[Congressional Record Volume 143, Number 50 (Thursday, April 24, 1997)]
[House]
[Page H1854]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




     NINTH ANNUAL CONGRESSIONAL FIRE AND EMERGENCY SERVICES DINNER

  The SPEAKER pro tempore. Under a previous order of the House, the 
gentleman from Pennsylvania [Mr. Weldon] is recognized for 5 minutes.
  Mr. WELDON of Pennsylvania. Mr. Speaker, I rise today to discuss a 
situation that is an ongoing problem in this country, and that is our 
ability to respond to disasters and life-threatening situations. At 
this very moment we are witnessing nationally the response to major 
flooding in the Dakotas. Over the past several years we have seen a 
number of incidents involving loss of life and property damage caused 
by hurricanes and tornadoes and earthquakes and fires of tremendous 
magnitudes. These incidents are becoming more complicated. Within the 
last several hours, there has been an incident uptown in Washington, 
DC, involving an unknown agent where first responders in this city had 
to respond in special suits because they were not sure whether or not 
it involved a chemical or biological incident.
  Mr. Speaker, day in and day out, 1.2 million men and women in this 
country, our domestic defenders, respond to every disaster and 
emergency situation that this Congress or that this country and our 
communities face.
  On Wednesday of next week, Mr. Speaker, we will in fact host the 
Ninth Annual Congressional Fire and Emergency Services dinner where 
2,000 of the leaders of our domestic defenders across the country from 
every State will assemble in Washington to again celebrate the work 
that these brave individuals provide. They are involved in 32,000 
organized departments, they are paid and they are volunteers, and they 
are out there day in and day out as the first responders to America's 
problems.
  Mr. Speaker, I urge our colleagues to join with us in paying tribute 
to them. Speaker Gingrich will be our keynote speaker this year. Last 
year we had Al Gore and we had Bob Dole. The previous 2 years we had 
President Clinton. Speaker Gingrich will in fact address these 
individuals and reinforce the commitment of this Congress to work on 
their priorities.
  During Wednesday afternoon, Mr. Speaker, starting at 12:45 the Marine 
Corps Chemical and Biological Incident Response Team, which was created 
by Congress over the past year, will respond to a simulated incident 
involving a chemical or biological agent in the Rayburn Park. Two 
hundred forty marines will arrive from Camp LeJeune, and they will 
demonstrate our country's ability to respond to a life-threatening 
situation involving an unknown agent.
  But, Mr. Speaker, even though our marines are the finest in the world 
and this team is the finest in the world today, the first responders 
who have to go on these scenes in the first few minutes are those most 
at risk, and they are the ones that we have to make sure have the 
proper protection, the proper training, and the resources to meet these 
threats until reinforcements can in fact be provided by our military 
and by the marine response unit.
  On Wednesday during the day and the evening, we will focus on this 
group of people and we will discuss the key priorities that we in this 
Congress can focus on to assist these 1.2 million men and women to 
better serve their communities.
  Mr. Speaker, I urge all of our colleagues to join with us both during 
the day at the information sessions, meetings that will be held in 
Member offices, and finally on Wednesday evening to the Washington 
Hilton to attend the ninth annual dinner.
  Mr. Speaker, there are no braver group of people in this country who 
respond to every type of disaster that we face as a nation, and many of 
them are not being paid to respond, and it is appropriate that we in 
the Congress provide the appropriate resources and support to allow 
them to continue to serve America.

                          ____________________