[Congressional Record Volume 142, Number 28 (Tuesday, March 5, 1996)]
[House]
[Pages H1688-H1689]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




   EXPRESSING APPRECIATION FOR CONGRESSIONAL SUPPORT FOR EVERGLADES 
 PRESERVATION LEGISLATION, AND ADDRESSING TOPICS WHICH CREATE HAVOC IN 
                               THE NATION

  The SPEAKER pro tempore. Under a previous order of the House, the 
gentleman from Florida [Mr. Foley] is recognized for 5 minutes.
  Mr. FOLEY. Mr. Speaker, first of all, I want to thank the Congress 
for their excellent efforts on behalf of the Everglades in Florida, 
with their resounding 299 vote of support for the $210 million 
appropriation for our National Park, the Everglades.
  Particularly I would like to thank the Speaker of the House, the 
gentleman from Georgia, Newt Gingrich, for appearing in the well and 
debating this issue with me for the preservation of our endangered 
Everglades. I think Congress sent a message across America that this is 
a bipartisan effort to preserve and protect our environment, and I 
again applaud the Speaker and the gentleman from Texas, [Mr. Armey], 
and others who valiantly supported our efforts, as well as the 
gentleman from Florida, [Mr. Deutsch], and members of the Florida 
delegation, for their strong, steadfast belief that in order to 
preserve the quality of life of Florida, we must protect our natural 
resources, including our water supply.
  I would also like to take a moment to commend the Caring Foundation 
in West Palm Beach, FL, headed by Larry and Betty Brown, who are dear 
friends of mine. They put on a performance

[[Page H1689]]

called We the Living, which was produced by the School of the Arts and 
the South Area High School. It is a play reflecting the problems faced 
by our youth today regarding drugs and violence.
  The young people put on this performance to display the concerns that 
are expressed in the school environment: the peer pressure, the 
degradation of life, and all the tragedies that result in the abuse of 
narcotics. It is important today, as we have many closeup students in 
the gallery, to understand how destructive drugs are and how 
destructive violence is in our school system.
  ``We the Living,'' the play, exemplified why students are fighting, 
fighting for survival in the classroom, fighting for survival in the 
streets of our communities, all recognizing that the one fundamental 
problem that is so difficult for them to overcome is the influence of 
drugs in our society and the influence peer pressure has in the first 
attempt to use drugs.
  Again, I applaud the Caring Foundation, and I urge all of our schools 
and all of our youth to do what they can to not make it cool to be 
involved in narcotics or illegal activities, but in fact, that it would 
be cool to say no. As in the DARE Program and the Just Say No Program, 
stand up and be counted against the destruction of human life, the 
destruction and aggravation of human suffering which drugs provide.
  I would also like to speak about child abuse today, because that is 
another topic that is creating tremendous havoc in our Nation. Our 
children are abused daily. We are reading about more shocking details 
of abuse and abandonment, both sexually and otherwise, and it just has 
to stop. As a nation, we have to lead the charge against child abuse, 
most strictly penalize those that would bring about child abuse, 
especially sexual abuse, and fight for the rights of our children, 
because once they are abused, it is a very difficult and tragic way to 
come back into society. Palm Beach County is starting a Home Safe 
project, which will give children a chance to be in an environment safe 
from the dangerous opportunities they experienced in their homes.
  I would also like to take a moment and look at the headlines ``Hamas 
Bomb Kills 13 at Mall in Tel Aviv; Bomb Ravages Israel.'' The war in 
Israel is a tragedy. The New York Times did a wonderful editorial 
today, basically outlining the problems: The suicide bombings, the 
difficulties that are being experienced by the people of Israel. We in 
America, and I know my colleague, the gentleman from Pennsylvania, Jon 
Fox, joins in a strong condemnation of these attacks, a strong 
condemnation against violence, not only in Israel, but in London and in 
other places around the globe.

                              {time}  1315

  But the one thing they stress in the editorial, the war in Israel, 
the war between a small group of fanatics who want to destroy the 
chances for peace and the millions of Israelis and Palestinians who 
want to live side-by-side in peace, prosperity, and security, the 
fanatics must not be allowed to prevail.
  Both sides, the Israelis and the Palestinians, want peace. There are 
a few radical groups that are trying to dislodge that peace. We must 
remain calm and committed to peace in Israel. We must remain calm and 
keep the PLO and others at the table to ensure the survival of the 
Middle East. We cannot condone or tolerate terrorism, and we certainly 
cannot condone it in Israel or, as I mentioned, in London. It simply 
must stop.
  The hatred, the violence, the antisemitics in this country must stop. 
The campaigns that are being waged for the Presidency, the dialog needs 
to change and we need to focus on the future of America, not dividing 
people by color, race or ethnicity, not dividing people by differences 
of opinion, but thinking of what unites this country together in a 
spirit of independence and democracy.
  This is the greatest Nation in the world. We have so much to be proud 
of, and at the same time we seem to be destroying everything we have 
worked for for 200-plus years by divisive, nasty, mean-spirited debate. 
It needs to stop, and it needs to stop by arguments by both sides of 
the aisle that for democracy to prevail, men need to think with their 
heads clearly, committed to compassion and to people's rights.

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