Rick Renzi

Mr. RENZI

Mr. RENZI. Madam Speaker, I want to begin by commending the chairman, the gentleman from New Jersey (Mr. Smith), and the gentleman from Illinois (Mr. Evans), the gentleman from Connecticut (Mr. Simmons), and the gentleman from Texas (Mr. Rodriguez) for their hard work in crafting a comprehensive bill that gives great improvements to veterans health care programs. It is imperative at this time especially that we honor the service of veterans and provide for the quality of life they have helped foster for their years of service to us and this Nation. This bill ensures the VA health care system will continue to provide the highest quality health care services to our Nation's patriots. I would like to take a minute to highlight a provision in this bill that honors the memory of a veteran that served in this body. Congressman Bob Stump dedicated his life to the service of this country, first in World War II as a Navy medic, then as an elected official in the State of Arizona, and also in the House of Representatives here in Washington. Throughout his career, he devoted his efforts to taking care of men and women in uniform on and off the battlefield who committed themselves to defend this Nation and our Constitution. As the previous chairman of the House Committee on Veterans' Affairs, he worked for over 20 years in support of increased health care benefits for veterans and in strengthening the Montgomery GI Bill to allow veterans to have greater access to education and training. This bill honors the legacy of Bob Stump and his steadfast commitment to veterans by renaming the Prescott Veterans Affairs Medical Center in Prescott, Arizona, the Bob Stump Veterans Affairs Medical Center. I would like to thank members of his staff, Delores Dunn, Joanne Keeane, and Susan Hosinpellar, who continue to carry on the tradition of his service. It is they who brought forward this idea, along with the Arizona delegation who helped make it happen. It is a fitting tribute to one of our Nation's greatest heroes.

Mr. RENZI

Mr. RENZI. Mr. Speaker, I want to thank the chairman for his leadership, and I especially want to thank the gentleman from Colorado (Mr. McInnis) for his fighting spirit and 3 years of perseverance that it took us to finally get to this point. I also maybe want to offer a little bit of a different view for those limousine environmentalists from the inner city, who do not necessarily live in the forests as we do. Coming from Flagstaff, Arizona, the largest Ponderosa pine forest in the world, where we suffered the likes of the Rodeo-Chedeski fire, a fire of 500 thousand acres. I want my colleagues to know there is a science that is being ignored here. We are taking half the money and putting it into wildland urban interface right on the boundaries of our communities. Yet the forest managers want to be able to attack fire in the outlands. What they understand is in the West we have canyons. While they may have concrete canyons in New York City, we have real canyons in Arizona. In those canyons, we have up-slope terrain. When up-slope terrain combines with wind and temperature, that fire burns so hot and so fast that wildland urban interface and limiting the money will not be able to give us fallback positions for our firemen. It is a compromise that we have proposed here. Vote in favor of the bill.

Mr. RENZI

Mr. RENZI. Mr. Speaker, I thank the chairman for yielding me this time. There has been some talk about this not being about prescription drugs and more about the changes that we are looking at for Medicare. In the 1950's and 1960's on the border of Nevada and Arizona at the test sites for the atom bomb, the schoolchildren in Arizona, in Kingman, Arizona, were given the day off to go up on the mountains and watch the A-bomb blasts. The skies would turn brilliant pink and orange. Years later, those adults are the ones that come down with the highest cluster rates of cancer in America. A lot of the folks in the Rust Belt send their cancer patients out to beautiful, warm Arizona, whereas one of the benefits of their suffering has been our ability to understand how to better treat cancer in these communities now rather than in the hospitals. The nurses who provide that cancer care under the current Medicare are not allowed to bill and get their full amounts. That is because Medicare has not changed enough or at all since its inception. Medicare must be updated. It must be modernized. To do so denies the ability to provide the proper billable hours for our nurses who provide cancer care and the better system of cancer care that we are seeing out in the West. Modernize Medicare. Do not deny those nurses that kind of coverage.

Mr. RENZI

Mr. RENZI. Mr. Speaker, I thank the gentleman for yielding me this time and also my colleague from American Samoa for his kind remarks. Mr. Speaker, I rise in support of H.R. 2907, the Northern Arizona National Forest Land Exchange Act of 2003. H.R. 2907 facilitates a land exchange in northern Arizona of private land within the Yavapai Ranch for the Forest Service land in the northern portion of the State. H.R. 2907 accomplishes several goals in northern Arizona. First, it will preserve the pristine areas within Yavapai Ranch for the wildlife and recreation by consolidating more than 40,000 acres of Forest Service land. This area is adjacent to the Juniper Mesa Wilderness Area, preserving precious habitat for ponderosa pine, alligator juniper, and pronghorn antelope. Second, H.R. 2907 provides the City of Flagstaff, Arizona, with the opportunity to acquire land to expand and improve Pulliam Airport. H.R. 2907 will allow the City of Flagstaff to develop a new city park and recreational areas and obtain ownership of land near their water treatment plant. This is critical to the City of Flagstaff's future, providing economic development and affordable housing. The Northern Arizona National Forest Land Exchange Act will also allow the city of Williams to acquire land for its well sites, water storage tanks, and wastewater facility and drinking water treatment plants. Until recently, the city of Williams relied completely on surface water supplies to service the community. However, surface water reservoirs in Williams are almost dry and currently stand at a minimal 8 percent of capacity. H.R. 2907 will assist Williams in meeting their water challenges in the future by providing new land for well drilling sites. In the Verde Valley, this bill provides the town of Camp Verde with unique opportunities to acquire land for open space to protect their view shed. The Camp Verde Fire District will be provided with land adjacent to Interstate 17 for an emergency response and urgent care facility for faster response and care. A planned development along Interstate 17 will provide Camp Verde with additional tax base and job opportunities. A residential development in Clarkdale and Cottonwood will diversify the housing market and provide new lands and an additional tax base for those communities. Working with members of the Arizona delegation, including the gentleman from Arizona (Mr. Hayworth), we have ensured that the language in H.R. 2907 establishes water conservation and water use restrictions for any future development. In addition, any development would also comply with the State of Arizona surface and ground water laws, as well as local community planning standards. Finally, this legislation assures that six summer youth camps serving 10,000 to 12,000 children from all over the region have the opportunity to acquire the land and benefit from full ownership. These camps include Young Life Lost Canyon Camp, Friendly Pines Camp, the YMCA camps, and a host of other camps. Young Life Lost Canyon alone serves approximately 4,500 children. Approximately 450 of these children have special needs. In the past year, I have received many letters and phone calls providing input on the exchange. One such letter came from the chairman of the Yavapai-Apache Nation, Mr. Jamie Fullmer, the tribe that is most affected by this land exchange. Chairman Fullmer makes a statement of endorsement of this land exchange when he says in his letter, ``We also recognize that exchanging these already impacted lands for the unspoiled lands at the headwaters of the Verde River offers permanent protection for wildlife, the forest and the watershed that protects the Yavapai-Apache Nation's water rights.'' Mr. Speaker, I have held several town halls and town meetings on this issue. We have discussed these many complex issues with the surrounding communities, with individuals, and have public input on this exchange. I have visited and toured the Yavapai Ranch on three occasions. I have witnessed firsthand the great value of this land exchange. Bringing the Yavapai Ranch into Federal ownership is in the best interests of the greater good and of the general public. I urge my colleagues to support the Northern Arizona National Forest Land Exchange Act of 2003.

Mr. RENZI

Mr. RENZI. Mr. Speaker, I want to begin by thanking those people who have worked across party lines to help bring together this substantial piece of legislation and the many elements that make it up. A good deal of thanks goes to the gentleman from Texas (Mr. DeLay) for helping us to move through the logjam. The gentleman from North Carolina (Mr. Jones), one of the innovators, as well as the gentleman from Massachusetts (Mr. McGovern), and in the final days, the gentleman from California (Mr. Thomas) of the Committee on Ways and Means all deserve an immense amount of credit, as well as our great leader here, the gentleman from Texas (Mr. Sam Johnson). I want to focus on a couple of elements of the bill that I think need to be communicated. First of all, to our soldiers in Afghanistan and Bosnia, to our soldiers out there in Iraq, on the tip of the spear, defending our sacred liberties and freedoms, when they do come home, we want them to know that we worked on a bipartisan basis to provide them with tax relief and an increase in benefits. I had the duty to go up and see Lori Piestewa's family up on the Hopi reservation when we lost the first Native American woman in battle in Iraq, and we had a discussion of the benefits that came to that family. She left behind two children, a boy and a girl, and the Hopi reservation is a tough place. Poverty is immense. The housing conditions there are tough, and Lori's children are going to be okay. They are left with a beautiful grandmother in Perci Piestewa, but to think we were going to provide a $6,000 death gratuity benefit and come back in and tax it on the initial $3,000 was unconscionable. That began the initiative with the gentleman from North Carolina (Mr. Jones) that allows us to look at some of the key legislation that many of our friends across both aisles have offered for so long. I would also like to point out to the American people that part of this tax package and benefit includes the ability to now shut down the nonprofit organizations that were developed by the al Qaeda network, those Wahabists, those extreme fundamental Islamic organizations that existed in the United States that were set up in order for high-wealth sheiks to donate money into, those organizations that were set up in order to be a channel for illegal contributions that were gained through the sale of stolen goods both in America and in South America. When the terrorist organizations are now identified, this bill allows us to go in and shut down those nonprofit organizations so terrorist organizations do not continue to get tax breaks while our military families do not. This provides the ability and the tools for the Department of Justice to go in there and shut those organizations down. Finally, let me speak to the fact that the veterans service organizations who have carried the mantle and the banner for so long on behalf of our veterans also benefit from this bill. As a member of the Committee on Veterans' Affairs on the Republican side, we have worked with many of our colleagues on the Democratic side to come up with language that allows an expansion of linear dependence to be included toward the classification of that nonprofit organization. At a time when we are losing 1,400 to 1,500 of our greatest veterans from World War II, this allows the ability for their sons and daughters of the American Legion, for delinear descendants to be included and counted as members within the organization so those VSOs can have a future and a legacy that has been fought for by their fathers and mothers. In closing, Mr. Speaker, I want to again emphasize that the military men and women overseas deserve this bill. The time has come for us to put aside any partisan politics, any type of logjam from the past; and I urge my colleagues to pass this Fallen Patriots Act today.

Mr. RENZI

Mr. RENZI. Mr. Speaker, I ask unanimous consent that all Members may have 5 legislative days within which to revise and extend their remarks and include extraneous material on the bill under consideration.

Mr. RENZI. Mr. Speaker, I move to suspend the rules and pass the bill (H.R. 506) to provide for the protection of archaeological sites in the Galisteo Basin in New Mexico, and for other purposes, as amended.

Mr. RENZI

Mr. RENZI. Mr. Speaker, I move to suspend the rules and agree to the concurrent resolution (H. Con. Res. 237) honoring the late Rick Lupe, lead forestry technician for the Bureau of Indian Affairs Fort Apache Agency, for his dedication and service to the United States and for his essential service in fighting wildfires and protecting the environment and communities of Arizona.

Mr. RENZI. Mr. Speaker, I ask unanimous consent that all Members may have 5 legislative days within which to revise and extend their remarks on the concurrent resolution under consideration.

Mr. RENZI. Mr. Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may consume. Mr. Speaker, earlier this year I introduced legislation that honored the lifetime of work and service of a firefighter in Arizona's first congressional district. My legislation, H. Con. Res. 237, will allow the House of Representatives to honor Mr. Rick Lupe for his contributions to the people and the lands of the surrounding communities of rural Arizona. Mr. Lupe was a forestry technician who worked for the Bureau of Indian Affairs for many years. His work with the BIA's Fort Apache Agency was both impressive and memorable for all those who came in contact with him. Moreover, he was able to touch the lives of many more who never had the chance to meet or thank this individual for his efforts. Those living in my district know Mr. Lupe from his work in saving communities like Show Low, Pinetop-Lakeside, McNary, as well as Hondah Homesites from the destruction of the Rodeo-Chediski fire. Under Mr. Lupe's great leadership, firefighters created a back-burn that stopped the fire line at Hop Canyon so that the fire did not cross a major interstate, protecting numerous homes and valuable lives. Our country tragically lost Rick Lupe on Thursday June 19, 2003, after he survived for 5 weeks in a burn unit from wounds sustained in a prescribed fire in May of this year. Mr. Lupe is remembered as a man who was a shining example of a firefighter. He took pride in his work and even more pride in his family. Mr. Lupe left behind a wonderful wife of 21 years, Evelyn, and three sons, Sean, Daniel, and Brent. This resolution states that we in Congress should recognize and honor Rick Lupe for his immense contributions on behalf of thousands living in Arizona. Given the fires that recently raged across Southern California and the over 11,000 firefighters that battle the blazes, we should never forget how many men and women are putting their lives on the line in the same manner that Mr. Lupe did for decades. I urge my colleagues to support this resolution honoring Rick Lupe. I look forward to the support of Members of both sides of the aisle with regard to H. Con. Res. 237 and its consideration today. Mr. Speaker, I reserve the balance of my time.

Mr. RENZI. Mr. Speaker, I have no further requests for time, and I yield back the balance of my time.

Mr. RENZI

Mr. RENZI. Mr. Speaker, I reserve the balance of my time.

Mr. RENZI. Mr. Speaker, I move to suspend the rules and pass the Senate bill (S. 677) to revise the boundary of the Black Canyon of the Gunnison National Park and Gunnison Gorge National Conservation Area in the State of Colorado, and for other purposes.

Mr. RENZI. Mr. Speaker, I ask unanimous consent that all Members may have 5 legislative days within which to revise and extend their remarks and include extraneous material on S. 677.

Mr. RENZI. Mr. Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may consume. Mr. Speaker, S. 677 introduced by Senator Ben Nighthorse Campbell of Colorado would authorize the Secretary of the Interior to revise the boundary of the Black Canyon of the Gunnison National Park and Gunnison Gorge National Conservation Area through various exchanges and purchases with willing sellers. In addition, S. 677 would authorize the Secretary to transfer lands under the jurisdiction of the Bureau of Land Management and ensure that any grazing rights involved in the land transfer would be continued. Finally, Section 5 on the bill clarifies that the Commissioner of the Bureau of Reclamation shall have access to and retain jurisdiction over certain roads and areas in the park in addition to roads and facilities in the East portal and Crystal Dam areas. Mr. Speaker, S. 677 is supported by the administration and the majority and minority of the committee. I urge adoption of the bill. Mr. Speaker, I reserve the balance of my time. (Mr. UDALL of New Mexico asked and was given permission to revise and extend his remarks.)

Mr. RENZI. Mr. Speaker, I yield back all my time.

Mr. RENZI

Mr. RENZI. Mr. Speaker, I move to suspend the rules and pass the bill (H.R. 2766) to direct the Secretary of Agriculture to exchange certain lands in the Arapaho and Roosevelt National Forests in the State of Colorado, as amended.

Mr. RENZI. Mr. Speaker, I ask unanimous consent that all Members may have 5 legislative days within which to revise and extend their remarks and include extraneous material on the bill under consideration.

Mr. RENZI. Mr. Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may consume. Mr. Speaker, H.R. 2766, introduced by the gentleman from Colorado (Mr. Beauprez), would direct the Secretary of Agriculture to exchange certain lands in the Arapaho and Roosevelt National Forests in the State of Colorado. This exchange would facilitated the construction of a pipeline leading in a reservoir near Empire, Colorado, to the city of Golden, Colorado. In exchange, the Forest Service will benefit by acquiring nearly 80 acres of inholdings near Evergreen, Colorado, as well as receiving a donation of 61 acres of private land along the Continental Divide National Scenic Trail. Mr. Speaker, I urge adoption of this bill. Mr. Speaker, I reserve the balance of my time.

Mr. RENZI. Mr. Speaker, I yield 5 minutes to the gentleman from the Rocky Mountain State of Colorado (Mr. Beauprez).

Mr. RENZI. Mr. Speaker, I have no further requests for time, and I yield back the balance of my time.

Mr. RENZI

Mr. RENZI. Mr. Speaker, I move to suspend the rules and pass the Senate bill (S. 924) to authorize the exchange of lands between an Alaska Native Village Corporation and the Department of the Interior, and for other purposes.

Mr. RENZI. Mr. Speaker, I ask unanimous consent that all Members may have 5 legislative days within which to revise and extend their remarks and include extraneous material on the bill under consideration.

Mr. RENZI. Mr. Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may consume. Mr. Speaker, S. 924 is sponsored by Senator Lisa Murkowski of the State of Alaska. This legislation provides for a land exchange between the Newtok Native Corporation and the United States. Newtok is a village in western Alaska located on a river that is rapidly eroding. Within several years, experts believe the river will eventually wash away key areas of the village. Newtok is inhabited by the Yupik Eskimo people who still live a natural subsistence lifestyle and they exist below the poverty line. In order to avoid the problems the eroding river is going to cause, local leaders have chosen to relocate Newtok to another site. This is by no means an easy process, and there are many steps to get this done. The first step is in the hands of the Congress. Because the 19 million-acre Yukon National Wildlife Refuge surrounds the existing village and the site identified for the relocation, a land exchange is necessary. After much work and negotiations between the villagers, the corporation, the Fish and Wildlife Service, and the environmental community an agreement was worked out. The land exchange described in S. 924 is the product of that compromise. It will enable Newtok to relocate once it has secured the funds necessary to do so, and the United States will acquire lands of high value for waterfowl habitat. More importantly, this legislation helps people who wish to continue living in the environment their ancestors have inhabited for thousands of years. All sides involved should be commended for fashioning a good agreement that is noncontroversial. I urge passage of the bill. Mr. Speaker, I reserve the balance of my time.

Mr. RENZI. Mr. Speaker, I have no other speakers, and I also yield back my time.