Congressional Record—House H2272

H2272 CONGRESSIONAL RECORD — HOUSE March 7, 2007 Congress since the National Defense Edu- ious levels of government; public service pro- THE UNITED STATES OF THE 21ST cation Act of 1958, and it was the first broad grams included an academic publishing pro- CENTURY education bill enacted in the post-World War II gram as well as workshops for government of- The SPEAKER pro tempore. Under period that was not tied to national defense. ficials. This blend of the academic and the the Speaker’s announced policy of Jan- In 1964, Johnson signed the Library Serv- practical remains the distinguishing char- uary 18, 2007, the gentleman from Illi- ices Act (P.L. 88–269) to make high quality acteristic of the LBJ School and this highly ef- nois (Mr. KIRK) is recognized for 60 public libraries more accessible to both urban fective approach to training for public service minutes as the designee of the minor- and rural residents. The funds made available is today an accepted model for public affairs ity leader. under this Act were used to construct as well graduate programs across the country. Mr. KIRK. Mr. Speaker, as we take as operate libraries, and to extend this pro- Mr. Speaker, Lyndon Baines Johnson, who up the agenda of the new Congress in gram to cities as well as rural areas. Later that died January 22, 1973, will be remembered the 110th iteration, we should look to year, President Johnson signed the Civil not only as a great President and Member of new issues which address the needs of Rights Act (P.L. 88–352), which among its Congress, but also as the greatest champion the American people in this century, in landmark provisions authorized federal au- of accessible and affordable quality education this time. thorities to sue for the desegregation of for all. President Johnson truly understood the When we look at what that new agen- schools and to withhold federal funds from importance of leaving no child behind, and he da should include, it should reflect the education institutions that practiced segrega- didn’t. values and lifestyles and locations of tion. For all these reasons, Mr. Speaker, it is Americans where they actually live In 1965, President Johnson signed the Ele- most appropriate that the House voted to re- today, and not the way that we think mentary and Secondary Education Act (P.L. name the headquarters building of the Depart- they lived 50 years ago. When we look at the America of the 89–10) at the former Junction Elementary ment of Education located at 400 Maryland 21st century, we see a country that has School in Stonewall, Texas, where he first at- Avenue Southwest in the District of Columbia changed radically from an old vision of tended school. Sitting beside him as he signed as the ‘‘Lyndon Baines Johnson Department our Nation as one-third rural, one- the bill was his first teacher, Mrs. Kathryn of Education Building.’’ third urban, and one-third suburban. If Deadrich Loney. This legislation was the first Finally, Mr. Speaker, I pay tribute to Presi- general aid-to-education program ever adopt- you hold that idea, you are about 40 dent Johnson’s leadership in the area of civil years out of date. The new United ed by Congress, and it provided programs to rights. In response to the civil rights move- help educate disadvantaged children in urban States of the 21st century is a majority ment, Johnson overcame southern resistance part suburban. In fact, in the last Pres- and rural areas. Later that year, he also and achieved passage of the Civil Rights Act signed the Higher Education Act (P.L. 89– idential election, for the first time in of 1964, which effectively outlawed most forms our country’s history, over half of all 329), which was the first program approved by of racial segregation. As he put down his pen, the U.S. Congress for scholarships to under- voters were living in suburban commu- Johnson is alleged to have told an aide: ‘‘We nities. When you ask these voters, graduate students. have lost the South for a generation.’’ In 1965, In 1965, President Johnson launched ‘‘What do you think the Congress he achieved passage of a second civil rights should work on to make sure that it is Project Head Start, as an eight-week summer bill, the Voting Rights Act, that outlawed dis- program, to help break the cycle of poverty by addressing key needs of your family crimination in voting, thus allowing millions of and your community,’’ they over- providing pre-school children from low-income southern blacks to vote for the first time. families with a comprehensive program to whelmingly put forward a list of prior- In other actions on the civil rights front, ities that have been consistent for the meet their emotional, social, health, nutritional, Johnson nominated civil rights attorney and psychological needs. Recruiting children last decade and that is: action on pub- Thurgood Marshall to the positions of Solicitor lic education, on health care, on con- from ages three to school-entry age, Head General and later Associate Justice of the Su- Start was enthusiastically received by edu- servation, and on economic growth. preme Court, making him the first African Responding to these needs, in the cation and child development specialists, com- American to serve in either capacity. After the last Congress we formed the Suburban munity leaders, and parents across the nation. murder of civil rights worker Viola Liuzzo, Agenda Caucus to then develop a polit- Currently, Head Start continues to serve chil- Johnson went on television to announce the ical program here in the Congress to dren and their families each year in urban and arrest of four Ku Klux Klansmen implicated in address those needs; and in this Special rural areas in all 50 States, the District of Co- her death. He angrily denounced the Klan as Order that we are going to have to- lumbia, Puerto Rico, and the U.S. Territories, a ‘‘hooded society of bigots,’’ and warned night, we are going talk about the next as well as many migrant children. them to ‘‘return to a decent society before it’s chapter, the suburban agenda for 2007. In 1966, President Johnson signed the Inter- too late.’’ He turned the themes of Christian By talking about what these key pieces national Education Act (P.L. 89–698), which redemption to push for civil rights, thereby mo- of legislation are, we have gone beyond promoted international studies at U.S. colleges bilizing support from churches North and platitudes or general policy descrip- and universities. tions to describe actual pieces of legis- In 1968, he signed the Elementary and Sec- South. lation that should be adopted in this ondary Education Act Amendments of 1967 On June 4, 1965 at the Howard University Congress addressing the education, (P.L. 90–247), establishing bilingual education commencement address, he said that both the health care, conservation, and eco- programs for non-English speaking children, government and the nation needed to help nomic needs of the American people. and providing more funds for special edu- achieve goals: . To shatter forever not only the barriers of law and public practice, but the The suburban agenda is presented cation for disabled children. Later that year, he here in its new 2007 form. It includes also signed the Handicapped Children’s Early walls which bound the condition of many by the color of his skin. To dissolve, as best we the Gang Elimination Act of 2007, legis- Education Assistance Act (P.L. 90–538), which lation by Congressman Dave Reichert authorized experimental programs for disabled can, the antique enmities of the heart which diminish the holder, divide the great democ- that would seek to identify the top children of pre-school age. three major international drug gangs After leaving office, Lyndon Johnson re- racy, and do wrong—great wrong—to the children of God. in the United States that represent a turned to his native Texas and continued his threat to our country’s security. In involvement in public education. His presi- Lyndon Baines Johnson was a giant of a man and a towering figure in the history and fact, if you added up all of the docu- dential papers are housed at the Lyndon mented gang members in the United Baines Johnson Library and Museum at the life of our nation. We are not going to see his like again. States, it would amount to the fifth- University of Texas, which in 1970 established largest army on the earth and one that the Lyndon Baines Johnson School of Public f represents a clear and present danger Affairs, The ‘‘LBJ School,’’ as is commonly to the safety and security of many kids The SPEAKER pro tempore. Under a known, pioneered what was then regarded as throughout America. a novel approach to training for public service. previous order of the House, the gen- The curriculum combined courses in theory tleman from Texas (Mr. BURGESS) is b 1820 with courses that took students into govern- recognized for 5 minutes. I will just say that in my own con- ment agencies to work and conduct research; (Mr. BURGESS addressed the House. gressional district the average gang- the faculty included academics from various His remarks will appear hereafter in land shooter in North Chicago or Wau- disciplines as well as practitioners from var- the Extensions of Remarks.) kegan, Illinois, is in the eighth grade; VerDate Aug 31 2005 04:54 Mar 08, 2007 Jkt 059060 PO 00000 Frm 00028 Fmt 7634 Sfmt 0634 E:\CR\FM\A07MR7.022 H07MRPT1 jcorcoran on PROD1PC66 with REPORTS March 7, 2007 CONGRESSIONAL RECORD — HOUSE H2273 and this legislation is critical to pro- The Deleting On-Line Predators Act With students already carrying 45 vide Federal backup to suburban law also says to schools and libraries that, percent more debt than they did 10 enforcement to take on the new threat as we upgrade protections for kids on- years ago, I simply don’t think increas- of gangs moving into the suburbs.

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