Tom Lantos

Mr. LANTOS

Mr. LANTOS. Mr. Chairman, will the gentlewoman yield?

Mr. LANTOS. Mr. Chairman, I am delighted to yield 2 minutes to the gentleman from Massachusetts (Mr. Markey), my very dear friend and our most distinguished colleague.

Mr. LANTOS. Mr. Chairman, will the gentleman yield?

Mr. LANTOS. Mr. Speaker, I strongly support this motion. In committee deliberations, we have made it clear to India that they must make a choice between Tehran and Washington. They have done so twice at votes in Vienna at the International Atomic Energy Agency. This recommittal motion dramatically strengthens the underlying legislation. I urge all of my colleagues to vote for it.

Mr. LANTOS. Mr. Chairman, I am pleased to yield 1 minute to the gentleman.

Mr. LANTOS. Mr. Chairman, will the gentleman yield?

Mr. LANTOS. Mr. Chairman, I am pleased to accept the gentleman's amendment. This amendment restates longstanding U.S. policy that the United States will not support the manufacture or acquisition of nuclear weapons. This is, of course, longstanding U.S. policy. And we all agree that it should continue. I urge all of my colleagues to support this amendment. Mr. Chairman, I yield 2 minutes to my good friend from California, distinguished former ambassador of the United States, Congresswoman Diane Watson.

Mr. LANTOS. Mr. Chairman, I want to commend my good friend from Texas for yet another constructive step. She makes so many in this body. I am strongly in support of her amendment and urge my colleagues to do likewise.

Mr. LANTOS. Mr. Chairman, I agree with my friend, Congressman Royce. Nuclear tests by India would put the U.S.-India nuclear cooperation agreement in serious jeopardy.

Mr. LANTOS. Mr. Chairman, I am very pleased to yield 2\1/4\ minutes to our distinguished colleague from American Samoa (Mr. Faleomavaega), my good friend. (Mr. FALEOMAVAEGA asked and was given permission to revise and extend his remarks.)

Mr. LANTOS

Mr. LANTOS. Mr. Speaker, I would first like to commend my good friend and colleague from New York, Eliot Engel, for introducing this important resolution. His leadership in Congress on the global battle against HIV/AIDS is greatly appreciated. Mr. Speaker, over 14,000 people are infected with the deadly HIV/AIDS virus each day. Let me repeat that statistic, Mr. Speaker--14,000 individuals each day are infected with HIV/AIDS. HIV/AIDS has infected 65 million people and killed nearly 25 million since June 1981 when it was first detected. For many in the developing world, contracting the HIV/AIDS virus is a death sentence. No drugs. No doctors. No hospitals. No hope. And for family members left behind--often young children--there is equally little hope. Many will be forced to live with over-burdened and impoverished extended family, in understaffed orphanages or on the streets. Treatment has brought the promise of life back to many individuals who were on the brink of death. However, palliative care is not a long term solution to relieve the suffering from this deadly disease. That is why there is an absolute moral imperative to develop a vaccine to stop the transmission of the HIV/AIDS virus. A successful vaccine will literally save millions of lives in the poorest countries of the world, restore people to their livelihoods, and prevent children around the globe from becoming AIDS orphans. The resolution before the House brings attention to the intensive work over the past decade to develop a successful HIV/AIDS vaccine. The International AIDS Vaccine Initiative has built bridges between the developed and developing world that did not exist before. It also has conducted vitally important vaccine trials in the developing world that hopefully will lead to a successful vaccine in the near future. I commend the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation for recently awarding $23.7 million towards financing this network of committed researchers working around the clock to find a cure. Mr. Speaker, there will be a successful HIV/AIDS vaccine one day, and it is our collective hope that this will occur before millions more of the world's citizens lose their lives. This resolution congratulates the International AIDS Vaccine Initiative for 10 years of significant achievement in the search for an HIV/AIDS vaccine towards this goal. Mr. Speaker, I urge my colleagues to supports its passage.

Mr. LANTOS

Mr. LANTOS. Mr. Speaker, I rise to commend the invaluable services offered by the Industrial Emergency Council (IEC) in my district. I had the great honor recently to meet with this group and I was very impressed with their zeal and loyalty to the citizens of California. The IEC is a non-profit organization founded by several hardworking and dedicated constituents in the 1970s. They provide training and assessment programs that help prepare local businesses for emergency responses to industrial accidents and natural disasters. In a part of the country where earthquakes, flash floods and other disasters often have devastating effects, the IEC takes public safety seriously by educating at-risk federal, industrial, corporate and academic installations about the dangers they confront. The Council is comprised of commendable and experienced membership. Its founder, James O'Donnell, served as Battalion Chief and Fire Marshall of the San Carlos Fire Department and is a leader hazardous materials planning. Other members include: John Paine, a consultant to the gas industry for over thirty years; Mark Green, the founder of an environmental consulting group; Paul Stanley, the facility manager for a large bay-area pharmaceutical company; Richard Foster, the former city manager for Foster City and Jack Leslie, former Battalion Chief of the Palo Alto Fire Department. These career professionals have pooled their respective knowledge and experience managing industrial hazards and now generously share their expertise on a volunteer basis. In response to a variety of client needs, the IEC provides a wide array of services. They offer several specially tailored training services for employees, ranging from Emergency Medical training to Hazardous Materials and Waste operations. They help work with industrial facilities to assess the natural and technological risks to their operations. In addition, IEC assists clients in the execution of comprehensive action plans designed to address identified hazards. IEC's vision was best realized in the formation of the San Mateo County Hazardous Materials Response Plan. In 1984, the Council organized a response unit to classify the actual and potential threats in the county. This unparalleled endeavor won national recognition as a commendably comprehensive plan, serving 18 separate jurisdictions in the state. Even though the industrial emphasis in my district has shifted towards biotech and hi-tech industries, the response unit remains important in dealing with hazardous materials, To adjust to the emerging threats against our homeland security, the IEC organized a weapons of mass destruction exercise in early 2005, designed for first responders. Over 1000 members of law enforcement, fire and public works received vital joint training, which stressed information sharing among different personnel. The entire endeavor was hugely successful thanks to the unwavering enthusiasm of our dedicated public servants at the IEC. I urge my colleagues to join me in commending the praiseworthy efforts of my fellow Californians at the Industrial Emergency Council who help protect us from the dangers we face every day.

Mr. LANTOS

Mr. LANTOS. Mr. Speaker, it is with great pleasure that I rise today to honor the Pacifica Performances on the 30th Anniversary of its founding. Pacifica Performances is a non-profit, primarily volunteer, arts organization based in Pacifica, California, which is located in my Congressional District. This extraordinary organization is dedicated to ensuring there is a professional quality performing arts programs for the residents of Pacifica, as well as other communities on the Peninsula. Pacifica Performances was organized in 1976 as the Pacifica Arts and Heritage Council, a nonprofit musical organization offering a variety of classes in music, dance and calligraphy. Its original venue, the Pedro Point Firehouse in Pacifica, offered Jazz and Classical performances for the community on Sundays. Since then Pacifica Performances has grown exponentially and occupied numerous homes in the beautiful coastal community of Pacifica, California including St. Edmund's Episcopal Church and most recently the Sanchez Art Center which houses a 175-seat concert hall equipped with a new stage and professional lighting equipment as well as office space. Mr. Speaker, it is truly amazing that this picturesque town of 44,000 inhabitants is able to provide its citizens with approximately 60 world class performances per year spanning the widest array of performing arts including jazz, blues, piano (ragtime and classical), chamber music, opera, Celtic, Bluegrass Latin, world, pop and guitar, as well as dance and drama. Pacifica Performances truly lives up to its mission of providing diverse musical and cultural programs to Pacifica, and the rest of the Bay Area. Mr. Speaker, I urge all of my colleagues to join me in saluting and congratulating Pacifica Performances for the invaluable cultural and educational service they bestow upon the community on the occasion of their 30th Anniversary.

Mr. LANTOS

Mr. LANTOS. Mr. Speaker, I yield for the purpose of making a unanimous consent request to the gentleman from Texas (Mr. Gene Green). (Mr. GENE GREEN of Texas asked and was given permission to revise and extend his remarks.)

Mr. LANTOS. Madam Speaker, I just want to thank you for your patience. I want to thank my dear friend from Florida for her extraordinary graciousness. And I want to thank all of my Republican and Democratic colleagues for a serious and substantive debate. I urge all of my colleagues to vote for this resolution. Madam Speaker, I yield back the balance of my time.

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

Mr. LANTOS. Mr. Speaker, I am delighted to yield such time as he may consume to the distinguished Democratic whip, my good friend, the gentleman from Maryland (Mr. Hoyer).

Mr. LANTOS. Madam Speaker, I yield 2 minutes to my good friend from Ohio (Mr. Brown).

Mr. LANTOS. I thank my friend for yielding. First, let me react to your comment that the resolution does not deal with the loss of innocent life. The resolution expresses its condolences to all families of innocent victims of recent violence. Secondly, it is critical to prevent the resupply of deadly rockets from Iran and Syria. Unless the airport is closed down, unless the border with Syria is closed down, these deadly weapons will be resupplied in no time. That is why the airport was attacked. That is why the border crossings with Syria were attacked.

Mr. LANTOS. Mr. Speaker, will my friend yield?

Mr. LANTOS. I am glad to yield to my friend, the gentleman from Illinois.

Mr. LANTOS. Mr. Speaker, I want to commend my good friend from Louisiana for his very thoughtful statement, and let me just add that if Hezbollah is, in fact, defanged, the primary beneficiary will be the people and the State of Lebanon. Mr. Speaker, I am very pleased to yield 3\1/3\ minutes to my distinguished friend from Illinois (Mr. Emanuel).

Mr. LANTOS. I strongly support this legislation, Mr. Speaker.

Mr. LANTOS. Mr. Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may consume. Before yielding to our distinguished whip, I would like to make a couple of observations. I first visited Lebanon in 1956, in the summer of 1956. It was the jewel of the Middle East. And what has destroyed Lebanon during the course of the last half century were various terrorist groups, first Arafat's PLO and now Hezbollah. No one is in favor of hurting a single innocent human being. The fact is that with Hezbollah placing its weaponry in the midst of population centers, collateral damage is unavoidable. Israel has gone to every length to minimize collateral damage. As a matter of fact, the difference between the tragedies befalling the Lebanese people and the tragedies befalling the Israeli people is very simple: Hezbollah deliberately, deliberately, attacks civilians. Israel does its utmost not to attack innocent civilians.

Mr. LANTOS. Mr. Speaker, before yielding to my friend from Massachusetts, I yield myself such time as I may consume to make a comment about Mr. Paul's observation as he calls for neutrality. Calling for neutrality between a democratic ally of the United States and a gang of terrorists is not worthy of this body. There is no neutrality between a gang of terrorists who indiscriminately kill and the democratic state. May I also say that it was Hezbollah terrorists who killed the largest number of U.S. Marines in Beirut a quarter century ago. Some of us were there visiting with them just a couple of weeks before they were all killed. Lee Hamilton, a distinguished former Member of this body, and I visited with our marines just days before they were all killed by Hezbollah terrorist activity. Mr. Speaker, I yield 5 minutes to the gentleman from Massachusetts (Mr. Frank), the distinguished ranking member of the Financial Services Committee.