Billy Tauzin

Mr. TAUZIN

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

Mr. TAUZIN. 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 House Concurrent Resolution 271.

Mr. TAUZIN. Mr. Speaker, I yield myself 5 minutes. Mr. Speaker, I rise in support of H.Con.Res. 271, which expresses the support of Congress for activities to increase public awareness of multiple sclerosis. I salute the gentleman from Rhode Island (Mr. Weygand), the gentleman from Illinois (Mr. Shimkus), the gentlewoman from Maryland (Mrs. Morella), and the gentleman from New Jersey (Mr. Smith) for their work in bringing this resolution to the floor today. Multiple sclerosis is a chronic, often disabling, disease of the central nervous system. Symptoms may be mild, such as numbness in the limbs, or they can be terribly severe, like paralysis or loss of vision. Most people with MS are diagnosed between the ages of 20 and 40, but the unpredictable physical and emotional threats can be lifelong. The progress, severity, and specific symptoms of MS for any person cannot yet be predicted; but advances in research and treatment are giving hope to those who have been afflicted by the disease. Thanks to the dedication of Congress over the last 6 years in doubling the budget of the NIH, many advances have been made in the war against MS. Over the last decade, for instance, our knowledge of the immune system has grown at an amazing rate. Major gains have been made in recognizing and defining the role of the system in the development of MS lesions, giving scientists the ability to devise ways to alter the immune response. New imaging tools, such as Magnetic Resonance Imaging, have redefined the natural history and are proving invaluable in monitoring the disease activity. Scientists are now able, for example, to visualize and follow the development of MS lesions in the brain and spinal cord using MRIs, and this ability is a tremendous aid in the assessment of new therapies and can speed the process of evaluating new treatments. With all the important contributions made by bioimaging and bioengineering in the field of MS diagnostics, we would be remiss at this time if we did not make reference to the House-passed National Institute of Biomedical Imaging and Engineering Establishment Act, H.R. 1795, which was sponsored by my colleague on the Committee on Commerce, the gentleman from North Carolina (Mr. Burr). Magnetic resonance imaging and computed tomography have revolutionized the practice of medicine in the past quarter century; yet there is still not a center at NIH that brings imaging and engineering into focus. Mr. Speaker, I encourage Members to communicate with those in the other body concerning the importance of enacting H.R. 1795, and ask that we all join together in voting for this concurrent resolution, H. Con. Res. 271, to express our strong support for increasing public awareness of multiple sclerosis and hopefully an end to the dreaded disease through proper treatment, diagnosis, and, eventually one day, prevention. Mr. Speaker, I reserve the balance of my time.

Mr. TAUZIN. Mr. Speaker, I am pleased to yield 3 minutes to my friend, the gentleman from Texas (Mr. Thornberry).

Mr. TAUZIN. Mr. Speaker, I am now very pleased to yield 5 minutes to the gentlewoman from Maryland (Mrs. Morella), whose district includes the National Institutes of Health, whose husband serves on the board of the Children's Inn at NIH with my own wife Cecile, and who does such a great job in representing and promoting the interests of our great National Institutes of Health in Maryland.

Mr. TAUZIN. Mr. Speaker, I move to suspend the rules and agree to the concurrent resolution (H. Con. Res. 271) expressing the support of Congress for activities to increase public awareness of multiple sclerosis.

Mr. TAUZIN. Mr. Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may consume. Mr. Speaker, in closing, let me first commend my friend, the gentleman from Ohio (Mr. Brown) for his attention to this resolution and for his help in supporting and getting this adopted by the House tonight. This is indeed an important statement by the House of Representatives about our interests and the Nation's interests in finding better cures, therapies and, hopefully, preventive techniques for this awful disease. I also want to say that it is our extreme hope that we could agree on a prescription drug proposal this year before we leave, too. I know those negotiations are going on. I would hope we could complete them before we leave, and I certainly hope, as we all do, we could agree on HMO reform before we leave. I can assure the gentleman that if, for obvious reasons, we are incapable of reaching final accord with the White House and the Members of the other body on these two important issues, they are going to rank high on our committee's agenda next year, and we are going to address those concerns as rapidly as we can next year. But I want to again commend the gentleman and my friends on both sides of the aisle tonight for their support of this important concurrent resolution. I particularly again want to congratulate Tony Morella and his wife, the gentlewoman from Maryland, (Mrs. Morella) who represents NIH for their extraordinary dedication to that facility. That facility daily finds cures and therapies and saves lives, and it is incredible for its work, particularly with children stricken with awful diseases. I want to again thank that incredible couple, Connie and Tony Morella, for their excellent representation of that facility here in this Chamber. Mr. Speaker, NIH always enjoys great bipartisan support, and it will continue to do so as we struggle to find answers to these terrible diseases that ravage our population. Mr. Speaker, I urge adoption of the resolution.

Mr. TAUZIN

Mr. TAUZIN. Mr. Speaker, I ask unanimous consent that all Members may have 5 legislative days within which to revise and extend their remarks and to insert extraneous material on H.R. 2592, as amended.

Mr. TAUZIN. Mr. Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may consume. Mr. Speaker, I just briefly want to say this is not obviously the most important bill that will come before Congress, but it is a good example of how the law is just wrong and common sense requires the law to be changed. So we change it tonight, and hopefully with the small change, we will make a consumer product that is going to be extremely helpful to many citizens of this country available to them and affordable for them. And just this small act by Congress, I think, is going to mean an awful lot to a lot of people, and I urge adoption of the bill. Mr. Speaker, I yield back the balance of my time.

Mr. TAUZIN. Mr. Speaker, I move to suspend the rules and pass the bill (H.R. 2592) to amend the Consumer Products Safety Act to provide that low-speed electric bicycles are consumer products subject to such Act, as amended.

Mr. TAUZIN

Mr. TAUZIN. Mr. Speaker, I thank my friend, the gentleman from Missouri (Mr. Blunt), for yielding to me. Let me thank the gentleman for leading us in this special order. Before I begin my contribution to it, I wanted to thank the gentleman also for taking a few minutes to respond to the hour that preceded it, because America was treated with some incredible, I think, manipulations of the truth. The truth of the matter is that in the States of Texas and Louisiana, men and women are working every day, not only to produce the energy that America needs, but to process it in the plants that are required to refine it, make fuel oil for the homes of the Northeast, for Massachusetts and for Michigan and for other States across the colder regions of our country, to make the gasoline that powers our cars and the diesel that powers the trucks that deliver the products across this country even in this dot-com age, and to make the jet fuel that powers the jets, not only across our country but around the world. It is States like Texas and Louisiana that are making the contributions. I am not sure Americans are aware of it, but the last refinery in America was built in my home district in Louisiana 20 years ago. We have not had a refinery built since then. In fact, 36 refineries closed during that period, and America is dependent not only on oil and gas more and more from places that are very unstable like the Middle East, but more and more on refined products produced in other countries. When the price goes up in the Northeast and the Members who appeared on this floor complain about Texas and Governor Bush and our policy on promoting independence in production and supplies for this country, I hope they remember that the prices are not set in Texas any more. They are being set somewhere in the Middle East and somewhere in councils that we do not control. Then when short supplies arrive in the wintertime, it could well be that we have had an anti-energy policy in this country for the last years of this administration that has not, in fact, licensed a new refinery for America, and that has shut down areas to production and development. It ought to be opened up, if we are going to be an independent and free and stable economy and if our people are going to be warm in the winter and if our cars are going to be powered and our jet planes are going to continue to fly. There is another story. I hope one day we get to tell it all about why this administration has put this country into such jeopardy now as we face another energy crisis; 58 percent dependent on foreigners to supply us with the fuel we need. And when the Strategic Petroleum Reserve was started in 1975, we were a mere 36 percent dependent. Think how much more vulnerable we are today with fewer refineries and more foreign oil dependence. That has been the story of this administration and why I hope the next administration under George Bush will change it. But I came tonight to honor the gentleman from Virginia (Mr. Bliley). I came tonight to join my colleagues on the Committee on Commerce, and the gentleman from North Carolina (Mr. Coble), my friend from the Committee on the Judiciary, to remind this House what a contribution the gentleman from Virginia (Mr. Bliley) has made to this institution and what an incredible personal contribution he has made to this body in the person, the man that he is. The gentleman from Virginia (Chairman Bliley), as my colleagues know, has chaired what I consider to be the most important committee in this Congress, the Committee on Commerce, formerly the Committee on Energy and Commerce, and hopefully Committee on Energy and Commerce again next year is the oldest committee of this House. As my colleagues know commerce and interstate commerce was one of the first assignments given to the national government when this country was started, and the Committee on Commerce represents jurisdiction over the commerce of the country, and that includes an incredible array of items, including telecommunications, indeed, and transportation and environmental issues and health care issues, and issues dealing with such complex combinations as to how to make sure our health care system stays solvent and how to make sure Medicaid is available to the poor and needy of our society, how to make sure that prescription drugs hopefully will be available to our seniors. It is an incredible mix of jurisdictions as we debate matters as complicated as this awful tire recall. And I want to commend the gentleman from Missouri (Mr. Upton), my friend who just appeared, for his incredible work in finding out what went wrong over these years with that horrible mess in auto safety and how expeditiously our committee produced a bill for this floor to consider and for the Senate to consider, and it is now on the way to the President for his signature. Mr. Speaker, I think that effort alone tells a story about the gentleman from Virginia (Mr. Bliley). The gentleman from Virginia (Mr. Bliley) chairs this incredible important committee, and he literally is the leader under whom we have worked for these past years to develop, not only hearings like we produced on the Firestone tire recall, but the legislation that followed it. I do not know if my colleagues remember, but there was another recall in 1978 with Firestone 500 tires. Following that, there were hearings; but there was no legislation. This year, in 3 short weeks, the Congress and under the leadership of the gentleman from Virginia (Mr. Bliley) and the Committee on Commerce produced the most significant reform of tire and auto safety in 30 years. And that has been the history of his leadership: telecommunications reform, the first rewrite of the Telecommunications Act since 1934; financial securities modernization, the first real modernization of our Securities Act in years and decades; the Food and Drug Modernization Act, to make sure that Americans have safe and quality drugs and pharmaceuticals in our country. The work he has done in safe drinking water to make sure that Americans have good safe water to drink. The last hearing he chaired today was on safe water, not only here in America, but the global concerns of safe water and the pollution of global water supplies that are critical as nations and ethnic groups are fighting now around the world over water supplies, and people are dying because of the lack of good potable water and clean and healthy sanitary conditions. The gentleman from Virginia (Mr. Bliley) has led those efforts for the last 6 years, and he has produced remarkable legislation from our committee that has literally broken up the monopolies in this country in telecommunications and transportation. He has been a huge, literally a ``trustbuster'' in this Nation. He has done more to back off unnecessary Federal regulations in many areas of our economy and to open it up to consumer choice and competition. That has been the history of his tenure as chairman of our Committee on Commerce. I want to tell my colleagues something about him personally that my colleagues may not know. He spent his 20 years here in Congress also dedicated to women and children's issues. The gentleman from Virginia (Mr. Bliley) has been a leader in adoptive services and making sure that adoption was a real and viable option for children in America, and to make sure not only here in this country but around the world that adoption was available to kids and to parents who wanted to love them. He has been a stalwart defender of adoptive services all of these years and a promoter of that as a means of protecting and preserving young life in America and around the world. And he has been a real champion for mammography services to make sure, in fact, that mammograms were available to poor people, and that women could, in fact, get the benefits of health care and early warnings of breast cancer and other diseases. He has been a champion of women health issues. I am not sure if Members really know of his extraordinary service in this area. Lest we forget, for 20 years he has served on NATO's parliamentary assembly, the assembly of NATO countries, the parliamentarians who try to keep the strength and the unity and the bonds that have held NATO together and been important not only in winning but preserving world peace. The gentleman from Virginia (Mr. Bliley) now serves as president of that body and will serve through the month of November until his retirement from the Congress. But he leaves us as we end this session to go back to Richmond, Virginia, a place where his career started, where he began serving the people of America on the city council and later on as mayor. The gentleman from Massachusetts (Mr. Markey) talked about his incredible service to our Nation and to Richmond during those awful days when our Nation was coming to grips with the horror and the history of segregation and bigotry in our country. He came to grips with it and dealt with it in a humane and positive and effective way that was a model for other country communities across America. I hope we remember him and his service for that great effort. Finally, I want to talk about the gentleman from Virginia (Mr. Bliley) the man, the father, the grandfather, the husband, the man who has always been the gentle man from Virginia. We get into some awful fights around here. We get into some bitter arguments sometime, and we forget to remind ourselves that all of us come here representing people back home, and all of us come here with a mandate to speak for those people back home. We sometimes forget our own humanity. We forget to remember to treat each other as human beings and as gentlemen and ladies in this body; and incivility sometimes reigns, but it never reigns under the leadership of the gentleman from Virginia (Mr. Bliley) on the Committee on Commerce. The gentleman reminded us all to be gentlemen and ladies. He reminded us all to differ and to argue and disagree but to do so agreeably, and to remember we all have indeed a special honor to be in this body representing this great Nation, and that honor means that we ought to respect one another as much as we respect this institution. The gentleman from Virginia (Mr. Bliley) was truly a man of the House, a man this Nation can be proud of, a man our Committee on Commerce is certainly proud of and a leader and a chairman we are going to miss a great deal. The gentleman from Virginia (Mr. Bliley), on behalf of all the Members of the Committee on Commerce we miss you, bon voyage, happy sailing, great tennis games. And remember the gentleman from North Carolina (Mr. Coble) still can be beat. There is a way to do it. Come around and we will have some great games together and some great times. To the gentleman and your family, we want to wish the gentleman the best in retirement and the best that our Nation has to offer, a true servant of the American people, the gentleman from Virginia (Chairman Bliley).

Mr. TAUZIN

Mr. TAUZIN. Mr. Speaker, pursuant to House Resolution 618, I move that the House do now adjourn in memory of the late Hon. Bruce F. Vento.

Mr. TAUZIN

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

Mr. TAUZIN. Mr. Speaker, will the gentleman yield?

Mr. TAUZIN. Mr. Speaker, the gentleman is correct.

Mr. TAUZIN. Mr. Speaker, will the gentleman yield?

Mr. TAUZIN. The gentleman is again correct.

Mr. TAUZIN. Mr. Speaker, I ask unanimous consent that all Members may have 5 legislative days within which to revise and extend their remarks and to include extraneous material on H.R. 5164.

Mr. TAUZIN. Mr. Speaker, I move to suspend the rules and pass the bill (H.R. 5164) to amend title 49, United States Code, to require reports concerning defects in motor vehicles or tires or other motor vehicle equipment in foreign countries, and for other purposes, as amended.

Mr. TAUZIN. Mr. Speaker, I yield myself 6 minutes. Mr. Speaker, I am proud to rise in support of this bill, H.R. 5164, the Transportation Recall Enhancement, Accountability, and Documentation Act, or the TREAD act, introduced by my colleague the gentleman from Michigan (Mr. Upton), the chairman of the Subcommittee on Oversight and Investigations of the Committee on Commerce of the House. Together our two subcommittees have been working to uncover the facts surrounding the Firestone tire recall action focusing primarily on the action as it pertains to relevant Ford vehicles, in particular one of the Nation's most popular SUVs, the Ford Explorer. I want to begin by thanking my dear friend the gentleman from Michigan (Mr. Dingell) and the ranking minority member of our subcommittee, the gentleman from Massachusetts (Mr. Markey), again as well as the gentleman from Michigan (Mr. Upton), the author of this legislation, for not only the success we have had in bringing this bill to the floor but more importantly for I think an extraordinary investigative series of hearings, an investigation that even now goes on. Up here in Congress we always hear about how we must act on something because it is life or death. Well, in regard to this situation, no one has been exaggerating. This is about life and death. As we are aware, Bridgestone/Firestone announced on August 9 a voluntary recall of 6.5 million of its 15-inch tires used on light trucks and sport utility vehicles. The recalled tires and other tires have been implicated in an increasing number of deaths and injuries in the United States, and the investigation is indeed far from complete. Despite the ongoing investigation by NHTSA, the question of what is the precise cause of these tire tread separation accidents remains largely unanswered. At our hearings we did not expect to find the smoking gun. Instead, the main purpose of our joint hearings was to find out what happened with the process, who knew what, and what they did with the information that was available to them. We heard from the companies and from NHTSA on their progress in getting to the root cause of the tire failures on these Ford Explorers. We examined the testing done by Firestone and Ford on those tires, and we delved into what type of testing did the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration actually require and was that enough to protect the American public. It was the hope of every member of the two subcommittees that we would work together in a bipartisan fashion to use these hearings and this horrible experience to learn how to correct the process and, more importantly, how to prevent something of this magnitude from ever happening again. I would like to again express my sincere appreciation to Members on both sides of the aisle of the Committee on Commerce for working together in such a constructive fashion to craft what we believe is very reasonable and targeted legislation to ameliorate the shortfalls in our law that were uncovered in the hearings and in the ongoing investigation. Given the extraordinary time constraints associated with the task, it was absolutely imperative that this legislation move through the committee process as quickly as possible. In that regard, I wish to thank the staff and the chairman of the Committee on the Judiciary who were very helpful in working with the Committee on Commerce. We are often at odds in jurisdictional debates, but the Committee on the Judiciary was extremely helpful in crafting those sections of our bill that have to do with criminal sanctions. H.R. 5164 is intended to address problems raised in the investigation and the accompanying hearings. The hearings highlighted the fact that the information available to NHTSA regarding motor vehicles and these tires was in fact inadequate. It also became clear that NHTSA did not effectively use the data that was available to spot trends that were related to these tire failures. I would like to touch on some of the important provisions contained in the bill. The bill, for example, requires that manufacturers report actual and potential defects in motor vehicles and products in foreign countries. This covers similar models, not just those models offered for sale in the United States. The bill directs the Secretary to promulgate rules to require manufacturers to provide early warning reporting data, including warranty and claims data and such other data as may be requested by the Secretary. I am particularly thankful for our friend the gentleman from Massachusetts (Mr. Markey) for the language in this area. Importantly, the Secretary must make certain findings regarding the need and utilization of this data. We require NHTSA to harmonize the collection of this information in a manner that enables it to quickly and more efficiently identify problematic patterns in products and vehicles. The bill lengthens the period in which a manufacturer of a motor vehicle or a tire must remedy the defect without charge, and directs the Secretary to conduct a rulemaking to upgrade the 30-year-old tire standard to bring it in line with modern tire technology. The bill directs the Secretary to review procedures for opening a defect investigation and directs the Secretary to conduct a rulemaking to improve tire labeling so that we do not have to crawl under our cars to see what our tires are really made of and what size and what pressure they should be operated under. The bill prohibits the resale of motor vehicle equipment removed and replaced as a part of a recall. It provides additional funding for NHTSA consistent with the appropriation already provided tied to carrying out the provisions of this act. The bill increases civil penalties to $5,000 per violation per day and a maximum of $15 million and it provides enhanced criminal penalties for violations of existing law that requires filing honest and good information with the government and provides that a person who has specific intent of misleading the Secretary with respect to motor vehicle defects that have caused death or serious bodily injury would suffer more serious criminal penalties. Importantly, the bill encourages the reporting of information and provides a safe harbor for those who do, but it makes that safe harbor only available to someone who did not actually have actual knowledge that false reporting or incorrect reporting would result in serious injury or death. Mr. Speaker, I urge all of my colleagues to report this very reasonable bipartisan legislation that passed our committee on a 43-0 vote. I encourage literally the House to pass it on to the Senate and to do this important thing for this Nation to make sure this national tragedy does not happen again in the future. Mr. Speaker, I reserve the balance of my time.

Mr. TAUZIN. Mr. Speaker, I am pleased to yield 5 minutes to the gentleman from Michigan (Mr. Upton), the author of this legislation, the chairman of the Subcommittee on Oversight and Investigations. (Mr. UPTON asked and was given permission to revise and extend his remarks.)

Mr. TAUZIN. Mr. Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may consume. Mr. Speaker, let me close very briefly. I do want to make a few comments. First of all, I want to say a word to the investigators on the Committee on Commerce. I think the Nation owes them a debt of gratitude. The investigators on the Democratic and Republican side of the aisle who work for our Committee on Commerce have done incredible work. Those who witnessed the hearings by which our Committee on Commerce and our two subcommittees delved into the causes of this problem, and hopefully the solutions that we bring to the House floor tonight, those hearings were in large measure determined by the great work of the investigative staff of our committee. I wanted to say a word of thanks to them. I think indeed our country is going to be better off because of their work. Secondly, I thought we ought to think about tonight the victims of this tragedy, the victims and their families. There are people still being injured and still, unfortunately, suffering severe injury, even death on the highway, as this awful recall continues. It may be the worst recall I have seen in all my years in public service. Until it is finished, until every family has safe tires to ride upon, our committee will continue its investigation and continue pressing the companies involved here to complete this recall in as quick a fashion as possible. I also think we ought to think about the workers at these two companies. I know they have been terribly stressed by this awful position the two companies find themselves in, both Bridgestone/ Firestone and also the Ford Motor Company. Obviously, this has been a trying time for all the families of the workers who support these two great American companies. On the other hand, both companies obviously have a lot to answer to as this investigation continues. I think the work we did is going to help victims recover in the courts of our land, recover damages for accidents and deaths. I hope that will be one of the good effects of our investigation, that the facts we uncovered will assist them in proper recovery. I also want to make the point that what we have tried to do is not determine who was liable, either civilly or otherwise. What we have tried to do is find out what was wrong with the process. In doing so, I wanted to first of all commend NHTSA for the many, many lives it has saved over the years and the good work that our national highway safety transportation agency does. We believe, from the facts we have found, that someone dropped the ball in this case. That is regrettable. But I think that should not take away from the fact that NHTSA is still a great agency that protects safety on the highways, and has in fact saved many lives. Finally, I wanted to point out that the legislation we will finally pass tonight is all about information. It is about getting the information in the proper hands so that, instead of an awful recall, instead of a body count accumulating before defective products are taken off the market, that in fact those products never make it to the marketplace in the first place, that we do not have to suffer the loss of American citizens to find out that something went wrong. Again, I want to thank all of my colleagues and all the staffs for the great work on this bill. I hope that before we adjourn this session, the words of the gentleman from Michigan (Mr. Upton) will ring in the ears of everyone who is left to consider that, that it would be an awful shame if we left this session without putting this bill for signature on the President's desk.

Mr. TAUZIN. Mr. Speaker, I yield such time as he may consume to the gentleman from Illinois (Mr. Shimkus), a member of the Committee on Commerce.

Mr. TAUZIN

Mr. TAUZIN. Mr. Speaker, the gentleman from Pennsylvania (Chairman Shuster) has said it best, of course we could do a better bill in the House. Of course, if we have the time, we could perhaps resolve all the problems in pipeline safety. But this Senate bill, passed by unanimous consent, is what we have. It is a strong and effective bill. It makes some very important steps in favor of pipeline safety. It improves and expands the public's right to know about pipeline hazards. It requires pipeline operators to test and inspect. It requires the operators to qualify and test their personnel. It requires spills as small as 5 gallons to be reported. It significantly raises the penalties for safety violations. It invests in new technologies to improve pipeline safety. It provides protections for whistle blowers, an important part of this process. It increases State oversight and local government input. Finally, it increases funding for safety efforts. Mr. Speaker, if one looked at a map of my State, and my district in particular, the third district in Louisiana, a map of pipelines across my district and the State, it looks like spaghetti. We are just absolutely covered with pipelines that carry all sorts of hazardous and very important products for America, oil, gas, liquids of all kinds. Pipeline safety is incredibly important to the people of my State. I will say again what the gentleman from Pennsylvania (Chairman Shuster) has said, I think if we had the occasion to sit down in this Chamber and write a better bill than this one, I think we could because this bill is not perfect and could be improved. But what has been agreed upon by the Senate, it dramatically advances pipeline safety. It is an incredibly important step in the right direction. For us not to take this step this session would be a shame. It would be, I think, a disregard of our duty. This is the opportunity for us to improve pipeline safety across this country. We need to take that important step. We need to pass this bill. We will be back here next year. We can provide the oversight over the DOT and the other agencies to make sure they carry out the intent of both this act and other acts. I urge my colleagues to pass this bill.

Mr. TAUZIN

Mr. TAUZIN. Mr. Speaker, H. Res. 575 is pretty straightforward. It is indeed a good resolution, introduced by the gentleman from Virginia (Mr. Goode) and it is designed literally to improve Internet safety awareness. As we have seen in the last few years, the Internet provides, of course, a great new array of opportunities for all of our citizens. From buying gifts online to witnessing the miracles of telemedicine, to helping to educate children across our country, I think Americans are coming to know and understand the important value of the Internet. The popularity of the Internet is increasing. People are using it on a daily basis across this great country, and they are beginning to understand that it holds new and exciting possibilities for their children. Unfortunately, it is also a technology that can be used by the wrong people sometimes, and criminals indeed are looking at it as a new place to take advantage of some Americans. Some people are using it, in fact, in harmful ways to spread destructive material or to aid in criminal activity. There is a spread of obscene material, child pornography, child exploitation as the use of the Internet has increased. Every day crimes in the analogue world are being diverted now to the Internet where the reach of such crimes is, like other things, greatly multiplied. Over the years, the law enforcement communities have been called upon to improve their enforcement of the current law. They have also been asked to tell Congress where current law needs to change in order to reflect these new technologies. We acknowledge, indeed, the hard work of these agencies; but we know that much work needs to be done. H. Res. 575 will not stop criminal activity. It will not protect our citizens from sinister behavior, but it does take this important step: it brings to light the relevant issues facing Internet usage, and hopefully it will help educate the American people of the need to be watchful of Internet activity, especially as it affects our Nation's children. We have an obligation, indeed, to educate the American people about existing problems of Internet use. This resolution will help. It is an extremely important one, and I urge all Members to support it.