mr. speaker , i thank my colleague very much for the time . 
there certainly is no lack of understanding and appreciation for the united states military , particularly in the backdrop of free elections in iraq this past sunday . 
so , mr. speaker , this is not a debate , if you will , about the value of the military or , in fact , the necessity of giving them a far reach in their recruitment efforts in america . 
far be it from me , coming from the state of texas , that might be one of the states that has sent the largest numbers of its sons and daughters to the iraq war and afghanistan . 
having just sent 3 , 000 national guard and reservists troops about a month ago from their families over to iraq and afghanistan , we know full well the importance of the military but , more importantly , the sacrifice that our men and women make in the united states in serving in the military . 
i also am reminded that , until president truman integrated the armed forces , african americans were told , do not ask and do not apply . 
so this is not a question of whether or not we allow these individuals to accept federal funds . 
i would take issue with my colleague to suggest just do not take federal funds if they are not interested . 
i am disappointed that this is a closed rule , because there are important issues here , and the issues are that universities should not be forced to compromise their nondiscrimination policies . 
the military has been set aside as one of the most uniquely integrated and nondiscriminatory sections of our government . 
just because we have do not ask and do not tell does not mean that it is right , and if congress is really concerned about losing the best and the brightest , it should stop , if you will , discriminating against those because of their sexual orientation for any other reason . 
i am disappointed that in 2005 it was reported that between 1998 and 2004 the military discharged 20 arabic and six farsi language speakers under the do-not-ask-and-do-not-tell policy . 
it is not without great admiration for our late colleague , congressman solomon , that i rise to just ask my colleagues , why do we close a rule when we can make this a better legislative initiative ? 
we needed to give the opportunity for the full discussion on discrimination . 
do my colleagues believe that americans would rise in support of discrimination ? 
do my colleagues realize that when we debated the 9/11 tragedy it was a gay american on one of our airplanes that engaged with others to be able to detour that airplane from the very site that i stand , to be able to save lives and to save the capitol of the united states of america ? 
it seems in 2005 , in the shadow of reauthorization of the voters rights act of 1965 , that we might not now recognize that we can do better . 
i am glad that rotc programs are still on our campuses . 
in fact , we know that there are more than 52 , 000 now enrolled in rotc programs , up from 48 , 000 in 2000 . 
that means 52 , 000 of our students . 
this past year 70 percent of the army 's newly commissioned armies came from rotc . 
in fact , the defense department has reported meeting all of its recruitment and retention goals in the past several years and is , in fact , actively downsizing certain specialties . 
but , in the backdrop of that , we also know that we need more troops , particularly if we are going to be part of a peacekeeping effort , not a running-the-government effort in iraq . 
so i would say , mr. speaker , the reason why i rise with great concerns about a closed rule and ask my colleagues to consider where we are going with this solomon amendment is that we can do better and that there is some merit , great merit , to asking the military to recruit everywhere and to allow universities of free thought to be able to maintain their nondiscriminatory rules and regulations . 
we can do better together , and i do not know why we discriminate against any american who wants to serve their country . 
