[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 149 (2003), Part 19]
[House]
[Pages 25869-25871]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




EXTENDING AUTHORITY FOR CONSTRUCTION OF MEMORIAL TO MARTIN LUTHER KING, 
                                  JR.

  Mr. SAXTON. Madam Speaker, I move to suspend the rules and pass the 
Senate bill (S. 470) to extend the authority for the construction of a 
memorial to Martin Luther King, Jr.
  The Clerk read as follows:

                                 S. 470

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

     SECTION. 1. MEMORIAL TO MARTIN LUTHER KING, JR.

       Section 508(b) of the Omnibus Parks and Public Lands 
     Management Act of 1996 (Public Law 104-333, as amended is 
     amended to read as follows:
       ``(b) Compliance With Standards for Commemorative Works.--
       ``(1) Except as provided in paragraph (2), the 
     establishment of the memorial shall be in accordance with 
     chapter 89 of title 40, United States Code.
       ``(2) Notwithstanding section 8903(e) of title 40, United 
     States Code, the authority provided by this section 
     terminates on November 12, 2006.''.

  The SPEAKER pro tempore (Mrs. Capito). Pursuant to the rule, the 
gentleman from New Jersey (Mr. Saxton) and the gentlewoman from the 
Virgin Islands (Mrs. Christensen) each will control 20 minutes.
  The Chair recognizes the gentleman from New Jersey (Mr. Saxton).


                             General Leave

  Mr. SAXTON. Madam Speaker, I ask unanimous consent that all Members 
may 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 New Jersey?
  There was no objection.
  Mr. SAXTON. Madam Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may consume.
  S. 470, introduced by my friend, Senator Paul Sarbanes of Maryland, 
would extend the authority for the construction of the memorial to Dr. 
Martin Luther King, Jr., in the District of Columbia. S. 470 would 
simply extend to November 2006 the authorization given to the site's 
sponsor, Alpha Phi Alpha fraternity, in the Omnibus Parks and Public 
Land Management Act of 1996 to raise the funds to build the memorial. 
The bill is strongly supported by the administration and both the 
majority and minority of the Committee on Resources. I urge my 
colleagues to support S. 470.
  Madam Speaker, I reserve the balance of my time.
  Mrs. CHRISTENSEN. Madam Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may 
consume.
  Madam Speaker, S. 470 is the Senate companion measure to a House 
bill, H.R. 1209, that was passed by this body on September 23, 2003. It 
is a simple piece of legislation that extends for 3 years the authority 
for construction of a memorial to Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., here in 
the District of Columbia.
  In 1996, Public Law 104-333 authorized the Alpha Phi Alpha 
Fraternity, Inc., through the Martin Luther King Memorial Project 
Foundation, to establish a memorial here in our Nation's capital to 
America's foremost civil rights leader. Since that time, the sponsors 
have worked diligently to secure memorial site and design approvals. In 
addition, there has been a fund-raising campaign under way to secure 
the necessary funds to build and maintain the memorial. However, not 
all of the necessary funds have been secured and ground cannot be 
broken until the funds are in place. That is the reason for the need 
for the extension.
  Madam Speaker, I want to take this opportunity to applaud the Alpha 
Phi Alpha fraternity for the work they have done so far and their 
commitment to this project. S. 470 is a completely noncontroversial 
measure. I strongly support its passage by the House today so that the 
measure can be sent to the President for his signature and the work to 
establish this national memorial to this great American, a real world 
leader, can continue.
  Madam Speaker, I reserve the balance of my time.
  Mr. SAXTON. Madam Speaker, I reserve the balance of my time.
  Mrs. CHRISTENSEN. Madam Speaker, I yield 5 minutes to the gentlewoman 
from the District of Columbia (Ms. Norton).
  Ms. NORTON. Madam Speaker, I thank the gentlewoman from the Virgin 
Islands for yielding me this time and the chairman who is managing the 
bill on the other side, the gentleman

[[Page 25870]]

from New Jersey (Mr. Saxton), for their good and hard work on this bill 
and for bringing it to the floor before the deadline.
  I appreciate that this bill was authorized in 1996 and that the 
Congress understood it to be an important matter, that Martin Luther 
King, who has been honored all over the world, has never been 
sufficiently honored until he is honored by the Congress of the United 
States in the Nation's capital. Site selection and other processes on 
the memorial, however, were not completed until the year 2000. So 
although authorized in 1996, the Congress is aware that the District 
has the most elaborate process for monuments in the country. You do not 
hear me complaining. I am a strong supporter of those processes. It is 
one Mall; it is priceless. We already are in danger of filling it up 
and not paying enough attention to it. I am working on a conservancy 
bill because it is deteriorating. We have to make sure that everything 
that goes on that Mall which is, after all, our real crown jewel, goes 
through each and every process and is exactly right.
  And so it took some time to find the right space on the Mall. We do 
not just put things anywhere on the Mall anymore. This is a plot of 
land meant to last in perpetuity. It is already greatly endangered. But 
if you do not know precisely where the memorial is going to go until 
almost 4 years after Congress has authorized it, it is very difficult 
to do all of the fundraising because it is when the site is chosen that 
people recognize that the monument is going to happen and they come 
forward more easily to, in fact, contribute. It eases the process 
tremendously after that point.
  I want to commend Alpha Phi Alpha for what they have done so far. It 
is herculean to do what they have done. It is a $100 million memorial, 
no Federal funds, one lone fraternity, the fraternity that Martin 
Luther King himself belonged to. They have the entire burden of raising 
the funds for this memorial. This bill will help them to continue the 
process; yet it is only 3 more years.
  I believe every Member of this body and of the other body appreciates 
the singular place of Martin Luther King in our country's history. His 
reconciling, nonviolent approach was critical. Otherwise, we need only 
look around the world and we need only consider that we had legal 
discrimination in this country for 100 years after the Civil War to 
appreciate what this man did. All over the world in order to settle 
such disputes there are conflagrations going on. As I speak, in our 
country we have still not gotten over the Civil War. We are much 
further along the way, however, after the nonviolent revolution that 
began in the 1960s. The man most responsible for the character of that 
revolution is Martin Luther King, Jr., himself. It loses the Congress 
nothing and gives it much to simply extend the time for Alpha Phi Alpha 
to gather the funds necessary for a memorial for this great American.
  Mrs. CHRISTENSEN. Madam Speaker, I yield 5 minutes to the gentleman 
from Illinois (Mr. Davis).
  Mr. DAVIS of Illinois. Madam Speaker, I want to thank the gentlewoman 
from the Virgin Islands for yielding me this time. As a member of Alpha 
Phi Alpha fraternity, I also want to commend my brothers for the 
tremendous work they have done on this project. I also want to thank 
the Committee on Resources for bringing this bill to the floor.
  Every year, millions of Americans and visitors from across the world 
visit our Nation's capital. They visit the national Mall where symbols 
of our Nation's history and ideals stand tall and strong. In classrooms 
across the Nation as they study the history of the 20th century, 
besides our involvement in wars, the civil rights movement is the most 
influential stage in the development and evolution of our society. Yet 
besides the bust of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., in the Rotunda of the 
Capitol building, there are no tributes recognizing the significance of 
the movement to our Nation's history. I am in support of S. 470 because 
I believe that a memorial to Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., would be 
fitting to not only remember this remarkable man but the civil rights 
movement itself, over 200 years of struggle for equality and to remind 
our citizens what great success can be achieved with nonviolent 
resistance.
  Dr. King, as many of us know, was the most visible and effective 
advocate of nonviolence and direct action as methods of social change. 
In 1956, Dr. King became the president of the newly formed Montgomery 
Improvement Association, where he gained national attention for his and 
the association's role in the Montgomery bus boycott. He encouraged 
black college students to continue their sit-in protests and freedom 
rides. In 1963, Dr. King led mass demonstrations in Birmingham, 
Alabama, where the demonstrators were met with violent opposition, 
getting the interest and attention of then-President John F. Kennedy 
who responded, and the Civil Rights Act of 1964 was passed. Dr. King 
became Time Magazine's Man of the Year in 1963 and the recipient of the 
Nobel Peace Prize in 1964. In 1967, he also initiated a poor people's 
campaign designed to confront economic problems that were not addressed 
under the Civil Rights Act of 1964. Dr. King's life of peace and change 
was suddenly ended on April 4, 1968, as he was assassinated in Memphis, 
Tennessee.
  Mr. Speaker, our Nation's capital makes history alive. Without having 
a memorial to Dr. King and the civil rights movement, it sends the 
message that this part of history is not still alive. As Dr. King once 
told his children, ``I'm going to work and do everything that I can do 
to see that you get a good education. I don't ever want you to forget 
that there are millions of God's children who will not and cannot get a 
good education, and I don't want you feeling that you are better than 
they are. For you will never be what you ought to be until they are 
what they ought to be.'' Our country will never be what it ought to be 
until we value and adequately display the contributions of African 
Americans who have made tremendous contributions to our history; and, 
of course, a tribute to Dr. King on the Mall would go a long ways in 
that direction.
  Ms. WATSON. Madam Speaker, I rise today in support of S. 470, to 
extend the authority for the construction of a memorial to Rev. Dr. 
Martin Luther King Jr. on the National Mall. The House bill, H.R. 1821, 
was passed on September 23, 2003 by a voice vote under unanimous 
consent.
  The authorization set by Congress in 1996 to raise funds for the 
memorial will expire on November 12, 2003. Passage of the Senate bill 
will allow the legislation to be sent directly to the President for 
signing and extend the authorization through November 12, 2006.
  The efforts of the King Memorial Foundation to raise $100 million for 
the construction and maintenance of the project have been impressive, 
but more time is needed to reach its fundraising goal. I believe that 
it is our job as members of Congress to ensure that Dr. King will be 
memorialized in a distinguished manner that acknowledges his legacy. 
Congress therefore must authorize more time for funds to be raised to 
build the King Memorial.
  Our National Mall is representative of the profound history and 
strength of our Nation. Dr. King is one of out Nation's most important 
leaders, and this monument should carry the same weight and 
significance as those erected in honor of other distinguished 
Americans.
  Congressional leaders also support the efforts to put Dr. King's 
legacy at Washington's forefront. They along with several other of my 
colleagues sit on a honorary bipartisan congressional committee for the 
Martin Luther King Jr. National Memorial.
  Dr. King's teachings of non-violent civil disobedience to combat 
segregation and racial inequality affected not only minorities, but 
every religious, ethnic, and social group in our Nation. In 1963, Dr. 
King led the March on Washington very near the site where we wish to 
honor him today. His leadership was critical to the passage of the 
landmark Civil Rights Act of 1964 and the Voting Rights Act of 1965.
  Dr. King acted on his dream for America and was successful in making 
the United States a better place. We must ensure that Dr. King's 
valiant efforts will be remembered by future generations.
  Madam Speaker, I ask my colleagues to join me in keeping Dr. King's 
dream alive by honoring him among our Nation's finest.
  Mrs. CHRISTENSEN. Madam Speaker, I have no further requests for time,

[[Page 25871]]

and I yield back the balance of my time.
  Mr. SAXTON. Madam Speaker, I have no further requests for time, and I 
yield back the balance of my time.
  The SPEAKER pro tempore. The question is on the motion offered by the 
gentleman from New Jersey (Mr. Saxton) that the House suspend the rules 
and pass the Senate bill, S. 470.
  The question was taken; and (two-thirds having voted in favor 
thereof) the rules were suspended and the Senate bill was passed.
  A motion to reconsider was laid on the table.

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