Volume 143, No. 104 covering the 1st Session of the 105th Congress (1997 - 1998) was published by the Congressional Record.
The Congressional Record is a unique source of public documentation. It started in 1873, documenting nearly all the major and minor policies being discussed and debated.
“PERSONAL EXPLANATION” mentioning the Environmental Protection Agency was published in the Extensions of Remarks section on pages E1472 on July 22, 1997.
The publication is reproduced in full below:
PERSONAL EXPLANATION
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HON. ROBERT A. WEYGAND
of rhode island
in the house of representatives
Tuesday, July 22, 1997
Mr. WEYGAND. Mr. Speaker, on July 16, 1997, I was unavoidably detained and was not, therefore, able to vote on rollcall votes 279 and 280. Had I been able to vote, I would have voted ``yea'' on both votes.
During that time, I was hosting an interactive cable TV show with Secretary of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, Donna Shalala, and the vice president for government relations for the National Committee to Preserve Social Security and Medicare, Max Richtman. Secretary Shalala and Mr. Richtman joined me to discuss and take phone calls from my constituents on the current congressional and Presidential proposals aimed at repairing the ailing Medicare System.
Many of the programs contained in H.R. 2158, the Veterans Affairs and Housing and Urban Development appropriations bill are of great interest to me. A great amount of the HUD housing in my district is section 202 and section 811 housing for elderly and the disabled. I am pleased therefore, that the bill passed by the House provides $839 million for these programs.
I am also pleased that the legislation included $30 million for the YouthBuild program. YouthBuild is a HUD-funded program that provides academic and skills training to at-risk young men and women. Several weeks ago, I visited the YouthBuild program in Providence, RI. On that visit, I met 18 of the 20 YouthBuild trainees on their first day in the program. I was pleased to learn yesterday that only one of the students I met with has since left the program. The rest are now spending half their time in the classroom, many preparing for their GED's, and the rest of their time learning important job skills as they rehabilitate a previously abandoned three-story home. At the end of their work, the students will have learned valuable skills and provided housing for a worthy family.
The legislation also provides $7.23 billion for the Environmental Protection Agency and its important programs such as the Brownfields Program are also of great concern to my district.
Finally, Mr. Speaker, the bill provides money for a wide range of programs that support science and space exploration. The National Science Foundation, which funds a wide variety of research projects at Rhode Island's universities, received more money than last fiscal year and more than requested in the President's budget. In addition, several NASA programs survived budget cutting. We have been reminded over the last few weeks of just how valuable NASA's work is to our Nation and the world. The drama associated with the difficult conditions faced by two Russians and an American on Mir has attracted worldwide concern. Farther away, the triumphs of a balloon-encased spacecraft and its breadbox-sized companion on the surface of Mars has piqued the interest of people worldwide about huge Martian floods and the prospect that our world may not be as unique as we once thought. Remarkably, at the same time, the space shuttle lifted off from Kennedy Flight Center, conducted important yet risky experiments and returned to Earth with hardly a notice.
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