[Congressional Record Volume 153, Number 155 (Monday, October 15, 2007)]
[House]
[Pages H11507-H11508]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




             LOUISIANA ARMED SERVICES VETERANS POST OFFICE

  Mr. DAVIS of Illinois. Madam Speaker, I move to suspend the rules and 
pass the bill (H.R. 2089) to designate the facility of the United 
States Postal Service located at 701 Loyola Avenue in New Orleans, 
Louisiana, as the ``Louisiana Armed Services Veterans Post Office''.
  The Clerk read the title of the bill.
  The text of the bill is as follows:

                               H.R. 2089

       Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of 
     the United States of America in Congress assembled,

     SECTION 1. LOUISIANA ARMED SERVICES VETERANS POST OFFICE.

       (a) Designation.--The facility of the United States Postal 
     Service located at 701 Loyola Avenue in New Orleans, 
     Louisiana, shall be known and designated as the ``Louisiana 
     Armed Services Veterans Post Office''.
       (b) References.--Any reference in a law, map, regulation, 
     document, paper, or other record of the United States to the 
     facility referred to in subsection (a) shall be deemed to be 
     a reference to the ``Louisiana Armed Services Veterans Post 
     Office''.

  The SPEAKER pro tempore. Pursuant to the rule, the gentleman from 
Illinois (Mr. Davis) and the gentlewoman from North Carolina (Ms. Foxx) 
each will control 20 minutes.
  The Chair recognizes the gentleman from Illinois.

                              {time}  1515


                             General Leave

  Mr. DAVIS of Illinois. Madam Speaker, I ask unanimous consent that 
all Members may have 5 legislative days in which to revise and extend 
their remarks.
  The SPEAKER pro tempore. Is there objection to the request of the 
gentleman from Illinois?
  There was no objection.
  Mr. DAVIS of Illinois. Madam Speaker, it is my pleasure to yield such 
time as he might consume to the sponsor of this legislation, 
Representative Jefferson from Louisiana.
  Mr. JEFFERSON. Madam Speaker, I rise today as the sponsor of H.R. 
2089 to rename the main post office in New Orleans from the New Orleans 
Main Office Window Service to the Louisiana Armed Services Veterans 
Memorial Post Office.
  I would like to thank Chairman Waxman for his leadership in bringing 
this bill to the floor today as well as my colleague Mr. Davis of 
Illinois, as well as fellow members of the Louisiana congressional 
delegation who join me as cosponsor of this measure.
  As we approach the commemoration of Veterans Day, it is important to 
note that the State of Louisiana has made many contributions to each 
branch of our armed services and, by extension, to the defense of this 
Nation. My State of Louisiana is home to many proud armed service 
veterans dating from World War I to the present military engagement in 
Iraq. I am proud to say that many of my fellow Louisianans have 
volunteered and sacrificed as soldiers and as families of soldiers in 
the defense of this great Nation, and it is only appropriate that we 
memorialize them in this significant way. Louisiana is home to well 
over 370,000 uniformed veterans. This includes nearly 120,000 who 
served in World War II, 47,000 in the Korean War, 115,000 in the 
Vietnam War, and 80,000 in Desert Storm, the first Gulf War.
  However, simply citing statistics does not give a complete picture. 
It doesn't give a complete picture of the sacrifices nor contributions 
made on behalf of the soldiers nor does it detail the historical 
relationship of Louisiana and the armed services branches of our 
Nation. It could be easily argued that the very battle that propelled 
America onto the world stage as a political and military power was 
fought on January 8, 1815, just below New Orleans, the Battle of New 
Orleans. Louisiana military posts were key supply points for the 
Mexican War of 1848. The Nation's first African American woman to earn 
her star as a general in the U.S. Army was Sherian Grace Cadoria, who 
grew up in Marksville, Louisiana, and graduated from my alma mater at 
Southern University in Baton Rouge.
  Louisiana is also home to three major military installations, 
Barksdale Air Force Base in Bossier City, the Army's Fort Polk Joint 
Readiness Training Center near Leesville, and in my district, the Belle 
Chase naval facility across the Mississippi River from New Orleans. 
Each installation is an integral part of its respective community. Each 
also employs many local residents and has a profound impact on the 
economy of our State.
  I would be remiss, Madam Speaker, were I not to mention the Louisiana 
National Guard, which calls New Orleans home at Jackson Barracks. The 
National Guard has made significant contributions within the State as 
well as abroad. During the first Gulf War, Louisiana had the highest 
number of guardsmen serving per capita than any other State in the 
Nation. However, Louisiana's contributions to the armed services does 
not come without cost. During the current war in Iraq, Louisiana lost 
more than 100 of its servicemen and women and over 500 have been 
wounded; yet this is not the only area in which our armed servicemen 
and women have paid a high price. Unfortunately, some of our veterans 
have had to fight two wars, one abroad and then

[[Page H11508]]

one back at home. I am very pleased this Congress has recognized that 
to some great measure and has done much more this year for our veterans 
than ever before. But in my district, where the Veterans Administration 
Hospital remains closed, this notion is particularly poignant of two 
wars. The closure of this hospital has left many veterans in my 
district with no choice but to travel long distances either to 
Shreveport, Louisiana, or Jackson, Mississippi, for hospital care. 
Though the Veterans Administration has recently announced plans to 
rebuild a bigger and better hospital in New Orleans, and I applaud the 
decision for it is the right one, those doors will still not open for a 
few years, leaving many veterans with few options. The VA has also 
suffered through a backlog of 6,000 Veterans Administration claims in 
Louisiana alone right now. The problem is nationwide and it is growing.
  So today, with Veterans Day not far off, we honor and recognize our 
veterans in Louisiana who have paid a high price for our collective 
freedom. We do this by memorializing them in this significant way and 
memorializing their sacrifices forever by renaming the Main Post Office 
Building in New Orleans the Louisiana Armed Services Veterans Memorial 
Post Office. I urge passage of this bill.
  Ms. FOXX. Madam Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may consume.
  Madam Speaker, I rise today to urge passage of H.R. 2089, to 
designate the U.S. Postal Service location at 701 Loyola Avenue in New 
Orleans as the Louisiana Armed Services Veterans Post Office.
  From the Battle of New Orleans in the War of 1812, to the Chinese 
Bandits who laid the groundwork for U.S. air superiority in the Asian 
theater in World War II, to LTG Russell Honore's leadership of the 
military response to Hurricane Katrina, Louisianans have been at the 
forefront of defending this country from the time of its founding to 
this very day.
  Louisiana's fighters have always been known for being a little 
tougher, a little wilder, a little crazier, if you will, than their 
counterparts from elsewhere. It made them perfect for some missions, 
but not so perfect for others. But the end result always has been that 
they have been quick in the Bayou State to take up arms whenever their 
country needed them.
  Consider Claire Chennault. In 1937, Chennault, a captain in the U.S. 
Army Air Corps, progenitor of the Air Force, resigned his commission to 
go to China on behalf of Madam Chaing Kai-shek to help the Chinese 
build an air force to fend off the Japanese. He did not leave until 
World War II ended in 1945. In the interim, he helped organize an air 
force that featured strategically located airfields and an air raid 
warning system built from scratch that protected all of what was then 
known as Free China. Without his work, American air power could not 
have functioned in China. Later, Chennault was to describe the air raid 
warning system as a vast spider net of people, radios, telephones, and 
telegraph lines that covered all of Free China accessible to enemy 
aircraft. In addition to continuous intelligence of enemy attacks, the 
net served to locate and guide lost friendly planes, direct aid to 
friendly pilots who had crashed or bailed out, and helped guide our 
technical intelligence experts to wrecks or crashed enemy aircraft.
  In other words, something out of nothing. The same as the muskets 
Louisianans used to fend off the British in New Orleans, and General 
Honore used to help rebuild Louisiana after Katrina. It is a tradition 
well worth honoring, and this measure does just that.
  Madam Speaker, I reserve the balance of my time.
  Mr. DAVIS of Illinois. Madam Speaker, I yield myself such time as I 
might consume.
  Madam Speaker, as a Member of the House Committee on Oversight and 
Government Reform, I am pleased to join my colleague in the 
consideration of H.R. 2089, which names a postal facility in New 
Orleans, Louisiana, after the Louisiana armed services veterans.
  H.R. 2089 which was introduced by Representative William Jefferson on 
May 1, 2007, was reported from the Oversight Committee on September 20, 
2007, by voice vote. This measure has the support of the entire 
Louisiana congressional delegation.
  Madam Speaker, the Louisiana armed services veterans were recognized 
for their significant contributions to our country early in the 19th 
and 20th centuries. During the War of 1812, Louisiana's veteran troops, 
which included French, Spanish, African, Anglo, Creole, and Native 
American people, under General Andrew Jackson, decisively defeated the 
British forces on January 8, 1815. This battle forced the British to 
recognize the United States' claim to Louisiana and helped establish 
America as a political and military power.
  In the 20th century, the famous Louisiana maneuvers held at Fort 
Polk, Louisiana, in 1940 tested the mettle of future World War II Army 
Generals Dwight D. Eisenhower and George Patton and the soldiers who 
served under their leadership. President Eisenhower referred to 
Louisianan Andrew Jackson Higgins as ``the man who won the war.'' In 
New Orleans, Higgins designed and built amphibious landing craft that 
made possible the invasions of enemy-held Pacific Islands and the coast 
of France D-Day invasion.
  Rural southeast Louisiana was native soil for two Marine Corps 
commanders, General John Archer Lejeune and General Robert Barrow. The 
Nation's first black woman to earn her stars as a U.S. Army General, 
Sherian Grace Cadoria, grew up in Marksville, Louisiana.
  The Louisiana veterans for centuries have served and defended our 
country with exemplary valor and honor. And so, Madam Speaker, I 
commend my colleague, Representative William Jefferson, for introducing 
this legislation and urge its passage.
  I reserve the balance of my time.
  Ms. FOXX. Madam Speaker, I yield back the balance of my time.
  Mr. Davis of Illinois. Madam Speaker, I yield back the balance of my 
time.
  The SPEAKER pro tempore. The question is on the motion offered by the 
gentleman from Illinois (Mr. Davis) that the House suspend the rules 
and pass the bill, H.R. 2089.
  The question was taken.
  The SPEAKER pro tempore. In the opinion of the Chair, two-thirds 
being in the affirmative, the ayes have it.
  Mr. DAVIS of Illinois. Madam Speaker, on that I demand the yeas and 
nays.
  The yeas and nays were ordered.
  The SPEAKER pro tempore. Pursuant to clause 8 of rule XX and the 
Chair's prior announcement, further proceedings on this motion will be 
postponed.

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