James Davis: “I wanted to commend the gentleman from Maryland (Mr. Hoyer) and the gentleman from Ohio (Mr. Ney) on their work. Mr.…”

“I wanted to commend the gentleman from Maryland (Mr. Hoyer) and the gentleman from Ohio (Mr. Ney) on their work. Mr. Speaker, as a Floridian I need to provide a little more sober assessment as to where we are and where we need to go. I painfully need to first point out that we began discussing this issue right after the November 2000 elections, and it has taken the verge of the next set of elections to revisit the issue. We should not just be talking about this issue at election time. This is a burden we all bear, Federal, State and local. The people that testified before the House Administration Committee pointed out to us that the legislation, if it was going to work, was not just about replacing machines. It was about making sure that we had qualified people who were trained to use the machines. And, unfortunately, once again in my home State of Florida we have provided another painful lesson as to just how right they were. Let me also point out that tonight is only half the battle. This is an authorization bill; but the guts of the bill, apart from some of the issues that have been discussed earlier, have to do with some of the funding that needs to be provided.”