mr. lujan: mr. speaker, i ask unanimous consent to revise and extend my remarks. the speaker pro tempore: without objection. mr. lujan: two acts from the 1930's are preventing certain rocks, reefs, small islands and lighthouses off the coast of orange county from being included in the california coastal national monument. president clinton in 2000 created the california coastal monument which spanned the 1,100 miles of coast along california and encompasses more than 20,000 small islands, rocks, exposed reefs and pinnacles. however, the act designating the monument included only unreserved and inappropriated rocks and islands. and under the 1930's act these natural and cultural sites were reserved. h.r. 944 would strike the reservation language in one act and repeal another act to provide that these areas finally be permanently protected as part of the california coastal national moon umet. -- monument. we support passage of h.r. 944, and i reserve the balance of my time. the speaker pro tempore: th

i would like to acknowledge my good friend from new mexico, mr. lujan. mr. lujan: i thank my colleague from arizona, mr. gosar, for bringing us together tonight. as we get a chance to visit and celebrate heroes amongst us, whether in spirit or in body as we are still so fortunate to have chester nes, with us, one of the original 29 as well. i have a few excerpts of articles written arn the country to capture some stories, recently an author captured a story of chester nes. it starts like this, growing up in new mexico, chester nes and many of his fellow navajo were punished for speaking their language. they were pulled away to boarding school, so many and a half hoe across the country and the importance of what they were able to accomplish in world war ii in the words of major howard connor of the fifth marine division, he declared that were it not for the navajos, the marines would have never taken iwo jima. the importance of language and that we were -- and what they were able to accomplish. he goes on to hear that years later nes was shocked to learn he ha