Henry Hyde

Mr. HYDE

Mr. HYDE. Mr. Speaker, I yield 1 minute to the gentleman from California (Mr. Issa). (Mr. ISSA asked and was given permission to revise and extend his remarks.)

Mr. HYDE. Mr. Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may consume. Mr. Speaker, I support the pending resolution offered by my friend, the gentleman from California (Mr. Lantos), and the gentleman from Texas (Mr. DeLay) and by many of our colleagues. For a moment, Mr. Speaker, put yourself in the position of the Prime Minister of Israel and more importantly in the position of the mothers and fathers of Israel. And I speak of Jews and Arabs, for both have been victims. Having concluded an agreement under which the parties foreswore the use of force to settle political disputes, you are suddenly subject to violent acts, including eventually the nearly daily horror of homicide bombings. You realize those acts are not opposed and actually seem to be supported by the leadership on the Palestine side. What are you to do? You just take action to defend yourself, your people, your children; and that is what Israel did and the American people support it. We must, of course, think beyond the current situation. The administration has done a good job at diffusing this crisis and minimizing the loss of life, but now they must arrive at a method to determine once and for all if Chairman Arafat, given sufficient pressure and incentive, can exert the required leadership. If not, someone with authority must take his place; but for now he is the leader of the Palestinian people and for their sake, if not his, we must go the extra mile. This will require a reconstruction on democratic grounds of the Palestinian Authority, a new deal for the Palestine people from their leaders. Good government, open markets, not corruption, cronyism and monopolies must prevail in the Palestinian areas. The gentleman from California (Mr. Lantos) and I have now determined that we must add to the political and security steps that are part of the administration's plans. We must add an economic component to provide a prospect of a better life for the people of the region. A new Marshall Plan is needed to provide stability in the region, and I hope to develop a proposal in the near future with the gentleman from California (Mr. Lantos). The leadership of President Bush has been enormously helpful; and I am proud that he, the Congress, and the American people are standing up for our friends in the Middle East at this crucial moment in its history. Mr. Speaker, I reserve the balance of my time.

Mr. HYDE. Mr. Speaker, reserving the right to object, and I really do not want to object, but a lot of people are trying to get planes this afternoon. The weather is very questionable. I am sure her minute and a half is not going to upset us too much, but if we could hold it to that.

Mr. HYDE. Mr. Speaker, I am very pleased to yield 4\1/2\ minutes to the gentleman from Texas (Mr. DeLay), the distinguished whip.

Mr. HYDE. Mr. Speaker, I am pleased to yield 1 minute to the gentleman from North Carolina (Mr. Coble).

Mr. HYDE

Mr. HYDE. Mr. Speaker, I move to suspend the rules and agree to the resolution (H. Res. 358) expressing support for the democratically elected Government of Colombia and its efforts to counter threats from United States-designated foreign terrorist organizations.

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

Mr. HYDE. Mr. Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may consume. I rise in strong support of this resolution. In our ongoing war on terrorism, we have an extremely volatile situation in our own hemisphere that cannot be ignored any longer: the threat against democracy in Colombia. Colombia has been beset by many years of violence that have culminated in numerous terrorist attacks in the past month. This oldest representative democracy in South America is under attack as we speak by terrorists known as the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia, otherwise known as the FARC, another violent left-wing group, the National Liberation Army, known also by its Spanish acronym ELN, and illegal right-wing paramilitary groups. The Secretary of State has designated all three groups as foreign terrorist organizations that threaten the security of the United States and our citizens. These groups regularly engage in criminal acts, such as murder, kidnapping, extortion and narcotics trafficking. They are currently holding captive dozens of Colombian security force officers, soldiers and civilians. The FARC and the ELN have kidnapped more than 50 Americans and have murdered 10 of our citizens. Colombian President Pastrana invested his presidency, indeed his entire political fortune, in an attempt to negotiate peace with the FARC for the past 4 years. This protracted peace process ended February 20 when the FARC hijacked a commercial airliner and kidnapped a prominent Colombian senator, the leader of the Colombian Senate Peace Commission. The senator is now the fifth legislator being held captive by the FARC. On that same day, President Pastrana ordered the Colombian military into the 16,000 square mile demilitarized zone that he ceded to the FARC in his efforts to negotiate peace. Since that time, the FARC has waged even more bloody terrorism against the Colombian Government, its democratic institutions, and its civilian population. In fact, in the past 5 weeks or so, there have been more than 120 separate terrorist attacks committed by the FARC, including numerous bombings, the kidnapping of a presidential candidate, and a foiled attempt to destroy the city of Bogota's principal water reservoir. Colombia's elected representatives have been targeted by these terrorists. Seven members of the Colombian Congress have been killed in the past 4 years. This past weekend, yet another legislator, Senator Martha Catalina Daniel, was tortured and murdered. The FARC and the paramilitary forces are destabilizing democracy in Colombia. Legislative elections are this month. Presidential elections are in May. Colombia is calling on the United States for help in defending itself against terrorism by providing intelligence-sharing, spare parts for equipment, and the unburdening of restrictions on equipment currently being used in counter-narcotics operations. The administration has decided to move forward to respond to some of these concerns. The administration must now quickly complete this policy review and work with Congress to help Colombia save itself from terrorism. The global war against terrorism is our administration's highest priority. We are training troops in the Philippines, the former Soviet Republic of Georgia, and Yemen all in the name of fighting this global war. However, in the meantime, a conflagration is burning at the foot of the land bridge that joins North and South America. It is imperative that we recognize the dire consequences of inaction in this horrific situation, not just for Colombians, but for the rest of the hemisphere. It is time to help the Colombian people defend themselves. As a major defender of democracy, we must try to bolster it wherever we see it seriously threatened, especially in our own hemisphere. Passing this resolution is an important first step. I urge my colleagues to join me in supporting this measure. Mr. Speaker, I yield the balance of my time to the gentleman from North Carolina (Mr. Ballenger) and ask unanimous consent that he be permitted to control that time.

Mr. HYDE

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

Mr. HYDE. Mr. Chairman, I demand a recorded vote.

Mr. HYDE. Surely.

Mr. HYDE. Mr. Chairman, I yield myself such time as I may consume just to say to my friend from the upper regions of Massachusetts that Nadine Strossen, the president of the ACLU, has written me several warm letters, and we have worked together on civil asset forfeiture, a concept that the gentleman has supported. So we found common ground on more than one issue with the ACLU. Lastly, I would hope the gentleman would read section 602. The inaccuracies and errors in the petition itself are the result of midnight draftsmanship which is brought upon us as a gift from the gentleman from Maryland (Mr. Hoyer) and his party whose devotion to rapidity sometimes intrudes on coherence.

Mr. HYDE. Mr. Chairman, I am pleased to yield 2 minutes to the gentleman from Indiana (Mr. Pence).

Mr. HYDE. Mr. Chairman, with the passage of the Shays-Meehan substitute all the suspense seems to have gone out of this controversy, and all I have to look forward to is the gentleman from Massachusetts (Mr. Frank) berating me for not being a charter member of the Earl Warren Fan Club, and I await his bashes with mild interest. Mr. Chairman, since some of us feel that the first amendment is in jeopardy, nonetheless, rereading the first amendment of our Constitution might be therapeutic. ``Congress shall make no law,'' no law, emphasis my own, ``respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or of the right of the people to peaceably assemble, and to petition the Government for a redress of grievances.'' Now, the amendment I am offering consists of 14 pages. The first 13 are a listing of findings based on Supreme Court decisions explaining the first amendment and/or its relationship to free speech. For example, on page 2, we cite the New York Times Company versus Sullivan, a 1964 case which said the first amendment reflects our ``profound and national commitment to the principle that debate on public issues should be uninhibited, robust, and wide-open.'' The first amendment protects political association as well as political expression, NAACP versus Alabama, and so on. Page 3 of the amendment quotes Buckley v. Valeo. But the essence of what I am offering is section 602, which is on pages 13 and 14, and if I may read that, you will have the amendment's gravamen in your grasp. ``Section 602: Notwithstanding any provisions of this Act, and in recognition of the First Amendment to the United States Constitution, nothing in this Act or in any amendment made by this Act may be construed to abridge those freedoms found in that Amendment, specifically the freedom of speech or of the press, or the right of the people to peaceably assemble, and to petition the government for redress of grievances, consistent with the rulings of the courts of the United States.'' So, that is rather simple. Supporting my amendment gives us a chance to reaffirm our loyalty, our dedication, our devotion to the first amendment. Now, before going on much farther, I would like to give the House a quotation from an article, January 28, 2002, in the National Journal, and this is by Stewart Taylor, Jr., who is not conservative. I do not think he is liberal. I think he is a true moderate. But in writing about this issue, he said something that I found extraordinarily interesting. Mr. Taylor says Shays-Meehan's most extreme and least publicized provisions have nothing to do with soft money. One would make it a Federal crime for any association of citizens other than PACs to criticize, praise or even name a candidate for Congress in an ad broadcast in his or her State within 30 days of a primary or 60 days of a general election. Another would define illegal spending/coordination with candidates so broadly as to make it risky for any group to praise or even mention at any time in any public communications a Member of Congress with whom it had met or worked on legislative issues. I think that is interesting, and that is another reason why I am very disturbed about what we are doing here today. If ever there was a time where free speech should be unfettered, robust, it is at election time. Instead, this legislation in essence tells democracy to shut up and sit down. We are suffocating uninhibited political advocacy, that rare dynamic earned for us by the blood of our forefathers. And why? Because there is too much money in politics. No, we are not talking about Major League Baseball, a utility infielder. We are not talking about a professional basketball team or a rock band. We are talking about politics. In the last Presidential election, so excited by the prospect of picking a President, 51 percent of those eligible to vote, of voting age, bothered to vote. Now, it seems to me a little more interest in a Presidential election in a viable democracy is certainly called for. In the congressional cycle of 1999 and 2000, I am talking about 2 years now, Congress raised $1.05 billion. Coca-Cola, in one year, 2000, marketing and advertising, spent $1.74 billion. One B-2 Stealth Bomber costs $1.16 billion. So too much money in politics is, I think, a bit of a stretch. By banning soft money to the political parties from unions, corporations and individuals, money that pays for issue ads, you do real damage to the parties. You emasculate them and you make the voices of the special interests the last and the loudest voices to be heard in the campaign. A vigorous two-party system has been the bedrock of our democracy. You hurt challengers and reinforce incumbency, and political advocacy is strangled, not encouraged. Mr. Chairman, I reserve the balance of my time.

Mr. HYDE. Mr. Chairman, as the designee of the majority leader, I offer an amendment.

Mr. HYDE. Mr. Chairman, I thank the gentleman from Maryland. Just so the gentleman from Massachusetts (Mr. Frank) does not leave the room.

Mr. HYDE. Mr. Chairman, I just want to say it is true, we do not have the power to adjudicate constitutionality, but we certainly have the power to recognize it when we see it and assert our opinion that something is unconstitutional. We are sworn to protect that document.

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

Mr. HYDE. Mr. Chairman, I had some people who wanted to talk, but they do not seem to be here.

Mr. HYDE

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

Mr. HYDE. Mr. Speaker, I ask unanimous consent that all Members may have 5 legislative days within which to revise and extend their remarks on H.R. 2998.

Mr. HYDE

Mr. HYDE. Madam Speaker, I move to suspend the rules and agree to the concurrent resolution (H. Con. Res. 324) commending President Pervez Musharraf of Pakistan for his leadership and friendship and welcoming him to the United States.

Mr. HYDE. Madam Speaker, I am pleased to yield 3 minutes to the learned gentleman from Indiana (Mr. Burton).

Mr. HYDE. Madam Speaker, I ask unanimous consent that all Members may have 5 legislative days within which to revise and extend their remarks on the concurrent resolution under consideration.

Mr. HYDE. Madam Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may consume. I am pleased to call up the resolution to welcome President Musharraf on his most important visit to Washington. I am a cosponsor of this resolution that was introduced today by the distinguished gentleman from Pennsylvania (Mr. Pitts), a member of the Committee on International Relations. Pakistan has been in the forefront of the war on terrorism, and their efforts to assist the United States have been essential to the great successes to date. The importance of the growing relationship between our two countries is the prevention of further terrorist attacks, and hopefully it will contribute to economic development and stability within Pakistan. President Musharraf has taken many steps to arrest al Qaeda members and has been working diligently on the release of kidnapped journalist Daniel Pearl. He has undertaken other efforts to curtail the detrimental activities of extremist Islamic groups and has shown particular leadership in trying to take his country in a new direction. Through this resolution we acknowledge President Musharraf's sincere efforts to improve the security in the region and give hope for a bright future for his country and its deserving people. I urge the support of my colleagues as we welcome the President of Pakistan to our country. Madam Speaker, I reserve the balance of my time.