[Congressional Record Volume 144, Number 21 (Thursday, March 5, 1998)]
[House]
[Pages H881-H882]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                IN CELEBRATION OF WOMEN'S HISTORY MONTH

  The SPEAKER pro tempore. Under a previous order of the House, the 
gentlewoman from Texas (Ms. Jackson-Lee) is recognized for 5 minutes.
  Ms. JACKSON-LEE of Texas. Mr. Speaker, I wanted to acknowledge my 
colleague who spoke earlier on this whole issue of Ken Starr and the 
President. I thank him for his balance.
  Let me say that I associate myself with the sense of his remarks that 
none of us should be acting precipitously. As a Member of the House 
Committee on the Judiciary, I have repeatedly stated that this is a 
time for facts, measured efforts, full investigations and the cessation 
of accusations. I hope my colleague on the other side of the aisle 
would likewise join me in these comments, for, as a member of the 
Committee on the Judiciary, it seems even to me that calls for 
impeachment and impeachment proceedings may themselves be precipitous.
  I rose today to celebrate a very important occasion this month as we 
begin to celebrate women's history month. That is my pride in the 
announcement today by the President of the United States along with Ms. 
Hillary Rodham Clinton and Dan Goldin, NASA Administrator, of the 
selection of Colonel Eileen Collins to be the first commander of the 
space shuttle and NASA where she is located in Johnson Space Center in 
Houston, Texas. As a Congresswoman from Houston and a

[[Page H882]]

member of the House Committee on Science, I cannot tell Members what an 
important day this was for those of us who believe in the opportunities 
for women, wherever their preparedness and their abilities may take 
them.

                              {time}  1345

  As a member of the House Committee on Science, I was greatly 
concerned at the recent national study that showed that our children, 
no matter who they were, were not competitive internationally with math 
and science. How wonderful it was to hear Colonel Eileen Collins salute 
her parents as her first teachers and her love for math and science. 
How wonderful it was for her to be able to say to me how she would 
enthusiastically join me in visiting some of my schools in order to 
share herself as a role model in explaining to young people the value 
of math and science.
  Another special note that Colonel Collins started out in community 
college, which says to all Americans in support of the President's 
efforts to ensure that every American has a chance, an opportunity for 
higher education, and that they can be successful and can start in 
their community college systems where they can go for free under new 
legislation we just passed.
  So, Mr. Speaker, I am delighted to support Eileen Collins and say we 
have important issues before us, and that is why, as I close, that I 
want to say that the Children's Congressional Caucus will be dealing 
with the question of mental illness that impacts our children. I think 
no child should be left out. And what we want to do is to focus our 
attention on ensuring that any child who has a diagnosed behavioral 
emotional problem is not cast aside and it is said, well, they cannot 
be anything. Our hearing will focus on enhancing the resources, 
accessibility to resources, and helping those parents who are trying to 
help their children.
  This has been a combination of issues, but I think they match each 
other, one by starting out and saying let us get the facts regarding 
the leadership of this Nation; let us salute a woman who is already a 
leader, who will lead us into space; and let us not forget our 
children, those who may be thought of as castaways, and let us make 
sure we provide all the resources we can give to our children to make 
them the very best in this Nation. Let us not be spendthrifts or cut 
the dollars where we need them in order to help our children.

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