Barbara Lee

Ms. LEE

Ms. LEE. Mr. Speaker, I rise today to commemorate the 30th anniversary of Title IX, the Education Amendments of 1972. Thirty years ago, Title IX was proposed to prohibit sex discrimination in federally- funded education programs. Since its enactment, Title IX has made a tremendous impact in bridging the gap between gender inequality in our educational system. Title IX has made improvements in the admission process, financial aid and scholarships allocation, educational programs and activities, health insurance benefits, marital status, athletics, and employment opportunities for women. Its extraordinary efforts have enriched the educational experience for women over the past 30 years. In June 1997, the Department of Education attributed the rise in the level of education for women to Title IX. Its statistics are striking. In 1994, for example, about 63% of female high school graduates were enrolled in college, comparing to 43% in 1973. By 1994, about 38% of women received medical degrees comparing to the year in which Title IX was first introduced, in 1972, only 9% of medical degrees were awarded to women. In the same year that Title IX was enacted, about 7% of female students in law schools received a law degree. Whereas in 1994, about 43% of law degrees belong to women. Title IX also helps lower the drop-out rates of women in school. It increases women's chances to enter what was once male-dominated fields such as math and sciences. It gives women more opportunities to complete post-secondary, graduate, and professional degrees. Furthermore, since its enactment, Title IX has increased athletic scholarships for women and thus expanded women's participation in athletics. A Connecticut judge said in 1972: ``Athletic competition builds character in our boys. We do not need that kind of character in our girls.'' Today, athletic departments around the country are required to provide athletic opportunities for women and men proportionate to their enrollment. In addition, schools are required to foster programs that meet the interests of women. No longer is athletic competition just a man's world. As the World Cup is taking place, I'd like to take this opportunity to congratulate the U.S. Men's National Soccer Team for their recent accomplishment in the quarter final. And it is my hope that they bring home the Gold, just as the U.S. Women's National Team did in 1999. The U.S. Women's National Soccer Team is consistently one of the best, if not the best in the world. There is no doubt in my mind that their success is due, in large part, to Title IX, which gave them the support, financial and otherwise, that were not available to them prior to the birth of Title IX. Title IX and subsequent related legislation have played a tremendous role in improving the lives of women since its enactment in 1972. And I am confident it will continue to elevate the status of women in society in the years to come. I am proud to join my colleagues in celebrating the 30th anniversary of Title IX.

Ms. LEE

Ms. LEE. Mr. Speaker, I rise today to pay tribute to and express my high regard of Ms. Joanne Carter, the Legislative Director of RESULTS. Since 1992, Joanne Carter has been the Legislative Director of RESULTS, an international grassroots citizen's lobby whose purpose is to create the political will to end hunger and the worst aspects of poverty, and to empower individuals as advocates with their governments, the media and in their communities. RESULTS has active chapters in over 100 U.S. cities and in the UK, Canada, Japan, Australia and Germany. RESULTS works on a range of international and domestic issues--including expanding basic health programs to combat TB, AIDS and other major infectious killers, access to microcredit loans to allow very poor women to start their own businesses, reform of World Bank, health policy, and expanded access to Head Start preschool programs and quality early child care in the U.S. Prior to joining RESULTS' staff in 1992, Joanne Carter coordinated RESULTS grassroots activity for New York and the northeast region of the U.S., and was a practicing veterinarian. She holds a DVM (Doctor of Veterinary Medicine) degree from Cornell University and has done graduate research in reproductive physiology. She has served as a VISTA volunteer and as a recruiter for the Peace Corps. As many know, I have worked diligently on the global AIDS, TB and malaria crisis. As I have worked with my colleagues in the Congress and with health experts, people living with AIDS, TB or malaria, and the activist community, Joanne has been a key figure in helping me get people organized and sounding the clarion call. She understands so well the moral obligation and responsibility of wealthy governments and all of us, as individuals, to do all that we can to make a difference in stopping these horrific diseases. Tonight it gives me great pleasure to honor Joanne. Please know that I stand with you in this fight and look forward to our continued work on these important priorities.

Ms. LEE

Ms. LEE. Mr. Speaker, I rise today in strong opposition to yet another irresponsible tax bill, which raids Social Security and Medicare. The cost of the phaseout and ultimate repeal of the estate tax is much more than billions of future tax dollars. The purpose of the estate tax is to mitigate the accumulation of wealth by family lineage. Democracy needs an estate tax to make a fairer society in which future generations all start with more or less the same opportunities. Most of the benefits of estate tax repeal go to the wealthiest one percent of descendants, with only 1.9% of estates actually paying the estate tax, according to the Internal Revenue Services. Can we really afford a $60 billion a year gift to multi- millionaires? At the expense of this ``gift'' is Social Security, Medicare, Education, and Homeland Security. By making tax cuts permanent, H.R. 2143 would reduce revenues by about $4 trillion, resulting in ``raids'' on the Social Security trust fund and taking away resources for a Medicare prescription drug benefit. This new bill clearly ignores budget reality, just like its predecessor H.R. 586. Taxing dead multi-millionaires is eminently more fair than taxing the not-so-rich living. The intergenerational transfer of wealth is projected to reach between $41 trillion and $136 trillion, and the estate tax should remain in place as an increasingly significant progressive source of revenue in the coming decades. Permanent repeal of the estate tax has significant long-term cost, yet would benefit only a few, very large estates. Without the estate tax, the tax burden is more squarely placed on middle and low income workers. Estate tax reform offers a more sustainable approach than repeal. I urge Congress to explore the possibility of linking estate tax revenue to the Social Security trust fund. Congress should then reject the notion of wholesale repeal because it is simply another tax bill that benefits only the wealthiest of this country.

Ms. LEE

Ms. LEE. Mr. Speaker, I want to commend the gentleman from Ohio for this very important debate with regard to our constitutional duties and our responsibilities. Of course, I rise in support of the question of the privileged resolution, for this resolution. The rules actually state that a motion may be considered as a privilege when the integrity of the House is in question, so this integrity, I believe, is at stake when the President seeks to unilaterally revoke the laws of this Nation by single-handedly withdrawing from the ABM treaty. The Constitution, and we have heard the debate this morning, it does not give the President the authority to repeal laws. That is a congressional function. Article 1, section 1 of the Constitution says: ``All legislative powers herein granted shall be vested in a Congress of the United States, which shall consist of a Senate and a House of Representatives.'' Foreign policy is not the exclusive domain of the executive. Congress has the right and the duty to fulfill its share of the balance of powers. That is what this is about. I strongly support this privileged resolution to uphold the ABM treaty to protect American citizens and to uphold congressional authority. This is central to our democracy. The privileges of the House also reinforce these principles. Rule IX states that the constitutional prerogatives of the House also include its function with respect to treaties. The treaty with France of July 4, 1835, and the House resolution stating that the treaty should be maintained is also precedent for today's motion. So we must stand up for these rights and for the public interest. That is what this debate is about.

Ms. LEE

Ms. LEE. Mr. Chairman, I move to strike the last word. Mr. Chairman, there are a lot of problems with this bill today, but I would like to focus, Mr. Chairman, on one major provision snuck in there, really, by the Republicans. Of course, that provision that I am talking about deals with the increase in the debt limit. Now, this seems like a pretty technical and obscure term, but it really does deal with a fundamental issue that affects us all. It is actually pretty simple. Now, the Republicans inherited a budget surplus which, of course, they squandered last year on their $2 trillion tax cut benefiting primarily the wealthiest people in this country. That is an unfortunate fact, but that is what occurred. Now, because they have totally overspent their own budget, they must increase the government's debt. This is totally irresponsible and jeopardizes programs important to millions of Americans, programs like Social Security and Medicare, which our seniors and people with disabilities rely on. Every penny we take to increase the government debt must come from the Social Security and Medicare trust funds. Instead of taking money away from Medicare, we really should be adding to it, including a comprehensive prescription drug benefit. Instead of robbing Social Security, we should be shoring it up to ensure its solvency, so that our children and grandchildren will have these benefits. Social Security is an essential social insurance program which keeps so many seniors, especially women and low-income individuals, out of poverty. It is unconscionable that the Republicans want to rob Social Security to really pay for this irresponsible tax cut last year. I also think it is pretty hypocritical to ask for this debt increase. Last year, a bankruptcy bill, a very punitive bankruptcy bill, was rammed through that will hurt many hardworking people who could not pay their debts, often because of unexpected hardships, such as an illness or the loss of a job. So now I do not believe that congressional Republicans have faced an unexpected hardship. They intentionally passed that $2 trillion tax cut knowing that it would decimate our Federal budget. So now, instead of tightening their belts or repealing that irresponsible tax cut, they are just giving themselves more money. That is basically what this is. How is it that they can put the screws on ordinary working people who cannot pay their debt, but just simply raid Social Security and Medicare when they cannot pay their own debt? During debate on the bankruptcy bill last year, I remember very vividly the Republicans stated that those who cannot manage their debts were acting irresponsibly and should live within their means. So I think what we are doing today really is an example of the height of hypocrisy that we have seen in this body: There is one standard for ordinary people and another for congressional Republicans. I think we all should practice what we preach. Instead of sneaking an increase in the debt into this emergency spending bill today, we should be repealing the reckless tax cut passed last year. We really cannot pass this on, or we should not pass this debt on to our children and our grandchildren. We should not raid the Social Security and Medicare trust funds. We must not also cut essential programs that people rely on, such as housing and education and health care. This bill does much more, and much of that. So it is time, I think, for us to do the right thing. I urge my colleagues to vote no on this very dangerous debt increase today.

Ms. LEE

Ms. LEE. I yield to the gentlewoman from Ohio.

Ms. LEE. Mr. Chairman, I move to strike the last word. Mr. Chairman, tonight, it is almost 10 o'clock, and tonight we are reminding our entire country that women in our country really do need to know that by raising the debt ceiling, though sounding very technical, that the debt limit provision in this emergency supplemental appropriations bill will harm Social Security. By putting Social Security at risk, we put women at risk. This bill will have a devastating impact on women. There are already enormous disparities in income between men and women. These disparities will be much greater if we endanger Social Security. Women rely on Social Security more heavily for a whole variety of economic and social reasons. Poverty among women over 65 is twice as severe as among men in the same age group. Women earn less than men and tend to live longer. Women also lose an average of 14 years of earnings due to time out of the workforce to raise children or to care for an ailing parent. Women are also generally employed more part-time and have less opportunity to save for retirement. Let me just briefly give some numbers to show how important Social Security is for women. For unmarried women over 65, including widows, Social Security comprises 51 percent of their total income, a far higher proportion than is true for married couples or men. Seventy-four percent of unmarried elderly women depend on Social Security for at least one-half of their income. Twenty-six percent of unmarried elderly women depend on it as their only source of income. As stark as these figures are for all women, they are even more pronounced for African American women and Latinas, who are even more dependent on Social Security because they face even greater economic disadvantages throughout their lives. Clearly, Social Security is the vital safety net for women. This important program lifted 13 million seniors out of poverty last year, and yet, the Republicans in Congress are depleting the Social Security trust fund to pay for the increase in the debt that they are now incurring. They spent the budget surplus by being irresponsible, and now, after using up all of the funds in the Treasury, are really stealing from Social Security and Medicare to pay for their reckless spending. This is just downright wrong. This is the same Republican leadership that really rammed through, and I remember this very clearly last year, a very punitive bankruptcy bill that will penalize hardworking people who fall into debt through the loss of a job or an injury. That is an unexpected hardship. This bill is not the result of unexpected hardship, it is the result of a $2 trillion tax cut for the rich. We should not raid the Social Security trust fund to pay for a blank check. It will bounce, with the notation ``insufficient funds.'' Women have no way to scramble and make this check good, so they will suffer even more in their golden years, after a lifetime of discrimination and injustice. So our wives, mothers, sisters, grandmothers, daughters, and granddaughters certainly will pay and will pay dearly if we pass this bill tonight.

Ms. LEE. Mr. Chairman, I rise to strike the last word. I rise in opposition to this bill. There are many provisions in this bill that I support. I strongly believe, for example, that we must increase our investment in security for nuclear facilities. I also agree that we need funding for enhanced security at U.S. ports and improved airport protections. If those measures, truly emergency issues, were up for a separate vote, I would strongly support them. However, on the whole I do not believe this bill, as written, serves the interests of the American people. In its military spending, this bill continues to echo the patterns of the Cold War, including continued support for a weapons system the Secretary of Defense has very clearly stated he neither wants nor needs. It includes dangerous provisions that dramatically expand the U.S. role in the decades-old Colombian civil war. It provides millions of dollars to regimes with very dark human rights records with little oversight of how that money will be spent. It prohibits any U.S. participation in or even cooperation with the International Criminal Court. This bill is supposed to be about emergency spending, but instead it is loaded with favors to defense contractors, big oil companies, and Republican members from a few areas. This bill includes millions for protecting a pipeline in Colombia. Since when was an Occidental Petroleum pipeline in Colombia a national emergency? In contrast, there are real emergencies that this bill fails to address fully, including the global HIV/AIDS pandemic. While the supplemental appropriations bill does include funding for the global AIDS, TB and Malaria crises, I am extremely disappointed that the amendment offered by my colleague, Ranking Member Nita Lowey, which would have increased funding to $750 million for this priority, was defeated in the House Appropriations Committee. In addition to AIDS being the greatest humanitarian crisis of our time, HIV/AIDS has been declared a threat to our national security by the CIA. AIDS, TB and Malaria kill over 15,000 people each day. That means 5.4 million people each year. Without stronger U.S. leadership, more and more people will die. The U.S. can and must do more. This is an emergency. And $200 million is not enough. While most of the money in this bill isn't paid for or off-set, the Republican leadership is continuing to look for any excuse to cut federal funding for another urgent situation, our housing programs. This bill cuts another $600 million from low-income housing programs. This continues an absurd trend of the GOP rescinding, cutting, or diverting more than $20 billion in housing money since they took over in 1994. We face a housing crisis in my district in the Bay Area and in many other parts of the country. And yet, these unconscionable cuts continue, putting the dream of home ownership further and further out of the reach of millions. So with its Cold War approach to defense spending, pork barrel projects, dangerous steps in Colombia and elsewhere, and shortfalls for real emergencies such as AIDS and housing, I cannot support this bill.

Ms. LEE

Ms. LEE. Mr. Speaker, I rise in strong support of H.R. 3375. Mr. Speaker, it has been 4 years since the Kenyan and Tanzanian embassy bombings and it is long past the time that the United States compensates the individuals or the families of those who were injured or killed in the bombings. This is way overdue and I thank the gentlewoman from California (Ms. Waters) for her leadership. These individuals and families will forever suffer. This is the least that we should do. As we seek to compensate the embassy employees, the United States must not forget over 4,000 Tanzanian and Kenyan nationals who were also injured in the embassy bombings. These foreign nationals were a productive part of their countries' labor force. Now many of them also have been injured so severely that they are physically unable to contribute to their communities or provide for their own livelihood. I am introducing legislation that would provide relief for those individuals and urge my colleagues to join us also in supporting the African nationals who have been equally affected by the embassy bombings. Once again, I thank my colleague from California for her persistence and steadfastness in working in a bipartisan way. I thank the gentleman from Wisconsin (Mr. Sensenbrenner) for working together to make sure that this legislation came to the floor.

Ms. LEE

Ms. LEE. Madam Chairman, I thank the gentleman for yielding me time. I rise today in full support of the Afghanistan Freedom Support Act. This bill provides very important humanitarian, development and economic assistance. Afghanistan is a country that has been torn apart by war for decades. The seeds of terrorism grow where there is despair and poverty. Manmade disasters have been compounded by nature. Afghanistan has been suffering from a terrible drought, for example, for several years, adding to the already extreme misery in that country. So we must remain committed to Afghanistan's reconstruction. It is not only for humanitarian reasons, but it is also in the United States' security interests as well. We also must make sure that our assistance to Afghanistan recognizes the suffering of Afghan women in particular and in the importance of reintegrating women into the civic life of the country. I submitted an amendment in committee authored by my colleague, the gentlewoman from California (Ms. Millender-McDonald) calling for resources to be sent to the Afghan Ministry of Women's Affairs to carry out its responsibilities for legal advocacy, education, vocational training and women's health programs. I want to thank the gentlewoman from California (Ms. Millender-McDonald) who is the vice chair of the Women's Caucus for her leadership and also for the bipartisan support of the committee's adoption. I want to thank the gentleman from Illinois (Mr. Hyde) and our ranking member, the gentleman from California (Mr. Lantos), for crafting this very common-sense, yet, I believe far-reaching legislation. I urge support for the bill. The United States must remain engaged in helping support the nation-building efforts in Afghanistan.

Ms. LEE

Ms. LEE. Mr. Speaker, I rise today to honor and recognize Xi Gamma Omega Chapter of Alpha Kappa Alpha Sorority, Inc. as it celebrates its 20th Anniversary of community service in the greater Oakland/East Bay Area. Xi Gamma Omega Chapter of Alpha Kappa Alpha Sorority, Inc. was chartered on May 1, 1982, by a group of 28 dynamic women who recognized a need for greater community service. The 28 original members of Xi Gamma Omega pledged themselves to community development, sisterhood, and the ideals which are embodied in Alpha Kappa Alpha Sorority, Inc. The members of Xi Gamma Omega saw a need for increased participation on the part of community groups in the development of the city of Oakland. They wanted to ensure that Oakland had support services available to the city's African American community, particularly its youth. For 20 years, Xi Gamma Omega Chapter has carried out the mission and goals set down by its charter members. It has accomplished these goals through a host of services including tutoring and mentoring programs for elementary and secondary school students, visiting the elderly, adopting families in need, providing financial scholarships to deserving college-bound high school seniors, and making contributions to charitable organizations, such as the United Negro College Fund. In its early years, Xi Gamma Omega held a Healthy Summer program, based at recreation centers, schools, and the Boys and Girls Club, that provided medical and dental screenings to uninsured young people. Doctors, podiatrists, optometrists, and dentists donated their services to this worthy project. In addition, the chapter members taught poison prevention measures to families in their homes. During the early 1990's, Xi Gamma Omega Chapter proudly participated in many of the Sorority's International program targets. One of the major targets was Partners In Math and Science (PIMS). Xi Gamma Omega held workshops, titled ``Turning African American Students on to Mathematics and Science.'' These workshops focused on alerting students to the need for math and science skills in all professions, as well as everyday life. In its own right, Xi Gamma Omega has developed an extraordinary reputation in the Far Western Region as a chapter that exemplifies visionary leadership and premier service programs. Over the years this recognition of Xi Gamma Omega's leadership and community service activities has resulted in the receipt of numerous awards at a number of Alpha Kappa Alpha Regional Conferences. Today, Xi Gamma Omega Chapter continues its rich tradition of community service through ON TRACK, a student nurturing and mentoring program at Martin Luther King, Jr. Elementary School, providing scholarships to talented middle school students to attend summer art camps, participating in and raising funds for the AIDS Walk-A-Thon, as well as the UNCF Walk and Tele-A-Thons; collecting and shipping educational items for young children to countries in Africa; providing food and personal hygiene items to the residents of the Beth Eden Senior Center; as well as continuing its financial scholarships to college-bound high school seniors. It is with great distinction that Xi Gamma Omega Chapter has proudly continued the 94 year-old tradition of Alpha Kappa Alpha, the first sorority founded by and for African American college women at Howard University in 1908. This legacy of Service to All Mankind has established Alpha Kappa Alpha Sorority, Inc., as a premier service organization both in the United States and abroad in West and South Africa, Europe, and the Caribbean. I would like to commend the commitment and diligence of my former Senior Staff Assistant and friend Julie Hadnot, who is the President of the Xi Gamma Omega chapter of the Alpha Kappa Alpha sorority. Julie is a strong advocate and leader in Oakland as well as throughout the East Bay. In the next 20 years and beyond, Xi Gamma Omega has pledged to remain committed to this high standard of service. Xi Gamma Omega Chapter will continue to blaze new trails and provide visionary leadership in the area of community service and programming throughout the city of Oakland and its environs.

Ms. LEE

Ms. LEE. Mr. Speaker, I thank the gentleman for yielding me this time, and I rise today in the strongest opposition to this irresponsible Republican welfare reform legislation which will devastate poor families, especially women and children. We talk about family values a lot in this place, so when we have a chance to practice what we preach, we go in just the opposite direction. This bill limits access to education, does not adequately increase child care for millions of needy families, and does not make poverty reduction a real goal of welfare reform. H.R. 4737 would double the amount of time required for a parent on welfare with children under the age of 6 to work from 20 hours to 40 hours a week, and yet we do not sufficiently increase child care funding to care for these children. What will happen to our children? We will have more latchkey kids at younger and younger ages because their parents are working without the child care they need. We know that these children are more at risk for future difficulties; crime, drugs and teen pregnancy. This goes totally counter to family values preached by so many. Making welfare recipients spend even more time away from home and their children makes it totally anti-family. It just does not make any sense. Real family values entails allowing parents on welfare to go to school to get better jobs and to take care of their families. Unfortunately, or fortunately, I have some experience in this area. I can tell my colleagues from personal experience that education does make a difference for those women on welfare. We must also educate young men and women to prevent unwanted pregnancies, not to mention HIV and AIDS, and yet the GOP welfare bill continues the dangerous abstinence-only until marriage program, which will prohibit any mention of contraception, even in the context of preventing HIV and AIDS. For all these reasons and many, many more we must defeat H.R. 4737. We cannot continue to put our children at risk. This will be the beginning of the end for any hope for a successful future. Vote ``no'' on H.R. 4737.

Ms. LEE

Ms. LEE. Mr. Speaker, I missed the vote yesterday on H.R. 3694, the Highway Restoration Fund Act. Had I been present I would have voted ``yea.''

Ms. LEE

Ms. LEE. Mr. Speaker, I rise today to honor Dr. George Herring for his outstanding educational leadership and his many contributions to the Peralta Community College District. Dr. Herring received his Bachelor of Science degree in Social Science from Jackson State University in Jackson, Mississippi and his Masters in Public Administration from University of California at Berkeley. Dr. Herring came to the Peralta Community College District in 1970 as Director of the Ford Project, a program to assist under-represented students seeking to transfer to four year colleges, at Oakland's Merritt College. He went on to serve as Assistant Dean of Student Services at Merritt and was quickly promoted to Dean of Administration and Development. While serving as Dean of Administration and Student Services at Merritt College, Dr. Herring concurrently acted as Dean of Student Services at Laney College, also located in Oakland, California and later went on to become the President of the College of Alameda in 1995, serving that institution for more than five years before accepting his position as Peralta's Senior Vice Chancellor. While always busy with district and college affairs, Dr. Herring found the time to be active on numerous boards and commissions. He was President of the Northern California Research Group for three years, served three terms as the President of the Board of the YMCA of the East Bay, and is past President of the Western Regional Council on Black American Affairs. Not only is Dr. Herring an active member of the community of higher education, he is also a current member of the California Community Colleges Commission on Athletics. Dr. Herring has won several National American Tennis Association championships and spends a great deal of his spare time teaching youth tennis and coaching little league baseball. Mr. Speaker, as Dr. Herring leaves behind a long and rich history at the Peralta Community College District, I ask that Congress join me in expressing thanks to him for thirty-two years of exemplary service. I extend my best wishes to him as he begins his well-earned retirement and opens a new chapter of his life.

Ms. LEE

Ms. LEE. Mr. Chairman, I rise in opposition to this bill. Now more than ever, it is clear that cold war era thinking will not meet the security needs of today. But it is cold war thinking that continues to fuel our defense budget. It is misguided thinking that seeks to put the United States back on the path toward renewed nuclear testing, when instead we would all be made safer if we would work toward nuclear nonproliferation. It is misguided thinking that seeks to spend billions on the Crusader, a weapons system that the Secretary of State himself does not want, when we have so many profound needs here at home. It is misguided thinking that seeks to allow the Department of Defense to ignore our existing environmental laws. The American public doesn't want fewer environmental protections. They want more. It is misguided thinking to underfund important programs to destroy chemical weapons in Russia. And, it is misguided thinking that pours billions into a missile defense system that we are rushing to deploy without fully considering either the enormous technical problems or the serious international repercussions. As we abandon treaties and international agreements, we work against our own best interests by spurring on nuclear arms races and undermining proliferation and cooperation efforts. I urge you, then, to oppose another $7.8 billion for missile defense and to oppose this bill.

Ms. LEE. Mr. Chairman, I rise today in strong support of the Markey amendment, and I want to thank my colleagues, Mr. Rahall and Mr. Markey, for their leadership in standing up for the environment. The Defense Authorization Bill as written grants the Department of Defense sweeping the blanket exemptions to existing environmental laws. The American public doesn't want fewer environmental protections. They want more. Eighty-five percent of registered voters surveyed on this question believe that the Department of Defense should have to follow the same environmental and public health laws as everyone else. We have already seen efforts to roll back protections on our air and water. It is time to stand up and put a stop to these assaults on our environment. Biodiversity is essential to our national heritage. We have an obligation to our children and to their children to protect that biodiversity. And so, I urge you to adopt this amendment. It does not impose any unreasonable restrictions on the Department of Defense. It simply ensures that the U.S. government will abide by existing U.S. laws. Motion to Rise Offered by Mr. Taylor of Mississippi

Ms. LEE. Mr. Chairman, I want to thank the gentleman from Massachusetts for yielding me this time and for his leadership in leading the world, I think, in the right direction. I rise in strong support of the Markey amendment really to prohibit the development of this nuclear earth penetrator weapon. This weapon poses unacceptable risks. Our own troops would be endangered by nuclear fallout and innocent civilians could be caught in a nuclear crossfire. Furthermore, developing this weapon really does take us down the path of nuclear testing and nuclear proliferation. Where we go, others will follow. It is bad enough that we have not ratified the Comprehensive Test Ban Treaty. United States nuclear testing would destroy this treaty. The United States cannot preach nonproliferation while escalating the arms race ourselves. I urge my colleagues to support this amendment. I want to again thank the gentleman from Massachusetts for offering this amendment.

Ms. LEE

Ms. LEE. Mr. Chairman, I thank the gentlewoman for yielding me this time and also for her persistence each year in trying to bring some equity to women and dependents who are serving in our Nation's military. I rise in strong support of the Sanchez amendment to overturn what is a very and extremely discriminatory policy of denying servicewomen and female military dependents from using their own funds, mind you, for abortions at overseas military hospitals. At a time when many servicewomen are overseas fighting in Afghanistan, it is wrong to deny them access to vital reproductive health services. Women in the military should be able to depend on their base hospitals for all of their health care services. A repeal of the current law ban on privately funded abortions would allow women access to the same range and the same quality of medical care available in the United States. I urge my colleagues to support the Sanchez amendment. We owe it to our women fighting abroad and serving in our military proudly throughout the world.

Ms. LEE

Ms. LEE. Mr. Speaker, I thank the gentleman for yielding me this time, and I also want to commend the gentleman from Massachusetts for his leadership, as well as the gentlewoman from Nevada for really raising the very dangerous implications of what we are doing today, and I rise in strong opposition to H. J. Res. 87. Now, this resolution, as we have heard today, would send 77 tons of nuclear waste across our Nation's highways, through our streets, and past our homes. Every hour of every day for the next three decades, trucks and railcars full of radioactive waste would be rolling past. Every mile along the way they would be exposed to the risk of both terrorists and simple accidents. This is very, very scary. This cannot be the answer. We must seek out scientifically sound mechanisms to store and treat existing nuclear waste and we must shift to a safer energy technology. We cannot keep producing nuclear waste that we clearly cannot manage safely. Nuclear waste cannot continue to proliferate. Transporting tons of waste to Yucca Mountain will not eliminate the piles of waste sitting at reactor sites across the country. It will barely make a dent in them for years to come. Instead, it will expand our risk every mile traveled. Finally, transportation aside, Yucca Mountain is not the solution. With threats of earthquakes and groundwater contamination, it is an environmental disaster waiting to happen. I urge my colleagues to oppose this resolution. I want to again thank the gentleman from Massachusetts and the gentlewoman from Nevada for making sure that we are fully aware of the implications of what we are doing today.

Ms. LEE

Ms. LEE. Mr. Speaker, I am proud to rise today to commemorate the 150th anniversary of the City of Oakland. One hundred and fifty years ago, on May 4, 1852, the City of Oakland was incorporated. It is my great privilege to represent the Ninth District of California, which includes Oakland, a city that has played a vital role in the history, economy, and culture of the wonderful state of California and the nation. The City of Oakland has cultivated a rich history in the last 150 years. The city offers ethnic diversity, intellectual ferment, and economic vitality, and has made a wide array of contributions to science, technology, literature, the arts, and business. Oakland emerged as a major commercial and transportation center in the heyday of the California Gold Rush of 1849. It became a crucial transit point from the San Francisco Bay to Sutter's Mill and the Sierra Nevada foothills. Oakland dramatically expanded after the tragic San Francisco earthquake of 1906 as Californians sought firmer ground. The city's population significantly increased again during the World War II, when thousands of Americans came to the City to work in the busy shipyards, the Oakland Army Base, and the Naval Air Station in Alameda. As the city grew, so did its commitment to progressive activism. Individuals stood tall for their rights and organized others to follow suit. Individuals such as Cotrell Lawrence Dellums, a Pullman porter and a Bay Area representative for the Brotherhood of Sleeping Car Porters, began organizing fellow African-Americans to join the union in 1925, when Oakland was still strongly linked to the passenger rails. As the head of the Alameda County NAACP, he helped the AFL-CIO consolidate its membership by delivering the support of Black railroad workers and members of the NAACP, and was among the first to organize voter registration campaigns in the district. C.L. Dellums' spirit of activism has remained alive in Oakland throughout the years. Two-time Socialist Party Candidate for Mayor and Call of the Wild author Jack London called Oakland his home for nearly thirty years. From this city, London wrote many of his vivid evocations of the Far North. The East Bay's sometimes chilly climate may have helped inspire some of his more picturesque depictions of life in the Yukon. Today, Jack London Square bears Oakland's famous son's name, a beautiful waterfront business and shopping area, representing both tradition and the economic vitality of the city. London was not the only cultural icon to grace Oakland's streets: Robert Louis Stephenson, Ishmael Reed, and Gertrude Stein lived in Oakland, and all enriched our literary heritage. As a sea, air and rail port, Oakland is at the hub of California trade. The maritime port stretches across nineteen miles of San Francisco Bay. One of the largest ports on the West Coast, the Port of Oakland is today second only to New York in terms of container terminal space. It is a primary sea terminal connecting the western United States to Asia, South America, and Europe. Like the seaport, the airport also represents a crucial link in the chain of intrastate, interstate, and international commerce. The Oakland Airport was also the starting point in 1937 for Amelia Earhart's ill-fated round-the- world flight. Historic landmarks in Oakland include the Dunsmuir House, Mills Hall located on the Mills College campus, the Paramount Theatre, the USS Hornet (CV-12), and several buildings designed by architects Julia Morgan and Bernard Maybeck. Additional landmarks in the district include the C.L. Dellums Train Station, the just-opened Chabot Observatory and Science Center, Children's Fairyland (Walt Disney's blueprint for Disneyland), Jack London Square, Lake Merritt, Oakland's Chinatown, and the Ronald V. Dellums Federal Building. Three of Oakland's annual events were recently placed as a ``Local Legacy'' in the Library of Congress' Bicentennial celebration. These events are the Dia de los Muertos, The Black Cowboys Parade and the Festival of Greece. I am proud that these events are recognized by the Library of Congress as a local legacy. With a century and a half of history behind it, Oakland now stands at the brink of a new century and a new millennium. As we move forward into the future, we must continue to celebrate our diversity, remember our past, and refute Gertrude Stein's famous Oakland lament that ``there was no there there.'' There is a there, there, and for a hundred and fifty years there has been. Congratulations to the people of Oakland on 150 years of history and tradition.

Ms. LEE

Ms. LEE. Ms. Speaker, Whereas, Oakland was incorporated on May 4, 1852; and Whereas, the City has grown from a hamlet of 75 citizens to become California's eighth largest city and the 42nd most populous city in the United States; and Whereas, Oakland recognized as one of the most ethnically diverse cities in the United States with over 125 different languages and dialects spoken there; and Whereas, Oakland shipyards produced more than 35 percent of the entire Pacific Coast cargo ship output in World War II and Oakland canneries processed 60 percent of total food stuffs for the war effort making Oakland an important player in the ``arsenal of democracy''; and Whereas, President Herbert Hoover cast his first ballot in the 1896 Presidential election as a young adult living in Oakland; and Whereas, William F. Knowland, publisher of the Oakland Tribune, served in the U. S. Senate from August 1945 to January 1959 including majority leadership under President Dwight D. Eisenhower; and Whereas, Earl Warren, the fourteenth Chief Justice of the United States Supreme Court, began his career of public service in 1919 as Deputy City Attorney of the City of Oakland; and Whereas, Oakland-born Edwin Meese III began his public service career as an Alameda County deputy district attorney before serving as counselor to President Ronald Reagan and U. S. Attorney General; and Whereas, Ronald V. Dellums, an Oakland native, served in the House of Representatives from January 1971 to February 1998; and Whereas, the lovingly-restored Potomac, President Franklin D. Roosevelt's beloved ``Floating White House'', offers dockside tours and Bay cruises from Oakland; and Whereas, Oakland is home to the Port of Oakland, the fourth largest container port in the United States and among the top twenty-five worldwide; and Whereas, as part of the fourth largest economy in the United States, Oakland's leading industry sectors include business services, health care services, transportation, food processing, light manufacturing, government, arts, culture and entertainment; and Whereas, Oakland has been home to scores of nationally-known actors (Clint Eastwood, Tom Hanks, Mark Curry), authors (Jack London, Amy Tan, Gertrude Stein), musicians (Sheila E., the Pointer Sisters, En Vogue), and sports figures (Rickey Henderson, Al Attles, Gary Payton); and Whereas, Oakland will celebrate its 150th Anniversary on May 4, 2002, with a day-long public celebration that kicks off a 16-week 150th Anniversary Season that culminates in the Second Annual Art & Soul Festival over Labor Day Weekend: Now, therefore, be it Resolved by the House of Representatives That Congress congratulates the City of Oakland on its 150th anniversary.

Ms. LEE

Ms. LEE. Mr. Chairman, I thank the gentlewoman from Illinois for yielding me this time, and for her leadership and her persistence on this issue. I rise in strong support of the Schakowsky amendment which requires the Export-Import Bank to consider the human rights implications of major projects that it funds. Now, in the last week, the United States has regained its seat on the United Nations Human Rights Commission. We now have another opportunity and an obligation to reassert our leadership on human rights issues and to really, in essence, practice what we preach. The entire world is watching. At each and every juncture, human rights concerns must enter into our policy decisionmaking and our policy initiatives. The world needs the United States' leadership on human rights issues. Here we have a chance, thanks to the gentlewoman from Illinois, to exercise this leadership. The Export-Import Bank deals with projects that reach into the millions of dollars. These projects have major repercussions on the ground and human rights analysis must be a part of this fair equation. This amendment just provides accurate information on these projects so that economic development would not come at the cost of further erosion of basic human rights. Under current policy, cancellation is the only option. We need a more precise instrument. This is a very modest measure in the right direction. So I urge my colleagues to stand up for human rights today by supporting the Schakowsky amendment.

Ms. LEE

Ms. LEE. Mr. Speaker, Education and training which lead to good- paying jobs makes welfare to work work. Unfortunately, or fortunately, I have personal experience with this issue. I know that real training and education is the best way to lift public assistance recipients and families out of poverty, so they can succeed at whatever career they choose--even in the United States Congress. However, instead of helping TANF recipients have access to these vital job preparation and education programs, a minimum wage, and a guarantee of civil rights, the GOP welfare reform plan makes it significantly more difficult for families to transition off of welfare. Denying parents on welfare access to those educational and technical skills to make them self-sufficient is counterproductive. Instead of making it easier for parents to prepare themselves for better jobs, the Republican welfare reauthorization plan eliminates the current law's ability to count up to a year of full-time education or training. This goes completely in the wrong direction. Support real jobs, not workfare!

Ms. LEE

Ms. LEE. Mr. Chairman, I thank the ranking member, the gentleman from New York (Mr. LaFalce), for yielding me this time and for his leadership on these tough issues. Mr. Chairman, I rise today in strong opposition to H.R. 3763. This is another sham bill that purports to fix the very serious problems that have arisen from the Enron debacle, but instead it takes us backwards in protecting the American public. H.R. 3763 is supposed to impose tougher standards on auditors to prevent future Enrons where workers lost their pensions and investors lost money because Enron cooked its books. However, H.R. 3763 does nothing to protect employees and investors. It allows corporate auditors to continue to perform both auditing and consulting functions, which got Enron into this mess in the first place. The GOP bill puts investors and workers at greater risk than they are now. It does not hold corporate wrong-doers criminally accountable if they knowingly release misleading financial statements, and it does not increase oversight of the accounting industry. We need true reform. That is why I am supporting the LaFalce substitute which takes important steps to protect workers and investors. It would set up a seven-person board with members representing investors and pension funds. Some of them can be accountants; but others with important interests can also be included, unlike the Republican legislation which will only permit auditors and former auditors on the board. Workers and investors also deserve a seat at the table. The LaFalce substitute also bans auditors from consulting services that create conflicts of interest, requires CEOs to surrender their stock bonuses when they commit fraud, and makes it easier for SEC to remove corporate wrong-doers. Ken Lay and the other Enron executives do not deserve millions of dollars in payoffs when their workers have lost their future. We must hold companies accountable when they engage in fraud that jeopardizes the retirement security of our Nation's workers and our economy. The Republican legislation before us today does none of these things. The LaFalce substitute does. I urge my colleagues to vote ``yes'' on LaFalce and ``no'' on H.R. 3763.

Ms. LEE

Ms. LEE. Mr. Speaker, I rise today to honor a remarkable event that will be taking place this week in Afghanistan. For the first time in five years, Afghan girls will be allowed to enroll in school without fear of the Taliban. The collapse of the Taliban regime has enabled the Afghan citizens to enjoy new personal freedoms that were once forbidden. Under the Taliban regime, women and girls were not allowed to go to school to attain a basic education. Many illegal schools were set up in private homes during the repressive regime because women and girls did not want to give up their education. During this time, if any of these underground schools were discovered, these women and girls wound up in jail, were severely beaten, or sometimes even killed. This week marks a time for celebration. Women and girls will no longer be threatened and harmed from pursuing their right to an education. I celebrate with the Afghan women and girls on their return to school and join my colleagues in celebrating this momentous event in empowering women around the world.