Ike Skelton

Mr. SKELTON

Mr. SKELTON. Mr. Speaker, I yield 3 minutes to the minority whip, the gentleman from Maryland (Mr. Hoyer).

Mr. SKELTON. Mr. Speaker, I take pleasure in yielding 3 minutes to the gentleman from Texas (Mr. Reyes), who is the ranking member on the Subcommittee on Strategic Forces. (Mr. REYES asked and was given permission to revise and extend his remarks.)

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

Mr. SKELTON. Mr. Speaker, I yield myself the balance of my time. The remarks of my friend from California (Mr. Cunningham), who is a distinguished war hero in his own right, cause me to wish to say a word or two about those who wear the uniform and about those who wore the uniform. Mr. Speaker, every Sunday morning, I have the pleasure of being with a group of men from my hometown of Lexington, Missouri, most of whom are veterans of wars of yesteryear, heroes in their own right, Marines of Vietnam, Army, Navy, my friend Vic Cosner who saw the very worst of battles in Europe during the Second World War. We owe it in this Congress under the Constitution that charges our committee and charges this body with raising and maintaining the military to produce and care for and train young men and young women who can take the place of those who so nobly served our country in the past. That is what we are doing today. A special thanks to our chairman, Duncan Hunter, who worked tirelessly with us well into the evening to produce this bill and got it to the floor. A special thanks to every member of the Committee on Armed Services, Democrat and Republican, and the unsung heroes of all of this is the tireless effort of the staff of the Committee on Armed Services. We could not do it without them. We thank them so very much. Mr. Speaker, I had a rare privilege 3 weeks ago of being able to address the new sailors who had just graduated, were graduating, from the Great Lakes Naval Training Station, Great Lakes, Illinois. Mark Kirk, our fellow Member of Congress, invited me for such an event. I spoke to them, and I thanked them, and I also read a letter to the graduates that my father had written his mother in 1918 from that very same Great Lakes before he proceeded on to serve aboard the USS Missouri of the day. I want everybody to know that those young sailors, men and women, stood so tall, and you could see the pride in their faces, but even more proud were the parents and the families, thousands of them, to see the some 900 brand new American sailors become part of the fleet. So what we do in our own way here is to legally provide and maintain, but more than that, I think this effort and what we have done for those in uniform and the families, major steps to help them along the way. Cicero, the great Greek orator, said that gratitude was the greatest of all virtues. I hope that the efforts that we do today will show a bit of gratitude from this body to all of those young men and women who wear the uniform of the United States of America.

Mr. SKELTON

Mr. SKELTON. Mr. Chairman, I yield 15 seconds to the gentleman from Tennessee.

Mr. SKELTON. Mr. Chairman, I yield 1 minute to the gentleman from Rhode Island (Mr. Langevin). (Mr. LANGEVIN asked and was given permission to revise and extend his remarks.)

Mr. SKELTON. Mr. Chairman, I yield myself such time as I may consume. Mr. Chairman, I rise in reluctant support of H.R. 10. Mr. Chairman, this bill is a bill to reorganize our Nation's intelligence community. This bill proposes to reform the organization and structures of national intelligence capabilities in an effort to better protect us against catastrophic terrorist attacks similar to those of 9/11. Of course, that is a laudable goal. The bill that is before us is far from perfect. Many of us on this side believe this bill does not go nearly far enough in revamping our national intelligence system. In addition, unnecessary provisions on immigration and the PATRIOT Act have been added. This bill could and should be a better product. We can make it better if we adopt the Menendez substitute amendment which will bring the bill into line with the recommendations of the 9/11 Commission as well as the Collins-Lieberman-McCain bill in the Senate that was passed yesterday. The bill before us creates a new National Intelligence Director with the authority to develop, manage, and reprogram the budget of the new intelligence. The Menendez bill creates real budgetary power. The National Intelligence Director is authorized to transfer personnel and appoint key leaders throughout the intelligence community. Moreover, under this bill the National Intelligence Director is expected to establish the guidelines and priorities of the entire intelligence community. Better coordination is the aim of the Menendez substitute. Mr. Chairman, the foremost concern that I have about the bill relates to battlefield intelligence. The soldiers, sailors, airmen and Marines are the ones on the front lines of the war on terror. We all know that. The intelligence community both serves and relies on them. Forward deployed, they are the ones collecting much of the intelligence. In fact, more than 80 percent of our Nation's intelligence capability is derived from Department of Defense resources. I am hoping that whatever conference agreement is achieved on this bill will recognize this and respect the role and unique responsibilities of the Secretary of Defense. I do, however, want to register my unhappiness over the process that brought us to this point. This bill was written behind closed doors. I would also like to note that although the Committee on Armed Services marked up this bill, several titles of the bill have made it to the House floor, Mr. Chairman, without any committee consideration of any committee of the House of Representatives. Moreover, several amendments adopted in the committee markup are not included in the text of the bill before us. That is just simply wrong. One omission is the proposed creation of a civil liberties oversight board to oversee the issuance of intelligence-related legal and regulatory guidance to ensure consistency with our Nation's Constitution and our civil rights law. Another provision that should be included in this bill would establish an independent Inspector General with the responsibility to investigate alleged fraud, waste and abuse under the new system and within the office of the National Intelligence Director. This is important, but it is not there. Other provisions that should be in this bill would improve our national ability to reduce the proliferation of weapons of mass destruction around the world. We all know that it is the most dangerous, Damocles' sword that hangs over the head of the free world. H.R. 10 does not go far enough in curbing the flow of nuclear, chemical or biological weapons to terrorists. Robust counterproliferation programs, in my opinion, are essential to winning the war against terror. In the end, Mr. Chairman, I believe all of us support a better intelligence capability, and toward that end, I will support H.R. 10. However, as I said earlier, reluctantly, in my view, though, this would be a much better, better bill now if the process that led to its consideration had been a full and bipartisan one. We have a chance to improve this bill today. We can do it simply by adopting the Menendez substitute, and I urge my colleagues to support that amendment when it comes before this body. Mr. Chairman, I reserve the balance of my time.

Mr. SKELTON. Mr. Chairman, I yield myself the balance of my time. Let me make this prediction. Unless the Menendez substitute is adopted by this House, this bill, at the end of the day, will go nowhere and the United States of America will be without intelligence reform. We saw what the Senate did, we know what the White House wants, we know what the families of 9/11 have endorsed. And I hate to say it, but this may lead to a graveyard for legislation.

Mr. SKELTON. May I make an inquiry, Mr. Chairman, as to the time remaining?

Mr. SKELTON. Mr. Chairman, I yield 5 minutes to the gentleman from Tennessee (Mr. Cooper).

Mr. SKELTON. Mr. Chairman, I yield 2 minutes to the gentleman from South Carolina (Mr. Spratt).

Mr. SKELTON

Mr. SKELTON. Mr. Chairman, I thank the gentleman for yielding me this time. Let us put some common sense into this piece of legislation, if we may. You are about to see an attempt to mix oil and water legislatively. We see that the Senate passed 96 to 2 the recommendations of the Commission, the 9/11 Commission. The White House recommended and urged such a passage. The family victims organization of 9/11 has recommended that. And we see in this H.R. 10 a diversion from the only hearing that we had, which was by the chairman and vice chairman of the 9/11 Commission, and I thought they explained their situation well. I would like to read from a statement of administration policy from the Executive Office of the President. Three pages of concerns regarding the base bill that we have, H.R. 10. And in those three pages of concern it says ``The administration is concerned that H.R. 10 does not provide the National Intelligence Director sufficient authorities to manage the intelligence community effectively.'' I thought we had a sense of urgency about this. As a result of the 9/ 11 Commission and recommendations, a sense of urgency had come over our Congress, I thought; over our country, I thought. And yet we see this bill, should it pass, H.R. 10, should it pass, you will see it mixed in conference with the Senate like oil and water. And I predict this will very well end up in the legislative graveyard, sadly.

Mr. SKELTON

Mr. SKELTON. Mr. Speaker, let me take this opportunity to congratulate Sheriff Kerrick Alumbaugh for being named the Missouri Deputy Sheriffs' Association's 2004 ``Sheriff of the Year.'' Sheriff Alumbaugh was born on March 19, 1964, in St. Charles, Missouri. He graduated from Lafayette County C1 High School in Higginsville, Missouri. Later, he graduated from the FBI National Law Enforcement Academy. In September 1985, Sheriff Alumbaugh began his law enforcement career as a patrolman for the Higginsville, Missouri, Police Department. Then, in 1993, he became the Chief of Police of Higginsville, Missouri. He became the Sheriff of Lafayette County on January 1, 2001. During his time as Sheriff, he has had many accomplishments. Sheriff Alumbaugh formed a county-wide crime scene team comprised of local police agencies and trained by the Kansas City Crime Scene Unit, fought to give deputies a living wage, and was instrumental in the passage of the county-wide law enforcement tax and a new jail and court system. Also, he developed an investigation unit within the department, comprised of two detectives, that investigates and solves rural crimes. These two detectives alone filed more Felony cases in 2003 than the whole department did in 2000. Most importantly, he has instilled pride and professionalism for the deputies that work for the citizens of Lafayette County. Mr. Speaker, once again, I wish to extend my congratulations to Sheriff Kerrick Alumbaugh. It is with great pride that I honor him for being named the Missouri Deputy Sheriffs' Association's 2004 ``Sheriff of the Year.''

Mr. SKELTON

Mr. SKELTON. Mr. Speaker, I thank the gentleman for yielding me time. And let me first congratulate the gentleman from Florida (Mr. Putnam) for being assigned to the Committee on Rules. I am sure in days ahead we will see a lot of each other as we testify before the committee. Mr. Speaker, I speak about agriculture disaster assistance. Let me commend at the outset the gentleman from Texas (Mr. Stenholm) for introducing a disaster package in the House and for his tireless work on behalf of American agriculture. No one in this body does more for farmers than the gentleman from Texas (Mr. Stenholm). We are here today to discuss emergency funding for natural disasters. Fewer and fewer of us in this House represent rural areas. When natural disasters impact the people we are privileged to represent, we tend to band together across party lines to do what is right for those outstanding Americans, our farmers. This is especially true when it comes to those from rural areas. That is why, Mr. Speaker, I must say I am disappointed that the Republican leaders in this House have decided to play politics with America's farmers. Rather than passing a stand-alone, emergency disaster bill for U.S. producers whose economic well-being has been turned upside down by extremely dry weather, Republicans have decided it would be better to slash funding for programs within the 2002 farm bill. The gentleman from Texas' (Mr. Stenholm) bill declared that the drought conditions facing our farmers were an emergency that they should be paid for, just like any other national emergency, through an emergency supplemental spending bill. Opening up the 2002 farm bill to pay for this assistance is wrong-headed and ends up hurting some farmers to help others. This political theater has no place in the House, and it does a disservice to the men and women who are in the fields right now all across our land harvesting the food that we eat. Over the past several years, Missourians have experienced Mother Nature's fury. Tornadoes, flooding, and drought have plagued our State. Widespread drought has had the greatest impact on Missouri farms and on the rural communities that dot the countryside. I come from the Show-Me State. It is high time that the Congress shows all American farmers that we are here to help them when disaster strikes.

Mr. SKELTON

Mr. SKELTON. Mr. Speaker, Calvin Dunn, of my hometown of Lexington, Missouri, wrote an excellent poem, entitled ``Our Flag-911.'' Mr. Dunn wrote this poem on the day after the events of September 11, 2001. I wish to share Mr. Dunn's writing with the rest of the chamber: ``Our Flag-911'' ``Old Glory'' what a beautiful sight, as she rises in the morn and gets put away at night. For over 200 years she has waved in the wind, battled the rain and the snow again and again She had been tattered, torn, ripped and burned, but bounces back each time with a lesson learned. She has been spit on, trampled and even wollered in the dirt, yet she feels no pain and shows no hurt. She is loved, adored, worshiped and praised and she will continue to fly for a million more days. She is in foreign lands, across the sea, she's at the ball park waving ``oh say can you see'' She's at the federal building flying high, she's at each veteran's final goodbye. She flys at half mast where tragedy has been, but you can bet tomorrow, she'll fly high again. So wherever you see her salute her and brag and remember those that died for that ``rugged old flag.''

Mr. SKELTON

Mr. SKELTON. Mr. Speaker, let me take this opportunity to congratulate Mrs. Linda Eisinger for receiving the Missouri Teacher of the Year Award. Mrs. Eisinger was born on October 8, 1951, in Independence, Missouri. After graduating from Raytown High School, she attended Central Missouri State University where she graduated in 1973 with a degree in Elementary Education. In 1977, she received a Masters degree in Education from Central Missouri State University. Mrs. Eisinger has been a teacher for over three decades, and this year she begins her 27th year as a teacher in Jefferson City. Currently, she is a third grade teacher at West Elementary School in Jefferson City. Last spring, Mrs. Eisinger was chosen from more than 100 applications as the Jefferson City District's Teacher of the Year. Then, out of a group of six teachers competing for the State honor, she was chosen as the Missouri Teacher of the Year. As Missouri's Teacher of the Year, Mrs. Eisinger automatically will be entered in the National Teacher of the Year Competition. Mr. Speaker, once again, I wish to extend my congratulations to Mrs. Linda Eisinger. It is with great pride that I honor her for being named the Missouri Teacher of the Year.

Mr. SKELTON

Mr. SKELTON. Mr. Speaker, I claim the time in opposition to this bill.

Mr. SKELTON. Mr. Speaker, I yield 2 minutes to the gentlewoman from California (Mrs. Tauscher).

Mr. SKELTON. Mr. Speaker, I yield for the purpose of making a unanimous consent request to the gentleman from New York (Mr. Owens). (Mr. OWENS asked and was given permission to revise and extend his remarks.)

Mr. SKELTON. Mr. Speaker, I yield 2 minutes to the gentleman from Ohio (Mr. Ryan). (Mr. RYAN of Ohio asked and was given permission to revise and extend his remarks.)

Mr. SKELTON. Mr. Speaker, may I ask what time is allotted for each Member.

Mr. SKELTON. Mr. Speaker, I yield 1\1/2\ minutes to the gentlewoman from California (Mrs. Davis).

Mr. SKELTON

Mr. SKELTON. Mr. Speaker, I yield 3 minutes to the gentleman from Iowa (Ms. Boswell). (Ms. BOSWELL asked and was given permission to revise and extend his remarks.)

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

Mr. SKELTON. Mr. Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may consume. I thank the gentleman from Oklahoma (Mr. Cole) for his leadership on this as well as the gentleman from Arizona (Mr. Renzi). I think it is very important that we recognize this very important segment of American society, the Native Americans and the Alaskan Americans. Mr. Speaker, I yield 3 minutes to the gentleman from New Mexico (Mr. Udall).