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

Madam Speaker, I am pleased to rise here today for consideration of House Concurrent Resolution 40, which is necessary to permit the House and the Congress to use the rotunda of the Capitol for a ceremony as part of the commemoration of the days of remembrance of victims of the Holocaust.

The United States Holocaust Memorial Museum was charged with providing appropriate ways for the Nation to commemorate the days of remembrance as an annual national and civic commemoration of the Holocaust. As a result of this legislation, the very first ceremony of remembrance was held in the rotunda in 1979. It has been held there every year since that time except for periods when the rotunda has been closed for renovations.

House Concurrent Resolution 40, the resolution before us, will provide this year's national ceremony which will be conducted on April 30, 2003, in the rotunda of the United States Capitol Building. The purpose of the days of remembrance, again, is to ask all citizens, all Americans, to reflect on the Holocaust, to remember the victims and to strengthen our sense of democracy, our demand for human rights.

This ceremony will be the centerpiece of similar remembrance ceremonies to be held throughout the Nation. Members of the Congress, government officials, foreign dignitaries, Holocaust survivors, and citizens from all walks of life have attended previous ceremonies. At last year's days of remembrance commemoration in the rotunda of our Capitol, Assistant to the President for National Security Affairs, Condoleeza Rice, was the keynote speaker. Two years ago, President George W. Bush gave the keynote address.

The theme for this particular day of remembrance is ``For Your Freedom and Ours.'' How fitting and how proper that it be in honor and remembrance of those courageous individuals in the Warsaw ghetto who valiantly rose up against their Nazi oppressors some 60 years ago.

In remembering those who took a determined stand against Nazism, we honor the memory of those who perished, and of course we are reminded that individuals do have the power, and the choice, to make a difference in the fight against oppression and murderous hatred. And we are so much reminded of that today as we make choices here in this Congress and as our President makes choices, not only for our Nation but the world, against similar oppression and potential Holocaust.