[Congressional Record Volume 145, Number 99 (Wednesday, July 14, 1999)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Page E1535]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




             ORACLE CORPORATION: A MODEL CORPORATE CITIZEN

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                            HON. TOM LANTOS

                             of california

                    in the house of representatives

                        Wednesday, July 14, 1999

  Mr. LANTOS. Mr. Speaker, I am certain that my colleagues are familiar 
with the extraordinary success of Oracle Corporation of Redwood Shores, 
California. Oracle is the world's second largest software company and 
the leading supplier of software for enterprise information management. 
Under the guidance of its visionary CEO, Larry Ellison, Oracle has 
pioneered the use of the Internet computing model for the development 
and deployment of enterprise software. The technological leadership of 
this outstanding company, which operates in more than 145 countries 
around the globe, has dramatically improved the ability of businesses 
to compete in our rapidly changing world.
  Oracle's status as a corporate role model, however, rests on far more 
than its supremacy in the field of information technology. A corporate 
citizen of the highest order, Oracle has generously provided services 
and technical support to charities and social causes around the world. 
The company has truly made a difference.
  Mr. Speaker, one recent illustration of exemplary corporate 
citizenship also demonstrated Oracle's information technology prowess 
and its application to public service. The ongoing humanitarian crisis 
in the Balkans, resulting from Slobodan Milosevic's campaign of ethnic 
cleansing in Kosova, has left hundreds of thousands of refugees with 
husbands separated from wives and families and parents separated from 
their children. Attempts to reunite these shattered families have taxed 
the resources of NATO and international peacekeepers, as well as United 
Nations refugee officials and other humanitarian organizations.
  Desperate to ease the plight of lost family members, the American Red 
Cross turned to Oracle for an Internet-based solution. Oracle quickly 
responded by developing the Displaced Persons Linking System (DPLS), an 
innovative program which has greatly assisted relief workers in 
reuniting lost family members. In recent days, this technology has been 
used to bring together many refugees separated by the chaos of war, 
including a 13-year-old Kosovar refugee and her father in a Macedonian 
refugee camp, as well as an elderly Kosovar man in a New Jersey relief 
center and his son in Albania.
  Mr. Speaker, Oracle's outstanding humanitarian efforts were noted by 
the Acting President of the American Red Cross, Steve Bullock, who 
said: ``The Balkan refugee crisis is enormously complex both in terms 
of its size and scope. Oracle's status as the world's leader in 
information management technology has helped us tackle this problem in 
a manner that will help not only Kosovar refugees and their families, 
but also the victims of natural disasters whom the American Red Cross 
traditionally has served. I can think of a few organizations better 
suited to helping the American Red Cross move into the new millennium 
than Oracle.''
  Mr. Speaker, Oracle's significant contribution to the relief effort 
in Kosova merits the sincere gratitude and appreciation of all of us.
  The development of the DPLS is only one of a multitude of charitable 
efforts initiated by Oracle. The Computers for Coexistence program, for 
example, uses the growth of Internet technology to promote peace and 
stability. Oracle is currently installing hundreds of network computers 
in Israeli and Palestinian cities, in schools and community centers, to 
link children of both people to the Internet and to foster 
communication between them. A similar effort to bridge the ``digital 
divide'' is also underway in Northern Ireland, offering a new avenue 
for bringing together Protestant and Catholic children and undermining 
ancient prejudices.
  An additional charitable venture, Oracle's Promise, is helping to 
better the lives of children here at home. By providing computers to 
schools in low-income neighborhoods across America. Oracle has helped 
to create enhanced learning opportunities for over 125,000 young people 
in more than 1,000 classrooms all over our country. These invaluable 
interventions have occurred in Atlanta, Chicago, Dallas, Denver, Los 
Angeles, Oakland, San Francisco, Washington, DC, and many other cities. 
These efforts have earned Oracle the commendation of General Colin 
Powell in his ``America's Promise 1999 Report to the Nation.''
  Mr. Speaker, Oracle employees directly assist these various programs 
by volunteering in communities in all corners of our great country. In 
addition to the thousands of volunteer hours contributed to these 
projects. Oracle employees devote spare time to causes ranging from 
Meals on Wheels to literacy tutoring, from assisting senior citizens 
with minor home repairs to raising money for breast cancer research. 
Oracle strongly encourages and helps to coordinate these efforts, 
reflecting this corporate citizen's genuine commitment to public 
service.
  As America's economy grows and prospers, I hope that other companies 
follow Oracle's outstanding example by recognizing a corporate 
responsibility both to their communities and to the welfare of the less 
fortunate. Mr. Speaker, I am honored to represent in the Congress the 
international headquarters of Oracle Corporation, as well thousands of 
its employees in the Bay Area. I ask my colleagues to join me in 
commending the men and women of Oracle for their exceptional 
contributions to our society.

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