Rick Renzi

Mr. RENZI

Mr. RENZI. Madam Chairman, I rise in opposition to this amendment. Our military's primary responsibility is to defend American lives in every capacity. Therefore, military hospitals should not be turned into abortion clinics. This amendment would corrupt the mission of our military by using military hospitals, built also by pro-life American taxpayers, for the purposes of performing abortions. Many military doctors and nurses have already made it clear they will refuse to perform abortions. Therefore, those doctors who exercise their conscience clause would force the military to go look for, search, hire, and transport civilian abortionists onto military bases and hospitals overseas. In the past, our military has not given its war fighters enough pay raises, and now we are forced to debate whether or not to use defense dollars to search for civilian abortionists in foreign countries. This amendment is a misguided attempt to insert the pro-abortion agenda into a piece of legislation that is instrumental to the defense of our Nation. Reject this amendment to alter the purpose and obligations and traditions of our military hospitals. Reject this amendment and allow military doctors to save lives on the battlefield, rather than abort them in military hospitals.

Mr. RENZI

Mr. RENZI. Mr. Speaker, I rise today in opposition to the amendment specifically because it sets a one-size-fits-all policy across the country. The gentlewoman just spoke about local control, local coordination. That is exactly what this amendment does not do. Imagine for a minute looking down on one's own garden and being told you cannot weed anywhere but within 6 inches of your tomato plants. That is what we are telling the forest officials across the West, they have a half- mile diameter radius outside their city. That is where they will concentrate the money and weed the forest. That is where they will take out the small diameter, dog-hair thickets. Mind the scientists and the experts that proved that the vector fires, the pattern of where the fires are going to come from, where the prevailing winds and terrain are, never mind being able to thin in those areas so the firemen have a fall-back position, thinning is only within a half mile of town. That is it, no fall-back. This binds the hands of the Forest Service. Vote ``no'' on the amendment.

Mr. RENZI

Mr. RENZI. Mr. Speaker, I rise today in support of the rule for the Healthy Forests Restoration Act. Mr. Speaker, the weeds are in the garden. We had a full congressional hearing, open to the public, sunshine laws, in Flagstaff, Arizona. Some said they would come and did not show up. Everyone from both sides was invited. The weeds are in the garden. In your own garden, you weed out those spindly, dry weeds. On the public lands of America, we are being stopped from weeding out those spindly pines called ``dog hair thickets.'' They add so much to the fuel load that when you visit rural Arizona this year, when you come to the Grand Canyon, visit Sedona, I want you to know if a fire starts in Sedona, Arizona, with the upwinds, with the prevailing terrain, it will overtake Flagstaff by that evening. There is nothing to stop it. We have got to be able to thin the forest with a holistic approach. I want Members to know also the West is being devastated by millions of bark beetles. These bark beetles are growing at such an epidemic proportion that unless we are allowed to thin the forest, we will not be able to take care of this infestation. I urge full support of the rule for the Healthy Forests Restoration Act. I ask Members on both sides to embrace the idea that we clean the weeds out of the garden.

Mr. RENZI

Mr. RENZI. Mr. Chairman, our nation's faith-based institutions have significant track records in meeting the training and counseling needs of citizens seeking employment. The services provided by faith-based institutions will be a vital component to help our nation's workforce, increasing the ability of job seekers to get needed training, counseling, and prevocational services. Unfortunately, liberal special interest groups have joined forces behind an effort to bar religious and faith-based organizations from being involved with efforts to help workers find jobs and job training. This is disgraceful. Congress should actively encourage any effort to provide unemployed men and women with new jobs, and not look for excuses as to why qualified and proven job counseling advisors should be excluded from helping our nation. During the 1990s, President Bill Clinton supported four laws that explicitly allow religious organizations to retain their right to staff on a religious basis when they receive federal funds--just as Republicans are proposing today. I ask my colleagues on the other side of the aisle, why are you standing now? When you sat silently in support of your past president. This bill simply reiterates the existing exemption religious organizations have had for more than three decades under civil rights law, applying it to the Workforce Investment Act so that every available resource is being tapped to help Americans find jobs. Faith-based organizations need to be part of the Federal job training and worker relief system under the Workforce Investment Act, and if they are excluded, that would qualify as discrimination of a criminal level.

Mr. RENZI

Mr. RENZI. Mr. Chairman, I thank the gentleman from New Jersey for yielding me this time, and I am grateful for his leadership on this important amendment. It is said to those that have been given much, much will be expected. It is with this sense of duty and obligation that the President has turned the Nation's attention, America's attention, to the realization that our Nation can use a portion of its wealth to help eradicate the devastating effects of AIDS in some of the most impoverished portions and regions of our world. Yet without passage of the Smith amendment, certain worthy organizations, who have proven themselves successful in taking on this fight, organizations who have been there from day one on the front lines, would not qualify, possibly would be disqualified if they have moral or religious objections to just one part of a three-part strategy. This amendment makes necessary distinctions which ensure that faith-based organizations can continue to educate and change people's hearts, minds, and souls towards a more moral way of life. While it has been said they undermine, the fact is, again, reiterating, these faith-based organizations, particularly the Catholic-based organizations, care for one out of every four AIDS sufferers in the world. I urge support of the amendment.

Mr. RENZI

Mr. RENZI. Mr. Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may consume. Mr. Speaker, this resolution was introduced by our colleagues, the gentlemen from Florida, Mr. Boyd and Mr. Putnam. It celebrates the 100th anniversary of the National Wildlife Refuge System. This system of public lands had its humble origins in Sebastian, Florida when in 1903, President Theodore Roosevelt set aside a 5-acre strip of swampland on Pelican Island. Since that time, the system has grown to some 540 units that provide habitat for hundreds of wildlife species and recreational opportunities for millions of Americans. As a member of the Committee on Resources, I recognize the value of these lands and their importance to the 39 million people who visit a refuge each year to hunt, fish, observe wildlife, photograph them, and engage in conservation education. It is appropriate that we recognize the refuge system at this important milestone, and I congratulate the Bush administration for requesting the highest level of funding ever for the National Wildlife Refuge System for the upcoming fiscal year. The American people deserve the finest refuge system, and I am committed to the revitalization of this system and to reduce the unacceptable maintenance backlogs of projects that currently exist. I urge a yea vote on House Resolution 173, and I compliment the authors of this resolution. 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. Speaker, I move to suspend the rules and agree to the resolution (H. Res. 173) recognizing the achievements and contributions of the National Wildlife Refuge System on the occasion of its centennial anniversary and expressing strong support for the continued success of the National Wildlife Refuge System.

Mr. RENZI. Mr. Speaker, I yield 3 minutes to the gentleman from Florida (Mr. Shaw).

Mr. RENZI. Mr. Speaker, I yield such time as he may consume to the gentleman from Florida (Mr. Putnam), the cosponsor of the bill.

Mr. RENZI

Mr. RENZI. Mr. Speaker, I yield back the balance of my time.

Mr. RENZI. Mr. Speaker, I move to suspend the rules and pass the bill (H.R. 274) to authorize the Secretary of the Interior to acquire the property in Cecil County, Maryland, known as Garrett Island for inclusion in the Blackwater National Wildlife Refuge.

Mr. RENZI. Mr. Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may consume. Mr. Speaker, H.R. 274 has been introduced by the chairman of the Subcommittee on Fisheries Conservation, Wildlife, and Oceans the gentleman from Maryland (Mr. Gilchrest). It has been the subject of two congressional hearings and extensive site visits by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service to Garrett Island, Maryland. While there is a dispute over who should hold title to the 180 acres that comprise Garrett Island, there is no debate over the fact the island contains valuable resources that should be protected in the future and that the cost of acquiring the property is less than one- half million dollars. I have been assured the two private landowners who currently hold title to about 120 acres of Garrett Island, which is uninhabited, are willing to sell their property to the Federal Government in a voluntary manner. The gentleman from Maryland (Mr. Gilchrest) has made a compelling case for incorporating this land within the existing Blackwater National Wildlife Refuge and I urge a yea vote on this legislation. Mr. Speaker, I reserve the balance of my time.

Mr. RENZI

Mr. RENZI. Mr. Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may consume to thank the gentleman from American Samoa, and like no other, the gentleman from Arizona (Mr. Hayworth), with his eloquence and articulation, has provided us not just the historical data here but the emotional data that goes with the Gila River judgment settlement. Mr. Speaker, I yield back the balance of my time.

Mr. RENZI. Mr. Speaker, I yield such time as he may consume to the gentleman from Arizona (Mr. Hayworth), the author of the House companion bill.

Mr. RENZI. Mr. Speaker, I move to suspend the rules and pass the Senate bill (S. 162) to provide for the use and distribution of certain funds awarded to the Gila River Pima-Maricopa Indian Community, and for other purposes.

Mr. RENZI. Mr. Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may consume. Mr. Speaker, S. 162 authorizes a plan for the distribution of a $7 million dollar final judgment award to eligible members of the Gila River Indian community. Pursuant to the Indian Tribal Judgment Funds Use or Distribution Act, the Secretary of the Interior must submit to Congress for approval a plan for the use and distribution of such judgment awards. In 1951 the community filed a complaint before the Indian Claims Commission claiming failure of the United States to protect the community's use of water from the Gila and Salt Rivers. After the Commission and the Court of Claims found the United States liable to the community, the community agreed to a monetary settlement in the amount of $7 million. Final judgment was entered against the United States in that amount. This legislation represents the final step in resolving the litigation and is a product of close consultation between the community and the Bureau of Indian Affairs. I urge its adoption. Mr. Speaker, I reserve the balance of my time.

Mr. RENZI

Mr. RENZI. Mr. Speaker, I ask unanimous consent that all Members may have 5 legislative days in which to revise and extend their remarks and to include extraneous material in the Record regarding the three bills just considered, H. Res. 173, H.R. 274, and S. 162.

Mr. RENZI

Mr. RENZI. Mr. Chairman, do not take the word of a Congressman who visited the North Slope for the last 3 days. Take the words of Herman Aishana, a whaling captain who serves on the Kaktovik City Council and is the former mayor. We have got Members of Congress calling this area a pristine untouched wilderness. His words, No matter how blind, no matter what anyone wants to call it, this country is hardly a wilderness and will never be a wilderness. These people of Kaktovik have developed a relationship of trust of over 20 years with these energy companies. We take their land from them, we give it back to them as a gift. But we do not give them back the resources that they need to sustain themselves to build their economy. Do not lock up the people of Kaktovik. Do not lock them up on a reservation. Give them the resources that they need to sustain themselves.

Mr. RENZI. Mr. Chairman, this weekend I was fortunate to visit the Eskimo village of Kaktovik. And though I have respect for the gentleman from Maryland, we did not eat whale meat or caribou, we ate turkey sandwiches. There are plenty of people that have never been to that Eskimo village who want to see the Eskimos in their igloos. They want them returned to the Ice Age. What the people want, the only people who live there, is they want safe, reasonable oil development. They want to see us and help us draw out those energy resources that are beneath their feet. We have taken the time to give them back their land, but we do not give them the opportunity to go after the resources that they need to sustain their economy. We spoke to an 81-year-old elder up there who believes that the land was given to him by the Creator. It was given to him to use in harmony, in a holistic approach. Mr. Chairman, what is so good about this legislation is that it requires the energy development companies to use the highest and best technology available to mankind. It requires that they not leave the environment scarred. It requires that fish and wildlife not be disturbed.

Mr. RENZI

Mr. RENZI. There was discussion during our hearing that the caribou herd actually uses the pipeline structure as a wind sheer or as a warming element to help them in their mating process.

Mr. RENZI. I agree. But in essence there are two caribou herds. There are a lot of people who talk about the porcupine caribou herd, whose numbers are about stable; and then there is the coastal plain caribou herd, whose numbers have grown exponentially over the years. So all the research and science shows that there has been no significant impact on the caribou herds and, in essence, the caribou have grown in population.

Mr. RENZI. I will be quick. I would like my last statement to go back and reiterate what I saw during the last 3 days when I was up there in ANWR. I would like to go back and let the American people know what the people in Kaktovik really want. I spoke about my 81-year-old elder friend, the whaling captain. I spoke about the mayors and city councilmen. Let me speak about a young woman named Morgan who is the student body president of the high school, who wrote a letter. She started off by thanking us for coming to her village. She said, ``Personally I think that ANWR should be opened, because I think that we as a community would benefit greatly from it.'' She says, ``I support the decision that we, the Kaktovik people, need to be involved, because it is us who knows best, us who knows best how to use the land. It is also important that other people from around the country, as well as yourselves in Congress, know that we are a community that uses the land around us for everyday purposes, that we care just as much about what happens and only want to see the best.'' Finally, here it is: ``It is our responsibility to look out for what is in the best interests of our community, rather than a person who is trying to take it over and not make it ours.'' What Morgan is talking about is the idea that rather than work together and solve the energy needs of America by environmentally sound methods, extracting the oil and the energy from ANWR, that we would pass a bill, a different bill than our energy bill, that would create a wilderness area, would lock out the people of Kaktovik, would lock it out for their food and resource needs, as well as the needs and the oil that lies underneath their very feet. I thank the gentleman for the time tonight and the ability to communicate the needs of the Kaktovik people to the American people tonight.

Mr. RENZI. Mr. Speaker, when I grew up in Arizona, so many people were talking about wind as being the next technology. So many people were implying that the wind energy that we receive would be cost efficient. Now I am hearing they want us to take down the windmills because it ruins the view shed.

Mr. RENZI. If the gentleman will yield, he makes a great point about the environment. I think in our argument we need to point out some of the truths about the environment. Seeing that I was there 3 days ago, I would like to describe for my colleagues exactly what is there. And I would like to use the words from a letter that I received while there during the hearing. First of all, the environment when I was there was about 20 below. And we are dealing for miles and miles, as far as the eye can see, with a vast, sheer flow and flat surface. This is not mountains and streams and brooks and riparian areas. This is not sensitive areas where the musk oxen are hiding out of the wind, as we have seen on some of the environmental videos. This is a flat, frozen area. Let me take the words from Herman Aishanna. He is a whaling captain and serves on the Kaktovik City Council. He is the former Mayor of Kaktovik. These are his words, not mine. ``For any who think they can make this rich and fully peopled country of the Kaktovik into a wilderness, they should be aware not only that we the living are here, but also that the spirits of our people since the time immemorial are here. No matter how blind, no matter what anyone wants to call it, this country is hardly a wilderness and it will never be a wilderness. This country has a people and today you are looking right at them.'' Now, he gave us this letter as a welcoming letter but also as a warning. He does not want to be locked out by some sort of environmentally imposed wilderness status, particularly given the sheer vast areas that his people inhabit, the habitat of his people. Now, this man is a leader in his community, and he very much has reached a point, and again and I would like to reiterate, where he is tired of going to hearings time and time again all the way down in Anchorage, Alaska, traveling down there with his people. He says, ``We know that they do not listen because they do things we told them not to do. We know they do not listen to us because we see them telling people how we feel about this, and they get it all wrong.'' Again, a good leader in his community frustrated with the idea that we would create a wilderness area at ANWR, lock his people out from using the snowmobile machines, lock out the ability to use the airplanes for hunting, lock it up and set it away without him being able and his people being able to go into the lands and draw out the natural resources.