[Congressional Record Volume 143, Number 104 (Tuesday, July 22, 1997)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Page E1472]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                          PERSONAL EXPLANATION

                                 ______
                                 

                         HON. ROBERT A. WEYGAND

                            of rhode island

                    in the house of representatives

                         Tuesday, July 22, 1997

  Mr. WEYGAND. Mr. Speaker, on July 16, 1997, I was unavoidably 
detained and was not, therefore, able to vote on rollcall votes 279 and 
280. Had I been able to vote, I would have voted ``yea'' on both votes.
  During that time, I was hosting an interactive cable TV show with 
Secretary of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, Donna 
Shalala, and the vice president for government relations for the 
National Committee to Preserve Social Security and Medicare, Max 
Richtman. Secretary Shalala and Mr. Richtman joined me to discuss and 
take phone calls from my constituents on the current congressional and 
Presidential proposals aimed at repairing the ailing Medicare System.
  Many of the programs contained in H.R. 2158, the Veterans Affairs and 
Housing and Urban Development appropriations bill are of great interest 
to me. A great amount of the HUD housing in my district is section 202 
and section 811 housing for elderly and the disabled. I am pleased 
therefore, that the bill passed by the House provides $839 million for 
these programs.
  I am also pleased that the legislation included $30 million for the 
YouthBuild program. YouthBuild is a HUD-funded program that provides 
academic and skills training to at-risk young men and women. Several 
weeks ago, I visited the YouthBuild program in Providence, RI. On that 
visit, I met 18 of the 20 YouthBuild trainees on their first day in the 
program. I was pleased to learn yesterday that only one of the students 
I met with has since left the program. The rest are now spending half 
their time in the classroom, many preparing for their GED's, and the 
rest of their time learning important job skills as they rehabilitate a 
previously abandoned three-story home. At the end of their work, the 
students will have learned valuable skills and provided housing for a 
worthy family.
  The legislation also provides $7.23 billion for the Environmental 
Protection Agency and its important programs such as the Brownfields 
Program are also of great concern to my district.
  Finally, Mr. Speaker, the bill provides money for a wide range of 
programs that support science and space exploration. The National 
Science Foundation, which funds a wide variety of research projects at 
Rhode Island's universities, received more money than last fiscal year 
and more than requested in the President's budget. In addition, several 
NASA programs survived budget cutting. We have been reminded over the 
last few weeks of just how valuable NASA's work is to our Nation and 
the world. The drama associated with the difficult conditions faced by 
two Russians and an American on Mir has attracted worldwide concern. 
Farther away, the triumphs of a balloon-encased spacecraft and its 
breadbox-sized companion on the surface of Mars has piqued the interest 
of people worldwide about huge Martian floods and the prospect that our 
world may not be as unique as we once thought. Remarkably, at the same 
time, the space shuttle lifted off from Kennedy Flight Center, 
conducted important yet risky experiments and returned to Earth with 
hardly a notice.

                          ____________________