Mr. Chairman, I commend you for calling this markup today. As I said earlier, we have a mixed plate of legislation, but what all of the bills have in common is that they have been the subject of thoughtful bipartisan discussions, and the work product is outstanding.

The first bill before us addresses the question of broadcast indecency. As I have noted before, this is not an issue that the Committee intended to address during the 108th Congress. Unfortunately, a series of events in the marketplace, and a lack of agency will, have led us to today's markup of HR. 3717. I commend Chairman Upton and Ranking Member Markey for introducing the original legislation and for leading a bipartisan Committee process - a process which has resulted in three important hearings, some noteworthy changes of direction among major broadcast companies, and, ultimately, strong bipartisan legislation.

I also wish to commend the many Members of the Committee who worked hard to improve bill. On the Democratic side, in addition to Mr. Markey, I would like to note the contributions of Representatives Green, Stupak, Davis, Wynn, and Rush, all of whom raised important issues and offered amendments that were ultimately included in the final bill. I will join Chairman Barton in supporting the Upton-Markey substitute, and I look forward to its prompt consideration by the full House.

The next bill is the Consumer Access to Information Act of 2004. I am pleased that we have developed a bipartisan product. Like H.R. 3261, which was reported by the Committee on the Judiciary, the Print gives the proponents of database legislation what they have been calling for, a federal misappropriation bill. Unlike H.R. 3261, the Print is narrowly tailored to provide protection to databases only in circumstances that would substantially reduce the incentive to produce the original database.

I commend you, Mr. Chairman, as well as Chairman Stearns and Ranking Member Schakowsky for your bipartisan efforts to craft this narrow yet balanced Committee Print. Electronic commerce has prospered in the United States in part because of our basic information policy - that facts, the building blocks of all information products, cannot be owned. They do not owe their origin to an act of authorship, and it is important that we do not legislate in a way that would restrict the public's access to facts.

We will also be considering three health bills today. The first relates to stroke treatment. I want to commend my distinguished colleague, Rep. Capps, for her tremendous dedication and foresight in developing this legislation. I also commend you, Mr. Chairman, along with Rep. Pickering and Ranking Member Brown for working out a bipartisan compromise on the bill.

According to the most recent statistics released by the American Stroke Association, every 45 seconds in America someone has a stroke - that amounts to about 700,000 strokes each year. Stroke is our Nation's number three killer and a leading cause of severe, long-term disability. The bill we have before us today is our legislative attempt to fight back.

Next we have before us H.Res. 522, a resolution that speaks to the unique challenges of heart disease in women. I note the good work of our colleague, Rep. Snyder, on this matter and I urge my colleagues to support this measure as well.

Finally, we will mark up S. 1881, the Medical Devices Technical Corrections Act, which makes technical corrections to landmark legislation we passed in 2002, the Medical Device User Fee and Modernization Act. This law took important steps toward improving the regulatory framework in which the medical device review and production processes take place. I commend our colleagues, Representatives Eshoo and Greenwood, who sponsored the earlier House-passed version of this bill.