Providing New Effective Date For Applicability of Certain Provisions of Law to Public Law

PROVIDING NEW EFFECTIVE DATE FOR APPLICABILITY OF CERTAIN PROVISIONS OF LAW TO PUBLIC LAW 105-331 -- (House of Representatives - November 15, 2006)

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Mr. BAKER. Mr. Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may consume.

Mr. Speaker, I urge today that the House do pass H.R. 6325, introduced by the gentleman from New Jersey (Mr. Pallone). It is a relatively simple bill in purpose, to accommodate one single intention, and that is to correct an honest misinterpretation of the law governing the distribution of surcharges on the sales of a commemorative coin that honored America's great inventor, Thomas Edison.

Legislation to authorize the coin was approved in 1998, and the coin issued subsequently in 2004. But owing to slightly contradictory information guiding recipients of the surcharges, the recipients did not understand requirements to raise matching funds from private sources, which meant that such funds must be entirely from nongovernmental sources. That misunderstanding now has been resolved, and I would like to introduce into the RECORD at this time a letter to that effect, and all agree that a short 6-month extension would then be sufficient to cure any pending problem.

Mr. Speaker, it was a misunderstanding, clearly not at the fault of any one party, but I believe that this remedy being posed by Mr. Pallone in a bipartisan fashion will cure the defect that we currently face, and I would urge the House to consider the bill and immediately adopt the underlying text.

EDISON MEMORIAL TOWER

CORPORATION,

Edison, NJ, November 14, 2006.
CHAIRMAN MICHAEL OXLEY,
Committee on Financial Services,
Washington, DC.

DEAR CHAIRMAN OXLEY, The non-profit Edison Memorial Tower Corporation is requesting a 6-month extension to our deadline to raise $379,000 in private funds in order to secure a $379,000 matching grant from the United States Mint. These funds, available thanks to the sale of a Thomas Alva Edison Commemorative Coin, will greatly assist us with our efforts to restore Thomas Edison's Menlo Park laboratory site where many of his most important inventions were made.

Our Board has made good progress in our fundraising efforts and we are confident that the additional 6 months will allow us the necessary time to raise the full required amount. We understand that if this 6-month extension is approved, this will be the only extension allowed for this grant. We therefore commit that we will not ask you to consider a further extension of time.

Thank you for your consideration.

Sincerely,

Nancy L. Zerbe,
Chairperson.

Mr. Speaker, I reserve the balance of my time.

Mr. FRANK of Massachusetts. Mr. Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may consume.

It is especially appropriate for us at a time when we are celebrating or trying to give due recognition to the importance of innovation in our economy that we take this action to make sure that we properly memorialize Thomas Edison in whose honor this whole project has been conceived.

I appreciate very much the majority accommodating us in this, and I want to say especially that the staff on the majority side was particularly helpful. We had a little glitch in terms of how this was drafted and whether or not it was a private bill, and everybody worked very hard to make sure we could do this promptly, since, obviously, we don't expect or hope to be here a whole lot longer. So I am glad we are able to go forward.

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