Jim Moran

Mr. MORAN of Virginia

Mr. MORAN of Virginia. Madam Chairman, will the gentleman yield?

Mr. MORAN of Virginia. Madam Chairman, I move to strike the last word. Chairman Dicks, I am very appreciative of your willingness to address in the conference report for the fiscal year 2008 appropriations bill a concern that you share with me for the humane treatment and preventive management of wild horses and the condition of western range lands. I yield to the gentleman from Washington.

Mr. MORAN of Virginia. As you know, Mr. Chairman, there have been significant advancements in the development of technologies that allow safe and effective application of contraceptive medicines to wild horses to allow wild horse populations to be maintained at sustainable levels. I believe these medicines have been used in pilot programs running for years as a result of the partnering of private organizations like the Humane Society of the United States with the Bureau of Land Management.

Mr. MORAN of Virginia. I believe that contraceptives could potentially be effective and also would be a more humane approach to managing wild horses than the current strategy that relies primarily on rounding up wild horses and placing them in pastures where they must be fed for years until they die of old age at a cost of over $20 million a year. It is also my understanding that the BLM signed a memorandum of understanding in October of 2006 outlining a large scale pilot program that will expand the pilot wild horse management effort. I would like to thank you for working with me to see that the Wild Horse and Burro Management Program does not get such a large budget cut as was proposed by the administration. It is my understanding that BLM will be able to move forward with that pilot program under this act; is that correct, Mr. Chairman?

Mr. MORAN of Virginia

Mr. MORAN of Virginia. I thank the Chair, and I particularly want to congratulate Chairman Wasserman Schultz, because she took on a very difficult responsibility and she has performed in a conscientious, extraordinarily fiscally responsible manner. This is a bill that all of the Members have an interest in, and all of the Members have issues within this bill that they would particularly like to see increased, and some decreased. But it is a difficult one. She has told me how much she appreciates the ranking member, Mr. Wamp, and I hope Mr. Wamp is listening, how much she appreciates Mr. Wamp's cooperation in coming up with a bill that was acceptable to the overwhelming number of the full Appropriations Committee members when they reported it out to the floor. Now, this bill is $276 million below the President's request. That is extraordinary, and it is the first time that the Legislative Branch appropriations bill has reflected that deep a cut versus the President's request. So if you are looking for fiscal responsibility, you will find it in this bill, more than any other appropriations bill. We congratulate Mr. Wamp, as well as the chairwoman, for coming up with a bill that accomplishes that kind of fiscal responsibility. But if anybody else wants to cut another $100 million, which this amendment would do, below that, then it is concomitant upon the proponent of that amendment to say exactly where you would make those cuts. Because this is the result of a lot of give and take, a lot of compromise, a lot of very conscientious investigation.

Mr. MORAN of Virginia

Mr. MORAN of Virginia. Mr. Chairman, I rise in support of the Fiscal 2008 State and Foreign Operations Appropriations Act and to express my appreciation for the significant increase in funding for trade capacity building. This bill raises the Federal appropriation to $214 million, $87 million more than the administration requested. Regardless of one's position on trade, helping our trading partners, particularly those in developing countries, with the financial assistance to improve enforcement of their labor and environmental laws is a good thing. I would encourage the State and Foreign Operations Subcommittee to consider holding a hearing to assess how these funds have been effective at building capacity in these developing countries. I think there is a good story that should be told. Looking forward, however, we have several free trade agreements that we will be asked to consider in the next few months, Peru, Panama, Colombia, and Korea. Three, Peru, Panama and Colombia, are with developing countries that are eligible to receive trade capacity assistance. And while none of these agreements is a done deal, Colombia appears to be the one with the greatest level of concern. A number of our colleagues are rightly concerned about Colombia's record on human rights and the alarmingly high number of labor leaders that have been killed in recent years. Given this concern, I would like to see this appropriation clarify that some portion of the $214 million should go specifically to the Colombian Government, the attorney general's office, which is charged with investigating these killings and bringing the perpetrators to justice. The attorney general has is no easy task. President Uribe's effort to disband the paramilitary groups and bring about a peace agreement with the insurgents has made progress, but it has also overwhelmed the attorney general's office and the courts with a backlog of petitions to adjudicate. Thousands of cases of former paramilitary soldiers and insurgents must be investigated before any seeking amnesty can be pardoned. Only those proven innocent of any human rights abuses are granted amnesty. I understand that the killing of labor leaders is being investigated, but the progress is slow and complicated by competing demands to clear the backlog of requests for pardons and amnesties. I think Colombia would welcome our financial assistance to expedite the investigations into human rights abuses and killings of labor leaders. I also think an offer of assistance would be a tangible demonstration of our willingness to help them address our concerns. I encourage you to consider this request when you begin your discussions with the Senate on a final conference agreement.

Mr. MORAN of Virginia

Mr. MORAN of Virginia. Mr. Chairman, what we should be doing here is eliminating the gag rule. But that is not what we are doing. All that this amendment does is to allow family-planning organizations to receive free donations of contraceptives and condoms. Now, instead, the opposition wants to prohibit even this, even though you suggest that you are for family planning. You would never do this to the women of America because they have control over their lives. But the women of the Third World don't have control over their lives, and you know that. What is going to happen without access to contraceptives is that 52 million unwanted pregnancies will occur, and there will be almost 30 million abortions as a result. Where is the sense in that? We have got to find a way for women to control their lives in the Third World. The fact is a vast majority of women in the Third World don't have any control over when the sex act is performed. That is not their choice. Most of them are married and most of them are in faithful relationships irregardless of their husband's conduct. They are overwhelmed by the number of children they have to provide for. But you want to deny them the ability to control the number of children in their family? Not to pass this amendment is punitive. This is punishing of those women. It is wrong. It is immoral, in fact. This moderate amendment certainly should be passed by this Congress in the 21st century. Parliamentary Inquiry

Mr. MORAN of Virginia. Mr. Chairman, I thank the chairwoman of the subcommittee, and I want to express my support for the bill and express my appreciation specifically for the significant increases in funding for global health issues, peacekeeping, and trade capacity building, especially in Colombia. And I know that the chairlady shares the frustration that was articulated by the preceding speaker, Mr. Olver, on Darfur. We wish we could do far more than we are able to on the horrific situation in Darfur. But I also want to express my support for the work of an international nongovernmental organization, the International Commission on Missing Persons, otherwise known as the ICMP. The ICMP is an organization whose work in Bosnia, Iraq, Vietnam and the tsunami- affected areas has brought relief to thousands of families with missing relatives resulting from armed conflict and natural disaster. This commission, which was established in 1996 from the Dayton Peace Accords, has received U.S. Government support in the past and is widely acclaimed throughout the international community. But is in desperate need of funds in Iraq today. I would strongly urge the committee to consider this organization for possible congressional support in this year's conference or in future appropriations.

Mr. MORAN of Virginia. I thank the gentlelady for her support.

Mr. MORAN of Virginia

Mr. MORAN of Virginia. Mr. Speaker, in a recent international survey, we find that nations around the world think China could be better trusted to lead this world than the United States. It's a devastating conclusion. It would not have been the case even 6 years ago. It's not that people around the world don't acknowledge our military power, but it is our arrogance and the fact that we don't live up to our principles and ideals that this survey reflects. If we are going to win this so-called global war on terrorism, it is not going to be through a military victory. It is going to be because we stand by the values and ideals and principles that define us as a nation and as a people. One of the things that every day undermines those defining principles is keeping the Guantanamo detention facility open, keeping hundreds of people detained without charging them, without enabling them to know what they are charged with and thus being able to defend themselves. It's the antithesis of what this country stands for. That detention facility needs to be shut down. And we need to regain our rightful position as the leader of the free world.

Mr. MORAN of Virginia

Mr. MORAN of Virginia. Madam Speaker, I rise today to honor the accomplishment of Mr. David Williams of Arlington, Virginia and a proud member of our civil service. Mr. Williams revamped outreach efforts for the Earned Income Tax Credit, helping hundreds of thousands of additional Americans receive vital benefits, and oversaw the Telephone Excise Tax Refund--the largest one-time tax refund in history. The Earned Income Tax Credit (EITC) is widely recognized as our Federal government's most effective anti-poverty program. Despite the program's overall success, studies revealed an erroneous payment rate of roughly 25 percent, and millions of eligible workers were not claiming the credit. David Williams, who heads the EITC office at the Internal Revenue Service, led the effort to revamp the program. Thanks to his leadership, as many as 500,000 more people each year are receiving vital benefits. Today, under Mr. Williams' leadership, the IRS works with more than 150 nonprofit and community-based organizations to host EITC awareness events in more than 50 cities, creating volunteer tax assistance sites at banks, businesses and community centers. He also used news conferences and local media to help drive people to seek out this assistance. In just 1 year, more than 2 million tax returns were prepared at these volunteer tax assistance sites. The tax credits low-income working Americans receive help them cover the essential costs they face every day--from child care to fixing the car. One person who attended a workshop reported that the tax credit helped her go from being an apartment renter to a homeowner. Since David Williams launched these new outreach efforts, the number of eligible taxpayers receiving the credit has increased by 500,000 people a year, and last year, more than 22 million people received $41 billion in EITC payments. As a senior official at the IRS, it would be easy to think of David Williams as a numbers guy. But his people skills, strategic approach and ability to lead diverse groups to achieve shared public policy goals have distinguished him as one of our government's most outstanding employees and have helped him positively affect the lives of millions of Americans. Madam Speaker, I commend Mr. Williams for his leadership, and I am proud to have him live in Virginia's 8th Congressional District as he contributes to the greatest civil service in the world. I wish him all the best in his future endeavors.

Mr. MORAN of Virginia

Mr. MORAN of Virginia. Madam Speaker, I rise today to honor the accomplishment of Myroslava Gongadze of Arlington, Virginia and a proud member of our civil service. Ms. Gongadze serves as the leading spokesperson for American values in Ukraine, helping to move the nation in a more pro-western direction. A native Ukrainian who was granted political asylum in the United States in 2001 and began working for Voice of America in 2004, Myroslava Gongadze is one of the most recognized journalists and human rights advocates in Europe. This episode during the 2004 elections is just one chapter in her long-running fight for justice in her homeland and across the globe. For 17 days in November 2004, with temperatures below freezing in the central square in Kiev, Ukraine, a million people stood in a sea of orange color, protesting fraudulent presidential elections. Two huge screens flanked the makeshift stage hooked into Ukraine's only independent source of information, Channel5 TV. The broadcast they received was from the Voice of America's Washington studio, and the face they saw was Myroslava Gongadze. When Ms. Gongadze reported U.S. Secretary of State Colin Powell's statement that the United States refused to recognize the falsified election results, it was one of the watershed moments of Ukraine's ``Orange Revolution,'' which resulted in the election and peaceful installation of Viktor Yuschenko as Ukraine's new President. While her story is inspirational, the circumstances that drove Ms. Gongadze to become a political activist are tragic. Her husband Georgy Gongadze was a renowned investigative journalist who exposed corruption and cronyism in the administration of the former Ukrainian President. In 2000, he was murdered by government police. Since his death, she has made it her mission to promote freedom of speech, the rights of journalists and the need to bring corrupt officials to justice. She has pursued her agenda by working with many different organizations, including the European Court for Human Rights, the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe and the Committee to Protect Journalists. She even created the Gongadze Foundation, a nongovernmental organization working to protect journalists' rights and political freedom. However, the organization that has given her the platform to make her biggest impact has been the Voice of America. Madam Speaker, I commend Ms. Gongadze for her leadership, and I am proud to have her live in Virginia's 8th Congressional District as she contributes to the greatest civil service in the world. I wish her all the best in her future endeavors.

Mr. MORAN of Virginia

Mr. MORAN of Virginia. Madam Speaker, I rise today to honor the accomplishment of Edward Messmer of Alexandria, Virginia for his service to the U.S. Department of State as Special Assistant to the Ambassador of Lebanon. In his official duties he was directly responsible for his efforts in providing fuel reserves into Lebanon during the 2006 conflict, which kept major power plants open, averting a health catastrophe. In July and August of 2006, the staff of the U.S. Embassy in Beirut found itself at the center of a major conflict when war broke out between Hizbollah fighters and Israeli forces. The embassy received a great deal of attention for its work to mitigate the damage inflicted by the war. None was more important than the work done by Mr. Messmer to help move vital fuel past blockades and into Lebanon, maintaining power across the country. Once the war began, a naval blockade was established around Lebanon to prevent the import of weapons, fuel and other support for the citizens of Lebanon. As a result, fuel stocks quickly plummeted at the country's three primary power plants. The plants were soon left with only a few days' worth of reserves. A continued interruption would have meant no water for essential services, hospitals and schools. Serving as the acting chief of the political section at the embassy, Mr. Messmer made it his personal mission to avert the developing crisis. Mr. Messmer had to address multiple logistical and political challenges to get fuel past the blockade. The ship owners who carried the fuel didn't want to risk running the naval blockade, the Israeli forces wanted assurances that the fuel stocks would not be diverted to Hizbollah. Additionally, funding for the fuel needed to be secured from the weakening government of Lebanon. For three straight weeks, Mr. Messmer coordinated, persuaded and guided all of these disparate parties to a solution. He was in constant contact with the Lebanese government, U.S. embassies in Cyprus and Israel, ship owners, insurers and various offices in the Pentagon and the State Department. Mr. Messmer's efforts paid off with the initial shipment of 56,000 tons of fuel to the about-to-close power facility just north of Beirut. His hard work enabled the country's entire electrical grid to remain operational until additional deliveries were sent over the next several weeks. Not only did Mr. Messmer's work help avert a humanitarian crisis; it also took away a potential propaganda tool from Hizbollah, which could have blamed the fuel crisis on the United States and its allies. For his contribution, Mr. Messmer was nominated for the Partnership for Public Service's International Affairs Medal. Madam Speaker, I commend Mr. Messmer for his leadership, and I am proud to have him live in Virginia's 8th Congressional District and contributing to the greatest civil service in the world. I wish him all the best in his future endeavors.

Mr. MORAN of Virginia

Mr. MORAN of Virginia. Madam Speaker, I rise today to honor the accomplishment of Ms. Carol Dumaine, of Reston, Virginia, and a proud member of our civil service. Ms. Dumaine, an employee of the Central Intelligence Agency, has contributed to our Nation's future security through the establishment of the Global Futures Forum (GFF), a highly innovative think tank which coordinates international expertise to enhance intelligence analysis. As the 9/11 Commission confirmed, intelligence and law enforcement officials had uncovered a number of warning signs that a terrorist attack on U.S. soil was imminent, but the failure to recognize the links between the intelligence precluded authorities from stopping the attacks. Ms. Dumaine has created a forum which allows for more thorough intelligence analysis from a cadre of outside experts. Global Futures Forum (GFF) unites intelligence experts from different nations with professionals from diverse fields so that emerging issues can be recognized quickly and collectively addressed. The GFF reviews intelligence in the public domain and promotes open, interactive linkages to knowledge and insight that exists outside of traditional security organizations. GFF delegates represent the wide spectrum of intelligence and security organizations, multilateral institutions, academia and non- government personnel from more than 30 nations. A series of forums in 2005 and 2006 brought these experts together to work face-to-face, providing them with an opportunity to strengthen international partnerships and to share knowledge about global security challenges. To ensure that partners would have opportunities to collaborate outside of the conferences, Ms. Dumaine created the GFF website to provide a constant means of collaboration, allowing GFF partners to share their latest thoughts, research and analysis through their own interactive blogs or chats with other participants. Her work ensures that the dialogue fostered by the GFF never really ends. Ms. Dumaine created a global community that increases exposure to diverse perspectives and catalyzes discussion on adapting intelligence organizations to address nontraditional challenges. These partnerships created through Ms. Dumaine's effort will help ensure that potential security threats will be handled properly, allowing for the best response possible. For her great contribution to the intelligence community, she has been selected as a finalist for the Partnership for Public Service's ``National Security Medal''. Madam Speaker, I commend Ms. Dumaine for her leadership, and I am proud to have her live in Virginia's 8th Congressional District as she contributes to the greatest civil service in the world. I wish her all the best in her future endeavors.

Mr. MORAN of Virginia

Mr. MORAN of Virginia. Madam Speaker, I rise today to honor the achievements of Ms. Susan Tieger, of Arlington, Virginia. After thirty- five years of teaching in Arlington County Public Schools, Ms. Tieger will be retiring, leaving behind a legacy of dedication, care and hard work. Ms. Tieger graduated with honors from Queens College in 1971. After receiving her Bachelor of Arts degree in Elementary Education with the distinction of Cum Laude, she was awarded a fellowship in Special Education by the University of Virginia in Charlottesville and was awarded her Master of Education degree in June, 1972. Ms. Tieger has taught in the Arlington County Public School system from September 1972 until the present. From 1972-1994, she taught multi-categorical self-contained classes consisting of students with learning disabilities, emotional disturbances and mental retardation at Francis Scott Key Elementary School. She has been the Special Education lead teacher at Barcroft Elementary School since 1994. In June 2006, she earned the Educational Testing Service Recognition of Excellence for her outstanding performance in the Praxis II test in which she achieved one of the highest possible scores. During her thirty-five years with Arlington schools, Ms. Tieger has touched and improved the lives of hundreds of children and their parents. She was able to assist and teach children with a variety of learning disabilities, including those with mental retardation and emotional problems. In addition, Ms. Tieger was able to help countless children to read, write, socialize, and most important, to achieve their highest potential. Susan Tieger is the epitome of a dedicated, caring and hard-working public school teacher. The fact that Arlington County has one of the best school systems in the country is directly attributable to the talents, hard work and dedication of teachers like Ms. Tieger. I commend Ms. Tieger on her dedicated career in education, and wish her and her family health and happiness in her well-earned, much deserved retirement.

Mr. MORAN of Virginia

Mr. MORAN of Virginia. Madam Speaker, I rise today to honor the accomplishments of Bill Dearman of Alexandria, Virginia. Bill Dearman's retirement will mark the conclusion of 10 years of extraordinary and dedicated leadership and service to the Alexandria Redevelopment and Housing Authority. Mr. Dearman's skilled leadership and devotion to Alexandria have led to a number of great accomplishments. Among these as the challenge of redeveloping the Samuel Madden Housing Project into what is now the nationally recognized award-winning Chatham Square. In addition he oversaw the development of various site replacements at Braddock Road, and the rehabilitation and refinancing of Jefferson Village, Quaker Hill and Cameron Valley projects. Through his dedication to the Citizens of Alexandria, he helped ensure housing needed to Alexandria's neediest. His creativity led to effective reorganization of the authority and expansion of services to residents. Through is tireless efforts, Mr. Dearman has improved the general appearance and maintenance of all Alexandria Redevelopment and Housing Authority properties. In closing I wish to commend Mr. Dearman for his years of service to the City of Alexandria. I wish all the best to him on his retirement with his family in Atlanta.

Mr. MORAN of Virginia

Mr. MORAN of Virginia. Mr. Speaker, this week the House should approve four appropriations bills that set the right priorities for our Nation and do it in a fiscally responsible manner. Yesterday, we debated the homeland security bill, and we'll continue today, but we should make the public aware that beyond the issues that we seem to be distracted by, the main point about the homeland security bill is that it strengthens our borders by providing funds for 3,000 additional border patrol agents. It also prioritizes the need of our first responders while doubling the amount of cargo that will be screened at our airports. Democrats are going to bring a veterans and a military construction bill to the floor that includes the largest increase in veterans health care funding in the 77-year history of the Veterans Administration. We will also be bringing to the floor the Energy and Water and Interior appropriations bills. Now the Democrats will address the important issue of global warming in those bills. These bills also show that, as Democrats, we recognize what a serious problem that is. Mr. Speaker, I want to emphasize, these bills were approved in committee with strong bipartisan support. They should receive that same kind of support here on the House floor.

Mr. MORAN of Virginia

Mr. MORAN of Virginia. I thank the distinguished chairman of the Judiciary Committee for yielding. I will vote for this. I was a cosponsor of this. And certainly Mrs. McCarthy deserves credit for bringing it to the floor. But I do have concerns, as the chairman does, that this needs to be very tightly regulated because it is quite liable to allow thousands of people who should not have access to guns to be able to do so by dropping their mental health treatment. There are 190,000 veterans who, because of their experience in combat, have had serious mental illness problems, but it appears that if they drop the treatment that they have been in, they can become eligible to purchase guns. Again, much of this is going to be in the regulation and the good judgment of States to make it work properly. It is not a gun control measure, as Mrs. McCarthy, stated. It does nothing about the fact that we have hundreds of millions of guns in circulation and tens of thousands of people die from those guns, the vast majority are innocent victims, every year, more so than any civilized nation. It doesn't address issues with regard to the second amendment where the Supreme Court has made it clear there is really not a right for individuals to own guns but rather for States to have well- regulated militias. These are issues that need to be addressed at some point by our country. But this bill, hopefully, will address a very egregious situation where the person that the court had determined to be mentally deranged was allowed access to firearms that he never should have gotten. There are other problems in other States that could have allowed such a thing to happen. Hopefully, this bill will clean up this record-keeping system that sufficient resources will be made available. But, again, Mr. Speaker, this country ought not be allowing people to be buying assault weapons, 50 caliber sniper rifles and weapons that clearly are used for military purposes, not for purposes of recreational hunting. Mr. Speaker, this bill will pass unanimously and at this point, it should.

Mr. MORAN of Virginia

Mr. MORAN of Virginia. Mr. Speaker, I rise today in support of the Stem Cell Research Enhancement Act of 2007. This bill would give new hope to millions of Americans with debilitating illnesses such as Parkinson's, Alzheimer's, and cancer, and would do so under an ethically stringent framework. We owe it to our citizens living in pain to find cures for these terrible afflictions, and enable them to live out long, healthy lives. While I am aware of the ethical questions raised by stem cell research, I believe it represents one of the most promising medical opportunities in human history. Unfortunately, research on embryonic cells is stagnating because it is currently restricted to the 78 stem cell lines that NIB held before August 9, 2001. Of those 78 lines, only 22 were in good enough condition to be used: Most lines were contaminated by mouse feeder cells and could have been deadly if transplanted into people. In order to make new progress in stem cell research, there is a dire need for researchers to have access to lines that are new and uncontaminated. Mr. Speaker, I believe that the bill before us would be a strong step toward reclaiming our status as the world's scientific leader and finding cures for millions of Americans suffering from debilitating and often fatal diseases. We must support our medical and scientific communities in their efforts to extend and enhance human life. Doing anything less is a disservice to our country and our citizens.

Mr. MORAN of Virginia

Mr. MORAN of Virginia. Madam Speaker, I rise today to honor a lifetime commitment of service to the United States of America. On June 15th, 2007, MG Bennie E. Williams of Fredericksburg, Virginia will retire after 35 years of dedicated service in the United States Army. General Williams was commissioned as a Second Lieutenant in the Infantry after graduating from the Reserve Officers Training Corps program at Morgan State University, where he earned his Bachelor of Science degree in Education Administration and was designated a Distinguished Military Graduate. He received his Master's degree in Transportation Management from the Florida Institute of Technology, and military education includes courses at the Command and General Staff College, and the Army War College. General Williams' initial assignments included a posting as Platoon Leader and Motor officer for the 2nd Armed Division at Fort Hood, Texas. In September 1975, he was Assistant Operations Officer and Commander of the Headquarters and Headquarters Detachment, 69th Transportation Battalion, Korea. In July of 1992 he assumed command of the 169th Maintenance Battalion, 13th Corps Support Command, Fort Hood, Texas. From there he deployed with his unit to Somalia in Support of Operation Restore Hope. Following a year of study at the Army War College, he transferred to Europe, and assumed command of the 16th Corps Support Group. From there he deployed with his unit to Bosnia in support of Operation Joint Endeavor. In July 1997, he assumed the duties of Chief of Staff for the 3rd Corps Support Command. In July 1998, he was transferred to Fort Belvoir, Virginia and assumed the duty of Chief of Staff Transportation Legislation at the Defense Logistics Agency, and was later named Chief of Staff for Defense Logistics Support Command for Defense Logistics Agency. In September 2000, he was promoted to the rank of Brigadier General and again transferred overseas and was named Deputy Commanding General of the 21st Theater Support Command. He was later promoted to Major General and was later appointed Director of Logistics Operations and Readiness J-3/4, Defense Logistics Agency, in September of 2005, where he has been able to bring his wealth of experience and singular talents to bear on solving some of the most intricate sustainability and logistics challenges faced by our nation's Armed Services. His tireless and selfless dedication to serving his country is represented by the many decorations he has earned including the Distinguished Service Medal with Oak Leaf Cluster, the Defense Superior Service Medal, the Legion of Merit, the Bronze Star Medal, the Meritorious Service Medal with 4 Oak Leaf Clusters, the Army Commendation Medal with Oak Leaf Cluster, the Army Achievement Medal, the Superior Unit Award, and the Parachutist Badge. In closing I wish to commend General Williams for his many years of distinguished service to our Nation, years spent protecting our freedoms of life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness. I wish him and his wife, Lenora, Godspeed in his retirement.

Mr. MORAN of Virginia

Mr. MORAN of Virginia. Mr. Speaker, on Monday, military judges dismissed the cases against the only two men to have been charged with a crime still being held at Guantanamo Bay. This legal impasse creates an imperative for Congress to address the legal black hole that we have created at Guantanamo. There have been almost 800 people sent to Guantanamo. There are 385 left; and, of those 385, only 80 will be charged and tried with a crime. Now, that means that 90 percent will not even be charged and tried, but it will take more than a decade even to try those 80 people, given the island's remote location. In fact, there's only one courtroom there. Mr. Speaker, every day that we keep Guantanamo open, we damage our credibility and we lose ground in the global war on terror. Congress has an opportunity to change this wrong-headed policy, and we can do so by shutting the facility down and transferring the detainees to the U.S. military brig system. There they will still be under lock and key but also have the right to a fair and speedy trial. The United States is a country that should stand for justice and be governed by the rule of law. Our policy should reflect our values. Guantanamo does not.

Mr. MORAN of Virginia

Mr. MORAN of Virginia. Mr. Speaker, on December 30, 2006, Dr. Haleh Esfandiari, a prominent Iranian-American scholar, was in Iran to visit her sick 93-year-old mother when she was stopped by the Iranian authorities. What followed was nearly 5 months of a series of intense interrogations and pressure tactics where she was harassed, threatened, and forced to make false statements against her employer, the Woodrow Wilson Center for International Scholars. On May 8, she was again detained and imprisoned. Her arrest and detention has angered analysts, human rights groups and lawmakers throughout the world. Yet still, the Iranian regime refuses to release her, claiming she is a spy who was plotting to overthrow the Iranian government. I would like to submit a statement issued from the Woodrow Wilson Center for International Scholars on May 21, 2007 for the record. Mr. Speaker, these charges are a farce. Professor Esfandiari is an accomplished scholar of Persian literature, language and history who taught at Princeton University before becoming the Director of the Woodrow Wilson Center for International Scholars Middle East Program. Her husband, Mr. Shaul Bakhash, is a professor at George Mason University of Fairfax, VA. The Woodrow Wilson Center is a non-profit, non-partisan organization whose work is to research and foster dialogue within the scholarly world on current and future public policy issues. Dr. Esfandiari's tireless dedication to teaching and advocating on behalf of Iran is clear. She has focused on building bridges and opening doors for peace in the Middle East. She has sought to facilitate and strengthen Iranian-American relations through numerous seminars, lectures and workshops with educators, policymakers and groups from both countries and has pressed wider freedoms to communicate about our common bonds and negotiate over our disagreements. Like thousands of other Iranians living abroad, Professor Esfandiari is an academic who took a personal trip to see her family. If she as one individual scholar threatens this regime so much that they have to interrogate her for almost five months and detain her in a notorious prison cell known for human rights abuses, then one has to assume this regime is desperate to retain whatever control it can. Today, the Iranian leadership's lack of courage and conscience is as clear as it is disappointing. It is evident that this regime is criminalizing scholarly work of any kind, despite the fact that Iran's very own history is filled with centuries of scholarly research and discovery. This regime's egregious decision to imprison Dr. Esfandiari reflects a deepening departure from the values and ideals the Iranian people have historically prided themselves on. Iran's renowned nationalist Prime Minister Mohammed Mossadegh once said ``There is no better way to govern Iran than democracy and social justice!'' Professor Esfandiari should be released immediately. Every day she is so unjustly detained, Iran proves the case of its detractors and makes it all the more difficult for institutions like Dr. Esfandiari's Wilson Center to treat the Iranian people with the respect that should be afforded to ah historic civilization and citizenship of 70 million people. Statement on the Arrest in Tehran of Esfandiari, Director of the Woodrow Wilson Center's Middle East Program Haleh Esfandiari, director of the Middle East Program at the Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars, and a dual Iranian-American national, was arrested in Tehran on May 8 and incarcerated in the Evin Prison. The background to this entirely unjustified arrest is as follows. Timeline of events: December 21, 2006, Haleh Esfandiari, director of the Middle East Program at the Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars, and a dual Iranian-American national, traveled from Washington D.C. to Tehran, Iran to visit her 93-year-old mother for one week. On December 30, 2006, on her way to the airport to catch a flight back to Washington, the taxi in which Dr. Esfandiari was riding was stopped by three masked, knife-wielding men. They threatened to kill her, and they took away all of her belongings, including her Iranian and American passports. On January 3, when applying for replacement Iranian travel documents at the passport office, Dr. Esfandiari was invited to an ``interview'' by a man from Iran's Ministry of Intelligence. Beginning on January 4, she was subjected to a series of interrogations that stretched out over the next six weeks, sometimes continuing for as many as four days a week, and sometimes stretching across seven and eight hours in a single day. Dr. Esfandiari went home every evening, but the interrogations were unpleasant and not free from intimidation and threat. The questioning focused almost entirely on the activities and programs of the Middle East Program at the Wilson Center. Dr. Esfandiari answered all questions fully; when she could not remember details of programs stretching back five and even eight years, the staff at the Wilson Center provided her all the information requested. As a public organization, all Wilson Center activities are on the public record. Repeatedly during the interrogation, she was pressured to make a false confession or to falsely implicate the Wilson Center in activities in which it had no part, but she refused. On Friday, January 15, in the third week of interrogations, Dr. Esfandiari was told (misleadingly as it turned out) the questioning was over. On January 18, the interrogator and three other men showed up at Dr. Esfandiari's mother's apartment. Dr. Esfandiari was taking a nap and was startled to wake up and see the door to her bedroom open, her privacy violated, and three strange men, one of them wielding a video-camera, staring into her bedroom. On February 14, the lengthy interrogations stopped. On February 17, Haleh received one threatening phone call, and then she did not hear anything from her interrogators for ten weeks. On February 20, Lee Hamilton, president and director of the Wilson Center, wrote to Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad asking that Dr. Esfandiari be allowed to travel. However, President Ahmadinejad did not reply to the letter. At the end of April or early May, she was telephoned once again and invited to ``cooperate.'' In effect, she was being asked to make a confession. She refused to make the false statements. On Monday, May 7 she was summoned to the Ministry of Intelligence once again. When she arrived for her appointment on Tuesday morning, May 8th, she was put into a car and taken to Evin prison. She was incarcerated and was allowed only one phone call to her mother. On May 9 she called her mother asking her to bring her clean clothes and her medicine. Her mother delivered the small package at Evin Prison on May 10, but was not allowed to see her. On May 12, the hard-line daily ``Kayhan'' in an article accused Dr. Esfandiari of working with the U.S. and Israeli governments and with involvement in efforts to topple Iran's Islamic regime. On May 15, Iranian judiciary spokesman Ali Reza Jamshidi said that Dr. Esfandiari was being investigated for crimes against national security and that her case was being handled by the Intelligence Ministry. On May 15, Haleh made a brief telephone call to her mother. On May 16, Haleh's family retained the legal services of Nobel Peace Laureate Shirin Ebadi to represent her. On May 17, in an interview with Washington Post Staff Writer Robin Wright, Shirin Ebadi indicated that the Iranian government has rejected her request to represent Dr. Esfandiari. She also noted the court refused information on the legal charges against Dr. Esfandiari, and denied her legal team the ability to see Haleh. On May 21 state-run television broadcasts in Iran indicated that Haleh is being charged with seeking to topple the government of the Islamic Republic of Iran. Our efforts to obtain Haleh's release will continue and will be redoubled. She will be in our thoughts and prayers every day.

Mr. MORAN of Virginia

Mr. MORAN of Virginia. Madam Speaker, I rise today to commemorate National Hunger Awareness Day and to honor the Arlington Food Assistance Center (AFAC), which is located in my congressional district. National Hunger Awareness Day was established to help inform individuals, communities, corporations and policy makers that hunger is a severe domestic issue and deserves our critical attention. It is part of a grassroots effort to raise awareness about the solvable problem of hunger in America. AFAC's sole mission is to feed the hungry. AFAC obtains food at no cost from local bakeries, supermarkets, food drives and private donors. This important work allows their clients to make other necessary purchases, such as paying for rent and utilities, without having to sacrifice their health and nutritional needs. Despite the fact that Arlington County is one of the wealthiest areas in the country, too many local residents do not have enough to eat. AFAC seeks to remedy this problem by distributing bread, vegetables, meat, milk, eggs and other food items to those families in Arlington who cannot afford these dietary. Volunteers at AFAC currently distribute groceries to nearly 700 families each week. Nearly half of the people getting food from AFAC are children. I would like to commend the staff and volunteers of the Arlington Food Assistance Center who work hard to provide needy families in Arlington with groceries each week. I urge my constituents to donate food to AFAC through a food drive on June 5th.

Mr. MORAN of Virginia

Mr. MORAN of Virginia. Madam Speaker, there is no debate over whether the Federal Government is facing a workforce shortage crisis--it is. In 10 years, 90 percent of our nation's civil service federal executives will be over the age of 50 and many will be nearing retirement. This coming brain drain threatens the stability and functioning of essential government functions. At a time when the American people are demanding efficient and effective government--from the implementation of public programs to the oversight of the Iraq war--we are about to lose many of our dedicated and most knowledgeable professionals. I am writing to ask for your support for a bill I will re-introduce that takes a step in the right direction. The FERS Redeposit Act would allow individuals who left the Federal Government, and received a refund of their Federal Employees Retirement System, FERS, contributions, to re-enter government service without losing their accrued annuity. Instead of forfeiting credit earned during their prior service, returning employees would be able to redeposit their cashed out annuity upon re-employment. This benefit is already available to federal employees who are registered under the older Civil Service Retirement System, CSRS. I have received many letters of former federal employees who work for the private sector, but would like to return to civil service. Many of these well-qualified men and women are choosing to remain in the private workforce because the costs to reentering the federal workforce are too high. In an economy where people will change jobs many times over the course of their careers, a reinvestment option under FERS will make government service more competitive, incorporating the flexibility and mobility that are so common in the private sector businesses of the new economy. As more and more FERS employees leave the Federal Government and later wish to re-enter federal service, a redeposit option would provide the incentive needed to bring these individuals back to government service. Now is the time to act before the workforce shortage hits our civil service the hardest. I urge my colleagues to join me in this effort to make federal service more attractive by cosponsoring this important legislation.

Mr. MORAN of Virginia

Mr. MORAN of Virginia. Madam Speaker, on December 30,2006, Dr. Haleh Esfandieri, a prominent Iranian-American scholar, was in Iran to visit her sick 93-year-old mother when she was stopped by the Iranian authorities. What followed was nearly 5 months of a series of intense interrogations and pressure tactics where she was harassed, threatened, and forced to make false statements against her employer, the Woodrow Wilson Center for International Scholars. On May 8, she was again detained and imprisoned. Her arrest and detention has angered analysts, human rights groups and lawmakers throughout the world. Yet still, the Iranian regime refuses to release her, claiming she is a spy who was plotting to overthrow the Iranian government. I would like to submit a statement issued from the Woodrow Wilson Center for International Scholars on May 21, 2007 for the record. Madam Speaker, these charges are a farce. Professor Esfandieri is an accomplished scholar of Persian literature, language and history who taught at Princeton University before becoming the Director of the Woodrow Wilson Center for International Scholars Middle East Program. Her husband, Mr. Shaul Bakhash, is a professor at George Mason University of Fairfax, VA. The Woodrow Wilson Center is a non-profit, non-partisan organization whose work is to research and foster dialogue within the scholarly world on current and future public policy issues. Dr. Esfandieri's tireless dedication to teaching and advocating on behalf of Iran is clear. She has focused on building bridges and opening doors for peace in the Middle East. She has sought to facilitate and strengthen Iranian-American relations through numerous seminars, lectures and workshops with educators, policymakers and groups from both countries and has pressed wider freedoms to communicate about our common bonds and negotiate over our disagreements. Like thousands of other Iranians living abroad, Professor Esfandieri is an academic who took a personal trip to see her family. If she as one individual scholar threatens this regime so much that they have to interrogate her for almost five months and detain her in a notorious prison cell known for human rights abuses, then one has to assume this regime is desperate to retain whatever control it can. Today, the Iranian leadership's lack of courage and conscience is as clear as it is disappointing. It is evident that this regime is criminalizing scholarly work of any kind, despite the fact that Iran's very own history is filled with centuries of scholarly research and discovery. This regime's egregious decision to imprison Dr. Esfandieri reflects a deepening departure from the values and ideals the Iranian people have historically prided themselves on. Iran's renowned nationalist Prime Minister Mohammed Mossadegh once said ``There is no better way to govern Iran than democracy and social justice!'' Professor Esfandieri should be released immediately. Every day she is so unjustly detained, Iran proves the case of its detractors and makes it all the more difficult for institutions like Dr. Esfandieri's Wilson Center to treat the Iranian people with the respect that should be afforded to an historic civilization and citizenship of 70 million people. Statement on the Arrest in Tehran of Haleh Esfandiari, Director of the Woodrow Wilson Center's Middle East Program Haleh Esfandiari, director of the Middle East Program at the Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars, and a dual Iranian-American national, was arrested in Tehran on May 8 and incarcerated in the Evin Prison. The background to this entirely unjustified arrest is as follows: time line of events December 21, 2006, Haleh Esfandiari, director of the Middle East Program at the Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars, and a dual Iranian-American national, traveled from Washington D.C. to Tehran, Iran to visit her 93-year-old mother for one week. On December 30, 2006, on her way to the airport to catch a flight back to Washington, the taxi in which Dr. Esfandiari was riding was stopped by three masked, knife-wielding men. They threatened to kill her, and they took away all of her belongings, including her Iranian and American passports. On January 3, when applying for replacement Iranian travel documents at the passport office, Dr. Esfandiari was invited to an ``interview'' by a man from Iran's Ministry of Intelligence. Beginning on January 4, she was subjected to a series of interrogations that stretched out over the next six weeks, sometimes continuing for as many as four days a week, and sometimes stretching across seven and eight hours in a single day. Dr. Esfandiari went home every evening, but the interrogations were unpleasant and not free from intimidation and threat. The questioning focused almost entirely on the activities and programs of the Middle East Program at the Wilson Center. Dr. Esfandiari answered all questions fully; when she could not remember details of programs stretching back five and even eight years, the staff at the Wilson Center provided her all the information requested. As a public organization, all Wilson Center activities are on the public record. Repeatedly during the interrogation, she was pressured to make a false confession or to falsely implicate the Wilson Center in activities in which it had no part, but she refused. On Friday, January 15, in the third week of interrogations, Dr. Esfandiari was told (misleadingly as it turned out) the questioning was over. On January 18, the interrogator and three other men showed up at Dr. Esfandiari's mother's apartment. Dr. Esfandiari was taking a nap and was startled to wake up and see the door to her bedroom open, her privacy violated, and three strange men, one of them wielding a video-camera, staring into her bedroom. On February 14, the lengthy interrogations stopped. On February 17, Haleh received one threatening phone call, and then she did not hear anything from her interrogators for ten weeks. On February 20, Lee Hamilton, president and director of the Wilson Center, wrote to Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad asking that Dr. Esfandiari be allowed to travel. However, President Ahmadinejad did not reply to the letter. At the end of April or early May, she was telephoned once again and invited to ``cooperate.'' In effect, she was being asked to make a confession. She refused to make the false statements. On Monday, May 7 she was summoned to the Ministry of Intelligence once again. When she arrived for her appointment on Tuesday morning, May 8th, she was put into a car and taken to Evin prison. She was incarcerated and was allowed only one phone call to her mother. On May 9 she called her mother asking her to bring her clean clothes and her medicine. Her mother delivered the small package at Evin Prison on May 10, but was not allowed to see her. On May 12, the hard-line daily ``Kayhan'' in an article accused Dr. Esfandiari of working with the U.S. and Israeli governments and with involvement in efforts to topple Iran's Islamic regime. On May 15, Iranian judiciary spokesman Ali Reza Jamshidi said that Dr. Esfandiari was being investigated for crimes against national security and that her case was being handled by the Intelligence Ministry. On May 15, Haleh made a brief telephone call to her mother. On May 16, Haleh's family retained the legal services of Nobel Peace Laureate Shirin Ebadi to represent her. On May 17, in an interview with Washington Post Staff Writer Robin Wright, Shirin Ebadi indicated that the Iranian government has rejected her request to represent Dr. Esfandiari. She also noted the court refused information on the legal charges against Dr. Esfandiari, and denied her legal team the ability to see Haleh. On May 21 state-run television broadcasts in Iran indicated that Haleh is being charged with seeking to topple the government of the Islamic Republic of Iran. Our efforts to obtain Haleh's release will continue and will be redoubled. She will be in our thoughts and prayers every day.