let me tell you how comforting it is to have our Chaplain, Lloyd Ogilvie, returning to us in good health and to hear his words and the spiritual guidance he offers the Senate.

This solves the problem. For one thing, it eliminates another 15-percent cut that is scheduled to go into effect in October of next year.

Unfortunately, that is exactly right. Unbelievable though it may seem, the formula that is being used actually penalizes those agencies in our two States that have done a good job of holding down costs.

Senate Republicans are committed to enacting legislation to preserve, strengthen, and save Medicare for current and future generations.

The point is, cuts of this magnitude, that we have seen in the State of Maine and throughout the country, cannot be sustained without hurting senior citizens.

More than 2,300 home health agencies across the country have been forced to close their doors as a result of the regulatory burden and the flawed payment system.

The regulatory overkill of the Clinton administration has already exceeded the savings projected by the balanced budget amendment.

I urge my colleagues to support swift enactment of this bill.

I am introducing a bill to amend the rules of origin for certain textile products.

Mr. Speaker, it is with great pleasure today that I rise to join my colleagues in supporting National Co-op Month.

Ollie has served as a Board Member of the Union Central Life Insurance Company; the Cincinnati Gas and Electric Company (now CINergy); the Manhattan Life Insurance Company; and the Federal Reserve Bank of Cleveland.

We congratulate Ollie Birckhead as he receives this prestigious honor.

Each year, more than one million children sustain brain injuries, most commonly from sports injuries caused by bicycling, skiing, diving, or playground falls.

Brain injury is also the most common cause of mortality in young adult Americans under the age of 45.

A committed community leader, Ollie has served on the Executive Committee of the Cincinnati Art Museum; as Vice Chairman, Advisory Board member, and Life Member of the Salvation Army.

Traumatic brain injury is the leading cause of acquired disability and death among children.

I rise today to honor Oliver Birckhead, who will receive the First Annual Cincinnati Brain Injury Association Award.

Mr. Speaker, I would like to take this opportunity to recognize and support September 20-26 as National Pollution Prevention Week.