[Congressional Record Volume 153, Number 14 (Wednesday, January 24, 2007)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Page E181]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA AND UNITED STATES TERRITORIES CIRCULATING QUARTER 
                           DOLLAR PROGRAM ACT

                                 ______
                                 

                               speech of

                          HON. SPENCER BACHUS

                               of alabama

                    in the house of representatives

                       Tuesday, January 23, 2007

  Mr. BACHUS. Madam Speaker, I rise in strong support of H.R. 392, the 
District of Columbia and United States Territories Circulating Quarter 
Dollar Program Act, introduced by the gentlewoman from the District of 
Columbia, Ms. Norton.
  We are all aware of the popularity of the 50-State quarter program, 
which will continue through 2008. The Treasury has benefited from more 
than $6 billion worth of quarters taken out of circulation by serious 
and amateur collectors alike.
  The gentleman from Delaware, Mr. Castle, deserves great credit for 
the State quarters program. He came up with the idea, worked tirelessly 
through two Congresses, and brought the Treasury Department on board 
back in the mid-1990s.
  H.R. 392 would establish a quarters program for the District of 
Columbia and U.S. territories in 2009, after the 50-State program runs 
its course. This is actually the fifth Congress in which we've tried to 
pass this program. I managed consideration of the bill in the House in 
September 2000. It has passed the House in every succeeding Congress, 
but has never been taken up--even at the committee level--in the other 
body.
  The quarters program has immense educational value. Teachers prepare 
lesson plans based on each new quarter, and parents save them and 
discuss them with their children. H.R. 392 is a way to recognize the 
contributions made to the United States by people from the District of 
Columbia, Puerto Rico and the territories.
  Madam Speaker, this is good legislation, and I am glad we are taking 
it up as one of the first bills from the Financial Services Committee 
in the 110th Congress. This is bipartisan legislation, as much of the 
work product of the committee has been since I came to Congress, and I 
look forward to continuing that tradition with the new chairman, the 
gentleman from Massachusetts, Mr. Frank. I only hope that this time, 
the legislation will win full congressional approval and be sent to the 
President for his signature.
  Madam Speaker, I welcome this bill and urge its immediate adoption.

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