[Congressional Record Volume 154, Number 121 (Wednesday, July 23, 2008)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Pages E1545-E1547]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                            SUNSET MEMORIAL

                                 ______
                                 

                           HON. TRENT FRANKS

                               of arizona

                    in the house of representatives

                        Wednesday, July 23, 2008

  Mr. FRANKS of Arizona. Madam Speaker, I stand once again before this 
House with yet another Sunset Memorial.
  It is July 23, 2008, in the land of the free and the home of the 
brave, and before the sun set today in America, almost 4,000 more 
defenseless unborn children were killed by abortion on demand. That's 
just today, Madam Speaker. That's more than the number of innocent 
lives lost on September 11 in this country, only it happens every day.
  It has now been exactly 12,966 days since the tragedy called Roe v. 
Wade was first handed down. Since then, the very foundation

[[Page E1546]]

of this Nation heen stained by the blood of almost 50 million of its 
own children. Some of them, Madam Speaker, cried and screamed as they 
died, but because it was amniotic fluid passing over the vocal cords 
instead of air, we couldn't hear them.
  All of them had at least four things in common. First, they were each 
just little babies who had done nothing wrong to anyone, and each one 
of them died a nameless and lonely death. And each one of their 
mothers, whether she realizes it or not, will never be quite the same. 
And all the gifts that these children might have brought to humanity 
are now lost forever. Yet even in the glare of such tragedy, this 
generation still clings to a blind, invincible ignorance while history 
repeats itself and our own silent genocide mercilessly annihilates the 
most helpless of all victims, those yet unborn.
  Madam Speaker, perhaps it's time for those of us in this Chamber to 
remind ourselves of why we are really all here. Thomas Jefferson said, 
``The care of human life and its happiness and not its destruction is 
the chief and only object of good government.'' The phrase in the 14th 
amendment capsulizes our entire Constitution. It says, ``No State shall 
deprive any person of life, liberty or property without due process of 
law.'' Madam Speaker, protecting the lives of our innocent citizens and 
their constitutional rights is why we are all here.
  The bedrock foundation of this Republic is the clarion declaration of 
the self-evident truth that all human beings are created equal and 
endowed by their Creator with the unalienable rights of life, liberty 
and the pursuit of happiness. Every conflict and battle our Nation has 
ever faced can be traced to our commitment to this core, self-evident 
truth.
  It has made us the beacon of hope for the entire world. Madam 
Speaker, it is who we are.
  And yet today another day has passed, and we in this body have failed 
again to honor that foundational commitment. We have failed our sworn 
oath and our God-given responsibility as we broke faith with nearly 
4,000 more innocent American babies who died today without the 
protection we should have given them.
  So Madam Speaker, let me conclude this Sunset Memorial in the hope 
that perhaps someone new who heard it tonight will finally embrace the 
truth that abortion really does kill little babies; that it hurts 
mothers in ways that we can never express; and that 12,966 days spent 
killing nearly 50 million unborn children in America is enough; and 
that it is time that we stood up together again, and remembered that we 
are the same America that rejected human slavery and marched into 
Europe to arrest the Nazi Holocaust; and we are still courageous and 
compassionate enough to find a better way for mothers and their unborn 
babies than abortion on demand.
  Madam Speaker, as we consider the plight of unborn America tonight, 
may we each remind ourselves that our own days in this sunshine of life 
are also numbered and that all too soon each one of us will walk from 
these Chambers for the very last time.
  And if it should be that this Congress is allowed to convene on yet 
another day to come, may that be the day when we finally hear the cries 
of innocent unborn children. May that be the day when we find the 
humanity, the courage, and the will to embrace together our human and 
our constitutional duty to protect these, the least of our tiny, little 
American brothers and sisters from this murderous scourge upon our 
Nation called abortion on demand.
  It is July 23, 2008, 12,966 days since Roe versus Wade first stained 
the foundation of this Nation with the blood of its own children; this 
in the land of the free and the home of the brave.
    

[[Page E1547]]

                       SENATE COMMITTEE MEETINGS

  Title IV of Senate Resolution 4, agreed to by the Senate on February 
4, 1977, calls for establishment of a system for a computerized 
schedule of all meetings and hearings of Senate committees, 
subcommittees, joint committees, and committees of conference. This 
title requires all such committees to notify the Office of the Senate 
Daily Digest--designated by the Rules Committee--of the time, place, 
and purpose of the meetings, when scheduled, and any cancellations or 
changes in the meetings as they occur.
  As an additional procedure along with the computerization of this 
information, the Office of the Senate Daily Digest will prepare this 
information for printing in the Extensions of Remarks section of the 
Congressional Record on Monday and Wednesday of each week.
  Meetings scheduled for Thursday, July 24, 2008 may be found in the 
Daily Digest of today's Record.

                           MEETINGS SCHEDULED

                                JULY 25
     9:30 a.m.
       Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs
       Investigations Subcommittee
         To continue hearings to examine financial institutions 
           located in offshore tax havens, focusing on ways to 
           strengthen United States domestic and international tax 
           enforcement efforts.
                                                            SD-342

                                JULY 29
     9:30 a.m.
       Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs
       Investigations Subcommittee
         To hold hearings to examine the magnitude of outstanding 
           payroll tax debt, focusing on the policies and 
           procedures that are used to collect unpaid payroll 
           taxes.
                                                            SD-342
     10 a.m.
       Banking, Housing, and Urban Affairs
         To hold hearings to examine the state of the insurance 
           industry, focusing on the current regulatory and 
           oversight structure.
                                                            SD-538
       Environment and Public Works
       Clean Air and Nuclear Safety Subcommittee
         To hold hearings to examine the Environmental Protection 
           Agency's (EPA) Clean Air Interstate Rule (CAIR), 
           focusing on a recent court decision and its 
           implications.
                                                            SD-406
       Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions
       Employment and Workplace Safety Subcommittee
         To hold hearings to examine the Occupational Safety and 
           Health Administration (OSHA), focusing on protecting 
           workers from dangerous dust at the workplace.
                                                            SD-430
       Finance
         To hold hearings to examine the future of United States 
           trade policy, focusing on perspectives from former 
           United States trade representatives.
                                                            SD-215
       Judiciary
         To hold hearings to examine music and radio in the 21st 
           century, focusing on assuring fair rates and rules 
           across the platforms.
                                                            SD-226
     11 a.m.
       Appropriations
       Labor, Health and Human Services, Education, and Related 
           Agencies Subcommittee
       Financial Services and General Government Subcommittee
         To hold joint hearings to examine food marketing to 
           children, focusing on ways to make it safer.
                                                            SD-192
     2:15 p.m.
       Foreign Relations
         Business meeting to consider pending calendar business.
                                                    S-116, Capitol
     2:30 p.m.
       Intelligence
         Closed business meeting to consider pending intelligence 
           matters.
                                                            SH-219

                                JULY 30
     9 a.m.
       Judiciary
         To hold hearings to examine hiring at the Department of 
           Justice.
                                                            SD-226
     10 a.m.
       Commerce, Science, and Transportation
         To hold hearings to examine ways to improve consumer 
           protection in the prepaid calling card market.
                                                            SR-253
       Judiciary
         To hold hearings to examine the White House and the 
           Environmental protection Agency (EPA), focusing on 
           impeding congressional oversight.
                                                            SD-226
     12 noon
       Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs
       Disaster Recovery Subcommittee
         To hold hearings to examine planning for post-catastrophe 
           housing needs, focusing on if the Federal Emergency 
           Management Agency (FEMA) has developed an effective 
           strategy for housing large numbers of citizens 
           displaced by a disaster.
                                                            SD-562
     1 p.m.
       Judiciary
         To hold hearings to examine S. J.Res. 45, expressing the 
           consent and approval of Congress to an inter-state 
           compact regarding water resources in the Great Lakes--
           St. Lawrence River Basin.
                                                            SD-226
     2:30 p.m.
       Energy and Natural Resources
       National Parks Subcommittee
         To hold hearings to examine S. 1816, to authorize the 
           Secretary of the Interior to establish a commemorative 
           trail in connection with the Women's Rights National 
           Historical Park to link properties that are 
           historically and thematically associated with the 
           struggle for women's suffrage, S. 2093, to amend the 
           Wild and Scenic Rivers Act to designate a segment of 
           the Missisquoi and Trout Rivers in the State of Vermont 
           for study for potential addition to the National Wild 
           and Scenic Rivers System, S. 2535, to revise the 
           boundary of the Martin Van Buren National Historic 
           Site, S. 2561, to require the Secretary of the Interior 
           to conduct a theme study to identify sites and 
           resources to commemorate and interpret the Cold War, S. 
           3011, to amend the Palo Alto Battlefield National 
           Historic Site Act of 1991 to expand the boundaries of 
           the historic site, S. 3113, to reinstate the Interim 
           Management Strategy governing off-road vehicle use in 
           the Cape Hatteras National Seashore, North Carolina, 
           pending the issuance of a final rule for off-road 
           vehicle use by the National Park Service, S. 3148, to 
           modify the boundary of the Oregon Caves National 
           Monument, S. 3158, to extend the authority for the Cape 
           Cod National Seashore Advisory Commission, S. 3226, to 
           rename the Abraham Lincoln Birthplace National Historic 
           Site in the State of Kentucky as the ``Abraham Lincoln 
           Birthplace National Historical Park'', S. 3247, to 
           provide for the designation of the River Raisin 
           National Battlefield Park in the State of Michigan, and 
           H.R. 5137, to ensure that hunting remains a purpose of 
           the New River Gorge National River.
                                                            SD-366
       Intelligence
         To hold closed hearings to examine certain intelligence 
           matters.
                                                            SH-219

                                JULY 31
     9:30 a.m.
       Indian Affairs
         To hold an oversight hearing to examine Indian health 
           service management, focusing on lost property, wasteful 
           spending and document fabrication.
                                                            SD-562
     1 p.m.
       Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs
       Disaster Recovery Subcommittee
         To hold joint hearings with the House Committee on 
           Homeland Security Subcommittee on Emergency 
           Communications, Preparedness to examine ways to ensure 
           the delivery of donated goods to survivors of 
           catastrophes.
                                              311, Cannon Building
     2 p.m.
       Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs
       Oversight of Government Management, the Federal Workforce, 
           and the District of Columbia Subcommittee
         To hold hearings to examine reliance on smart power, 
           focusing on reforming the foreign assistance 
           bureaucracy.
                                                            SD-342
     2:30 p.m.
       Intelligence
         To hold closed hearings to examine certain intelligence 
           matters.
                                                            SH-219