Joseph Pitts

Mr. PITTS

Mr. PITTS. Mr. Chairman, I offer an amendment.

Mr. PITTS. Mr. Chairman, I yield myself such time as I may consume. Mr. Chairman, first of all, I want to commend the gentleman from Virginia (Mr. Wolf) on his leadership in the human rights issues around the world. It is because of his leadership on these issues that I offer my amendment. Mr. Chairman, the human rights organizations that have produced myriad accounts of torture in detention facilities and prisons around the globe, our own State Department in the annual Country Reports, the Human Rights sections, reports on the use of torture in each nation covered by the report, and our Congress has passed the Torture Victims Relief Act of 1998 to fund recovery programs for victims of torture, both in the United States and abroad. Men, women, even children have endured torture at the hands of government officials around the world. Although it is difficult to find exact figures, Amnesty International estimates that 117 countries worldwide still practice torture. My amendment provides $25,000 for the State Department's Bureau of Democracy, Human Rights and Labor to compile and publish a list of foreign government officials who order the use of, are involved in, or engage in torture as defined by the United Nations against torture and other cruel, inhumane and degrading treatment or punishment. I have had the privilege but heart-wrenching experience of hearing about torture from firsthand accounts of the victims, from a woman in North Korea to firsthand reports in Egypt. We remember one case in Al Qush where a government official, in order to find a criminal, arrested and tortured many of the 1,100 Coptics in order to find someone to confess committing the crime. In China, there are numerous reports of Tibetan Buddhists, Falun Gong members, house church pastors and congregants, democracy activists who spent time in prison reform camps where they endured torture by communist officials. A recent account, Pastor Gong Shengliang, who may die in prison because of the effects of torture, is ongoing. In May of last year, the Washington Post detailed a story of Concei da Silva who was brutally tortured in Angola. While in prison, officials hung him upside down, his veins were slashed, chunks of flesh were carved out of his chest with a machete, electricity applied to parts of his body, teeth removed. Awful things have happened. In Latin America, terrible stories of torture. Sister Dianna Ortiz has spoken out strongly regarding her horrible kidnapping torture at the hands of the Guatemalan security forces. The torture is horrifying, deeply affecting victims' lives. And those responsible for these crimes should be brought to justice. Unfortunately, in many countries the perpetrators will not be punished for their crimes as torture is systemic. I and many of my colleagues strongly believe that publicizing the names of those involved in torture, government officials, can help in the campaign to end the use of torture by government officials; and I urge my colleagues to support this amendment that provides $25,000 to the Bureau of Democracy, Human Rights and Labor to compile and maintain a public list of individuals involved in torture. Mr. Chairman, I reserve the balance of my time.

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

Mr. PITTS. The gentleman knows that our policy is not to torture. Our system is progressing in the light of day with the investigations and the prosecution of torture, but this would apply to any government officials who use torture.

Mr. PITTS. We do not specify, we do not say ``foreign.'' We specify that the State Department compile a list of any government officials who use torture.

Mr. PITTS. Mr. Chairman, I yield back the balance of my time.

Mr. PITTS

Mr. PITTS. Mr. Speaker, at a recent fundraiser, a group of well heeled Democratic contributors were told: ``Many of you are well enough off that . . . the tax cuts may have helped you. We are saying that for America to get back on track, we are probably going to cut that short and not give it to you. We are going to take things away from you on behalf of the common good.'' If these campaign contributors believe the tax relief affected only a few rich people, they are wrong. If none of this tax relief had become law in 2004, 111 million Americans would pay on an average of over $1,500 more in taxes, 49 million married couples would pay over $2,600 more in taxes, 11 million single women with children would pay over $900 more in taxes, 14 million elderly individuals would pay over $1,800 more in taxes, nearly 5 million individuals and families who currently have no income tax liability would have to pay the income tax. The fact is middle-class families, small business owners, who have created most of our 1\1/2\ million new jobs this year, are not rich as some of our friends would have us believe.

Mr. PITTS

Mr. PITTS. Mr. Speaker, this week, the Vietnamese Government has weighed in on the Iraqi prison scandal, but the official Communist Vietnamese news agency is not citing the Geneva Conventions or the U.N.; it is citing testimony given by John Kerry in 1971 in condemning our troops. Mr. Kerry testified that American soldiers from top to bottom committed human rights violations, ``cutting off ears, murder, rape, destruction,'' et cetera. The problem is, he relied on reports by a group of supposed Vietnam veterans who were not what they seemed. They claimed to be former Vietnam veterans. They were not. They were frauds. They were out only to discredit the military and our country. But John Kerry never repudiated or apologized for his statements. Instead, he has excused his behavior to youth. Now his misleading, inaccurate, hateful words are being used by a government with an atrocious human rights record against the United States. That was a difficult time in our history. Passion and tensions were high. Whatever one's opinion of Vietnam, our troops suffered because of this kind of false witness to their efforts in Vietnam; and as a Vietnam veteran, I think Mr. Kerry should apologize once and for all and disavow those statements as false before other nations decide to use them.

Mr. PITTS

Mr. PITTS. Mr. Speaker, yesterday, John Kerry joined the growing chorus of those who are just plain confused on stem cell research. There are two different types of stem cell research: adult and embryonic. Adult stem cell research works. Embryonic stem cells do not. Look at the science. The private sector knows this. The Juvenile Diabetes Foundation claims that embryo stem cell research is the most promising research. Yet, it devotes only $3 million of its $80 million research and education budget for embryo stem cell research. They spent $15 million on adult stem cell research. Why do they say embryo stem cell research has the most potential, but they spend five times as much money on adult stem cell research? Adult stem cells have already successfully treated Parkinson's, blindness, Lupus, rheumatoid arthritis, leukemia, non-Hodgkin's lymphomas, multiple sclerosis, and the list goes on. There have been no successful treatments with embryo stem cells. None. Let the truth prevail on this. Let us fund what works. Let us fund what is saving lives. Let us do the right thing and not play politics.

Mr. PITTS

Mr. PITTS. Mr. Speaker, in a review of the book ``Prelude to War,'' Time Magazine saw fit to detail, as the book does, the location of the secret bunker used by Vice President Cheney in the aftermath of 9/11. Both the book's author and Time Magazine were wrong to reveal the location of this site. This is not tabloid material, a photographer catching a celebrity on vacation. Vice President Cheney did not go to this site to relax, he went there in case our President was attacked and killed by terrorists. He went there to be ready to take control when our Nation was under attack. Identifying this site is unacceptable and wrong. By detailing the complex and its location, the book and the magazine have combined to compromise a part of our national security. They compromised the ability to protect the man who is first in line for the Presidency. That was wrong.

Mr. PITTS

Mr. PITTS. Madam Speaker, we often hear negative comments about fathers and fatherhood, about ``deadbeat dads'' and absent fathers. It's easy to forget that there are millions of American fathers who love their wives and their children. They get up every morning and go to work to support their families. They go to baseball games and ballet performances and school plays. They help their kids with their homework, chaperone proms and mow the lawn. They treat their wives with respect and model healthy relationships. They make sacrifices and invest in the next generation. Current research shows that these daily acts of responsibility and faithfulness have a major impact on child well-being. Statistics show us that marriage is the foundation of responsible fatherhood, and that fathers who are married to the mothers of their children are more likely to be involved in their children's lives. But, we don't need statistics to tell us that committed, involved fathers are essential to the preservation of the family. On Sunday, thousands of families in my district will celebrate Father's Day. Amid all the distractions of our society, many will stop, for just a minute, to honor ``Dad.'' It seems that politics and social change and the faddish nature of our culture have not been able to erase the enduring value of fatherhood and the imprint that fathers have in my district and across this great nation.

Mr. PITTS

Mr. PITTS. Mr. Speaker, a few years ago I had the privilege of visiting with Natan Sharansky, a former Soviet dissident who is now an Israeli cabinet minister. I asked him what his reaction was, as he was in the Soviet Gulag at that time, to the ``Evil Empire'' speech. Here is his reaction as expressed in a recent quotation: ``In 1983 I was confined to an 8 by 10 foot prison cell on the border of Siberia. My Soviet jailers gave me the privilege of reading the latest copy of Pravda. Splashed across the front page was a condemnation of President Ronald Reagan for having the temerity to call the Soviet Union an `evil empire.' Tapping on walls and talking through toilets, word of Reagan's `provocation' quickly spread throughout the prison. We dissidents were ecstatic. Finally, the leader of the Free World had spoken the truth, a truth that burned inside the heart of each and every one of us. ``At the time, I never imagined that 3 years later I would be in the White House telling the story to the President. When he summoned some of his staff to hear what I said, I understood that there had been much criticism of Reagan's decision to cast the struggle between superpowers as a battle between good and evil. Well, Reagan was right and his critics were wrong.'' There is no doubt that Natan Sharansky speaks for millions of people who today are free. A great President, with a great legacy, Ronald Wilson Reagan.

Mr. PITTS

Mr. PITTS. Mr. Speaker, last week as I reflected on the anniversary of D-Day, I recalled President Reagan's speech on the 40th anniversary of that first day of liberation of Europe on June 6, 1984. President Reagan spoke of ``the men of Normandy'' who ``had faith that what they were doing was right, faith that they fought for all humanity, faith that a just God would grant them mercy on this beachhead, or on the next.'' As he so often did, his conviction and passion, his grace and sincerity connected a distant event to the struggle each and every human being faces every day, fighting to know what we are doing is right. Later that day he told a different audience, ``We will always remember. We will always be proud. We will always be prepared so that we may always be free.'' Newsweek called this freedom, which President Reagan mentioned in 1984, the freedom ``from self-doubt, from the Soviet threat, from uneasiness about our national power and capacity to do great things.'' This was Reagan's gift to his country. He knew that America was great and that our greatness had not come without a price. Indeed, we will always remember, Mr. President. We will always remember so that we may always be free.

Mr. PITTS

Mr. PITTS. Mr. Speaker, pursuant to clause 1, rule I, I demand a vote on agreeing to the Speaker's approval of the Journal.

Mr. PITTS. Mr. Speaker, I object to the vote on the ground that a quorum is not present and make the point of order that a quorum is not present.

Mr. PITTS

Mr. PITTS. Mr. Speaker, yesterday was a big day for Iraq. As The Washington Post reports this morning, ``A diverse group of secular figures, political independents, and technical specialists was appointed Tuesday to serve as Iraq's caretaker administration.'' As we come to the turnover of sovereignty to this government, we must keep in mind how important our effort in Iraq is. A free Iraq would be a death blow to the terrorists. For too long the people of this region have had no say in the direction of their nations. On June 30, we move one step closer to seeing a nation choose its own course. The President has been a firm, steady leader during this trying time. He has rightly said that we have not freed Iraq to make them into Americans; we have freed Iraq to allow them to live in freedom. Iraq has the potential to be a great ally in the Middle East. Success there is critical.

Mr. PITTS

Mr. PITTS. Mr. Speaker, one of the distressing things about this partisan election year is to hear our friends on the other side politicizing national security. One of my colleagues on the other side of the aisle said that we were not at war when President Clinton was in office, suggesting that it was President Bush's fault that we are at war today. I would like to ask, what would you call it then in the 1990s when terrorists attacked our country, not once, but four times? In 1993, they killed innocent Americans at the World Trade Center; in 1996, they killed Americans at the Khobar Towers; in 1998, they attacked two U.S. embassies in Africa; in 2000, they attacked a U.S. Naval vessel, the USS Cole, again killing Americans. Terrorists have been at war with us for years. We failed to admit it, despite the body bags. Then in 2001, 9/11 happened. We were at war long before President Bush came to Washington. All President Bush did was muster the courage and moral vision to admit it and fight back. These political games only cloud the true issue that we are at war, and the more we hesitate to fight it, the more aggressive our enemies become.

Mr. PITTS

Mr. PITTS. Mr. Chairman, I rise in opposition to this amendment. The Davis amendment would force military medical personnel to be complicit in the taking of innocent human life. It would divert precious medical resources such as staff, time, equipment, and facilities away from the front lines of battle. Let us not forget, abortion is violence. It is the most violent form of death known to mankind. It is violence against women and children. We should not be subsidizing it. The American working family should not be forced to fund the extremists' health care agenda of this amendment. Our military should not sacrifice what it needs on the front lines. I urge my colleagues to vote ``no'' on the Davis amendment.

Mr. PITTS

Mr. PITTS. Mr. Speaker, on Friday several Federal agencies announced a national law enforcement initiative aimed at combating the growing volume of illegal child pornography distributed through peer-to-peer file trading networks. Since last fall, the effort has resulted in hundreds of searches nationwide, the identification of thousands of computers used to traffic in child pornography, and the arrest of more than 65 individuals. This action should be commended and further action encouraged, but Friday's announcement is a disturbing confirmation that peer-to-peer programs are being manipulated. They are becoming an ever-more dangerous platform used by child predators, some convicted child molesters, to attack kids. Parents need the ability to protect their kids before they are harmed by cyberpredators using peer-to-peer software. H.R. 2885 would give parents the tools and help parents prevent this from happening in the first place. I urge support.

Mr. PITTS

Mr. PITTS. Mr. Speaker, last month our economy created 288,000 jobs; 867,000 jobs have been created this year alone. Manufacturing employment is up, weekly jobless claims are at their lowest since October of 2000, our economy is on the rebound, and we have tax relief to thank for that. It is proof that when working families keep more of their own money, it works. Today, we are going to act to prevent a tax increase. Current law says that the 10 percent tax bracket which was created in the 2001 jobs plan will expire. If that happens, 73 million working people will pay higher taxes next year, with an average tax increase of $2,400 in the next decade. Today, we will see who in this House wants to prevent this tax increase. Working families need every penny we can let them keep.

Mr. PITTS

Mr. PITTS. Mr. Speaker, yesterday we were reminded of who the real enemies are in Iraq. A video was released showing the brutal murder of a young man from Pennsylvania, 26 years old, a small businessman who was there to help rebuild Iraq. I offer my deepest condolences to his family and friends, and I join with my colleagues to call for bringing these terrorists to justice. The fact is, Nick Berg's murder comes from the same terrorist extremists as the September 11 attacks. It was not about revenge; it was about intimidation. They brutally murdered an innocent civilian on camera so that the world could see it and tremble. These terrorists will use any convenient excuse to take innocent life if they believe it will advance their agenda. Mr. Speaker, yesterday's murder should not shake us. It should steel our resolve to do the right thing in Iraq, and it should remind us that there can be no negotiating with an enemy who hates freedom, despises human rights, and uses any excuse to brutally murder innocent civilians.

Mr. PITTS

Mr. PITTS. Mr. Speaker, I rise today to draw attention to the issue of Kashmir and an important report that was just released and should arrive at each House office this week. The continued courageous leadership of Prime Minister Vajpayee of India and President Musharraf of Pakistan is vital in moving forward to bring an end to the suffering of the Kashmiri people. I visited the region in January; and the suffering of the people is horrific, all in the midst of a land of great beauty. It is time for this tragic suffering to end. I would like to recommend this report to my colleagues. The report offers over 60 recommendations for progress in bringing peace to Kashmir, including an end to the use of rape as a weapon of war, promoting education for Kashmiri children and others. Until the Kashmiri issue is settled, the stability, security, and economic viability of South Asia and the international community are at risk.

Mr. PITTS

Mr. PITTS. Mr. Speaker, as a military veteran, I was saddened and outraged to hear the stories this past week of physical and psychological abuse of Iraqi prisoners at the hands of U.S. soldiers. This outrageous behavior goes against everything America stands for. It is a serious breach of military discipline. It is a disgusting and a shameful violation of human rights. It is un-American, and it jeopardizes the future freedom in Iraq and the Middle East, and it is sad that the 99.9 percent of the U.S. military which has conducted themselves honorably will now be defamed because of the actions of a few. In a war for hearts and minds, these actions do not help, and those responsible should be held accountable; but let us remember the terrorists we are fighting. In Saudi Arabia this weekend, terrorist extremists murdered five Western oil workers, tied one body to a car and drove around with it like a hood ornament. One terrorist murdered a pregnant woman and her four daughters, and then put a bullet in her stomach to make sure the job was complete. We remember the scenes from Iraq of the bodies of aid workers drug through the streets recently. I have no doubt the U.S. will exact justice on our soldiers. If we could only get the terrorist extremists and their leaders to do the same.

Mr. PITTS

Mr. PITTS. Mr. Speaker, peer-to-peer file-sharing software poses a danger to our children. At any given time, 22 million children are online sharing files on peer-to-peer networks. They usually trade music and photos. But another group of peer-to-peer users has a different agenda. Most parents do not know about it. Most kids do not have a clue. Pornographers and child predators use these networks to expose young children to the crudest forms of pornography imaginable, much of it child porn, always disguised using innocent-sounding terms. Often, these predators attempt to arrange meetings with young people through this software. These contacts pose a significant risk to the safety of our children when they use the computer. This week, the Committee on Energy and Commerce Subcommittee on Commerce, Trade, and Consumer Protection will take up this issue. Among the solutions to be discussed is my bill, H.R. 2885, the Protecting Children From Peer-to-Peer Pornography Act. The bill addresses the cyberdangers of file-sharing programs, like KaZaA. Congress must act to protect children from this threat. If left unchecked, peer-to-peer networks will become the worst base of operations which child molesters, pornographers, and predators use to attack our kids in our homes online.

Mr. PITTS

Mr. PITTS. Mr. Speaker, Congress Daily reported last week that liberal soft money groups, 527s they are called, have out-raised conservative groups five to one in 2004, and their goal is to raise $500 million to defeat the President. These 527 groups raise unreported, unregulated soft money, unlimited donations by millionaire fat cats, with no reporting requirements, no public scrutiny, and unlimited access to candidates. This is the kind of thing McCain-Feingold finance reform was supposed to deal with. It did not. The money just went underground. But it is not only the money that is the problem; it is that people do not know who is influencing our political process. These donations are not from small donors. The top 24 donors to these groups have given a total of $40 million. If we had done campaign reform right, we would not have this problem. Instead, we are stuck with this unending special interest shadow campaign, while true citizens' groups operate on limited budgets and cannot even run ads on issues that they care about.