituents about the possibility of a tsunami of similar size and destructive force striking somewhere along Oregon, Washington or the northern California coast. I have spoken with State geologists, tsunami researchers at many universities, and emergency management planners, and they all agree it is not a question of if but when the next big tsunami will strike the west coast. While this legislation or any legislation will not guarantee total protection, I do think that the funding in this bill for education and mitigation programs will go a long way towards making our Nation's citizens more aware of the dangers posed by tsunamis and more prepared to act and ultimately safer. This is truly a bill that will save lives. I am also pleased there is money included in the legislation that will improve international coordination for detection and warnings, particularly in vulnerable regions like the Indian Ocean. It is in the best interest of the United States to assist in detection and monitoring of seismic events and tsunamis around the world because a large tsunami generated in Japan has a potential to do major damage to many places along the western coastline. It is for these reasons that I am proud to be a cosponsor of this legislation and urge my colleagues in the House and the other Chamber to quickly pass this legislation and to begin to provide support for our communities and our citizens.

Ms. HOOLEY

Ms. HOOLEY. Mr. Speaker, I thank the gentleman from Minnesota for yielding me time. Mr. Speaker, when you think of Oregon, the first thing you think of is trees. Therefore, it should be no surprise that my home State, Oregon, is the largest producer of Christmas trees in the Nation. I am proud to say the overwhelming majority are grown in my district. We have hundreds and hundreds of Christmas tree growers. In the coming weeks it is estimated that Oregon growers will be harvesting 7.8 million Christmas trees, roughly one quarter of the total nationwide. Not only will these trees make their way to homes in America but also homes in Canada, Mexico, Japan, Panama, Costa Rica, Philippines, Taiwan, Guam, as well as many other international destinations. I want to thank the gentlewoman from North Carolina for bringing this bill to the House floor today. With the holiday season just around the corner, there could not be a more appropriate time for the House of Representatives to recognize the joy the Christmas tree industry brings to homes across our country this time of year. There is no better activity than going with a family to pick out that Christmas tree. Please support H.J. Resolution 96.

Ms. HOOLEY

Ms. HOOLEY. Mr. Speaker, in the 5 years since this Administration declared a ``War on Terror'', hundreds of insurgents have been detained in Afghanistan and Iraq and are currently being held at Guantanamo Bay by American military forces. It was my hope that this legislation would establish clear guidelines for the treatment of these detainees as opposed to the undefined, and often conflicting, rules that the Administration has been acting under. Instead, this legislation threatens both the safety of our troops and undermines our values. Rather than clearly banning abuse and clearly recognizing these detainees as POWs under the Geneva Conventions, this legislation reinterprets the Geneva Conventions' guidelines and leaves American soldiers serving in Iraq, Afghanistan, and elsewhere outside the scope of protection offered by the Geneva Conventions. We have made the decision to send these soldiers into harm's way and we cannot in good conscience vote for legislation that exposes them to the risk of abuse.

Ms. HOOLEY

Ms. HOOLEY. Mr. Speaker, earlier today I was unavoidably detained and as a result missed rollcall 478, a privileged motion offered by the minority leader. Had I been present, I would have voted ``aye'' on the motion.

Ms. HOOLEY

Ms. HOOLEY. Mr. Speaker, I rise today to honor a fallen hero. Sergeant Nathaniel ``Brad'' Lindsey was a family man, a fellow Oregonian, and a proud American. He understood the actions that needed to be taken so that his countrymen could continue to enjoy the blessings of freedom. Last Saturday, Brad made his final sacrifice on behalf of a grateful nation while on patrol in the Zabul province of Afghanistan. Three days ago Americans gathered to mark the passing of another September 11th and to honor those who perished on that horrible day and in the five years since. Since that day we have been a nation at war. Since that day we have fought that war by asking men and women like Brad Lindsey to travel to points across the globe to defend our ideals, to protect our communities. And it is to their credit that these men and women have never shied away from this request. Brad had always dreamed of joining the military. He spent four years in the Navy before joining the Oregon National Guard in 1996. Always one to volunteer for a mission, he was dedicated to his country's needs, whatever they were. During his time in the National Guard, he spent time in Saudi Arabia, Iraq, and New Orleans before heading to Afghanistan this past June. It was in New Orleans that our paths crossed. I was there to see first hand the devastation caused by Hurricane Katrina and to talk with the Oregon National Guardsmen and women who were stationed there. Brad served as my driver during my time in Louisiana. It was obvious that his devotion to his country was only exceeded by his devotion and love for his family; his wife Joyce and his four children. I am sure that it was a source of continual pride that his oldest son had chosen to follow in his footsteps and joined the Oregon National Guard. We in this chamber have an obligation to see that Brad's children inherit a land worthy of their father's sacrifice. We must find the resolve necessary to do that which must be done, as Brad did so many times. I join all Oregonians, and all Americans, in expressing my deepest condolences to the family of Brad Lindsey for their loss. Our state, and our nation, is greater because of Brad's presence and we are lessened by his passing.

Ms. HOOLEY

Ms. HOOLEY. Mr. Speaker, I rise today to honor a great man, Monroe Sweetland. A political renaissance man who positively affected the lives of generations of Oregon students through his commitment to higher education. A native of Salem, Oregon, Mr. Sweetland was a walking history book of Oregon and national politics. A former Oregon legislator, newspaper publisher, and education advocate, he counted among his friends many illustrious members of the national Democratic Party, including Eleanor Roosevelt, Harry Truman, John F. Kennedy, and Hubert Humphrey. Despite the accolades and attention, Mr. Sweetland always considered the work that he did in the field of education to be his most important. Through his efforts Portland State University was transformed from a struggling city college into a full-fledged urban university, thereby giving countless students the opportunity to study at a first-class institution. In the mid 1960s Mr. Sweetland's career shifted beyond Oregon and he became the National Education Association's political director for 13 western States. It was in this capacity that he initiated what became the Bilingual Education Act of 1968, which provided Federal money to encourage school districts to try approaches such as teaching English as a second language. His work at the NEA merely exemplified the compassion that he felt for all people, regardless of skin color. He was a vocal critic of the internment of Japanese Americans during World War II and is credited with helping build support for a civil rights bill passed by the Oregon Legislature in 1953, after 17 civil rights bills had been unsuccessful. I know that I am joined by my fellow Oregonians, and many others across the country, when I express my deepest condolences to Monroe Sweetland's family for their loss. Oregon has lost one of its greatest citizens, a person whose influence will continue to be felt for years to come, and we, as a State, are greater for his presence and lesser for his passing.

Ms. HOOLEY

Ms. HOOLEY. Mr. Speaker, I rise today to recognize a great Oregonian and a proud American, H. Merle Jackson. Mr. Jackson, a native son of Oregon, served his country for 32 years. During his nine years on active duty in the United States Air Force, two years on active duty in the United States Navy and 21 years as a member of the United States Army Reserve, he served all over the world, including the Korean War and multiple tours in Vietnam, finishing his service to our Nation as a Master Sergeant. After his retirement, Mr. Jackson continued his commitment to our Nation by taking up the cause of our retired fighting men and women through his work with the Veterans of Foreign Wars (VFW). He has served as a post and district commander, state chairman and from 1998-99 he was the Department Commander for the State of Oregon. Today, Mr. Jackson continues his lifelong dedication to those who have sacrificed so much for our Nation, as he enters his fourth year on the National Legislative Committee to the Veterans of Foreign Wars and his first year as Vice Chairman of this prestigious committee. He is the first Oregonian to serve in this capacity, and I ask my colleagues to join me in recognizing his dedication and determination to ensuring that we meet our responsibilities to our Nation's veterans.

Ms. HOOLEY

Ms. HOOLEY. Mr. Speaker, distinguished colleagues, I ask for your attention so we can honor a fallen hero. Sergeant First Class Richard J. Henkes was a proud American, a fellow Oregonian--he was a warrior who stood on the edge of the world so that each of us could enjoy the blessings of liberty. I ask for this moment because just last week, Richard gave his last full measure of devotion while on patrol in Mosul, Iraq. Though the war continues on, we must remember the individual sacrifice of the men and women fulfilling their charge. We cannot allow ourselves to forget the faces or the families of the brave soldiers, sailors, airmen, and marines that serve on the brink of chaos so that others might live free. Sergeant Henkes was courageous; he selflessly went where others feared to tread. I believe that Oregon, that America, that our world is less, far less, for his passing. We can ill afford to lose patriots of his character and passion. Yesterday we gathered with friends and loved ones to mark the passing of another September 11th. It has been five years since the terror attacks of 2001. Since that day we have been a nation at war; since that moment we have fought that war by sending our best and brightest across the globe to defend our ideals, to protect our communities. And since that time we have been in debt to citizens like Richard Henkes. Richard wanted a life in uniform so that he could make a difference; he viewed service to his country as a calling and wanted to keep his nation, state, and community safe from harm. Sergeant Henkes understood what many forget: freedom demands sacrifice. We are indebted to his willingness to take upon himself the burden of service; we are forever connected to Richard because of his devotion to our lives. Sergeant Henkes remained in the Army because he wanted something better for his daughter Isabel. Like most of us, Richard hoped that his child could inherit a healthier place, a safer community. Sadly, Sergeant Henkes will not be able to secure that future for Isabel, but we can. She is now a part of our family; Isabel is now our shared responsibility. We in this chamber have an obligation, a duty, to ensure that Isabel inherits a land worthy of her father's sacrifice. We here today, must bear personal responsibility for doing our part--for Richard has already done his. Although I never had the opportunity to meet Richard, I know him through his actions, his hopes, and his values. When his nation called, Richard answered. When his daughter needed, Richard delivered. And when duty demanded the ultimate sacrifice, Richard fulfilled his charge without hesitation, reservation, or doubt. Today let us come together and express our profound sorrow at the loss of our Richard Henkes. Let us join in one voice and tell the Henkes family that we thank them for the life and service of their Richard. Let us prove to them by our actions in the future, that his sacrifice was not in vain. And let us endeavor to keep Richard and all those he served with in our thoughts and prayers as we decide the course of our nation.

Ms. HOOLEY

Ms. HOOLEY. Mr. Speaker, I reserve the balance of my time.

Ms. HOOLEY. Mr. Speaker, I have no further requests for time, and I reserve the balance of my time.

Ms. HOOLEY. Mr. Speaker, I reserve the balance of my time.

Ms. HOOLEY. Mr. Speaker, I yield myself as much time as I may consume. Mr. Speaker, I rise in support of H.R. 4411, the Internet Gambling Prohibition Act. I would like to thank Mr. Leach and Mr. Goodlatte for their hard work on bringing this bill to the House floor. It certainly has not been an easy task. I would like to thank Mr. Frank, our ranking member on the Financial Services Committee, for the opportunity to manage this debate. Even though he and I do not see eye to eye on this legislation, I appreciate and respect the fact that we have agreed to disagree, and I welcome a healthy debate on enforcement of the illegal Internet gambling laws. Internet gambling is a growing problem in the United States, particularly among young people and college students. It is known to destroy families, marriages and entire lives. As so aptly put by University of Illinois Professor John Kindt, ``You just click the mouse and lose your house.'' This legislation makes clear that we are serious about enforcing our Internet gambling laws that are already on the books. It takes a very important step forward, and we have worked very hard on the Financial Services Committee over the last few Congresses to advance this measure. This bill cuts off the flow of money to Internet gambling Web sites by regulating payment systems. The Department of Treasury and the Federal Reserve will jointly develop policies and procedures for identifying and preventing financial transactions related to illegal Internet gambling. Payment systems will be required to comply with these regulations. Even when criminal law cannot be enforced, the Federal Government's jurisdiction over financial systems can nevertheless cut off the money sources for these illegal businesses. I believe we should mean what we say when it comes to Internet gambling. If we are to keep laws on the books that prohibit Internet gambling, then we should take steps to enforce it. And by cutting off the flow of money, we can accomplish just that. As was previously noted, this bill is supported by 48 of the 50 State attorneys general, by the NCAA, the NBA, the NFL, the MLB and the NHL. It is a good bill and a commonsense approach to a growing problem. I urge my colleagues to end the flow of money to illegal Internet gambling Web sites, and I urge passage of this bill. Mr. Speaker, I reserve the balance of my time.

Ms. HOOLEY. Mr. Speaker, I yield 4 minutes to the gentleman from Massachusetts (Mr. Frank), the ranking member on the Financial Services Committee.

Ms. HOOLEY. Mr. Speaker, I yield 2 minutes to the gentleman from Texas (Mr. Paul). (Mr. PAUL asked and was given permission to revise and extend his remarks.)

Ms. HOOLEY. Mr. Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may consume. I just have to clarify a few things that have been said. First of all, this bill is about enforcing the law that is already on the books. This is not about prohibiting gambling. States can regulate their own gambling. They can regulate Internet gambling. This is about enforcing the laws. We had a hearing in Financial Services where the FBI Director was in front of us and he said this is a significant vehicle for money laundering. GAO reports that Internet gambling can be a significant vehicle for money laundering proceeds because they can move large quantities of money around rapidly to obscure criminal origins. Internet gambling generates over $10 billion in revenues. Nearly 80 percent of those revenues are impossible to account for because illegal gambling sites are located in jurisdictions with no regulation on gambling. This allows States the prerogative to decide what kind of gambling should be permitted or forbidden within the State borders. Some States say you cannot gamble; other States say you can. The attorneys general of 48 States have said they are in support of this legislation. It will make online gambling impossible for minors. Minors cannot go into brick and mortar facilities right now. It should, in fact, make it inaccessible for minors. It recognizes the jurisdictional impediments for prosecuting offshore gambling businesses. Financial systems will be required to block money flow to these businesses, cutting off the oxygen for these illegal transactions. Mr. Speaker, I reserve the balance of my time.

Ms. HOOLEY. Mr. Speaker, I yield myself the balance of my time to close. First of all, in my opening statement there was a person I forgot to thank who has carried this banner in Financial Services for a long time, Mr. Bachus from Alabama. I thank you for all the hard work you have done on this. In closing, Mr. Speaker, I would like to share some interesting facts from an article written for the New York Times by Matt Schwartz. Researchers say that Internet gambling is addictive. Players say it is addictive. In fact, the action, the act of placing a bet, and the high that follows has been identified by neurologists as a similar high to doing a line of cocaine. Blood rushes to the face, the hands moisten, and the mouth dries up. Internet gambling has also dramatically changed the face of addiction. An estimated 1.6 million of the 17 million U.S. college students gambled online last year, mostly on poker. According to a study by the Annenberg Public Policy Center, the number of college males who reported gambling online once or more a week quadrupled in the last year alone. This is a growing addiction. The stereotypical compulsive gambler is now much more likely to be a teenager or a college student. Before the rise of online gambling, the typical compulsive gambler was in his thirties or forties and took a decade to run the destructive course. Now online gamblers are running the same course in 18 months or less. These facts are disturbing and highlight the need for action by this Congress. Again, this bill is a commonsense approach that cuts off the flow of money to Internet gambling Web sites by regulating the payment systems. And, again, we have to remember these laws are already on the books. What we are trying to do is enforce the laws. The Department of the Treasury and the Federal Reserve will jointly develop policies and procedures for identifying and preventing financial transactions related to illegal Internet gambling. Payment systems will be required to comply with these regulations. Again, States are allowed to regulate gambling within their own States. I urge my colleagues to end the flow of money to illegal Internet gambling Web sites, and I urge the passage of H.R. 4411. [From the New York Times, June 11, 2006] Chapter 2: The Gambler; The Hold-'Em Holdup (By Mattathias Schwartz) Greg Hogan Jr. was on tilt. For months now, Hogan, a 19- year-old Lehigh University sophomore, had been on tilt, and he would remain on tilt for weeks to come. Alone at the computer, usually near the end of one of his long online gambling sessions, the thought ``I'm on tilt'' would occur to him. Dude, he'd tell himself, you gotta stop. These thoughts sounded the way a distant fire alarm sounds in the middle of a warm bath. He would ignore them and go back to playing poker. ``The side of me that said, `Just one more hand,' was the side that always won,'' he told me months later. ``I couldn't get away from it, not until all my money was gone.'' In a little more than a year, he had lost $7,500 playing poker online. ``Tilt'' is the poker term for a spell of insanity that often follows a run of bad luck. The tilter goes berserk, blindly betting away whatever capital he has left in an attempt to recoup his losses. Severe tilt can spill over past the poker table, resulting in reputations, careers and marriages being tossed away like so many chips. This is the kind of tilt Hogan had, tilt so indiscriminate that one Friday afternoon this past December, while on his way to see ``The Chronicles of Narnia'' with two of his closest friends, he cast aside the Greg Hogan everyone knew--class president, chaplain's assistant, son of a Baptist minister--and became Greg Hogan, the bank robber. On Dec. 9, 2005, Hogan went to see ``Narnia'' with Kip Wallen, Lehigh's student-senate president, and Matt Montgomery, Hogan's best friend, in Wallen's black Ford Explorer. Hogan, who was sitting in front, asked Wallen to find a bank so he could cash a check, and Wallen pulled over at a small, oatmeal-colored Wachovia. Inside, Hogan paused at the counter for a moment and then joined the line. He handed the teller a note that said he had a gun, which was a bluff. ``Are you kidding?'' her face seemed to say. He did his best to look as if he weren't. With agonizing slowness, she began assembling the money. Moments later, a thin sheaf of bills appeared in the tray: $2,871. Hogan stuffed it into his backpack, turned around and walked back out to the car. The movie ended, and the trio returned to campus. Hogan went immediately to Sigma Phi Epsilon, his fraternity, and used some of the stolen money to pay back brothers who had lent him hundreds of dollars. He then joined a few friends at an off-campus pizzeria for dinner. Someone's cellphone rang, with the news that police had stormed the Sig Ep house. No one knew why. Hogan stayed silent. After dinner, his friends dropped him off at orchestra practice. Allentown police officers were waiting for him. They handcuffed him and took him to headquarters, where he confessed almost immediately. Hogan's first call was to his parents back home in Ohio. They had just finished eating dinner at T.G.I. Friday's. ``He was at the end of himself,'' Greg Hogan Sr. told me. ``He couldn't believe he had done it. Not that he was denying anything, but he felt like he was watching another person's life.'' To wired college students today, Internet gambling is as familiar as beer, late-night pizza and the Saturday night hook-up. Poker--particularly Texas hold 'em--is the game of choice. Freshmen arrive already schooled by ESPN in the legend of Chris Moneymaker, the dough-faced 27-year-old accountant who deposited $40 into his PokerStars.com account and parlayed it into a $2.5 million win at the World Series of Poker in Las Vegas. Throughout the dorms and computer labs and the back rows of 100-level lecture halls you can hear the crisp wsshhp, wsshhp, wsshhp of electronic hands being dealt as more than $2 billion in untaxed revenue is sucked into overseas accounts each year. Researchers say that Internet poker is addictive. Players say that it's addictive. The federal government says that it's illegal. But colleges have done little to stop its spread on campus. Administrators who would never consider letting Budweiser install taps in dorm rooms have made high- speed Internet access a standard amenity, putting every student with a credit card minutes away from 24-hour high- stakes gambling. Online casinos advertise heavily on sites directed at college students like CollegeHumor.com, where students post pictures of themselves playing online poker during lectures with captions like: ``Gambling while in class. Who doesn't think that wireless Internet is the greatest invention ever?'' Some schools have allowed sites to establish a physical on-campus presence by sponsoring live cash tournaments; the sites partner with fraternities and sports teams, even give away a semester's tuition, all as inducements to convert the casual dorm-lounge poker player to a steady online customer. An unregulated network of offshore businesses has been given unfettered access to students, and the students have been given every possible accommodation to bet and lose to their hearts' content. Never before have the means to lose so much been so available to so many at such a young age. An estimated 1.6 million of 17 million U.S. college students gambled online last year, mostly on poker. According to a study by the Annenberg Public Policy Center, the number of college males who reported gambling online once a week or more quadrupled in the last year alone. ``The kids really think they can log on and become the next world champion,'' says Jeffrey Derevensky, who studies youth problem gambling at McGill University in Montreal. ``This is an enormous social experiment. We don't really know what's going to happen.'' Greg Hogan is far from the only college student to see the game's role in his life grow from a hobby to a destructive obsession. Researchers from the University of Connecticut Health Center interviewed a random sample of 880 college students and found that 1 out of every 4 of the 160 or so online gamblers in the study fit the clinical definition of a pathological gambler, suggesting that college online-poker addicts may number in the hundreds of thousands. Many, like Lauren Patrizi, a 21-year-old senior at Loyola University in Chicago, have had weeks when they're playing poker during most of their waking hours. Rarely leaving their rooms, they take their laptops with them to bed, fall asleep each night in the middle of a hand and think, talk and dream nothing but poker. By the time Patrizi finally quit, the game seemed to be both the cause of all her problems and her only means of escaping them. ``I kept on playing so I wouldn't have to look at what poker had done to my bank account, my relationships, my life,'' she told me. Other addicts, like Alex Alkula, a 19-year-old living outside Columbus, Ohio, decide to ``go pro,'' drop out of school and wind up broke and sleeping on their friends' couches. Alkula, who left the Art Institute of Pittsburgh after five months, now makes his living dealing hold 'em in private home games and organizing tournaments in bars. Having overdrawn four bank accounts, Alkula can no longer play online himself. But when he gets home from work at 3 or 4 in the morning, he turns on his computer, clicks on Full Tilt Poker and watches the players' cards flicker on the screen until dawn. ``I can't get away from it,'' he told me. ``And really, I don't want to. I'll keep playing poker even if it means being broke for the rest of my life. I've fallen in love with the game.'' In its outline, Hogan's story closely resembles that of the stereotypical compulsive gambler. Before the rise of online poker, however, such a story typically involved a man in his 30's or 40's and took a decade or more to run its course. Greg Hogan, on the other hand, went from class president to bank robber in 16 months. His fall took place not at the blackjack table or the track but within the familiar privacy of his computer screen, where he was seldom more than a minute away from his next hand of poker. He'd been brought up too well to waste himself in some smoky gambling den and knew too much to play a mere game of chance. He wanted to compete against his peers, to see his superior abilities yield dollars for the first time, a transaction he equated with adulthood. His stubborn faith in his own ability--a trait that had served him so well through his first 19 years-- proved to be his undoing. Today's ruined gamblers are often too young to know any better--too young, in fact, to legally gamble in most U.S. casinos. Until now, these young addicts were ignored by the news media, which swooned over the top of the poker pyramid, the Chris Moneymakers and the ESPN heroes, the guys in the wraparound sunglasses and the cowboy hats who made the hustler's art seem somehow noble and athletic. No one was interested in whose losses keep the poker economy humming, not until a Baptist minister's son robbed a bank. A minister's eldest boy learns to perform early in life. On Sundays, Greg's mother, Karen, would dress him and his two brothers in matching slacks and blazers and take them and their sister to hear Greg Sr. preach. The congregation looked on as the boys followed Greg Jr's polite, attentive example. Schooled at home through eighth grade, the straw-haired, blue-eyed boy emulated his father's steady gaze, the soft but firm quality in his voice. He saw that others would come to rely on him if he revealed only his strongest side. When Greg Sr. ran for City Council, Greg Jr. enlisted his playmates to help him campaign door to door. Neighbors began calling Greg ``the General.'' When it came to music, Greg was like a boat on a still pond--one small push from his parents and he'd glide on toward the goal. Karen, a psychiatric nurse, started him on the piano at 5. Greg Sr. worked a second job to help pay for $50-an-hour private music lessons for his daughter and three boys. By 13, Greg had twice played onstage at Carnegie Hall. Music won him a scholarship to the prestigious University School, a day school outside Cleveland, where his classmates noticed his oddly mature ways and dubbed him ``the 30-year- old man.'' By graduation, he'd developed something of an ego. ``Greg will always be a people person,'' wrote his adviser in an evaluation letter. ``Perhaps he should set his sights a little lower and just become president of the United States.'' Hogan, who had palled around with the sons of bank executives at his high school, threw himself into this new environment. Even before his father had said goodbye to head back to Ohio, Greg announced his plan to run for class president. He played his first hands of live hold 'em with real money that night, a way to break the ice with the guys from his hall in the dorm lounge. A few weeks later, guided by one of his roommate's friends, Hogan opened his first online-poker account at PokerStars.com. He chose a screen name that would carry his new school's banner all around the world: geelehigh. He'd met someone from two floors down who had lost $100--a fortune, it seemed--online. He decided to stick to the play-money tables. Within 10 minutes, Hogan was playing his first online hands. A few days later he met another friend of his roommate's. Hogan claims that he remembers only his nickname, Phys. When he turned 21, Phys told Hogan, he would plunk down $10,000 and become the youngest player ever to win poker's greatest prize--the World Series of Poker No Limit Texas Hold 'Em bracelet. He then showed Hogan where he planned on getting that kind of money. He clicked on the PokerStars icon on Hogan's computer, typed in a user name and password, clicked on ``Cashier.'' And there it was, Phys's ``real money'' balance: more than $160,000. Hogan clucked his tongue. ``Un- be-lievable,'' he said, almost to himself. He knew that the money was indeed real. All Phys had to do was click on the ``Cash Out'' button and wait two weeks, and he'd receive a six-figure check in the mail. Four years' tuition, sitting there like a high score. It was absurd. The next week, geelehigh used his debit card to make a $75 PokerStars deposit. He received a $25 ``deposit bonus,'' which wouldn't clear until he'd played several hundred hands. The money was real now, but it still felt as ephemeral as it did at the play-money tables: $100 was a digitized chip icon, an oval of black pixels on his computer screen. Green ovals were $25, red ovals $5. All were smaller than a grain of rice. When Hogan clicked on the ``Bet'' or ``Raise'' buttons, the chips made a chik sound and floated across the glowing table before melting into the pot. These tiny digital chips represented money controlled by a corporation in Costa Rica. The ``cards'' themselves were really just bits of data, ``shuffled'' by a random-number generator on a Mohawk Indian reservation in Quebec. The nine players at Hogan's table were scattered all over the world, each sitting alone at his screen, trying to take money from the other eight. Eventually, in chunks of $50, then $100, he took two summers' earnings, money his parents had given him for books and expenses, hundreds of dollars in loans from friends, $2,000 in savings bonds bought in his name (bonds he took from the family safe) and turned it into digital chips: $7,500 in all. Online, Hogan would play 60 to 100 hands an hour--three times the number of his live games. There was no more shuffling between hands, no more 30-second gaps to chat with his friends or consider quitting. Each hand interlocked with the next. The effect was paralyzing, narcotic. ``Internet poker induces a trancelike state,'' says Derevensky, the McGill professor, who once treated a l7-year-old Canadian boy who lost $30,000, much of it at PokerStars. ``The player loses all track of time, where they are, what they're doing.'' When I spoke with an online hold-'em player from Florida who had lost a whopping $250,000 online, he told me: ``It fried my brain. I would roll out of bed, go to my computer and stay there for 20 hours. One night after I went to sleep, my dad called. I woke up instantly, picked up the phone and said, `I raise.' '' A raked poker game cannot survive unless some players either overestimate their abilities or are willing to keep playing despite consistent losses. Fish, then, are the chum that keeps the rest of the poker ecosystem alive. Poker message boards monitor which sites are teeming with geelehighs and which have been leached dry. To stay in business, sites must attract fish, hold them for as long as possible and replace them when they go broke. According to Mike Shichtman, a professional gambler who consults for the online site Pacific Poker, there is ``giant concern'' in the industry that the total number of fish may be dwindling. It is, he adds, a trend that can be reversed only by tapping new markets. In a few weeks, Hogan had run his initial $75 up to $300. Then, in November, came ``the hand that got me hooked.'' Hogan drew a king-high flush and bet all $300. When his opponent called the bet and showed his ace-high flush, Hogan felt an impotent rage that broke on his forehead and coursed through his body. Tilt. He cursed, shut down the program in disgust and vowed never to play online again. Four days later, however, he felt the traces of an urge as visceral as the need to eat. Hogan was craving ``action,'' the gambler's drug. ``Getting action'' is the act of placing a bet; being ``in action'' is the high that follows, a state of arousal that neurologists have likened to doing a line of cocaine. Blood rushes to the face, the hands moisten, the mouth dries up. Time slows down to a continuous present, an unending series of build-ups and climaxes. The gains and losses begin to feel the same. Action had already appeared intermittently in Hogan's life--when he cheered the Ohio State Buckeyes through the last seconds of overtime, when his father called him with Lehigh's admissions decision in hand. Poker gave him the same rush whenever he wanted it, for hours on end. Back in Ohio, Hogan's October bank statement arrived with two $50 PSTARS withdrawals. His father called, asked why he'd waste money like that. Greg promised to stop. He played again that day. He had not and would not read any of the half-dozen books that together give a rough grasp of how hard hold-em is to master. He had no idea that many of his opponents were self-styled professionals using a special program called Poker Tracker to analyze betting patterns and seek out fish like geelehigh. There were always some of these pros online, some playing 8 or 12 tables at once to leverage their advantage. They were waiting for him the night Lehigh's football team lost to rival Lafayette, when Hogan, who'd organized a cheering section, felt a little down and once again pushed aside his father's warnings. They followed him home over Thanksgiving weekend in November 2004, where, amid the clutter of his father's small basement office, he watched the World Series of Poker on TV, never changed out of his pajamas and played online for 10 hours a day. He lost $1,500, every penny he'd taken to school with him. Upstairs, the Hogans wondered what was wrong with their son. ``It's just play money, Dad,'' he told his father, who learned the truth when an overdraft notice arrived from Greg's bank. Greg Jr.'s phone rang the moment he returned to Lehigh. It was Greg Sr., who reminded Greg that the $1,500 had come from friends and relatives who didn't give it to him so he could gamble it. Hogan, distraught, e-mailed Phys and begged him to cover the loss. Phys agreed, so long as Greg would stop playing. ``You're a fish,'' he said. ``You need to stop.'' Greg had begun to daydream about poker during student- council meetings, at orchestra practice, whenever he had a free moment. Soon, Phys's $1,500 had melted away. Hogan's parents arranged for him to meet with a Lehigh counselor. He was told that live poker was harmless but to stay away from online. For a time, the counseling worked. Hogan did not gamble during spring semester. But that summer, back at home in Ohio, Hogan was checking up on his friends at Facebook.com when he saw a PartyPoker ad: make a $50 deposit, get a $50 bonus. He'd been coveting a red Jeep and remembered the times he'd run $100 up to $500. Ten $500 sessions, get the Cherokee, don't tilt and quit. And he did win, at first. Then, as always, his opponents began to outmaneuver him. ``I kept going back online, depositing another $50, winning, withdrawing,'' he recalls. ``It happened a few times, but then I wouldn't be withdrawing. And then I'd just keep putting money in 'cause I kept losing.'' In July, at his parents' behest, Hogan attended a few Cleveland-area Gamblers Anonymous meetings, which proved handy when a friend took him to a Canadian casino to play live poker. He found it easy to play a disciplined game under the appraising eyes of older strangers and won $500. The G.A. meetings had taught him to recognize the fish at the table. Except for the one sitting in his seat. Back at Lehigh that September, Hogan sometimes found himself shoehorning counseling meetings between online-poker sessions. To his friends and professors he was a terrific success, the easygoing leader who organized landscaping projects around the Sig Ep house and hobnobbed with Lehigh's wealthy trustees at dinner parties. But to his parents, his situation was growing desperate. Hogan had reneged on his promise to attend G.A. meetings in Bethlehem. Withdrawals and overdrafts continued to appear on his bank statements. ``I really don't want to do this anymore, but I don't know how to stop,'' Greg told his father. Greg Sr. then made the six-hour drive from Ohio to install a $99 program called GamBlock on his son's computer. Highly regarded among gambling counselors, GamBlock makes it impossible for users to access any Internet casinos. (The company's founder, David Warr, says that half of his customer base, which he will only put in the ``thousands,'' is connected to a college or university.) Hogan soon found a way to circumvent GamBlock, gambling by night in the library's computer lounges. ``It was funny to see how many other kids were playing,'' he says. ``By this point I didn't really care so much who saw me.'' Greg Sr. realized what was happening and asked the administration to lock poker sites out of the public terminals. He says he was told that nothing could be done. As November approached, the wall Hogan had built between his Lehigh life and his poker life had begun to crack. He would borrow $100 or $200 from his fraternity brothers and fail to pay them back by his self-imposed deadlines. He would skip classes and meetings for long binges in the fraternity lounge, gambling through the night and catching a few hours' sleep before noon. People he hardly knew were asking him what was the matter. On Oct. 19, when a fellow Sig Ep sent the house an e-mail asking if anyone wanted to try to hit a record Powerball jackpot, Greg sent this reply, a message that went to all 60 of his brothers: ``O what the hell, maybe my bad luck can change??? Please God??'' The end came quickly, a weeklong series of 14-hour binges at the end of November. ``There was very little thinking,'' he told me. ``I'd get up and lose it. Get up, make another deposit, lose it again. As soon as I lost, I had to get more money in my account immediately. My whole body was shaking as I waited for the program to load, I wanted to play so badly.'' On Nov. 30, 2005, he lost the last $150 in his account during a six-hour session in the Sig Ep lounge that ended when a friend told him dinner was ready. ``I was up about $500, and I was like, `I'll play two more hands,'' Hogan says. ``Then one more hand, and one more after that. And in those last three or four hands, I lost it all. All the muscles in my body gave way.'' He fell asleep, completely broke. All his poker accounts were at zero. His checking account had a negative balance. At the Sig Ep winter social, the fraternity treasurer told Hogan he would be kicked out if he failed to come up with $200 in social fees. Having bailed him out twice before, Greg's parents refused to give him the money and were considering pulling him out of Lehigh altogether. Hogan spent the next week wandering around the Sig Ep house in a daze, skipping classes and drinking himself into a stupor each night. ``It was the weirdest thing I've ever experienced in my life,'' he said. ``Like an out-of-body experience. I was watching myself walk around. Watching myself go and eat food. Watching myself take a shower, but not actually doing those things. I remember looking in the mirror, and it was not me I was seeing in the reflection.'' The night before the bank robbery, Greg spoke with his father one last time. Greg Sr. remembers what he heard in his son's voice. The tiredness. The lack of presence. ``Greg,'' he asked, ``are you gambling?'' Greg said what he always said. ``Nah, Dad. It's been a while since I've done any of that.'' Greg Sr. had gotten used to his son's half- truths, the ``wishing out loud,'' as he calls it. He knew it was useless to press further. ``O.K., Gregory. I love you. Good night.'' I met Greg Hogan Jr. for breakfast one morning this spring, at a diner a few miles from Lehigh. (As Hogan was in the process of negotiating a plea with the county's D.A., I agreed to ask him only about poker and refer all questions about the day of the bank robbery to his attorney.) He had recently completed an inpatient gambling-treatment program in Louisiana, where he wasn't allowed to have more than $5 on him at any time. ``I haven't played a hand of poker in 90 days,'' he said, with a recovering addict's confessional cheer. He is 20, but his jowly face and all-business baritone make him seem much older. Take away the American Eagle shirt and the Ohio State Buckeyes cap and he'd resemble a young, pale Harry Truman. Beside us sat Greg Sr. and Karen, still fuming over media accounts that they are ``affluent.'' On the contrary, they have scrimped to put children through college. After paying Greg's treatment costs, legal fees and bank debts, they expect to be out $35,000. Hogan's lawyer has been fielding calls from bookers at ``Oprah,'' ``Montel'' and ``Good Morning America,'' all drawn in by the irresistible ``good kid robs bank'' story. Some $60 billion was bet last year in online poker games, two-thirds of which came from the United States. The vast majority of this money moves from player to player. About $3 billion wound up as revenue in the form of rake, a figure that is growing by about 20 percent per year, making poker the fastest-growing segment of the $12 billion online- gambling industry. Unlike their brick-and-mortar counterparts, online casinos don't have to pay for dealers, free drinks or air-conditioning, and they enjoy profit margins as high as 60 percent. There are more than 400 online card rooms operating today, offering every variety of poker game and every level of stakes. Hold 'em, the most popular game, can be played for anywhere from pennies to tens of thousands of dollars a hand. Like pornography before it, gambling is shedding its stigma, transitioning from the black market to Wall Street, from a back-room vice to ubiquitous ``content.'' PartyGaming, the largest operator, is valued at about $10 billion on the London Stock Exchange. Its shares are held by Goldman Sachs, Merrill Lynch and other top Wall Street firms. Five years from now, if the plans of PartyGaming and other Internet casinos come to pass, consumers will be able to place bets on their cellphones and P.D.A.'s while waiting for a table in a restaurant. The public visibility of online-poker seems to be growing as fast as its revenues. Calvin Ayre, the globetrotting founder of the online card room and sports-betting site Bodog.com, spends $50 million a year promoting himself and his company as a Hefner-like lifestyle brand. He has run ads in Esquire and Vice magazine and on Gawker Media's sites in which Ayre himself often appears as a dapper, rakish bachelor, personally embodying both the new poker wealth and the rewards his younger customers hope the game might bring. The image has caught on--this March he appeared on the cover of Forbes's Billionaires issue. While the Department of Justice maintains that online poker violates U.S. laws, not a single player or site has been indicted, and online gambling remains as available as pirated music. To shut down Internet gambling, the D.O.J. would either have to start monitoring what we download from the Internet or raid legal, licensed businesses in Antigua, Britain, Costa Rica and other countries where it has no jurisdiction. The D.O.J. has succeeded in persuading some credit-card companies to stop financing online-poker accounts, but this hasn't stopped the flow of rake overseas. U.S. players simply move funds through offshore third-party ``e-wallets'' like Neteller and Firepay, which charge a small fee and then pass the money on to the sites. ``The Department of Justice takes the position that online poker is illegal,'' says the former U.S. attorney Jim Martin, who led the first phases of the department's campaign against online-gambling advertising. ``But I don't think they have much of a motive to go after individual bettors at all.'' Analysts say that online gambling's gray legal status allows operators to avoid paying more than $7 billion a year in federal taxes. And $7 billion is a lot of tax money to leave on the table--nearly half of NASA's budget for next year. It's probably too much for this ambiguous state of affairs to continue for much longer. Late last month, the House Judiciary Committee approved a bill introduced by Representative Bob Goodlatte that would make it harder--but far from impossible--for players to move their money offshore, while leaving the question of domestic online gambling to the states. With Congress unlikely to pass any law authorizing federal oversight of our online activities, Internet gambling's near future appears as healthy as illegal downloading's. In the long term, the federal government's response is likely to resemble either its response to tobacco, with high taxes and more rigorous controls over marketing and access to young people, or to marijuana, a costly and mostly fruitless campaign to eradicate a demand- driven business by cutting off the supply. With plenty of disposable income and spare time, college students constitute one of the gambling industry's most coveted demographics. ``We've been surprised by this natural, organic groundswell of demand from the college audience,'' says Jason Reindorp, marketing director for AbsolutePoker.com, which gave away a semester's tuition to the winner of a college-only online tournament and promoted its Web site at halftime during N.C.A.A. basketball tournament games. Like many sites, AbsolutePoker.com enlists players in multilevel marketing programs. Known as ``affiliates,'' players are rewarded with a $75 bonus or a percentage of the rake each time they find AbsolutePoker a new customer. Reindorp says that AbsolutePoker relies on students to make sure all this jibes with campus policy. ``The student audience is very responsible,'' he says. ``They know how to avoid getting into trouble by breaking their school's rules, just like they know how to avoid playing beyond their means.'' I'd heard the same from almost every online player I'd spoken with: I lose big, I win big, but at the end of the day, I come out ahead. Johnson did know one losing player who'd lost several thousand dollars and had to take a $6.25- an-hour job at this very smoothie shop to pay for his books. Johnson said Hogan never had much of a reputation among Lehigh's hard-cord poker players. ``The funny thing is, he wasn't even in that deep,'' he told me. ``Five thousand is nothing. I know whole halls full of kids who play the thousand-dollar buy-in No Limit tables. If everyone did the same thing when they lost five large,'' he added with a chuckle, ``well, there'd be a lot more bank robberies.'' Mr. Speaker, I yield back the balance of my time.