Steven Rothman

Mr. ROTHMAN

Mr. ROTHMAN. Mr. Speaker, today I rise to join my colleagues in paying tribute to the 200 high school teams across the country who participated in a robotics competition put on by FIRST (For Inspiration and Recognition of Science and Technology). I would especially like to recognize the team from Northern New Jersey comprised of Engineered Solutions from Ft. Lee, New Jersey, and high school students from the Stevens Institute of Technology and Hoboken High School. This competition underscores the work of FIRST, a foundation which partners high school students with engineers from corporations and small businesses, scientists from NASA and the military, and mentors from world class universities. The unique FIRST competition allows students to get hands-on experience in developing cutting-edge design and manufacturing processes in an energetic, competitive environment. This program represents a unique method for getting students excited about science and technology. I commend the excellent work done by the students on the Engineered Solutions/Stevens Institute of Technology/Hoboken High School team. And I wish the students from the other 200 teams across the country all the best.

Mr. ROTHMAN

Mr. ROTHMAN. Mr. Chairman, I thank the gentleman from Pennsylvania for yielding me time. Mr. Chairman, there is something wrong with the following picture. Last year, in the midst of our country's greatest economic growth of this generation, America saw a record number of bankruptcies, 1.4 million. This year, as America's economic expansion continues, America will set a new record for bankruptcies. But record number of Americans are not going broke. They are simply taking advantage of a bankruptcy system that encourages people to avoid paying their debts. That is what is wrong, and we have to stop those abuses. When people who can afford to pay their debts do not, guess who picks up the tab? Working and middle class families, because companies charge higher prices to make up for those losses. We need a bankruptcy system to give truly needy Americans a fresh start. But it must be a bankruptcy system with integrity, designed to encourage personal responsibility, not to discourage it. The new bankruptcy reform bill, H.R. 3150, will do just that. It still gives people who cannot afford to pay their debts the ability to declare bankruptcy and to get a fresh start. But it will require people who can pay back their debts to do so. Make no mistake about it. Under this bill, any American who chooses to go bankrupt can still go bankrupt. But if the person has the means after they pay their child support and alimony, after they pay off their secured debts and living expenses, if they still can pay off 20 percent of their remaining debt, then they should be required to pay back that debt. It is simply good personal responsibility. Hard-working middle-class taxpayers who play by the rules have a hard enough time paying their own bills. They should not have to pay the bills of those who run up debts they can afford to repay, but who simply choose not to repay the debts. When I was practicing law, I worked with a great many small business people who were taken advantage of by someone or some company who owed them money, but who simply misused and abused the out-of-control bankruptcy system to make victims out of those small business people. We need to protect the hardworking Americans and consumers who are the innocent victims of our present out-of-control bankruptcy system. Therefore, I urge my colleagues to support the Bankruptcy Reform Act of 1998. It protects our families, it protects our small businesses, and it restores some measure of personal responsibility to our out-of- control U.S. bankruptcy system.

Mr. ROTHMAN

Mr. ROTHMAN. Madam Speaker, yesterday on rollcall vote numbers 193, 194 and 195, I was detained in New Jersey attending my son's band concert. Had I been present, I would have voted ``yea'' on all three of these rollcall votes.

Mr. ROTHMAN

Mr. ROTHMAN. Mr. Speaker, my colleague makes a joke. I am proud to be from New Jersey. Today, with the Bulletproof Vest Partnership Grant Act, Congress is taking a major step forward in protecting the safety of our law enforcement officers. Bulletproof vests should become standard issue for every police officer in America. By paying half the cost of the vests for our police and corrections officers, the Federal Government will help save the lives of the people we ask to protect us. What do we ask from them? We ask from them a lot. Whether it is pulling over a speeding car, responding to a domestic violence call or walking a beat, our officers can be confronted by an armed assailant at any time. They can be just as soon shot in the head as being said hello to on the highway. If we are asking them to protect us, then we must give them the best protection available. As has been said many times before, our law enforcement officers represent the thin blue line separating civilized society and the good and decent, law-abiding citizens from anarchy and the law of the jungle. I want to thank the gentleman from New Jersey (Mr. LoBiondo) and the gentleman from Indiana (Mr. Visclosky) for their leadership on this issue. I have been delighted to work on this issue as a member of the Subcommittee on Crime of the Committee on the Judiciary, and I urge my colleagues to support H.R. 2829.

Mr. ROTHMAN

Mr. ROTHMAN. Mr. Speaker, I rise today to honor one of the great women of my community in Bergen County, New Jersey--Ms. Jacqueline Kempner. Jackie Kempner has spent her life distinguishing herself as a cornerstone of both the local Jewish and secular communities. She has spent thousands of hours of hard work and dedication constructing a solid network among local Jewish and neighborhood organizations. Jackie is being honored this year by the United Jewish Apppeal for her years of service to the Jewish community. She founded the future leaders of the Northern Jersey Jewish community. She has served on the UJA Federation's Young Women's and Women's Divisions, eventually becoming the Young Women's Division's chair. And she is a member of the prestigious group of donors called the Lion of Judah. During her many years of service, Jackie's passion has been the cultivation of our young people, specifically preparing young women from across North Jersey to assume the mantles of leadership, community and responsibility. She is passing on the lessons her parents taught her to a new generation of Americans. Without individuals with the drive and dedication of Jacqueline Kempner, the torch of leadership and the wisdom of those who went before us would be lost to the generations to come. Jackie Kempner is a friend, not just to me, but to everyone with whom she comes in contact. She is the kind of person who brightens the day and makes things work. The UJA, the Federation and the various other civic and religious organizations that she has touched would not be as active and vibrant today without her tireless efforts. She truly is an inspiration to us all. One of the characteristics I personally respect about Jackie Kempner is that she knows that charity starts in the home. She has been just as giving and caring to her own family as she has been to her community. She and her husband Michael have raised two beautiful and intelligent children in Zachary and Melissa. Ms. Speaker, all of this being said, I wish to take a moment and wish Jackie Kempner all the best and continued success with her endeavors in Bergen County and throughout the world. A simple ``thank you'' cannot convey what we and future generations owe to Ms. Kempner; however, I hope that all of my colleagues have individuals in their respective districts like Jacqueline Kempner because it is people like her that ensure that the United States of America will continue to be a wonderful place to live for generations and generations to come.

Mr. ROTHMAN

Mr. ROTHMAN. Mr. Speaker, I rise today to honor a truly generous and caring woman in my community in Bergen County, New Jersey--Ms. Eleanor Epstein of Englewood Cliffs. Eleanor Epstein has carved a place for herself as an energetic and forceful advocate for children and the elderly. She appreciates her heritage and understands that being part of a community is about giving others a hand up so that each of us has the tools to succeed. This month, Ms. Epstein is being honored by the United Jewish Appeal for her many years of outstanding service to the community. Her list of accomplishments leave no doubt of her position as the consummate community leader. She helped found the United Jewish Community Center on the Palisades while also serving on the Women's Division of the former United Jewish Fund of Englewood, New Jersey, the United Jewish Appeal's Dor L'Dor Society and as a Ruby Lion of Judah. Through these organizations, she reached out to the entire community, providing family activities, support, and aid to the entire citizenry of North Jersey. It is through the passions and drive of people like Eleanor Epstein that empower hometowns across America to evolve beyond simple houses and businesses into vibrant, caring communities. She brings with her an enormous strong civic pride and a deeply ingrained sense of service and concern for fellow human beings that spreads to all those with whom she comes in contact. Ms. Epstein learned the value of community and service from her parents during her childhood in Brooklyn, New York. From those strong spiritual and family roots, she not only gave to the community, she dedicated herself to a strong marriage of 50 years to her husband Edward, another devoted and beloved figure in our community. Together they raised four loving, caring and equally philanthropic sons who have given them eleven grandchildren that they cherish beyond words. Mr. Speaker, all of this being said, I wish to take a moment and wish Ms. Epstein all the best and continued success with her endeavors in Bergen County. A simple `thank you' can not convey what our entire community owes to Ms. Epstein; however, I hope that all of my colleagues have individuals in their respective districts like Eleanor Epstein because it is people like her that make the United States of America a more caring, safer and more wonderful place to live.

Mr. ROTHMAN

Mr. ROTHMAN. Mr. Speaker, today America has the opportunity to deliver a powerful and poignant message to terrorists: If you murder innocent Americans and tear innocent families apart, the United States of America will demand justice. Mr. Speaker, as we debate this bill on the Floor of the U.S. House of Representatives, Israeli and PLO leaders are in Great Britain being pressured to come together for a lasting peace. But since the PLO signed the Oslo Accords, ten Americans have been killed by Arab terrorists--one of them was a constituent of mine. Her name is Sara Duker. And the Palestinian leadership headed by Yassir Arafat has done nothing to bring her terrorist murderers to justice. When my good friend John Fox and I announced that we were going to fight for her killer's transfer to the United States, Sara's mother Arline came down to Washington to join us for the announcement. All Arline wants to see is justice. Her daughter was taken away from her. She should expect no less from us. Since giving his word at Oslo, Yassir Arafat has made a total mockery of his written commitment to transfer to Israel for prosecution any terrorist who has killed innocent people. In fact, not one of the accused terrorists that Israeli authorities have identified and requested has been turned over to Israel for justice. Justice cannot wait any longer. We must seek the terrorists' transfer to the United States before the trail of evidence dries up. To do any less would represent a serious failure of the United States government to safeguard the sanctity of our citizenry. We cannot let the murder of American citizens anywhere in the world go unanswered. We must have our message heard loud and clear: Terrorists will never win.

Mr. ROTHMAN

Mr. ROTHMAN. Madam Speaker, last year, within our balanced budget bill, Congress gave American families a $400 tax credit for every child under the age of 17 in the household. This year, it will be $500 per child. American families can use all of those monies for private or religious school tuition. That is their choice. This year, some in Congress want to bust the Nation's first balanced budget in 30 years by subsidizing private and religious school education, a subsidy that would ultimately affect funds available for the public schools. If this voucher bill passes, the other real consequence would be higher property taxes for America's families to make up the difference. In New Jersey, our property taxes are already too high. Besides, what is next? If someone does not like the books in their public library, should the government give that person a money voucher to buy books so that they can start their own private library? If somebody does not like the people who go into the public parks, should the government give money vouchers to that person so they can buy their own swing set and build their own private park? I do not think so. America is still a country that believes in the common good and to achieve the opportunity for success and the opportunity to achieve the American dream. Let us fix our public schools. Let us encourage competition by supporting chartered public school, but let us not pillage the public school systems in America. Hurting public schools in America will not be good for America.

Mr. ROTHMAN

Mr. ROTHMAN. Mr. Speaker, I want to first congratulate and thank my friend, the gentleman from California (Mr. Tom Lantos), and the gentleman from New York (Mr. Ben Gilman), two leaders in this Congress who we look to on regular occasions for their inspiration as well as their wisdom. We are here to honor a nation of hard-working people, a country that is a thriving democracy of freedom and human rights, a land that has contributed to the world's economy and a sense of moral well-being, yet a state that, on its 50th birthday, still has to fight its neighbors for respect and, yes, for its right to exist. Israel was founded after World War II, not by war, not by force, but by the United Nations. The Jewish people's ties to the region goes back more than 3,000 years. Every major country in the world supported Israel's creation, just like they supported the creation of other countries, Iraq, Lebanon, Jordan, Syria and Saudi Arabia, all of which nations were created after World War I. The only difference between Israel and these other countries, none of which existed before the 20th century, is this: Israel is the only western-style democracy in the Middle East, and it is the only nonIslamic state. The vast majority of these other states are still ruled by bloodthirsty dictators, like Saddam Hussein of Iraq and Hafez Al-Assad of Syria and the supreme leader Khamenei of Iran, and they are also ruled by monarchies, like the tightly controlled monarchy of Saudi Arabia. Yet Israel has thrived despite being surrounded by countries still determined to drive them into the sea. But she is not a war-torn nation, like the media tries to depict. Israel is a beautiful, safe place, a vacation destination for Americans, Europeans, Asians and Africans alike. She peacefully keeps the Christian, Muslim and Jewish holy sites safe and secure for all visitors from around the globe. But Israel's 50th anniversary means more than the celebration of its people, its democratic roots, its determination and its ability to survive in a hostile environment. It means Israel should be respected as one nation in the family of nations, especially by the organization that created it, the United Nations. Israel is America's strongest, most trusted and most reliable ally in the Middle East. At the United Nations, Israel votes with the United States 97 percent of the time, more than any other country in the world. It is time for the United Nations to treat Israel as an equal and not to vote against Israel when it takes measures to protect itself and her citizens from her hostile neighbors. Israel has earned the world's respect the hard way, making the desert bloom with agriculture, high technology, art, culture and, above all else, democracy. America wishes Israel a very happy 50th birthday, and we want Israel to know that America stands with Israel, our greatest, most trusted ally in the Middle East, now and forever.

Mr. ROTHMAN

Mr. ROTHMAN. Mr. Speaker, it is an honor to join my colleagues in commemorating the Armenian Genocide and the solemn memory of the 1.5 million Armenians who lost their lives earlier this century. This is an important day to reflect on the lessons of history and work to avoid the horrors faced by the Armenian people in 1915. For the Congressional Record, I would very much like to submit a letter concerning the Armenian Genocide that I sent to President Bill Clinton. It is my earnest hope that the United States Congress, with President Clinton's determining leadership, will swiftly move to adopt a resolution acknowledging the Armenian Genocide. House of Representatives, Washington, DC, April 21, 1998. Hon. William J. Clinton, President of the United States. Dear Mr. President: I am writing to you, as a proponent of peace and stability in the Caucasus, to urge your Administration to play an active role in ending Turkey's denial of the Armenian Genocide. In addition to the clear moral imperative to appropriately recognize and commemorate all instances of Genocide, such a move would serve our own national interests by ensuring that the United States is viewed as an impartial and honest broker in the ongoing Nagorno-Karabagh peace process. During your 1992 Presidential campaign, you acknowledged the ``Genocide of 1915.'' Your words were welcomed by Armenians and all people of good conscience as a principled stand by a leader committed to resisting the Turkish government's shameful campaign to deny the Armenian Genocide. It is unfortunate that members of your Administration have failed to live up to your own words, issuing ambiguous statements about the ``Armenian massacres.'' I strongly encourage the Administration to use the correct term, genocide, to describe the systematic and deliberate extermination of the Armenian people--a crime against humanity thoroughly documented in our own national archives. As a nation, we pay a great price for our government's participation in the Turkish government's denial of the Armenian Genocide. As you would surely agree, complicity in the denial of genocide--for any reason, at any time--is simply unacceptable conduct for the world's leading defender of human rights. The United States' long-standing acquiescence of Turkey's denial was accurately characterized in 1995 by Stanley Cohen, a professor of criminology at Jerusalem's Hebrew University, writing in ``Law and Social Inquiry,'' published by the American Bar Foundation: ``The nearest successful example [of collective denial] in the modern era is the 80 years of official denial by successive Turkish governments of the 1915-17 genocide against the Armenians in which some 1.5 million people lost their lives. This denial has been sustained by deliberate propaganda, lying and cover-ups, forging documents, suppression of archives, and bribing scholars. The West, especially the United States, has colluded by not referring to the massacres in the United Nations, ignoring memorial ceremonies, and surrending to Turkish pressures in NATO and other strategic arenas of cooperation.'' As I noted, withholding the proper recognition of the Armenian Genocide also significant hinders our nation's ability to help resolve the ongoing conflict over Nagorno- Karabagh. The Administration's assurance of security guarantees for the people of Nagorno-Karabagh are greatly weakened by our government's unwillingess, after 83 years, to acknowledge that a crime of genocide was committed against the Armenian nation. This unwillingness seriously undermines the faith that the people of Karabagh have that the United States will stand up for their rights in the event of renewed Azerbaijani aggression. Mr. President, very appropriately, you have always stressed that the United States must lead on the question of fundamental freedoms around the world. Your statement on March 25th of this year in the Rwandan capital was in the proudest tradition of our nation's commitment to human rights. At the Kigali airport, you stated that, ``Genocide can occur anywhere. It is not an African phenomenon. We must have global vigilance. And never again must we be shy in the face of evidence.'' Mr. President, the evidence of the Armenian Genocide is clear. Now is the time to stand up for justice and help bring an end to Turkey's denial of the Armenian Genocide. Sincerely, Steven R. Rothman, Member of Congress.

Mr. ROTHMAN

Mr. ROTHMAN. Mr. Speaker, for the past 50 years the tobacco industry has waged a war of deception against the American people. They have tried to hide the terrible toll that cigarettes take on our children, our families, and on our society. So it should be no surprise that the tobacco industry is trying to deceive the United States Congress. The problem is that the leadership of the United States Congress is falling for the industry's spin, hook, line, and sinker. Mr. Speaker, Joe Camel is part of the problem. It is time for Congress to solve the Joe Camel problem. This year Congress can pass a comprehensive law to protect America's young people from cigarettes and at long last hold the tobacco industry responsible for 30 years of deception. Every day in America more than 6,000 American children start smoking. We cannot wait any longer. The American people deserve a comprehensive tobacco reform bill, and they deserve it now.

Mr. ROTHMAN

Mr. ROTHMAN. Mr. Speaker, I rise in opposition to the closed rule and the underlying antiworker bill. This debate is about fairness and the basic rights of hard-working Americans. If this bill passes, a worker could be fired just for trying to improve working conditions by organizing his or her fellow workers; or a worker may not even be hired in the first place, even though he or she is the most qualified applicant, just because the company executive thinks that that person might organize workers in the future. In 1995, the U.S. Supreme Court said that it is unconstitutional for American executives to fire or discriminate against those who they want to silence. But these corporate executives refuse to take no for an answer, so they are trying to bring this bill to the floor. H.R. 3246 defies what we fundamentally believe as Americans. It gives companies a license to discriminate against hard-working Americans who only want to be able to speak out and stand up for their rights, who want a safe work environment and who want to express their desire for reasonable health care for themselves and their family, and a livable wage. I strongly urge that my colleagues vote against this rule and the bill.

Mr. ROTHMAN

Mr. ROTHMAN. Mr. Speaker, I rise today to pay tribute to Greek Independence Day. For the Greek-Americans I represent, and indeed for all Greek- Americans, this day represents the determination of the Greek people to live free. Under Ottoman rule for four centuries, the Greek people proudly secured their independence in 1829. From that moment forward, America's warm relationship with Greece and the Greek people has grown, bringing our two nations closer together in enduring ways. Today, Greece is a moderm nation and a global force in an ever demanding world marketplace. As Greece moves closer to adopting the single European currency, the fact of her economic strength becomes ever clearer. All Greek-Americans are rightly proud of Greece's vigorous and growing economy. Their homeland's unique ability to preserve its remarkable history while moving proudly into the twenty- first century is a tribute to the Greek people. On this day, as we celebrate and recognize Greek Independence Day, I would also like to highlight the fact that Greece will play host to the 2004 Olypmic Games. The historic importance of the Olympic Games returning to their roots in Athens is a story of rediscovery and restoration. I understand that the Greek Cabinet is already planning for a ``Cultural Olympiad'' which will be organized in connection with the 2004 Olympics. All efforts in support of the Olympic Games in Athens, efforts that I know the Greek-American community will be backing, should be supported by this Congress. To conclude, let me add my name to my many colleagues who today are saluting Greek Independence Day. By remembering this memomentous occasion, this Congress serves to memoralize the sacrifice of a generation of Greeks who gave their last measure so that independence and freedom could be secured for the Greek people. It is a just cause the Greek people fought for in 1829 and one that we honor here today.

Mr. ROTHMAN

Mr. ROTHMAN. Madam Chairman, I rise today in strong support of the Watt/Rothman amendment to H.R. 992. I want to begin by saying thank you and congratulations to my colleague, the gentleman from Texas (Mr. Smith), for identifying this problem that has caused private property owners so much heartache and expense. I do want to say also, though, with respect to my colleague from Texas, that the solution that he offers, in my judgment, is unconstitutional. The problem here we are talking about arises in Federal cases involving the taking of land without just compensation. The question is how do we solve the problem? Do we solve the problem in what might arguably be an unconstitutional way? There are laypeople and experts who say that this solution, H.R. 992, is unconstitutional. Or do we solve the problem in an elegant, simple, and completely effective way that happens to be perfectly constitutional? Last October, along with many of my colleagues from both parties, I voted in favor of H.R. 1534, the Private Property Rights Implementation Act. I did so proudly. H.R. 1534 was important because it cut years of delay from Federal takings proceedings that kept people from having their day in court. However, notwithstanding H.R. 1534, there still remains an unjustifiable shuffle within the Federal court system that people must go through in order to get their Federal takings claims resolved. These property owners are being shuffled between the U.S. District Court and the Court of Federal Claims when they bring suit against the Federal Government after their property has been taken without just compensation. But the problem with H.R. 992, with respect, is that the solution to this shuffling problem gives broad powers that are normally reserved for the judicial branch courts, Article III courts, and instead gives them to the Court of Federal Claims, an Article I court, whose judges happen to be appointed for a period of years as opposed to the lifetime appointments of the Federal District Court judges. As you might imagine, these lifetime points of the Federal District Court judges allow the judges to have a much more impartial attitude regarding all cases, especially keeping them from the kind of political pressure that we all feel is inappropriate in Federal cases. For those Members who want to get rid of the shuffle that private property owners seeking relief are now being required to go through, there is a perfectly complete and constitutional solution to that problem. That is the Watt/Rothman amendment to H.R. 992. Our amendment is very simple. It says, if one is concerned about getting shuffled around the Federal court system in order to get their private property rights heard, their claims heard, they would now, under the Watt/Rothman amendment, be able to challenge the validity of the Federal statute authorizing the taking, have all other related claims heard, and receive compensation as well as any and all other remedies entirely with the one court, the Federal District Court. There would be no shuffling. The problem would be solved completely, elegantly, efficiently, and without any question, constitutionally. So the question is, why do it any other way; why do it in a manner that is subject to constitutional attack? If we are really all about giving private property owners who have claims a clear and immediate chance to avoid the shuffling between courts, why would we vote for a bill, H.R. 992, that raises constitutional questions, is almost certainly to be challenged in court, and be defeated in court as unconstitutional, when there is available the Watt/Rothman amendment that is perfectly constitutional and eliminates the shuffling problem? That is why I urge all my colleagues, if they really care about private property rights claims to help homeowners, to help business people and others who are making private property claims in Federal court, vote for the Watt/Rothman amendment. It is constitutional and it works.

Mr. ROTHMAN

Mr. ROTHMAN. Mr. Speaker, as of March 31, just a few weeks away, there will be no more Federal dollars going for highway or mass transit funding going to our States. No more money, period. This is the construction season and businesses and builders are making their decisions now. If we miss this building season because the House is unable to get its act together about the refunding of highway and mass transit infrastructure money in the United States, then we are going to lose out in New Jersey where I am from and we are going to lose out all across America. A delay will cost our States more money because they will have to close down their projects and then reopen them. For every billion dollars that we do not send to the States to rebuild our highways, roads and mass transit, 1,400 projects nationwide will be stalled, 42,000 men and women will be out of work. And what are we talking about? We are talking about jobs, businesses being able to compete in the global economy; and we are talking about the quality of life for ourselves and our children. I call upon the leaders in the House of Representatives to get their act together, to pass the reauthorization of highway, road and mass transit funding so we can get our country moving again.

Mr. ROTHMAN

Mr. ROTHMAN. Mr. Speaker, public school education has made this country the most productive and advanced country on the planet. It is the key that opens the door of opportunities to achieve the American dream. It is not only where we learn our common American heritage and our common values, but it is where we can set a high level of achievement and expectation for all American students. Supporters of public schools understand that our public schools must get better, but let us start at the beginning, grades 1, 2 and 3. That is why I support President Clinton's 100,000 new teachers to reduce class size. Smaller class sizes mean more individualized attention for all of our kids, and a safer and better environment in which they can learn. But there are those in the extreme who want to tear down our public schools and take money from them, to eliminate the opportunity for all Americans to be able to achieve the American dream. I urge my colleagues to support President Clinton's plan to reduce class size for 100,000 more schoolteachers, and to provide repairs to the needy school districts whose school buildings are in disrepair.

Mr. ROTHMAN

Mr. ROTHMAN. Mr. Speaker, today I am going to be introducing legislation to stop children from buying cigarettes at vending machines. It has been well established that the cigarette manufacturers have been marketing their cigarettes to children, so say the 81 internal documents recently made public by R.J. Reynolds Tobacco Company. Every day, more than 3,000 children start smoking, resulting in 1 million new smokers every year. Ninety percent of the new smokers are children and teenagers. In New Jersey alone, where I am from, 36 percent of high school students smoke cigarettes. These children are very vulnerable to well-orchestrated advertising campaigns and to the idea that smoking is somehow an act of defiance. In this day, when so many of the negative health effects of smoking are known, we should be teaching our children to stay away from tobacco, not allow tobacco companies to market to our children. And we should be passing common sense laws to stop our children from being able to buy cigarettes. That is why today I am introducing the Stop Kids From Smoking Act. Last June's proposed tobacco settlement between the States and the tobacco industry contains important steps to stop smoking by minors, but those steps are not enough. Just getting rid of tobacco icons like Joe Camel or the Marlboro Man does not mean that the industry will stop trying to hook our kids on smoking, nor does it mean that the tobacco lobby will not go back to their old bag of legislative tricks as they did just last summer when they tried to get a $50 billion tobacco tax credit put into the balanced budget agreement. As you know, we fought back, and we repealed that $50 billion tax credit. But that episode is just an example of what we might expect when the tobacco settlement that is now under discussion comes before Congress this year. It is obvious that stopping our children from buying cigarettes needs to be a part of the solution. But first we must have our merchants comply with the already existing age laws that in many States are already on the books. Thanks to people like Carol Wagner at the Mid- Bergen Health Center in Bergen County, New Jersey, Carol runs a sting operation with local teenagers. She and those teens are helping win this war. The local sting operations show that merchants in Bergen and Hudson Counties, two counties that I represent in New Jersey, have already reached the national goal for the year 2000 by reducing sales to minors by 80 percent. So what then is an industrious kid to do when the stores that sell cigarettes over the counter check for age I.D.? Well, according to the U.S. Surgeon General, these young teenagers are 10 times more likely to then go to secret vending machines to buy their cigarettes, and they know which diners, hotels, bowling alleys, gas stations and restaurants in town have those cigarette vending machines. Our towns have tried to fight back by banning cigarette machines everywhere in their communities, but the tobacco companies make 16\1/2\ million dollars on under-aged smoking in New Jersey alone. That is why they have spent millions of dollars to bottle up these local ordinances, in many cases frivolous and expensive lawsuits they know that our local towns cannot afford to contest. The only way to save our towns from these lawsuits is to make it part of a Federal law that any American community, if they choose to, can ban cigarette vending machines from their community. This week I am informally introducing the Stop Kids From Smoking Act, a bill to ban all cigarette vending machines in places where children under the age of 18 have access, and for the 10 towns in my district that already ban cigarette vending machines from any part of their towns, the bill will contain a provision that allows them to have this total ban of cigarette vending machines remain valid and effective in their communities as long as they choose to keep these bans alive. The congressional hearings that began this month should focus more attention on the tobacco companies' marketing strategy to children beyond the R.J. Reynolds memo that was recently released. Once we have that information, Congress must not delay in passing a wide-ranging tobacco settlement that will protect our children. My Stop Kids From Smoking bill will help. That is why I am encouraging all of my colleagues on the Democrat and Republican side of the aisles to cosponsor this important bill. We need to stop kids from buying cigarettes at local unattended vending machines, and we need to do it now.

Mr. ROTHMAN

Mr. ROTHMAN. Mr. Speaker, I rise today to introduce the ``Stop Kids From Smoking Act'', a bill that will go a long way to achieving the important goal of ending youth smoking. This bill would make it illegal for any establishment that allows children under the age of eighteen to have a vending machine. The premise for this bill is simple: if children are unable to buy tobacco, it makes it significantly harder for them to start smoking. We have effective laws that require individuals to show proof that they are eighteen in order to buy tobacco products. However, each year minors illegally purchase 256 million packs of cigarettes. How is this possible? It is easy. Kids go to the one place where they do not get carded--vending machines. They go to the diners, hotels, restaurants, and other places that generally have a vending machine in a hall or entranceway, put their money in the machine and get tobacco. Rarely are they even seen, and less often are they questioned. I realize that some states and towns across the country have already taken this a step further by banning tobacco vending machines entirely. My bill would not preempt these laws. Instead, it would simply ensure that no child under the age of eighteen be able to buy tobacco in any situation, even when they are not being watched and questioned. Please join me and my bipartisan original cosponsors in protecting America's youth from the deadly habit of smoking. Let's stop illegal tobacco use by minors and save this next generation from premature death from tobacco-related disease. A BILL To prohibit the use of vending machines to sell tobacco products in all locations other than in locations in which the presence of minors is not permitted. Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States of America in Congress assembled,

Mr. ROTHMAN

Mr. ROTHMAN. Madam Speaker, American families are being denied proper health care. They are being denied the right to see specialists, the right to go to the emergency room, and they have to battle just to get reimbursements for legitimate medical procedures. The problem is that managed care for health insurance companies has become more about managing the profits for these health insurance companies than about managing the quality of health care for America's families. We can no longer afford to have health insurance company clerks making health care decisions for our loved ones. That is the job of our doctors and our nurses. There is a bipartisan bill put forth by the gentleman from Georgia (Mr. Norwood), a Republican, that would make health care insurance companies accountable. I am a cosponsor of that bill, as are 223 of my colleagues. Madam Speaker, it is time we bring the Norwood bill to the floor so that we can give the American people what they deserve: a health care system accountable to them. Health care insurance companies must be made accountable when they wrongly deny coverage and reimbursements to patients.

Mr. ROTHMAN

Mr. ROTHMAN. Mr. Speaker, today I rise to introduce the ``The Equality for Israel at the United Nations Act of 1998.'' With the strong support of over 60 original co-sponsors, including both the Chairman and Ranking Member of the House International Relations Committee, this bill seeks an end to the institutional discrimination Israel has faced at the United Nations for far too long. Specifically, this bill requires that the Secretary of State report on actions taken by our Ambassador to the United Nations to encourage the nations of the Western Europe and Others Group (WEOG) to accept Israel into their group. The bill also calls on the Secretary of State to solicit and receive responses from each of the nations of WEOG on their position concerning Israel's acceptance into their organization. In this manner, Congress can know which nations are supporting Israel's admittance to WEOG and which nations are opposed. As many of my colleagues are already aware, the State of Israel has been a member of the UN since 1949. But what my colleagues and the American public might not know is that Israel is the only long-standing member of the United Nations to be denied acceptance into any of the organization's five regional blocs. Membership in a regional bloc is critical because it is a prerequisite for any nation to serve on the powerful Security Council or other key U.N. bodies such as the Economic and Social Council. Due to its exclusion from a regional bloc at the United Nations, the State of Israel has been precluded from fully participating in the workings of that world body. This amounts to institutional discrimination against Israel at the United Nations. The real story here is two-fold: On the one hand there are Arab states who have denied Israel the consensus vote it needs to join its natural, geographic, regional bloc--the Asian bloc. On the other hand, there are the member states of the Western Europe and Others Group, otherwise known as the WEOG regional bloc, who have failed to embrace Israel's request to temporarily join their grouping. This is where the United States must step up and show true leadership. And this is why I have introduced ``The Equality for Israel at the United Nations Act of 1998.'' WEOG, to which the U.S. belongs, is one of the five regional blocs at the United Nations. Other non-European countries: Western-style democracies such as Canada and Australia already belong to the WEOG. Israel would be a perfect fit, at least temporarily. The issue is not whether Israel deserves to be treated as an equal among nations, it surely does. The challenge is how to achieve equality at the United Nations. World-wide recognition of Israel as an equal at the United Nations would be the right message to send now to help advance the struggling Middle East peace process. But this is not just an Israel issue, this is a United Nations issue. And clearly, Israel's acceptance into the WEOG would be a welcome sign of real reform taking place at the United Nations. There already has been a groundswell of support in the U.S. Congress for this issue. Seventy-six Members of Congress, many of whom serve on the House International Relations Committee, joined me and Representative Ileana Ros-Lehtinen last year in sending letters to the member states of the WEOG, asking them to allow Israel to join the WEOG as a temporary member. Secretary of State Madeleine Albright and our Ambassador to the United Nations, Bill Richardson, both agree that this issue needs to be pursued. In fact, Ambassador Richardson told me personally that he will work to ``rededicate U.S. efforts on this issue.'' Supporting Israel's right to be a full member of the United Nations is the right thing to do. We owe no less to Israel, a strong U.S. ally, and to the United Nations, whose credibility is threatened if all countries are not treated as equals. For these reasons, I ask my colleagues to lend their support for ``The Equality for Israel at the United Nations Act of 1998.''

Mr. ROTHMAN

Mr. ROTHMAN. Mr. Speaker, this morning New Jersey's families woke up to a story in the Bergen Record newspaper that is becoming all too familiar. Car thefts are up once again. This time it is at Newark Airport, a growing international airport that we are counting on to spur North Jersey's economy well into the 21st century. The 83 percent increase in stolen cars at Newark Airport means that 83 percent more New Jersey families traveling via Newark Airport are dealing with the possibility that their car will be stolen. Beyond the personal trauma and the hassles of getting their lives back in order, these families will have to bear significant costs. That is why I am urging my colleagues to take up the ``1-800-CAR-FIND'' bill that is currently awaiting action in the Subcommittee on Crime of the House Committee on the Judiciary. As a member of that subcommittee, I can assure my colleagues that I will strongly support the ``1-800-CAR-FIND'' bill. It sets up a national system to track stolen cars more efficiently, and the bill will return the cars to their rightful owners more quickly. It will provide lower insurance premiums for our families. The rise in car thefts at Newark Airport and the other of our Nation's airports is a serious matter, it is a national concern, and it requires a national solution. Congress must not delay any further action in taking up ``1-800-CAR-FIND'' any longer.

Mr. ROTHMAN

Mr. ROTHMAN. Mr. Speaker, today the special interests are swarming around this Capitol to defeat HMO reform, reform that will hold the HMOs accountable for their actions. The American people of both political parties want to make their health care decisions with themselves and their doctors and not with some accounting clerk, who is neither a doctor or a nurse or other health care professional, make that decision which often denies them the care that they paid for with their insurance premiums, where the accounting clerk often gets an incentive for denying that care. Both political parties have put forth a bill to reform HMOs, but the special interests are now swarming over this Capitol to deny the right of the American people to get what they paid for when they paid their insurance premiums, the right to see the specialists they need, the right to know that they can go to the emergency room and not be turned away, the right that their doctor can send them somewhere and know that the patient that they send will get the care they deserve. I will save the special interests some trouble coming to my office. The people of Bergen and Hudson Counties, New Jersey want HMO reform, and they will not let the special interests stop us from doing the right thing.

Mr. ROTHMAN

Mr. ROTHMAN. Mr. Speaker, the problems that faced America 2 weeks ago are still the same problems that we face today. Despite what has occurred in the last week, Congress still has the obligation to move the country forward. Last year, in a remarkable show of bipartisan effort, the Congress gave back to Americans $94 billion in tax cuts and education benefits. Now that we have balanced the budget and given America its well- deserved tax cut, we must take care of today's seniors and the seniors of tomorrow by saving Social Security. Mr. Speaker, we cannot allow seniors who have put into the system for their whole lives to fall into poverty just because they decided to retire; and we must never ask them to choose between food, health care, and their home. They deserve security and dignity. They paid for it. So let us join together across party lines, as we did for the balanced budget and for the tax cuts, by heeding President Clinton's call. Let us put Social Security first.

Mr. ROTHMAN

Mr. ROTHMAN. Mr. Speaker, today unfortunately the radical Republicans in Congress are continuing their all-out attack on the public school system. They want it to wither on the vine, because just like with Medicare, the conservative extremists do not believe in public school education. Public school education is the key that unlocks the door to the American dream for 90 percent of America's children, including my own two kids. We cannot allow these people in Congress to destroy America's public school system. Besides, what would be next? Are we going to give people vouchers to buy books if they do not believe in the public library? Are we going to give people vouchers to buy their own swing set if they feel that the local playground, local park, is inconvenient? No, because we are still a country that believes in the collective good and the American dream. Let us fix our public schools, let us encourage charter schools to create competition, but let us not pillage the public school system in America. That will not be good for America.

Mr. ROTHMAN

Mr. ROTHMAN. Mr. Speaker, I rise today to honor the Memorial School of Maywood, NJ, a recipient of the prestigious Blue Ribbon Award. To the Memorial School, I extend my sincere congratulations for its commitment to education and excellence. The students and faculty should feel a tremendous amount of pride for their diligence, outstanding demeanor and teamwork. While the students exhibit a desire for learning, their quest for knowledge is enhanced by the curriculum and extraordinary instruction at the Memorial School. The award could not have been achieved without strong leadership, especially that of Mr. Lex Greenwood, principal of the Memorial School. I also want to congratulate all of the parents of the Memorial School children. Parental involvement creates an atmosphere of support for both children and faculty. Both parents and teachers plant the seeds in our young people for intellectual fruition while helping children to believe in themselves. I understand the importance of education for all American children. Before I was elected as the representative of the Ninth Congressional District, I told the people of Bergen and Hudson counties that education would be a priority for me in Congress. Please know that I have maintained that commitment. A quality education for every American child opens the gateway to a lifetime of opportunities. And the Memorial School of Maywood, NJ serves as an exemplary learning institution for Bergen County, the Ninth Congressional District, the State of New Jersey, and the United States. As a recipient of the Blue Ribbon Award, the Memorial School reflects the aims of President Clinton's GOALS 2000 by exhibiting academic excellence and by providing examples of outstanding programs and practices. The Blue Ribbon Award officially recognizes that the Memorial School has an outstanding teaching and student environment, curriculum, teaching faculty, leadership, parent and community support, in addition to organizational vitality. Recognition at a local, State and national level will enable the Memorial School to serve as a model learning institution. Such increased exposure not only makes the Memorial School a microcosm of learning excellence, but boosts public confidence, along with parental and community involvement. Once again, I wish to extend my congratulations to the Memorial School and look forward to working with the school in the future.