Providing for Consideration of H.R. 1065, United States Boxing Commission Act

PROVIDING FOR CONSIDERATION OF H.R. 1065, UNITED STATES BOXING COMMISSION ACT -- (House of Representatives - November 16, 2005)

Mr. HASTINGS of Florida. Mr. Speaker, I thank the gentleman from Florida (Mr. Lincoln Diaz-Balart), my good friend, for yielding me the customary 30 minutes; and I yield myself such time as I may consume.

(Mr. HASTINGS of Florida asked and was given permission to revise and extend his remarks.)

Mr. HASTINGS of Florida. Mr. Speaker, I rise with great disappointment that the House is being asked again to consider legislation under a restrictive rule. My good friend from Florida said that the will of the House will be expressed here today. I query him as to how that will occur under a restrictive rule.

Under this rule, only a limited number of amendments will be offered by a select few. There are many who will argue that this legislation, when considered, is noncontroversial. If that is the case, then why not make this an open rule?

Or perhaps the question ought to be, Why are we considering this bill at a time when the House should be considering legislation that increases veterans benefits, invests in affordable housing, and ensures that our country's neediest have access to affordable health care under Medicare and Medicaid? The truth of the matter is, Mr. Speaker, none of these issues are being debated on this floor today because my colleagues in the majority are too busy cutting backroom deals that will cut Federal funding in each of these critically important areas as well as other areas of import. I just spoke with a group of foreign service officers who were pointing out to me some of the cuts that will take place in places where they are scheduled to go.

The majority knows that they are wrong on all of these issues, and that is why they do not want to debate us on them. So, Mr. Speaker, we find ourselves at this moment on the floor of the House debating a bill that I would think my friends on the other side of the aisle would say reeks of hypocrisy and overarching Federal Government interference. Are not Republicans the ones who claim that they are the party of States' rights? Are not Republicans the ones who claim that States are more effective in regulating what happens within their own State? Are not Republicans the ones who claim that another Federal commission trumping State commissions already in existence is nothing more than unnecessary bureaucracy? Are not Republicans federalists?

But Republicans are not saying these things. Instead, some are trying to divert attention away from the things on a much larger scale that actually matter.

Mr. Speaker, I am not trying to say that a problem does not exist in the sport of boxing. My friend mentioned one Kid. Mention to him another, Kid Gavilan, who died in our area and of my good friend, Representative Diaz-Balart, a shoeshine man after fighting some of the better fights in two divisions with some of the better fighters in the world at some point. So there are a lot of things to be said from people receiving too many blows upside their heads. In the last decade, amateur and professional boxing has grown into a multibillion dollar business. Promoters, cable companies, and the sporting industry as a whole reap big ticket sales from the sweat and toil of young athletes.

Yet those who actually step into the ring often find an entirely different opponent outside the ring, as Kid Gavilan did. Many boxers find those who claim to be in their corner have made dirty deals and shortcuts that undermine a boxer's earnings and in some cases their health. Contracts are often broken or exploited. Injuries and adequate medical care are sometimes overlooked. These are important issues that should be dealt with, but not by this body and not in this manner.

The solution would seem to be a crackdown on State commissions that woefully fail to enforce their own rules and regulations. Better yet, maybe we need a national sports commission to regulate all sports that Congress all of a sudden wants to regulate.

First it was baseball; and we really did clean up baseball and steroids. That is gone. We do not have that as an issue any more. And now it is boxing. What next? The National Hockey League or the National Football League?

All of these sports in some ways are violent, and we hear stories every year about athletes being injured, paralyzed and even killed. What about the Ultimate Fighting Championships, where they put people in cages and then knock each other's brains out? Or World Wrestling Entertainment business where a lot of people wind up after careers in that field with broken bodies because they missed the trick at a given point? Or even our own United States Olympic Committee? If we are doing this about corruption, I can think of few sports committees in history as corrupt as the Olympic Committees. However, that is not what we are doing today.

In the grand scheme of things, we have more important issues to deal with: a failing war in Iraq, skyrocketing prescription drug prices, our own citizens displaced by a recent torrent of natural disasters in my good friend from Florida's district and my district alone, and continuing unethical behavior from executive and legislative branches of our government, including national security leaks.

All of these issues and so many more need to be higher priorities in our work today, but this body is silent on all of them. On behalf of the American people, I say, speak up. The silence is deafening. It is time that my friends in the majority stop wasting our time with bills that neglect those in need and divert attention from the failures of this body over the last decade. I urge my colleagues to reject this rule and the underlying legislation that does little, if anything, to promote the general welfare of our great Nation.

One of the arguments that was made is if we do not regulate this from a national level, what is going to happen is boxing will go on venue shopping. I pointed out yesterday that Ali fought the Thriller in Manila and in addition to that fought the Rumble in the Jungle, so if we regulate it from the Federal level, what is going to stop them from going abroad to rope-a-dope?

Mr. Speaker, I yield back the balance of my time.

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