The NEH is vital to our educational systems and provides numerous services in the area of the humanities.

The NEA is an independent agency of the Federal government charged with supporting the arts in America for All Americans.

For every dollar the endowment awards, other sources contribute $12 to make art happen in thousands of communities.

NEH also provides many educational tools for children.

I urge my colleagues to support funding for both the NEA and the NEH.

While the growing threat is sobering, we should be realistic in our pursuit of a national missile defense.

It would be imprudent for Congress to rush the technological development of a system, which remains unproven.

The threat presented by these technologies, particularly from rogue states such as North Korea, Iraq, Libya and Iran, is growing more serious by the day.

We cannot push a national missile defense system so as to undermine the Strategic Arms Reduction Treaty (START II) or the potential to further reduce weapons of mass destruction in future treaties.

As we proceed with the development of the national missile defense we should not lose sight of the successes which the first two prongs of our strategy have had in the defense against weapons of mass destruction.

I rise in support of H.R. 4. This bill declares it to be the policy of the United States to deploy a national missile defense.