Mr. Speaker, I am confident that Private Sherrod will take on the challenges at both survival and leadership school with tremendous focus and effort.

Mr. Speaker, today I rise to introduce legislation to provide for the protection of various historical sites in the Galisteo Basin of New Mexico.

I rise today to express my support for the true emergency spending contained in this conference agreement

I'm afraid this Conference Agreement would become the supplemental that ate the surplus.

And I cannot support that misuse of power and abuse of the public's trust.

I cannot support the $15 billion funding package proposed in this Conference Agreement for H.R. 1141

Today, it serves perhaps an even more important role as a reminder of the way things used to be.

I would like to take this opportunity to congratulate Connie Loudermilk and the Golden, Illinois Historical Society for their efforts to preserve Prairie Mills in Golden.

Prairie Mills was built by Henry R. Emminga in 1872. It operated for 60 years and served as a key component of Golden and the surrounding area.

I join with the residents of Scarsdale in applauding Mr. Cederbaum's commitment to our community and I am proud to officially recognize this remarkable civic leader for his many years of service.

Mr. Cederbaum's commitment to a successful professional career has always been balanced with an unyielding dedication to voluntarism.

Today, I would like to recognize a resident of my district who, through nearly three decades of tireless community service, perfectly embodies the spirit of this award.

I want to commend Connie and Randy as well as Jim Simpson, Dave Weese, Bob Teel, Ben Booth and all the other volunteers involved in this worthwhile effort.

The efforts they are making will last for generations to come.

I intend to assure the seniors of the District of Columbia that I will have no greater priority than preserving Medicare.

I rise today to ask my colleagues to join me in celebrating National Older Americans Month in the District of Columbia.

I want to focus my own constituents on the immediate problems of Medicare, which runs out of money in 2008.

Senior citizens in my District want the 106th Congress to know that the Social Security and Medicare programs have done more to make their senior years secure and healthy than any programs ever enacted by the Congress.