[Congressional Record Volume 143, Number 102 (Thursday, July 17, 1997)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Page E1458]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




DEPARTMENTS OF VETERANS AFFAIRS AND HOUSING AND URBAN DEVELOPMENT, AND 
             INDEPENDENT AGENCIES APPROPRIATIONS ACT, 1998

                                 ______
                                 

                               speech of

                          HON. WALTER H. CAPPS

                             of california

                    in the house of representatives

                        Wednesday, July 16, 1997

       The House in Committee of the Whole House on the State of 
     the Union had under consideration the bill (H.R. 2158) making 
     appropriations for the Departments of Veterans Affairs and 
     Housing and Urban Development, and for sundry independent 
     agencies, commissions, corporations, and offices for the 
     fiscal year ending September 30, 1998, and for other 
     purposes:

  Mr. CAPPS. Mr. Chairman, I rise in support of this bill and would 
like to commend Chairman Lewis and the ranking member, Mr. Stokes, for 
their diligent work on the important programs covered in this 
legislation.
  As a strong supporter of NASA's Mission to Planet Earth, I am very 
pleased that the bill before us provides full funding for this 
critically important program.
  Mission to Planet Earth will expand our knowledge of ourselves, our 
Earth and its incredibly complex environmental systems. I am convinced 
that we should never shrink from the opportunity to grasp such 
critically important information.
  But MTPE will be more than a search for knowledge. With its series of 
orbiting satellites, set to begin launching next year, Mission to 
Planet Earth's ability to accurately monitor and predict long-term 
climate variability will have great benefits for large sectors of our 
economy, including such diverse industries as agriculture, financial 
services, insurance, and disaster management.
  The ability to predict droughts, floods, and other cataclysmic 
natural events will reap huge benefits in lives and dollars for years 
to come. MTPE information will not only be useful for long-range 
forecasting, but will have daily applications as well. In agriculture, 
to use one example, farmers will be better able to anticipate 
irrigation and harvesting needs, and disease control and eradication 
requirements.
  As NASA programs add to our knowledge of the entire solar system--
with the spectacular exploits on Mars by Sojourner as the most recent 
example--we must not lose sight of all that we still do not know about 
our own glorious world. MTPE will help fill in some of those gaps about 
our environmental systems, improving our quality of life here on Earth 
while we continue our exploration of the stars and planets