Darrell Issa

Mr. ISSA

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

Mr. ISSA. I yield myself such time as I may consume. Madam Speaker, no one is a better example of energy, of doing more with less than is Chi-Chi Rodriguez. Not only did he begin golfing at age 6 and shoot a 67 at age 12, but in fact, for a man who never rose above 5'7'' in height or 130 pounds in weight, he has one of the most famous long balls in golf. That is the energy of Chi-Chi Rodriguez, an energy that America covets. He is somebody who doesn't let size or any other limitation keep him from achieving his goals. Earlier, the gentleman from Florida talked about Florida and Chi-Chi Rodriguez' activities there in Clearwater. Florida brings to mind that, when you talk about a man of energy, just 50 miles off the coast of Florida, China and Cuba are now issuing contracts that are going to allow for drilling, for drilling closer to America than we allow, just 50 miles off the coast of Florida, in fact, without the kind of safeguards that American companies would use. So when I think of Florida and I think of a man of energy, I think of the energy that is being kept away from the American people, energy that would keep our dollars from flowing to countries less friendly to us, energy that would make us self-sufficient and self-reliant, and energy that would heat our homes and fuel our cars at a cost far less than what we are paying today. Madam Speaker, I truly think of energy when I think of Chi-Chi Rodriguez, and I appreciate the opportunity to speak on Chi-Chi Rodriguez and urge passage of this resolution.

Mr. ISSA. Madam Speaker, I would like to yield such time as he may consume to the gentleman from Florida (Mr. Bilirakis).

Mr. ISSA

Mr. ISSA. Madam Speaker, I object to the vote on the ground that a quorum is not present and make the point of order that a quorum is not present.

Mr. ISSA

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

Mr. ISSA

Mr. ISSA. I would continue to reserve.

Mr. ISSA. I have no further requests for time and I continue to reserve my time.

Mr. ISSA. Madam Speaker, I will continue to reserve.

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

Mr. ISSA

Mr. ISSA. Madam Speaker, I rise in support of S. 188, which adds several names to the short title of the Voting Rights Act Reauthorization and Amendments Act of 2006. The individuals whose names are added by this legislation deserve to be embodied in that historic legislation for the roles they played in encouraging the participation of all Americans in the political process. Cesar Chavez and Dr. Hector Garcia followed the path of Martin Luther King, Jr. Mr. Chavez founded and led the first successful farm workers' union in the United States and became the president of the United Farm Workers of America, AFL-CIO. From its beginnings, the UFW adhered to the principles of non-violent change. Mr. Chavez received the Presidential Medal of Freedom, the highest civilian honor in the United States, in 1994. Dr. Hector Garcia was a Mexican Revolution refugee and medical doctor. He, too, led peaceful protests to empower Mexican Americans to fight legal and political battles against discrimination through his founding of the American GI Forum. He was also awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom by President Ronald Reagan in 1984. Barbara Jordan was the first African-American woman to serve in the U.S. Congress from the South. She became the first African-American woman to serve in the Texas Senate since 1883, where she served as the chair of a major committee. As a Congresswoman, she sponsored legislation to broaden the Voting Rights Act of 1965 to cover Mexican- Americans and to extend its provisions to States where minorities had been denied the right to vote or had their rights restricted by unfair registration practices. Finally, William Velasquez founded the Southwest Voter Registration Education Project in 1974 to encourage Latinos to join the democratic process. Starting with a folding chair and a borrowed rotary phone, Mr. Velasquez's organization cultivated over 50,000 community leaders, successfully litigated 85 voting rights lawsuits, and conducted 2300 non-partisan voter registration drives. He was also awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom in 1995. The names of these voting rights leaders and Presidential Medal of Freedom recipients deserve to stand side by side with Fannie Lou Hamer, Rosa Parks, and Coretta Scott King, in the short title of the Voting Rights Act Reauthorization and Amendments Act of 2006. Madam Speaker, I yield back the balance of my time.

Mr. ISSA

Mr. ISSA. Madam Speaker, I would also yield back at this time.

Mr. ISSA. Madam Speaker, I reserve the balance of my time.

Mr. ISSA. Madam Speaker, I would like to express my support for S. 1692, legislation that grants a Federal charter to the Korean War Veterans Association. Many Americans are only familiar with the Korean War through the television series M*A*S*H. Yet, it was one of the defining conflicts of the 20th Century. Because of the courageous service of millions of American servicemen and women, the global spread of Communism was halted on the Korean peninsula. More than 36,000 Americans lost their lives to preserve the liberty of the South Korean people. The fall of the Iron Curtain. would have been inconceivable without their sacrifice. The Korean War Veterans Association was established in 1985 as the only veteran's organization comprised solely of Korean War Veterans. It now has over 25,000 members. The Association was founded in order to maintain a continuing interest in the welfare of veterans of the Korean War, to rehabilitate disabled veterans of the War, to establish facilities for the assistance of War veterans and to represent them in claims before the Department of Veterans Affairs without charge, and finally to perpetuate and preserve the comradeship and friendships born on the field of battle and to honor the memory of the men and women who gave their lives in the Korean War. Now, on June 6 of last year, the Immigration Subcommittee adopted the following policy concerning the granting of new federal charters: The Subcommittee will not consider any legislation to grant new federal charters because such charters are unnecessary for the operations of any charitable, non-profit organization and falsely imply to the public that a chartered organization and its activities carry a congressional ``seal of approval,'' or that the Federal Government is in some way responsible for its operations. The Subcommittee believes that the significant resources required to properly investigate prospective chartered organizations and monitor them after their charters are granted could and should be spent instead on the Subcommittee's large range of legislative and other substantive policy matters. This policy is not based on any decision that the organizations seeking federal charters are not worthwhile, but rather on the fact that federal charters serve no valid purpose and therefore ought to be discontinued. This policy represented the continuation of a policy the Subcommittee put in place at the start of the 101st Congress and has been continued every Congress since, against granting new federal charters to private, non-profit organizations. However, if the majority seeks to jettison the policy adopted by its own Judiciary Committee just last year, so be it. If we are to grant any organizations federal charters, then the Korean War Veterans Association should be at the top of the list. I urge my colleagues to support this legislation. Madam Speaker, it is my great honor to yield such time as he may consume to the gentleman from Plano, Texas, a man of personal experience on what it's all about to be a Korean War veteran, a man who I believe brings to the House the kind of insight necessary to bring this bill to the floor.

Mr. ISSA

Mr. ISSA. Madam Speaker, I rise today to speak on an important piece of legislation that I have authored, H.R. 2963, The Pechanga Band of Luiseno Mission Indians Land Transfer Act of 2007. This legislation will place 1,178 acres of land currently maintained by the Bureau of Land Management, BLM, into trust for the Pechanga Band of Luiseno Mission Indians to manage and maintain. These lands are part of the Pechanga tribe's ancestral lands and contain numerous cultural, historical, and religious elements of importance to them. Specifically, I want to discuss Section 2(h) of the bill, which is entitled ``Restricted Use of Transferred Lands.'' (h) Restricted Use of Transferred Lands.-- (1) In general.--The lands transferred under subsection (a) may be used only for the protection, preservation, and maintenance of the archaeological, cultural, and wildlife resources thereon. (2) No roads.--There shall be no roads other than for maintenance purposes constructed on the lands transferred under subsection (a). When the restrictive language in this section was initially added to H.R. 4908, the original version of the bill I introduced in the 108th Congress, it was at the request of former House Resources Committee Chairman Richard Pombo. It was added during the markup of the bill on September 22, 2004, with the purpose of ensuring that no commercial, casino or gaming related development would take place on the lands designated for transfer within the bill, and that those lands would be maintained as open space for the preservation, protection, and maintenance of the archaeological, cultural and wildlife resources thereon. The development restrictions were added with the assent of representatives of the Pechanga tribal government and myself as author of the legislation Since I reintroduced this bill in the 110th Congress, my intent for this section has not changed. In fact, development restrictions within the bill were strengthened further with the addition of a prohibition of the construction of any roads upon the transferred land other than for the purpose of maintenance of archaeological, cultural and wildlife resources. It is my intention as the author of H.R. 2963 that the legislation prohibit commercial, casino or gaming related construction or development on the lands designated in this bill, and that they be preserved as open space. I believe that the restrictions on the use of transferred lands included in this bill are a clear expression of this intent. Additionally, I have conferred with the Solicitor General's Office of the Department of the Interior who state that the wording of Section 2(h) implements this intent and the land use restrictions are enforceable by the Department of the Interior.

Mr. ISSA

Mr. ISSA. Madam Speaker, I rise today to honor the 30 years of dedicated service of United States Marine Corps Colonel Anthony Joseph Wendel III. Since being commissioned a Second Lieutenant in August 1979, Colonel Wendel has served the Marine Corps in a variety of roles, both at home and abroad. During his 30 years of total service, he has served his country in positions of leadership in Okinawa, Japan; Washington, DC; Eugene, Oregon; Saudi Arabia, Somalia, Los Angeles, California; and at Camp Pendleton, California. In 1980, Colonel Wendel attended Basic Combat Engineer Officers Course, Camp Lejeune, North Carolina. Between 1986 and 1987, he attended Amphibious Warfare School, Quantico, Virginia. He graduated from the U.S. Marine Corps Command and Staff College in 1994 with a Masters of Military Studies, and in June 2000 he graduated from the U.S. Naval War College, Newport, Rhode Island with a Masters of Arts in National Security and Strategic Studies. Thereupon, he served as Assistant Chief of Staff, G-4 U.S. Marine Corps Forces, Korea from July 2000 to July 2001. During this period, he was selected to the grade of colonel. Colonel Wendel has served in two major combat operations, Operation Desert Shield/Desert Storm and Operation Restore Hope. His leadership background encompasses a wide range of roles, responsibilities, and spectrum of experience. With his diversity of knowledge and talent, Colonel Wendel has given much to this country through his dedicated military service, which will be formally concluded with retirement on June 5, 2008. Colonel Wendel currently serves as the Program Officer, Western Regional Environmental Coordination Office, Marine Corps Base Camp Pendleton, California. He continues to serve to protect and defend U.S. Marine Corps western region training interests and entities. He and his wife Susan have their home in Oceanside, California. On behalf of the people of the United States whom he has served with courage and honor, we commemorate the service of Colonel Anthony Joseph Wendel III.

Mr. ISSA

Mr. ISSA. Mr. Speaker, I too rise in support of this resolution recognizing Arnold Palmer for his contributions to golf and to our society. How fitting it is that we honor him on the occasion of the opening of the Arnold Palmer Center for Golf History in New Jersey since it is he who made this possible and he who has made golf history so many times. You could, in fact, honor Arnold for his off-the-tee activities, if you wanted to. You could honor him for being somebody who proved that even with an unorthodox swing you could get to the goal. You certainly could recognize him, as we are, for his 92 championships, 61 on the PGA Tour, including two victories at the Masters, two at the British Open and one at the U.S. Open. From 1960 to 1963 he won 29 tournaments. He won 10 more times in the Senior PGA Tour. He has had a long and successful career, one that continues to stand in its records in the American Golf Hall of Fame. He is also, though, a celebrated course designer. His skill, his ability to, in fact, create constantly innovative and enjoyable places for America to golf has left a lasting legacy, both here in the United States and around the world. He even found a way to invent a golf- friendly drink, the Arnold Palmer, which consists of iced tea and lemonade. There is no question this is a man for all seasons and all charities. He has raised millions for charities that fight cancer and other diseases. He has given of his time and money and energies for countless other causes. He also has endeavored to promote golf and serve as one of our finest ambassadors of the sport. We often, here in the House, do resolutions, and we say, this is special. But I don't think there's any question that as America hears today that we have honored Arnold Palmer for golf, they'll say, what took us so long? Of course we should do it. I yield back the balance of my time and urge support of this resolution.

Mr. ISSA

Mr. ISSA. Mr. Speaker, I object to the vote on the ground that a quorum is not present and make the point of order that a quorum is not present.

Mr. ISSA. I yield back the balance of my time.

Mr. ISSA. Mr. Speaker, I rise in strong support of this important resolution, and yield myself such time that I may consume. This year marks the 10th anniversary of National Military Appreciation Month, which was first passed on May 1999. I might note that in May 1999, perhaps the reason for the Congress seeing fit to have a National Appreciation Month for our military was that in fact we were in a time of comparative peace. We were at a time in which we wanted to let our military know that we appreciated them standing guard in peacetime as well as in war. For the last 7 years, though, we have been at war. Our troops have been deployed in Afghanistan since shortly after the September 11 attack on our Nation. In fact, this last weekend, as part of the Military Appreciation Month, I was in Oceanside in my own district where 44,000 Marines reside at Camp Pendleton. Except they don't get to reside at Camp Pendleton; they are on their third and fourth deployments throughout that region. I didn't just thank the senior NCOs and the officers, who I appreciate their continued service because they have stayed in and reenlisted during this time of war, but I also thanked the incredible amount of young men and women and their families who showed up and who in fact joined after this war began, and many of them after this war had been going for many, many years. It is in fact our military that is with us in good times and bad. They stay with us in the worst of times. They also enlist in the hardest of times. Many people would say I never voted for this war. I wouldn't vote for this war. This war is wrong. Men and women of the Army, Navy, Marine Corps, Air Force, and Coast Guard don't say whether the war is right or wrong. They make a statement about whether America is right or wrong. In their eyes, and in my eyes, America is right. We have a process which we observe in order to ensure that we do not easily go into war, we do not easily send our troops into harm's way. However, our men and women are in harm's way today. And for this month, like every day that we are at war, we should honor our men and women in uniform. We should make that extra effort to try to do what we can for those returning home and for those who remain behind, the families, the children, the husbands, the wives, making sure that every day they are taken care of, that their special needs, because of the absence of the loved one, are observed. And when they come home, they don't come home from the first deployment, the parade is not as easy to recognize; they don't come home from the last deployment. It is not so easy to say, we are coming home for good. So I urge my colleagues and I urge all of America to think about the appreciation we can show year round to in fact realize that a parade is just as important to a troop who has come home from their third deployment. Recognition, a picnic, or some other way of saying we care about your continued service, is just as important in the sixth and seventh year of a struggle that could in fact go on for many years in order to bring freedom and a way of life that is acceptable to the people of Afghanistan and Iraq and other countries throughout the world. Today we can recognize where our men and women are fighting, but we don't often recognize where they are standing so that we don't have to fight. And I would like to close by recognizing the men and women who are in the Sudan, who are in fact trying to do what they can in Africa for some very troubled spots in which we don't recognize it as our fighting but we certainly have to recognize that we are trying to make a difference for those people who in their struggles every day realize that they are at war. I join with the gentlelady from California in urging the support for this resolution. I join with the gentleman from Connecticut in recognizing that every day, every month, should be National Military Recognition Month.

Mr. ISSA

Mr. ISSA. Mr. Speaker, I object to the vote on the ground that a quorum is not present and make the point of order that a quorum is not present.

Mr. ISSA. Mr. Speaker, I rise in support of this bill and I commend the gentleman from New York. I regret that I have to follow the gentleman from New York, because I too grew up listening to Sinatra wondering if the Rat Pack would be my future. Now I am in Congress; it could be that it came true. But whether you admire Dean Martin, Sammy Davis, or Frank Sinatra, they all had one thing in common; they changed the world with their bigger than life behavior. They also changed the world with their generosity. Frank Sinatra was famous for his generosity. Even better than that, he was also famous for having problems with people, and then turning around and being overly generous to people that he had had difficulties with. He helped some years, many years ago give Buddy Rich, a famous jazz drummer, money to start a band even though only a few years earlier they had been arch enemies. He picked up the hospital bills of Bela Lugosi and many others. He funded hospital activities around the world. He lived his life big and he lived it every day. He stretched. He was in fact a great actor. He was in fact somebody who would act in parts that perhaps lesser men would have shied away from, wanting to preserve their image. And certainly his music spanned not only generations and decades, but it spanned every genre. He was able to do that. He was able to reinvent himself from the forties, the fifties, the sixties, and even the seventies. In fact, even as his age increased and perhaps just a slight bit of that famous beautiful voice disappeared, he found ways to redo music, and his music lives on today. I am not surprised that a thoroughly modern man from New York would have 2,000 Frank Sinatra songs. My only question is, why don't you have more? Mr. Speaker, I yield back the balance of my time totally in support of this resolution.

Mr. ISSA

Mr. ISSA. Mr. Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may consume. Mr. Speaker, this is one of countless examples of Indian sovereignty that has in fact been put below the sovereignty of any other landowner, the sovereignty of any other city, municipality or county. This is an important bill, but I think in passage today and tomorrow it is very clear that it marks a trend back toward recognizing that Native American tribes have had things taken from them in the past, had to go to court, in Federal Court win, and then find that they have to continue year after year in order to get these rights. Had this been a normal county or private landowner, I strongly suspect this would have been restored years earlier. So I commend the gentlewoman, my colleague in an adjacent district, for bringing this important legislation, ending once and for all an injustice. Mr. Speaker, I yield back the balance of my time.

Mr. ISSA. Mr. Speaker, I yield 5 minutes to the gentlewoman from California (Mrs. Bono Mack), the author of this important bill.

Mr. ISSA. Mr. Speaker, I object to the vote on the ground that a quorum is not present and make the point of order that a quorum is not present.

Mr. ISSA

Mr. ISSA. Mr. Speaker, I object to the vote on the ground that a quorum is not present and make the point of order that a quorum is not present.