Henry Hyde

Mr. HYDE

Mr. HYDE. Mr. Speaker, pursuant to House Resolution 561, I call up the resolution (H. Res. 557) relating to the liberation of the Iraqi people and the valiant service of the United States Armed Forces and Coalition forces, and ask for its immediate consideration.

Mr. HYDE. Mr. Speaker, I yield 3 minutes to the distinguished gentleman from Indiana (Mr. Pence). (Mr. PENCE asked and was given permission to revise and extend his remarks.)

Mr. HYDE. Mr. Speaker, I yield 3 minutes to the gentleman from Missouri (Mr. Blunt), the distinguished whip. (Mr. BLUNT asked and was given permission to revise and extend his remarks.)

Mr. HYDE. Mr. Speaker, I yield 2 minutes to the gentleman from Virginia (Mr. Cantor).

Mr. HYDE. Mr. Speaker, I am pleased to yield 30 seconds to the distinguished gentleman from California (Mr. Hunter).

Mr. HYDE. Mr. Speaker, I am very pleased to yield 2 minutes to the gentlewoman from Washington (Ms. Dunn).

Mr. HYDE. Mr. Speaker, I yield myself 30 seconds. I think there is a little semantic difficulty on the words ``safe'' and ``safer.'' I would not say that Iraq is safe. I would not say crossing Pennsylvania Avenue in rush hour is safe. The question is, Is it safer with Mr. Saddam Hussein in a cell? Or is it less safe with him in one of his palaces plotting to amputate limbs from some of his people or to bury Kurds alive like he has done? The world is a safer place with him in a cell because Mohmmar Qaddafi watched that and went to school on that. He decided to put his cards down and give up his nuclear pretensions. Mr. Speaker, I yield 2 minutes to the gentleman from Ohio (Mr. Chabot).

Mr. HYDE. Mr. Speaker, I yield 2\1/2\ minutes to the distinguished gentleman from California (Mr. Royce).

Mr. HYDE

Mr. HYDE. Mr. Speaker, they say the sinew of our representative democracy is its citizens. When a citizen rises above tremendous challenges and goes on to live an exemplary life of charity to others, our country is strengthened. The Sixth Congressional District of Illinois, which I represent, has such a citizen, and his name is Mr. Bruno D. Daube. Orphaned at the age of 13, Bruno Daube found himself homeless and a ward of the State. In those days, the state did not have any facilities for homeless juveniles, which is why Mr. Daube was relegated to living at a juvenile detention prison for 3 years. Through no fault of his own, he was subjected to treatment like any common criminal offender. Yet despite this adversity, Mr. Daube managed to summon up the courage to become a model citizen for others to emulate. His commitment to country during the Korean War prompted him to join the Air Force at the young age of 17. During his service, he bettered himself by taking classes at the University of Arizona, and following his honorable discharge from the Air Force, he used the GI Bill to complete has education in business and commercial law. Mr. Daube's personal experience with homelessness led him to Chicago's Night Ministry organization. Inspired to help others, he took courses in counseling and theology at MacCormac College. For years, he walked the city streets, helping the homeless find shelter, food and jobs. In 1998, he was recognized as the longest serving volunteer of the Night Ministry, and he continues to work there today. When his health no longer permitted him to walk the streets and climb steps, he turned his attention to troubled teens from broken families, persons who were forgotten in nursing homes and others struggling with the issues of alcohol and drug abuse. Recently, he was recognized for giving over 20 years of service and more than 20,000 hours of caring to the homeless, the poor and the forgotten. In sum, Mr. Daube deserves national recognition for his significant contribution to humanity and his promotion of Christian morals. Despite tremendous obstacles and personal hardship, Mr. Daube has personified the honorable characteristics of courage, tenacity and perseverance. Therefore, I rise today to commend Mr. Daube for his decades of selfless service to an untold number of individuals. As he prepares to celebrate his 72 birthday on April 12, let it forever be memorialized in the Congressional Record that Mr. Bruno D. Daube is indeed an extraordinary individual and a heroic citizen of the greatest country in the world, the United States of America.

Mr. HYDE

Mr. HYDE. Mr. Speaker, I thank the gentlewoman for an excellent statement, and I yield such time as he may consume to the gentleman from Ohio (Mr. Ney).

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. Today I rise in support of House Resolution 526, introduced by the gentleman from Ohio (Mr. Ney) on February 11, 2004, expressing the sympathy of the House of Representatives for the victims of the devastating earthquake that occurred on December 26, 2003, in Bam, Iran. This resolution is a reflection of the goodwill that emanates from the people of the United States to the people of Iran during their time of great need and profound sorrow. On that tragic day, an earthquake measuring 6.6 on the Richter scale struck the southeastern area of Iran. During the days that followed, the American people and the rest of the world watched in sympathy as helpless Iranian families tried to put the pieces of their lives back together. With approximately 40,000 people dead, 30,000 people injured, and up to 75,000 people made homeless, the U.S. Government reacted in solidarity with the Iranian people by implementing necessary measures so that millions of dollars in emergency earthquake assistance could be distributed through United States relief organizations. Immediately, the President directed that a general license be issued to temporarily permit U.S. individuals or nongovernmental organizations to transfer funds to organizations operating in Iran to assist humanitarian aid activities. I commend the administration's handling of this tragic situation and President Bush's message that ``We stand ready to help the people of Iran.'' Many factors characterize the perceived power and greatness of America throughout the world. However, it is the spirit of our unconditional compassion in times like these that truly resonates in the hearts and minds of the Iranian people and communicates our real hopes and desires for them. Currently, the people of Iran need their courage and strength to help parallel the efforts by international aid personnel in rebuilding their lives. Children who are orphaned and homeless will need guidance and direction from their elders. Elders who are grieving the loss of their loved ones will need the inspiration of their youth to go on. Through their trials and tribulations, the Iranian people have proved to be a resilient force while never losing hope for the blessings of a new day. I am convinced that through exercising their faith and reconstructing their lives a stronger and empowered community will be unearthed. I commend the gentleman from Ohio (Mr. Ney) for introducing this meaningful resolution and thank him for his understanding of Iran's needs and challenges. Mr. Speaker, I strongly support this resolution and urge its passage. Mr. Speaker, I reserve the balance of my time.

Mr. HYDE. Mr. Speaker, I move to suspend the rules and agree to the resolution (H. Res. 526) expressing the sympathy of the House of Representatives for the victims of the devastating earthquake that occurred on December 26, 2003, in Bam, Iran.

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

Mr. HYDE. Mr. Speaker, on that I demand the yeas and nays.

Mr. HYDE

Mr. HYDE. Mr. Speaker, I thank the gentleman from New Jersey for yielding. I rise in support of H. Res. 530, and I'd like to commend my colleague, Mr. Smith of New Jersey, for sponsoring this important and timely resolution. This bill urges the U.S. Representative to the 60th Session of a the United Nations Commission on Human Rights to introduce a resolution calling upon the Government of the People's Republic of China to end its human rights abuses. H. Res. 530 also urges the People's Republic of China to safeguard fundamental human rights. Last year at the 59th Session of the U.N. Commission on Human Rights in Geneva, the United States did not sponsor a resolution on the People's Republic of China. The United States refrained from doing so in part because of commitments which the Government of China made to the United States during bilateral talks in December of 2002 that it would improve its human rights record and would allow greater access of international monitors into the country. However, these commitments were not fulfilled. In fact, during the past year we witnessed continued disturbing trends in the human rights situation in China. Indeed, in last week's release of the State Department's annual Country Reports of Human Rights Practices, referring to China, it notes that, ``We saw backsliding on key human rights issues.'' Unfortunately, there are far too many examples of their ``backsliding.'' In January, Tibetan activist Lobsang Dhondup (Lob-sang Dun-op) was executed without due process. Arrests and harsh sentencing of democracy activists, critics on the Internet, and labor organizers continued throughout the year. And other than the lone release of Tibetan prisoner of conscience, Phuntsog Nyidrol (Putt-sok Nee-droo), last week--the day after the State Department's Country Reports on Human Rights Practices was released--there have been no recent releases of political prisoners. Further, religious adherents continue to be persecuted, and Falun Gong followers remain targeted by the government. Another area of grave concern is Beijing's forced repatriation of North Korean refugees in China and other human rights abuses directed against these refugees, including the trafficking of women and children. Mr. Speaker, the People's Republic of China must understand that increased bilateral cooperation in other areas, including security, does not in any way negate or lessen obligations to uphold basic human rights. I encourage my colleagues to support H. Res. 530.

Mr. HYDE

Mr. HYDE. Mr. Speaker, first of all, let me say, I am very happy that the gentleman from New York (Mr. Nadler) was never aborted. I am glad he is here. He stimulates the discussion. He is even fun, on occasion; and I am very glad that the gentleman survived. I also would like to say that yesterday, I heard two gentlewomen from the other side complain that they have kept a scorecard, and over 200 times in the immediate years we have had to vote on abortion. That was a considerable annoyance to them, and I regret that. But I do not think any single issue defines the difference between the two sides better than that remark about having to vote 200 times on abortion, because that indicates that abortion is not all that important to them. After all, it is a thing. It is a commodity. It is a throw-away, used Kleenex; but it is not a life, a human life. Now, of course, we feel differently. We feel it is a human life. We feel it is entitled to respect and dignity, and it is entitled to due process of law. And, of course, they deny that. So that concern that we have had to debate this issue too much, it seems to me, defines the positions of the two sides. Now, some years ago, in fact it was 1841, John Quincy Adams represented 35 slaves from the ship Amistad in a court proceeding where he argued before the U.S. Supreme Court on their behalf, and he told the Court, he said, this is the most important case you will ever hear because it involves the very nature of man. Of course, he was talking about slaves, whom some people held to be commodities, chattels, things that could be bought and sold or thrown away if need be, but less than human, and so that case did involve the nature of man, and so do we. I am sorry that we get another check in the scorecard because we are discussing this one more time, but I will suggest to my friends on the other side, you will never get rid of this issue as long as there are people who are sensitive to the notion that all human life is precious and deserving of protection, especially the vulnerable, the weak, the small, the defenseless that cannot rise up in the streets, cannot escape, but is disposable by your ethic. I would like to see a little honesty in this debate. By that I mean stop with the euphemisms. Right to choose, my goodness, everybody's for the right to choose. It is what you are choosing that is important. There is only one choice, a dead baby or a live baby. But the right to choose is a process, it is not substantive. They refer to the unborn as a fetus or as the product of conception. All these euphemisms, these marketing tools, let us call it what it is. Why do you shy away from the word abortion? Abortion, the only time you use it is when you point the finger at us and say we are against abortion, and in that you are quite right. Well, Mr. Adams before the Supreme Court presented the question as to whether slaves were worthy of protection under the law, whether they had value, and that is the issue here. You deny personhood, which is a legal concept, to the unborn; when is a person a person when you do not really know. The Court took a pass on that, and of course you take it. It is a legal construct. A personhood belongs to the human aspect of life; not animal, not vegetable, not mineral, but a person, personhood. I assign personhood to a tiny entity, a fertilized egg. I guess it is very small, even premicroscopic, but it is the beginning of the human life, and if you deny that, you are kidding yourself, and you are clinically primitive because that is not so. You want to deny any dignity, any value, any status, any standing to an unborn child. Never mind the sonograph, never mind what your senses tell you, never mind that the pregnant woman knows she is carrying her baby, her baby. Never mind that, because it is tough to argue for killing, which is what abortion does. It kills a baby. You will not admit that. You will say it is an exercise of reproductive rights, apt alliterations, artful aid. Well, what we are talking about here in this bill is saying that little unborn child has value, that little unborn child is intrinsically precious and valuable and deserving of standing in the law and protection, and to deny that, of course, is no surprise for some of you. Some of you felt partial-birth abortion was okay. They are the babies fourth-fifths born and is almost out of the birth canal, and the means of killing that baby is grotesque, but if you can stomach that, well, a little thing like this ought to be no problem. Well, I say it is a problem, and I say we do not need permission to discuss it. We do not have to ask if it is already all right if we go 201 times on this question. The dignity, the personhood, the substance of an unborn child is what we are speaking for, and you are denying it. You are saying it is subhuman, it is less than significant. I do not question anybody's motives, but I do question your judgment, your sensitivity and your imagination. You cannot imagine that little tiny speck of humanity as a member of the human family, and you get so locked into that non sequitur that as time goes on and it is almost born, you still cannot admit that it is a human life deserving of protection. So this is a good bill. It does not impact on a woman's right to choose because specifically it eliminates any impact this bill has on abortion, whether the doctor or the mother or not, and so it is really a no-brainer in that we spend so much time trying to dispute that a woman who is pregnant has another little party in her womb. It could be another gender. Woman is a female, and the baby is a male. It could be a different blood type. We spend a lot of money on doctors performing miracles of surgery to save little children, and here you want to justify throwing it away because somebody does not want it. Well, here is an opportunity to not restrict the liberty of a pregnant woman, but to enhance the sanctity of human life and defend what, under your rubric, would be defenseless. So I hope this bill passes. I regret the gentlewoman from California's (Ms. Lofgren) substitute because it dehumanizes, it desensitizes, it reduces in standing and status the unborn, who needs our protection more than anything in the world because they are alone and defenseless. So I hope that we support this bill, the underlying bill. I hope we defeat the substitute, which demeans the humanity of the little defenseless child who we should be standing with and holding up and defending.

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

Mr. HYDE. Mr. Speaker, the gentleman, I am sure, understands, because he is a good lawyer, that the unborn has legal status in probate matters where a pregnant woman is an heir or beneficiary and is pregnant and the interests of the child may be different. So a guardian ad litem is appointed. You understand that a woman can be pregnant, and her pregnant child could be injured in the womb and have a cause of action.

Mr. HYDE

Mr. HYDE. Mr. Speaker, today I am very pleased to introduce, along with Tom Lantos, the Ranking Democratic member of the House International Relations Committee, and my colleague from Illinois, Mark Steven Kirk, a bill, the ``Counter-Terrorist and Narco-Terrorist Rewards Program Act.'' This bill makes some major changes and modifications to the long-established U.S. State Department Rewards Program. The State Department Rewards Program has clearly prevented acts of terrorism in the past, has helped bring to justice long-sought terrorists, such as the individual who fled to Pakistan after assassinating our CIA employees in Virginia, and has served as a valuable intelligence and information tool in the global war on terrorism. The Rewards Program could do even more, if we enact this bill, with its reforms. After our experience with the efforts to date to capture Osama bin Laden and to reinvigorate and expand the reach and flexibility of the Terrorist Rewards Program, it's time for a renewed, expanded reward authority in the State Department, one that tackles and contends with the growing links, as recently reported in the press, of the illicit drug trade and the financing of terrorism. Our global terrorist enemies may very well be changing their methods and means, and we need to be even more flexible and creative than they are. Our statutory changes to the State Department Rewards Program, 22 U.S.C. 2708, as proposed in this bill, would be as follows: First, a name change, so that the program is hereafter known as the ``Terrorism and Narco-Terrorism'' Rewards Program, reflecting the growing links between illicit drugs and the financing of terrorism, whether in places like Colombia, Afghanistan, or others around the globe. Second, clarification that any information provided that disrupts the terrorist financing networks, including information related to illicit narcotics production or international trafficking, is eligible for reward monies. This information need not be tied to any specific act of terrorism, as the State Department now seems to require before any reward for information on illicit drugs can be paid out. We need clarity in the law concerning any link in illicit drugs to terrorism, and more explicit authority for the State Department to pay rewards to those pursuing or reporting the drugs that ``support'' or help ``sustain'' global terrorism. Third, added flexibility in the forms of payment, by providing authority for the Secretary of State to give rewards other than money for useful information related to terrorism and drugs related to terrorism, such as vehicles, appliances, commodities, and other goods and services. In places like Afghanistan, a motorcycle or transport vehicle may be just as valuable as cash in gaining cooperation in the fight against terrorists. The changes more clearly authorize this new kind of reward. Fourth, added authority for the Secretary of State to conduct media surveys, analyses of media markets and the best means of communication, as well as literacy levels of proposed foreign audiences for the Department's reward efforts. We create the authority to find the best means to get rewards messages out for widest dissemination and effect. We also add authority to create media ads after market analyses and literacy level analyses has been completed. Fifth, in addition, clear authority is given for the Secretary of State to buy radio, TV, and newspaper ads, and procure any other media means abroad, including public service announcements for the rewards program. For example, the match books and wanted posters we have used in the effort to find Osama Bin Laden may be of limited value in some rural areas of Pakistan or Afghanistan where there is 30 percent literacy, but a BBC radio slot with a rewards offer might just reach the audience we need. The authority is now there to pursue greater exposure for these rewards. Sixth, statutory change is made to reflect a current optional reward set administratively for Osama bin Laden at $25 million today. Current law is raised by the bill from $5 million to $25 million for these terrorist and narco-terrorist rewards. We also provide the Secretary of State the added option to raise to a maximum of $50 million the reward for Osama bin Laden, if events warrant it and it might facilitate his capture. Bin Laden deserves such a high price on his head, and we would welcome the chance to pay this amount for the capture of this global terrorist. Seventh, finally, we require, 90 days after enactment, that the administration submit a plan to the Congress that maximizes the publicity surrounding the reward for Osama bin Laden's capture. The bill's text follows, and I asked that it be included in the Record with these introductory remarks as well. Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States of America in Congress assembled,

Mr. HYDE

Mr. HYDE. Mr. Speaker, I rise today to express deep appreciation for the support and cooperation received by the United States from our close ally Japan. The United States and Japan have maintained a strong relationship over the past half century, successfully overcoming challenges created by the Cold War, globalization, and now the international campaign against terrorism. Our alliance has been the key to insuring stability and security in the Asia-Pacific region for decades. Today, I stand to recognize Japan's recent outstanding contributions in support of ongoing reconstruction efforts in Iraq and the international campaign against terrorism. Last week, Japan dispatched an advance unit of the Japanese Self- Defense Forces to the Iraqi city of Samawah to assist the coalition in its efforts to stabilize and rebuild the nation of Iraq. This unit will eventually be joined by up to a thousand additional troops and support personnel. The Japanese will provide much-needed medical services, increase Iraq's water supply, rebuild schools, and repair infrastructure. Their mission will result in greater security and prosperity for the Iraqi people and welcome support for American forces in the region. The arrival of Japanese forces in the Middle East signifies a milestone in Japan's history. For many decades, Japan has provided generous financial support for efforts to promote international security, but the country's post-war constitution has precluded the overseas deployment of Japanese Self-Defense Forces, SDF. This past summer, the Japanese Diet made an historic decision to support coalition efforts in Iraq. Under the leadership of Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi, the Diet created a legal framework to allow the deployment of Japanese SDF troops to assist in reconstruction efforts. I would like to echo the words of my good friend, Howard Baker, the U.S. Ambassador to Japan, by saying that this unprecedented decision has ``enormous symbolic significance.'' With this action, Japan has demonstrated recognition of the reality that oceans and geography alone cannot protect free nations from murderous fanaticism. Japan has recently experienced the pains of terrorism. I wrote to Ambassador Ryozo Kato, Japan's ambassador to the United States, to express my condolences to the families of Mr. Katsuhiko Oku and Mr. Masamori Inoue, who fell victim to a terrorist attack in Iraq on November 29. As President Abraham Lincoln noted in the Gettysburg Address, Mr. Oku and Mr. Inoue ``gave their lives that that nation might live.'' Shortly before his death, Mr. Oku wrote a particularly meaningful entry in his diary after visiting the site of a suicide bombing in Nassiriya. He wrote: ``. . . what we should learn from this tragedy is to have stronger determination not to yield to terrorists. Terrorists attacks could happen anywhere in the world. The elimination of terrorism is therefore a goal to be sought by all of us.'' These brave and determined words should strengthen our resolve to carry on with efforts to stabilize and secure post-war Iraq. Japan's contribution to the rebuilding of Iraq includes significant financial support. After the United States, Japan is the largest donor to Iraqi reconstruction. In October, Japanese Foreign Minister Yoriko Kawaguchi announced a $5 billion aid package for the rebuilding of Iraq, including an outright grant of $1.5 billion for next year and loans in the amount of $3.5 billion to be given under generous terms through 2007. Five billion dollars is a significant contribution by any measure, however, in the context of Japan's current economic challenges it is a particularly generous pledge. Japanese assistance will go toward power generation, education, water and sanitation, and infrastructure--improvements in these areas will lay the critical foundation for future Iraqi development. Last month, Prime Minister Koizumi also announced to U.S. envoy James Baker III that Japan would provide extensive debt forgiveness to Iraq. Mr. Speaker, not only has Japan stood by the United States during Operation Iraqi Freedom, but it has also actively cooperated with our country in combating terror around the globe. As the United States began to take steps against al-Qaeda and the Taliban in Afghanistan, the Japanese government provided logistical support to Operation Enduring Freedom. Despite the tight controls placed on Japan's armed services by its Constitution, Japan found ways to aid the U.S.-led coalition in freeing the Afghani people from a ruthless regime and rooting out destructive Al-Qaeda cells. The Japanese Diet passed legislation allowing for the deployment of supply ships and destroyers to the Indian Ocean to act as rear military support and provide the U.S. fleet with fuel, food, and water. The Japanese also provided medical assistance to coalition troops, assisted Afghan refugees, and contributed to American intelligence-gathering. This rear support has continued through Operation Iraqi Freedom. Japan has taken an active role in the reconstruction of Afghanistan. Tokyo hosted the international donors conference for the reconstruction of Afghanistan in January 2002. The two-day conference, co-chaired by Mrs. Sadako Ogata, the Prime Minister's special representative for Afghanistan, succeeded in gaining pledges of $1.8 billion in assistance for 2002 as part of a total of $4.5 billion for a 5-year period. Japan pledged a generous $500 million to be given over a 30-month period. While many of the pledges have not been fulfilled, Japan has remained true to its word and has already disbursed most of the promised funding. Mr. Speaker, over the past 2 years, the alliance between the United States and Japan has grown stronger as we have worked to improve our mutual security as part of the international campaign against terrorism and to address the critical issues posed by North Korean nuclear proliferation. However, our relationship is based on more than common security interests. It is a reflection of our mutual commitment to democracy and freedom. Today, I rise to thank the people of Japan for their outstanding support of the United States in the international campaign against terrorism. Japan has proven itself a good friend to the people of Iraq and Afghanistan, and a true, loyal ally of the United States.

Mr. HYDE

Mr. HYDE. Mr. Speaker, I would like to bring to your attention today the commendable efforts and charitable spirit of the Elmhurst American Legion, the Broadview-Hillside American Legion, and the College of DuPage Jazz Ensemble. In particular, I would like to recognize Mr. Charles Levitt, Commander of the Broadview-Hillside American Legion, Mr. Dante Laudati, Commander of the Elmhurst American Legion, Mr. Anthony Barone, Chief Liaison of the Elmhurst American Legion, and Mr. Tom Tallman, the Director of the College of DuPage Arts Center Jazz Ensemble. Their unselfish efforts combined with the patriotic spirit of the members of these organizations represent the finest qualities of all Americans. The members of this energetic group held an event on October 19, 2003 in Elmhurst, Illinois to raise funds for the Armed Forces Children's Education Fund. This noteworthy fund is committed to helping the children of military men and women who make the ultimate sacrifice while fighting the war on terrorism. I am proud of the efforts made by these faithful and patriotic citizens. They serve as a fine example of citizens sharing their prosperity with the families of the men and women who risk their lives to secure our freedoms. I hope my colleagues will join me in honoring and offering congratulations to all of these outstanding Americans.

Mr. HYDE

Mr. HYDE. Mr. Speaker, I rise today to recognize one of the leading corporate citizens in my district, the Sixth Congressional District of Illinois. This year Nelson Westerberg Inc., headquartered in Elk Grove Village, Illinois, will celebrate its 100th anniversary. Not many companies reach this milestone, especially under the same family ownership, and that is why I want to commend Nelson Westerberg Inc., for reaching this historic milestone. Nelson Westerberg Inc. has been safeguarding and relocating people, products, and offices since 1904 when it opened its first office in downtown Chicago. In 1904, it moved coal, ice and ``some furniture'' via horse-drawn wagons. Today Nelson Westerberg Inc. has become one of the Nation's leading relocation companies, offering its services to individual households as well as corporate customers. Nelson Westerberg Inc., also is an active participant in community activities such as the Special Olympics and the Elk Grove Police Department's annual Truck Pull. Therefore, it is with great pleasure that today I acknowledge the accomplishments of this fourth-generation business as it celebrates its 100th anniversary in 2004.

Mr. HYDE

Mr. HYDE. Mr. Speaker, I rise today to recognize Jerome Holtzman, who on November 20 will receive the prestigious Chicago Athletic Association Ring Lardner Award. Jerome Holtzman has forgotten more about baseball than most will ever know and he is well deserving of the award. Chicago Sun-Times sports columnist Ron Rapoport honored Mr. Holtzman in his column on November 11--a column I am pleased to share with my colleagues: For His Scoops and Saves, Holtzman Awarded Honor The major exhibit in Jerome Holtzman's baseball legacy always will be his invention of the save rule, but my favorite story about him is the time he scooped the judge. Charlie Finley was suing baseball commissioner Bowie Kuhn, and Holtzman, who had covered every day of the trial for the Sun-Times, got the word that Finley had lost. Holtzman rushed the story into the last edition of the paper, which so infuriated people at the Tribune, they rousted the judge out of bed after midnight to demand some information. ``But I haven't even written the decision yet,'' the judge protested. Holtzman, who receives the Chicago Athletic Association's Ring Lardner Award on November 20, and I tried to figure out Monday how many baseball games he has covered in his life. The best we could come up with was about 200 a year for 28 years and maybe 100 a year for the decade after that. So how many is that--7,000 or 8,000? A lot, anyway. ``We never had any days off,'' said Holtzman, who joined the old Chicago Times as a copy boy in 1943, before it merged with the Sun. ``Maybe if I didn't go to the All-Star Game, I'd have a two- or three-day break, but otherwise it was every game from spring training to the World Series.'' Holtzman was more than just a sportswriter, though. He became our trade's historian, with his classic book ``No Cheering in the Press Box'' and his beautifully bound reprints of sports books, such as ``Eight Men Out, The Boys of Summer and Babe.'' When Holtzman invented the save rule, he received a bonus of $100 or $200 from The Sporting News. The best closers soon became rich men because their performances came with numbers attached. Or as former Expos relief ace Jeff Reardon once said, ``Jerome Holtzman is a friend of mine.'' Mine, too. The Lardner Awards dinner will be a star-studded affair, with David Halberstam presenting an award to Bob Costas, Ira Berkow giving Holtzman his plaque and Bill Jauss honoring former Chicago Daily News sports editor John Carmichael.

Mr. HYDE

Mr. HYDE. Mr. Speaker, I am honored to join my friend from Wisconsin in urging the President to present the Presidential Medal of Freedom to Pope John Paul II, who has marked his Silver Jubilee as the spiritual leader of more than one billion Catholics around the world. The Presidential Medal of Freedom is considered the highest civilian award of the United States Government. It was established to recognize persons who have made especially meritorious contributions to the security or national interests of the United States; to world peace; or to cultural or other significant public or private endeavors. Recipients have included educators, diplomats, authors, scientists and religious leaders. By bestowing this great honor upon Pope John Paul II, we recognize His Holiness' lifetime dedication to peace, hope, freedom, unity and dignity. No one is more deserving of this award of special distinction which symbolizes the lasting admiration of the American people for the Pope's many efforts. This man was formed at a remarkable time in human history. He knew the persecution of oppression and witnessed the false ideologies of the 20th Century. He studied for the priesthood in secrecy and lived through the Nazi occupation and Communist subjugation of his native Poland. He was a philosopher, theologian and pastor. He was instrumental in the demise of the Communist regime in Poland, and he played an important role in the collapse of Communism throughout central and eastern Europe, which ended the Cold War. The Holy Father has continued to promote freedom and peace throughout the world during his pontificate. He has truly internationalized the Catholic Church, and yet he has also reached out in an unprecedented way to peoples of other beliefs and religions all over the world through his promotion of greater understanding, healing, and harmony between religions. His Holiness has particularly promoted unity among Christian churches, reconciliation with the Jewish people, and dialogue with Islam. The Holy Father was the first Pope to visit a synagogue, as well as the first to visit a mosque. I consider it an honor to be able to ask my Congressional colleagues to join me in paying tribute to this devoted spiritual leader and to celebrate with the Holy Father this Jubilee by urging the President to bestow the Medal of Freedom upon His Holiness, Pope John Paul II.