[Congressional Bills 109th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[H. Con. Res. 397 Introduced in House (IH)]







109th CONGRESS
  2d Session
H. CON. RES. 397

 Honoring 2006 Olympic team member Joey Cheek and recognizing the need 
to work with international partners to help bring an end to the ongoing 
genocide in the Darfur region of Sudan and the suffering of children in 
                                 Chad.


_______________________________________________________________________


                    IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

                              May 2, 2006

  Mr. Meeks of New York (for himself, Mr. McNulty, Mr. McGovern, Mr. 
  Lantos, Mr. Michaud, Mr. Payne, Mr. Tancredo, Ms. Corrine Brown of 
 Florida, Mr. Conyers, Mr. Crowley, Mr. Coble, Mr. Delahunt, Mr. Smith 
    of New Jersey, Mr. Cummings, Mr. Miller of North Carolina, Mr. 
   Aderholt, Ms. Berkley, Mr. Serrano, Mr. McCotter, and Mr. Rangel) 
 submitted the following concurrent resolution; which was referred to 
                the Committee on International Relations

_______________________________________________________________________

                         CONCURRENT RESOLUTION


 
 Honoring 2006 Olympic team member Joey Cheek and recognizing the need 
to work with international partners to help bring an end to the ongoing 
genocide in the Darfur region of Sudan and the suffering of children in 
                                 Chad.

Whereas United States 2006 Olympic team member Joey Cheek won the Olympic 500 
        meter speed-skating event with the fastest aggregate time of 69.76 
        seconds to earn the gold medal and a $25,000 prize on February 20, 2006, 
        at the Oval Lingotto in Torino, Italy;
Whereas Joey Cheek, at great sacrifice to his family and himself, has spent 10 
        years training for the Olympic competition;
Whereas, at the completion of the 2006 Olympic Games, Joey Cheek retired from 
        competition and plans to attend college to pursue intellectual 
        enrichment;
Whereas United States Olympic gold medalist Joey Cheek announced that he would 
        donate the total sum of his prize of $25,000 to an organization called 
        ``Right to Play'', whose mission statement reads ``Creating a healthier 
        and safer world for children through the power of sports and play'';
Whereas, in announcing his plan to donate his prize money, Joey Cheek declared, 
        ``In the Darfur region of Sudan, tens of thousands of people have been 
        killed; my government called it genocide. So I will be donating money 
        specifically to a program that helps refugees in Chad, where there are 
        over 60,000 children who have been displaced.'';
Whereas Joey Cheek is not financially wealthy but has sacrificed using his prize 
        money to pay for college in order to help refugee children in Chad;
Whereas Joey Cheek announced that he would ask Olympic sponsors to match his 
        donation;
Whereas, on July 22, 2004, the United States House of Representatives and the 
        United States Senate declared that atrocities taking place in the Darfur 
        region of Sudan are genocide;
Whereas over 3,500,000 people have been affected by the fighting in the Darfur 
        region of Sudan;
Whereas the government of Sudan sponsored a terrorist group called Janjaweed 
        that has been brutally murdering and raping women and girls while 
        capturing them for the sex slave trade and human trafficking;
Whereas the terrorist group Janjaweed has also been brutally murdering men and 
        boys and capturing boys for slavery and to become child soldiers;
Whereas, because the government of Sudan has denied humanitarian groups access 
        to refugee camps, the humanitarian groups cannot provide assistance to 
        displaced individuals;
Whereas the African Union has established a peacekeeping mission to monitor the 
        situation in Darfur: Now, therefore, be it
    Resolved by the House of Representatives (the Senate concurring), 
That--
            (1) it is the sense of the House of Representatives (the 
        Senate concurring) that--
                    (A) Joey Cheek is a great American who espouses the 
                principles of democracy and support for human rights;
                    (B) Joey Cheek represents the best that the United 
                States has to offer in its citizenry through his 
                accomplishments on the ice as an athlete and through 
                his principles and respect for human life;
            (2) the House of Representatives (the Senate concurring)--
                    (A) recognizes the difficulties the displaced and 
                orphaned children of the Darfur region of Sudan 
                encounter and supports the actions of Joey Cheek in 
                bringing their suffering to the attention of the 
                international community;
                    (B) encourages all people in the world to help 
                bring an end to suffering and to work in partnership 
                with nongovernmental organizations to bring about this 
                goal; and
                    (C) recognizes the need to work with international 
                partners to help bring an end to the ongoing genocide 
                in Darfur region of Sudan and the suffering of children 
                in Chad.
                                 <all>