Zach Wamp

Mr. WAMP

Mr. WAMP. Mr. Chairman, I thank the gentleman from Maryland (Mr. Hoyer) for yielding me this time. Mr. Chairman, first I want to applaud the truly bipartisan team so ably lead by the gentleman from Connecticut (Mr. Shays) and the gentleman from Massachusetts (Mr. Meehan) who have brought us yet again this year to the success that we have seen today on sticking together and doing the right thing. I want to thank the Speaker of the House for honoring his commitment to allow this legislation to come to the floor with a full and fair debate in September of this year, and we will complete this business in a few moments. I also want to point out, though, that when my party, the Republican Party, in which I am proud to be an active member, was in the minority here, our party supported most of these same reforms in the minority. The truth is, any minority party is going to support reform and any majority party is going to oppose reform because it is basically essential, they believe, to preserve the current system for their benefit, and therein lies the problem. This bill is the best effort in 25 years to make major strides towards cleaning up the current system. The American people expect us to do that. I believe that this is a decision for the ages that we will make in a few minutes. We do have to beat back the Thomas substitute. It is obviously full of things that need to be done, but it is really not campaign finance reform itself, in and of itself. It is campaign reform. It is corrections. It cleans up the current system, but it does not address soft money and the major issues that affect the system today that need to be addressed. So it should be an amendment and not a substitute. So we will have to beat it back and then bring this to final passage. The vote, though, again Thomas and then for final passage, is a vote really about putting country above party, and that is difficult because the pressures within one's party are to support the leadership, to support the majority. Clearly, it takes courage, I think, for some of us to step out and say this needs to be done. Countless former Members of this House and the Senate have come out in support of this. It is amazing how many more people support this when they are no longer here, when they no longer face the pressures of reelection or holding the majority. Then they reflect and say, that really needs to be done. Virtually every President that can speak on this issue has said this needs to be done. They are serving really as the conscience of the American electorate and the leadership of our country by saying, yes, I am no longer standing for reelection. I have been there. I know the influences of money on critical policy decisions that affect our great Nation; and, yes, this needs to be done. So we need to listen closely to them as well. This bill cuts both ways. I believe it is equally harsh on the Republican Party and the Democratic Party. The Good Book says, the love of money is the root of all evil. There are too many influential decisions made by money in this institution. Let us pass Shays-Meehan tonight.

Mr. WAMP. Mr. Chairman, I yield 1\1/2\ minutes to the gentleman from California (Mr. Bilbray), who has been very active on this issue for many months and years now.

Mr. WAMP

Mr. WAMP. Mr. Chairman, I thank the gentleman.

Mr. WAMP. I yield to the gentleman from California.

Mr. WAMP. Mr. Chairman, I seek time to thank the distinguished chairman of this subcommittee and to thank the excellent staff with which he works every day and also to engage him in a colloquy. This is an issue of great importance to our Nation. As the gentleman knows, the Y-12 nuclear weapons plant is located in the district that I serve. These facilities were on the front lines of the Cold War and were an integral part in bringing that long conflict to a successful and victorious end. The workers in Oak Ridge selflessly served our country and did a magnificent job. As their representative here in the House, I am acutely aware that our national security depends on adequately funding their mission and making sure our aging weapons plants are properly maintained and modernized. However, earlier this year the President submitted a budget that was insufficient to maintain the current activity level at the Y- 12 plant. Recognizing this shortfall, the House Committee on National Security provided a $38.6 million increase in funds for the Y-12 weapons plant and environmental management activities there in Oak Ridge. Because of the small allocation and the extreme pressures placed on the subcommittee, the chairman was not able to fully fund this request. While I understand that not much can be done at this time, I would like to make a strong appeal to the chairman of the subcommittee that when the conference committee convenes, that every effort is made to adequately fund the critical missions of nuclear weapons, stockpile and stewardship and modernization of their facilities.

Mr. WAMP

Mr. WAMP. Mr. Speaker, I am not a fan of these 1-minute speeches. Usually I do not do this. As we can all see, it devolves sometimes into a partisan food fight. I come today to praise a bipartisan approach to the number one domestic issue, in my opinion, and that is youth violence. At the initiative of the Speaker of the House, working with the gentleman from Missouri (Mr. Gephardt), the minority leader, they have appointed a bipartisan working group, 10 Republicans, 10 Democrats, co-chaired by the gentlewoman from Washington (Ms. Dunn) and the gentleman from Texas (Mr. Frost), and I am the vice chairman of this group. For the next 2 months we will look in a bipartisan way at a comprehensive approach to youth violence. Guns, school security, breakdown of the family, influence of the mass media, a comprehensive approach to do what we can in the Congress to address this critical issue in a bipartisan way. We need more approaches like this one where we can work together, because we are all serving the same people.

Mr. WAMP

Mr. WAMP. Mr. Chairman, reclaiming my time, it is not a radical idea that the States and the Federal Government should participate and both meet an obligation to the people. It is a radical idea that the Federal Government has to do everything in this country. It is a radical idea that all decisions are made in Washington, all the money is collected from Washington, and the States cannot meet their respective obligation. I appeal to Members, recognize that we have done our job, we put this puzzle together, and quit cutting it into little pieces based on what propaganda is handed to them on the floor.

Mr. WAMP. Mr. Chairman, I move to strike the requisite number of words. Mr. Chairman, I certainly do not expect to take issue with the benefits of weatherization. As a member of the subcommittee, I can assure my colleagues, we all support the benefits of weatherization. But what I would like to point out is that, over the course of yesterday and today, there seems to be a propensity here in the process on the floor to somewhat override this process of our subcommittee and full committee reporting a bill out to the House, and then every single amendment that comes up, enormous lobbying takes place from the outside. Winston Churchill once said, ``This is the worst form of government imaginable except for every other.'' What he meant was that it is sometimes messy and sloppy, but this business of electing people to represent us, sending them up here to educate themselves on the issues and participate in this committee process is a beautiful thing. The members of our subcommittee have studied these issues extensively. From the parks to the lands to these energy issues, extensively, these subcommittee members have studied these issues. Not once did this issue come up at the subcommittee with Democrats and Republicans or at the full committee as the Committee on Appropriations reported these bills out to the floor. I understand that the gentleman from Vermont (Mr. Sanders) believes a hearing could have been held. But I know what the States are going to say, and I know that the States will constantly say: we cannot do it. We cannot do it. We cannot do it. But then they come to us and say we want every dime of the tobacco money, and I am all for saying so. I know they want a variance here and they want a variance there and they want to be able to come up with new programs and initiatives. Most of the time, we accommodate them. But the States have had a really good run. Our subcommittee and our full committee took a hard look at this issue, and I would suggest that what happened yesterday here in this body is not good for the American people. Here is what happens: members come across the parking lot or through the halls, and they are inundated by these outside groups who have an agenda of their own. Most of the time, it is to raise more money for their groups. These groups hire these people, most of the time. They are attractive young people that will appeal to the Members coming to the floor to vote; and they hand out all this propaganda, ``This is how we want you to vote.'' Members come down here, and they vote based on the propaganda that was just handed to them instead of recognizing the subcommittee studied the issues. We did have hearings. We did have markups. We have been meeting all year. We have traveled to the parks. We studied these issues. By george, this did not just come out of the sky. This is a complicated puzzle. We have got $14.1 billion and a whole bunch of priorities, and we have got to somehow make it work. This is not arbitrary. It is very scientific.

Mr. WAMP. I am happy to yield to the gentleman from Vermont.

Mr. WAMP. Mr. Chairman, I move to strike the requisite number of words. Mr. Chairman, first of all, let me just say that this is a change not in terms of the policy with the program but a change in the funding formula; and that is much more simple than a change in the actual program itself, which the gentleman from Vermont (Mr. Sanders) wanted hearings on. It is simply a funding issue. One thing I believe has happened in the last 4\1/2\ years is we have given back flexibility and authority to the States on a host of issues across the country. And the governors let us know about it. We have, in fact, given them more money than they had in the past and a whole lot of flexibility. Frankly, I hear from a lot of people that the best job in Government in America today is to be a governor. They get to make all the decisions. They get to dole out the money. They now have more flexibility. It is a better job. Well, right now it is a tough job to serve in Congress because we have got a balanced budget framework to live with and we have got difficult decisions to make and we have to somehow balance these priorities. I have not heard the hue and cry from the States on this particular issue, and one reason I think we have not heard that is because they know they have had a real good run for the last 4\1/2\ years getting more flexibility, getting more power, getting more authority back so they can make the decisions locally. I say to my colleagues, they cannot have it both ways. They cannot have States' rights, Tenth Amendment kind of State control where they collect the money and make the decisions and not have sometimes a partnership cost-share type approach. That is what this is about, a reasonable partnership between the States and the Federal Government. I urge my colleagues to vote ``no'' on both amendments offered by the gentleman from Vermont (Mr. Sanders). I want to make a point that the same people who have cried out for this country to have energy independence are, in the first Sanders amendment, trying to take that money elsewhere, take it from some other from energy independence over to Federal programs. And they cannot have that both ways, either. With all due respect, vote ``no'' on both amendments offered by the gentleman from Vermont (Mr. Sanders).

Mr. WAMP

Mr. WAMP. Mr. Speaker, today I wish to honor the memory of a fine resident of the Sequatchie Valley and the 3rd District of Tennessee who left this life last May 2. Tollye Wayne Tittsworth died at age 60. For his family and the many friends who admired his work as a radio broadcaster and citizen, his death came far, far too soon. Tollye Wayne, as he was called throughout the Sequatchie Valley, knew from the time he was still in his teen years that radio would be his life's work and his life's love. While still in high school, he began working part time at a radio station in McMinnville where he was born and grew up. Like all people who excel at what they do, Tollye Wayne did not regard his career in radio and the news business as just ``a job.'' He lived--and enjoyed--his work 24-hours-a-day. He worked at a series of stations in Tennessee, including serving as general manager of WJLE in Smithville, general manager of WAKI in McMinnville and operations manager of WBMC-WTRZ in McMinnville and owner and general manager of WSMT AM-FM in Sparta from 1975 through 1980. At 6 a.m. on July 14, 1986, Tollye Wayne signed on the air at WSDQ in Dunlap. He was a powerful voice--and a personality--known throughout the Sequatchie Valley. He took an interest in folks from all walks of life. It did not matter to Tollye Wayne whether the person he was speaking with was a hard working employee at a convenience store or just happened to be Vice President of the United States. Tollye Wayne was interested in what he or she had to say. To those of us who have the honor of representing the Sequatchie Valley, a visit with Tollye Wayne was on our ``must do'' list anytime we were in the Dunlap area. Not only did we get a chance to communicate with folks throughout the valley through radio station WSDQ, but--just as importantly--we got a chance to pick Tollye Wayne's brain about what was going on in the Valley. It is not very much of an exaggeration to say that Tollye Wayne knew just about everything that was happening in the valley. Tollye Wayne did not simply cover his community. He worked to make it better, serving as a member of a number of civic clubs and community boards, including the Sequatchie Valley Health Council, the Sequatchie County Hospital Board, The Sequatchie Valley Planning Commission and the American Legion Harvey Merriman Post 190. He was also instrumental in establishing the Dunlap Chamber of Commerce. And he was a past president of the Dunlap Lions Club. He also quietly helped folks who needed it. I know that Tollye Wayne would take comfort in the fact that what he built at WSDQ is being carried on by his family. I also want to express my most profound sympathy to his wife, Ruth Myers Tittsworth; his son Stephen Wayne Tittsworth; step-daughter, Teresa Ann Hennessee; his mother, Willie Cantrell Tittsworth; brother James Gary Tittsworth and his sister, Rita Poncina. All of us who knew Tollye Wayne are grateful that we had the chance to work with him and sincerely mourn his passing. Tollye Wayne, God- Speed in the Better World where you are now. And thanks for the good you did for all of us.

Mr. WAMP

Mr. WAMP. Mr. Speaker, on July 2, James C. ``Jim'' Hall will retire as manager of Oak Ridge Operations for the U.S. Department of Energy. His departure will mark the end of a 31-year career in government that stands out as a bright and shining example of dedicated service to the United States Department of Energy and the people of the United States. Beginning in 1968 as an intern for the Atomic Energy Commission, one of the agencies that was eventually folded into the Energy Department, Jim Hall rose steadily through the ranks until he was promoted to his present position in 1995. Perhaps Jim Hall's greatest achievement in Oak Ridge is his commitment to the reindustrialization program which is an innovative ``swords to plowshares'' effort that stands out as a model for the whole Nation. Facilities such as the old K-25 gaseous diffusion plant at the Oak Ridge complex are being cleaned up and made available for use by the private sector. The plant, now called the East Tennessee Technology Park, is already generating the kind of jobs the east Tennessee region needs for the 21st century. This effort saves the government and the taxpayers $800 million in maintenance and other costs. More importantly, the program is attracting to Oak Ridge exactly the kinds of family wage jobs east Tennessee will need as we begin the 21st century. In May of 1998, Mr. Hall received a Presidential Meritorious Rank Award for his efforts to develop the environmental cleanup and reindustrialization program. Jim Hall has brought extraordinary energy, ability and vision to his work at the Oak Ridge operations office, and we in the Third District of Tennessee and at the Department of Energy in Oak Ridge can count ourselves extremely fortunate that we benefited from his public service. He is the type of executive who makes the term ``government official'' sound like the noble and honorable calling it should be. During the years I have known Jim, he has shown himself to be a risk taker who is willing to push the envelope for needed reforms. He is also not in the least bit afraid to challenge the status quo and to stand up to the bureaucracy when the need arises. Jim Hall's pioneering work on reindustrialization is typical of his career. Many managers at Jim's stage in their careers would have been content to just run out the clock and just do what they had to as their retirement neared. But as a skilled manager and dedicated resident of east Tennessee, Jim was determined that the great reservoir of human and technological capital assembled in Oak Ridge to help us win World War II and the Cold War should be parlayed into economic opportunity for generations to come. So he pioneered the reindustrialization program and skillfully managed the national security and scientific missions of the Department of Energy in a way that makes me proud as the representative of the Oak Ridge and east Tennessee region. On behalf of the thousands of citizens that Jim Hall served so well, I thank him for his service to his community and to his Nation and we wish him happiness and success as he begins a new chapter in his life.

Mr. WAMP

Mr. WAMP. Mr. Speaker, this week is Renewal Week. A week that we in the Renewal Alliance have set aside to remind our Colleagues and America about the value of private, community, and faith based organizations. Our nation has awakened this year to the reality of a cultural breakdown, where traditional values of respect and responsibility have often been replaced by indifference and apathy. But instead of just looking to Washington for a short term band-aid, I encourage everyone to help us look for a comprehensive solution. Our efforts should both protect our children and give them hope for their future. The only way we can do this is to bring traditional values back into our families, schools, and communities. I want to share with you the exciting work being done by a program known as Character Counts. This is a program designed to bring character-based education to our nation's schools. The Character Counts curriculum is taught in my district in Hamilton County and has been particularly successful this past school year. Values such as honesty, courage, citizenship, responsibility, values that helped make our country great, are discussed every week. In recent years violence, crime, addiction, poverty, and the breakdown of the family have taken its toll on the health of our local communities. If we truly want to stem the tide, we must return to our core values. I particularly want to praise Senator Pete Domenici who has been a strong advocate for this organization in the Senate and throughout the country. I encourage all of my colleagues to follow his lead. Throughout this week, I encourage you to join me in empowering community institutions and encouraging community renewal to help inner cities and distressed rural communities gain their share of America's property. We must acknowledge a federal role, but let's focus on our communities to give our children hope for the future. We cannot fight this battle alone.

Mr. WAMP

Mr. WAMP. Mr. Chairman, I yield myself the balance of my time. Mr. Chairman, there are some labels. Most of them are stickers. They come right off on the label. They are not on the product itself. When one takes the package off, they are gone. Some do; some do not. We just ask for a uniform labeling system. I find it extraordinary that most of the people that are opposing this today are from the State of California or they have some vested interest in legislation that might compete with this. I do not think so. We have made that clear. But I am not going to defend the entertainment industry because I do think, as Ted Turner said 2 weeks ago, there is a responsibility in the mass media to decrease the amount of violence and this is a common-sense approach to that problem. One of my predecessors in this House, Estes Kefauver, in 1954, he held hearings in the Senate on whether or not comic books contributed to juvenile delinquency. Today, the comic books of the nineties are video games, folks, and the juvenile delinquents of the 1990s can oftentimes be found behind the barrel of a gun. These products should be labeled, uniform labeling. It makes common sense. They are going to say free speech. These are products. This is not art and expression. These video games are a product of market research. Open up one of those PC magazines and see how someone can download the blood splattering. It is gross. It is awful. Our kids are being filled in the head with poison. We label the food that is bad for them but we are not going to label the poison that goes in their head with a common-sense labeling? This does not violate first amendment rights. Good gracious. It just says, be responsible as an industry. Children are killing children. I have had enough of it. I am going to side with parents today. I am going to side with children today; not some big special interest with a bunch of money that has been working all week to kill good common-sense legislation. The family groups have come out today in support of this amendment. Responsible people would support this common-sense approach. I ask my colleagues not to vote with the big fat cats and the special interests. Vote with parents that need to make informed decisions, need to just be able to look. It is the same thing we do with food. It is the same thing we do with cigarettes. Some of the people that have opposed us today wanted the labeling on cigarettes, but what about brutal violence that clearly contributes to the rise in youth violence and killing in America today? It is unequivocal. Nearly a thousand studies document it. Is the House going to respond or is the House going to sweep this under the rug? I urge support for the Wamp-Stupak amendment.

Mr. WAMP. Mr. Chairman, I yield 2 minutes to the distinguished gentleman from Virginia (Mr. Wolf). (Mr. WOLF asked and was given permission to revise and extend his remarks.)

Mr. WAMP. Mr. Chairman, I ask unanimous consent that the debate be extended by 10 minutes, equally divided, 5 minutes on each side. There are just too many people that need to speak. I know that the House is pressed for time today and that it may be midnight before we finish tonight, but could we please ask the Chair and ask the Members to grant 10 minutes, 5 minutes on each side.

Mr. WAMP. Mr. Chairman, I yield myself such time as I may consume. What the modification would simply do after consultation with anyone that is concerned about the V-chip issue is to clearly establish with language in the amendment that the V-chip is not affected in any way, shape or form. There is no relationship to this amendment and the V- chip. The labeling system does not even mention V-chip technology. The product label does not interfere with the V-chip in any way. If anything, it provides a supplement to parents who cannot afford to purchase a new television set or set-top box in order to block V-chip programming. The V-chip is a rating system. The Wamp-Stupak amendment is a plain English labeling system. Parents really want common sense English language product content information and no one should be afraid of this particular amendment. As a matter of fact, relative to the V-chip, this is the same bill that was made in order as an amendment that was dropped in the Senate with bipartisan cosponsors, Senator McCain and Senator Lieberman, an original cosponsor, Senator Conrad, who was the author of the V-chip legislation in the Senate. It has support from Senator Lott, the majority leader, strong bipartisan support. All the fearmongering about this would affect the V-chip is unjustified. I really regret that someone objected to our reasonable efforts to make sure in this amendment that their needs were met. They are the ones that asked that we be considerate. We were attempting to do so. Mr. Chairman, I yield 3 minutes to the gentleman from California (Mr. Hunter).

Mr. WAMP. Mr. Chairman, I ask unanimous consent that I be allowed to modify the amendment and to explain the modification relative to the V- chip.

Mr. WAMP. Mr. Chairman, I yield 1 minute to the gentleman from Michigan (Mr. Stupak).

Mr. WAMP. Mr. Chairman, I reserve the right to close.

Mr. WAMP. Mr. Chairman, I thank the gentlewoman for yielding me this time, and I come to the well today as a Member of the House, but more importantly as the father of a 12-year-old and a 10-year-old stating that there is no more important domestic issue that we could focus our undivided attention on than this issue of children killing other children and what the causes and effects are of this terrible sign in our society. Almost a thousand studies since 1971 document that mass media influences children who cannot differentiate between reality and fantasy, causing them to be more violent, even causing them to do what does not come natural, and that is to kill another human being. Even rattlesnakes do not kill other rattlesnakes. Our military had a problem, Mr. Chairman. Colonel David Grossman, a psychologist, a renowned expert in the field of killology, a part of psychology, says that in World War II our soldiers would not even pull the trigger when an enemy was in front of them. Only 20 percent, at most, would actually pull the trigger. It does not come naturally. So they took the bulls off the firing range and put a human figure and they began desensitization techniques and therapy, and by the Korean War it got up to 40 percent. And then technology set in and they used simulators, much like we have today, and by the time of Vietnam, 90 percent of our soldiers would actually kill. It does not come natural. My colleagues, our children, by the age of 6, are experiencing the same desensitization therapies. Video games, Karmageddon. The video game Doom is used by our military to train soldiers how to kill, and our children are being inundated with these violent products. Let me tell my colleagues that this week, in a shameless way, the entertainment and mass media industry is working this hill over like no one can believe, around the clock, trying to push back any kind of common-sense approaches, like uniform labeling, so parents will know what is going on. That amendment will be up in an hour and a half, and the entertainment industry is working around the clock to try to defeat any common-sense approaches so that informed parents can make responsible decisions. But this is unequivocal. These influences are taking our children in the wrong direction. Splatter movies are not responsible. The entertainment industry has a responsibility. We do not want to place blame, but we want people to be responsible. Industries are profiting from trash going into the minds of our children. If it was alcohol or drugs going into our bodies, we would not stand for it, but the same kinds of evil influences are going into the minds of children, so we should not be so surprised when they turn around and act the way they do. Something needs to be done. Somebody has to stand up for parents and families, not these big special interests with all the money.

Mr. WAMP. Madam Chairman, I offer an amendment.

Mr. WAMP. Madam Chairman, I ask unanimous consent that the gentleman from Michigan (Mr. Stupak), the prime sponsor on the Democratic side of this amendment, be granted 10 minutes' time in support of this amendment and that he be able to yield time to Members in support of this amendment.

Mr. WAMP. Madam Chairman, I yield myself such time as I may consume. Madam Chairman, this act will create a consistent and comprehensive system for labeling violent content in audio and visual media products, including the labeling of products in the advertisements. The system will consist of a single label that will inform consumers of the nature, context, intensity of violent content, and age appropriateness of such products. The label will specify a minimum age in years for the purchase, viewing, listening to, use, or consumption of the product or service. The label will also include an icon or symbol with written text in plain view of the consumer. In the case of video or motion picture programs, the label with appear at the beginning of the program and last for at least 5 seconds. The act waives antitrust laws, and the industries are given 6 months to work together in developing a standardized product labeling system. The proposal is subject to modification and final approval by the Federal Trade Commission. In the occasion manufacturers do not submit a labeling system at the appropriate time, the Federal Trade Commission will devise regulations on its own to establish the labeling system. The act bans domestic sale or commercial distribution of unlabeled products after 1 year in the event that these things are not met. Further, retailers are required to enforce label restrictions on such products and are subject to a fine of up to $10,000 for failure to do so. Manufacturers and producers who violate the labeling system will be subject to these fines each day for every day the product is in the marketing place. So my colleagues may ask, why is this necessary? We have heard testimony today that there have been almost a thousand studies since 1971 clearly showing that the violence in mass media products such as video games, movies, CDs is now so outrageous that it is having a desensitization effect, a conditioning effect on the young people of America. And this violence is so prolific that young people who cannot differentiate between fantasy and reality are effectively sitting at video games serving as simulators with killing, splattering, exit wounds. The promotion is now so outrageous that all we are asking for is not to ban these products, but to have a uniform labeling system, much like we have on food safety products, much like we have on cigarettes, where a label will show a responsible parent what is necessary to make an informed judgment about whether to buy this product or take this product home. I submitted earlier that Lieutenant Colonel Dave Grossman, in a book called ``On Killing Provocatively,'' shows that the desensitization of human beings today, the act of killing happens over time by desensitization, these magazines' media products clearly are causing this to happen to our children, and pointed to the fact that our soldiers even in war are not inclined to naturally kill each other, that typically species do not kill each other. Even rattlesnakes do not kill each other and humans do not kill each other naturally. We are asking at this defining moment, what is causing our children to kill each other? What evil is manifesting itself when our children will show up in places like Columbine and actually pull the trigger and kill each other? I would suggest that one of the primary factors is this desensitization that in large part the mass media, and I know their motives are not such but the fact is it is happening where these video games are having such an adverse effect. Our soldiers in World War II, only 15 to 20 percent according to studies would actually kill each other, would kill the enemy when they were faced with an enemy. So they took the bull's eye off the firing range and they put a human figure so that the desensitization would begin to happen. They tried to break solders down so that they would ultimately pull the trigger. By the Korean War we got that figure up to 40 percent. By the Vietnam War, technology set in and it got up to 90 percent, so that the soldiers would actually pull the trigger, because it is not human, it is not natural for us to kill each other but they are desensitized, much like a pilot is desensitized through simulation for flight training, much like a driver learns how to drive through simulators. Video games have that same effect on small children. This is a catastrophic thing clearly in our society that we need to do something about. These video games need to at least be labeled. With that, I look forward to a healthy and honorable debate here. Madam Chairman, I reserve the balance of my time.

Mr. WAMP

Mr. WAMP. Mr. Chairman, I rise today out of concern regarding funding for the Food Contact Notification (FCN) program in H.R. 1906, the FY 2000 Agricultural, FDA and Related Agencies Appropriations bill. This program is new and provides for the expeditious review of new food contact substances. Food contact substances are products like plastic, paper, and aluminum wraps that are used as containers for food products. It is not commonly known that these materials must be reviewed for their safety before being marketed, because they touch food products. As a result, the Food and Drug Administration Modernization Act of 1997 included FCN to reduce the time and cost involved in marketing a new food packaging material. Although FDA began the initial phase of setting up this program, with $500,000 designated for the program in FY 1999, the program cannot continue unless the Congress provides $3 million for FY 2000. Mr. Chairman, this program is a terrific example of real regulatory reform--it reduces the agency's workload by streamlining regulation, reduces regulatory burdens on the plastics, paper, and aluminum industries, increases the potential for new and improved products to reach consumers, and does all these things without compromising public safety. As you well know, the Congress is not able to fund every program and we have to make some very difficult choices. However, I believe it would unfortunate to let this good idea languish. While the Administration and the Appropriations Committee may prefer funding this program with user fees, discussion of such a proposal has not even begun. Even if agreement was near, it will be difficult to enact the authorization this year. As we move to Conference, I urge the Chairman and Ranking Member of the House Agricultural Appropriations Committee to seriously consider funding this program at the authorized level in the event that a fee system is not enacted in time for FY 2000.