Johnny Isakson

Mr. ISAKSON

Mr. ISAKSON. Mr. Speaker, I was not able to be present for rollcall votes 260 through 278 on Thursday, June 17, 2004, Friday, June 18, 2004, and Monday, June 21, 2004 due to a requested and approved leave of absence. Had I been present, the record would reflect that I would have voted: ``Yea'' on rollcall 260, on approving the journal; ``No'' on rollcall 261 on the Hinchey amendment numbered 18 printed in the Congressional Record to prohibit the use of funds to kill bison, or assist in the killing of bison, in the Yellowstone National Park herd; ``No'' on rollcall 262 on the Sanders amendment to prohibit the use of funds to maintain more than 65 million barrels of oil in the Strategic Petroleum Reserve; ``No'' on rollcall 263 on the Holt amendment numbered 4 printed in the Congressional Record to prohibit the use of funds to permit recreational snowmobile use in Yellowstone National Park, Grand Teton Park and the John D. Rockefeller, Jr. Memorial Parkway, which connects the two parks; ``Yes'' on rollcall 264 making appropriations for the Department of the Interior and related agencies for the fiscal year ending September 30, 2005, and for other purposes; ``No'' on rollcall 265 on the DeFazio amendment numbered 17 printed in the Congressional Record to strike the proviso beginning on line 5; ``No'' on rollcall 266 on the Sweeney amendment numbered 3 printed in the Congressional Record to increase by $450,000,000 the Office for State and Local Government Coordination and Preparedness; ``No'' on rollcall 267 on the Jackson-Lee amendment to increase research, development, acquisition and operations by $10,000,000; ``No'' on rollcall 268 on the DeLauro amendment which sought to insert a new section at the end of the bill to require that none of the funds appropriated by this Act may be used to issue an order under a task and delivery order contract to entities not in compliance with section 835 of Public Law 107-296; ``No'' on rollcall 269 on the Roybal-Allard amendment numbered 1 printed in the Congressional Record to prohibit the use of funds to process or approve a review of options for privatizing of contracting out services provided as of June 1, by employees or temporary employees of the Bureau of Citizenship and Immigration Services who serve as immigration information officers, contract representatives or investigative assistants; ``Yes'' on rollcall 270 on the Tancredo amendment to prohibit the use of funds to provide assistance to any state or local government entity or official that prohibits or restricts the sharing of an individual's citizenship or immigration status with the Bureau of Immigration and Customs Enforcement; ``No'' on rollcall 271 on the Maloney amendment numbered 9 printed in the Congressional Record to limit to 80 the total number of grants available under the Urban Area Security Initiative, which provides discretionary grants to high-threat, high-density urban areas; ``No'' on rollcall 272 on the Sabo amendment to insert a new section at the end of the bill for the Privacy Officer of the Department of Homeland Security to conduct privacy impact assessments of proposed rules as authorized by section 222 of the Homeland Security Act of 2002 (6 U.S.C. 142), hereby derived from the amount provided in this Act for ``Aviation Security''; ``No'' on rollcall 273 on the Markey amendment numbered 10 printed in the Congressional Record to prohibit the use of funds in the bill to approve, renew or implement any aviation cargo security plan that permits the transportation of unscreened or uninspected cargo on passenger planes; ``No'' on rollcall 274 on the Velazquez amendment which sought to prohibit the use of funds from being used by the Federal Protective Service to replace any existing contract for security guard services with statewide contracts for security guard services; ``Yes'' on rollcall 275 making appropriations for the Department of Homeland Security for the fiscal year ending September 30, 2005, and for other purposes; ``Yes'' on rollcall 276 expressing the gratitude of the House of Representatives for the contributions made by America's community banks to the Nation's economic well-being and prosperity and the sense of the House of Representatives that a month should be designated as ``Community Banking Month''; ``Yes'' on rollcall 277 passing the Helping Hands for Homeownership Act; ``Yes'' on rollcall 278 Congratulating Randy Johnson of the Arizona Diamondbacks on pitching a perfect game on May 18, 2004.

Mr. ISAKSON

Mr. ISAKSON. Mr. Speaker, 75 years ago today in 1929 Delta Airlines flew its first six-passenger aircraft from Monroe, Louisiana to Dallas, Texas, inaugurating a great company and a great contributor to the United States of America. Begun as a crop dusting company in the Mississippi Delta, Delta Airlines has grown to a worldwide company, employing 60,000 people, 30,000 of them in my home State of Georgia and our great City of Atlanta. I am pleased to rise today and commend Delta Airlines on the celebration of its 75th anniversary and to commend them for the contribution they have made to the travel of the United States of America and its citizens and to business enterprise, travel, and tourism around the world.

Mr. ISAKSON

Mr. ISAKSON. Mr. Speaker, I am pleased today to rise and pay tribute to a great Georgian, Mr. Jimmy Franklin of Statesboro, Georgia. This week in Orlando, Florida, Mr. Franklin will receive from the Georgia Bar Association the Distinguished Service Scrolls Award recognizing his outstanding achievement in his profession. Mr. Franklin is a respected member of the bar, a leader in his city and county and his church. This award recognizes his long contribution to Georgia. Also, I am proud to acknowledge his long and trusted advice to me, to other Members of Congress, and to Governors of Georgia. His knowledge of policy and his love of this country is unsurpassed. Mr. Speaker, it is a privilege and a pleasure for me today to pay tribute to a great Georgian, Jimmy Franklin, and a warm and trusted friend of whom I have the greatest respect.

Mr. ISAKSON

Mr. ISAKSON. Mr. Speaker, I thank the gentleman for the time. Mr. Speaker, I am honored to stand here today on behalf of myself and the citizens of the 6th District of Georgia and express my deep sympathy to the family of Ronald Reagan and my grateful appreciation for the life of Ronald Reagan. I had the occasion to meet Mr. Reagan for the first time in 1970 when he began his pursuit on the national political stage, and I watched in amazement as this man transformed a decade of dissent and discord into a decade of hope and prosperity through the power of his positive attitude and to his great patriotism to his country. As a young man in the 1950s, I remember crawling under the bomb shelters and under my desk when we prepared for the Cold War and the worst of the tyranny of communism, and I watched 35 years later as, through his powerful persuasiveness, Ronald Reagan broke down the Berlin Wall, broke down the Soviet Union and brought peace and prosperity to more of the world. On this day on behalf of all of my constituents, my children and my grandchildren, I give thanks for the life of Ronald Reagan, and I thank God that Ronald Reagan came America's way.

Mr. ISAKSON

Mr. ISAKSON. Mr. Speaker, I thank the gentleman from California (Mr. McKeon) for yielding me time. I thank the gentleman from Nevada (Mr. Porter) for his work on this. The discussion I have just heard was about what this bill is not. I would like to talk for a second about what this bill is. This is a creative opportunity at the election of the local WIA board and at the election of the applicant for the grant to take a creative approach to take someone from unemployment to employment. Now, outside the Beltway there is a real world; and in the 22 years prior to my election to this Congress, I ran a company, a company substantially all of whose employees were second or third career which meant they might have come out of a job loss, a job transfer, or a temporary unemployment because of the birth of a child or illness or whatever. And I can tell you in this unique world that we live in there is not a one-size-fits-all formula in terms of the requirements necessary for reemployment. To allow the option for a local board to create these personal reemployment accounts and the option for an individual to accept the waiver and apply for the funds does the following things: it takes a person who is otherwise employable but in need of specific targeted help, whether it is in specific training, whether it is in child care or whether it is in transportation, to do a tailor-made job to go into employment, and I employed people that way every day for 22 years before I came to Congress. It is a creative way to approach the needs of some people in looking for employment. Secondly, what is so important for us to consider today is the present-day environment. The number of unemployed has been reduced from its peak because the American economy is improving. Those that are unemployed in many cases may be those who are more in need of specialized training or help that otherwise might have been true a year ago or 6 months ago. It is only right to grant that flexibility. And as long as we cannot get an agreement to go to conference on the base bill that now lies in limbo, it is only appropriate we take the right initiative. I want to end with this. There are two basic motivators in human nature. One is risk and the other is reward. This approach takes the reward approach and the incentive approach and even in the end has the encouragement for residual funds to remain with the grantee, if they are employed earlier than they otherwise might have been. Any other approach is for people to fear flexibility, to fear choice, and to fear creativity. Those are not things we should fear. Just as we proved in welfare-to-work, with targeted funds, with flexibility, with child care, with training, we could take a life of dependency and turn it into a life of independency. I will subscribe to that every single time.

Mr. ISAKSON

Mr. ISAKSON. Mr. Speaker, I, first of all, associate myself with all the kind remarks that have been made about Charlie, but I thought back to my first day here. I was elected on a special election, came in, I knew no one, and it was a hustle and bustle. Charlie Johnson was the guy who got me through that in what was a blur to me. Secondly, I am reminded of how great this institution is, and I am reminded of three silent factors the public never sees. First is the sconce of Moses that looks down upon the Speaker as an inanimate object, but as a constant reminder of the integrity we all need. Second is our Founding Father, George Washington, whose portrait hangs on this side of our Capitol to remind us of where we come from. The third silent but very present, day in and day out, person that guides the integrity of this most important institution is the quiet but effective leadership of Charlie Johnson. This institution has been blessed to have leaders of great capability from elected office, but from that seat next to the Speaker, we have been blessed to have a man who has the excellent commitment to fairness, integrity, responsibility and the preservation of this Republic, and that is Charlie Johnson.

Mr. ISAKSON

Mr. ISAKSON. Mr. Speaker, I rise to address, in part, what was just spoken of by the minority in terms of the amendment they would like to have proposed and the reasons they would like to have proposed it, because it illustrates the difference in the two sides today. It would be wrong for any American worker who listens to this debate to think for a minute that if anything happened to them on the work site that they do not have immediate access to the criminal courts of this country. They do. That is what makes the United States of America great. It would also be wrong, I think, to assume that this is an employer versus employee argument. It is not. Go out today in Washington, D.C. to any project, building any building. After you see the sign at the front that shows who is building the building and who the contractor is, the next sign posted will be the safety regulations the employer and the employees are committed to. Go into a facility in America today, go into UPS, go into Coca-Cola, go onto a construction site, and what do you see, you see safety first. OSHA has done what it was supposed to do, and American employers and employees have done what they are supposed to do. Are there mistakes? From time to time, there are. Is there a route of grievance? There always is. The gentleman from Georgia (Mr. Norwood) is trying to make that an expedited process where you get a hearing fast, you get a result fast, and the purpose of America can continue. And that is for American business to employ employees who work for a company to make products and services and build buildings. But let no one watching this debate think this is about whether or not someone does not have access to our courts if they are aggrieved. They do, and they do instantaneously. What this debate is about is the great partnership that exists today in America between the worker and the employer, which is what makes this country great. I appreciate the diligent work of the chairman of the subcommittee and his effort today to work on behalf of working families and what makes America great, the free enterprise system.

Mr. ISAKSON

Mr. ISAKSON. Mr. Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may consume. Mr. Speaker, first of all I want to thank the gentleman from Connecticut (Mr. Larson), who about two debates ago acknowledged the Georgia Tech Yellow Jackets who unfortunately lost in the NCAA finals to the great University of Connecticut basketball team. Today, we are on the floor acknowledging the champions, but, really, all of those in higher education who compete in the NCAA. I am pleased to author and ask this House to consider its bipartisan support for H. Res. 594, which commends the Kennesaw State University Owls men's basketball team for winning the NCAA Division II national championship. Kennesaw State won the last 26 games of its season, finished with a record of 34 and 5, and defeated the University of Southern Indiana Screaming Eagles in Bakersfield, California, by a margin of 84 to 59 in the national championship game. This great university and its great athletic program won the Peachbelt Conference Championship for the 2003-2004 season. Head Coach Tony Ingle, who was named the Naismith Co-Coach of the Year in Georgia, along with Paul Hewitt of Georgia Tech, led Kennesaw State University to a truly outstanding year. All-American Terrance Hill, who was selected All-American, one of the top 15 NCAA basketball players in the United States of America, was also chosen the most valuable player in the final game against Southern Indiana. The Kennesaw State University Owls have a great athletic program, and this victory is a great tribute to their effort; but I think it is important when we talk about athletics that we talk about it in the context of student athletics as well, and this resolution affords me an opportunity to talk a little bit about this great university, which is celebrating its 40th year. Forty years ago, two representatives from the State of Georgia, Representative Joe Mack Wilson and Representative Al Burruss, both of whom are not with us now but did a great job for so many years in the legislature, spawned the idea that with Atlanta's growth it was important to have an urban commuter college to support the universities that were in the area; and thus Kennesaw State College, at that time, became one of the 34 units of the university system of Georgia. Their first president, Dr. Horace Sturgis, started that college on a shoestring on property donated by the Fry family, leading citizens of the community of Kennesaw. From its humble beginning, Kennesaw State has grown to university status, and now has almost 19,000 full-time residential and commuter students studying medicine, studying nursing, studying business, and studying education. The academic achievements of its graduates is renowned in Georgia, and its graduate executive MBA program has been recognized in national publications as one of the finest in the country. Dr. Horace Sturgis, its first president, was succeeded by Dr. Betty Siegel, its second president, who continues as president of this university now for more than 20 years. It is under her leadership that participation in athletics and NCAA status have helped to raise the visibility of that university, while at the same time it has remained committed to outstanding academic achievement and providing outstanding academic studies for those residents of the greater metropolitan area, and now, truly, the entire Southeast. Mr. Speaker, it is a privilege and pleasure for me to present H. Res. 594, commending Kennesaw State University's NCAA men's basketball champions, and also to commend all the universities and colleges in the NCAA who produce student athletes who go on into life to act as leaders in their communities and continue the great tradition of the NCAA. Mr. Speaker, I reserve the balance of my time.

Mr. ISAKSON. Mr. Speaker, I move to suspend the rules and agree to the resolution (H. Res. 594) congratulating the Kennesaw State University Owls for winning the 2004 NCAA Division II Men's Basketball National Championship, and for other purposes.

Mr. ISAKSON. Mr. Speaker, having no further speakers, I encourage all Members to vote in favor of H. Res. 594, and I yield back the balance of my time.

Mr. ISAKSON

Mr. ISAKSON. Mr. Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may consume. Mr. Speaker, I am pleased to rise today in support of H. Con. Res. 408, which congratulates the University of Denver's men's hockey team for winning the 2004 NCAA men's hockey national championship. On Saturday, April 10, 2004, the University of Denver men's hockey team won its sixth national hockey championship by defeating the University of Maine 1 to nothing. The University of Denver had previously won five national titles in a 12-year span between 1950 and 1962, but this year's championship was their first since that time. It was an exciting game, with the Denver Pioneers keeping the Maine Black Bears scoreless, despite a three-man advantage for Maine with 2 minutes to go in the third period of the match. The game was just the third shutout in NCAA hockey championship history, and the announced crowd of 18,597 was the largest to watch a hockey game in the Fleet Center, which is the home of the NHL's Boston Bruins. Adam Berkhoel, Denver's goalie, made 24 saves in the 2004 championship game and was named the Most Outstanding Player in the Frozen Four, which is the finals for the NCAA hockey matches. The resolution before the House today congratulates the University of Denver men's hockey team, its players and coaches, for winning the 2004 NCAA men's hockey national championships, and recognizes the achievement of all the team's players, coaches, and staff. Indeed, Denver University, the citizens of Denver and Colorado and all the students of the university are to be congratulated for their commitment and the great pride they take in this great accomplishment by winning the NCAA hockey championships. Mr. Speaker, I reserve the balance of my time.

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

Mr. ISAKSON. Mr. Speaker, I move to suspend the rules and agree to the concurrent resolution (H. Con. Res. 408) congratulating the University of Denver men's hockey team for winning the 2004 NCAA men's hockey national championship, and for other purposes.

Mr. ISAKSON

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

Mr. ISAKSON. Mr. Chairman, the gentleman from Alaska (Chairman Young) is a good man with a difficult job, the gentleman from Minnesota (Mr. Oberstar) is a good man with a difficult job, and there are 433 other Members of this House who are good men and women with a difficult job. But fair is fair, and facts are facts. The money that flows in that we are talking about spending today is a user fee based on the use of roads in each of the States. It is only right that States get back at least a semi-equitable portion of the use of their roads that generated the revenue that this Congress has dedicated. There are no losers in the base bill or in this bill in aggregate dollars, because there is more money being spent, but there are big losers in terms of States in this country who already are donor States and are being reduced to a lower percentage. I do not have the luxury of promising designated projects, and I do not know where ultimately they will or will not go, and I am not complaining about that. I am not a chairman, and I am not senior. But I will tell you one thing: The people of Georgia elected me, and they sent me here to represent them, and they should understand and expect a basic minimum guarantee that is at least the same as they have been used to. Fair is fair, and facts are facts. There are a lot of loose numbers floating around, because, very frankly, we do not know where all the numbers are. But there is one irrefutable fact: 90.5 percent of 93 percent beats 90.5 percent of 84 percent, no matter whether you use new math, old math or trigonometry. This is about equity, this is about fairness, this is about representing the people who sent us to this Congress. I am grateful for the opportunities that have been afforded all these Members, from Indiana, Florida, Georgia, New Jersey, Arizona, all over the country. This is not a provincial issue. This is a people's issue. This is about doing what is right. We have great leadership on our committee. They have done a good job. But this bill needs improvement. The legacy for users in America should not be an inequitable distribution of the money they sent to Washington because of the use of their roads. Fair is fair, and facts are facts. I urge a yes vote on the Isakson amendment.

Mr. ISAKSON. Mr. Chairman, it is a pleasure to yield 30 seconds to the gentleman from New Jersey (Mr. Garrett).

Mr. ISAKSON. Mr. Chairman, I am pleased to yield 30 seconds to the gentleman from Georgia (Mr. Gingrey).

Mr. ISAKSON. Mr. Chairman, I am pleased to yield 30 seconds to the distinguished gentleman from Michigan (Mr. Ehlers).

Mr. ISAKSON. Mr. Chairman, I yield 30 seconds to the gentleman from Florida (Mr. Putnam).

Mr. ISAKSON. Mr. Chairman, I yield 30 seconds to the gentleman from Arizona (Mr. Flake).

Mr. ISAKSON. Mr. Chairman, I yield 2 minutes to the distinguished gentleman from Florida (Mr. Mario Diaz-Balart), a real leader on this amendment. (Mr. MARIO DIAZ-BALART of Florida asked and was given permission to revise and extend his remarks.)

Mr. ISAKSON. Mr. Chairman, I yield 1 minute to the gentleman from Indiana (Mr. Pence). (Mr. PENCE asked and was given permission to revise and extend his remarks.)

Mr. ISAKSON. Mr. Chairman, I yield 1\1/2\ minutes to the distinguished gentleman from Florida (Mr. Shaw).

Mr. ISAKSON. Mr. Chairman, I am pleased to yield 1\1/2\ minutes to the gentleman from Indiana (Mr. Chocola).

Mr. ISAKSON. Mr. Chairman, I yield myself the balance of my time.