Donald M. Payne: “let me commend Senator Lugar for this fine legislation. Senator Lugar is such an outstanding leader. And I would also…”

“let me commend Senator Lugar for this fine legislation. Senator Lugar is such an outstanding leader. And I would also like to say that Count Casimir Pulaski was a person, as a historian, that did so much in the Revolutionary War. We actually defeated Cromwell at the major battle. I had the opportunity also to teach at Pulaski School in New Jersey when I was a school teacher in Passaic, and the Polish community was very strong in that area. And so I learned a lot, from Yak Samas and Dobcha, from my students and their parents. I think that parliamentary exchanges are outstanding. As we remember Lech Walesa and the solidarity movement, we do see the challenge for the shipyards there in Poland, but hopefully they will be able to sustain themselves. I think that these various types of parliamentary exchanges do a great deal. I visited Poland in 1967 and went back again in the late 1990s and early 2000 to see the tremendous difference of the 1967 Poland that was drab and going through many, many problems with pollution and the communist system. But with the breakdown of the Warsaw Pact and Poland being able to have democracy, it's really a tremendous country. And as a member of the House Democratic Assistance Corporation here in the House, we certainly strongly push for parliamentary exchanges, and so I certainly support this. I thank Mr. Eni Faleomavaega for bringing this to the floor.”