[Congressional Record Volume 154, Number 153 (Thursday, September 25, 2008)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Page E1925]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                          EARMARK DECLARATION

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                          HON. EDWARD R. ROYCE

                             of california

                    in the house of representatives

                     Wednesday, September 24, 2008

  Mr. ROYCE. Madam Speaker, pursuant to the Republican Leadership 
standards on earmarks, I am submitting the following information 
regarding earmarks I received as part of H.R. 2638, the Consolidated 
Security, Disaster Assistance, and Continuing Appropriations Act:
  Requesting Member: Congressman Ed Royce.
  Bill Number: H.R. 2638.
  Account: U.S. Army, Research, Development, Test & Evaluation (RDT&E).
  Legal Name of Requesting Entity: California State University, 
Fullerton.
  Address: 800 N. State College Boulevard, Fullerton, CA 92831.
  Description of Request: This bill provides $1,600,000 to continue the 
Prader-Willi Syndrome (PWS) Research project being led by the 
California State University, Fullerton. Specifically, funding would be 
used for equipment and supplies (such as indirect calorimeter machine, 
microarray machine for genome scans, DNA sequencer), and for testing 
(such as brain and abdominal MRIs; extensive cognitive and behavioral 
testing; analysis of total energy expenditure) and personnel (lab 
technicians, nutritionists, psychologists, neuroradiologists, PWS 
physicians). This funding would allow for the continuation of this 
vital research on Prader-Willi Syndrome, which will serve as a resource 
to the Department of Defense for the many military families with 
children affected by this disorder. More importantly, the research will 
serve as a resource to the Department for the treatment and study of 
obesity in general. The strong manifestation of obesity in children 
with PWS makes it an excellent model. Military health experts have 
characterized the growing problem of obesity amongst active duty and 
potential recruits as a national security issue because of its overall 
impact on the health, performance, and readiness of our armed forces. 
With 54 percent of military personnel overweight, obesity has been 
identified as a public health priority by the surgeons general from the 
Army, Navy and Air Force. Furthermore, obesity places a significant 
cost burden on the military and veterans' health care systems. This 
request is consistent with the intended and authorized purpose of the 
Army, RDT&E Account and consistent with the DoD mission. This funding 
will build on the two-year series of studies on PWS and obesity that 
are already underway. California State University, Fullerton will 
provide any statutory matching required through institutional sources 
as well as in-kind contributions of staff time and indirect costs.
  Requesting Member: Congressman Ed Royce.
  Bill Number: H.R. 2638.
  Account: Military Personnel--Operations & Maintenance.
  Legal Name of Requesting Entity: California State University System.
  Address of Requesting Entity: 401 Golden Shore, Long Beach, CA 90802-
4210.
  Description of Request: This bill provides $1,600,000 for the 
Strategic Language Initiative. Our nation's defense, diplomatic, and 
business employers need affordable, accessible strategic language 
instruction programs. The 5 California State University (CSU) campuses 
originally comprising the Strategic Language Initiative (SLI) 
Consortium have worked collaboratively to create an effective model 
capitalizing on campus language expertise, student heritage language 
diversity, and local linguistic communities in Arabic, Mandarin, 
Korean, Persian, and Russian.
  No single university has the resources to meet this rapidly changing 
need for global and regional expertise in a wide range of world 
languages. National efforts have concentrated on developing flagship 
programs in languages such as Chinese, Arabic, Russian, and Korean, and 
creating demonstration materials for offering languages online. This 
effort provides an opportunity to tap into the diverse heritage 
language communities in California, home to the densest concentration 
of linguistic and cultural diversity in the nation. Collectively, the 
California campuses of the CSU system have collaborated to provide an 
innovative approach to intensive language learning that can be a model 
for other metropolitan consortia. These universities serve the most 
linguistically diverse populations in the country, with large heritage 
communities near different campuses, and collectively enroll over 
100,000 students each year.
  Data collected from SLI participants showed an average language 
development progress that significantly exceeds traditional classroom 
and course-based program in Arabic, Korean, Mandarin, and Persian. 
Compared to other models of critical language development, the SLI 
Model is very cost-efficient and effective in advancing a large group 
of undergraduate and graduate students through several language 
proficiency levels across multiple campuses in a relatively short time 
period, for a fraction of the funding available to other programs. This 
request would build the programs within the current Consortium, and add 
CSU campuses. Lessons learned from the current programs will shape the 
new programs. The legacy of this federal investment will be an 
instructional model sustained by the CSU system that effectively 
responds to the national challenge to graduate more professionals with 
language and cultural knowledge and skills for an increasingly 
interdependent global world.




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