Marcy Kaptur

Ms. KAPTUR

Ms. KAPTUR. Mr. Chairman, throughout the consideration of our bill at the subcommittee level and full committee level, we very, very much wanted to have a straightforward appropriation for continuation of the Global Food for Education program. Thus far we have been unable to achieve that in the base bill and have only been able to achieve report language that essentially says that we, as the Congress, expect that the Secretary of Agriculture will continue a program begun last year that is moving our surplus commodities and food commodities around the world to 38 countries, feeding over 9 million needy children. This program is a win-win for America's farmers and ranchers and definitely a win-win for hungry children around the world, including young girls who are encouraged to go to school and receive a decent ration in whatever country they might live. Unfortunately, in the base bill, there is not $300 million appropriated to continue this program straightforwardly. Rather, all we have is some language that says to the Secretary, ``We think it's a great idea; we hope you can figure out a way to continue the program; and we expect you to continue the program.'' The purpose of this amendment as drafted would be to symbolically take $1,700 from the Secretary's own accounts and to make those available to the Foreign Agricultural Service. Now, we know $1,700 is not a whole lot, you might be able to buy some stationery with that, but the number 1700 happens to be the number of the McGovern-Emerson bill, which is the bill that would permanently authorize this program for which we would appropriate necessary funds in any fiscal year. Now, the program as it currently operates is having a tremendous impact around the world. In fact, there are some countries where organizations are now building schools, albeit humble schools, maybe thatched roof schools, where children are coming to receive this food. It has gotten tremendous support from so many of our nongovernmental organizations, like Catholic Charities, like ACDI/VOCA, like Mercy Corps, like CARE, the very organizations that the World Food Program works through all across the world to feed those who are most in need. So the purpose of this amendment as drafted really is to say, look, why are we involved in this budget charade of saying to the Congress: if we directly appropriate $300 million, we can't do that because we break some sacrosanct budget rule here and, therefore, we can't appropriate real dollars. So we'll just put report language in the bill. Compare this to the other option that, well, if it goes over to the Secretary, she can spend the dollars out of the Commodity Credit Corporation and it doesn't score. I do not think there is a person in my district that would understand this kind of budget charade. So the purpose of this amendment is really to draw attention to what is happening here and to say that a large number of our Members on this side of the aisle really want this program to have permanently appropriated dollars. We want to be able to do that as a House. We are handcuffed in the procedures allowed through subcommittee and full committee in order to achieve that. It is not my intention to move forward with this amendment because I do not want to do a fig leaf. I want to do a real appropriation. But I want to use this amendment as a mechanism to allow others who support this program to speak and to, in the strongest language possible, let the administration know that we are serious. Quite frankly, as this bill moves to conference, it is my intention, working with some of my other colleagues, to bring this up in the other body.

Ms. KAPTUR. Mr. Chairman, I offer an amendment.

Ms. KAPTUR. Mr. Chairman, as we close down general debate, I want to state my sincere thanks to the gentleman from Texas (Mr. Bonilla) for his openness in working through this bill. He has been responsive to all of our Members. We have had some testy moments at the subcommittee and full committee levels, but we have managed to keep walking forward; and I congratulate the gentleman on this first bill that he has brought to the full House. Mr. Chairman, regarding the issue of Karnal bunt and the wheat supply in Texas, a couple of years ago post-NAFTA, we had a situation in Arizona and in Texas, and I believe even in parts of California, where it was suspected that this fungus had moved into our wheat supply. This is a really serious issue. It essentially can make our wheat product unexportable. Already we are having trouble in our wheat markets as China now exports to us more wheat than PNTR ever anticipated. Now we have this real contamination inside our country. We need USDA's attention to this issue. I am going to enter into the Record a Sunday, June 24 article from the Associated Press on this question. It explains one of the reasons we fought so hard in this budget and in this bill for additional help for the inspector general, additional help for the Animal, Plant Health Inspection Service so we could have timely inspections and also avoid of these problems in the first place. Mr. Chairman, this bill is not perfect. Let us hope as we move toward the Senate it can be made even better. But we ask for the membership's support. In closing down this general debate period, I would hope that we can move through the amendments in a very expeditious manner so Members can catch airplanes late tonight in order to get home. [From the Washington Post, June 24, 2001] USDA Wheat Disease Reaction Faulted growers say the spread of karnal bunt fungus could be crippling (By Roxana Hegeman) Anthony, Kan.--Bureaucratic bungling by the U.S. Department of Agriculture has allowed the spread of a plant disease that could prove as devastating to wheat exports as foot-and-mouth disease has been to European livestock, farm groups said. Wheat growers in Kansas, Oklahoma and Texas say the USDA responded too slowly to an outbreak of Karnal bunt at the southernmost edge of the nation's wheat belt just as harvest season was getting underway. Karnal bunt is a fungus that is harmless to people but sours the taste and smell of flour made from infected kernels. It also slightly cuts production in infected fields. The disease's main impact is economic: 80 countries ban imports of wheat grown in infected regions. That could be as crippling for American growers, who last year produced nearly $6 billion of wheat, as would be the discovery of foot-and-mouth disease in U.S. livestock, said Brett Myers, executive vice president of the Kansas Wheat Growers Association. Europe's foot-and-mouth outbreak has cost millions of dollars for the slaughter of some 3 million animals and a ban on exports. The suspected Karnal bunt contamination was first reported to the USDA on May 25, and Michael Bryant, co-owner of the elevator in Olney, Tex., that found it. But it was seven days before the USDA's Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service (APHIS) confirmed the finding, and 15 days passed before it quarantined the first affected counties. ``Their reaction to the situation was not as timely as we would have liked,'' said Kansas Agriculture Secretary Jamie Clover Adams. Charles P. Schwalbe, deputy director of APHIS's plant protection and quarantine program, said his agency sent the sample away for testing at a national lab instead of using a local one to make sure it had accurate and legally defensible information before taking action. ``The decisions that emerge . . . mean livelihood to people from time to time,'' Schwalbe said. The Karnal bunt found in Throckmorton and Young counties in Texas were the first confirmed cases in the nation's wheat belt, an area extending from central Texas to Alberta, Canada. On June 19, concern grew as the USDA added neighboring Archer County to the quarantined area, followed by Baylor County the next day. One elevator has also been quarantined in Fort Worth, about 150 miles southeast. Karnal bunt, which originated in India, was first detected in the United States in 1996 in Arizona and California. It has since spread to southern Texas and New Mexico. In Arizona the amount of land used to grow wheat dropped almost 50 percent after a quarantine was imposed in 1996 in four counties, according to the Arizona Agricultural Statistics Service. But Arizona is a minor durum wheat producer, and U.S. wheat growers have reassured overseas buyers that the disease was far from the nation's major winter wheat producing region. Winter wheat, which is planted in the fall and harvested in the spring, accounts for about two-thirds of U.S. wheat and is used primarily for bread. Durum wheat is used for pasta. With half the winter wheat going to the export market, the discovery of the disease at the southernmost edge of the nation's breadbasket just as the wheat harvest was moving north sent shock waves through the wheat belt. State regulators feared that custom harvesters--cutters who follow the ripening wheat harvest from Texas to the Canadian border--would spread the fungus. Oklahoma, just 50 miles from the two Texas counties where the disease was first discovered, immediately closed its borders and ordered combines coming into the state to be blocked and inspected. Harvesters from infected areas without a USDA certification of cleanliness were turned back. ``We need to preserve our heritage and our wheat industry. The spread of Karnal bunt in Texas should be considered a threat to Kansas wheat,'' said Kansas Gov. Bill Graves (R). Kansas is the nation's biggest wheat producer, with a $1 billion crop and nearly 10 million planted acres. Rep. Frank D. Lucas (R-Okla.) has been pursuing the issue after a request from growers for a congressional investigation into the USDA's handling. His office said he has not decided whether to ask for an inquiry. Mr. Chairman, I yield back the balance of my time.

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

Ms. KAPTUR. Mr. Chairman, I yield 3 minutes to the gentleman from Massachusetts (Mr. McGovern), who has fought so hard for the Global Food and Education Initiative.

Ms. KAPTUR. Mr. Chairman, I yield 3 minutes to the gentleman from Vermont (Mr. Sanders).

Ms. KAPTUR. Mr. Chairman, I yield myself 30 seconds to say, however, that the costs of remediating that should not only be borne by the public sector. That is, if we are going to have problems related to trade, those participating in trade ought to bear the costs of what goes wrong in the transaction. What has been happening within USDA is we have been transferring the cost of trade to the public sector, and the private entities that benefit have not been carrying their fair share of the load. So let us hope we can find a solution to that that is fair to all. Mr. Chairman, I yield 3 minutes to the gentlewoman from North Carolina (Mrs. Clayton), a very, very esteemed member of the authorizing committee, and one of the hardest-working Members of this Congress.

Ms. KAPTUR. Mr. Chairman, I would like to thank my chairman for generously yielding that minute, and I just want to say that I share the gentleman's deep concern about what this particular condition can do to our export market. We had a situation a couple of years ago where we had USDA officials up before our committee and we asked where on the continent does Karnal bunt exist. I said was it Canada? No, we do not have it in Canada. Is it in the United States? No, it is not in the United States. I said, how about Mexico? Absolutely. I said, How did it get over the border? And this goes back to NAFTA and these inspection issues. They could not say whether it came in seed in a car trunk or whether some bird carried it over. But, honestly, we have to work together to try to deal with the conditions that can come in here from other countries. I would just express to the chairman of the Subcommittee on Agriculture, Rural Development, Food and Drug Administration and Related Agencies, to the ranking member on the authorizing committee, and to the gentleman from Texas (Mr. Thornberry) that this Member is vitally interested in that problem, and he has my full cooperation on it.

Ms. KAPTUR. Mr. Chairman, will the gentleman yield?

Ms. KAPTUR. Mr. Chairman, I yield 1\1/2\ minutes to the gentleman from Georgia (Mr. Bishop), a distinguished member of the authorizing committee.

Ms. KAPTUR. Could I ask the gentleman if he has any additional speakers.

Ms. KAPTUR. Mr. Chairman, I yield 3 minutes to the gentleman from Florida (Mr. Boyd), a member of our subcommittee, a rancher, and one of the most knowledgeable members of our subcommittee.

Ms. KAPTUR. Mr. Chairman, I yield 3 minutes to the gentleman from New York (Mr. Hinchey), a member of our subcommittee who single-handedly turned this bill on end and was able to get language to deal with specialty crop producers across our country, a very, very hard-working and distinguished member of our subcommittee.

Ms. KAPTUR. Mr. Chairman, I yield 3 minutes to the gentlewoman from Connecticut (Mrs. DeLauro), a very hard-working and able member of our subcommittee.

Ms. KAPTUR. Mr. Chairman, I yield myself such time as I may consume. Mr. Chairman, let me rise to say that this is a good bill that, in fact, is getting better at every stage of the legislative process. The gentleman from Texas (Mr. Bonilla), chairman of the Subcommittee, and our committee staff have worked to draft a fair bill within tight budget allocations; but the underlying amounts in different sections of the bill are far from what is necessary, given many of the needs of rural America and our food assistance programs. This is the first bill managed by our new chairman, the gentleman from Texas (Mr. Bonilla). Let me congratulate him on his maiden voyage as chairman of the Subcommittee on Agriculture, Rural Development, Food and Drug Administration and Related Agencies and thank the gentleman for his cooperation throughout. What we all learn together, hopefully, will put us in a position to continue to work towards the best possible bill for America's future. I want to thank the subcommittee staff: Hank Moore; Martin Delgado; Maureen Holohan; Joanne Orndorff; Jim Richards; Roger Szemraj; and our detailee, Leslie Barrack. I also want to thank our new minority staff member, Martha Foley, very much for her hard work. Mr. Chairman, let us put this bill in perspective. To begin with, overall we have a spending level for 2002 of $74,360 billion of which $15,669 billion is discretionary spending, plus an additional $150 million for the Hinchey apple disaster provisions. Several times today already, each of us have been touched by agriculture and other agencies in this bill: the food that we have eaten; some of the fabrics we are wearing; perhaps, even the blended fuels that were used in the vehicles that brought us to work; or the medications or vitamins that we take on any day. We have been benefited by the research in this bill, by education and training, by inspection services that are operating at red alert levels now to keep hoof and mouth disease and mad cow disease out of this country, and by marketing services that take the bounty of this land around the world. Truly, this is the committee that is concerned about food, fiber, the fuels of the future, and the condition of our forests. Mr. Chairman, nearly 80 percent of the spending in this bill is mandatory spending, including our farm price support programs. Only one-fifth of the bill, 20 percent, is discretionary. Half of the spending in the bill is for food programs which keep America's people the best-fed people on Earth. The bill, as reported, is about $260 million in discretionary spending above the President's request, but a little more than $3 billion below this year's level due to the absence of natural disaster and other emergency farm provisions. Earlier, during the discussion on the rule, we discussed several improvements that should be included in this bill that amendments could make possible, but amendments that were denied in the Committee on Rules. There was an amendment offered by the gentlewoman from Connecticut (Ms. DeLauro) that would recognize that we need more money for the WIC program, the Women, Infants, and Children feeding program, due to the fact that participation is running 80,000 people more per month than the administration had expected predominantly due to higher unemployment levels. The amendment of the gentleman from New York (Mr. Hinchey) and others makes room for helping small specialty crop producers who are facing hard times. He has been successful in dealing with one sector, the apple sector, in this bill. My own effort adopted by the full committee insists that the integrity of producer votes is protected in the pork checkoff program. It directs funds be spent only on those programs that the producers have approved and this directive has been included in the final bill. Mr. Chairman, there are also other elements that we still need to work through as we amend here on the floor and then as we move to the Senate: one is the Global Food for Education program, which the gentleman from Massachusetts (Mr. McGovern) and the gentlewoman from Missouri (Mrs. Emerson) have championed here in the House; improved food safety and increased food inspection need more attention; also new biofuels funding, including ethanol, biodiesel, and biomass-related fuel production to help move America toward energy independence. There are six titles in this bill, and I just want to highlight a couple major points in each of those. In Title I, Agricultural Programs, we have been able to take the first steps to fund relocation of some of our important laboratories in Arizona, as well as consolidating and modernizing our key agricultural research facilities in Ames, Iowa. We are just so happy to be able to make progress there, the most important labs in our country that protect the entire livestock production in our Nation, as well as maintain the best veterinary service that the world knows. In the APHIS, Animal Planned Health Inspection Service, we have been able to improve by $2 million and increase the buildings account for a facility at the Miami International Airport. In our conservation programs, the NRCS has scored below the administration request by $25 million. In rural development in title III, the bill increases these important programs by $87 million over the research request, in the important account of water and wastewater disposal grants funding is included at a level of $75 million over the request. There is a million dollars included for rural cooperative development grants beyond the request, and $3 million to restore the rural telephone loan program that the administration proposed to end. In Title IV, Domestic Food Programs, the $18 million in increases above the request will help us to expand the TEFAP program, Temporary Emergency Food Assistance Program, and the Commodity Supplemental Food Program, looking at five new States, Wisconsin, Washington, Pennsylvania, South Dakota, and Missouri. I mentioned the sufficiency of the WIC program level a little bit earlier. We have to keep our eye on that particularly as we move towards conference with the Senate. In title V, we have provided a level of 9 million additional dollars in the PL480 title I program above the request level. In title VI in the Food and Drug Administration, we have provided more than $100 million over the 2001 enacted level. In addition, the bill includes a contingent appropriation of $2.9 million for continued funding of last year's prescription drug importation provision. Finally, I mentioned the pork checkoff and the apple programs as being included in the final bill that is coming to the floor. Overall, this bill is a good one and is getting better. It should be one that truly embraces the needs and the challenges of the 21st century. I will support it and encourage our colleagues to support it. But I also will definitely vote for a number of amendments being offered here on the floor today that can make this bill a hallmark of the best America can do when we as a Congress have the will to do. Mr. Chairman, I reserve the balance of my time.

Ms. KAPTUR

Ms. KAPTUR. Madam Speaker, I thank the esteemed ranking member for yielding time to me on this rule on our agriculture appropriation bill for the year 2002. Let me say that it has been a pleasure to work with our new chairman, the gentleman from Texas (Mr. Bonilla). We think we have perfected the bill as it has moved through subcommittee and full committee. Nonetheless, I must rise reluctantly to oppose this rule. We did go before the Committee on Rules to try to get the permission to offer amendments here on the floor today. We were refused. I wanted to go through a few of those amendments that we believe are worthy and would make this a much better bill. Probably one of the most important is the Global Food for Education initiative inspired by the work of Senators Bob Dole and George McGovern. It takes our school lunch program from this country and extends its concept abroad, using food to help over 9 million needy children in 38 countries to both promote their education and help them develop fully by having decent nutrition. We very much want to continue this program. We really believe that we allowed ourselves to become bottled up by artificial budget rules that prevented us from going on record to do what is right in this current bill. We would very much like to have this Global Food for Education program extended directly by Congress as a part of the regular order in this appropriation bill. The gentlewoman from Connecticut (Ms. DeLauro) will probably be speaking against the rule soon on the question of food safety and improved food inspection. On the surface, the bill before us looks like it provides more money for those needs, but it almost only pays costs to staff to hold on to what we have. Can anyone here really accept the fact that the Food and Drug Administration can barely inspect 1 percent of the products coming across our borders every day? That means 99 percent of imported product is not tested. Is that the gold standard of safety we hear so much about? And can we really believe that we have the information on the testing of practices like irradiation and enhanced food safety standards? No. In fact, in the subcommittee bill, we were able to get language on irradiation to do the kind of baseline studies that are necessary to assure irradiated food safety to consumers, but then those were stripped at the full committee level. In the area of biofuels funding, the Bush administration has made over 100 recommendations to try to help America move forward and become more energy independent, but not a single one of those recommendations asks the Secretary of Agriculture to do anything. Yet we know that ethanol and biofuels and fuels based on biomass are in our sustainable energy future and that the Department of Agriculture should not be exempt from this important national challenge. Finally, in the area of 4-H, we will be offering an amendment here on the floor to try to provide some of the initial funding for the measures that were passed here in the House this past week and in the Senate last week to celebrate the anniversary of 4-H. Let us put the money that is in the authorizing bill in this appropriation bill so that, in fact, there is no lapse of time. For all these reasons, I do oppose the rule and look forward to the debate on the bill as the afternoon proceeds. I thank the gentleman from Ohio for yielding me the time and the committee for allowing me this opportunity to speak against the rule.

Ms. KAPTUR

Ms. KAPTUR. Mr. Chairman, I thank the gentleman from Michigan (Mr. Bonior) for yielding me this time. Mr. Chairman, last week the Members of our body voted to send a message to the Bush administration that oil and water do not mix. The House voted overwhelmingly to stop offshore drilling off the coast of Florida by a vote of 247 to 164. Seventy Republicans joined 177 Democrats in a rebuke to the White House drilling policy. Nonetheless, Vice President Cheney claims that drilling can be conducted without environmental damage. Where does the administration stop in its single- minded desire to appease the oil and gas special interests? How many times do we have to send this message before the administration gets it? The Bonior-Stupak-Kaptur amendment is a message: hands-off the Great Lakes. The President and Vice President need to understand that the people of the Great Lakes region do not want drilling. In my State, our Republican Governor is opposed to drilling in the Great Lakes. So are both our Republican Senators and our congressional delegation. Lake Erie, Ohio's lake, is the shallowest of the Great Lakes and thus the most vulnerable to the administration's scheme. The Lake Erie shoreline, including the area in my congressional district, is a delicate ecosystem. Congressman Dingell and I are working on ways to protect it for generations into the future. To expose that fragile ecosystem to oil and gas drilling makes no sense. It is reckless policy. It is irresponsible. Our freshwater ecosystem is a powerful, competitive advantage for our economy and a priceless national and international resource that belongs to all the people, not to any special interest. For hundreds of years, even before the Northwest Territory was open, the Great Lakes have defined an entire region of our continent and the world. In the region, we see the Great Lakes as precious jewels. The administration sees another drilling platform. Please support the Bonior-Stupak-Kaptur amendment. Oil and water do not mix. [From the Anna Arbor News, June 19, 2001] Cheney: Drilling Could Cause No Harm protesters charge slant drills under lakes won't reduce oil dependence (By Karessa E. Weir, News Staff Reporter) GENOA TOWNSHIP.--In his first visit to Michigan since taking office, Vice President Dick Cheney said drilling under the Great Lakes can be done without environmental damage. As environmentalists protested outside Lake Pointe Manor banquet hall where he was speaking, Cheney said he supports searching for new sources of fuel. Possibly, he said, that could include the controversial plan to slant drill under the lakes. ``The technology in my judgment is extraordinarily good,'' Cheney said. ``I'd also like to remind everybody that we have a serious problem in our dependence on foreign (oil) sources.'' He added that to meet the country's electricity needs, between 1,300 and 1,900 new generators would have to be built for coal, gas and nuclear energy. ``Those are the three options for the foreseeable future,'' he said. ``The attractive features of coal are that we've got a lot of it . . . and it's cheap.'' Cheney was at the banquet hall south of Howell attending a $1,000-a-plate fund-raiser for Brighton Republican Mike Rogers. Outside, Dan Farough, program director for the Sierra Club and one of about 25 protesters, said continuing to put more federal money into coal-burning endeavors will hurt Michigan and the country without lowering reliance on imported oil. ``Michigan's lakes already are under an advisory for mercury. Where does he think the mercury comes from? It comes from the emissions of those dirty coal-fire plants,'' Farough said. ``He is pushing drilling in Alaska and in the Great Lakes but even if we kept all of what we could get, it would only lower our imports by 2 percent.'' Cheney, flanked by Rogers and Lt. Gov. Dick Posthumus, spent the day in Michigan, first touring General Motors Corp.'s Vehicle Emission Lab in Warren and then attending the fund-raiser. Cheney also spoke to about 500 people who paid $25 each to attend a rally at the banquet hall, where he touted the passage of the ``largest tax cut in a generation'' and efforts to reform Social Security and create a global missile defense system. ``We will not accept that the U.S. is undefended from ballistic missiles,'' Cheney said. Inside, the reception to Cheney was warmer. ``He's doing great,'' said Millie Geisert of Howell. ``He's bringing integrity and morality back to our country.'' In Warren, Cheney climbed into a fuel-cell vehicle and munched on popcorn produced by the excess energy of a hybrid truck. He said he was impressed by what he saw at the GM facility. ``I am . . . optimistic. With American technology and ingenuity there's no question we can solve any problems down the road,'' Cheney said. The tour came a week after GM announced a 25-year collaboration with General Hydrogen Corp., a pioneer in fuel- cell technology. GM hopes the partnership will accelerate the development of fuel-cell vehicles, which create electricity directly from a reaction between hydrogen and oxygen. The vehicles emit only water vapor from their tailpipes. Rick Wagoner, GM's president and CEO, applauded the Bush administration's energy plan. ``We believe the plan makes sense and believe the auto industry can help implement it,'' Wagoner said. Rogers, who defeated state Sen. Dianne Byrum, D-Onondaga, by 110 votes in November, garnered more than $350,000 for his campaign through the Cheney visit. He faces his first re- election bid in 2002. The Associated Press contributed to this report.

Ms. KAPTUR

Ms. KAPTUR. Mr. Speaker, on June 20, 2001 the House passed H. Res. 124 recognizing the importance of children in the United States and supporting the goals and ideals of American Youth. This piece of legislation was adopted by a unanimous vote of 424-0. I commend the U.S. House of Representatives on passing the resolution and believe that we all share the desire,to secure the safety and well being of all children in our great nation and abroad. More than a decade ago, the largest group of world leaders ever convened for the World Summit for Children to discuss their responsibility to children. At the end of the World Summit, 71 heads of state and other world leaders signed the World Declaration on Survival, Protection and Development of Children. The standards and obligations adopted place children center stage in the quest for a just, respectful and peaceful society. The leaders attending the summit also adopted a Plan of Action to achieve a set of precise, time-bound goals, including: Improving living conditions for children and their chances for survival by increasing access to health services; reducing the spread of preventable diseases; creating more opportunities for education; providing better sanitation and greater food supply; and protecting children in danger. To date, 192 states have ratified or signed the convention. The convention was ratified more quickly and by more countries than any previous human rights agreement. Unfortunately, the United States is not among the 192 nations that have joined in this historical convention, and no other industrialized nation has failed to make this legal commitment to children. As a Member of the United States Congress I am saddened and embarrassed that our great nation has not ratified this historical convention. Our nation's children are our future. The Convention on the Rights of the Child embodies the very principles our country was founded upon and only enforces the rights afforded to all children born in our great nation of life, liberty and pursuit of happiness. Ratification clearly signals a state's commitment to uphold standards of the convention and to respect, protect and fulfil the rights of children around the world. The House of Representatives commitment to the well being of our nation's children is exemplified through the unanimous passage of H. Res. 124. I urge the United States Senate, which has the sole power to ratify treaties, to act soon on this important matter and stand up for the rights of children worldwide.

Ms. KAPTUR

Ms. KAPTUR. Mr. Speaker, I thank the hardworking and able gentleman from Massachusetts (Mr. Tierney) for sponsoring this special order this evening, and it is a pleasure to join the gentlewoman from Illinois (Ms. Schakowsky) and the gentleman from New Jersey (Mr. Holt) and the gentleman from Wisconsin (Mr. Kind) and the gentleman from Texas (Mr. Doggett) in this important discussion. Today in Madrid, a reporter asked President Bush how he could reconcile his opposition to the Kyoto Treaty, an opposition that he says is based upon a lack of scientific evidence, with his support for Star Wars which is also not supported by scientific evidence. ``How do we know it is going to work?'' President Bush stated. ``Well, we have to spend the dollars on research and development.'' But I am sure President Bush is aware, he is not proposing only research and development. The Bush Star Wars proposal involves deployment of the system, not just research and development. Indeed, this shocking lack of scientific evidence is the Achilles' heel of the administration's single-minded pursuit of this system. As others have mentioned, a Star Wars program will cost our people over $50 billion or more and still counting, and that is only the first phase.

Ms. KAPTUR. Mr. Speaker, I think the gentleman raises a very good point. I do not think scarecrows work. Our experience over a decade ago with the MX missile proposal, and to have been a party to those debates to a system that first was proposed to be stationary, and then when they realized that is a sitting duck, maybe it was a scarecrow, I do not know, they said maybe we should put it on a train on a track and move it around. We eventually were able to defeat that and say that the real strength lay in our triad, and the fact that we had a mobile Navy, we had a mobile Air Force and the best trained Army in the entire world. We have to do better, but it does not make any sense to be throwing billions of dollars away on an unknown system; and, quite frankly, enraging our European allies and other allies around the world and ratcheting up the arms race without consultation by this ill-advised proposal. We know that the scientific evidence is not there, and we always have been pushing for what kind of system are we talking about. What is this thing going to do? Here in Congress we are often given the argument we cannot solve a problem simply by throwing money at it, whether it is agriculture, child poverty, prescription drugs, we cannot just throw money at these problems. But with Star Wars, it seems to be different. Just throw enough money at it, and we will be lucky if something works in the end. Do not test the system against the full range of countermeasures and do not develop a fully integrated prototype before protection, and do not require an adequate testing program. Just spend $50 billion. Mr. Speaker, we do not have that luxury because we have a $5 trillion debt overhang in this economy, and we are dealing with precious taxpayer dollars. Others have talked about health care and education and the environment and prescription drugs for our senior citizens, money to update our food safety systems, all of the money to strengthen Medicaid and Medicare. Mr. Speaker, if we go around and look at the real strength of this country in our Armed Forces, it is those who choose to serve America, dedicated young men and women living in some of the worst housing conditions anywhere in the world, including right here in the Nation's Capital. If we are going to have the best armed men and women systems in the world, my goodness, should we not be paying attention to those already serving. Mr. Speaker, why are our adjutants general from around the country complaining about too many missions with not enough money? We have to take care of what we are asked to do today, not throw away money on deployment of a system that nobody ever fully understood. I had military retirees come up to me and say, ``Why did we have to take cuts in benefits? Why are people who served our country put in a different position in terms of retirement than those who have served on the civilian side? The budget that the administration has produced will not meet all of the health care needs that our veterans have across this country. We have them classified, A, B, C, D. Everybody is on a different platform in terms of veterans' health services. We have 25.6 million veterans in this country. We have to pass a good budget to serve them, and we have to do what is right and put America's priorities in order. Truly, this Star Wars proposal is a misplaced priority. Mr. Speaker, I thank the gentleman for allowing me to share in this special order.

Ms. KAPTUR

Ms. KAPTUR. Mr. Speaker, I wanted to thank the gentleman from Massachusetts (Mr. McGovern) for bringing us all together today on behalf of this resolution, and also the gentleman from California (Mr. Dreier), the chairman of the Committee on Rules. We all loved Joe Moakley, and it is among the highest privileges of my career to express the deepest appreciation for his life on behalf of the people of Ohio's 9th District, extending sympathy also to the people of Massachusetts' 9th District, indeed the people of the entire State of Massachusetts, to his relatives, to his good friends, many, many of them here in this House. We all deeply admire the life of this golden-hearted gentleman from Massachusetts, Joe Moakley. I truly, as one who served with him for 19 years, will deeply miss him, will miss his presence on this floor, usually sitting here or usually sitting here, but always accessible to all the Members and always making us feel a part of a family. I think it was interesting for Members not from Massachusetts to watch how all of the Members from Massachusetts would gravitate around him. It was a lesson to all of us about how to build family in one's own delegations. It is a lesson, I think, that is not lost on any of us. For myself, on Memorial Day, the day of his passing from this life, I happened to travel to Vietnam and did not have access to the news for almost a week. I dedicated my presence in Vietnam during a ceremony at which we returned the suspected remains of two of America's service members from the Vietnam era to our government. I dedicated my presence in his honor, and not until I was flying back home several days later and picked up the newspaper did I realize that he had died on Memorial Day. It hit me very, very hard. When I think of him, I think of the words love and affection, a gentleman with no affectations, someone who had such great perseverance in every aspect of his life. I remember how he weathered the loss of his wife, which is a loss I know that he felt every day, and that he had the type of bearing that automatically drew respect from all those that he met. There are many people who teach us how to live, but I have to say also, Joe Moakley took some of the most difficult moments that any human being could experience, and he weathered them here with us, with his friends on this floor. He taught each of us how to die. He had such strength. He had such greatness to him that even those of us who saw him just a few weeks ago down here on this floor could not even imagine he was ill. Yet, none of that difficulty did he share in any verbal way. He maintained that sense of inner strength and outer strength and gave us the strength to walk alongside him as he journeyed in his last days on this earth. I shall never forget him. He made me, I hope, a better Member of this House and a better Representative. I want to thank the people of Massachusetts for sending him here to serve the people of the United States in the cause of freedom. He did it ably, and he did it with dispatch. He did it every day. He made each of us better through knowing him.

Ms. KAPTUR

Ms. KAPTUR. Mr. Speaker, I rise today to congratulate the 180th Fighter Wing and the 555th Air Force Band (ANG), both stationed in the Ninth Congressional District in Swanton, Ohio. On April 7, 2001, the Air Force awarded the 180th Fighter Wing and the 555th Air Force Band the 2000 Outstanding Unit Award. This citation recognizes the 180th Fighter Wing for service to America over a two-year span from June 1998 to May 2000. During that time, the brave men and women of this unit twice participated in overseas deployments to enforce the non-fly zone in Northern Iraq. Participating in Operation Northern Watch Joint Task Force based at Incirlik Air Base in Turkey, the unit completed 138 flights, often under hostile fire in the form of Iraqi surface-to-air missiles and anti-aircraft artillery. They successfully destroyed predetermined targets, resulting in a significant reduction of the threat capabilities in Northern Iraq. Moreover, the 180th Fighter Wing led the Ohio and Hungary Partnership for Peace, an initiative aimed at helping the former Soviet Block nation prepare for entry into the North Atlantic Treaty Organization. The unit trained with the Hungarian Air Force as they adjusted to their new role in the NATO Alliance. This award, however, recognizes more than just exceptional performance in battle. The Outstanding Unit Award attests to the excellence of this Unit's Standardization and Evaluation, Safety, Health Services, and Environmental Programs. Members of the 180th Fighter Wing and 555th AFB were deployed to Honduras to construct shelters for victims of Hurricane Mitch. Closer to home, they assisted with flood relief along the Ohio River. There, they cleared roads, removed trash and provided safe drinking water to victims. The unit also provided medics and physicians to assist victims as well as performed field media relations, giving citizens time-sensitive information about health, safety and flood cleanup. The 180th later deployed 43 people to Camp Dodge, Iowa to repair several facilities damaged by tornadoes. By using their plumbing, electrical, structural, engineering and heavy machinery skills, the unit saved the Army $160,000 in labor costs--the largest saving by any such group to date. Finally, I must commend the 180th Fighter Wing and all its members for the community involvement and humanitarian services provided, not just over the last two years, but also throughout its residence in Northwest Ohio. This unit is actively involved in multiple charitable, community and youth programs throughout the region. They have tutored and mentored students at two area schools under the Adopt a School Program, raised funds for Big Brothers/Big Sisters, participated in Operation Feed through the Toledo Seagate Food Bank which donated 4,938 food items and $9,953 through that period, and created an internship program for the Ohio School to Work program. No doubt: the 180th Fighter Wing and 555th AFB are outstanding in every sense of the word. Whether flying dangerous missions overseas, assisting in disaster relief at home or volunteering free time to teach a child how to read, these men and women perform beyond expectations. Their courage and commitment to the community, as well as their jobs, is unparalleled. We in the 9th Congressional District of Ohio are honored to have such a dedicated, professional and exemplary unit represent our nation here and abroad.

Ms. KAPTUR

Ms. KAPTUR. Mr. Chairman, the relationship between student mobility, or transiency, and academic performance warrants significant national attention. In certain neighborhoods, especially in our inner cities and migrant family situations, rates of family mobility bear a direct correlation to student underachievement. According to a 1994 GAO study on student transiency, 41 percent of all third graders from low-income families in America have attended at least two schools. Nearly one- fifth of all third graders, nearly one-half million students, have attended three or more schools since the first grade. Lacking permanent shelter of their own, these children and their parents, oftentimes single heads of household, move from place to place throughout the school year. Forced to migrate between the homes of kind relatives and friends, the children of these families are uprooted from the neighborhood elementary school with every move, until the next move to yet another temporary location, usually in another nearby neighborhood. Our Nation's migrant farm workers know too well the constant stress of moving from community to community and taking their children out of school multiple times during the school year. Transient and migrant families need stability for their children to succeed in school. Mr. Chairman, I will be placing in the Record key findings from the GAO study that documented this phenomenon, Elementary School Children: Many Change Schools Frequently, Harming Their Education, and also key articles from the Catalyst for Cleveland Schools. Both support the findings that residential instability is the key corollary to poor student performance. The revolving door for mobile students, many experts say, has been ignored for too long by educators who accept the notion that there is little they can do about it. But with rising consciousness of these disruptive patterns, local school systems have begun to focus on how to address mobility with specific programs targeted to help these multiple-move families. As we take H.R. 1 to conference with the Senate, it is my hope we can work together to address this issue. During committee markup, the gentleman from Ohio (Mr. Kucinich) offered an amendment to deal with this problem. The gentlewoman from Cleveland, Ohio (Mrs. Jones) knows the critical need for attention to this destabilizing pattern. I look forward to working with the chairman, the gentleman from Ohio (Mr. Boehner), and the ranking member, the gentleman from California (Mr. George Miller), who have been so kind, to offer any assistance I might provide.

Ms. KAPTUR. Mr. Chairman, I thank the chairman and the ranking member, and I submit for the Record the material I referred to earlier. Letter Report from General Accounting Office February 4, 1994. Hon. Marcy Kaptur, House of Representatives. Dear Ms. Kaptur: The United States has one of the highest mobility rates of all developed countries; annually, about one-fifth of all Americans move. Elementary school children who move frequently face disruption to their lives, including their schooling. And, sadly, these children are often not helped to adjust to the disruption of a new school--new children, teachers, and principal--and to make sense of the variations in curriculum between the old school and the new. The success of children who change schools frequently may therefore be jeopardized. In addition, as the schools pay greater attention to high academic standards, advocated by national and state leaders, these children may face increased difficulty in achieving success. In response to these concerns, you asked us to obtain information on children who change schools frequently: (1) their number and characteristics, (2) their success in school relative to children who have never changed schools, (3) the help that federal educational programs, such as Migrant Education and Chapter 1, provide, and (4) the help that improved student record systems could provide.

Ms. KAPTUR

Ms. KAPTUR. Mr. Speaker, I thank the gentleman from Arizona (Mr. Stump), Chairman of the Committee on Armed Services, who is my good friend, and the gentleman from Illinois (Mr. Evans), the ranking member of the full committee, a member from my own class for whom I have the highest regard, for yielding the time to me. Mr. Speaker, I rise in very strong support of the Senate resolution that has come back to us in support of constructing the World War II Memorial on our avenue of democracy where it belongs. I think it is especially historic in that this is the first year of the new century and the new millennium which allows us some perspective in looking back and recognizing that the victory of liberty over tyranny was the fulcrum of the 20th century. As we look at that Mall and we think about the history of this Nation, we have the Washington Monument; yes, a monument to a person, but, more importantly, a monument to the founding of our republic. Then not so far from it on the Mall, the Lincoln Memorial; yes, a memorial to a person, a great person, but also a memorial to the preservation of our union. Now, for the 20th century, we add to this expression of the history of the United States a memorial to the victory of liberty over tyranny. The 18th, 19th, and 20th century come together at one moment, in fact, in the revised design of this new memorial. There will be a light fixture in the central sculpture within the Rainbow Falls that will cast itself on the Reflecting Pool from the Lincoln Memorial at the exact place where the Washington Monument's shadow is cast in the reflecting pool in a way that the 18th, 19th, and 20th century all come together in celebration of freedom. This is exactly the place where this memorial belongs. In fact, if you walk the Mall today, the disrepair of the Rainbow Fountains is a disgrace. And so, the improvements that will be made with the refined design will elevate us all as a people and the expression of our own history. I believe, along with all the others who have spoken, that the gentlewoman from the District of Columbia (Ms. Norton) and those who have expressed some concerns about the design have been involved in the refinement and improvement of this expression of a free people. Thank goodness we have had over 22 public hearings, various approvals of the Fine Arts Commission and the National Capital Planning Commission, because with every step, it has become better, as it should. On this Memorial Day that we will celebrate next week, we honor all veterans, all freedom lovers, certainly the 16 million World War II veterans who made our freedom and our ability to stand on this floor today as a free people possible. We also remember the 5 million who still are living today and whom we hope will see our seriousness in celebrating and commemorating what they have done for the world. Whoever would have thought that we would live at a time or we would have witnessed the fall of the Berlin Wall, and brand new nations emerge with a chance, just a chance, for independence as Eastern and Central Europe come online. Imagine we are able to even e-mail people that we could not even talk to 20 years ago or 40 years ago. What an incredible new moment this is in the history of humankind. I want to thank all of the Presidents, and there have now been three: President George Bush back in the 1980s, who signed the original authorizing legislation for the memorial; President Bill Clinton, who signed the memorial coins that were minted to pay the costs for the beginning of the memorial's planning; and now, our new President George W. Bush, who has endorsed the construction of this memorial. President Clinton stood with us as we dedicated the ground. I am sure President George W. Bush will be there when the memorial is finally constructed. I want to thank the Secretary of Veterans' Affairs, Anthony Principi, for the good words that he spoke this morning in support of this memorial. So as we think about the importance of this place in American history, let us remember the significance of what these greatest Americans, this greatest generation of Americans, did for the freedom of humankind. Let us build this memorial in a timely way as the 21st century's way of saying thank you to the 20th century and its champions.