Mark Kirk

Mr. KIRK

Mr. KIRK. Mr. Speaker, I move that the House do now adjourn.

Mr. KIRK

Mr. KIRK. Mr. Chairman, a base in my district was the poster child for the first base closings bill. People back home demanded that the base be saved, but it was closed and our civilian economy took off. Over $300 million was invested in that community by the new housing and activity at the closed base. We lost another base in the second base closings bill. New investment there was not $300 million; it was $800 million in new investment. Over 20,000 soldiers are needed for the war on terror, but instead soldiers guard bases we do not need. We are at war, and it is time for the Congress to treat the military budget as a defense bill and not a jobs bill. Base closings save the taxpayer $1.7 billion and the next round will save $3 billion. This amendment supports the policy of President Bush, Secretary Rumsfeld, and Joint Chiefs Head General Myers. We need more beans and bullets for Americans in uniform, not pointless guard duty outside an empty building at a base that died long ago.

Mr. KIRK

Mr. KIRK. Mr. Chairman, I rise in support of the Davis amendment authored by the distinguished gentlewoman from San Diego, the Pacific home of the United States Navy. When I put on the uniform, I did it to defend the Constitution and the rights it protects for Americans. I must say that I have an emotional attachment to the rights of Americans in uniform. Our current law denies reproductive rights for women in uniform, just when they need it most, when they are deployed overseas. I was stationed at Incirlik Air Base in Turkey for part of Operation Northern Watch against Iraq. The thought of forcing my fellow women in uniform to seek care in some Turkish clinic when we have a perfectly good U.S. military hospital on base is a tragedy. Imagine when you need care most being forced to communicate in Turkish or Korean or Arabic to get care guaranteed to you by the United States Supreme Court. Women in uniform should have equal rights. No, no. Women in uniform should have more than equal rights, especially when they are on the frontier of freedom.

Mr. KIRK

Mr. KIRK. Mr. Speaker, yesterday a Member of Congress led the House in the Pledge of Allegiance using his own personal version. He left the phrase out ``under God'' from our Pledge. While he may not love ``under God'' in our country's pledge, God still loves him. God still loves him.

Mr. KIRK

Mr. KIRK. Mr. Speaker, I rise today to express my congratulations to a business leader from the 10th Congressional District of Illinois, Mr. William F. Aldinger, CEO of Household International--and now HSBC North America--on his recognition by the Friends of Adam Smith (FOAS) for the 2004 Business Citizen medal tonight. I have had the pleasure to get to know Bill over the past several years and I am thrilled the FOAS has recognized his leadership in community service, involvement and public policy. By visiting their headquarters in Prospect Heights, Illinois, to learn how they serve over 50 million customers, I have seen how Household has helped empower its employees to play a more active role in politics and good government by conducting internal voter registration drives. With almost 6,000 employees in Illinois--and 50,000 throughout the United States--I have seen first hand how Household-HSBC is active in their community under Bill's leadership. Whether with Junior Achievement, the American Cancer Society, Neighborhood Housing Services of Chicago, Habitat for Humanity and many more, Household-HSBC employees are constantly working to make their communities better places to live. Finally, I believe the Business Citizen medal is not just an award for Bill Aldinger, but all his employees. Congratulations Bill, and all members of the Household-HSBC North America team, and keep up the great work.

Mr. KIRK

Mr. KIRK. Mr. Speaker, today I introduced legislation authorizing the Secretary of the Navy to transfer ownership of environmentally sensitive land at the former Fort Sheridan, Illinois, to a nonprofit organization whose mission is to preserve the environment. This bill will preserve some of the last remaining pristine wilderness along the lakeshore north of Chicago for generations to come. The bluffs, ravines, and beachfront at Fort Sheridan are a treasure that deserves to be protected. Preserving this land as a park will benefit not only the people of the surrounding communities, but the hundreds of military families who make their home at the Fort. The Secretary of the Navy, Gordon England, is committed to making the Navy a good steward of the environment and he understands the responsibilities associated with control of large parcels of government-owned land. This bill not only will ensure the preservation of the land, it also relieves the Navy of the responsibility for maintaining property that has no military value. As urban sprawl and development pushes outward from our cities, our military bases are quickly becoming some of the last wide open, wild spaces. This encroachment pushes countless species onto these bases, making it even more important to conserve these critical ecosystems. I will continue working to find practical ways to protect and preserve the environment and critical habitats in the Great Lakes.

Mr. KIRK

Mr. KIRK. Mr. Speaker, I would like to congratulate Dr. C. Douglas Parks on his retirement from the Aptaskistic-Tripp School District 102 in Buffalo Grove, Illinois. After thirteen years as Superintendent and nearly forty years in public education, Dr. Parks is retiring, committed in both belief and practice to that idea that all children can learn. The vision and leadership he has provided ensure that School District 102 is and will continue to be a world class learning environment. During Dr. Parks' tenure, he worked to expand opportunities for learning for all children, believing that every student should have a supportive environment, every student should be involved both individually and collectively in learning, and that every student can be empowered through learning. He has remained committed to developing a foundation of respect, pursuit of excellence, accountability, fairness, trustworthiness and honesty in his district. Besides applying these principles to academics, he is also committed to improving the quality of life for his students, because he believes that the learning environment has no boundaries. I would like to extend my thanks to Dr. Parks for being such a positive influence in District 102, and wish him all the best in his future endeavors.

Mr. KIRK

Mr. KIRK. Mr. Speaker, it is with great honor that I congratulate The Friends of the Des Plaines Public Library on their 50th anniversary. They have enriched the town of Des Plaines, Illinois for the last 50 years as an integral support system for the Des Plaines Public Library. In April of 1954, a planning committee of the American Association of the University Women founded The Friends of the Des Plaines Public Library. They have been active in expanding the Des Plaines Library since The Friends' inception, most recently helping with a move to a larger building in 2000. The Friends' original purpose was to stimulate public interest in the library, as well as collect data on the history of the town. Today they also provide extra financial support for the library for items not normally available through conventional budgetary provisions. The Friends raises funds using semi-annual book sales, and uses them to support programs and purchase items for the library, such as a microfiche reader, display cases, original artwork, a sound system, and other items. In 1957 The Friends were involved in the Library's 50th anniversary, and compiled a large file on the history of Des Plaines from 1833 on, including photographs, family histories, and industrial development. This compilation has since become a part of the Des Plaines Historical Society. Since moving into the new library in 2000 The Friends has donated, supported, funded and purchased items for more than $53,000. In honor of their 50th Anniversary and all The Friends that have come before them, they will be presenting the Library with a bronze statue of Abraham Lincoln. This statue was sculpted in 1933 for the Chicago World's Fair by Guido Rebechini, and will go in the library's atrium on permanent display. Thank you, The Friends of the Des Plaines Public Library, for all your hard work for the library and your community. Your constant dedication and commitment is worthy of the highest commendation. Best wishes on your 50th Anniversary.

Mr. KIRK

Mr. KIRK. Mr. Speaker, I would like to congratulate Mr. C. Douglas Parks on his retirement from the Aptaskistic-Tripp School District 102 in Buffalo Grove, Illinois. After thirteen years as Superintendent and nearly forty years in public education, Mr. Parks is retiring, committed in both belief and practice to that idea that all children can learn. The vision and leadership he has provided ensure that School District 102 is and will continue to be a world class learning environment. During Mr. Parks' tenure, he worked to expand opportunities for learning for all children, believing that every student should have a supportive environment, every student should be involved both individually and collectively in learning, and that every student can be empowered through learning. He has remained committed to developing a foundation of respect, pursuit of excellence, accountability, fairness, trustworthiness and honesty in his district. Besides applying these principles to academics, he is also committed to improving the quality of life for his students. Recently, he supported an innovative nutrition education initiative for healthier living. I would like to extend my thanks to Mr. Parks for being such a positive influence in District 102, and wish him all the best in his future endeavors.

Mr. KIRK

Mr. KIRK. Mr. Chairman, I yield myself such time as I may consume. Mr. Chairman, in 1994, Congress passed an unfunded mandate on most local communities in America that maintain quiet zones in their communities. When the regulations were first drafted, they would require trains entering the City of Chicago to blow their train horns on entering the city until arriving into the station. This upset the people of Chicago. It upset the Mayor of Chicago. One university study showed that the original train whistle regulation would trigger so much noise pollution in our communities that it caused property losses to rise to $1 billion in Chicago lands alone. A redraft of this regulation offered some help, but at first glance the cost of implementing this regulation for Chicago communities rose from $4 million to at least twice that. My amendment would not change Federal safety standards, but it would allow a State to implement this regulation. Half of all quiet zones are in Illinois. This is an important issue to my constituents, to the Speaker's and to Ranking Minority Member Lipinski's. Mr. Chairman, I had intended to offer this amendment today that would give governors the option of enforcing train quiet zone standards at this level. However, I will ask unanimous consent to withdraw my amendment but would ask the chairman of our subcommittee to engage me in a colloquy on this.

Mr. KIRK. Mr. Chairman, many of our communities have quiet zones to protect their environment from needless noise pollution by trains. The Federal Government is poised to put forward a regulation that eliminates our local community quiet zones unless new, expensive, and very complicated rules are met. Mr. Chairman, I hope we can work together to address this issue in conference so that local communities are not overburdened with unfunded Federal mandates and cumbersome Federal regulations.

Mr. KIRK. Mr. Chairman, I renew my unanimous-consent request to withdraw the amendment.

Mr. KIRK. Mr. Chairman, I yield to the gentleman from Illinois.

Mr. KIRK. Mr. Chairman, I offer an amendment.

Mr. KIRK

Mr. KIRK. Mr. Speaker, I rise today to recognize 183 years of the Greek people's freedom and independence, and their noble revolution from the Ottoman Empire in March of 1821. As Greeks and Greek-Americans celebrate Greek Independence Day, I join them and my colleagues in recognizing this great nation. Nearly 400 years ago, the Greek people embarked on a powerful revolution against the Ottoman oppressors. The ancient Greeks forged a mighty wave of democracy and freedom following the fall of Constantinople, culminating with Bishop Germanos of Patras raising the Greek flag at Agia Lavras. Today, 183 years after Greece's successful and bold revolution, she continues to prove herself a loyal ally of the United States, while standing firm in her advocacy of democracy and freedom. Greece is one of only three nations in the world beyond those of the former British Empire to be allied with the United States in every major conflict of the 20th Century. The United States is fortunate to have such a longstanding and reliable ally. As we continue to eradicate the global threat of terror, Greece again stands firm with the United States. Our efforts in the war against terror would not be as successful without the continued assistance from our allies in Greece. I join my colleagues in saluting and thanking the Greek people on this 183rd year of freedom and independence. To Greece, our free and democratic ally: ``Cronia polla hellas''.

Mr. KIRK

Mr. KIRK. Madam Speaker, I believe the Federal Government must return to a balanced budget, not just as a goal of sound financial policy, but also as the sacred moral fulfillment of commitments that we have made to the American people. I am pleased to be joined here by my colleague, the gentleman from Wisconsin (Mr. Ryan), who has joined across the ideological spectrum of our party to make sure that we have a budget that not only cuts the deficit, but that is enforced to make sure that the commitments we make under that budget are actually fulfilled. I yield to my colleague, the gentleman from Wisconsin.

Mr. KIRK. Madam Speaker, if the gentleman will yield, before we go into some of the other reforms we have talked about, people have asked, if the Republican leadership is in control of Congress, why can it not enforce its own rules? What we have seen time and time again is the leadership many times is defeated by a majority on the House floor. This is a lot easier if we make a supermajority requirement to enforce the decisions that we have already made.

Mr. KIRK. Madam Speaker, the example of the rain forest is a powerful one that we focused on. But we have another reform that we have seen difficulties with: a line-item veto, which allows the President to identify pork barrel spending and eliminate it. But we have a fix.

Mr. KIRK. Madam Speaker, this is the same way that we now close military bases, which was so difficult before. We also talked about how, in the budget presentation to us, that the executive branch, the budgeteers, automatically include an inflation adjustment, so that we do not actually see clearly some of the increases that are in the budget.

Mr. KIRK. We have that to make sure that we show that what you got last year is higher than what you have got the previous year. This year is higher than what you got last year. But we have a number of other problems in presenting the financial condition of the budgets. And that is that, as yet, we do not have a good picture of the full debts and liabilities of the Federal Government.

Mr. KIRK. We have that. We also are talking about changing the rules of Congress. There are some rules of the Congress that are never waived. Any Member can raise a point of personal privilege, and that has never been touched. But there are other rules of the Congress that are routinely waived. We make changes to affect the budget.

Mr. KIRK. Madam Speaker, if I understand correctly, the gentleman is saying that minority members of the committee offered amendments that would have cost the taxpayers an extra $28 billion, which the Republicans defeated?

Mr. KIRK. Now, we are talking about a basic principle that should be obvious to everyone. The rules should be the rules. But we have embodied these ideas in a number of pieces of legislation. I wonder if the gentleman could talk about his bill that has come out.

Mr. KIRK. I want to applaud the gentleman for his bill, which is now approaching 80 cosponsors. The companion legislation that I have introduced has 17. So we are now on our way to almost half of Republican Conference supporting comprehensive budget reform. These reforms have been agreed to by dozens of Members on our side of the aisle and some Democrats because it is essential that this be a bipartisan reform effort to make sure that the rules really are the rules, to remove the spending bias in the Federal Government, so that we can get ahold of the spending picture and present it clearly to the American people; and to also make sure that we can root out some traditional, ages-long pork barrel spending included by the Congress, which a few powerful Members can support, but the body as a whole would never support, for example, a rain forest in Iowa City. For us, it is important that we not only put forward these reform principles, but we put them in a broad principle, across party lines, and make sure that in the coming days we have not only passed a budget, but we pass legislation which allows easy enforcement of the budget. The budget should not be difficult to enforce. It should be very easy to enforce by a group of dedicated Members, fiscal conservatives who are watching the long-term bottom line of the U.S. Government.

Mr. KIRK. I thank the gentleman for participating in this. First, I think this is critical that we not only vote on a good budget this week, but that we bring up our legislation for budget reform in the coming weeks