[Congressional Record Volume 152, Number 117 (Tuesday, September 19, 2006)]
[House]
[Pages H6687-H6690]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
REQUESTING THE PRESIDENT TO ISSUE A PROCLAMATION CALLING FOR OBSERVANCE
OF GLOBAL FAMILY DAY, ONE DAY OF PEACE AND SHARING
Ms. ROS-LEHTINEN. Madam Speaker, I move to suspend the rules and
agree to the resolution (H. Con. Res. 317) requesting the President to
issue a proclamation annually calling upon the people of the United
States to observe Global Family Day, One Day of Peace and Sharing, and
for other purposes, as amended.
The Clerk read as follows:
H. Con. Res. 317
Whereas, in the year 2005, the people of the world suffered
many calamitous events, including devastation from tsunami,
terror attacks, war, famine, genocide, hurricanes,
earthquakes, political and religious conflict, disease,
poverty, and rioting, all necessitating global cooperation,
compassion, and unity previously unprecedented among diverse
cultures, faiths, and economic classes;
Whereas grave global challenges in the year 2006 may
require cooperation and innovative problem-solving among
citizens and nations on an even greater scale;
Whereas, on December 15, 2000, Congress adopted Senate
Concurrent Resolution 138, expressing the sense of Congress
that the President of the United States should issue a
proclamation each year calling upon the people of the United
States and interested organizations to observe an
international day of peace and sharing at the beginning of
each year;
Whereas, in 2001, the United Nations General Assembly
adopted Resolution 56/2, which invited ``Member States,
intergovernmental and non-governmental organizations and all
the peoples of the world to celebrate One Day in Peace, 1
January 2002, and every year thereafter'';
Whereas many foreign heads of state have recognized the
importance of establishing Global Family Day, a special day
of international unity, peace, and sharing, on the first day
of each year; and
Whereas family is the basic structure of humanity, thus, we
must all look to the stability and love within our individual
families to create stability in the global community: Now,
therefore, be it
Resolved by the House of Representatives (the Senate
concurring), That Congress urgently requests the following:
(1) That the President issue a proclamation annually
calling upon the people of the United States to observe
Global Family Day, One Day of Peace and Sharing, a day which
is dedicated--
(A) to eradicating violence, hunger, poverty, and
suffering; and
(B) to establishing greater trust and fellowship among
peace-loving nations and families everywhere.
(2) That the President invite former Presidents of the
United States, Nobel laureates, and other notables, including
American business, labor, faith, and civic leaders, to join
the President in promoting appropriate activities for
Americans and in extending appropriate greetings from the
families of America to families in the rest of the world.
The SPEAKER pro tempore. Pursuant to the rule, the gentlewoman from
Florida (Ms. Ros-Lehtinen) and the gentleman from California (Mr.
Lantos) each will control 20 minutes.
The Chair recognizes the gentlewoman from Florida.
General Leave
Ms. ROS-LEHTINEN. Madam Speaker, I ask unanimous consent that all
Members may have 5 legislative days to revise and extend their remarks
on the resolution under consideration and to include extraneous
material.
The SPEAKER pro tempore. Is there objection to the request of the
gentlewoman from Florida?
There was no objection.
Ms. ROS-LEHTINEN. Madam Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may
consume.
I rise in support of House Con. Res. 317, requesting the President to
issue a proclamation setting aside a day dedicated to eradicating
violence and establishing greater trust among peace-loving nations and
families everywhere.
This resolution has a distinguished history, Madam Speaker. In the
year 2000, Congress unanimously agreed to a similar resolution. The
previous legislation, authored by the late Senator Paul Wellstone from
Minnesota, expressed the sense of Congress that a day of peace and
sharing should be established at the beginning of each year. This day
would encourage people around the world to gather with family, their
faith community, and neighbors to share a meal and to pledge to work
for peace in the new year. It called upon Americans to match or
multiply the cost of that year's meal with a contribution to fight
hunger.
In the following year, 2001, the United Nations General Assembly
adopted a resolution asking the global community to set aside the first
day of the year to recognize the importance of international unity,
peace, and sharing.
Today, Madam Speaker, we are considering House Concurrent Resolution
317, sponsored by my colleague Congressman Conyers, recognizing that in
order to implement these resolutions calling for peace and the
alleviation of worldwide suffering, we must rely heavily on the family.
It is the family that is the basic unit of a civil society. The family
is where our values are learned and carried out. Stability and peace in
the global community can only be accomplished one family at a time.
A special day where families worldwide can sit down to a meal and
pledge
[[Page H6688]]
to work locally for peace and to end injustice in their own communities
will no doubt have a worldwide impact.
I urge an ``aye'' vote, Madam Speaker.
Madam Speaker, I reserve the balance of my time.
Mr. LANTOS. Madam Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may consume.
Madam Speaker, I rise in strong support of this resolution.
I would first like to commend my good friend and distinguished
colleague, the ranking member of our Judiciary Committee, John Conyers,
for introducing this resolution and for advocating on behalf of Global
Family Day for many years. I would also like to thank Chairman Hyde for
allowing this resolution to move to the floor.
Madam Speaker, this resolution is very simple and very important. It
provides that the Nation should set aside time dedicated to eradicating
violence, hunger, and poverty, and to establishing greater trust and
fellowship among peace-loving nations and families everywhere.
As we commemorate the lives lost in the tragedy that occurred on
September 11, 5 years ago, it is particularly fitting that the
President designate a day for eradicating violence and embracing our
common humanity.
Madam Speaker, I urge all of my colleagues to support this
resolution.
Madam Speaker, I reserve the balance of my time.
Ms. ROS-LEHTINEN. Madam Speaker, I reserve the balance of my time.
Mr. LANTOS. Madam Speaker, I am very pleased to yield such time as he
may consume to the author of this resolution, my good friend and
distinguished colleague from Michigan, Congressman Conyers.
Mr. CONYERS. Madam Speaker, I rise absolutely overjoyed at the action
that has been taken by the Committee on International Relations. I
begin by commending the distinguished chairman, Henry Hyde, a current
member of the House Judiciary Committee, where he was once chairman; my
dear friend from Florida, Subcommittee Chairwoman Ileana Ros-Lehtinen;
and, of course, the esteemed Tom Lantos, the ranking member of the
committee.
Ladies and gentlemen, I cannot tell you how thrilled I am to see a
resolution come back to the floor for the observance of Global Family
Day, One Day of Peace and Sharing. It has a long history that the
gentlewoman from Florida remembers all the way back to the late Senator
Paul Wellstone. And I join all of you as we in the Congress continue to
search for a way to find peace in Iraq and Afghanistan, in every corner
of the world.
There are widely divergent views about how we arrive at peace; but
most of all, we are deeply concerned about the subject. We have
families, constituents, individuals who are longing for peace in the
world and an end to the suffering caused by poverty, disease, and
hunger. Untold numbers of our friends, neighbors, parents, children are
hoping that there can be more understanding, more generosity, more
genuine friendship and more caring among people of all faiths and
cultures. We struggle with military strategies and budgets, economic
considerations, and international issues.
But there is one matter which we can come together on, and this is
House Concurrent Resolution 317 that calls upon the President to issue
an annual proclamation calling upon the Nation's citizens to observe
Global Family Day. It has been done before in the year 2000, and we are
so pleased that it is being done today.
I would remind you that in 2001 following the tragedy of 9/11, the
United Nations General Assembly took the same action. In more than 20
nations around the globe, the leaders of those countries have
personally endorsed this initiative. And here in the Nation's capital,
Mayor Anthony Williams proclaimed just 2 months ago that January 1,
2007, would be a day for all Washingtonians to become peacemakers in
whatever capacity that they can.
Frequently, this took the role of people breaking bread with someone,
some family of another faith, of another community, and the idea was to
get to know one another better. It provides a way of saying to the
world that we understand that it is the individuals, the 6.6 billion
people on this planet, interacting with one another that will allow
this to happen.
So I thank the tireless advocates who have worked on this matter
across the years. Organizationally, they include the Martin Luther
King, Jr. Family Life Institute, the National Association of Former
Foster Care Children of America, the Global Family Day Foundation; but,
of course, it is the founder of this idea that came to us in the
Congress years ago with young children who wanted to start doing
something along with the former Senator from Minnesota, and that is Ms.
Linda Grover, whose dedication and commitment has inspired all of us to
this unique, creative way to bring us all a little closer together.
Again, my thanks to the floor leaders that have managed this.
Mr. KUCINICH. Madam Speaker, will the gentleman yield?
Mr. CONYERS. I yield to the gentleman from Ohio.
Mr. KUCINICH. Madam Speaker, I want to thank the gentleman for his
work on this resolution, and I ask the gentleman with his consent that
I could be added as an original cosponsor.
Mr. CONYERS. Yes. I thought that he was, but if he wasn't, he is now.
Mr. McCAUL of Texas. Madam Speaker, I reserve the balance of my time.
Mr. LANTOS. Madam Speaker, I am pleased to yield 4\1/2\ minutes to my
friend and colleague from Texas, Sheila Jackson-Lee.
(Ms. JACKSON-LEE of Texas asked and was given permission to revise
and extend her remarks.)
Ms. JACKSON-LEE of Texas. Madam Speaker, let me thank my
distinguished friend from California for yielding and his leadership,
as well as my friend from Texas. Most of all, let me offer my great
appreciation for Congressman Conyers and his service and his commitment
and years of working on human rights and justice issues in the United
States and his collaboration on this legislation. I thank him for
allowing me to be an original cosponsor for something as instructive
and as insightful as this legislation is. I am delighted to be joined
with a number of cosponsors now, Mr. Kucinich as well.
And I rise today to applaud the concept, but also to say how vital
and how important this idea is. We celebrate Thanksgiving and holidays
around the Christmastime. Many of the different faiths call that
timeframe in their own faith a name. We have commemorations around the
birth of Christ for Christians, and other faiths have their
commemorations. We are eager to promote peace, as I am an original
cosponsor of the Department of Peace, offered by my good friend from
Ohio, Mr. Kucinich. But I do not know if we realize how crucial it is
in this day and time to have a Global Family Day, One Day of Peace and
Sharing.
{time} 1645
Maybe if you would take a journey with me back to New Orleans,
reminiscing and remembering the horrificness of Hurricane Katrina and
the time we spent just a few weeks ago, some 28 Democratic Members who
traveled throughout the gulf region. We really went to see the
improvement, to be able to shake hands and to see where people had
moved from the devastation of 2005. But yet we found ongoing
devastation.
We bent down and we offered prayers as well as action. And it made me
think more and more that we needed to be able to come together as
families to address the question of hurricanes and earthquakes, famine
and genocide. Because right here in the United States in the gulf
region, there are still people who are homeless, not because they are
not Americans who have contributed to this country, and veterans and
people who have built their homes and raised their families, but
because this government has failed to provide them with the resources
necessary to go back to their homes, private insurance companies have
not been able to provide them with relief to build their homes.
So this day is a broader concept of being able to bring us together,
not to forget those who are now hopeless sometimes and helpless, but to
be able to say that we want to reunite families.
Then I want you to think of the child soldiers around the world. I
thought maybe we had extinguished that. I offered legislation early in
my career
[[Page H6689]]
about the elimination or the lack of use of child soldiers by cutting
some of the foreign relations funding. But yet child soldiers exist.
They are still fighting in guerilla warfares around the world. Children
who are barely 8 years old, 7 years old, 12 years old have their limbs
eliminated because they are now in guerilla warfare. We need this
Global Family Day, One Day of Peace and Sharing.
Then, of course, the crisis in Sudan. I am asking the President, as
he interacts with, again, the nation of families, to demand that the
President of Sudan step aside to allow the African Union peace keepers
to enter into their territory, to prevent the famine, the genocide, the
brutality, the violence, the violence against women.
For those of us who have been in the Sudan, who have been in Chad
where the refugees are, the stories are horrific. If you sit down on
the dirt floor as I have done with the women of Sudan to tell you about
how they are raped continuously when they simply go out to get wood, in
order to provide fire in order to survive. This is a time now that the
United Nations when the President can demand, along with the General
Assembly and the U.N. Security Council for the Sudan to step aside and
the world family to condemn them.
And so this Global Family Day, One Day of Peace and Sharing that the
President should call for the United States, should be that we pray for
the peace and human rights of the people of Iran, for the troops to
come home so that they can be redeployed out of Iraq, and that the
Iraqi Government can take their rightful place of leadership.
We pray for those in the gulf region who are now suffering. This
resolution is so crucial, so vital, so important, because it is a day
of action, because it is calling for action. All of us who are
comfortable in our homes right now need to be aware that the world is
in trouble.
But the United States, taking the high moral ground, has the
opportunity, based upon this wonderful resolution, to be instructive
and to gather its people around to ask for the freedom and peace and
justice of the people in Sudan, freedom and human rights, and a new day
in Iran and a standing down of any military violence by the United
States against Iran.
And, as well, the redeployment of our troops out of Iraq, and the
governance of the people of Iraq so that we can promote this Global Day
of Peace and Sharing.
Madam Speaker, I rise today in support of H. Con. Res. 317:
Requesting the President to issue a proclamation annually calling upon
the people of the United States to observe Global Family Day, One Day
of Peace and Sharing, and for other purposes.
Global Family Day originated from One Day Holiday, a day of peace and
sharing together around the world, and is the first major shared global
event to annually celebrate the entire human family, its achievements,
and its aspirations.
Global Family Day is an important and necessary day set aside to
represent the unity of the human family. At a time of war, hatred,
poverty, and friction within our international community, Global Family
Day reminds us to remain hopeful, to weather the stormy seas, to look
for peace in the midst of the tempest.
We need a Global Family Day, because we are indeed in the midst of a
troubling time. In the United States alone, there is plenty to remind
of us of the urgency of fighting many of our social maladies.
In 2000, 16.2 percent of persons in the United States under the age
of 18 were considered poor.
In that same year, 11.7 million American children younger than 18
lived below the poverty line.
One out of every six American children (16.3 percent) was poor in
2001. More specifically, 30.2 percent of African-American children, 28
percent of Hispanic children, 11.5 percent of Asian and Pacific
Islander children, and 9.5 percent of Non-Hispanic White children were
poor.
1 in 1.056 children will be killed by guns before the age of 20.
Children make up 12 percent of all crime victims reported to the
police, including 71 percent of all sex crimes and 38 percent of all
kidnapping victims.
Participation in the observance of Global Family Day is an important
gesture of compassion. When we recognize Global Family Day, we support
the idea of peace over war. When we recognize Global Family Day, we
support the fight against poverty. When we recognize Global Family Day,
we support world unity over ill-motivated antagonism.
As the leader of the free world, the United States must foster a
sense of empathy, compassion, and brotherhood. We must join our bothers
and sisters around the world to build hope at a time of doubt, to
spread love and unity in a time of hate and division.
I urge my colleagues to support this resolution requesting the
President to issue a proclamation annually calling upon the people of
the United States to observe Global Family Day, One Day of Peace and
Sharing, and other purposes.
Mr. McCAUL of Texas. Madam Speaker, I reserve the balance of my time.
Mr. LANTOS. Madam Speaker, I yield 2 minutes to the gentleman from
Ohio (Mr. Kucinich).
Mr. KUCINICH. Madam Speaker, I want to thank the gentleman from
California for this opportunity to address this resolution, which calls
upon the people of the United States to observe Global Family Day, One
Day of Peace and Sharing.
The prayer of Saint Francis begins with these words: make me a
channel of our peace. And the gentleman from San Francisco, certainly
throughout his career and here again today, affirms his work for peace.
I want to join with him and the prime sponsor, Mr. Conyers, in
requesting the President to issue this annual proclamation.
This is an important moment when we can unite as a Congress to stand
for peace. Because if we can do that for one moment, and we can
advocate that it be done for a day, we know that we have the capacity
to master the social arts to the point where we can make peace a
practice in our everyday lives, not just the absence of war, but the
active practice of a capacity for mutuality, for understanding, for
peace-giving, for peace-sharing. We have this capacity.
We showed it last week when we came together on a resolution honoring
the Dalai Lama with a Congressional Gold Medal. I want to thank Mr.
Lantos for giving me the opportunity. Because of you, I had the chance
to meet the Dalai Lama years ago.
We have this capacity in this Congress to bring our aspirations to
the highest level possible and in that way connect with the whole
world. Because what this talks about is one day around the world for
peace and sharing. So we at this moment unite with a family of
humanity. We at this moment stand strong on principles of human unity.
We can do that in this moment, and we can do it for many other moments
as well.
Mr. LANTOS. Madam Speaker, I thank my friend for his heartfelt and
warm words. I yield 2 minutes to my distinguished colleague and very
good friend from Illinois (Mr. Davis).
Mr. DAVIS of Illinois. Madam Speaker, I want to thank the gentleman
from California for yielding me time.
Madam Speaker, I am pleased to join with all of those who have
expressed an interest and a concern in this resolution. I rise because
I firmly move that we have the capacity to go far beyond where we are.
As a matter of fact, I recall John Kennedy once saying that peace is
not found only in treaties, covenants and charters, but in the hearts
of men.
I suspect that if he were alive today, he would say in the hearts of
men and of women. I happen to believe that we learn what we live, and
that if we actively pursue the concepts of peace that we find different
ways to handle conflict resolution.
I know that there are people who would say, what is the point in
talking about this? Well, I will tell you the point. And I want to
commend the gentleman from Michigan, because I remember reading a book
that said, in the beginning was the word. And, of course, the words go
forth. And people internalize those words. So I am pleased to join all
of those who have spoken on this issue today. I do believe that peace
is possible.
Mr. LANTOS. Madam Speaker, I want to thank all of my colleagues for
their very significant statements. We have no additional requests for
time, and I yield back the balance of our time.
Mr. McCAUL of Texas. Madam Speaker, I yield back the balance of my
time.
The SPEAKER pro tempore. The question is on the motion offered by the
gentlewoman from Florida (Ms. Ros-Lehtinen) that the House suspend the
rules and agree to the concurrent
[[Page H6690]]
resolution, H. Con. Res. 317, as amended.
The question was taken; and (two-thirds having voted in favor
thereof) the rules were suspended and the concurrent resolution, as
amended, was agreed to.
A motion to reconsider was laid on the table.
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