Mark Kirk

Mr. KIRK

Mr. KIRK. Mr. Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may consume. This bill has the support of the gentleman from Alaska (Mr. Young), chairman of the Committee on Transportation and Infrastructure; the gentleman from Minnesota (Mr. Oberstar), the ranking minority member; the gentleman from Florida (Mr. Mica), the chairman of the Subcommittee on Aviation; the gentleman from Illinois (Mr. Lipinski), the ranking minority member; Illinois' Governor, a Republican; Chicago's mayor, a Democrat; the chamber of commerce and the AFL-CIO. It has no objection from the Sierra Club and was scheduled on the floor by Speaker Hastert and Minority Leader Gephardt. It eliminates delays, not just at O'Hare but over 100 airports connecting through O'Hare. It is the right thing to do. I urge adoption of the legislation. Mr. Speaker, I am inserting for the Record an exchange of letters between the gentleman from Alaska (Mr. Young) and the gentleman from New York (Mr. Boehlert) regarding H.R. 3479. U.S. House of Representatives, Committee on Science, Washington, DC., July 12, 2002. Hon. Don Young, Chairman, Committee on Transportation and Infrastructure, House of Representatives, Washington, DC. Dear Mr. Chairman. The Committee on Transportation and Infrastructure has had under consideration H.R. 3479 the National Aviation Capacity Expansion Act. In that bill there is a provision which falls under the jurisdiction of the Committee on Science. Specifically, that provision is a sense of Congress amendment which would ask that the Federal Aviation Administration expend monies for research and development for noise mitigation programs. By waiving consideration of H.R. 3479 the Committee on Science does not waive any of its jurisdictional rights and prerogatives. I ask that you would support our request for conferees on H.R. 3479 or similar legislation if a conference should be convened with the Senate. I also ask that our exchange of letters be included in your committee's report and also in the Congressional Record. I look forward to working with you on this and other important pieces of legislation. Sincerely, Sherwood Boehlert, Chairman. U.S. House of Representatives, Committee on Transportation and Infrastructure, Washington, DC, July 12, 2002. Hon. Sherwood L. Boehlert, Chairman, Committee on Science, Washington, DC. Dear Mr. Chairman. Thank you for your letter of July 12, 2002, regarding H.R. 3479, the National Aviation Capacity Expansion Act, and for your willingness to waive consideration of provisions in the bill that fall within your Committee's jurisdiction under House rules. I agree that your waiving consideration of relevant provisions of H.R. 3479 does not waive your Committee's jurisdiction over the bill. I also acknowledge your right to seek conferees on any provisions that are under your Committee's jurisdiction during any House-Senate conference on H.R. 3479 or similar legislation, and will support your request for conferees on such provisions. Your letter and this response will be included in the Congressional Record during consideration on the House Floor. Thank you for your cooperation in moving this important legislation. Sincerely, Don Young Chairman.

Mr. KIRK. Mr. Speaker, the majority will close.

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

Mr. KIRK. Mr. Speaker, I yield 3 minutes to the gentleman from Florida (Mr. Mica), the distinguished chairman of the Subcommittee on Aviation, my chairman, a supporter of this bill.

Mr. KIRK. Mr. Speaker, I move to suspend the rules and pass the bill (H.R. 3479) to expand aviation capacity in the Chicago area, as amended.

Mr. KIRK. Mr. Speaker, out of deference to my friend and colleague, the gentleman from Illinois (Mr. Lipinski), I would like him to control 10 minutes of the time available to me during the debate.

Mr. KIRK. Mr. Speaker, I yield myself 2 minutes. Mr. Speaker, I am a proud cosponsor of this legislation. I want to thank the gentleman from Illinois (Mr. Lipinski) for authoring it and Speaker Hastert for calling it to the floor. O'Hare is our Nation's busiest airport. More passengers use O'Hare International Airport than New York's LaGuardia, Washington's Reagan, and Boston's Logan Airports combined. O'Hare is an engine of economic growth, affecting jobs and income for thousands of Illinois families. Experts say when O'Hare gets a cold, other airports get pneumonia. Delays at O'Hare leave travelers stranded around the world. Today, scheduled departures at O'Hare have only a two-thirds chance of actually leaving on time. Without modernization, air travelers will continue to be delayed and Chicago's economy will stall. This legislation does not impose a Washington solution. Illinois is one of only two States that requires the Governor's approval for runway modification. We have that approval. This legislation ratifies a historic agreement between Chicago's Democratic mayor and the Republican Governor of Illinois. It represents a local agreement made by elected officials who showed leadership. Enactment of this legislation unlocks over $6 billion in economic development, overwhelmingly paid for from private, not public, funds. The new airport will use parallel runways that are safer than the intersecting runways we use today. The new plan will help reduce airport noise over Arlington Heights, Mount Prospect and Palatine. To the leaders of the O'Hare Noise Compatibility Commission, Mayor Arlene Mulder and Mayor Rita Mullins, our plan opens the way for more work on enhanced noise control programs, soundproofing for schools, and research into super quiet Stage IV aircraft, issues for which they have fought for years. Our plan upholds environmental safeguards and improves the quality of life for people in northern Illinois by reducing noise and making the airport more efficient. This legislation represents cooperation and collaboration between Republicans and Democrats, both in Illinois and in Washington. Tonight, half of the Congress will say ``yes'' to O'Hare and provide a strong impetus for the Senate to make this project a reality before Congress adjourns. I urge adoption of this legislation, and I compliment the gentleman from Illinois (Mr. Lipinski), my partner on this effort. Mr. Speaker, I reserve the balance of my time.

Mr. KIRK. Mr. Speaker, I yield 1\1/2\ minutes to the distinguished gentleman from Illinois (Mr. Manzullo), the chairman of the Committee on Small Business, another bipartisan supporter of this legislation.

Mr. KIRK

Mr. KIRK. Mr. Speaker, I ask unanimous consent that all Members may have 5 legislative days within which to revise and extend their remarks and include extraneous material on H.R. 3479.

Mr. KIRK

Mr. KIRK. Mr. Speaker, the HIV epidemic is making headlines in the international AIDS conference in Barcelona. New projections concerning the disease show there is little good news. Secretary Thompson leads the U.S. delegation, and I thank him for his recent commitment to work with China to fight HIV. The United States will sponsor collaboration with China using a $14 million CDC grant for research on HIV prevention and treatment. China currently has over a million cases of HIV, estimated to rise to over 10 million by 2010. HIV has no cure, and prevention is our only means to fight it. Since the President set a precedent for funding CDC work in China, he should also fund the U.N. population fund. UNFPA provides family planning services in 140 countries, including Mexico, and supports HIV awareness campaigns in 78 countries. The $34 million approved by Congress for UNFPA is being held because UNFPA works in China, but we are now funding CDC work in China, so it is hard to see the distinction. Mr. Speaker, we need every tool to fight this lethal disease. Our contribution to UNFPA will help reduce the immigration pressure on the United States, reduce the damage of overpopulation, and slow the spread of HIV. I urge the President to fund both CDC and UNFPA.

Mr. KIRK

Mr. KIRK. Mr. Speaker, our confidence in the financial information reported by U.S. corporations was shaken by the disclosures of accounting irregularities discovered on the books of some of the largest companies on the New York Stock Exchange. Congress is taking important steps to improve the financial reporting requirements for every public corporation. The public should have similar confidence in the financial information it hears about our own Federal Government. This is not an obscure subject--literally trillions of dollars are at stake. Two laws--The Chief Financial Officers Act passed in 1990, and the Government Management Reform Act passed in 1994--require Federal executive branch agencies to prepare audited financial statements, in accordance with undefined ``applicable standards.'' Who would set these standards and make sure they were fairly applied to all government agencies? In October 1990, the Secretary of the Treasury, Director of OMB and Comptroller General of the Government Accounting Office jointly agreed to create and sponsor the Federal Accounting Standards Advisory Board, better known as ``FASAB,'' to play a major role in establishing the rules that assess the government's efficiency and effectiveness. FASAB is entirely different from the Financial Accounting Standards Board, or ``FASB,'' that governs private sector standards. In carrying out its mission, the government's FASAB has published 18 Federal Government accounting standards and four accounting interpretations, covering topics as diverse as direct student lending, social insurance, and deferred maintenance of federal property. In addition, FASAB writes technical bulletins and releases, and makes a public reading room available to any citizen who wants more information on Federal Government accounting standards. On January 11, Treasury, OMB, and GAO published a Memorandum of Understanding, or MOU, that announced a restructuring of FASAB. This MOU is designed to enhance the independence of FASAB and increase public involvement in the setting standards process. It became effective June 30, 2002. I am introducing legislation that simply takes the President's MOU and puts it into law. This bill, called the ``Good Government Accounting Act,'' has already gained bipartisan support. It establishes FASAB as an independent entity, operating under the terms of the structure that has just been put into force. Like the private sector, the Federal Government can benefit from using unbiased, equitable accounting standards with disclosures that increase public understanding of how our government works. FASAB should exist by law--not just by agreement between Treasury, OMB, and GAO. This bill, H.R. 5094, makes a major step forward to ensure that public accounting standards that govern trillions of dollars in taxpayer funds are well spent and reported accurately to the American people.

Mr. KIRK

Mr. KIRK. Mr. Chairman, is the gentleman aware of the request from United Airlines to the Transportation Security Administration to begin equipping properly trained flight crews with less-than-lethal technology in the form of Taser guns?

Mr. KIRK. Mr. Chairman, would the gentleman agree that in light of this important legislation we are preparing to pass today, it would be in the best interest of enhanced security at our Nation's airlines for the TSA to approve appropriate applications to allow flight crews this extra measure of protection while we undertake this additional pilot program to evaluate the use of firearms on aircraft?

Mr. KIRK. Mr. Chairman, I thank the gentleman for his responses. Right now, an application is pending before the Department of Transportation Secretary Mineta. If approved, it offers an immediate way to upgrade flight deck security using nonlethal technology. And I thank the chairman for his leadership, and I hope and urge the Department of Transportation to move quickly on this application and approve the use of nonlethal technology on the flight deck.

Mr. KIRK. I yield to the gentleman from Florida.

Mr. KIRK. Mr. Chairman, I support this legislation as a groundbreaking test of 2 percent of pilots to be provided with arms. When we fly in the Navy, we always fly armed. Most of the cadre of civilian pilots come out of the military, and would fly with a 9 millimeter in their SPU. This gives them a sense of confidence, and we will establish a track record. I want to also talk about tasers in the cockpit. United Airlines has come forward with a proposal to have this nonlethal technology that would not involve having any bullets moving around in the aircraft, and I think this is a reasonable compromise position that the Secretary of Transportation should also look to and support. I support this legislation, but also hope that we can go forward on the taser proposal for a nonlethal alternative, and I will engage in a colloquy with the chairman of the Subcommittee on Aviation later on that topic.

Mr. KIRK. Mr. Chairman, I move to strike the requisite number of words. I would like to engage our distinguished chairman of the subcommittee in a colloquy, if I may. The Aviation and Transportation Security Act, passed last year, provided airlines with the option of deploying less-than-lethal technology as part of their security procedure enhancements with the approval of the Transportation Security Administration. To date, have any airlines been granted permission to employ this nonlethal technology.

Mr. KIRK. As we today initiate this important pilot program to allow the use of firearms by flight crews, is it not also appropriate that the TSA expedite the implementation of less-than-lethal security plans when requested by the airlines?

Mr. KIRK

Mr. KIRK. Mr. Speaker, we need to modernize Medicare with a prescription drug benefit, and both parties agree. The difference is this: Our plan fits within the budget. It covers needy seniors and prevents a senior from losing their home due to high drug costs. Most importantly, it provides an immediate discount now on drug prices, not 2 years from now, as the minority plan offers. The minority plan spends $1 trillion. In the middle of a war and an economic downturn, can seniors depend on that $1 trillion check from bouncing? Seniors count on the promises we make. They cannot count on a $1 trillion check to actually be cashed. Our plan is affordable. It is a promise we can keep. It is a promise that seniors can count on.

Mr. KIRK

Mr. KIRK. Mr. Speaker, I rise in support of the permanent extension of the retirement provisions of the Economic Growth and Tax Relief Reconciliation Act of 2001. Within the next 15 years, more than 76 million baby boomers will retire. Studies have shown that older baby boomers have less than 40 percent of the savings they will need to maintain their standard of living in retirement. Last year, Congress took action to remedy this situation by including the provisions of H.R. 10, the Comprehensive Retirement Security and Pension Reform Act of 2001, in the tax relief bill. I supported this action and believe that the increase in personal retirement savings it will bring about in the coming years will benefit millions of Americans. The Department of Labor estimates that less than one in every three women are covered by a retirement pension plan. These plans are proven to pay out greater benefits than Social Security, yet they are not readily available to most women and employees of small businesses. Last year's bill addressed this concern by providing an immediate benefit-- the ``catch up'' provisions--for working women and individuals age 50 and above. These provisions allow women reentering the workforce, presumably after raising children, to contribute an additional $5,000 to their IRA. This will allow those approaching retirement age to save the extra money they need, while also allowing women who work intermittently to ``catch up'' for money not contributed because of time off. This is particularly helpful for working mothers who need to raise children and put them through college. With the unfunded liability of many government retirement systems the need for increased personal retirement savings is greater than ever. By increasing the contribution limits for and portability of qualified 401(k) plans and pensions, the Portman-Cardin legislation will help Americans build assets to supplement their Social Security income in retirement. This will improve the quality of life for retirees and ensure that they have the financial resources needed to address any challenge that may emerge. Congress would do the nation a great disservice by allowing these important reforms to expire. The need for greater personal retirement savings will not expire, and future generations should enjoy the same opportunity to save that the Portman-Cardin bill envisioned. Permanently extending these provisions is the responsible thing to do. Amendment in the Nature of a Substitute Offered by Mr. Neal of Massachusetts

Mr. KIRK

Mr. KIRK. Mr. Speaker, when Medicare was founded in 1965, Republicans and Democrats left drugs out of the program; but today, Republicans and Democrats agree we should update Medicare by covering prescription drugs. The difference is cost. An extravagant $1 trillion promise by the minority party is a promise they cannot afford to keep. They will break their promise to America's seniors because it is too expensive to maintain. Seniors know there is a war on. Seniors know Social Security is under financial pressure. They want a plan to cover drug costs for needy seniors, one we can afford. Our majority affordable program promised is one that people can count on. They cannot depend on a $1 trillion program that will collapse from its own costs. Count on the program we can afford to keep. Count on the Speaker's prescription drug plan.

Mr. KIRK

Mr. KIRK. Mr. Chairman, I thank the chairman for yielding me this time. In February 2000, our Chicago area lost one of our most beloved and charismatic personalities. For years, Bob Collins delighted listeners on the most popular Chicago radio station, WGN. An avid pilot, an aircraft expert, a leading advocate of general aviation, Bob was lost in a tragic midair collision near Waukegan Airport in my district. Two others lost their lives in the accident that resulted from inaccurate and insufficient information available to controllers at the airport. Unfortunately, it took the death of a prominent and much admired figure in our community to wake up people to the woeful state of technology at the smaller general aviation airports. Waukegan quickly acted to upgrade its facility and installed the terminal radar display to dramatically reduce the risk of repeating the tragedy. We did not install a new $2 million radar, we simply added a $60,000 data port to bring the radar data in from O'Hare. Such an improvement is appropriate for all airports in the country, urban, suburban and rural, and we do not seek reimbursement for this improvement. This legislation is crucial to bringing our aviation infrastructure into the 21st century. At a time when homeland security is of paramount importance, we have an opportunity to enhance our ability to monitor our air traffic situations and to do so for airports that currently do not have this capability. We have to set aside parochialism, and I urge Members to adopt this legislation which will help new airports gain this capability over ones that already have it.

Mr. KIRK

Mr. KIRK. Mr. Speaker, if the gentleman will yield, I would just say that it is important to note seniors will count on the commitment that we are making. So it is important that the commitment that we make is one that we can keep. By designing an affordable plan, we will be there for seniors in the future. Many seniors remember when the Congress created a catastrophic health care plan and then revoked it just a short time later, so that the promise made was not a promise kept. The gentleman and I both want to care for seniors, and we both want to make sure that their house cannot be taken away because they have been bankrupted through prescription drug costs. Our plan does that. But we do not want to design a plan which some future Congress cannot afford to pay for, with all of the other demands. America's seniors, more than any other generation, knows that there is a war on, and that we have to make a responsible commitment that we can afford to keep. That is why I applaud the direction that the gentleman is going in here with this plan; because under this plan, we will make commitments to seniors and we will be able to afford to keep them.

Mr. KIRK. Mr. Speaker, I thank the gentleman. I am absolutely in awe of the gentleman's work product and what the gentleman has done. I want to help the gentleman in every way possible. Mr. Speaker, when Medicare was established in 1965, prescription drugs given outside the hospital did very little. Republicans and Democrats both left it out of a Medicare program. Today, prescription drugs given outside of the hospital carry much of the load in medical care. Republicans and Democrats agree on a bipartisan basis that it is time to add prescription drugs to Medicare for needy seniors. Many States, such as my own home State of Illinois, already have done so; but it is time for the Federal Government to do its part. The real difference between the two parties, Mr. Speaker, is one of cost. The minority's plan would create an open-ended, unlimited program to subsidize even very wealthy seniors who are ready to take part and already have a prescription drug plan. Costs would skyrocket, dipping into Social Security and limiting funding to restore our national security. The minority's price tag for their plan could exceed $800 billion. Do we sacrifice homeland security or national defense or Social Security or education to pay for their plan? Last year, in a nonelection year, most minority members voted for a prescription drug plan that cost $325 billion over 10 years. Now, in an election year, the number has nearly tripled. But if we are to adopt a plan which costs so much, eventually, we will have to break a promise made to seniors. The majority plan cares for needy seniors without putting financial pressure on Social Security or denying the needs of our men and women in uniform in Afghanistan's front lines. Our plan is balanced. It protects needy seniors and does not break the bank. I just want to close by saying that by not breaking the bank, our plan means that a promise made to America's seniors is a promise that will be kept, and we need to design a plan we can afford to keep so that seniors can count on this. I applaud the leadership of the gentleman on this, and I thank him for all he has done to bring this plan before the House of Representatives.

Mr. KIRK

Mr. KIRK. Mr. Speaker, on Dec. 16, 1944, on a snowy battlefield known as ``Hill 88'' near the Belgian border with Germany, the Battle of the Bulge began. As the German army advanced, heavy casualties were sustained by the U.S. Army's 99th Division, Company C, forcing surviving G.l.'s to leave fallen comrades behind in shallow graves with only dog tags, sticks, and weapons to mark them. These soldiers were lost, but not forgotten, and after 57 years, six of the more than thirty soldiers designated as Missing in Action after the battle will be given the honor they deserve after sacrificing their lives for their country. I want to recognize the extraordinary effort by veterans from the battle and a group of Belgian nationals, who worked together to find the remains of six MIA's. This search has spanned across several generations. In September of 1988, two young Belgians, Jean-Louis Seel and Philippe Speder, were digging in the Ardennes Forest when they discovered the remains of Private First Class Alphonse Sito of Baltimore, Maryland. This prompted William Warnock to compile a list of the 33 missing soldiers, which was published in the 99th Division Association news letter by Dick Byers, a seminal member of the 99th Division. Based on mail and data they received, Byers and Warnock prepared a map pinpointing the location where they believed the remains of Second Lieutenant L.O. Holloway could be found. After a two-day search in November 1990, Seel and Speder were successful in recovering Holloway's remains. His remains were returned to Texas at the Fort Sam Houston National Cemetery in September 1991. The Holloway case convinced Vernon Swanson of Deerfield, Illinois, that the remains of his ``foxhole buddy,'' Jack Beckwith, could be found. Swanson enlisted the cooperation of a wartime cohort, Byron Witmarsh, and set about the task of recovering the remains of their fallen comrades. Hoping to find Beckwith's remains, Swanson and Witmarsh joined forces with Byers, Seel, Speder, and Warnock in 1991. The group pored over records in the National Archives, the National Personnel Records Center, and the U.S. Army History Institute. An old map of the grave sites was found in Beckwith's Army file, however, an aerial photograph discovered in the National Archives proved to be the critical piece of information. It showed ``88 Hill'' in December 1944, from which Bill Warnock identified a grouping of trees where the grave sites were. Warnock then transferred the locations of the graves to modern topographic maps and the Belgians were on the hunt again for the remains. In April 2001, Seel decided to search an area that, to his amazement, turned up a dog tag which marked the grave site of Private David A. Read. Seel returned with Speder and two other members of the Belgian search team, Marc Marique and Luc Menestrey. On April 17, the remains of Jack Beckwith, Saul Kokotovich, and David Read were found. Over the next two days the Belgian search team labored to exhume the remains. Each of the dead was found with a single dog tag around his neck, rotted clothing, and boots. David Roth of the U.S. Army Mortuary Affairs activity was contacted and took possession of the remains to complete the official identification process. Vernon Swanson vowed to someday return to recover the remains of his friend, Private Jack Beckwith. Over the years he made many inquiries to fellow veterans of the battle, organized an international search team, and succeeded in finding lost soldiers in a forgotten corner of a vast woodland in Belgium. During the months of June and July the remains of all six comrades will find their final resting place in a cemetery of their families' choice. On June 8, 2002, burial ceremonies were held in Ada, Oklahoma for Private First Class Ewing Fidler. On Saturday, June 22, 2002 the remains of Private First Class Jack Beckwith, Private First Class Saul Kokotovich, and Sergeant Frederick Zimmerman will be laid to rest in the American Military Cemetery in Henri Chapelle, Belgium. Private First Class David Read will be buried in Arlington National Cemetery on July 18. Private First Class Stanley Larson will be returned to Rochelle, Illinois on July 22. I want to offer my thanks to the Department of Casualty and Mortuary Affairs and the American Battle Monuments Commission for their efforts, without which none of this would have been possible. I also want to honor the search team of the U.S. Army's 99th Infantry Division and the Belgian ``Diggers'' for their dedication and hard work in honoring the memory of these brave soldiers who made the ultimate sacrifice in the defense of the freedoms we enjoy. Above all, I want to thank Vernon Swanson for his determination not to leave his brothers-in-arms behind on the battlefield. His service and that of his comrades are the reason why we live in a free society today.