[Congressional Record Volume 148, Number 61 (Tuesday, May 14, 2002)]
[House]
[Pages H2404-H2406]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
{time} 1530
RECOGNIZING AMERICAN SOCIETY OF CIVIL ENGINEERS ON ITS 150TH
ANNIVERSARY
Mr. BARTON of Texas. Mr. Speaker, I move to suspend the rules and
agree to the concurrent resolution (H. Con. Res. 387) recognizing the
American Society of Civil Engineers for reaching its 150th Anniversary
and for the many vital contributions of civil engineers to the quality
of life of our Nation's people including the research and development
projects that have led to the physical infrastructure of modern
America.
The Clerk read as follows:
H. Con. Res. 387
Whereas, founded in 1852, the American Society of Civil
Engineers is the Nation's oldest national engineering
society;
Whereas civil engineers work to constantly improve
buildings, water systems, and other civil engineering works
through research, demonstration projects, and the technical
codes and standards developed by the American Society of
Civil Engineers;
Whereas the American Society of Civil Engineers
incorporates educational, scientific, and charitable efforts
to advance the science of engineering, improve engineering
education, maintain the highest standards of excellence in
the practice of civil engineering, and ensure the public
health, safety, and welfare;
Whereas the American Society of Civil Engineers represents
the profession primarily responsible for the design,
construction, and maintenance of the Nation's roads, bridges,
airports, railroads, public buildings, mass transit systems,
resource recovery systems, water systems, waste disposal and
treatment facilities, dams, ports and waterways and other
public facilities that are the foundation on which the
Nation's economy stands and grows; and
Whereas the Nation's civil engineers, through innovation
and the highest professional standards in the practice of
civil engineering, protect the public health and safety and
ensure the high quality of life enjoyed by the Nation's
citizens: Now, therefore, be it
Resolved by the House of Representatives (the Senate
concurring), That the Congress--
(1) acknowledges the American Society of Civil Engineers
for its 150th Anniversary;
(2) commends the many achievements of the Nation's civil
engineers; and
(3) encourages the American Society of Civil Engineers to
continue its tradition of excellence in service to the
profession of civil engineering and to the public.
The SPEAKER pro tempore (Mr. LaHood). Pursuant to the rule, the
gentleman from Texas (Mr. Barton) and the gentleman from Kansas (Mr.
Moore) each will control 20 minutes.
The Chair recognizes the gentleman from Texas (Mr. Barton).
General Leave
Mr. BARTON of Texas. Mr. Speaker, I ask unanimous consent that all
Members may have 5 legislative days within which to revise and extend
their remarks and include extraneous material on House Concurrent
Resolution 387.
The SPEAKER pro tempore. Is there objection to the request of the
gentleman from Texas?
There was no objection.
Mr. BARTON of Texas. Mr. Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may
consume.
(Mr. BARTON of Texas asked and was given permission to revise and
extend his remarks.)
Mr. BARTON of Texas. Mr. Speaker, first, I want to commend our
distinguished chairman, the gentleman from New York (Mr. Boehlert), and
our distinguished ranking member, the gentleman from Texas (Mr. Hall),
for their excellent work on this resolution that was reported on a
bipartisan basis from the Committee on Science. I also want to thank
the gentleman from Kansas (Mr. Moore), my good friend, for his
excellent work and for serving as an original cosponsor with myself on
this bill.
Before I get into my prepared remarks, I want to say a special ``get
well soon'' to young Lindsay Taylor, who is 12 years old down in Round
Rock, Texas. She is the President of her National Junior Honor Society.
She is a budding civil engineer, although I think she wants to go to
the University of Texas instead of Texas A&M, where I went to
engineering school. She is home sick today and we need all of our young
engineers to get
[[Page H2405]]
well quick, so I hope that she does so very soon.
Our first great civil engineer in this country was the man that we
now know as the Father of our country, George Washington. George
Washington was a surveyor who made his living in between serving as a
military commander in the militia, the British forces before the
Revolutionary War, surveying and doing engineering work in what is now
Virginia and going west, west from Virginia.
In 1852, we founded what is now called the American Society of Civil
Engineers. If we had been alive at that point in time, the first great
project that civil engineers would have worked on for this Nation would
have been the Transcontinental Railroad. Can we imagine, if people came
to the gentleman from Kansas (Mr. Moore) and myself, or the gentleman
from New York (Mr. Boehlert) and the gentleman from Texas (Mr. Hall)
today and said, we want you to build a transcontinental railroad, could
we do it? I doubt it. But the civil engineers of that time said, not a
problem, and even as the Civil War was going on, they were racing to
build what we now call the Transcontinental Railroad, and they hammered
in the golden spike in 1869 and bound our great Nation together.
What would we have done if around the turn of the century, President
Roosevelt, not Franklin Roosevelt, but Teddy Roosevelt had come and
said, I want you to build the Panama Canal to bring together for the
first time the Isthmus of Panama, the Atlantic and Pacific Oceans. I do
not think many of us could have worked on that project either
successfully, but the civil engineers of that era did that. What about
during World War II, if President Franklin Roosevelt had come and said,
we need to build a great port infrastructure and we need to improve our
highways and we need to build great pipelines, could we have done that?
I do not think many of us could, but the civil engineers of that time
could. What if in the 1950s President Eisenhower had come and said,
Congressman Barton, I want you to build an interstate highway system. I
do not think many of us could have done that, but the civil engineers
of the 1950s did that.
I could go on and on. But as we begin to move into the 21st century,
there are still great civil engineering projects to be done, and
luckily for us today in the United States, we have over 125,000 members
of the American Society for Civil Engineers, registered, professional
engineers who have made it their life's work to build a better America.
We tend to think of engineers as kind of nerdy people with pencils
behind their ears and slide rules in their pockets. Nothing could be
further from the truth. They are people helping people. They are
building the projects that bind this great Nation together and, more
and more, binding this great world together.
So, Mr. Speaker, I am delighted, along with the gentleman from Kansas
(Mr. Moore), my good friend, to sponsor this resolution honoring the
150th anniversary of the American Society for Professional Engineers,
because they have truly helped to build a better America.
Mr. Speaker, I reserve the balance of my time.
Mr. MOORE. Mr. Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may consume.
I thank the gentleman from Texas (Mr. Barton) for his good work on
this bill. I also want to join my colleague from Texas in thanking the
gentleman from New York (Mr. Boehlert), the chairman of the committee,
and the gentleman from Texas (Mr. Hall), the ranking member.
I am very, very pleased to be here today with the gentleman from
Texas to honor 150 years of service by the American Society of Civil
Engineers to their profession, our country, and the world. ASCE is the
oldest of engineering societies and clearly one of the best in the
whole world.
Civil engineers literally have built America. One hundred and fifty
years ago, there were no skyscrapers. There were wooden bridges and no
one would have dreamed of spanning the Chesapeake Bay or the San
Francisco Bay. Railroads were just beginning. Roads were at most two
lanes and perhaps were even built of planks. Manned flights came over
50 years later.
Now, we have an interstate highway system, an intercontinental
railroad system, and a network of local and international airports that
are the backbone of United States commerce. Small dams have been
replaced, Mr. Speaker, with huge ones that provide large volumes of
electricity. Human health has been enhanced by improved sanitation with
sanitary landfills, waste water treatment facilities, and distribution
systems for clean water.
How much of this would have been possible without the American
Society of Civil engineers? Well, we cannot know for sure, but they
certainly deserve much of the credit. ASCE has encouraged generations
of bright Americans to enter the profession. It has helped develop
educational standards and continuing education opportunities for civil
engineers, and it has established a series of institutes and a research
foundation to advance the knowledge base of the profession.
ASCE is the largest publisher of civil engineering information in the
world, much of which is at the fingertips of the ASCE membership
through its website. The American Society of Civil Engineers has even
gone international and has formal relationships with professional
organizations of civil engineers in almost 50 countries.
The small group of engineers who banded together in 1852 would not
recognize today's organization. ASCE now has around 125,000 members,
over half of the civil engineers in this country, organized in
sections, branches, and student chapters and clubs.
ASCE is not resting on its laurels, though. It is aggressively adding
new services for its members. It has ambitious programs for working
with the Congress, the government at all levels, and the public at
large to place the programs and policies needed to improve our built
environment. Priority areas for 2002 include clean water,
infrastructure financing, math and science education, natural hazards
impact reduction, and smart growth.
I ask my colleagues, Mr. Speaker, to join with me in approving House
Concurrent Resolution 387 that congratulates and honors the American
Society of Civil Engineers on 150 years of service. This is a
spectacular beginning and I will bet we have not seen anything yet.
Mr. Speaker, I yield back the balance of my time.
Mr. BARTON of Texas. Mr. Speaker, I yield myself 2 minutes.
Mr. Speaker, let me say that several years ago the American Society
for Civil Engineers made me one of their engineering fellows. It is a
distinguished achievement award that they really give to engineers who
have made a lifetime in civil engineering and have done outstanding
feats. They gave it to me primarily because I am one of the few
registered professional engineers in the Congress, but it is one of the
high honors that I have received as a Member of the House, and the
certificate is on my wall in the entry way to my office, and I am very,
very proud of that.
For that and many, many reasons I think this is a resolution that is
very worthwhile passing for this body because of the fine work that
civil engineers have done for the last 150 years. So I hope that when
the time comes to vote, we can pass it with unanimous consent.
Mr. Speaker, I would simply say that this resolution we hope to pass
by unanimous consent today and send to the other body and pass it over
there so that it actually can be signed by the President and presented
to the leadership of the American Society for Civil Engineers sometime
this fall when the actual calendar anniversary occurs for the 150th
anniversary. It is very, very worth doing, and I hope that we can do it
in a very bipartisan fashion.
Mr. BOEHLERT. Mr. Speaker, I want to thank you for the opportunity to
join my colleagues in commending the American Society of Civil
Engineers (ASCE) for their 150 years of service to our country. I also
want to thank the Gentleman from Texas, Mr. Barton, and the Gentleman
from Kansas, Mr. Moore, for introducing this resolution.
It is difficult to imagine an area of our lives that has not been
touched by civil engineers. They ensure that when we turn on the tap,
we have clean water to drink. Civil engineers designed the massive
transportation systems that make it possible for us to move freely and
efficiently across this vast country. Moreover, civil engineers design
technologies and practices to help clean up polluted water and to
ensure that our natural resources are preserved for future generations.
[[Page H2406]]
Americans benefit from the expertise and hard work of engineers
everyday, but rarely acknowledge or recognize our debt to them. I am
lucky enough, however, to have a different experience with engineers.
During my time on the Science Committee and especially as Chairman, I
have come to rely on ASCE as a valuable resource. I may not be making
headlines here, but we in government do not know everything all the
time.
After the tragedy of September 11, we immediately began to look for
lessons we could learn from this horrible event. FEMA put together a
team, led by ASCE, to investigate the World Trade Center collapse. The
team set out to discover exactly why the building collapsed, if the
buildings could have stood for longer, and if more lives could have
been saved. I cannot even begin to fathom the work this team did, but
in eight months they delivered an important report to Congress
detailing the sequence of events that led to the buildings' collapse.
This work will go a long way toward saving lives. Now, we are working
closely with ASCE with legislation that will hopefully make their jobs,
on further building investigations, easier.
Mr. Speaker, I am very proud of the work that civil engineers do for
our country and I am ever grateful for the service that ASCE provides
to this Congress and to me personally. I congratulate ASCE on 150 years
and I look forward to many more.
Mr. BARTON of Texas. Mr. Speaker, I yield back the balance of my
time.
The SPEAKER pro tempore. The question is on the motion offered by the
gentleman from Texas (Mr. Barton) that the House suspend the rules and
agree to the concurrent resolution, H. Con. Res. 387.
The question was taken; and (two-thirds having voted in favor
thereof) the rules were suspended and the concurrent resolution was
agreed to.
A motion to reconsider was laid on the table.
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