Lynn Woolsey

Ms. WOOLSEY

Ms. WOOLSEY. Mr. Chairman, I move to strike the requisite number of words. Mr. Chairman, if my colleagues walk through the tunnel that connects the Longworth Building and the Cannon Building with the Capitol today, they will see the difference from what happened yesterday when the walls were bare. Now the walls are hung with beautiful, live, vibrant art. Now, we cannot miss it. We cannot miss the change from nothing to what these young students have done around our country. My favorite piece of art is the cow poking its nose through the barbed-wire fence. But that is today. Tomorrow I will walk by, and I will see another piece of art, and it will become my favorite. Because that is what art does, it tickles us, it enthuses us, and it makes us love living. And that is what art is all about. What an embarrassment for the House of Representatives to once again in an appropriations bill hold funding levels for the National Endowment for the Arts and for the Humanities. As anyone who has managed a budget knows, this really means we are decreasing funds for the arts for the humanities, for the libraries. Opponents of the NEA and NEH cry fiscal discipline as if the richest Nation in the world needs to be the most culturally impoverished. But money is not what this is all about. We know that the dollars that we invest in the NEA and in the NEH leverage matching grants and multiply many, many times over in every one of our communities. What we are really witnessing here is an assault on free expression, a war on culture. It is a battle as old as the stockades in Puritan times, and it is absolutely wrong-headed. The arts and humanities teach us to think. They encourage us to feel, to see in a new way, and to communicate. A world without art would be as dreary as those tunnels between the Cannon Building and the Capitol when they are without the art of the young people across our country. A world without art would be a dreary, dreary existence indeed. I hope that all of my colleagues will support the Slaughter-Johnson- Horn amendment to increase funds for the National Endowment for the Arts, the National Endowment for the Humanities, and the Institute for Museum and Library Services. It is a small investment with a return as vast as our very imaginations.

Ms. WOOLSEY

Ms. WOOLSEY. Our constituents have every right to know exactly who is financing political campaign. That is why we must pass campaign finance reform. We must do it now, and this reform must require that all contributors and expenditures, including nonprofits, are disclosed. Currently, many expenditures are protected from disclosure under section 527 of the Tax Code. We hear from the Republicans that they favor reforming the Tax Code. Well, I suggest a perfect place to start is with 527 disclosure. With that start, we will restore faith in government. We will give our children a system that they will want to participate in. The American people want campaign finance reform. I urge my colleagues to sign the 527 discharge petition today. Our children are counting on us.

Ms. WOOLSEY

Ms. WOOLSEY. Mr. Chairman, I thank the gentleman for yielding me this time. I cannot believe that any Member would support a bill that would repeal last year's bipartisan agreement to hire 100,000 new teachers in this country. Communities all across America had faith in that agreement. They hired new teachers to give their youngest students smaller classes. Almost 3 million children could be denied the benefits of smaller classrooms unless we pass the Obey amendment. And what about our teachers? H.R. 4577 cuts funding for improving teacher quality, and it also cuts the funding for recruitment of new qualified teachers. The Obey amendment will put top quality teachers in small classrooms. Our students will get the assistance they need to perform at the very highest standards. The Obey amendment is a wise investment in this Nation's future and it deserves a vote.

Ms. WOOLSEY. Mr. Chairman, I thank the gentlewoman from Connecticut (Ms. DeLauro) for yielding me this time and for this amendment. In my district, like all districts around this country, parents of children with special needs are frantic. They are frantic about their children's education. They often feel that their schools are giving them the runaround, while the schools are worried about having the resources to do the job that is needed. At the same time, the parents of students without special needs are fearful that special ed kids are taking precious resources from their children. Therefore, we are pitting family against family. This cannot continue. Congress must step up to our responsibility, and we can do it this year while the economy is good and we have a surplus. The DeLauro amendment gets us on the road towards full funding for IDEA without taking one penny from other good programs. By scaling back the proposed cuts for the very wealthiest taxpayers, IDEA can be funded to the Federal commitment. I urge my colleagues to put education for children with disabilities before tax cuts for the wealthiest Americans. Support the DeLauro amendment and help all of our children and all of our families.

Ms. WOOLSEY

Ms. WOOLSEY. Mr. Chairman, I agree with the gentlewoman from California (Ms. Pelosi). We must focus our health and drug control policy on drug use prevention and drug treatment. The fact is that millions and millions of Americans are in severe need of substance abuse treatment. We can start now. We can focus not only on supply reduction but also on demand reduction. To do this, we must focus on prevention and treatment. The funding provided by the Pelosi amendment will help our youth avoid a life of drugs, and it will help those that are currently drug users turn their lives around. This investment will leverage additional local and State funds for important health services and will strengthen State and local coordination. This crucial amendment focuses on youth while allowing communities to act according to their own local policies. For each dollar invested in drug use prevention, we will save those communities 4 or 5 dollars. That is the offset we should account for. Effective prevention programs engage youth interactively. I urge all my colleagues to support the Pelosi amendment.

Ms. WOOLSEY. Mr. Chairman, if we can pass a defense appropriations bill that is $20 billion more than last year, if we can find the money for nuclear weapons, if we can find funding for a misguided missile defense system, surely, surely, we can pass the Hoyer amendment to help our most vulnerable children. As I look at the provisions in this bill, I ask myself, who is taking care of our children? Where will our children go after school? Where will our children find the guidance they need? Who will help poor children prepare to enter school? The Hoyer amendment restores some of the most damaging cuts in H.R. 4577, cuts that deny nearly 2.4 million children the help that they need to get a better start in life.

Ms. WOOLSEY

Ms. WOOLSEY. Mr. Speaker, I rise today to recognize Celi Adams, a life-long resident of Petaluma, CA, who for the past 12 years has operated a program that provides free training for families and friends who struggle daily to provide home care for gravely ill loved ones. Ms. Adams was recently selected as a 2000 Community Health Leader by The Robert Wood Johnson Foundation. She is one of only ten individuals nationally to be selected to receive the nation's highest honor for community health leadership, which includes a $100,000 award to continue her work. Ms. Adams, a former cancer nurse, first recognized the need to educate people around quality home care when she was part of a group caring for a close friend with AIDS. After this experience, she quit her nursing job and co-founded Home Care Companions in 1988. Initially operated out of her mother's spare bedroom, the agency offers a free 18-hour course that trains family members and friends of patients suffering from acute illnesses in basic home-care nursing skills. The course provides instructions on topics such as pain management, nutrition, bed care, and physical therapy, as well as educates both patient and care giver on how to navigate an often-complex medical care system and how to put their legal affairs in order. Since its inception, more than 2,000 people have participated in the training. Originally targeted to AIDS care givers, Ms. Adams' program has expanded in recent years to include training on cancer, congestive heart failure and chronic obstructive pulmonary disease. Home Care Companions' training techniques have been taught to nurses in Japan and more recently to medical professionals in Africa. In 1997, they assisted in the development of an Australian AIDS home-care training program. Future plans for her agency also include training sessions on caring for frail elders and an outreach effort to help other groups start training programs in their own communities. Borne out of her own personal experience with a dying loved one, Ms. Adams created a program that has touched the lives of many in her community and beyond. I am thrilled that Celi Adams was selected for this well-deserved award from the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation and I urge my colleagues to join me in congratulating her on this wonderful achievement. Mr. Speaker, as one of her nominators aptly put it, ``She didn't do this for fame or glory. She did it for the best reason of all, because people in crisis need her help.''

Ms. WOOLSEY

Ms. WOOLSEY. Mr. Speaker, this is a wasted opportunity. H.R. 4577 is a bad bill, and we should have a rule that would include an amendment to guarantee every one of our students and all of their schools the resources and the assistance they need to perform at the very, very highest standards. Instead, we have a bill that repeals last year's bipartisan agreement to hire 100,000 new teachers. This bill rejects the funds needed to make urgent safety and health repairs to 5,000 schools. It denies after-school services to more than 1 million students, and actually eliminates Head Start for 53,000 children. The one amendment that does bring funding to education does it by taking funds now used to keep American workers safe on their jobs. I strongly urge my colleagues to vote against this rule, and insist on a new rule that allows the House to vote for education funds so that our students and schools will not be left behind.

Ms. WOOLSEY

Ms. WOOLSEY. Mr. Chairman, I move to strike the requisite number of words. Mr. Chairman, I rise today in support of the amendment of the gentleman from Ohio (Mr. Kucinich) to the defense bill. Like my colleague, I have grave concerns about this bill's funding commitment for ballistic missile defense programs. But before I tell my colleagues what my reservations are, I have to make an observance. This observance is that we could take the investment we make in the ballistic missile defense program, and that alone would be a great down payment in waging peace. We do not even talk about that on this floor. What if we invested an equal amount of time debating how we can get to peace, we the United States and the rest of the global community? That would be a real investment, Mr. Chairman. That would be an investment in our national security. Now, about this anti-missile system program. Let us face it, this program is not anti-missile. It is anti-woman, anti-children, and anti- family. It takes valuable resources from urgent civilian needs that also affect national security. Instead of investing in a national missile defense program, we should be spending our scarce financial resources in our real domestic needs, like our children's education, our seniors and their health care, our families and their security, and a debate on waging peace. Our current nuclear arsenal costs about $35 billion annually. It is approximately 13 times the budget for the National Cancer Institute. It is also 120 times the amount spent annually on domestic violence, on battered women's shelters, and on runaway youths. Mr. Chairman, if the past is prologue, prior poor management and oversight of nuclear weapons programs have cost hundreds of billions of dollars that contributed little or nothing to defense and deterrence. I wonder what the American tax payers are going to get from this investment. Since 1940, the United States has spent $5.8 trillion on nuclear weapons programs, more than any single program except Social Security. The U.S. has already spent more than $100 billion on missile defenses with very little to show, if anything. So why would we continue to throw good money after bad? For example, the U.S. spent over $21 billion on the safeguard anti- ballistic missile system that was ultimately cancelled because high operational costs eclipsed the limited defense benefits. We also wasted $12.5 billion on the development of the B-1A bomber that was cancelled, and $12.5 billion for four B-1A bomber planes, two of which crashed. Also, the nuclear aircraft propulsion program cost taxpayers $7 billion, only to be cancelled due to poor management, technical problems, and the lack of a clear mission. Finally, the Midgetman, small ICBM, cost taxpayers over $5.5 billion, only to be cancelled due to a lack of need and the end of the Cold War. Considering this poor track record, it is outrageous that funding for ballistic missile defense programs is still being debated. Even more so considering several Pentagon officials studying the NMD proposal have expressed reservation that it is unnecessary and it would be ineffective. The last reason for my concern, Mr. Chairman, about the national missile defense program is its grave implications for current arms control agreements. In order for this administration to proceed with a national missile defense, the anti-ballistic missile treaty may have to be modified. For the past several decades, this treaty has been the cornerstone of efforts to contain, reduce, and abolish nuclear weapons. We should all be concerned about funding a program that requires any thought of abandoning our prior commitments to nuclear disarmament agreements. Mr. Chairman, I have come to the well of this House to comment on our misplaced priorities as far as nuclear weapons programs are concerned. I commend the gentleman from Ohio (Mr. Kucinich) for offering this amendment that will free up funds in unneeded nuclear weapons funding. I urge my colleagues to support this amendment.

Ms. WOOLSEY

Ms. WOOLSEY. Mr. Speaker, due to a previously scheduled family event, I missed rollcall votes Nos. 207-210. Had I been present, I would have voted: Rollcall No. 207--``yea''; rollcall No. 208--``no''; rollcall No. 209--``no''; rollcall No. 210--``yea.''

Ms. WOOLSEY

Ms. WOOLSEY. Mr. Chairman, I rise today in opposition to granting permanent normal trade relations to China. Entering into a trade agreement with China, given their current record on human rights and workers' rights, to me, is like marrying someone we hope to change. After the vows are taken, we then tell that person what is not right with the relationship and what needs to be done differently. It does not work. Today, the U.S. imports 36 percent of all Chinese exports, but working conditions remain horrible. They are bad in the factories, where the sneakers are made, where the TVs are made. Yet we buy those products, and U.S. companies in China and the Chinese manufacturers have done nothing to improve workers' rights. What is most alarming is that many of these products are made by very, very young children, who work more than 12 hours a day for very small wages; and they work 7 days a week. It is pitiful that the U.S. is ignoring the awful conditions that these children face. PNTR with China would be a bad marriage. After the honeymoon hype fades away, we would be left with nothing except the same old China, where children work in virtual slavery. The United States must not say ``I do'' to China until the Chinese people have freedom and the American people have responsible trade policy. I urge my colleagues to vote ``no'' tomorrow.

Ms. WOOLSEY

Ms. WOOLSEY. Mr. Chairman, I rise in support of the Sanchez-Morella- Lowey amendment, and I want to thank them for their leadership. Together they consistently fight for equal treatment for women in the military. Mr. Chairman, make no mistake about it, that is what this issue is all about, equal treatment for servicewomen stationed overseas. This amendment is about giving women who have volunteered to serve their country abroad the same constitutional protections that women have here at home. In 1995 the Republicans told servicewomen stationed overseas that they could not spend their own money on abortion services in military hospitals. This message is loud and clear to each American servicewoman, that a political agenda here in the House of Representatives is more important than a woman's health and safety. Mr. Chairman, these brave military women serve overseas to safeguard our freedom. They deserve the right to choose how to safeguard their own health. These women stand up for our freedom every day. Let us not take away their freedom. Vote for the Sanchez amendment.

Ms. WOOLSEY

Ms. WOOLSEY. Mr. Chairman, I rise in support of the Luther amendment. I appreciate my colleagues' and all of our colleagues' tireless efforts to fight and eliminate the Trident missile, a true relic of the Cold War. With the potential for nuclear warhead reduction from the START II procedures, pending that ratification, we will not need to invest in missiles today that could be unnecessary in the near future. It is a waste. Continuing the Trident's production wastes billions of dollars. In fact, terminating production of the Trident missiles, as this amendment does, the CBO estimates it would save over $2.5 billion over the next 7 years. In fiscal year 2001 alone it would save $473 million. Mr. Chairman, this is money that can be invested in our children and their education, our seniors and their health care, and our families and their security. I urge my colleagues to invest in people. Vote for this amendment.

Ms. WOOLSEY

Ms. WOOLSEY. Mr. Speaker, on Wednesday, May 10, 2000, I missed rollcall vote No. 154. Had I been present, I would have voted ``yea'' on this procedural vote on H.R. 3709, the Internet Nondiscrimination Act. While I regret my absence from the floor, I was at the White House with the President and many of my Democratic colleagues speaking out on the need for prescription drugs for our seniors. Nearly every day I receive letters and calls from individuals in the North Bay who are worried if Medicare will be there when they need it. That's why I have consistently been pushing the Republican-led Congress to consider legislation to protect the future of the Medicare Program and expand Medicare to cover medications. It is my hope that the Republican leadership will open the debate so that we may consider meaningful health care reform for Medicare beneficiaries. With a projected Federal budget surplus, it only makes common sense to make the Medicare Program a top priority. I look forward to working with the President and my House colleagues to make this happen.

Ms. WOOLSEY

Ms. WOOLSEY. Mr. Chairman, I rise in support of CARA. I so appreciate the hard work of the gentleman from Alaska (Chairman Young) and the gentleman from California (Mr. George Miller), the ranking member, that they put into this bill. Mr. Chairman, I was proud to be an early cosponsor of their effort, because I knew if they could get together, it had to be a good bill. And it is. For my constituents in Marin and Sonoma Counties, CARA will be one of the most significant environmental bills this Congress will consider. It provides for full and dedicated funding of the Land and Water Conservation Fund. It gives States and local conservation and environmental entities a reliable partner to preserve and restore coastal and marine habitat and to save our wildlife. Particularly important to my district, however, and to my constituents is CARA's priority to preserve and acquire open space and to protect farmland. For example, in my district, which is just north of the Golden Gate Bridge, very close to a very, very concentrated urban area, CARA has a funding mechanism for the purchase of conservation easements on farmlands, farmlands that are currently under threat from development because of their location so close to the Bay Area. While CARA will not supply all the money needed to preserve the threatened lands across our country, I am truly encouraged by this good start and look forward to building on this principle. I urge all of my colleagues to support H.R. 701 and know that it is a carefully crafted piece of legislation by the gentleman from Alaska (Mr. Young) and the gentleman from California (Mr. George Miller) that, and I will say it again, if they agree, it has to be good.

Ms. WOOLSEY

Ms. WOOLSEY. I thank the gentleman from New Jersey (Mr. Pascrell) for yielding. Mr. Speaker, I am outraged that we are less than 2 weeks from a vote that will ask Congress to permanently give up our economic trade leverage with China, permanently, not year by year but permanently. Considering China's abysmal record regarding previous trade agreements, it makes no sense for Congress to give up our annual review of China as a trading partner. The question becomes simple, it becomes straightforward; namely, why should we reward China for its terrible record of violating past trade commitments with a permanent special trade status? Why? Some Members of the House will argue that trade with China will put an end to these past abuses as well as bolster the U.S. economy. They are wrong on both counts. Trade is beneficial only if it is a two-way street. But right now, there is no way that we can characterize our trading relationship with China as reciprocal. It is a fact that we have a trade deficit with China in the billions of dollars. Furthermore, the economic benefit of trading with a repressive nation is negligible when we consider how workers are treated, especially child workers in China. China workers are being exploited in order for the United States to receive benefit, benefit from low pay, benefit from no workers' rights, benefit from outrageous human rights practices. Some of my colleagues will go even further and argue that China has made progress in many areas over the last few years. But when I see harassment of religious leaders, the sale of weapons technology to rogue states, imprisonment of students and those who dare to speak their minds, I have to ask, is that progress? And, of course, the answer is no, that is not progress. Congress cannot be fooled. We must not be fooled into thinking that the same failed policy of economic engagement would be different this time around, particularly if the agreement is permanent. It is very much like thinking you have fallen in love with somebody who has a lot of faults and saying, I am going to marry this guy, and then I am going to change him. That does not work, and we know it. It is long overdue for U.S. trade policy to address human rights and workers' rights, not only with China but with all of our trade partners and with all of our trade negotiations. Trade cannot be free, it cannot be fair when there is no freedom and no fairness for the citizens of the country involved. Yet year after year our policy of granting special trade status to China has not resulted in improved human rights. As it stands now, this trade deal does not address China's horrendous record of failure to abide by internationally recognized human rights and workers' rights. And how long are we going to ignore China's continuing policy of forced child labor? Child labor is known to be concentrated in China's southern coastal cities. It is estimated that hundreds of thousands of children migrate with their parents from rural areas to this export processing area to engage in income-earning activities. The conditions these children work under are horrific. For example, we are familiar with the scenarios like the Nike company negotiating a deal with a sweatshop in China to pay teenage girls 16 cents an hour to make gym shoes that sell here in our country for $120 a pair. However, reports often overlook other foreign-invested textile enterprises like the one in Guang Dong that employed 400 rural migrants. 160 of these were child workers. At this plant, a 14-year-old girl, exhausted from working 18 hours a day, fainted. As she fell, her hair was pulled into a machine and she died on the spot. These worker abuses are not limited, though, to just the large multinational corporations. In December of 1994, China Women's News reported on a brick shop owner in Henan Province using forced child labor. The children had to carry bricks for over 10 hours each day and were fed only melon soup. Here, more than 40 workers shared a makeshift hut. Moreover, they were not given one cent of the wages they had been promised. The contractor employed guards to keep watch on them 24 hours a day, and on August 13, 1994, the workers started a fight as a distraction so that two children could escape and report the case to the public security bureau. When the police arrived, more than 100 child workers were found in the brick shop. While arrests were made for this one incident, no further information is available on follow-up activities or punishment of the forced labor violations. These examples highlight serious reasons that we cannot give up our annual review of China. Why should we tempt our own corporations to shift appropriation to China where labor is undeniably cheaper, where there is less oversight on working conditions, and where those who disagree have no right to organize against their oppressors. Chinese workers, especially forced child laborers, have no power to speak out for a better deal, no right to organize, no right to basic dignity. There is little hope for improvement unless we as a Nation are courageous enough to take a stand and say, we do not support it. An annual review of China's trade status is our only leverage to pressure China to make progress on worker and human rights. Like many others throughout the country, my constituents in Marin and Sanoma Counties support free trade, but they overwhelmingly want the United States to engage in responsible trade policy. Free and fair trade is important, but they do not feel it is more important than freedom of worship, freedom of speech, freedom to vote, or freedom to enjoy the most basic of human rights, including the rights of workers. The United States is already China's best customer. We buy all their stuff. I do not believe we need to give China authorities another economic incentive to change by granting permanent Most Favored Nation status. Instead, if we use our economic clout, if we have the courage to leverage our economic strength for real reform, we will give the people of China a chance to help themselves. When China starts to live up to its agreements, when it starts to demonstrate a real commitment to human rights, only then should we consider granting permanent trading status to China. Mr. Speaker, I yield back to the gentleman from New Jersey.

Ms. WOOLSEY

Ms. WOOLSEY. Mr. Speaker, I am pleased to join my colleagues in doing two things, honoring our teachers and saying thank you to our ranking member the gentleman from California (Mr. Martinez) for all he has done for education and as usual complimenting the gentleman from California (Mr. McKeon) for what he does. I am pleased to join my colleagues in expressing my strong support and deep appreciation for America's teachers. Mr. Speaker, in appreciation of all of our teachers, I would like to suggest that we in Congress give them a gift. The idea came from a teacher in my district who wrote an article about what he thinks is wrong with American education. In this article, which I will include for the Record, Paul Eggenberger writes that the problem with our education system is not the students, is not the administrators, and it is certainly not the teachers. The problem, and I quote Mr. Eggenberger, is with our culture. Families are fractured, they are too busy to care, they are in a hurry to raise academic standards, a hurry to eat, a hurry to get to work, a hurry to get to the soccer game, a hurry to get home. He goes on: ``We don't have time for our kids, to listen to them, to get involved in their lives, to discipline and to guide them.'' There is much we can do right here in Congress to support families so that they will have the time their children need. Initiatives such as paid leave for new parents, coordinated family services at schools and universal school breakfast are just a few good examples of how to give parents more time with their children and give children the attention and the support they need to be good students and good citizens. Mr. Speaker, I include the Eggenberger article in its entirety: [From the Press Democrat, May 4, 2000] A Former Teacher Tells Why He Left (By Paul Eggenberger) Ten years ago, with the encouragement of my friends and family, I decided to respond to the call to teach. I sold a successful business, invested $20,000 in my education and enrolled in the teacher credential program at Sonoma State University. Now, after eight years, I have resigned my teaching position. Given the current discussion about education by the various ``experts'' I thought it might be useful if I shared a few observations. The problem with our educational system is not the students. It is unfair for adults to blame children for our failure to educate them. They are only responding to the people and activities that affect their lives. They don't make the video games, TV programs, books, magazines, sports, friends, music and schools that they are exposed to. The problem with our educational system is not the teachers. They are doing the best they can when you consider the low wages, lack of supplies, poor and outdated textbooks, insufficient curriculum materials and lack of administrative support. I well remember my shock upon entering the school environment after owning my own business for 15 years. Any employee who ever worked for me would have quit within a few days if placed into the environment of today's teachers. The norm in the school I worked in was at least 50 hours a week not including committees, sporting events, clubs, fund-raisers, PTA meetings, etc. That means the average teacher with the equivalent education of a master's degree earned about $15 an hour. The problem with our educational system is not the administration. They are in a constant juggling match to make the best of insufficient funding, high turnover and unrealistic demands from the state. No corporation or dotcom would think of trying to improve its product without investing in capital improvement or research and development. But that's what our schools must do because of lack of funding and unclear direction from the state. The problem is with our culture. Families are fractured. They are too busy to care. They are in a hurry to raise academic standards, a hurry to eat, a hurry to get to the soccer game, a hurry to get to work, a hurry to get home, a hurry to get rich. Parents are self-involved or stressed out. Single moms can't get child support from irresponsible, absent dads. TV has replaced conversation and literacy. Sex has replaced love. We don't have time for our kids, to listen to them. To get involved in their lives. To develop deep relationships with them. To discipline and guide them. To teach them wisdom. To teach them respect. To teach by example. No, instead we have taught them to look out for themselves, to get gratification from video games and gangs, drugs and sex, fast food and fast cars. To take the easiest way out. To stay uninvolved, uncommitted, unloving. To always blame someone else. After all, that's what adults do. Is it any wonder they don't want to learn? I came to Congress seven years ago determined to make education our nation's number one priority. Today, as a Member of the Education Committee, I remain committed to that goal and I spend much of my time looking at ways we can tackle the problems in our schools. But while we in Congress focus a lot on what's wrong with education, we must remember that there's a lot that's right. Every day, in classrooms around the country, teachers are reaching out and connecting with their students. We are lucky to have outstanding teachers around the country preparing our children for a successful future. Despite new challenges and increasing demands, teachers in my District come to school everyday determined to make a difference. Today, National Teachers Day, I'd like to honor Marin County Teacher of the Year Mary Beth Vanosky and Sonoma County Teacher of the Year Susie Conte--who are two examples of the hard-working teachers we are fortunate to have in the North Bay. As a teacher with 25 years' experience, Ms. Vanosky doesn't consider teaching her fifth through eighth grade students her only job. Throughout her career, Ms. Vanosky has consistently served as a master teacher for student teachers and a mentor teacher to colleagues who were either new to teaching or new to their grade level. She knows that learning truly is a life-long process. For that reason, she hasn't stopped playing the role of student herself. Despite her years at the head of the class, Ms. Vanosky is constantly expanding her know-how with post-graduate studies at the University of Wisconsin, Arizona State University and San Francisco State University. In Sonoma County, Susie Conte gets high marks from students, colleagues and parents for the work she does teaching preschool and helping special needs students at Bennett Valley Elementary School. She has developed education programs for autistic children, formed a support group for parents of special-needs children and helped make classrooms safer for all children. Even after the school bell rings, Ms. Conte keeps giving. Once her school work is done, Ms. Conte makes time to volunteer with the Special Olympics and the YWCA's Women's Safe House. Mary Beth Vanosky and Susie Conte are just two examples of what's right about American education. While we have set aside National Teachers Day to pay tribute to educators, we must keep in mind that everyday teachers like Ms. Vanosky and Ms. Conte are working to make the future bright.

Ms. WOOLSEY

Ms. WOOLSEY. Mr. Speaker, I want to compliment the gentleman from New Jersey (Mr. Smith) and the gentleman from Connecticut (Mr. Gejdenson) for good work. Mr. Speaker, I wholeheartedly agree that we must address the problem of sexual trafficking of women and children throughout the globe, and I support H.R. 3244 with a lot of enthusiasm. More than 2 million women and girls are enslaved around the world. In the United States, estimates run as high as 100,000 being enslaved into sexual and domestic servitude as a result of lax protections. Present laws in the United States are inadequate. This bill, H.R. 3244, addresses ways to deter trafficking and assist victims and it must be passed. But what is this Congress doing to strengthen women's human rights around the world in order to eradicate international sexual trafficking? Unfortunately, the Senate Foreign Relations Committee has not ratified the United Nation's women's treaty known as CEDAW, Convention to End Discrimination Against All Women. The people's House must go on record to urge the Senate to ratify this Bill of Rights. Why? Because CEDAW establishes basic human rights for women around the globe, rights that are not fully addressed in any other international treaty. Ratification of CEDAW puts the United States in a position to be a real player when advocating for women's human rights and fighting against sexual trafficking. Mr. Speaker, 165 countries, including Nepal, have ratified CEDAW. However, Nepal still struggles in its effort to fight against enslavement of nearly 200,000 women in Indian brothels. This is an example of where United States ratification of CEDAW would lend muscle to the fight against sexual trafficking. We need to protect women from the human rights abuses they face simply as a result of their gender, and we can help to make that happen if the United States ratifies CEDAW. It is time for Congress to take strides against sexual trafficking and having the Senate ratify CEDAW is key to this effort. Passing H.R. 3244 is also key.

Ms. WOOLSEY

Ms. WOOLSEY. Mr. Speaker, yesterday I unfortunately missed two recorded votes on suspension bills, H. Con. Res. 295, and H. Con. Res. 304. Had I been present, I would have voted ``yea'' on both resolutions. However, I would like to share that my absence from the House floor was because I was hosting a press conference with three women from Afghanistan, Nigeria, Iran on global discrimination against women. These brave women shared their stories of discrimination and suffering living under the restrictive regimes in Iran and the Taliban government, and of being genitally mutilated as a young child in Nigeria. Their horrifying stories were true anecdotes of why the Senate must ratify CEDAW, the United Nations Convention in the Elimination of Discrimination Against Women. CEDAW, which was first adopted by the United Nations twenty years ago, formally codifies women's equality and promotes women's inclusion in business, government and other economic and social sectors. While I am very pleased that the House International Relations Committee held a hearing on my bill that urges the Senate to ratify CEDAW (House Resolution 107) I am outraged that it is being held up by one person in the Senate. The Senate Foreign Relations Chair, Jesse Helms, had outright refused to hold a hearing on CEDAW and continues to block its consideration on the Senate floor. This means that the chamber's 99 other Senators cannot express their views on this important treaty. It is unacceptable that the democratic process is being held captive by one person. I am hopeful that today's hearing in the House International Relations Committee is a first step in reversing Congress' inaction on CEDAW and will ignite a true dialogue in the Senate on CEDAW's ability to help empower women around the world. Until then, I will continue to push Chairman Helms and the Senate to ratify it.

Ms. WOOLSEY

Ms. WOOLSEY. Mr. Speaker, education must be our Nation's number one priority. Our children are 25 percent of the population, but they are 100 percent of our future. If we act now to strengthen our education system, our children and our country will be prepared for the economic and growth challenges of the future. The Democrats' Safe and Successful Schools Act of 2000 would give teachers, parents, and students the tools they need for success. As Democratic legislation proposes, investing in modernizing schools; hiring new, qualified teachers; and providing safe after-school programs for children will, indeed, take us into the new millennium and truly help our children and their future. Let us not play politics with our children's future. Let us work together to support the Safe Schools Act and show our children that they are our number one priority. The Republicans have proposed what they would call reforms, but, Mr. Speaker, closing troubled schools, doling out vouchers is not the answer. Investing in our education system is.

Ms. WOOLSEY

Ms. WOOLSEY. Mr. Speaker, today as I have each year since I came to Congress, I acknowledge the atrocities suffered by the Armenian people at the hands of the Ottoman Turks. This year marks the 85th anniversary of this atrocity. It is important that we take this time to remember one of the greatest tragedies that humankind has ever witnessed. Mr. Speaker, little did anyone know that April 24, 1915, would forever signify the beginning of a Turkish campaign to eliminate the Armenian people from the face of the Earth. Over the following 8 years, 1.5 million Armenians perished, more than 200 Armenian religious, political, and intellectual leaders were massacred, and more than 500,000 were exiled from their homes. Armenian civilization, one of the oldest civilizations, virtually ceased to exist. Sadly, this chapter of global history is not as well known or remembered an event of the 20th century as it deserves to be. Little attention was paid to this tragic episode by the victorious allied powers at the end of World War I, or by historians since. And unfortunately, as time wears on, so much of it has faded into memory, and people begin to forget what occurred during that horrific time. However, even worse, as time passes on, and people are distanced from the atrocities, naysayers and revisionists have the opportunity to change this generation's understanding of Armenian genocide. Even more outrageous though, due to the failure of some nations to acknowledge this horrible tragedy, 85 years later the Turkish crimes have gone unpunished. An international court has yet to condemn the holocaust of an entire nation, and this impunity has permitted the Turks to repeat similar crimes against the Greek inhabitants of Asia minor; the Syrian Orthodox people and recently, people living in Cyprus. Fortunately, despite this unspeakable tragedy committed 85 years ago, Armenians today remain a compassionate, proud, and dignified people. Despite the unmerciful efforts of the Turks, Armenian civilization lives on and thrives today. Thankfully, this spirit lives on in the independent Republic of Armenia. And, it lives on in communities throughout America, especially in my home State of California. In fact, every proud Armenian that walks the world over is the product of generations of perseverance, courage, and hope. I am proud that today my colleagues and I engage in this special order to honor the innocent Armenians who tragically lost their lives. Today we call attention to and acknowledge that the Ottoman Turks committed genocide against the Armenian people. And today, we demand that this undeniable fact be accounted for by the current leaders in Istanbul. Unfortunately, the valuable lessons which might have been learned from this Armenian genocide have gone largely unlearned and unnoticed. Perhaps if more attention had been paid to the slaughter of the innocent Armenian men, women, and children--perhaps if needed lessons in humanity had been learned earlier--our world could have avoided other tragic events and unspeakable events of this past century. But since we can't change the past but only prepare for the future, it is only proper and fitting that the international bastion of democracy, the U.S. House of Representatives, is a voice in this campaign to recognize and acknowledge the Armenian genocide. As George Santayana reminds us, ``Those who forget the past are condemned to repeat it.'' Perhaps this, above all, is the valuable lesson each of us must learn from the Armenian genocide. However, until that day comes, know that I will continue to remind our Nation, and this distinguished body, of our responsibility to learn from the past. And, our responsibility to speak out in order to prevent any such atrocity in the future.

Ms. WOOLSEY

Ms. WOOLSEY. Mr. Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may consume, and I am honored to be sponsoring this resolution with my colleague, the gentleman from Delaware (Mr. Castle). Mr. Speaker, today's resolution, H. Res. 465, recognizes the necessity to keep statistics on the number of newborn babies abandoned in public places. This is a horrible and, unfortunately, an increasing situation. We need additional data so that we can better assess this growing problem so that we can strengthen our efforts to reduce it and prevent it entirely. Too often, Mr. Speaker, we turn on the evening news or wake up to the morning papers to find out that yet another baby has been abandoned in an alley, on a park bench, or some other public place. Too often these babies are sick, injured, suffering from exposure, if indeed they are lucky enough to be alive at all. When the baby does live, communities are very generous. They respond with offers of help for the abandoned baby in the form of clothing and in the form of financial resources. Truly, it is a heart-warming response. While this generosity responds to the immediate problems of the newborn child, it absolutely does not respond to the cause of the problem. Mr. Speaker, our current data on the number of abandoned babies comes from newspaper accounts and other media reports. In order to truly understand this problem and improve our efforts to address it, we need to have all levels of government, local, State, and Federal keep statistics on the number of babies abandoned in public places. It is my hope that this resolution, H. Res. 465, will both encourage our Nation to collect this much-needed data and also invigorate our efforts to make the abandonment of babies a thing of the past. Mr. Speaker, I reserve the balance of my time.

Ms. WOOLSEY. Mr. Speaker, I reserve the balance of my time.

Ms. WOOLSEY

Ms. WOOLSEY. Mr. Speaker, nuclear nonproliferation must be the foundation of any U.S. security policy. I have introduced House Resolution 82 to codify this principle; but, unfortunately, a national missile defense system is contrary to nonproliferation. Mr. Speaker, the British parliament, our closest ally, has put forth two motions, one, to acknowledge the importance of nonproliferation, and the second stating that the reduction and elimination of threat is far wiser than investing in the double and doubtful effectiveness of a missile defense system. Mr. Speaker, we must allow our allies and we must follow our allies and recognize the principles of nonproliferation. I ask my colleagues to consider the NMDS and reconsider it as it relates to nonproliferation and to support H. Res. 82 that recognizes the true security interests of the United States by supporting total nuclear disarmament.

Ms. WOOLSEY

Ms. WOOLSEY. Mr. Speaker, H.R. 4051 is another smoke screen for the Republicans and the NRA to hide behind. While Republicans are wasting time with this ``do nothing'' gun bill, 12 children will die today from gun violence. That's 12 children gone forever. This is not a game, Mr. Speaker, this is about children's lives. Next week we will commemorate the one year anniversary of Columbine. As Representative McCullom admitted, our children need mandatory safety locks; they need powerful ammunition clips to be banned; they need effective background checks; and, they need the gun show loopholes closed. Additionally, what is truly needed is for the NRA to loosen its grip on the Republican leadership. Our children need real gun safety legislation and they need it now. Guns kill, It's that simple. This bill does nothing more than say we should have enforcement of gun laws. What a joke. I urge my Republican colleagues to stop standing up for the NRA and, instead, stand up for children.