[Congressional Record Volume 151, Number 165 (Monday, December 19, 2005)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Page E2626]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




   DESIGNATING CERTAIN BUILDINGS OF CENTERS FOR DISEASE CONTROL AND 
                               PREVENTION

                                 ______
                                 

                               speech of

                         HON. JAMES L. OBERSTAR

                              of minnesota

                    in the house of representatives

                       Tuesday, December 13, 2005

  Mr. OBERSTAR. Mr. Speaker, I rise in support of H.R. 4500, a bill to 
designate the Headquarters and Emergency Operations Center building of 
the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) in Atlanta, 
Georgia, as the ``Rosa Parks Headquarters and Emergency Operations 
Center Building''. The bill also honors Agnes Gonxha Bojaxhiu, also 
known as Mother Teresa of Calcutta, by designating the CDC's Global 
Communications Center building as the ``Mother Teresa Global 
Communications Center Building''.
  Mother Teresa devoted her life to helping the poor and sick 
throughout the world. Her compassion and humanity, in the face of 
abject poverty, war, and starvation serves as a reminder to us all that 
when our hearts are focused on helping those who can not help 
themselves, our potential for greatness is unlimited. Although, at 
first sight, she appeared to have been a tiny woman, Mother Teresa was 
strong enough to carry the weight of the world's suffering on her 
narrow shoulders and to bring love and dignity to those facing the 
greatest challenges that life can offer.
  Mother Teresa was born in Skopje in modern day Macedonia on August 
27, 1910. She recalled being pulled to the work of God at the age of 12 
and, by age 18, she left her family to join the Sisters of Loreto, an 
Irish community of nuns with missions in India. After teaching at St. 
Mary's High School in Calcutta for 17 years she found that she could no 
longer simply hear the stories of dismal poverty and despair that 
existed outside the convent walls. In 1948, Mother Teresa left the 
convent school to devote her time to working among the poorest of the 
poor in the slums of Calcutta. There she opened a school for poor 
children though she had no money herself.
  On October 7, 1950, Mother Teresa received permission to start her 
own order, ``The Missionaries of Charity''. Since its inception in 
1950, the Missionaries of Charity has spread to all corners of the 
world, tending to the most desperately needy in Asia, Africa, Eastern 
Europe, and Latin America. They also assist in relief work in the wake 
of natural disasters such as floods, epidemics, famine, and 
earthquakes, and care for the homeless and those suffering with the 
AIDS virus.
  Mother Teresa's work was not limited to the developing world. In the 
United States, the Missionaries of Charity have established many soup 
kitchens, emergency shelters for women, shelters for unwed mothers, 
homes for the dying, prison ministries, service to hospitals, and 
nursing homes.
  In 1985, she received the Presidential Medal of Freedom; in 1997, she 
was awarded the Congressional Gold Medal. In 1996, Congress passed and 
the President signed Public Law 104-218, proclaiming Agnes Gonxha 
Bojaxhiu--Mother Teresa--to be an honorary citizen of the United States 
of America. At the time she was only the fifth person to ever receive 
this honor.
  Mother Teresa died on September 5, 1997, in Calcutta. She continued 
to work with the poor right up until her death.
  Mr. Speaker, the bill also designates the headquarters of the Centers 
for Disease Control and Prevention as the ``Rosa Parks Headquarters and 
Emergency Operations Center Building''.
  As I noted during debate on H.R. 2967, which designates a Federal 
building in Detroit, Michigan, in honor of Rosa Parks, she is known as 
the ``mother of the civil rights movement.'' With one single act of 
defiance--when she refused to give up her seat on the Cleveland Avenue 
bus in Montgomery, Alabama--she galvanized a Nation and changed the 
course of history. On December 1, 1955, Mrs. Parks was sitting in the 
middle rows of the bus with three other black riders. The bus driver 
demanded that all four give up their seats so that one white man could 
sit. Three of the riders complied. Mrs. Parks remained seated.
  As Mrs. Parks herself has said in the years following that pivotal 
moment, she hadn't planned on taking a stand that day. She hadn't 
planned on becoming the face of the injustices of segregation. She had 
simply had enough. She was tired of being treated like a second-class 
citizen. She had had enough.
  Rosa Parks' act of courage sparked the civil rights movement.
  The strength and presence of a Federal building perfectly captures 
the character and personality of this icon of the civil rights 
movement.
  It is fitting and just that the lives and accomplishments of Mother 
Teresa and Rosa Parks are acknowledged with these designations.
  I strongly support H.R. 4500 and urge its passage.

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