Barbara Lee

Ms. LEE

Ms. LEE. I thank the gentleman. And I want to thank my colleague from Illinois for his very eloquent remarks and his kind remarks and also for bringing clarity to not only this issue but so many of the tough issues which we deal with here in the United States Congress. I also thank the gentleman for bringing this right back home, because this is a global pandemic which we are dealing with. I thank the gentleman for participating with us. I would like to yield to the gentlewoman from Illinois (Ms. Schakowsky), a colleague who has been really in the forefront challenging the pharmaceutical companies to do the right thing, by providing affordable drugs to those in need, not only in America, but throughout the world.

Ms. LEE. Mr. Speaker, I want to thank my colleague from California for her very profound statement and also for once again speaking the truth and for making sure that this Congress and administration is challenged to step up to the plate to provide adequate resources to begin to tackle this pandemic at the proportion of which we see the problem. Madam Speaker, I yield now to the gentlewoman from Houston, Texas (Ms. Jackson-Lee), who has been a voice of reason, an advocate for social justice both here and abroad, and who I had the privilege to be with on our presidential delegation when we visited Southern Africa and witnessed the devastation of HIV/AIDS' toll on the orphans in Africa.

Ms. LEE

Ms. LEE. Mr. Speaker, today I recognize and celebrate Samuel Merritt College's receipt of the California Governor's Quality Award for 1999. The Quality Award is California's premier award for performance excellence and quality achievement in business, education and health care professions. Samuel Merritt College was one of only six recipients to receive this prestigious award. The College is the first institution of higher education to receive this award. Samuel Merritt College educates students for a life of highly skilled and compassionate service in health care. Founded in 1909 as a hospital school of nursing, Samuel Merritt College today offers both graduate and undergraduate degree programs in a variety of health science fields. The College's degrees include Bachelor of Science degrees in Nursing and Health and Human Sciences and Master degrees in Occupational Therapy, Physician Assistant, Physical Therapy, and Nursing. Samuel Merritt College has a long tradition of excellence representing the finest in health sciences education. On March 8, 2000, a reception was held by the College's Board of Regents in celebration of this honor. The Samuel Merritt College is truly a valuable resource for the community and medical profession. I am proud of this accomplishment and join in the celebration of this well-deserved recognition.

Ms. LEE

Ms. LEE. Mr. Speaker, today, I celebrate the 110th anniversary of the establishment of the Beth Eden Baptist Church in Oakland, California. This milestone will be commemorated from April 9 through May 21, 2000. The theme of this celebration is taken from Ephesians 6:10-18 which reads: ``By example-maintaining our armor of God and hold fast to the principles of righteousness, perseverance, faithfulness, salvation and spirit, which are in the word of God.'' Beth Eden is the oldest Black Baptist Church in Alameda County. Founded on April 20, 1890, its first pastor was Rev. George Gray. Since 1890, the church has flourished following its theme ``A Legacy of Faith.'' Since its founding with Rev. Gray, Beth Eden has had eleven additional pastors, including Rev. Robert Alexander McQuinn, Rev. James Allen (who later founded Oakland's Allen Temple Baptist Church), Rev. John Dwelle, Rev. John Coylar (the Church's only Caucasian minister), Rev. John Allen, Rev. James Dennis (who later founded the North Oakland Baptist Church), Rev. Francis Walker, Rev. Samuel Hawkins, Rev. Paul Hubbard, Rev. Alvin Dones and Rev. Dr. Gillette James, the current pastor. For more than a century, Beth Eden has been a West Oakland landmark of faith, activity and commitment to building a stronger community. These activities include building senior housing, holding interfaith Thanksgiving services with local churches, establishing a Missionary Society, creating SHARE, a discount food program, and helping to create the Black Adoption Placement and Research Center. Beth Eden Baptist Church is truly a source of civic pride and a valuable resource for the community. I proudly join the church's members, friends and neighbors in saluting and honoring the history and spirit of this great church.

Ms. LEE

Ms. LEE. Mr. Speaker, due to what may have been a technical difficulty, I was not recorded on rollcall vote 114. Had I been recorded, I would have voted ``yes.''

Ms. LEE

Ms. LEE. Mr. Speaker, further reserving the right to object, I want to thank the gentleman from New York (Chairman Gilman) for bringing this resolution to the floor. This resolution really comes at a very decisive moment in Peru's history. The votes from this past Sunday's election in Peru are being counted as we speak. International and Peruvian observers have already declared the electoral process to be damaged. The Organization of American States, the National Democratic Institute, and the Carter Center are among them. Mr. Speaker, I have served as an international observer in the recent Nigerian elections and also in the elections in South Africa several years ago. We must value the importance of our international observers in their understanding and clarification of what is taking place abroad. These nonpartisan Peruvian observers also have included the well- respected group Transparencia, and they have noted that the Fujimori government has attempted to unfairly manipulate this process to President Fujimori's advantage. Now, the legitimacy of the entire process is in the balance. Pre- election polls and, more telling, election day exit polls and independent quick counts all point to President Fujimori's coming short of the 50 percent vote needed to win in the first round. Official vote counts appear to be inching toward 50 percent while independent tabulations show the count to be 47 to 49 percent. This resolution, S.J. Res. 43, actually calls on Peru's government to ensure a clean, legitimate electoral process. For the Peruvian people and for the U.S.-Peruvian relations, we implore President Fujimori's efforts, and we implore him to do the right thing in this instance. Mr. Speaker, I withdraw my reservation of objection.

Ms. LEE. Mr. Speaker, reserving the right to object, I yield to the gentleman from New York (Mr. Gilman). (Mr. GILMAN asked and was given permission to revise and extend his remarks.)

Ms. LEE

Ms. LEE. Mr. Speaker, I rise today in strong support of the motion to instruct the conferees on the Juvenile Justice bill. These laws would help bring an end to the unnecessary deaths occurring among our children; unfortunately, we have seen too many massacres, too much heartbreak and too many tragedies, sometimes, even at the hands of our children. We promised the American people common sense gun control legislation. We have not delivered on that promise. In fact, we have gone in the other direction--engaging in a war of words only. Two weeks ago, the Congress had an opportunity to act responsibly and at a minimum insist that the conferees to the juvenile justice bill meet immediately. Yet the motion was pulled from the calendar. In my district, in Northern California, the Oakland City Council has taken a strong stance on gun control. They are putting human lives first by prohibiting the sale of compact hand guns, penalizing firearms ``straw sales,'' and prohibiting people under the age of 18 from entering establishments that display firearms. Yet here in Congress we won't, even take the minimum steps, such as child safety trigger locks, to ensure the safety of our children. We can no longer afford to play partisan politics while so many children's lives remain at stake. The Juvenile Justice Conferees must meet immediately. Congress must pass common sense gun control legislation and deliver on its promise.

Ms. LEE

Ms. LEE. Mr. Chairman, I thank the gentleman for yielding me this time and also for the bipartisan effort to bring this bill forward today. This is a modest measure. It is an excellent modest measure that begins to address a national crisis of housing. Moderate- and low-income families deserve the opportunity to realize the American Dream of homeownership. And given the high cost of housing, this dream is quickly becoming a nightmare in many regions of our country. This crisis is so bad that in my district, around the Bay Area of Northern California, professional households with incomes near $100,000 even face difficult housing choices. If these kinds of families are struggling, what does this mean for moderate- and low-income families? It means that Congress must do better. Mr. Chairman, Americans dream of owning our own homes. It rightfully gives us a stake in our society. Homeownership allows us to have a solid place from which we can accumulate some wealth to care for our families, to send our kids to college and to invest in small businesses. We still have a long way to go in this country. Even though there has been an increase in homeownership, there is really an embarrassing gap in this land of plenty when we realize that the homeownership rate for African Americans is still 20 percent below the national average. The rate for Hispanic Americans is over 20 percent below the national average. So this bill will really help us begin to correct the damage resulting from our refusal to, I believe, invest in housing in past years. Secretary Cuomo is doing the best that he can. But given the severe constraints of the Balanced Budget Act, it is difficult to imagine how HUD can just maintain, not to mention expand programs where there are tight budget caps. I urge support of the American Homeownership and Economic Opportunity Act.

Ms. LEE

Ms. LEE. Mr. Chairman, I move to strike the requisite number of words. (Ms. LEE asked and was given permission to revise and extend her remarks.)

Ms. LEE. Mr. Chairman, I stand in opposition to the $1.7 billion military package for Colombia, and in strong support of the amendment offered by the gentlewoman from California (Ms. Pelosi), and thank her for giving us the opportunity to engage in this debate. This military package will spell disaster for peace and human rights in Colombia, and will doing nothing for reducing drug use in our country. What is missing from this shortsighted, expensive approach are the resources for a more comprehensive Federal drug prevention and treatment policy here in our own country. How much are we willing to invest in mentoring programs, after-school programs, job training, and drug treatment? This is how we reduce drug use, as the Rand Corporation study cited by the gentlewoman from California (Ms. Pelosi) indicates. Why are we not pushing for an emergency bill to address the drug emergency that is right here in our own country? Drugs are destroying our communities. For example, in California, as a result of the horrendous three strikes law, nearly 40 percent of California's prison population are African-American men who have been incarcerated for nonviolent drug offenses. In the African-American community, one out of every three African- American young men in their twenties are either in prison, on probation, or on parole due to nonviolent drug offenses. The majority of these young men would not be in jail had there been treatment on demand, job training, and a job. Drugs are having a devastating impact on our Nation, especially in the African-American community. Providing $1.7 billion in military assistance to Colombia does not begin to provides us with the funding to wage a real war on drugs. Now is the time to consider a comprehensive Federal drug prevention and treatment policy here at home. We should stop misleading the American public by arguing that sending military hardware and helicopters to Colombia will reduce drug use in America. It will not. This is outrageous, to perpetuate that notion on our people, on our constituents, and on the country. This military package also ignores the human rights crisis in Colombia, nor does it deal with the extreme poverty in Colombia. Guns and helicopters will not solve the problems of hunger in Colombia, nor will it help our young people in America break the cycle of drug addiction. We need to go back to the drawing board, support the Pelosi amendment, and just say no to this counterproductive military package.

Ms. LEE

Ms. LEE. Mr. Speaker, I rise today to support the passage of sensible gun safety legislation. These laws would help bring an end to the many unnecessary deaths occurring at the hands of our children and upon our children. We promised the American people commonsense gun control. We have not delivered on that promise. In fact, we have gone in the other direction, engaging in a war of words only. Now the Congress must act responsibly and at least insist that the conferees to the juvenile justice bill meet immediately. In my district in Northern California, the Oakland City Council has taken a strong stance on gun safety. They are putting human lives first by prohibiting the sale of compact handguns, penalizing firearms straw sales, and prohibiting people under the age of 18 from entering establishments that display firearms. Yet here in Congress we will not even take the minimum steps, such as child safety trigger locks, to ensure the safety of our children. We can no longer afford to play partisan politics while so many children's lives remain at stake. We must pass gun safety legislation, and demand that the conferees to the juvenile justice bill meet immediately.

Ms. LEE

Ms. LEE. Mr. Chairman, I want to stand in strong support of the Congressional Black Caucus budget. This substitute shows that supporting good fiscal policy does not have to mean excluding low-wage workers, the poor, communities of color and African Americans. This budget increases domestic spending by 50 percent and spends 25 percent less on defense by cutting waste, fraud and abuse. Let me highlight what we have proposed in the areas of housing and also in order to end the HIV/AIDS crisis abroad. First, the Congressional Black Caucus addresses these issues by investing $1 billion more for section 8 housing, $100 million more for the community development block grant program, and $350 million more for the HOME program. We also invest over $1 billion over 5 years to stop the spread of HIV and AIDS in countries hardest hit in sub-Saharan Africa and the Caribbean. It funds H.R. 3519, the World Bank AIDS Marshal Trust Fund Plan. And we passed that last week out of the House Banking Committee. I stand in strong support for the CBC alternative. Mr. Chairman, I commend my colleagues for their vision and leadership in bringing this to the floor.

Ms. LEE. Mr. Chairman, I thank the gentleman from Oregon (Mr. DeFazio) for his leadership and his vision and thank the Progressive Caucus for putting forth this vision for a better America. I want to stand today in strong support of this budget. Like the Congressional Black Caucus, the Progressive Caucus budget balances the budget, saves Social Security and Medicare, without excluding low-wage workers, the poor, and communities of color. While poverty and unemployment have gone down, there are still millions of Americans who are not able to take advantage of this great economic boom. As a member of the Subcommittee on Housing and from northern California, I am particularly concerned about the rising cost of housing and access to affordable housing. The Joint Center for Housing Studies at Harvard University reports that because of the cost of housing, because it has actually outpaced wages, some renters are paying more for their housing today than they did for comparable units in the 1970s. According to a February 12 Washington Post article which I will submit for the Record, the cost of housing is so high in northern California that software executives making over $53,000 a year are homeless and living out of their cars. In fact, the article cites one individual making $80,000 a year forced to live in a shelter. This is outrageous. The Progressive Caucus budget invests more in section 8 housing, homeless assistance, senior housing, housing for the disabled and other important housing programs. This budget shows that during significant economic growth, we can invest where it is most needed, for education, for housing, the environment, foreign assistance, health care and violence prevention. This budget shows that sound fiscal policy does not have to leave out the poor, low-wage workers, communities of color, the disabled, our senior citizens, and our veterans. Let us make our peace dividend work here in America by ensuring our national security interest from within our own country as well as ensuring a safe and secure world. We must defend our country, not only from outside threats but from the threats of poverty and unemployment and income inequality and inadequate education and the growing gap between the rich and the poor. Mr. Chairman, I include the following article for the Record: The High-Tech Homeless; in Silicon Valley, A Dark Side To Booming Economy (By Mark Leibovich) Cupertino, Calif.--Each night, on the floor of a church that sits a few hundred yards from the campus of Apple Computer Inc., software executive Gordon Seybold unfurls a bedroll and attempts to sleep. It rarely comes. He often spends hours staring into blackness, wondering how Silicon Valley's wealth stampede could keep rushing past a man with his resume. Last January, Seybold lost his job as a corporate sales manager for Oakland-based C2Net Software Inc., where he said he was on track to earn $125,000 last year, including commissions. He tried to find a new job, came close a few times, but ultimately turned up nothing after several months. In August, he was evicted from his $1,600-a-month apartment in West San Jose. Since then Seybold, who holds three degrees and speaks five languages, has landed on the Silicon Skids, joining a fast- growing homeless population that might be the best credentialed in the nation. They are marked by the same runs of bad luck, bad habits and bad decisions that lead to shelter doors anywhere. But Silicon Valley's homeless also provide a starkly different perspective on the giddy high-tech world, one that mocks every common mythology about this place. They are, in many cases, victims of the same aura of promise that keeps technology workers flooding here. Largely hidden and ignored--in shelters, on floors, in cars--their plights define this boom era just as aptly as any overnight geek tycoon. If this were another place, at another time, it might be easier to reduce expectations, forget stock options and move to a place where tiny rooms don't rent for $1,200 a month. But it's hard not to wish big here. New millionaires get spawned in bull market litters--64 a day, by one count--and it imbues even homeless shelters with a gambler's sense of possibility. ``There's so much sudden wealth here, it's creating a Vegas mentality,'' said Barry Del Buono, executive director of the Emergency Housing Consortium, which operates seven shelters in Silicon Valley. ``A lot of our homeless are living on the hope this economy is creating. But people don't realize how brutal it can be here if you lose your footing.'' Or how the downward spiral can spin just as fast as the sudden-wealth machine. Seybold, 56 said he lost his job at C2Net in a mass layoff, though a company spokesman cited ``other factors.'' Whatever the reason, it caused him to become depressed, which hurt his employment prospects. So did his advancing age, an unspoken liability in a high-tech industry obsessed with the new and young. He spent last fall living in a 1984 Chevrolet van. Today, Seybold is in a program for homeless men run by Cupertino Community Services. It provides career guidance, shelter and donated meals at a network of Silicon Valley churches, many of them nestled in neighborhoods of million- dollar homes. At night, his floormates keep him awake with their somnolent gunts and moans, which echo through the sanctuary in a chorus of unconscious unease. ``One of the drawbacks of sleeping in a big church room is that they have perfect acoustics.'' Seybold said. He stays in Silicon Valley because he has worked in technology for 25 years. ``There is 10 times more opportunity here than anywhere else for someone like me,'' he said, but added that he is thinking about leaving to join the Peace Corps. He recently took a job as a salesclerk at a drugstore in Cupertino. It pays $8.50 an hour. rethinking failure as success Here, as elsewhere, accounts of becoming homeless often involve a unique, precipitating circumstance: a fire or a big rent increase; some physical or mental hardship. It is rare to find a homeless person who has had plenty of breaks and has done everything right. But the pioneer's mentality of Silicon Valley can impose perverse interpretations on personal failure. In entrepreneurial circles, failure is said to be a valuable experience, laudable even. It can be the source of vital business lessons and proof of a pioneer's willingness to take chances. And in the strange calculus of the dot-com world, failure is success, as revealed by the stock prices of Internet companies that have never made a profit. But that's a santized notion of failure, describing an entrepreneur's ability to make large amounts of money vanish, often someone else's. Technology workers who wind up homeless represent a baser notion of failure. ``This is the kind of failure that no one in Silicon Valley likes to think about,'' said Ray Allen, who runs the Community Technology Alliance, a San Jose organization that provides voice-mail service to local homeless people and online resources to community aid groups. ``The fact is, the technology industry is creating incredible wealth, and it's also creating incredible poverty.'' At its crux, this poverty is born of simple economics. The prosperity has sent the cost of housing soaring and pushed lower-income people, many of them employed, onto the * * * margins of society. ``We all have perceptions of what a homeless person is supposed to be like, and I'm not it,'' said Tom McCormack, 38, who works as a system engineer at CompuNet Systems Solutions Inc., a network-software firm in San Jose. He wears crisp blue dress shirts and earns $52,000 a year, which should be enough to pay for a low-rent place, but isn't when it's added to child-support payments and past credit-card debts. McCormack faced desperate circumstances last spring when a roommate moved out of his San Jose apartment and his landlord doubled the rent to $1,600. ``I'm a workaholic and I didn't have much of a social network,'' he said. ``I had nowhere to go.'' He moved into his 1982 Subaru. Until a few days ago McCormack lived at Inn-Vision, a beige concrete shelter tucked between the San Jose Arena and a cluster of auto body shops. His quarters were a 4-by-7-foot cubicle separated from 88 roommates by curtain walls, as in a military hospital ward. Rules are strict. Last week one of his shelter mates, Randall Condon, 46, a computer-networking expert, said he was written up by a shelter manager for leaving a book about non-Euclidian geometry on his bunk bed. Last weekend McCormack reached his six-month limit at Inn- Vision and is back living in his Subaru. He spends hours at night lying in the back seat, reading books on computer programming by flashlight. The question recurs: Why does he stay in Silicon Valley? The answer recurs: ``This place is just full of opportunity,'' he said. ``This is where my brain food is.'' And prospective Cyber Cinderellas keep coming: ``This place has this incredible mystique,'' said Cathy Erickson, who runs the Georgia Travis Center, a drop-in office for homeless people in San Jose. ``People come from all over the world to expect instant success, instant hope. But there's only so long you can afford to stay in a hotel.'' She frequently tells them to go back where they came from. high-tech helping hands Cisco Systems Inc., the San Jose-based computer-networking giant, comes to the main Emergency Housing Consortium shelter to train prospective technology workers. And Mary Ellen Chell, the executive director of Cupertino Community Services, said one large technology company, the name of which she can't divulge, has inquired about housing new-to- town employees in its shelters. This symbiosis between Silicon Valley's wealth centers and its fringes underscores a precarious separation between the two. While homeless populations are notoriously difficult to track and quantify, Silicon Valley's has risen steadily in recent years, local social service workers said. Nearly 20,000 people will experience a ``homeless episode'' this year in Santa Clara County, which covers most of Silicon Valley, up from about 16,000 five years ago. But what's most striking is the increasing percentage of working people who now live in homeless shelters, a nationwide phenomenon that is poignantly evident in Silicon Valley. Since 1992, 250,000 new jobs have been created here and only about 40,000 new housing units have been built. ``If they were somewhere else, there's a good chance they'd be living in the suburbs,'' the Emergency Housing Consortium's Del Buono said. ``We turn out people every day who are making $60,000 a year.'' He said that about half of the consortium's 1,100 clients are employed. The biggest shelter, a converted office building that houses 250 people next to a San Jose industrial park, is open 24 hours, but is nearly empty at midday. Many of Silicon Valley's shelter dwellers fit the conventional shopping cart prototype: hard-luck veterans, unemployed single mothers, the mentally or criminally deinstitutionalized. But talk to enough homeless people and a theme resonates--it doesn't take a lot of misfortune here to start a rapid descent. ``I have a good job and I can't believe I wound up without a place to live,'' said Tracy Ramirez, a customer service representative at Cyantek, which makes chemicals for the semiconductor industry. She lives half a mile from the main runway of San Jose Airport in a one-room, Emergency Housing Consortium ``transitional home,'' where she shares a bed with her 3- and 9-year-old daughters. Ramirez, 35, earns $16.90 an hour, about $34,000 a year. She pays $600 a month in day-care costs, $300 a month in car payments. She also has a litany of other bills, expenses and debts trailing from her past, many accrued during a since- ended marriage. A bad credit history, a bankruptcy and an eviction last September inevitably kill her chances with landlords, aside from the fact that the Department of Housing and Urban Development considers $47,800 a year to be ``low income'' for a three-person household in Silicon Valley. She started getting anxiety attacks last summer. Her mother, Carolyn Cabral, earns $14,80 an hour working on an assembly line at 3COM Corp. but can't afford a place closer than Mantica, a two-hour drive to her office in Santa Clara. Cabral, 59, who has worked 16 years at 3COM, wakes up at 3:15 a.m. to come to work in the valley. (The commute can reach three hours with traffic.) She could get a job closer to home, but says it would cut her pay by half. ``Silicon Valley is a victim of its own success,'' said Carl Guardino, chief executive of the Silicon Valley Manufacturers Group, the area's biggest high-tech industry trade organization. With an unemployment rate of 2.7 percent and average annual wages that are nearly $20,000 higher than the national average, it's impossible to deny the success. It's of some consolation that shelters receive donations from tech zillionaires, especially during the holidays. In December, for example, a Yahoo Inc. employee gave $100,000 in stock to 10 social service agencies, said Maury Kendall, communications manager at the Emergency Housing Consortium. Last month, after local news outlets reported that pets belonging to homeless people could not stay in shelters, donations poured in, Kendall said. ``We just got $15,000 to start a kennel.'' But the housing crisis is clearly exacting a toll on humans, A study revealed this week that for the first time in five years, more people are leaving Santa Clara County than are arriving. While the difference was negligible--1,284 more people moved out than in--the lack of affordable housing has become the biggest obstacle that valley companies face in keeping and recruiting employees, Guardino said. ``We would like technology workers to drive their cars, not live in them.'' a fast free-fall ``There's a very thin line in Silicon Valley between being a director and being a derelict,'' said Randall Condon, the computer-networking expert encamped at San Jose's Inn-Vision. ``Everything here is accelerated--business cycles, wealth creation, and certainly the rate at which your life can fall apart.'' Condon was living in Olympia, Wash., where he had moved to be with a girlfriend and work at an Internet service provider. In November, as the relationship was ending, he lost everything in an apartment fire. He came to Silicon Valley because he had worked in technology for 20 years. After a brief and futile search for a rental, Condon came to Inn-Vision. He sleeps--or tries to--in a large room with 43 other men, whom he collectively refers to as ``the snoring symphony.'' Condon, who has sad blue eyes and oily chestnut hair, said he tries to stay busy and positive. On a rainy Monday in mid-January, he calls his existence ``tortuous.'' Libraries were closed for Martin Luther King Jr. Day, which denied him access to his prime job-seeking tool, the Internet. ``I'm a total cyber-cripple in here,'' he said. But a postscript: Condon got a job last week, at a San Jose Internet start-up company where he says he will earn more than $80,000 a year, plus stock options. He won't name his new employer because he doesn't want people there to see this article. They don't know that he lives in a shelter.

Ms. LEE

Ms. LEE. Mr. Speaker, I rise today in recognition of the 2nd Annual Finding Your Roots Conference, an African American Family History Research Project taking place on Saturday, March 25, 2000, in Oakland, California Genealogical research helps bridge the racial divide, brings understanding between races, and provides for the powerful ``sankofa'' experience of recognizing our past to better understand who we are today. Therefore, it is my belief that this conference is a wonderful testimony to the complexity and the magnificence of the human experience. This event is designed to raise awareness within the African American community about the importance of tracing one's ancestry, particularly those whose ancestors were original depositors of the Freedman's Savings and Trust Company. Freedman's was created by Congress and President Lincoln in 1865 for emancipated slaves. Unfortunately, Freedman's went bankrupt when 95% of the bank's money was borrowed and never repaid by white Americans. This conference will also provide opportunities for African Americans and all American families to share their ancestral information with each other. The conference is co-sponsored by the California Genealogical Society, African-American Genealogical Society of Northern California, Legacy Jubilee Arts, Mid-Peninsula NAACP, Oakland Temple Family History Center, Center for Urban Black Studies and the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. Additional participating organizations include the Evergreen Missionary Baptist Church and the Voices of Evergreen Choir and the Morningstar Baptist Church. The featured speakers of the conference include Senior Research Consultant of the Family History Library in Salt Lake City, Utah, Ms. Marie Taylor and award-winning broadcaster Mr. Darius Gray, who has traced his own family's ancestry back to the 1700's. Together, Ms. Taylor and Mr. Gray have been working on a project to extract one million names from Freedman's deposit records. ``Finding Your Roots'' it is truly a valuable resource for all and I encourage everyone to begin finding their own roots today.

Ms. LEE

Ms. LEE. Mr. Chairman, I yield 1 minute to the gentleman from New York (Mr. Hinchey).

Ms. LEE. Mr. Chairman, I yield 1 minute to the gentleman from West Virginia (Mr. Rahall).

Ms. LEE. Mr. Chairman, I yield 1\1/2\ minutes to the gentleman from Texas (Mr. Stenholm). (Mr. STENHOLM asked and was given permission to revise and extend his remarks.)

Ms. LEE. Mr. Chairman, I yield 1\1/2\ minutes to the gentleman from Ohio (Mr. Traficant).

Ms. LEE. Mr. Chairman, I yield myself such time as I may consume. Mr. Chairman, the Oil Price Reduction Act encourages President Clinton to take stronger action against those involved in price-fixing, but he is already doing that. This energy crisis should really be a wake-up call for Congress to seriously reconsider our current energy policy, and there is no better time than now to take up real long-term solutions. Secretary Richardson's diplomatic efforts are the right thing to do, and I am hopeful like all of us are, that OPEC will reconsider its production policy when it meets. According to press accounts, Saudi Arabia, Norway, Mexico, and Venezuela say they are in favor of raising production levels. Now this is good news. The President's initiative to strengthen America's energy security, particularly his $1.4 billion investment in energy efficiency and alternative energy technology, is a right step. However, now is the time for Congress to push for long-term solutions. Now is the time to encourage stronger energy efficiency standards. The State of California, for example, is leading the Nation in requiring the development of electrical and hybrid vehicles, which is an excellent example of how we both reduce emissions and also reduce our reliance on fossil fuels and also emissions. Now is really certainly the time to invest in alternative fuels and renewable energy. Currently, in my district, Alameda Contra Costa Transit Company is taking great strides to invest in fuel cell engines, which offers a very promising alternative and is a zero emissions energy source. Now is the time to encourage a wider spread use of mass transits. As in many cities across the Nation understand, increasing our investment in buses and light rail will help reduce traffic congestion, pollution and our dependence on gas. Now is the time to end our dependence on OPEC oil. For example, there are numerous countries in Africa, such as Angola and some off the west coast of Africa, that are examples of oil-producing countries with promising opportunities for the United States. In my district in Northern California, prices rose by 15 cents to $1.66 in early March. Now my constituents are looking at gas prices of almost $2.00 and above. This has got to stop. Low-income wage earners can barely make it in many areas across our country with the high cost of housing. They can ill afford these high prices for gas and oil. Our response to their concerns must start by promising to never allow this to happen again by committing ourselves to long-term solutions. The time is now for us to really be for real, by getting down to work for a consumer-friendly national energy policy. Mr. Chairman, I reserve the balance of my time.

Ms. LEE. Mr. Chairman, I yield 5 minutes to the gentleman from Connecticut (Mr. Gejdenson).

Ms. LEE. Mr. Chairman, I yield 1 minute to the gentleman from Connecticut (Mr. Gejdenson).

Ms. LEE. Mr. Chairman, I yield 1 minute to the gentlewoman from Connecticut (Ms. DeLauro).

Ms. LEE. Mr. Chairman, I yield 2 minutes to the gentleman from Maryland (Mr. Wynn).

Ms. LEE

Ms. LEE. Mr. Chairman, I yield 1\1/2\ minutes to the gentleman from Massachusetts (Mr. Delahunt).