[Congressional Record Volume 153, Number 160 (Monday, October 22, 2007)]
[House]
[Pages H11781-H11785]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




       PATERSON GREAT FALLS NATIONAL HISTORICAL PARK ACT OF 2007

  Mr. GRIJALVA. Mr. Speaker, I move to suspend the rules and pass the 
bill (H.R. 189) to establish the Paterson Great Falls National Park in 
the State of New Jersey, as amended.
  The Clerk read the title of the bill.
  The text of the bill is as follows:

                                H.R. 189

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

     SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.

       This Act may be cited as the ``Paterson Great Falls 
     National Historical Park Act of 2007''.

     SEC. 2. FINDINGS AND PURPOSES.

       (a) Findings.--Congress finds the following:
       (1) The Great Falls Historic District in Paterson, New 
     Jersey, is the site that Alexander Hamilton selected to 
     implement his vision of American economic independence and 
     transform a rural agrarian society based on slavery into a 
     global economy based on freedom.
       (2) The Great Falls Historic District was designated as a 
     National Historic Landmark in 1976 and President Gerald Ford 
     declared it ``a symbol of the industrial might which helps to 
     make America the most powerful nation in the world''.
       (3) Section 510 of Public Law 104-333 established the Great 
     Falls Historic District to recognize the contribution to our 
     national heritage of certain historical, cultural, and 
     natural resources of the historic district.
       (4) Exceptional natural and cultural resources make the 
     Great Falls Historic District America's only National 
     Historic District that contains both a National Historic 
     Landmark and a National Natural Landmark.
       (5) Pierre L'Enfant's water power system at the Great Falls 
     and the buildings erected around it over two centuries 
     constitute the finest and most extensive remaining example of 
     engineering, planning and architectural works that span the 
     entire period of America's growth into an industrial power.
       (b) Purposes.--The purposes of this Act are--
       (1) to establish a unit of the National Park System in 
     Paterson, New Jersey, consisting of the Great Falls Historic 
     District; and
       (2) to foster activities among Federal, State, and local 
     governments, non-profit organizations, and private donors to 
     preserve, enhance, interpret, and promote the cultural sites, 
     historic structures, and natural beauty of the Great Falls 
     Historic District for the benefit of present and future 
     generations.

     SEC. 3. DEFINITIONS.

       For the purposes of this Act, the following definitions 
     apply:
       (1) Park.--The term ``park'' means the Paterson Great Falls 
     National Historical Park established in section 4.
       (2) Secretary.--The term ``Secretary'' means the Secretary 
     of the Interior.
       (3) Commission.--The term ``Commission'' means the Paterson 
     Great Falls National Historical Park Commission established 
     in section 7.

     SEC. 4. PATERSON GREAT FALLS NATIONAL HISTORICAL PARK.

       (a) Establishment.--In order to preserve and interpret for 
     the benefit of present and future generations certain 
     historical, cultural, and natural resources associated with 
     the Great Falls National Historic District, there is 
     established in the city of Paterson in the county of Passaic 
     in the State of New Jersey the Paterson Great Falls National 
     Historical Park as a unit of the National Park System.
       (b) Boundaries.--The park shall consist of approximately 
     109 acres as generally depicted on the map titled ``Paterson 
     Great Falls National Historical Park--Proposed Boundary'', 
     numbered T03/80,000, and dated June 2007. The map shall be on 
     file and available for public inspection in the appropriate 
     offices of the National Park Service and the city of 
     Paterson.

     SEC. 5. ADMINISTRATION.

       (a) In General.--The park shall be administered by the 
     Secretary in accordance with this Act and the provisions of 
     law generally applicable to units of the National Park 
     System, including the Act of August 25, 1916 (16 U.S.C. 1-4) 
     and the Act of August 21, 1935 (16 U.S.C. 461-467).
       (b) State and Local Jurisdiction.--Nothing in this section 
     shall be construed to diminish, enlarge, or modify any right 
     of the State of New Jersey or any political subdivision 
     thereof, to exercise civil and criminal jurisdiction or to 
     carry out State laws, rules, and regulations within the park.
       (c) Cooperative Agreements.--
       (1) In general.--In furtherance of the purposes of this 
     Act, the Secretary is authorized, after consultation with the 
     Commission, to enter into cooperative agreements with the 
     owners of properties of natural, historical, or cultural 
     significance within the park, pursuant to which agreements 
     the Secretary may mark, interpret, restore, and provide 
     technical assistance for the preservation of such properties 
     and pursuant to which the Secretary may provide assistance, 
     including management services and program implementation.
       (2) Right of access.--Each cooperative agreement shall 
     provide that the Secretary, through the National Park 
     Service, shall have the right of access at all reasonable 
     times to all public portions of the property covered by the 
     agreement for the purpose of conducting visitors through such 
     properties and interpreting them to the public.
       (3) Alteration of properties.--Each cooperative agreement 
     shall provide that no changes or alterations shall be made in 
     the property covered by the agreement except by mutual 
     agreement between the Secretary and the other party to the 
     agreement.
       (d) Use of Federal Funds.--
       (1) Conversion, use, or disposal of projects.--Any payment 
     made by the Secretary pursuant to a cooperative agreement 
     under this section shall be subject to an agreement that 
     conversion, use, or disposal of a project so assisted for 
     purposes contrary to the purposes of this Act, as determined 
     by the Secretary, shall result in the right of the United 
     States to reimbursement of all funds made available to the 
     project or the portion of the increased value of the project 
     attributable to such funds as determined at the time of such 
     conversion, use, or disposal, whichever is greater.
       (2) Matching funds.--As a condition of expending any funds 
     appropriated to the Secretary for the purposes of cooperative 
     agreements under this section, the Secretary shall require 
     that such expenditure must be matched by expenditure of an 
     equal amount of funds provided by non-Federal sources.
       (3) Donations.--With the approval of the Secretary, any 
     donation of property, goods, or services from a non-Federal 
     source may be considered as a contribution of funds from a 
     non-federal source for purposes of this section.

     SEC. 6. GENERAL MANAGEMENT PLAN.

        Not later than 3 complete fiscal years after the date 
     funds are made available for this purpose, the Secretary 
     shall prepare, in consultation

[[Page H11782]]

     with the Commission, and transmit to the Committee on Natural 
     Resources of the House of Representatives and the Committee 
     on Energy and Natural Resources of the Senate a general 
     management plan for the park in accordance with the 
     provisions of section 12(b) of the Act of August 18, 1970 (16 
     U.S.C. 1a-7(b)), popularly known as the National Park System 
     General Authorities Act, and other applicable law.

     SEC. 7. PATERSON GREAT FALLS NATIONAL HISTORICAL PARK 
                   COMMISSION.

       (a) Establishment.--There is hereby established the 
     Paterson Great Falls National Historical Park Commission 
     whose purpose shall be to assist and advise the Secretary in 
     the development and implementation of the general management 
     plan for the park.
       (b) Membership.--
       (1) Appointments.--The Commission shall be composed of 9 
     members appointed by the Secretary, of whom--
       (A) 4 members shall be from nominees submitted by the 
     Governor of the State of New Jersey;
       (B) 2 members shall be from nominees submitted by the City 
     Council of Paterson;
       (C) 1 member shall be from nominees submitted by the Board 
     of Chosen Freeholders of Passaic County, New Jersey; and
       (D) 2 members shall be qualified to serve on the Commission 
     because of their familiarity with national parks and historic 
     preservation.
       (2) Chairperson; vice chairperson.--The Commission shall 
     elect one of its members as Chairperson and one as Vice 
     Chairperson. The Vice Chairperson shall serve as chairperson 
     in the absence of the Chairperson.
       (3) Vacancies.--A vacancy in the Commission shall be filled 
     in the same manner in which the original appointment was 
     made.
       (4) Terms.--Terms of service are as follows:
       (A) The term of office of the Chairperson and Vice 
     Chairperson shall be one year.
       (B) Members of the Commission shall serve for terms of 3 
     years and may be reappointed not more than once.
       (C) A member may serve after the expiration of his or her 
     term until a successor has been appointed.
       (5) Timeline for appointments.--The Secretary shall appoint 
     the first members of the Commission not later than 30 days 
     after the date on which the Secretary has received all of the 
     recommendations for appointment pursuant to paragraph (1).
       (c) Compensation.--Members of the Commission shall serve 
     without pay, but while away from their homes or regular 
     places of business in the performance of services for the 
     Commission, members shall be allowed travel expenses, 
     including per diem in lieu of subsistence, in the same manner 
     as persons employed intermittently in the Government service 
     are allowed expenses under section 5703 of title 5, United 
     States Code.
       (d) Meetings.--The Commission shall meet at the call of the 
     Chairperson or a majority of its members.
       (e) Quorum.--A majority of the Commission shall constitute 
     a quorum.
       (f) Staff.--The Secretary shall provide the Commission with 
     such staff and technical assistance as the Secretary, after 
     consultation with the Commission, considers appropriate to 
     enable the Commission to carry out its duties. The Secretary 
     may accept the services of personnel detailed from the State 
     of New Jersey, any political subdivision of the State or any 
     entity represented on the Commission.
       (g) Exemption.--Section 14(b) of the Federal Advisory 
     Committee Act (5 U.S.C. App.) shall not apply to the 
     Commission.
       (h) Termination.--The Commission shall terminate 10 years 
     after the date of the enactment of this Act.

     SEC. 8. ACQUISITION OF LAND.

       (a) General Authority.--The Secretary may acquire land or 
     interests in land within the boundaries of the park from 
     willing sellers only by donation, purchase with donated or 
     appropriated funds, or exchange.
       (b) State Property.--Land or interests in land owned by the 
     State of New Jersey or any political subdivision of the State 
     may be acquired only by donation.

     SEC. 9. HINCHLIFFE STADIUM.

        Not later than three years after the date of the enactment 
     of this Act, the Secretary shall complete a study regarding 
     the preservation and interpretation of Hinchliffe Stadium as 
     listed on the National Register of Historic Places. The study 
     shall include an assessment of the potential for listing as a 
     National Historic Landmark as well as options for maintaining 
     the historic integrity of the stadium.

     SEC. 10. AUTHORIZATION OF APPROPRIATIONS.

       There are authorized to be appropriated such sums as may be 
     necessary to carry out this Act.

  The SPEAKER pro tempore. Pursuant to the rule, the gentleman from 
Arizona (Mr. Grijalva) and the gentleman from Texas (Mr. Gohmert) each 
will control 20 minutes.
  The Chair recognizes the gentleman from Arizona.


                             General Leave

  Mr. GRIJALVA. Mr. Speaker, I ask unanimous consent that all Members 
have 5 legislative days to revise and extend their remarks and include 
extraneous material on the bill under consideration.
  The SPEAKER pro tempore. Is there objection to the request of the 
gentleman from Arizona?
  There was no objection.
  Mr. GRIJALVA. Mr. Speaker, soon after the Revolutionary War, 
Alexander Hamilton selected the area around the Great Falls of the 
Passaic River as a site for the first planned industrial center in 
America. Hamilton, then Secretary of the Treasury, invited Pierre 
L'Enfant to design the city in 1791. The result was the City of 
Paterson, New Jersey, which became one of the most important 
manufacturing centers in America during the Industrial Revolution. 
President Gerald Ford designated the Great Falls Historic District as a 
national historic landmark in 1976. The 104th Congress established an 
historic district and authorized the restoration, preservation, and 
interpretive program for the area.
  H.R. 189, sponsored by our colleague, Representative Bill Pascrell, 
the former mayor of Paterson, designates the historic district as a 
National Historic Park and a unit of the National Park System. This 
bill contains standard management language for NPS units.
  This is a unique area and will make an excellent addition to our 
National Park System. Representative Pascrell is to be commended for 
his tireless efforts on behalf of the legislation and the city and the 
people of Paterson. We urge the adoption of this bill by the House 
today.
  Mr. Speaker, I reserve the balance of my time.
  Mr. GOHMERT. Mr. Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may consume.
  Mr. Speaker, while H.R. 189 went through both a hearing and a full 
committee, but not subcommittee, markup, several issues have gone 
unresolved. The National Park Service conducted a study as requested by 
this body to determine whether the Great Falls Historic District in 
Paterson, New Jersey, should become a national park. The study 
concluded that the area did not meet the criteria for inclusion in the 
National Park System.
  Now, if we entrust the National Park Service with the management of 
our own crown jewels, then why are we ignoring their expert judgment 
that this should not be a national park? I remind my colleagues that we 
requested the park service to tell us what should be done here.
  I recognize also it is our responsibility and our right as the 
legislative branch to decide what will become a national park 
regardless of what the park service tells us. There are times when it 
is necessary to disagree with them. However, in this case, we do not 
even know what the costs are. We don't know, nor does the park service 
have any idea, how it would manage the area. That is what we asked them 
to tell us and they are not in a position to do that at this time.
  Now, the park service has already got a full plate and a billion 
dollar maintenance backlog. They are not even keeping up with and 
taking care of the parks that have been entrusted to them. So is this 
really the time to add another park that doesn't meet the criteria to 
add to this burden with this designation?
  Mr. Speaker, I reserve the balance of my time.

                              {time}  1415

  Mr. GRIJALVA. Mr. Speaker, at this time I yield such time as he may 
consume to the gentlemen from New Jersey (Mr. Pascrell), the sponsor of 
the legislation.
  Mr. PASCRELL. Mr. Speaker, I am proud to rise today in strong support 
of the passage of the Paterson Great Falls National Park Act, H.R. 189. 
I want to extend my deepest gratitude to the Speaker, Chairman Rahall 
and Chairman Grijalva for their tireless work in bringing this worthy 
legislation to the floor. I want to thank all the members of the New 
Jersey delegation, Democrats and Republicans. All of them endorsed this 
legislation.
  As a lifelong Paterson resident, as the city's former mayor, I fought 
for many years to bring recognition to this site that has played such a 
seminal role in American history. The National Historic Park is the 
only way to properly showcase the significant cultural and historic 
landmarks and natural beauty that the Great Falls Historic Park 
District has to offer. This legislation ensures that it will get the 
recognition and support that it richly deserves.
  Mr. Speaker, 15 miles west of New York City, the Great Falls was the 
second largest waterfall in Colonial America. At the Great Falls, 
Alexander

[[Page H11783]]

Hamilton conceived a plan to harness the force of water to power the 
new industries that would secure our economic independence. He told the 
Congress of the United States and the American people that at the Great 
Falls he would begin to implement his ambitious strategy to transform 
an agricultural society, dependent upon slavery, into a modern economy 
based on freedom.
  How dare anyone imply that this is not significant. It was the power 
of the Great Falls. True to Hamilton's vision, Paterson became a great 
manufacturing city. It produced the Colt Revolver; the first submarine, 
John Holland, 1878; the aircraft engine for the first transatlantic 
flight; more locomotives than any city in the United States; more silk 
than any city in the world. This is not significant, Mr. Speaker? 
Cotton sails for the U.S. Navy early in the 19th century.
  Mr. Speaker, scholars have concluded that Pierre L'Enfant's 
innovative water power system in Paterson and many factories built 
later constitute the finest remaining collection of engineering and 
architectural structures representing each stage of America's progress 
from a weak agrarian society to the leader in the global economy.
  The Great Falls Historic District is the only national historic 
district that includes both a national natural resource and a national 
landmark, the only one in the entire Nation.
  In a special bicentennial speech in Paterson, with the spectacular 
national beauty of the falls behind it, the President of the United 
States, the late Gerald Ford, in 1976, and I had the honor as a 
Democrat to introduce him that day, Mr. Speaker, said this: ``We can 
see the Great Falls as a symbol of the industrial might which helps to 
make America the most powerful Nation in the world.'' Now, so many 
years later, we are that much closer to making the dream of a national 
park in Paterson a reality.
  I do not see facts and figures here, Mr. Speaker. I see the faces of 
hardworking people from all over the world, who came to Paterson, came 
to the falls and worked in those factories. We are talking about human 
beings. We are talking about people who came here and made this country 
the greatest country in the world, who asked nothing, who didn't get a 
real living wage until years later. I am talking about those people who 
are not faceless, who do have names, who worked hard to give their 
children a better opportunity, a better place.
  That was Alexander Hamilton's dream, to bring economic superiority to 
the United States, so that we would not pretend to be an agrarian 
society for the rest of our history. He introduced the Industrial 
Revolution; and then, secondly, to give equal opportunity to each 
person regardless of where he came from, what he looked like, how he 
cooked his food, how he spoke.
  Mr. Speaker, this legislation enjoys bipartisan and widespread 
support. It is cosponsored by every member of the New Jersey 
congressional delegation. National conservation and historic 
organizations, our Nation's most renowned Hamiltonian scholars and 
distinguished professors throughout America have documented that this 
historic district is worthy of National Historic Park designation. When 
the park service says it is not worthy because we have other places, 
they were even against Lowell, Massachusetts. They didn't support 
Lowell, Massachusetts either.
  This has to do with urban parks. This has to do with how we became 
the country we are today. Editorial boards, Federal, State, local 
officials and community groups have also endorsed the campaign to 
create a National Park Service unit. Today, on page 3, U.S. News, a 
full page on the Paterson Falls and two other places in the United 
States, where that historic district, where the park service was able 
to in partnership with the locality, with the State, to bring economic 
opportunity.
  It is important to note, Mr. Speaker, that this park will be run as a 
partnership between the State of New Jersey and the Federal Government, 
as they already have a State park designated at the site. The National 
Park Service has a long history of Federal and State cooperation, from 
the Lowell National Historic Park to the Redwood National State Parks 
in California. It is park service policy to foster State and Federal 
partnerships to fund and manage parks. Great Falls will be no 
different.
  Mr. Speaker, if the Great Falls District were added to the park 
system, Federal resources could be leveraged to revitalize the falls, 
the entire city, the entire area. Through this Federal partnership, the 
Great Falls will be transformed into an attraction for visitors and 
Patersonians alike that can lead to the economic revitalization of this 
entire area, be a living reminder of our Nation's rich industrial 
history with so many of our star places where we put purple ropes 
around them, ``don't touch.'' That is not what we are talking about 
here. We are talking about living history.
  Congress must act now to pass this vital piece of legislation, so 
that we may fully recognize these cultural and historic landmarks that 
have played such a decisive role in America's history. Today, Mr. 
Speaker, we have that opportunity. I hope we will all come together and 
support that opportunity.
  Mr. GOHMERT. Mr. Speaker, I do need to address the question, and it 
may have been rhetorical, how dare anyone imply that this area is not 
significant? I haven't heard anybody imply such a thing. It is truly 
significant. That is not the issue. The issue is priorities.
  We have been hearing for the last week how important it is for poor 
children to have health care insurance. There are so many priorities; 
yet there are thousands and thousands of wonderfully historic 
significant pieces of property. No one, I would hope, would dare say 
that this area was not significant. It is quite significant.
  Mr. Speaker, I yield such time as he may consume to my friend from 
Georgia (Mr. Price).
  Mr. PRICE of Georgia. I thank my friend from Texas for yielding.
  Mr. Speaker, I appreciate the passion of the gentleman from New 
Jersey. I share his passion for national parks, and I am sure that this 
area is a beautiful and a wonderful area. As such, it has already been 
designated as a National Historic District, which makes it eligible for 
about $3 million in funding.
  I would point out, as my friend from Texas said, that it is the 
National Park Service that said it didn't meet the criteria, not us. I 
am pleased, though, to hear from my friend from New Jersey that, in 
fact, the partnership with the State will be ongoing. I had understood 
that the State of New Jersey had not agreed to provide matching funds. 
I wonder if the gentleman might be able to clarify that.
  Mr. PASCRELL. Mr. Speaker, will the gentleman yield?
  Mr. PRICE of Georgia. I yield to the gentleman from New Jersey.
  Mr. PASCRELL. Yes, the State of New Jersey has designated this as a 
State park. It has committed $10 million to the project in true 
partnership. The municipality has also done the same thing.
  Mr. PRICE of Georgia. Reclaiming my time, I appreciate that. That is 
information I had not had. My concern is kind of rising to the 30,000- 
or 40,000-foot view for the National Park Service.
  Mr. Speaker, I represent the Sixth District of Georgia, which is on 
the northern side of the City of Atlanta, and through my district runs 
the Chattahoochee River National Recreation Area, a 48-mile long linear 
park, the longest linear park in our Nation.
  Mr. Speaker, we have been trying to get accurate communication from 
the National Park Service about how they determine how much of their 
resources, their finite resources that they have, come to the various 
national parks across this Nation.
  We asked that because, as my friend from Texas mentioned, the 
National Park Service appears to be at least $1 billion, if not more, 
in arrears on their maintenance and operations budget. So the 
Chattahoochee River National Recreation Area has trails that are, in 
fact, a danger to those that visit this beautiful park. It is unable to 
patrol the park, again, a 48-mile linear park. It doesn't have the 
number of full-time equivalent employees that ought be there for this 
size park. When we look at other parks around the Nation, we see that 
parks of equivalent visitation, the same number of folks visiting each 
year, get a significantly greater budget. So as we try to drill down 
and find

[[Page H11784]]

out why that is, it appears that that is all political. For example, 
there is a park that a former Speaker of the House of Representatives 
had in his district, and that park gets four or five times the amount 
of funding that parks with the same visitation across this Nation get.
  So we asked the National Park Service, what is your formula? How do 
you determine how much of your budget goes to various national parks 
and national recreation areas. Of course, we haven't been able to get 
that answer. It hasn't been just a week or two, Mr. Speaker; it has 
been years, years, that we have been trying to get that answer.
  So I rise with great concern about the political nature of the 
relationship of the National Park Service and the priorities that they 
set. And as my friend from Texas raised, there may be some concerns 
about this bill that we have on the floor today about that matter as 
well.
  So I raise a greater concern, a concern that I believe would be 
appropriate, to pull back this resolution and find out from the 
National Park Service the answer to those pivotal questions that 
Americans want to know, and that is is there any rationale to how you 
are spending your money. Where is the accountability in how you spend 
your money.
  I appreciate the gentleman from New Jersey and his passion for this 
area. I am sure it is a beautiful and wonderful area, and I look 
forward to visiting it at some point in the future. But I believe we 
have got challenges and problems within the National Park Service. I 
hope we address those first.
  Mr. GRIJALVA. Mr. Speaker, I would say to the gentleman from Georgia, 
if I am not mistaken, the original designation for the Chattahoochee 
National Recreation Area was also not supported by National Park 
Service, and I know that the people of Georgia are glad that this 
Congress used its legislative prerogative to create that designation.
  With that, let me yield such additional time as he may consume to the 
sponsor of the legislation, the gentleman from New Jersey (Mr. 
Pascrell).
  Mr. PASCRELL. I want to address some of the cogent points that have 
been presented by the other side.
  We are not talking about hundreds of square miles here. We are 
talking about 110 acres of land. We are talking about in the middle of 
that property the second largest falls in the East. We are talking 
about what Alexander Hamilton said in 1774, before the establishment of 
the Society of Useful Manufacturers, before America decided that it was 
going to go that industrial route so that we would have a multifaceted 
economy, he discerned that at that falls that water power would bring 
tremendous job growth and tremendous facilitation to economic growth 
and industrial growth.
  He was right. He was absolutely right. No other industrial city, no 
other city that brought the technology and science from England and 
from other parts of Europe had the success that Paterson had. There 
were seven or eight major areas, and I pointed them out and I am not 
going to do it again. I am going to tell you, there is no other area, 
and all powered by the falls.
  Today, when we talk about alternative energy sources, and both sides 
of the aisle have been talking about it, and talking and talking and 
talking and talking, it was really at the falls that we had the 
beginnings of hydroelectric power.

                              {time}  1430

  I think the significance is not to be simply caught up in how 
beautiful the place is. We are not talking about aesthetics; we are 
talking about what the meaning of this place is, where all races and 
all creeds and all nationalities worked during what we call the 
Industrial Revolution.
  This is a national landmark and a national natural landmark, and 
there is no other place in the United States that meets that criteria. 
Isn't that interesting. So while the park system opposed Lowell and 
opposed a lot of things, it is the Congress that will determine in the 
Constitution, the Congress will determine what is a park system and 
what is not. That is our authority; that is our responsibility. And 
today I hope, with your good sense, we will have bipartisan support of 
this legislation.
  Mr. GOHMERT. Mr. Speaker, I have no further speakers, but I 
understand, and I have not had the privilege of visiting the Great 
Falls area, it is supposed to be one of the most beautiful areas and I 
am greatly appreciative of that. As I understand, this area is expected 
to include a microbrewery, a climbing wall, and an apartment complex is 
what was brought to my attention. And these of course raise other 
issues of liability. When we look around the country at all of the 
parks that are struggling right now to take care of their needs because 
the park service is a billion dollars in arrears as far as taking care 
of their current obligations, it should cause us to look carefully and 
go slowly in absorbing other land until we have the wherewithal to do 
so and the park service is able to work with Congress to come up with a 
solid plan to care for the park.
  There are also other issues when you bring in these other things like 
a microbrewery, a climbing wall, and an apartment complex regarding 
liabilities that may arise. There are so many questions still out there 
yet to be resolved.
  I have to say with regard to the Resources Committee, I am well 
pleased there are so many things that are completely bipartisan, and we 
have a number of them today. But because of the issues involved here, 
we will be asking our colleagues to vote ``no'' until we have a better 
plan.
  Mr. Speaker, I yield back the balance of my time.
  Mr. GRIJALVA. Mr. Speaker, let me just in closing say this 
legislation, H.R. 189, this designation goes beyond a simple 
designation. It speaks to the strengthening of our independence as this 
Nation develops. It speaks to a beautiful natural resource that needs 
to be protected and designated, and it speaks to an historic legacy 
about people and industrial advancement that needs to be preserved and 
enhanced and designated for the whole Nation to appreciate. I want to 
thank the sponsor of the legislation and urge my colleagues to exercise 
the wisdom of Congress and approve H.R. 189.
  Mr. HOLT. Mr. Speaker, I rise today to voice my strong support for 
H.R. 189, the Paterson Great Falls National Park Act of 2007. I am 
proud to be a cosponsor of this legislation along with the New Jersey 
Congressional delegation. I also want to thank my colleague, Mr. 
Pascrell, a Paterson native and former mayor, for his hard work in 
drafting this bill and bringing it to the floor.
  H.R. 189 will establish a National Park in Paterson, NJ, encompassing 
118 acres of the Great Falls National Historic District and the 
adjacent Hinchliffe Stadium. These sites are of great historical 
significance to New Jersey and to the Nation at large.
  In 1791, Alexander Hamilton created the Society for the Establishment 
of Useful Manufactures, a public-private corporation, to fulfill his 
vision of transforming the United States from an agrarian society into 
an industrial power. The society, in turn, established Paterson 1 year 
later as America's first planned industrial city.
  Located 15 miles west of New York City, the centerpiece of Hamilton's 
industrial city is the Great Falls, a 77-foot waterfall on the Passaic 
River. After implementing engineer Pierre Charles L'Enfant's water 
power system, dozens of mills and manufacturing buildings were built on 
the banks of the Passaic, harnessing the hydropower made available by 
the Great Falls.
  Paterson was the heart of the industrial revolution in the United 
States, with dozens of mills producing paper, cotton, and enough silk 
for Paterson to earn the nickname ``Silk City.'' As one of the earliest 
centers of manufacturing in the United States, Paterson was also home 
to historic inventions such as Samuel Colt's first repeating revolver 
and inventor John Holland's early submarine prototypes.
  Paterson's Great Falls is also the site of historic Hinchliffe 
Stadium, which served as the homefield for the New York Black Yankees 
of the Negro Leagues during America's Jim Crow era. Placed on the 
National Register of Historic Places in 2004, Hinchliffe Stadium is one 
of a handful of remaining stadiums used by Negro League baseball teams. 
Hinchliffe stadium hosted baseball legends such as Satchel Paige, Josh 
Gibson, and Larry Doby, who became the first African American to 
integrate the American League. The stadium is a poignant reminder of a 
bygone era of our country's national pastime.
  With the passage of this bill, Members of the House will create a 
unique national park that protects a striking natural resource along 
with cultural and historical sites that tell the stories of our 
Founding Fathers, America's

[[Page H11785]]

economic rise and of the African American experience. I urge my 
colleagues to join me in supporting this bill.
  Mr. GRIJALVA. 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 Arizona (Mr. Grijalva) that the House suspend the rules 
and pass the bill, H.R. 189, as amended.
  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. PRICE of Georgia. Mr. 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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