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LORETTA | SANCHEZ | democrat | 2009-01-07 | H | Cali | F | fornia. Madam Speaker. last year. nearly 2 million Americans lost their jobs. Almost half of those job losses came in October and November. after the financial collapse of Wall Street. The December jobs numbers will be out in a couple of days. but it is not likely to be good news. All month long retailers were saying that they had to lay off seasonal help because Americans simply were not spending their money. And thats not surprising. considering that many of our constituents are justifiably concerned about their job security. Even those that are confident that they will hold on to their jobs are feeling financially squeezed because they are being paid less than they were 10 years ago. As the 111th Congress begins this week. we are committed to getting Americans back to work and preventing further job cuts from happening later this year. We also want to provide middle class Americans with tax relief so they can better afford their monthly bills. Madam Speaker. as change comes to Washington. we should work in a bipartisan manner to pass an economic recovery package quickly. We cannot afford to wait. |
VAN | HOLLEN | democrat | 2009-01-07 | H | Unknown | M | Madam Speaker. today. the House considers a bill that amends the Presidential Records Act. This important piece of bipartisan legislation will help preserve open government. by reversing an executive order issued in the early days of the Bush administration that cut off access to Presidential records for historians and the American public. Under that executive order. former Presidents and their heirs were given unprecedented authority to withhold or. indefinitely delay. access to documents from the public. And. for the first time. the order extended the authority to assert "executive privilege" to former Vice Presidents. This legislation reverses that order by stating clearly that only current and former Presidents may assert "executive privilege." The bill also grants current Presidents discretion over whether to support a former Presidents assertion of privilege and places strict time limits for the current and former President to review records before they are released. |
VAN | HOLLEN | democrat | 2009-01-07 | H | Unknown | M | Madam Speaker. today. the House considers the Presidential Libraries Donation Reform Act. I was a cosponsor of this bill when it was originally introduced in 2007 and I am proud to stand in support of it today. Under current law. a sitting president can accept private donations in unlimited amounts for the purpose of building a presidential library. There is no requirement that the donors identity or the amount of the donation be disclosed. The potential for abuse here is obvious. � This bill requires presidential libraries fundraising organizations to disclose to Congress information about the donors and their donations during and immediately following the presidents term in office. The bill originally passed the House on suspension in March 2007. and returns to the House floor today after receiving strong support in the Senate. I encourage my colleagues to join me in supporting this important piece of -bipartisan legislation. |
WASSERMAN | SCHULTZ | democrat | 2009-01-09 | H | Unknown | F | Madam Speaker. I am proud to be a cosponsor of this essential Resolution. recognizing Israels right to defend itself against attacks from Gaza. reaffirming the United States strong support for Israel. and supporting the IsraeliPalestinian peace process. As Israel faces intense international criticism for exercising its legitimate right to selfdefense. southern Israel is being repeatedly and consistently showered with Hamas rockets and northern Israel has been hit by rockets from Lebanon. Like all sovereign nations. Israel has not only a right. but moreover. an obligation. to ensure the safety and security of her citizens. Let me be very clear. Israels response. her defense of her people. is in reaction to the hundreds of Hamas missiles that were targeted at Israeli citizens throughout the flimsy ceasefire of 2008. Hamass leaders. choosing terror against Israel over the welfare of the Palestinian people. have chosen violence over peace. And while Hamas has been going out of its way to kill innocent Israelis. Israel has been going above and beyondeven putting itself at riskto protect innocent Palestinians. Specifically. Israel drops leaflets and makes phone calls to targeted Palestinian areas to warn citizens they are in danger. even if this means losing the element of surprise and putting the lives of its own soldiers at risk. In contrast. Hamas deliberately attacks Israeli civilians and uses its own people as human shields. In addition. Israel has been facilitating the transfer of significant amounts of humanitarian supplies to the Gaza Strip. delivering 15.000 tons of aid over the past week and a half. Hamas. on the other hand. has stolen some of those humanitarian medical supplies from civilians to give to their gunmen. Undeniably. the suffering is great in Israel and Gaza. Now is the time for us all to stand together in support of Israel and peace. I urge my colleagues to support this critical resolution. and pray that Hamas stops firing rockets into Israel. and starts working towards peace instead of terror. |
LORETTA | SANCHEZ | democrat | 2009-01-09 | H | California | F | Madam Speaker. I rise today to express my concerns regarding H. Res. 34. I do not think that this resolution provides a complete picture of the conflict in Gaza and as a result. I will be voting present on this resolution. I am particulariy concerned that this resolution does not address the core cause of the crisis. and I am not confident that this resolution will be beneficial to improving the situation in Gaza. I have grave concerns about Hamass alarming history of violence. However. in order to resolve this crisis it is imperative that we encourage both Israel and Hamas to pursue a peaceful resolution and come to a sustainable ceasefire. Today marks the 14th day of the Gaza war. Over 700 people have been killed by both Israeli and Hamas military actions. International aid workers are reporting that they are unable to access the Gaza civilians and the United Nations has suspended its aid operations following the death of a U.N. official. I believe that a bipartisan resolution should have more fully addressed these challenges and stressed the need for both parties to cease all fire and fulfill their obligations under the Road Map peace plans. This weekend I will be meeting with a number of relevant organizations and community leaders from my district to discuss the current crisis in Gaza. Through these meetings I hope to continue to learn more about the status of the ongoing situation and consider the ways in which the United States can develop a proactive plan that will both end this current conflict and bring longterm peace and stability to the region. |
EDDIE BERNICE | JOHNSON | democrat | 2009-01-09 | H | Texas | F | Madam Speaker. I rise in support of H. Res. 34. the Gaza Conflict Resolution. We must end the current violence and bloodshed among both Palestinians and Israelis. This resolution reaffirms our support for Israel but additionally reaffirms our commitment toward a continuing peace process. With this resolution. we call for an end to the rocket and missile attacks from Hamas and ask that they recognize previous cease fire agreements between Israel and Palestine. In response to the attacks. however. Israel. as a sovereign nation. does maintain the right to defend its borders and citizens from aggression. This basic right to protect our people is not one that we should undermine. Our country knows too well that a response must be made when we are attacked and our way of life disrupted. However. there must be humaniarlan considerations in any conflict. and there must be steps taken to protect civilians and prevent attacks on innocent school children. In both countries. as a result of the attacks and subsequent response. civilians are being killed. injured and witnesses to horrific tragedy. Humanitarian aid has only recently been allowed into Palestine and there is no doubt that there is terrible human suffering on all sides. It is my hope that this resolution will help offer a roadmap to a peaceful solution. and that there.will soon be an end to the violence. We cannot forget that beneath the politics. there is great human tragedy. I will support this resolution. but believe that we must focus on ending this continuing violence and search for a peaceful solution for all parties involved. |
GENE | GREEN | democrat | 2009-01-09 | H | Texas | M | Madam Speaker. I rise today in support of H. Res. 34. This important resolution recognizes Israels right to defend itself against attacks from Gaza. while at the same time supporting the IsraeliPalestinian peace process and recognizing that the humanitarian needs in Gaza should be promptly addressed. For fourteen days. now. Israel has launched airstrikes and now. a ground invasion in response to thousands of Hamassanctioned rocket attacks on Israeli towns from the Gaza Strip. The strikes began less than a week after the expiration of a sixmonthlong ceasefire deal with Hamas--dudng which time. Hamas continually violated the ceasefire and shot rockets into southern Israel. Israel has a right to defend itself from these attacks and when Hamas announced that it was ending its "period of calm." Israel began to do just that. I have visited Israel on several occasions. and have seen the struggles Israelis face daily. I have even been to Sderot. Israel and have seen how close these attacks are and how they affect the families that live there. During these visits. I have seen the Israelis perseverance and determination to create a peaceful and prosperous state despite Hamas continued refusal to work towards a peaceful resolution. Hamas must end this violence and commit itself to a real truce. Without this. I believe that there is little chance for peace in the region. Israel and the United States have been close friends and allies for the past sixty years. Our relations have evolved from an initial American policy of sympathy and support for the creation of a Jewish homeland in 1948 to a key partnership based on common economic interests. common security interests. and most of all common values. We must continue to cultivate this relationship and encourage peace in the region. |
GEORGE | MILLER | democrat | 2009-01-09 | H | California | M | Madam Speaker. pursuant to section 5(a) of House Resolution 5. I call up the bill to amend title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 and the Age Discrimination in Employment Act of 1967. and to modify the operation of the Americans with Disabilities Act of 1990 and the Rehabilitation Act of 1973. to clarify that a discriminatory compensation decision or other practice that is unlawful under such Acts occurs each time compensation is paid pursuant to the discriminatory compensation decision or other practice. and for other purposes. and ask for -its immediate consideration. |
GEORGE | MILLER | democrat | 2009-01-09 | H | California | M | Madam Speaker. I yield myself 5 minutes. Madam Speaker. the 2007 Ledbetter v. Goodyear Supreme Court ruling was a painful step backwards in the civil rights in this country. Today. the House will vote once again to say that the ruling is unacceptable and must not stand. Nondiscrimination in the workplace is a sacred American principle. Workers should be paid based upon their merits and their responsibilities. not on the employers prejudices. Yet. more than 40 years after the passage of the Civil Rights Act of 1964. the Supreme Court decided to dramatically turn back the clock. Lilly Ledbetter worked for Goodyear for nearly two decades. Just as she was retiring as supervisor in 1998. she found out that her salary was 20 percent. 20 percent lower than that of the lowest paid male supervisor. Not only was Ms. Ledbetter earning nearly $400 a month less per month than her male colleagues. she also retired with substantially smaller pension and Social Security benefits. A jury found that Goodyear in fact had discriminated against Ms. Ledbetter because she was a woman. She was awarded $3.8 million in back pay and damages. This amount was reduced to $360.000 because of the damage gap of title VII of the Civil Rights Act. Despite the fact that the jury found Goodyear gui lty of discrimination. a sharply divided Supreme Court in a 54 opinion decided that while Goodyear discriminated against Ms. Ledbetter. her claim was made too late. They had discriminated against her. but she was too late in making her claim. Why was she too late? Because they said that she had filed outside the 180 day statute -of limitations because she did not file after they had taken their secret executive action to pay Ms. Ledbetter less than her male counterparts. The fact of the matter is. she did not know that all of the time that she was working because of the secrecy of that act. The practical result. the practical result of the decision by this court. would be that as long as they could continue to hide the act. if they could get past 180 days. Ms. Ledbetter could be discriminated against and she would not be able to recover anything. The law has said for a very long time that when a decision was made which was discriminatory in its nature. every paycheck issued since that time was a continuation of the original discriminatory act and Ms. Ledbetter had 180 days and other plaintiffs had 180 days to file from the last paycheck that was issued. Ms. Ledbetter did that. but the Supreme Court saw otherwise. So. what the Supreme Court is saying is that employers would be allowed to continue to discriminate against employees without any consequences .if they could hide it for 180 days. That is simply unacceptable in the American workplace. it is unacceptable to women in this country. and it is important that we pass the Lilly Ledbetter Fair Pay Act. which would reset the law as businesses and most courts and employees and the EEOC had understood it to be before the courts dramatic ruling. Under H.R. 11. every paycheck or other compensation resulting in whole or in part from an early discriminatory pay decision or other practice would continue as a violation of title VII. That is as it should be. That is as it was before the court spoke. In other words. each discriminatory paycheck would restart the clock for filing a charge. As long as workers filed their charges. as Ms. Ledbetter herself did. within 180 days of the discriminatory paycheck. their charges could be considered as timely. No worker should have to put a full days work in and get a paycheck at the end of the week that is based upon their gender. race or religion. without any recourse to justice. That is what this legislation will stop. It is fundamental and it is important. This legislation also ensures that these simple reforms extend to the Age biscrimination in Employment Act. the Americans with Disabilities Act and the Rehabilitation Act to provide these same protections for victims of age and disability discrimination. Connecting pay discrimination poses significant challenges to workers. made all the harder by the Supreme Courts Ledbetter decision. The reality is that most workers dont know what their coworkers are making. Employers often prohibit employees from discussing their pay with each other. We fix these problems also with the passage of the Paycheck Fairness Act. The courts misguided decision is already having very harmful consequences far beyond Ms. Ledbetters case. According to The New York Times. the Ledbetter decision has been cited in over 300 cases in the last 19 months that have denied people the opportunity to provide for recovery. In this economy. especially in this economy. when every dollar counts to every worker in this country. to provide for themselves or their families. to provide for the wherewithal to go through the daily life in America. we cannot have people discriminated against because of their gender. We can pass the Lilly Ledbetter Pay Act. and that will end that practice in the American workplace. |
GEORGE | MILLER | democrat | 2009-01-09 | H | California | M | Madam Speaker. I yield 2 minutes to the gentleman from New Jersey . a subcommittee Chair of the Education and Labor Committee. |
WASSERMAN | SCHULTZ | democrat | 2009-01-09 | H | Unknown | F | Madam Speaker. I met Lilly Ledbetter during a Judiciary Committee hearing in 2007. She told us then how it was only after 20 years of working at Goodyear that she learned of the longstanding pay discrimination against her. Immediately upon learning this. Lilly took her case to court. But instead of following longstanding precedent that each new unfair paycheck represented a new cause of action. the Supreme Court denied Lilly Ledbetter justice. In the real world. discrimination is subtle and takes years to become evident. However. Justice Alito ruled that victims have only 180 days after the start of a discriminatory action to file suit. even if that employee has no way of knowing about it. This standard is impossible to meet. The Ledbetter Fair. Pay Act rights this wrong. It clarifies that an employee is discriminated against each and every time she receives an unfair paycheck. I thank Chairman MILLER and Congresswoman DELAURO for their outstanding leadership on this issue. and for my two beautiful daughters and the daughters of America. urge my colleagues to support fair pay in the workplace. |
EDDIE BERNICE | JOHNSON | democrat | 2009-01-09 | H | Texas | F | Madam Speaker. today. I am pleased to speak about two bills that will go a long way towards establishing gender equity in American workplaces. The Paycheck Fairness Act and the Lilly Ledbetter Fair Pay Act will help close the legal loopholes and restore the initial intent of our civil rights laws. It has been 45 years since the passage of the landmark Equal Pay Act of 1963. and while pay disparities have narrowed. a strong wage disparity still exists. In fact. according to the U.S. Census Bureau women still make only 78 cents on the dollar to their male counterparts. We cannot deny that this gender disparity exists. and it is essential that we close the loopholes that allow it to continue. The Paycheck Fairness Act increases enforcement and accountability in cases of discrimination. and provides relief for women who face retaliation for standing up for equal pay. It also requires the Department of Labor to increase their efforts to end pay disparities. Last year. the U.S. Supreme Court overturned a longstanding prior law making it increasingly difficult for workers to pursue legal remedies for pay discrimination. Today we will work to restore the intent of the Civil Rights Act through passage of the Lilly Ledbetter Fair Pay Act. We will no longer unfairly turn back to the clock on discrimination claims. An incident.of pay discrimination occurs each time a worker receives a lesser paycheck because of their gender. and we must treat it as such. We can no longer distort the intent of the law to protect those who seek to discriminate. These bills are not only for women. but for children and families. For the millions of working mothers in Americamany of whom are heads of households--it offers financial stability. This wage disparity is costing women between $400.000 and $2 million over a lifetime. Lower wages factor into longterm financial planning. Retirement and Social Security are based on income. Retirement aged women today are far less likely to receive a pension. and rely on Social Security benefits to survive. The wage discrimination women are facing today will continue to follow them well into retirement. We cannot continue to simply accept this disparity. and the Paycheck Faimess Act and the Lilly Ledbetter Fair Pay Act are strong statements that this type of discrimination will not be tolerated. I would like to thank Congresswoman DELAURO and Chairman MILLER for offering these important pieces of legisla- tion. and commend the Democratic leadership for bringing these bills to the floor. |
GEORGE | MILLER | democrat | 2009-01-09 | H | California | M | Madam Speaker. pursuant to section 5(b) of House Resolution 5. I call up the bill to amend the Fair Labor Standards Act of 1938 to provide more effective remedies to victims of discrimination in the payment of wages on the basis of sex. and for other purposes. and ask for its immediate consideration. |
GEORGE | MILLER | democrat | 2009-01-09 | H | California | M | Madam Speaker. I yield myself 3 minutes. Madam Speaker. Members of the House. in 1963. the Equal Pay Act was passed to end the discriminatory practices of paying men and women differently for performing the same job. The laws principle is that women and men should be paid based upon their merits and not on an employers prejudice. Before the Equal Pay Act. women in the workplace earned 59 cents on the dollar compared to their male counterparts. Things have gotten better since the passage of the act. but we still see that women earn only 78 cents for every dollar that is earned by a man doing the same job with the same responsibilities. It is also very disturbing that African American women earn only 66 cents on the dollar. and Hispanic women ear an astonishing 55 cents on the dollar compared to their male counterparts in the workplace. This wage disparity will cost women anywhere from $400.000 to $2 million over a lifetime in lost wages. and it will follow them right into retirement in the form of smaller pensions and reduced Social Security benefits. It will make their health care even more expensive. Today. this House will take a critical step forward to ensure that the Equal Pay Act lives up to its promise. Over 12 yearg ago. our colleague. ROSA DELAURO from Connecticut. introduced the Paycheck Fairness Act. In those 12 years. she was unable to get a hearing in. this Congress. But she has now received a hearing. and later today she Will receive passage of this legislation that will greatly strengthen the Equal Pay Act and close many of the loopholes that have allowed employers to avoid responsibility for discriminatory pay. Currently. an employer can refute a pay discrimination claim if he or she provides the difference of pay is based upon any factor other than gender. even factors unrelated to the job. That is just unacceptable. An excuse for equal pay that is not related to the job is no excuse at all. H.R. 12 will ensure that employers either provide equal pay for equal work. or provdde a real business justification for not doing so. They will have to show that any genderbased wage differential is jobrdlated. not based on or derived from genderbased differential and is consistent with business necessity. H.R. 12 will also prohibit employers from retaliating against employees who discuss their pay. Many employers have policies forbidding employees from talking about their pay. This was the case of Lilly Ledbetter. the subject of the previous legislation that we just considered here this morning. For years. Lilly Ledbetter was paid less than her male counterparts just because she was a woman. but she was unable to know that because she could not discuss her pay with any of the other supervisors. the people in the place of employment. That is wrong. They should be allowed to do that. Such policies silence workers and allow embloyers to hide discriminatory pay practices. Employees should feel free to discuss their pay. It is often the only way that they can discover discriminatory pay practice and seek to rectify them. The bill will also put genderbased discrimination sanctions on an equal footing with other forms of discrimination by allowing women to sue for punitive damages in addition to compensatory damages. just as business and workers may do under section 1981 for race and national origin discrimination. If we are serious about closing the gender pay gap. we must get serious about punishing those who would otherwise scoff at the weak sanctions under the current law. I -The Paycheck Fairness Act -will require the Department of Labor to continue collecting pay information based upon gender. It also creates a program designed to help strengthen the negotiation skills of girls and women. Any pay gap based on gender is unacceptable. especially during these tough economic times. Single women who are head of households are twice as likely to be in poverty as single men. For families. especially those working under or near the poverty line. equal pay for women will make a ignificant difference in their economic wellbeing. Allowing wage discrimination to continue will hold down women and their families while further harming the American economy. And. again. Id like to thank Congresswoman ROSA DELAURO for her passionate advocacy of this legislation and her introduction of this legislation. I reserve the balance of my time. |
GEORGE | MILLER | democrat | 2009-01-09 | H | California | M | Mr. Speaker. I yield myself 30 seconds here just to say that I am about to recognize. to speak on this legislation. Congresswoman ROSA DELAURO of Connecticut. I think all of us in the House. whether we agree or disagree with this legislation. recognize the incredible advocacy that she has brought to this issue of equal pay for equal work. of paycheck fairness. of womens rights at work. and the protection of lowincome American families throughout her entire career in the Congress. As I had mentioned earlier in this debate. she introduced this legislation* some 12 years ago and has been unable to get a hearing on the legislation. We provided that hearing. and I think it was compelling to almost all of the members of the committee that this wage disparity and these actions could not continue and deny women their full opportunity to participate in the American economy on equal footing. So its with a lot of pride and a great sense of honor just to recognize her to speak on behalf of this legislation which she has introduced and she is the primary author of. I recognize the gentlewoman from Connecticut for 6 minutes. |
WASSERMAN | SCHULTZ | democrat | 2009-01-09 | H | Unknown | F | Mr. Speaker. in 1963. President Kennedy signed the Equal Pay Act in order to address the nations wage gap. And yet. 46 years later women still make on average only 77 cents for every dollar earned by men for the same work. But thanks to Lilly Ledbetter. we are going to right. that wrong today on the House floor. In 2007. I had the opportunity to meet Lilly. She told me how she had no proof of pay discrimination until someone anonymously slipped payroll records into her mailbox. Anonymously because Goodyears payroll records were secret. This bill lifts the cloak of secrecy that allows these kinds of unfair pay practices to -festerwhich is exactly why the House proudly passed this bill last Congress. I urge my colleagues today to once again support fair pay practices. and see that this important legislation becomes law. What you dont know. can hurt you. I thank Chairman MILLER and Representative DELAURO for their leadership on this issue. The Paycheck Fairness Act is a bold step forward in righting the wrong of pay discrimination. |
GEORGE | MILLER | democrat | 2009-01-09 | H | California | M | Mr. Speaker and Members of the House. this motion is a little bit unbelievable in the sense that it suggests that we should be setting the attorneys fees. even though the amount that the gentleman is asking us to set far exceeds what would be ordinary hourly wages fees in these kinds of cases across the Nation. At the same time. it makes no differentiation for geography. complication of cases. number of attorneys necessary in a case or even the number of firms that may be. We dont know if this applies to all of the attorneys in the case with multiple plaintiffs. whether this applies across the firm if multiple attorneys in a firm are on a single case if its a complicated case and. in many cases. these are very complicated cases because they go in to business practices that are disguised in terms of trying to justify unequal pay in the name of equal pay. I find it rather interesting that the supporters of this amendment across the aisle all stood up and talked about how they support the idea of equal pay. how they want their daughters and their granddaughters to be treated equally. how they want to make sure that theyre treated fairly in the workplace and they really support the concept. they just dont support this bill which would make thatthe law. But then what did they decide to do? They decided when those granddaughters arent treated fairly in the workplace. they will discriminate against them in an ability to have an attorney. They will discriminate against them because they will say that their attorneys fees are going to be capped according to this law. as opposed to letting the judge and the |
GEORGE | MILLER | democrat | 2009-01-09 | H | California | M | I ask my colleagues to reject this amendment. to keep the purpose and the intent and the constitutionality of the underlying legislation. and that we should now pass. after many. many years of waiting. the Paycheck Fairness Act. And I ask a "no" vote on this. I yield back the balance of my time. |
HERSETH | SANDLIN | democrat | 2009-01-09 | H | Unknown | F | Madam Speaker. I regret that I was unable to participate in three votes on the floor of the House of Representatives today. The first vote was H.R. 12. the Paycheck Fairness Act. Had I been present. I would have voted "aye" on that question. The second vote was H.R. 11. the Lilly Ledbetter Fair Pay Act of 2009. Had I been present. I would have voted "yea" on that question. The third vote was H. Res. 34. recognizing Israels right to defend itself against attacks from Gaza. reaffirming the United States strong support for Israel. and supporting the IsraeliPalestinian peace process. Had I been present. I would have voted "yea" on that question. |
GEORGE | MILLER | democrat | 2009-01-09 | H | California | M | Madam Speaker. I ask unanimous consent that all Members may have 5 legislative days in which to revise and extend their remarks and include extraneous material on H.R. 11 and H.R. 12. |
VAN | HOLLEN | democrat | 2009-01-13 | H | Unknown | M | Mr. Speaker. I rise today to pay tribute to Claiborne Pell. the great former Senator from Rhode Island. Senator Pells life was defined by service. from the Coast Guard. to the Foreign Service. to 36 years in the United States Senate. He was a model statesman. willing to listen and compromise but never straying from his commitment to fairness and equality. Senator Pell has left a long list of achievements. but his greatest legacy is the Pell grant. which has opened the doors to college for over 50 million students. He also introduced legislation to create the National Endowment for the Arts and the National Endowment for the Humanities. He was an ardent environmentalist. working to protect oceans from nuclear testing. Those are just a few of Senator Pells many accomplishments. I would like to turn for a moment to some personal observations. I had the great privilege of working for Senator Pell when I was a member of the staff of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee from 1987 to 1989. He was a man of both grace and principle. He rarely spoke a word in anger. but he didnt retreat from tough issues. He was a gentle soul with a kind word for most. But it would be a grave mistake for anyone to interpret his gentle disposition as a sign of weakness. He was passionate about the issues he cared about and relentless in pursuing them. He was insistent that the United States play a leading role in the world. He believed strongly in attempting to resolve international conflicts through negotiation and diplomacy before resorting to the use of force. His approach may have fallen out of political fashion for a time. but the passage of time has shown the wisdom of his counsel. We have entered an age that is often dominated by 20second sound bites and partisan political combat. Senator Pell would not have felt as comfortable in this new political environment. nor should he. Rather. we would do better to return to the more. deliberate and gentle ways he brought to the Senate. We have a lot to learn from his example. I will miss him. but our Nation is certainly stronger and better as a result of the life he lived and the legacy he left behind. |
EDDIE BERNICE | JOHNSON | democrat | 2009-01-13 | H | Texas | F | Mr. Speaker. I rise today to honor Dr. Kings legacy and to commemorate this day of national service. Dr. King once said. "Everybody can be great . . . because anybody can serve. You dont have to have a college degree to serve. You dont have to make your subject and verb agree to serve. You only need a heart full. of grace. A soul generated by love." It is that idea. that together we can make a difference. in this Nation and in the lives of others. that has prompted this day of service. I believe that the message of change resonates greatly this particular Martin Luther King Day. This past year. I have seen young people who have never before been involved in service working to change their communities. The ideals for which Dr. King gave his life have energized a new generation of peaceful activists. These young people may not have experienced the words and spirit of Dr. King during their lifetime. but his legacy drives their efforts and enthusiasm. It is a testament to his greatness that Dr. Kings message has transcended time and generations. Dr. King called on all of us to no longer stand alone in silence. but to stand up together as a voice against injustice. He inspired us to fight for change through nonviolent means. and paved the road for us to continue that fight even after his death. Dr. King left us with the challenge to courageously fight and secure the civil rights for all. from the impoverished and disenfranchised underclass to the politically and economically endowed.. And while we have made great progress. there is still work to be done. We must remain diligent and engaged in defining how our Nation will achieve this equality. Todays Martin Luther King Day is as much about the past as it is about the present and the future. Dr. Kings dream is truly timeless. and I hope all will participate in this day of service to honor his faith and vision. |
GENE | GREEN | democrat | 2009-01-14 | H | Texas | M | Madam Speaker. I thank our Chair of our subcommittee. I rise in strong support and as a cosponsor of H.R. 2. the Childrens Health Insurance Program Reauthorization Act. or CHIPRA. During the 110th Congress. we made two attempts to reauthorize the SCHIP program. Unfortunately. both these bills were vetoed by the President. With 6 million American children currently eligible yet unenrolled. the passage of this bill is overdue. CHIPRA reauthorizes SCHIP through 2013 and extends SCHIP coverage to 7 million children already enrolled. but the SCHIP program covers 4 million more children. Eleven million children will be covered under SCHIP when we pass this bill. The bill includes a provision that I am proud is in there. H.R. 465. the Immigrant Childrens Health Improvement Act. which gives the States the option to cover children and pregnant women of lawfully residing children in our country. These are not illegal immigrants. They are children who go to school and go to daycare with our children and our grandchildren. Those children ought to have health care to protect our own children. CHIPRA also includes language from another bill of mine. H.R. 1238. which provides one year of emergency Medicaid coverage for children born in the U.S. and their mothers. which is crucial in protecting the health and wellness of newborns born in this country. I do have to express my disappointment that the bill did not include the provision that was included in the first SCHIP bill we passed which would guarantee that children in families earning less than 200 percent of the poverty level will have 12 months of continuous eligibility under SCHIP. The outreach and enrollment package includes an incentive for States to provide this eligibility guarantee. But for a State like mine. we need to ensure that the State of Texas does right by Texas children and doesnt use the flexibility inherent in the program to kick them off the rolls on a budgetary whim. The 175.000 Texas children who were kicked off the rolls in 2003 know all too well of the States willingness to balance the State budget on their backs. and I hoped that this bill would take away the States ability to do that in the future. However. the need to reauthorize SCHIP before the program expires on March 31st is more important than political battles. I hope my colleagues will join me in supporting this legislation and sending a strong message to the President that we must abandon partisan politics and reauthorize SCHIP for Americas lowincome children. |
VAN | HOLLEN | democrat | 2009-01-14 | H | Unknown | M | I thank my colleague. Madam Speaker. this is a moment of important substance and important symbolism. The substance and merits of this bill are clear. We are going to preserve health coverage for 7 million American children and expand it to another 4 million children from working families who earn too much to qualify for Medicaid. but do not earn enough to be able to afford the very high costs of private health insurance. Taking this bill up right now also sends a very important signal that change has come to Washington. DC as a result of the last election. President Bush twice vetoed this legislation on childrens health. We will soon have a new President. President Barack Obama. who as one ofhis first acts as President will sign this legislation. a President who understands the hardships American families are struggling under at a time when more than 2 million Americans have lost their jobs in just 2 months. The difference could not be clearer. The current President used his mighty veto pen to say "no." to veto and protect the status quo. The new President will use that pen to say "yes." to change the status quo and provide health care to 4 million new American children as we continue to protect 7million American children. That is change we can believe in. |
AL | GREEN | democrat | 2009-01-14 | H | Texas | M | Thank you. Mr. Chairman. Mr. Chairman. Dr. King. whose birthday we are about to celebrate this month. reminds us that the truest measure of the person is not where you stand in times of comfort and convenience. but rather where do you stand in times of challenge and controversy. Not where do you stand when there is no housing crisis and no unemployment problem. but where do you stand when unemployment is 7.2 percent. when you have lost 1 million jobs in the last 2 months. when you have lost 2 million jobs in the last year. Where do you stand in times of challenge and controversy. In this time of challenge and controversy. I stand with the American homeowner. who is in crisis. who needs our help. who but for this piece of legislation will not get our help. I stand with the American homeowner. because this legislation provides $40 billion to $100 billion to help homes that may go into foreclosure. In times of challenge and controversy. I stand with the homeowner. And I also stand for something else. I stand for having the TARP money be made accountable for. This piece of legislation deals with accountability. People want to know how their money has been spent. This legislation helps us to better understand how the TARP money has impacted new lending. The LaTourette amendment that passed this House overwhelmingly in the last session. the last time we met and had this bill before the House. that amendment is something that has been incorporated in this bill. So. Mr. Chairman. I thank you for a stellar job. a job well done. and in times of challenge and controversy. I stand with you. Mr. Chairman. |
CORRINE | BROWN | democrat | 2009-01-14 | H | Florida | F | First of all. let me thank you. Mr. Chairman. for your leadership on this area. I voted for the TARP bill. and Ive got to tell you Ive been very disappointed in many areas. whether were talking about student loans. the fact that thousands of people are losing their homes through foreclosure. or whether the automobile industry. they cant get money to buy a car. And so I want to know what safeguards do we have in this bill to make sure that the banks will do what we intended them to do. The Europeans did the same thing. They used their money to stimulate the economy. but yet. for every dollar they got. they had to lend it out. |
CORRINE | BROWN | democrat | 2009-01-14 | H | Florida | F | My second question regarding the reappraisal of real estate collateral that has affected the home builders in our country. I have an amendment in front of the Rules Committee which will permit lenders to extend or modify loan terms for home builders. so that they could continue to pay interest. without forcing them to pay large sums of principal during this economic crisis. I understand this issue is not covered by the bill. What assurances do we have that we will address this issue in the future? |
CORRINE | BROWN | democrat | 2009-01-15 | H | Florida | F | Mr. Chair. I want to thank Chairman FRANK for his leadership in developing this bill. I appreciate the time you and your staff have spent on the issues important to the Amerfcan people. You were instrumental in getting an amendment regarding tax credits in the managers amendment. I want to speak on the situation today. I voted for TARP when it was brought up last year. I am extremely disappointed as to how the banking industry used the taxpayer funds. The way the administration disbursed the first half of the TARP funds was not in the interest of the American people. It was in the interest of those who caused this crisis in the first place. The investment bankers. and elite financiers in New York were the first in line to claim some money and then left nothing for the people holding the bag. the homeowners and the small businesspeople like those from my district in Florida. The administration moved from helping those who held mortgages that were in foreclosure to bailing out the large banks. These banks took that money and put it in their pockets. They paid their shareholders and continued to pay bonuses to their executives. The banks called in their loans and eliminated lines of credit. They bought other banks. They closed businesses and used every. legal means to get as much money as they could. What the banking industry did was not our intent. The Europeans used the government money to help stimulate the economy. Every pound or euro given to banks was required to be loaned out. As opposed to the banks here who called in loans and did away with lines of credit. I would like to ask Chairman FRANK a couple of questions at this time: "Chairman FRANK. I am very concerned the money we are authorizing for the TARP program will not make it to the American people and will not be used for what we are intending it to be used for. We need to get money to people for (1). to end the foreclosures. of which thousands a day are happening all over the country. (2) auto loanspeople cant get credit to buy a car and (3) school loansthe banks are calling in the notes. prohibiting our young people from getting an education. The American people need this money. What protections have you included in the bill to ensure this happens?" Second. I have a question regarding the reappraisal of real estate collateral that is affecting the home builders in our country. I have an amendment in front of the rules committee which would permit lenders to extend or modify loan terms for home builders. so they could continue to pay interest without forcing them to pay large sums to the principal while in this economic crisis. I understand this issue is not covered by this bill. What assurances do I have that you will consider this issue in the future in your committee? Mr. Chairman. thank you very much for your explanations. In my district. along with most of the country. people cannot get the loans to consume. which is the basis for our economy. I am pleased you incluoed these provisions in the bill. to help small businesses all over our country. Thank you for your hard work on this bill. to bring relief to those who are suffering from foreclosures and for your firm leadership on this issue for the many years you have served the people of Massachusetts and America. It is important the TARP funds being spent by the Administration be used for the benefit of the American people. From what I have seen. it does not. |
PATRICK J. | MURPHY | democrat | 2009-01-15 | H | Penn | M | sylvania. Mr. Chairman. I yield myself as much time as I may consume. Mr. Chairman. last fall we had to take emergency action to try and stop the falling stock market and weakening credit markets. But I was not pleased when it took a subpoena threat to force financial institutions to release program details about the TARP. the Troubled Asset Relief Program. Mr. Chairman. most folks in America are not aware. but the Federal Reserve. shortly before Thanksgiving. announced a half a trillion dollar effort to purchase MBS. MortgageBacked Securities. and contracted with four outside investment firms to manage it. With another $500 billion. half a trillion dollars at stake. Mr. Chairman. we cannot let or allow history to repeat itself. fl 1300 We demand the details of the Feds MBS program. and it is our duty to demand the information about how the Federal Reserve will run this program. For example. the Fed has refused to make clear details about how they chose the four firms and who will manage the purchases. They have refused to share how much those firms are getting paid. And it is still unclear what steps have been taken to ensure strict conflict of interest provisions are put in place so that these four firms are not given an unfair market advantage because of their role in the mortgage backed securities program. Despite half a trillion dollars at stake. Mr. Chairman. there are still too many things we do not know. Mr. Chairman. my amendment is simple. It will force the Fed to do three things. First. it will force the Federal Reserve to disclose the details of the request process used to select the investment managers. Second. it would force the Fed to disclose the details of the contracts reached with these four investment managers. including price. And. third. it will force the Fed to disclose the steps that each investment manager has taken to ensure that the program is free of conflicts of interest or an unfair advantage. Despite many requests from my office and news organizations. we have been unable to get the information relating to these contracts. With $500 billion and the public trust at stake. this information is not too much to ask or an undue burden on the Federal Reserve. I urge my colleagues to support my amendment. Mr. Chairman. I reserve the balance of my time. |
PATRICK J. | MURPHY | democrat | 2009-01-15 | H | Penn | M | sylvania. Mr. Chairman. I appreciate any colleague from New Jerseys support of our bill and the effort for transparency and accountability. At this time. Mr. Chairman. I would like to yield such time as he may consume to the gentleman from Massachusetts . |
ZOE | LOFGREN | democrat | 2009-01-15 | H | California | F | Mr. Chairman. I rise to make a very happy announcement. Our colleague. Congressman BRAD SHERMAN. and his wife. Lisa. had their first child last nighta beautiful baby girl. Molly Hannah Sherman is 7 pounds. 15.6 ounces. I am pleased to report that mother and baby are doing splendidly and that the father is expected to recover. |
GEORGE | MILLER | democrat | 2009-01-15 | H | California | M | Madam Speaker. I rise today to express my deep concern over the increasingly grave situation in the Gaza Strip and to express my disappointment that Congress has not spoken more clearly and forcibly in favor of a ceasefire. The latest fighting between Israel and Hamas has led to a humanitarian crisis. According to news reports. quoting various official sources on both sides of the battle. the impact on civilians in Gaza is severe and growing worse. Madam Speaker. like every Member of this House. I support the right of Israel to defend itself and its people. and. like my colleagues. I strongly denounce Hamas ongoing indiscriminate destabilizing rocket attacks against civilian populations in southern Israel and Hamas clear intent to terrorize the people of Israel. In no uncertain terms. I call on Hamas to end its rocket attacks against Israel immediately. But I also believe in no uncertain terms there must be a ceasefire between Hamas and Israel and it must commence immediately. The loss of life to children and their families. the vast destruction of homes and the enormous suffering in Gaza that is being caused by the escalation of this conflict must end. Last week. the House spoke out on this latest conflict in the Middle East by passing H. Res. 34 that "recognizes Israels right to defend itself against the attacks from Gaza. reaffirming the United States strong support for Israel. and supporting the IsraeliPalestinian peace process." I was disappointed that. as this body has done so often in the past. the House voted only to reiterate its support for Israel and its right to defend itself. rather than also to have used our considerable influence to pressure both sides to agree to a ceasefire in order to protect civilians on both sides caught in this conflict and in order to work toward a lasting resolution of this conflict that will lead to the protection and security of Israel. I support much of the language in the resolution. but I regret that H.R. 34 in its entirety was not a correct statement for the House to make at the time. The question for the House and the international community is how the Israeli people will be able to live in peace and security without the constant threat of attack from Hamas and others and how the United States and all other nations can assist in achieving that outcome in a lasting manner. The House has not weighed in on this question. The House of Representatives should throw its considerable weight behind the call for an immediate ceasefire between Israel and Hamas. The ceasefire is in the best interests of .Israel and the United States. The fact is that there has been a failure of political leadership that has led to this renewed and devastating fighting in Gaza. The Bush administration failed to adequately and successfully address the Middle East conflict during its time in office and during the time in which we knew the ceasefire was coming to an end. and conditions might have been changed so that it could have been extended. The international community has failed to adequately address the conflict between Israel and Hamas. Experts in the Middle East had warned that a conflict of this nature would eventually come. and will continue to come in the future if conditions on the ground do not change. Their warning went unheeded. and now a new and costly war has broken out. Hamas rocket attacks against Israel are indefensible. But neither can the disproportionate military response by Israel be defended. The latest fighting was preceded by a lengthy and crushing blockade by Israel of Gaza that caused an humanitarian crisis. Hamas. unfortunately. chose to break the ceasefire and continue shelling of Israel. And Israel chose the breaking of the ceasefire to launch. as it should have. a defense of Israel. but unfortunately. with an allout attack on Gaza. Lost in all of this is the answer to the question of how the Israeli people can be assured the protection they deserve. The rocket attacks against Israel continue. albeit lessened now. despite the enormous firepower brought against Hamas by Israel. There is no clear answer as to how Israel will bring this conflict to an end in Gaza or clear what Israels ultimate goals are in this conflict. Only a ceasefire and a. new international commitment to negotiate a cessation of hostilities between Hamas and Israel can protect the people of Israel. |
ROBERT C. | BYRD | democrat | 2009-01-15 | S | Unknown | F | without any fanfare. in late December. in a cold. driving rain. drove to Wilmington. DE. stood outside a memorial service at a Catholic Church for my deceased wife and daughter. soaking wet in that cold rain. and never once came to see me. just to show his respect. and then got back in the automobile and drove back to Washington. DC. This is a remarkable place. gentlemen and ladies. And as I healed. this place became my second family. more than I suspect it is for most. I needed it. and for that I will be forever gratefulforever grateful. So to the people of Delaware. who have given me the honor of serving them. there is no way I can ever express to them how much this meant to me. To my staff. past and present. and all those on the floor. past and present. dedicated to making this institution run. including the young pages. wideeyed and hopefully going home and wanting to come back * someday in our spots. thank you for everything you have done for me. I suspect you have done for me more than you have done for most. To my children. Hunter and Ashley and Beau. if I was nothing else. I would be content to be the father of such wonderful people. To my grandchildren. who constantly remind me why the decisions we make in this August body are so important. and to my Jill. you once saved my life. and you are my life today. I thank all of you. I thank all my colleagues for making my Senate service possible and this next chapter in my career in life so hopeful. I came here to fight for civil rights. In my office now sits that grand conference table that once was used to fight against civil rights. and I leave here today to begin my service to our Nations first AfricanAmerican President. The arc of the universe is long. but it does indeed bend toward justice. and the Senate of the United States has been an incredible instrument in assuring that justice. So although you have not seen the last of me. I say for the last time. and with confidence in all of you. optimism -in our future. and a heart with more gratitude than I can express. I yield the floor. |
COST | SHARE | democrat | 2009-01-15 | S | Unknown | Unknown | (1) IN GENERAL.-The Secretary of the Interior (hereinafter referred to as "Secretary"). in consultation and cooperation with the City of San Diego and the Sweetwater Authority. is authorized to undertake a study to determine the feasibility of constructing a four reservoir intertie system to improve water storage opportunities. water supply reliability. and water yield of the existing nonFederal water storage system. The feasibility study shall document the Sebretarys engineering. environmental. and economic investigation of the proposed reservoir and intertie project taking into consideration the range of potential solutions and the circumstances and needs of the area to be served by the proposed reservoir and intertie project. the potential benefits to the people of that service area. and improved operations of the proposed reservoir and intertie system. The Secretary shall indicate in the feasibility report required under paragraph (4) whether the proposed reservoir and intertie project is recommended for construction. (2) FEDERAL COST SHARE.-The Federal share of the costs of the feasibility study shall not exceed 50 percent of the total study costs. The Secretary may accept as part of the nonFederal cost share. any contribution of such inkind services by the City of San Diego and the Sweetwater Authority that the Secretary determines will contribute toward the conduct and completion of the study. (3) COOPERATION.-The Secretary shall consult and cooperate with appropriate State. regional. and local authorities in implementing this subsection. (4) FEASIBILITY REPORT.-The Secretary shall submit to Congress a feasibility report for the project the Secretary recommends. and to seek. as the Secretary deems appropriate. specific authority to develop and construct any recommended project. This report shall include(A) good faith letters of intent by the City of San Diego and the Sweetwater Authority and its nonFederal partners to indicate that they have committed to share the allocated costs as determinpd by the Secretary. and (B) a schedule identifying the annual operation. maintenance. and replacement costs that should be allocated to the City of San Diego and the Sweetwater Authority. as well as the current and expected financial capability to pay operation. maintenance. and replacement costs. |
JOHN | LEWIS | democrat | 2009-01-21 | H | Unknown | M | for introducing again this bipartisan House Resolution that calls upon all Americans on this occasion "to advance the legacy of Dr. Martin Luther King. Jr." I also acknowledge the many colleagues of the Judiciary Committee on both sides of the aisle that have joined us in supporting this resolution. in particular. the ranking member from Texas. our friend. Mr. SMITH. For over 40 years now. we have commemorated the life and work of the Nations greatest civil rights leader. Dr. Martin Luther King. Jr. Since 1986. we have recognized Dr. King with a Federal holiday in his honor. a holiday that I and others here have worked so hard to achieve. Last year. we paid tribute to Dr. King upon the 40th anniversary of his assassination. Today. we once again celebrate Dr. King on the event of his birthday. On these anniversaries. the Congress has called upon the Nations citizens to practice justice. equality. and peace in all aspects of his life. the very principles that Dr. King stood for. Today. we make the same request of not just our colleagues. but of our citizens. recognizing that today is very different. We advance Dr. Kings legacy by realizing that some of Dr. Kings dream has been achieved. Just yesterday. our Nation witnessed the first African American in history to take the oath of office for President of the United States. Our 44th President. President Obama. is a testament to Dr. Kings pursuit and struggle for equality. And in his short life. Dr. King laid the foundation for a society that would guarantee that all men are created equal. It is on the shoulders of Dr. King and Rosa Parks and Andrew Young and Harry Belafonte. all close colleagues of Dr. King. who were in the forefront of the civil rights movement. And that is why we stand here today. witnesses to history. with our first African American President. President Obama spoke movingly yesterday when he asked that we mark his inauguration in remembrance of who we are and how far we have traveled. why men and women and children of every race and every faith can join in celebration across the magnificent Mall. and why a man whose father. less than 60 years ago. might not have been served at a local restaurant. can now stand before you to take the most sacred oath that was given to him yesterday. In celebrating the great legacy of Dr. Kings work. we must recognize that his legacy does not end here. Continuing his mission of justice means bringing an end to racial and economic injustices. like those we have seen in so many aspects of the current financial and fiscal crisis that we are confronted with. Advancing his mission of equality means eliminating the disparities that exist in so many aspects of our society. health care. housing. education. employment. And so pursuing his mission of peace means bringing an end to the wars that still persist and allowing our Nation to be an example of a peaceful democracy. Madam Speaker. I reserve the balance of my time. |
LINDA T. | SANCHEZ | democrat | 2009-01-21 | H | Cali | F | fornia. I thank the gentleman. Madam Speaker. I rise in strong support of House Resolution 56 and support the goals of National School Counseling Week. I want to thank Chairman GEORGE MILLER and Ranking Member BUCK McKEON. as well as Representative VERNON EHLERS. for their support of this very important resolution. This resolution aims to highlight the very important work that school counselors do in our schools every single day. The best counselors inspire young people to dream big. They help young people get on the road to accomplish their dreams. And. when necessary. they enlist the support of parents. teachers. mentors. tutors. and anyone else that it takes in order to keep our children moving along that path to accomplishment. As I know from visiting schools in my district. counselors--though there are far too few of themplay a critical role in student success. Unlike teachers. who often only get to know students one semester or year at a time. counselors follow students throughout their many years at an elementary. middle or high school. They are adept at spotting longterm trends in student progress or behavior and arranging the appropriate intervention or enrichment. They.. assist teachers in developing instructional and behavioral programs tailored to meet the individual and unique needs of a particular student. I want to recognize all the dedicated counselors from my district who accomplish amazing things every day that they go to work. Lisa Torres from Cleveland Elementary and Brian Kamper of Artesia High School are just two of the many exceptional counselors that I have heard of. Lisa and Brian help their students to believe in themselves and achieve their goals. and their reputations are well known. Parents are rightly proud of these counselors and secure in the knowledge that Lisa and Brian are looking out for their childrens academic achievement as well as their emotional wellbeing. I want to applaud the work of all those like Lisa and Brian. who are an integral part of the education team. I also hope that this year. as Congress continues to address No Child Left Behind and the role of our Federal Government in our local schools. that we can find a way to encourage schools to invest in counseling. The nationwide average studenttocounselor ratio of 475to1 is simply inadequate to provide students. teachers. and parents with the counseling services that they need. Just think of all the students who are considering dropping out who need extra help from a literacy coach or who dont think that they can pay for college who could be reached if we simply had the counselors in those schools dedicated to those students. I urge my colleagues to support this resolution. |
WASSERMAN | SCHULTZ | democrat | 2009-01-21 | H | Unknown | F | Madam Speaker. as a proud University of Florida alumna who bleeds orange and blue. I am delighted to be an original cosponsor of H. Res. 58. Commending the University of Florida Gators for winning the 2008 Bowl Championship Series National Championship Game. The University of Florida Gators football team squarely defeated the Oklahoma Sooners 2414. This tremendous victory is nothing but extraordinary on all counts. The Gators win over Oklahoma was the third football national title for the University of Florida and the second in the past three seasons. This victory makes the University of Florida the fourth school in the modem era to win two outright national collegiate athletics title in three years. Additionally. Gators quarterback Tim Tebow was named the games Most Valuable Player. with 340 yards of total offense. the thirdbest passrush total in a BCS Championship game. While this victory is among the many reasons to be proud of the University of Florida. I am most proud of that the excellence of its academic. athletic. and research programs is beyond compare. It is both a premier public research university and a top contender in the athletic arena. With so much to be proud of. it is no wonder that the Gator nation includes millions of people from all over the worldstudents. alumni. faculty. staff. administrators. sports fans. and anyone who shares the values and spirit of the University of Florida. It goes without saying that the Gator nation has continued to make its mark and make her alumni and the Gator family proud. |
CORRINE | BROWN | democrat | 2009-01-21 | H | Florida | F | Mr. Speaker. I rise today to congratulate my University of Florida football team for winning its second NCAA BCS championship bowl game in the last three seasons. Go Gators. I want to congratulate the University of Florida not only for being the best academic school. but also athletic school in the country. * Their 2414 victory over the Oklahoma Sooners showed off teamwork. sportsmanship. and one of the defense plays that I have seen. They held the team with the highest scoring offense to just 14 points. The Gators once again came back to prove that the University of Florida season was no fluke. and that the Florida Gators are again a championship team that made history. Congratulations to their great players and outstanding coach. Urban Meyer. for coaching a remarkable group of guys. Lets do a quick fact check. The Gators won their second national championship in the past 3 years and the third in the schools history. Florida is the fourth school in the modern era to win two outright national titles in 3 years. Florida finished the 2008 season with a 131 record. matching the singleseason school record for wins. Tim Tebow became the fifth player since 1950 to win a Heisman Trophy and two national championships. The win makes Urban Meyer the fifth active coach With multiple national titles and the fifth coach since the AP poll began in 1936 to win two national championships in his first four seasons at a school. Tim Tebow. Floridas leader and quarterback. not only ran for 109 yards. but threw 18for30 and was flawless in the fourth quarter alone when it mattered the most and the pressure was on. Percy Harvin. whose gutsy play won him the game ball. came back from an ankle injury and dashed for 122 yards on only nine carries. And it was his 52yard run down the stretch that set up Jonathan Phillips 27yard field goal early in the fourth quarter for a 1714 lead. which the Gators never.lost and never looked back. There has been some discussion in this body about having a national championship playoff. Let me be clear. weve had a playoff. And I hate to say it. that everything is just not all equal. We want to encourage all of our kids to participate in sports and activities because we know that it builds character. but it is clear that the Gators are superb to any other schools with the conferences that we play in. So. in closing. I want to leave you again with the Gators chant that I just love: "One. two. three. four. five. them there Gators dont take no jive." |
EDDIE BERNICE | JOHNSON | democrat | 2009-01-22 | H | Texas | F | Mr. Speaker. on the afternoon of January 22. 2009. I was unable to vote due to illness and missed three rollcall votes. Had I been present. I would have voted "nay" on rollcall No. 27. H.J. Res. 3. a resolution to disapprove the use of the second $350 billion of the funds that were made available to the Secretary of the Treasury under the Emergency Economic Stabilization Act of 2008. "yea" on rollcall No. 28. on agreeing to H. Res. 56. expressing support for designation of the week of February 2 through February 6. 2009. as "National School Counseling Week". and "yea" on rollcall No. 29. on passage of H. Res. 58. commending the University of Florida Gators for winning the.Bowl Championship Series National Championship Game. |
GEORGE | MILLER | democrat | 2009-01-23 | H | California | M | Madam Speaker. pursuant to Rule Xl. Clause 2(a)(2) of Rules of the House of Representatives. I respectfully submit the rules for the 111th Congress for the Committee on Education and Labor for publication in the CONGRESSIONAL RECORD. The Committee adopted these rules by voice vote. with a quorum being present. at our organizational meeting on January 21. |
LORETTA | SANCHEZ | democrat | 2009-01-27 | H | Cali | F | fornia. Mr. Speaker. today marks the second day of Tet. or more commonly known as the Lunar New Year. This year is the Year of the Water Buffalo. Tet is a reaffirmation of the Vietnamese cultural heritage and tradition and is the largest and the most celebrated holiday for the Vietnamese people. It is when friends and families come together to celebrate the past year and. of course. we look to the future year. On January 30. the Union of the Vietnamese Student Associations of Southern California will hold its annual Tet Festival in the City of Garden Grove. I would like to recognize the UVSA and the Vietnamese community for their endless efforts in bringing students. young professionals and community organizations together for the annual Tet Festival. The Vietnamese American community plays a vital economic and cultural role in the 47th District of California. and I am very proud of its efforts in fighting to achieve freedom and human rights for all Vietnamese people. As the Representative of the 47th District. it is a great honor to rep-: resent one of the largest Vietnamese communities in the world. and I would like to congratulate the Vietnamese community for all theirsuccesses this past year and to wish them a very happy new year. Chuc Mung Nam Moi. |
GEORGE | MILLER | democrat | 2009-01-27 | H | California | M | Mr. Speaker. pursuant to H. Res. 87. I call up the Senate bill to amend title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 and the Age Discrimination in Employment Act of 1967. and to modify the operation of the Americans with Disabilities Act of 1990 and the Rehabilitation Act of 1973. to clarify that a discriminatory compensation decision or other practice that is unlawful under such Acts occurs each time compensation is paid pursuant to the discriminatory compensation decision or other practice. and for other purposes. and ask for its immediate consideration in the House. |
GEORGE | MILLER | democrat | 2009-01-27 | H | California | M | Mr. Speaker. I ask unanimous consent that all Members may have 5 legislative days in which to revise and extend their remarks and insert extraneous material on S. 181. |
GEORGE | MILLER | democrat | 2009-01-27 | H | California | M | Mr. Speaker. I yield myself 5 minutes. Mr. Speaker. today the House of Representatives meets to give final approval to the Lilly Ledbetter Fair Pay Act and send it to President Obama for his signature. What a difference a new. Congress and a President make. Nondiscrimination in the workplace must be a sacred American principle. Workers should be paid based upon their merits. not an employers prejudices. Yet. more than 40 years after the passage of the Civil Rights Act of 1964. the Supreme Court dramatically turned back the clock on this bedrock principle. Instead of abiding by decades of longstanding law. a narrow majority of the Supreme Court decided to commit legal jujitsu to satisfy a narrow ideological agenda. The Supreme Court simply told bad employers that to escape responsibility for pay discrimination all they need to do is keep it hidden for the first 180 days. The Ledbetter ruling has already dramatically impacted how Americans can remedy discrimination. It has been cited in hundreds of caseB over the past 19 months since the ruling. Not only have pay discrimination cases been adversely impacted. but even fair housing protections and title IX complaints. The Supreme Court sent these lower courts backwards down the wrong path. and today the Congress will correct that course by passing this bill. The Lilly Ledbetter Fair Pay Act would simply reset the law as businesses. most courts. employers and employees and the EEOC had understood it before the Courts 2007 fihng. Under S. 181. every paycheck or other compensation resulting. in whole or part. from an earlier discriminatory pay decision or other practice would constitute a violation of title VII. In other words. if an employer keeps issuing discriminatory paychecks. that employer will keep restarting the clock for filing charges. Thats only fair. As long as workers file their charges. as Lilly Ledbetter herself did. within 180 days of a discriminatory paycheck. *the charges will be considered timely. The legislation also clarifies that an employee is entitled to up to- 2 years backpay as provided in title VII already. Finally. S. 181 ensures that these simple reforms extend to the Age Discrimination in Employment Act. the Americans with Disabilities Act and the Rehabilitation Act to provide these same protections for victims of age and disability discrimination. Correcting pay discrimination poses significant challenges to workers. made all the harder with the Supreme Courts Ledbetter decision. This is best illustrated by Lilly Ledbetters own words from an Education and Labor Committee hearing in 2007: "What happened to me is not only an insult to my dignity. but it had real consequences for my ability to care for my family. Every paycheck I received. I got less than what I was entitled to under the law. "The Supreme Court said that this didnt count as illegal discrimination. but it sure feels like discrimination when you are on the receiving end of that smaller paycheck and trying to support your family with less money than the men are getting for doing the same job. And according to the Court. if you dont figure things out right away. the company can treat you like a secondclass citizen for the rest of your career. This isnt right." I agree with Lilly Ledbetter: what happened to her wasnt right. Unfortunately. its too late for Lilly Ledbetter to receive justice. But today. thanks to Lillys incredible courage and perseverance. and thanks to millions of Americans making their voices heard. Congress will reject this ruling for the millions of Americans suddenly now subject to legal. discrimination. The Ledbetter v. Goodyear Supreme Court ruling was a painful step backwards for civil rights in this country. Today. the House will correct this injustice and send President Obama his first bill to sign into law. All victims of discrimination are entitled to justice. and I urge my colleagues to support the Lilly Ledbetter Fair Pay Act. Mr. Speaker. I reserve the balance of my time. |
GEORGE | MILLER | democrat | 2009-01-27 | H | California | M | I yield myself 15 seconds just to say. according to the analysis done by the Congressional Budget Office. there is no new cost associated with this legislation because it creates no new cause of action. and no anticipated increase in litigation in spite of the remarks of the gentleman from the other side of the aisle. And thats what the independent analysis shows of this legislation. I would like now to yield 2 minutes to the gentlewoman from California |
GEORGE | MILLER | democrat | 2009-01-27 | H | California | M | Mr. Speaker. I yield 3 minutes to the gentlewoman from Connecticut . a champion of fair pay and equal pay for women. |
GEORGE | MILLER | democrat | 2009-01-27 | H | California | M | I yield myself such time as I may consume. Mr. Speaker. Members of the House. the Lilly Ledbetter Fair Pay Act goes to basic and fundamental American values. both in our daily lives and in our workplace. and that is that people ought to be rewarded with equal pay for equal work. Its fundamental. its Januaiy 27. 2009 CO basic to our economy. its basic to our society. Its basic to our sense of fairness. to our sense of justice. and to our sense of equality. But in far too many workplaces thats not what is done. Women. in many instances. time and time again. for doing the same job that men are doing in the same manner that men are doing it. are paid less. not because they are not doing the job equally as well as the men. but because somebody decided that they were going to pay them less simply because they were women. That runs counter to the values of this Nation. It runs counter to the values of our society. It runs counter to - the best interests of women. Its rather fascinating that they are suggesting that because of tough economic times some businesses may only be able to survive if they can engage in discrimination. If they can carry out a business plan based upon discrimination. they may be able to survive. so women should underwrite that discriminatory policy and accept less. Well. let me tell you what its like when you are trying to support a family. either as a dual wage earner or by yourself. and you are accepting less every week. every day. every hour for the work that you are doing the same as the people alongside of you. but you are getting less because you are a woman. Try that in these tough economic times. Try running your household in these tough economic times where the Republicans would have you believe we should enforce the policy of discrimination. that somehow women should underwrite these difficult times by accepting. being a victim of discrimination. I dont think so. I dont think the people in this Congress believe that. I dont believe the people in this country believe that. and thats why were going to pass this legislation. Its fundamental to the values of this country. Now. they are trying to run up the scare tactics that this gets rid of the statute of limitation. same statute of limitations. 180 days. that somehow if you had waited a long time you would collect more recovery than otherwise. No. you get 2 years of backpay. thats the maximum. and thats it. But they want to suggest otherwise. no. thats what the law says. And because of that. because we reset the law to what it was. as it was interpreted by courts all over this country and by employers and employees. the CBO in its independent analysis said this does not increase costs because it does not create a new cause of action and they dont expect a lot of litigation as a result of this because we go back to the law as it was. So lets move along here and get rid of this outrageous discriminatory practice that was sanctified by the Supreme Court in some kind of ideological rampage again.qt women and the treatment and the fairness of them in the workplace. We have an opportunity to do that now. We will pass this bill today. we will send it to the White House where our new President. Barack Obama. has said he will sign this legislation. And with that signature on this bill. we can change the law in this country to once again make sure that women are provided equal pay for equal work that they do in the American workplace. and I urge my colleagues to support this legislatiQn. |
GENE | GREEN | democrat | 2009-01-27 | H | Texas | M | Mr. Speaker. I rise today as an original cosponsor of the Ledbetter Fair Pay Act. to express my strong support for the bill. I am pleased we are taking up this bill as passed by the senate so we can finally send it to the Presidents desk after previously passing it twice in this chamber. The Ledbetter Fair Pay Act corrects and clarifies a serious misinterpretation by the Supreme Court in its 2007 ruling in the case of Ledbetter v. Goodyear. In that 54 decision. the majority ruled that Lilly Ledbetter. the lone female supervisor at a tire plant in Gadsden. AL. did not file her lawsuit against Goodyear Tire and Rubber Co. in the timely manner specified by Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of The court determined a victim of pay discrimination must file a charge within 180 days of the employers decision to pay someone less for an unlawfully discriminatory reason such as race. age. sex. or religion. The Ledbetter Fair Pay Act clarifies that each paycheck resulting from a discriminatory pay decision constitutes a new violation of the employment nondiscrimination law. as long as the charge is filed within 180 days of the employee receiving the paycheck. The LedbetterFair Pay Act restores workers ability to pursue claims of pay discrimination onnot only sex. but race. religion. age. or for any other reason. Congress must pass this legislation to help ensure all workers are treated fairly in the workplace and the standard of equal pay for equal work is upheld. I urge my colleagues to join me in supporting this bill to end pay discrimination. |
GEORGE | MILLER | democrat | 2009-01-27 | H | California | M | Mr. Speaker. Members of the House. this motion to commit is clearly an effort to not only send this bill back to committee. but to kill this legislation. My colleagues on the other side of the aisle recognize the situation that we find ourselves in. TheHouse has passed this legislation earlier. in this session. and the Senate has passed similar legislation which we are now taking up. And when we vote in a little while. this afternoon. we will pass this legislation. and it will go to the President of the United States. So this is a desperate attempt to somehow keep that from happening. And what we will be sweeping is we will be sweeping away a policy of discrimination in the workplace against women who are paid less than their male counterparts for the same work. The fact of the matter is that there were hearings held both in the Judiciary Committee. in the last session of Congress. and in the Education and Labor Committee. and all sides were allowed to present their views in those hearings. [] 1545 In the last Congress. it was subject to a full committee markup. which all Members could have offered as many amendments as they like. They offered two amendments. Those amendments were rejected. They could have offered more. They chose not to. The bill went to the House floor. debated. and was passed on a bipartisan vote of 225199 in June of 2007. The minority had an opportunity to offer a motion to recommit. They chose not to. The bill went to the Senate. where it was filibustered. Filibustered. And then the bill was reintroduced identical to what the House had already passed earlier this month. On January 9 of this year. we passed the bill on the House floor again. 247171. on another bipartisan vote. The minority had another opportunity .to offer a motion to recommit. They chose not to. The bill went to the Senate. where it was subjected to amendment after amendment. The bill was passed on a bipartisan vote of 6136. And now we are on the cusp of sending this bill to President Obama for his signature. That is what we should do. We should reject this motion to commit. an attempt to kill this legislation. and make sure that this bill goes to the Presidents desk and ends this discriminatory policy against women in the workplace. I urge my colleagues to vote "no" on the motion to commit and vote "aye" on the passage of the legislation. I yield back the balance of my time. |
VAN | HOLLEN | democrat | 2009-01-27 | H | Unknown | M | I thank the chairman. and rise in strong support of this legislation because of the boost it will provide to our ailing economy and the priority investments it makes in our Nation. To struggling families and communities around the country. with the passage of this bill we can say help is on the way. We have heard from economists from all sides of the political spectrum. and they all agree inaction and doing nothing is not an option. We need to join together with our new President. President Obama. and act boldly and decisively. and that is what this legislation does. by directing $825 billion in stimulus where it is needed most. readytogo projects to put people back to work. investing in clean energy and the infrastructure we need for the 21st century. and middleclass tax relief for struggling American families so they have a little more breathing room in their budgets. I am especially pleased with the provisions relating to energy efficiency and renewable energy that we have worked on. on a bipartisan basis.loan guarantees for renewable energy projects that are sidelined because of the credit crunch. and new authority for homeowners to retrofit their homes. I urge passage of this legislation. |
GEORGE | MILLER | democrat | 2009-01-27 | H | California | M | If the gentleman would yield. I want to say to the gentleman I share your concern that women receive equal opportunity to be trained and hired in the types of higherpaid positions that are traditionally occupied by men. The bill provides approximately $4 billioil to train workers who need new or additional skills. Job training to train women in nontraditional job retains its priority recognition asunder current law. |
GEORGE | MILLER | democrat | 2009-01-27 | H | California | M | Mr. Chairman. I yield the gentleman an additional 30 seconds. The bill also provides $80 million to enhance worker protections on those jobs including through the Office of Federal Contract Compliance. Health and Safety. and wage and hour enforcement. |
GEORGE | MILLER | democrat | 2009-01-27 | H | California | M | Mr. Chairman. I yield myself such time as I may consume. Mr. Chairman and Members of the House. I must say that I truly admire the courage of my friends on the other side of the aisle. In the middle of the worst economic downturn that any of us can remember. our parents told us about the Depression. an unprecedented and accelerating job loss all across the American economy in every sector. our friends on the other side of the aisle ask us just for one last time to do what theyve beendoing the last 8 years. to just one more time give the tax cuts to the richest people in the country. to just one more time dive into the tank of fiscal irresponsibility. They inherited a $5 trillion surplus. and they squandered it to an $8 trillion deficit. They created the slowest job creation since World War I. the slowest job creation since Wdrld War H in a recovery. They held middle income wages stagnate. In fact. many families lost ground. The wealthy did the best. They stood by while banks created liar loans. while banks created nodoc loans. while people on Wall Street played fast and easy with hardworking Americans money in their pension plans. And what do we get for their 8 years? We see people now getting their returns on their pensions. their 401(k) plans. and 30. 40. 50 percent of their assets are gone and those who are over 55 living in panic about how will they have a retirement. And yet they stand here day after day and say just let us have more of what we were doing in the past. You know. when that helicopter took off outside here in this plaza. millions of Americans gave that President a wave goodbye because in the middle of this historic downturn. millions and millions of Americans made a decision to go in another direction because what you were doing hadnt worked for them or for their families. hadnt worked for them or their families. because that was your policy. Mr. Chairman. that was their policy. crude and rude with respect to working Americans in this country and their families. So what do we have now? We have an incredible consensus of economists who are on the left. who are on the right. who advised Republican candidates in -the past. Ronald Reagan. JOHN MCCAIN. and they have said you have got to put together a recovery act where the government spends this money on projects to put people back to work to create jobs. It will not stop unemployment. but it will help. It will help. And thats what were doing here. Thats what were doing here. They also said from the right and the left. as they told us that the American economy is shutting down while youre asking to do more of the same. they said dont forget education. We cannot have young people lose a year or 2 years of education because of an economic downturn. You must support education at the local level. Why? Because the States and local governments are hemorrhaging. hemorrhaging the loss of revenues. Because people cant afford to buy a car. theyre not buying a car. Because home price values are dropping so fast that theyre going in and getting their property taxes reestablished because of the loss of value in homes. and thats costing local governments and school districts money from sales tax and property tax. So were trying to make sure that those students dont lose that educational opportunity. We see a number of students are now starting to forego college who are in the middle of their college education because of costs. Yes. were going to increase the Pell grant so they can stay. Were going to give an income tax credit so they can stay in school. Were going to give them work opportunities on campus so they can stay in school. Because thats what the economists. thats what the venture capitalists said. thats the captains of industry said needs to be done. Dont lose that. because when this economy reemerges. we need those people to be competitive with the rest of the world. Yes. were going to help school districts and school construction so that young students can go to school in a cleaner. better environment. so theyll be connected to the latest technology. so theyll have the educational opportunities. And it will be a safe school. It will be a modern school. Yes. were going to help them out and do that because they dont have the ability to do that because your economic policies froze municipal bonds and school bonds where people voted to impose taxes on themselves to improve their schools. to improve their cities. But the credit markets are seized. so were trying to help them out for the time being until those markets unfreeze. And. yes. $300 billion was given to the Bush administration and Secretary Paulson. and so far it appears it was given without conditions in terms of any effort by the big banks to unfreeze the credit markets to lend to small businesses. to lend to families in need. Yes. were changing policy. And were doing it at the direction of the American people because the policy you gave them for 8 years was a disaster for them. their families. their retirements. their wages. their health care. They want to go in a different direction. and we will take them in a different direction. We will take them to job creation. Well take them to better education. And. hopefully. well take them to a stronger economy on the advice. on the advice. with all due respect. of not the other side uf the aisle. but. of economists from the left to the right of impeccable credentials who said the only question about this package really is. is it large enough? |
EDDIE BERNICE | JOHNSON | democrat | 2009-01-27 | H | Texas | F | I want to thank the Chair of Transportation. as well as the Chair of Appropriations. for the hard work they put into this. . Mr. Chairman. you know I strongly support the underlying bill. I know that I understand it differently than some others here. But if we keep doing the same thing that we have been doing for the last 8 years. we will get the same results. You cant do the same thing and expect the results to change. The needed funds for our Nations roads. bridges. transit systems. airport and waterrelated infrastructure are very much needed. Over the past 2 years. the Subcommittee on Water Resources and Environment has held numerous hearings on the Nations waterrelated infrastructure needs. whether it is the $300 billion to $400 billion investment needed to restore and upgrade our Nations network of wastewater treatment infrastructure. or the projection of $50 billion to $60 billion for vital projects of the Corps of Engineers. The waterrelated infrastructure needs of this Nation are struggling and growing ever longer. and the longer it is put off. the more it will cost. Each $1 billion of Federal funds invested in infrastructure creates and sustains approximately 34.000 to 47.000 jobs and $6.2 billion in economic activities. The $3 billion in infrastructure investment funding in the bill for the State of Texas will provide a real tangible benefit to the 700.000 individuals currently unemployed in our State. whether as a paycheck for those responsible for constructing these vital projects or through increased productivity for small businesses that produce the materials needed for these vital infrastructure projects. These people cannot pay taxes. They dont have jobs. However. unlike other economic recovery proposals. infrastructure investment provides not only a shortterm benefit to American families. it also provides a longterm benefit in terms of sustainable and reliable infrastructure. as well as the potential for increased productivity for the Nations economy through the efficient movement of goods and services. It also can enhance the overall quality of the Nations waterrelated environment through the implementation of environmental restoration projects by the Corps of Engineers. and through the control of pollutant discharges from combiried sewer and sanitary sewer upgrades. Finally. infrastructure investment provides one of the only benefits that cannot be shipped off to foreign lands. The direct beneficiaries of domestic infrastructure projects are our towns. our local communities. our constituents. |
GENE | GREEN | democrat | 2009-01-27 | H | Texas | M | Mr. Speaker. I rise today in support of this legislation to address the urgent problems occurring with the digital television transition. After participating in numerous oversight hearings by the Telecommunications and Internet Subcommittee on the DTV transition in the 110th Congress. and seeing the mismanagement of the transition by the previous administration. we need time to get this right and correct the problems left for the Obama administration. I am supporting this legislation. not because I think moving the transition date back is a good idea. but because when the National Telecommunications and Information Administration notified the Committee late last year that they would run out of money in the coupon program. postponing the date to get every household the coupons they need became necessary. Our office sent out the coupon application in our constituent newsletters. handed them out at our townhall meetings. and took them to other events in our district to distribute. For their part. broadcasters. cable. and satellite television spent millions in advertising to educate the public about the upcoming transition. The primary reason we have to delay this transition is due to the mismanagement of the program by the NTIAafter months of asking questions in hearings and letters to the Administration. members of the Telcom Subcommittee were assured there was plenty of money to finance the program and provide every household that needed one a converter box coupon. On December 24. however. the Energy and Commerce Committee finally received word from NTIA that the program would run out of money. much too late for Congress to address the problem. and now there are over 2 million households on the coupon waiting list. As expected. more problems are also surfacing as we have gotten closer to the transition. Last week the Washington Post ran an article about problems people are experiencing with their antennas. and in my hometown of Houston. we have continually raised the issue of there being limited options and availability of batterypowered converter boxes for households to purchase in the event of a hurricane like we experienced last September with Hurricane Ike. Currently. households must buy a separate batterypack for a converter. and the coupon program does not cover the batterypack. I understand getting the coupon program rolling again is the most pressing matter. but I hope between now and June 13 we can address these other issues and create a program that will assist households who need to do more than just hook up a converter box to acquire the equipment they need to make the transition. Again. I urge my colleagues to join me in supporting this legislation so we can get the households the coupons they need to purchase converter boxes to keep their analog televisions from going black. and to address other issues that are arising with the digital transition. |
GENE | GREEN | democrat | 2009-01-28 | H | Texas | M | I want to thank you. the rest of Leadership. and the chairmen of the committees that put this bill together for your work to create a package that will create jobs. invest in Americas infrastructure needs. address pressing healthcare needs. and expand opportunities for education and worker training. I strongly support the provisions in the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act and urge my colleagues to join me in supporting it. Our district and the surrounding areas in southeast Texas were devastated by Hurricane Ike last September. People are getting back on their feet. but there is still a significant need for additional federal funding. I would have liked to seen that included in this package as it is one of the most pressing recovery needs in our country. but since it was not. I hope it can be included in either in upcoming omnibus or supplemental appropriations bill. In Texas weve seen the unemployment rate jump from 4.2% a year ago to 6% in December of 2008the unemployment rate in the HoustonBaytown area is 5.5% and will likely only rise with the significant drop in the price of oil and refined product. and the impact that has on our energy sector jobs. It is important we invest in this sector and this legislation makes valuable contributions to diversify our nations energy and environmental resources. It makes critical improvements to the smart grid provisions established in the Energy Independence and Security Act of 2007 by eliminating the cap on the allowable number of smart grid demonstratiod projects and increasing the grant funding available for these efforts. My hometown of Houston is a leader in moving toward smart grid solutions. Center Point Energy. a leading energy delivery company in Texas. will invest over $600 million in automatic metering systems. or AMS. over the next five years to support smart grid infrastructure. AMS technology is the first step in moving toward an automatic grid which will allow consumers to manage and monitor the electric use in realtime. reduce energy consumption. and improve grid reliability. I also support Representative ED MARKEYS (DMA) amendment to this section that will expand the protocols smart grid projects can use to obtain grants authorized in this bill. I am also pleased with the increase in funding and changes to the Weatherization Assistance Program which will help lowincome families make their homes more energy efficient. as well as the additional $1 billion provided for the LowIncome Home Energy Assistance Program (LIHEAP) that will help more Texans heat and cool their homes during these troubled economic times.. While I support the temporary Department of Energy loan guarantee program created under Section 5003 for renewable energy and electric transmission projects. I hope the Committee does not forget about the strategic importance of funding the larger DOE loan guarantee program so that other valuable projects can move forward that reduce carbon emissions and that employ new innovative technologies. In addition to the extension of the renewable production tax credits. I also believe Congress should provide a longterm extension of the biodiesel blenders tax incentive to help this critical renewable energy industry. Houston is home to several biodiesel producers that directly or indirectly employ hundreds of workers in goodpaying jobs. and over 50.000 jobs are currently supported by this industry nationwide. Without a longterm extension of this tax credit. producers are not able to provide the certainty required to bring in much needed capital for renewable energy projects. In addition to creating and sustaining jobs. the biodiesel industry helps our nation reduce greenhouse gas emissions and is developing next generation feedstocks such as algae that will further enhance our energy security. Finally. I appreciate the inclusion of an additional $100 million for the National Estuary Program. which could help protect the Galveston Bay Estuary Program. Galveston Bay is a critical ecosystem home to an abundance of plant and animal species that are vital to our regions way of life and local economy. These funds can be used for such useful purposes as restoring wetlands or habitat restoration. and can be leveraged with public and private sector funds to generate large returns on investment. The Port of Houston Authority also actively participates and supports this key environmental program. The legislation also makes significant investments in health care services and coverage in this country during these tough economic times. Unfortunately. when individuals lose their jobs they often cannot afford medical care or COBRA premiums and often forgo treatment due to the cost. AARA will provide COBRA premium assistance for 12 months for workers who have been involuntarily terminated and their families. COBRA premium assistance will allow individuals.who would typically be unable to afford COBRA maintain coverage and obtain medical treatment. States like my own have asked Congress for assistance with the States Federal Medical Assistance Percentage to help assist them the rising number of individuals needing Medicaid coverage. In order to avoid state deficits. many states may have to reduce their standards for Medicaid eligibility. which will actually increase the number of uninsured. A temporary increase in FMAP funding until December 31. 2010 will help avert this potential problem and allow states to continue to provide Medicaid coverage to this uninsured population. The American Recovery and Reinvestment Bill of 2009 contains a 4.9% increase in FMAP for states. Texas. in particular. will benefit from an FMAP increase and the temporary formula and hold harmless provision. AARA will also place a moratorium on 7 Medicaid regulations. My home state of Texas -is affected by all seven of these cuts but most affected will be the payments for graduate education. Targeted Case Management Rule. Cost Limits to Public Providers. Coverage for Rehabilitation Services. These regulations would reduce funding to these valuable programs and leave states in a significant budgetary crisis. AARA also provides valuable funding for Health Information Technology. Were all aware of the benefits that improved IT would bring the health care sector and the patients it serves. With integrated information technoiogy. patients could manage their electronic health records and avoid having to haul multiple records to their various physicians. If implemented correctly. Health IT can improve patient safety and gamer cost savings. The funds provided in AARA are an investment in the future of health care in this country. Providers will have to pay some up front costs to obtain the technology. but they will receive $40.000 to $60.000 in financial incen.tives for adopting interoperable health IT systems. Another key component that this package contains provides an investment of critical funds into our state and local transportation agencies. This is the quickest way to create jobs immediately. The Texas Department of Transportation alone has 853 "shovelready" projects. One of these projects in my district will create 12001350 new engineering and construction jobs in the Houston area in the next ninety days. This is significant in an economy where thousands of job cuts are announced every day. It is easy to make the case for an infusion of transportation dollars when our state departments of transportation have run out of money. However. some of my colleagues on the other side of the aisle are asking why we should invest billions of dollars in education around the country. The answer to this question is simple. Investing in our childrens education is investing in our economic competitiveness. When states came across hard fiscal times in the last year. education funding is typically one of the first areas where they cut back. Additionally. with the increase in foreclosures. property tax revenues are down and cities have also cut back on financing critical education services. If we do not invest in our childrens education and give them an opportunity at a better economic future. then we are setting ourselves up even more federal spending on social services in the future. By increasing the amount of the Pell Grant by $500. we give students across the country the financial help they need to get the certification or degree necessary to pursue and keep a job in this economy. By investing in Head Start. we are setting a whole generation of students on a path towards economic viability. Head Start has been proven to help close the achievement gap between students of differing socioeconomic status across the country. Finally. I am encouraged that this bill will lower the child tax credit eligibility level making it available to all working tax filers with children. This will help our constituents put food on the table and pay their essential bills as the cost of living continues to increase. Mr. Chair. I again state my strong support for this package which will provide an immediate infusion of funding into shovelready projects. creating jobs and starting our economy on the road to recovery. and I urge all my colleagues to join me in supporting the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act. |
EDDIE BERNICE | JOHNSON | democrat | 2009-01-28 | H | Texas | F | Mr. Chair. as snow drifts outside our nations. Capitol. we acknowledge that we as a nation are in the midst of an economic winter. I support H.R. 1. the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act. because I believe that the federal and state programs funded therein will provide needed stimulus to our economy. With record numbers of Americans unemployed. with our defense budget stretched in war. with our children slipping in educational competitiveness. and with the sick and elderty facing a deepening well of poverty. it is time to act. Congress and the Administration have swiftly assembled a package of wideranging support in many important areas. I particulary support the science and educational stimulus activities. Science and technology funding go directly to the hightech workforce. Investments in the Advanced Research Project Agency for Energy will support research into energy sources and energy efficiency. The bill also contains funding toward a more reliable. eLiergyefficient electricity grid to keep up with tomorrows technologies. It contains money for the National Institute of Standards and Technology to fund grants for research science buildings at colleges and universities. Funding for the National Aeronautics and Space Administration will enable more scientists to conduct climate change research. Investments in scientific research are investments in our future. They will pay for themselves tenfold over future generations and very well could save our planet from the destructive effects of global warming. Educational opportunities for all students are an imperative investment in our future. This recovery package will. make bold investments to provide children with a 21st century education. modemize our schools and colleges. and make college more affordable. An investment of $14 billion for modernization of K12 schools is badly needed. The legislation also contains money to enable bright students to go to college. It improves current higher educatiop tax credits by creating a new "American Opportunity" tax credit with a maximum of $2.500. rather than the current maximum of $1.800. This expansion will make college more affordable for millions of low- and moderateincome students. It also provides additional support for the Head Start program. which will provide important development services to 110.000 additional lowincome preschool children. Furthermore. the bill provides funds for competitive grants to provide financial incentives for teachers who raise student achievement and close the achievement gaps in highneed schools. We must invest in our nations Historically Black Colleges and Universities (HBCUs) and other Minority Serving Institutions. Currently. there exists a "digital divide" between HBCU campuses and their counterparts. There is a great need to update campus technology and develop educational and technological opportunities for students and staff. Because of their unique resources. HBCUs continue to be extremely effective in producing African American graduates and preparing them to compete in the global economy. HBCUs represent nine of the top ten colleges that graduate the most African Americans who go on to earn Ph.D.s. I request to insert data into the RECORD demonstrating the important value that HBCUs add. when it comes to minority education. The distinctive ability of HBCUs to provide opportunity and advancement to African American students is undeniable and is worthy of federal support. When Americans think of this landmark stimulus bill. shovelready projects may immediately come to mind. However. investments in research and in math and science education will pay longterm dividends. They not only will create new jobs. but they will elevate our workforce by providing an excellent education. These investments will open a world of opportunities for millions who previously had none. This bill is an investment in our future: tomorrow and for decades to come. |
GENE | GREEN | democrat | 2009-01-28 | H | Texas | M | Mr. Chairman. I rise in strong support of the Nadler amendment and full support for the bill. With my Texas accent it is hard to say anything in 30 seconds. but with a light rail transit project. the new starts that would come under this amendment. we can put $410 million worth of hiring people to do utility easement work and have light rail in the fourth largest city of the country if this amendment passes. That is why this amendment is important. and I am proud to be here and support it. Mr. Chair. I rise today in support of Congressman NADLERS amendment to H.R. 1 and the full bill. I ask unanimous consent to place the full statement in the RECORD. This amendment will increase transit capital funding by $3 billion including $1.5 billion for Capital Assistance Grants. also known as the New Starts program. It is important that we invest additional capital in the New Starts program simply because these are new projects and they will create new jobs as opposed to just funding existing contracts on existing projects. The latter will not stimulate the economy. For example. there are two light rail projects in my district that are near the end of the FTA review process and could be under contract with a designbuild firm within 90 days. About $410 million of early work items for the projects are shovel ready because the transit authority has already selected contractors and completed all necessary engineering and design and purchased all necessary rights of way. These are exactly the kinds of infrastructure projects that make sense for an economic stimulus bill in 2009. creating about 18.000 jobs within 90 to 120 days. These projects will promote transit ridership which is a far more environmentally friendly way to move people more efficiently. These projects will also serve economically disadvantaged areas under Community Development Block Grant (CDBG) criteria. So not only will the projects enhance mobility for transit dependent and lower income persons. but it will rejuvenate the surrounding communities by spurring economic development. Mr. Chair. Houston METRO has the expertise and experience delivering such projects. They already built and operate one of the most productive light rail lines in the nation. Therefore. I urge my colleagues to support this amendment to increase New Starts money so that Houston METRO and other transit agenciesacross the country can start turning dirt. creating jobs. and stimulate this economy. |
CORRINE | BROWN | democrat | 2009-01-28 | H | Florida | F | Mr. Chairman. I rise in strong opposition to this amendment. I just finished a 5hour hearing where we had both passenger rail and freight rail in a hearing. And we have the second largest committee in infrastructure in the entire Congress because there is such an interest in passenger rail. My colleague. I got some breaking news for you. There is no form of transportation that pays for itself. none whatsoever. whether we are talking about rail. airlines or cars. none of it. We subsidize all of it. The chairman of the committee had recommended $5. billion for rail. This is a very bad idea. Im encouraging all of my colleagues to vote "no." Kill this bad idea before it multiplies. |
VAN | HOLLEN | democrat | 2009-01-28 | H | Unknown | M | I thank Mr. REYES. the chairman of the Intelligence Committee. and the ranking member. Mr. HoEKSTRA. I again want to remind the House this is a bill that has been voted on here before. It passed with a bipartisan majority of 33194. Nevertheless. Mr. PLATTS and I have agreed to address the concerns that have been raised by the Intelligence Committee. We will do that in consultation with the Senate and conference committee to make sure that were all on the same page in agreement with respect to this national security component. |
LORETTA | SANCHEZ | democrat | 2009-01-28 | H | Cali | F | fornia changed her vote from "nay" to "yea." So the bill was passed. The result of the vote was announced as above recorded. A motion to reconsider was laid on the table. |
HERSETH | SANDLIN | democrat | 2009-02-03 | H | Unknown | F | Mr. Speaker. it is with great joy that my husband. Congressman Max Sandlin. a former Member of this distinguished body. and I introduce to you and to all of our colleagues the newest addition to our family. Zachary Lars Sandlin. |
VAN | HOLLEN | democrat | 2009-02-04 | H | Unknown | M | Madam Speaker. I rise in strong support for the Childrens Health Insurance Program Reauthorization Act of 2009. This bipartisan legislation will improve the very successful State Childrens Health Insurance Program (CHIP). The message and the substance of this bill is clearwe are going to preserve coverage for the 7 million children currently enrolled who otherwise have no access to health insurance while extending coverage to 4 million children who are from working families who earn too much to qualify for Medicaid. but do not earn enough to afford the very high costs of private health insurance. By reauthorizing this important program through 2013. we will strengthen CHIPs financing. improve the quality of health care children receive. and increase health insurance coverage for lowincome children. The Congressional Research Service projects that under this legislation. Marylands CHIP allotment will increase by 162 percent. The bill is fully paid for by a 62 cept increase in federal excise taxes on cigarettes. Increasing the tobacco tax will save millions of children from tobacco addiction and save billions in health care costs. The 2000 U.S. Surgeon Generals report found that increasing the price of tobacco products will decrease the prevalence of tobacco use. particularly among kids and young adults. Just two weeks ago. a new President was swom into officePresident Obama. Passing this bill and sending it to his desk now sends a very important signal that change has come as a result of the last election. President Obamas predecessor twice vetoed this legislation. The new President will sign this legislation into law because he understands the hardships that American families are struggling under at a time when millions of Americans have lost their jobs and lost health coverage for their children. Madam Speaker. lets look out for Americas children by providing them the health insurance coverage they deserve. I urge my colleagues to vote for this muchneeded legislation. |
GENE | GREEN | democrat | 2009-02-04 | H | Texas | M | Madam Speaker. I rise today in support of final passage of H.R. 2. the Childrens Health Insurance Program Reauthorization Act of 2009. This bill should have been passed last year. but after working on this bill for an entire Congress. I am pleased with the final version before us today. This bill will extend the SCHIP program for four and a half years and provide SCHIP coverage for the 7 million children already enrolled in the SCHIP and will insure nearly 4 million additional children. The bill also includes a provision that will give 400.000 to 600.000 legal immigrant children access to health care. These children are currently barred from SCHIP coverage because of a five year waiting period for Medicaid for legal immigrants. This provision. which was originally in H.R. 465. the Immigrant Childrens Health Improvement Act. will give states the option to cover children and pregnant women lawfully residing in the United States. Current law requires these legal immigrants to endure a five year waiting period before they have access to Medicaid coverage when they would otherwise be eligible. The waiting period actually costs more than covering these children because they often have no health insurance and end up in emergency rooms for primary care treatment. |
VAN | HOLLEN | democrat | 2009-02-04 | H | Unknown | M | Mr. Speaker. I .rise In support of The DTV Delay Act. Two weeks from today. all fullpower television broadcast stations are required to terminate analog signals and transmit only in digital. Congress mandated the transition to digital in response to requests by police. firefighters. and emergency personnel for the increased radio spectrum necessary for reliable. interoperable communications. To help Americans prepare for the transition and to offset the associated cost for consumers. Congress established the TV Converter Box Coupon Program. But the program underestimated the number of requests for coupons and ran out of money. As a result. many Americans have not received coupons and are unprepared for transition. Today 1.8 million households are on a waiting list to receive more than 3.3 million converter box coupons. Though funding was inserted in the Stimulus Package to pay for more coupons. unless the February 17th conversion date is delayed. few of these Americans will be able to receive their coupons and purchase their converter boxes in time. The DiV Delay Act will help the Coupon Program to honor requests for coupons and enable those whose coupons may have expired. to receive new ones. The bill does this by delaying the transition date to June 13th. 2009 and extending the period that the Coupon Program may operate until July 31st 2009.. According to the Nielsen Company. 6.5 million households will lose all TV reception on February 17. 2009. Television is the leading source Americans use to receive critical public safety information. news and entertainment. Yet millions of Americans. including many of the countrys most vulnerable groups like seniors. the poor and minorities. still need to take steps to prepare for transition. I encourage my colleagues to join me in support of The DTV Delay Act. The country is not yet prepared for digital transition. This bill will provide the time we need to ensure that all Americans are able to enjoy the full benefits that transition to digital can provide. |
LINDA T. | SANCHEZ | democrat | 2009-02-10 | H | Cali | F | fornia and Mr. PAUL changed their vote from "nay" to "yea." So the motion to instruct was agreed to. The result of the vote was announced as above recorded. A motion to reconsider was laid on the table. |
AL | GREEN | democrat | 2009-02-10 | H | Texas | M | Mr. Speaker. in the inner sanctum of my soul. I believe that although the arc of the moral universe is long. as Dr. King put it. it bends toward justice. However. I must confess that in the cognitive confines of my cranium. I know that it does so because of organizations like the NAACP. For 100 years. the NAACP has been there bending the arc of the moral universe toward justice for all. From antilynching legislation to Brown v. Board of Education. to the election of the 44th President of this Nation. the NAACP has been there. For 100 years. its been there because of brave and noble Americans who made great sacrifice that all may have a better life. Brave and noble Americans like NAACPer Rosa Parks. who took a stand by taking a seat and ignited a spark as a result that enhanced the Civil Rights Movement. brave and noble Americans like NAACPer Medgar Evers. who sacrificed his life in an effort to bring justice to all. brave and noble Americans like white NAACPgr John Shalady. who was beaten by a mob and eventually died in his effort to secure rights for blacks. For 100 years. its been there demonstrating at the White House. negotiating and litigating at the courthouse. Hence. it is indeed most appropriate that the Congress of the United States of America honor the NAACP on this. its 100th anniversary. To this end. Mr. Speaker. I thank Chairman CONYERS and Ranking Member LAMAR SMITH. subcommittee chair BOBBY SCOTT. floor leader HANK JOHNSON. and also now floor leader Judge TED POE. I also thank the 105 U.S. House cosponsors of this legislation. I thank Senator DODD and his 20 cosponsors of the companion legislation in the U.S. Senate. And. in closing. at the risk of being both redundant and superfluous. I beg. beseech and entreat my colleagues to support this resolution because. in so doing. you are voting for liberty and justice for all. as pronounced in the Pledge of Allegiance. In so doing. you are voting for government of the people by the people for the people. as proclaimed in the Constitution. In so doing. you are voting for the equality of all. as promulgated in the Declaration of Independence. By voting for this resolution. you are continuing to bend the arc of the moral universe toward justice. |
GENE | GREEN | democrat | 2009-02-11 | H | Texas | M | Mr. Speaker. I rise today to honor JOHN DINGELL as the longest serving member of the House of Representatives and to offer my support for this resolution. He has been a mentor to many members of Congress. including me. I have had the privilege of serving and working with Congressman DINGELL on the Energy and Commerce Committee since joining that Committee in 1996. Under his leadership. we have worked to expand and improve healthcare coverage. develop sound energy policy. enharce consumer protection. and address numerous other issues under the Committees jurisdiction. I cannot say enough about his leadership to make healthcare more affordable and accessible to all Americans. We worked together on the State Childrens Health Insurance Program. or SCHIP reauthorization. which the President signed into law last week. and legislation to expand federally qualified health centers that significantly improves healthcare access for individuals in underserved areas like our district. Over his career. JOHN DINGELL has had a hand in pieces of legislation from Medicare passing in 1965. to the Clean Air Act. to the Endangered Species Act. the Do Not Call list. and numerous other laws. He also played an unprecedented and vigorous roll in oversight while Chairman of the Committee to ensure govemment programs are working for the people. and he continues to do so today. It has truly been an honor to serve with JOHN DINGELL and work closely with him on the Energy and Commerce Committee. I congratulate him becoming the longest serving member in the history of the House of Representatives. and look forward to continuing to work with him on the many issues he has championed as long as I have known him. |
LORETTA | SANCHEZ | democrat | 2009-02-12 | H | Cali | F | fornia. Madam Speaker. during these difficult economic times. President Obama has called on Americans to embrace a new era of responsibility. To that end. last week I introduced H.R. 852. the Rebuild America Bonds Act of The proceeds from these bonds would be set aside in a Rebuild America trust fund. to be used only to build infrastructure projects. including rail. transit. water. highway. bridge. and road projects. Rebuild America savings bonds would provide every American with the opportunity not only to invest in their country but to also provide the financial support that we need for our infrastructure in America. In addition. the new savings bonds will improve the morale of the American people. People want to know. what can I do now? They want to know. where can I put my money? Where will it be safe? How can I help America. From bridge collapses. water main breaks. and other infrastructure accidents across this country. it is clear that Americas infrastructure is aging. So I urge my colleagues to cosponsor H.R. 852. the Rebuild America Bonds Act. |
GEORGE | MILLER | democrat | 2009-02-13 | H | California | M | Madam Speaker and Members of the House. we all know. and the people know. that the American economy is in a crisis. Its not that this bill in and of itself will fix the American economy. but this bill takes a major step to fill in the huge gap. and that is the loss of spending at the local level among our school districts. our water districts. our cities. our counties. and our States. Why is that happening? Because theyre hemorrhaging a huge loss. And over the next couple of years. over $2 trillion will be missing in economic activity. This is a bill thats designed to stimulate those local economies. In the education area. theres $56 billion thats available to local school districts for the rehabilitation. the repair. and the renovation of school buildings so that children will go to school in safe. welllighted. modern facilities so that they will be green. They can put in new heating. new air conditioning systems. $600 million for new technologies so every school in this country will be connected to the best technology in the world. They will be able to engage in curriculums that now are impossible for them. They can have modern labs. Thats the promise of America in this. And who will do those jobs? Local contractors. heating contractors. electricians. plumbing contractors. building contractors from our local communities who will hire other people in our local communities. Thats what will happen with this legislation. Thats the promise of this legislation. It will help school districts from keeping to lay off teachers. In the matter of a few weeks. California will start issuing its advanced pink slips. Hundreds of thousands of teachers across this nation will be in this same situation. Now. school districts will know that theyre going to get $13 billion in title I in IDA money that will help them reduce the number of people who will be unemployed if we do nothing. If we do nothing. unemployment will continue. and we know that it will continue for the next few months. But were trying to mitigate against the increased unemployment through school construction. through highway construction. making sure the students can stay in college as their families are under pressure because of the loss of jobs. the diminished work hours. the loss of pay. We want to make sure that they can stay there so we provide an additional increase in the Pell Grant. This is very important to this Nation. Its very important to our students. and its very important that we have an opportunity to create in this economic crisis a 21st century education plan. You know. its just amazing. We always hear that history repeats. and here we see it again. And if you go back and you look at Arthur Schlesingers study of the failures of the Hoover administration leading up to the elected of 1932. this book. "Crisis of Old Order." we see that today. history is repeating itself. Today. when this country cries out to help this economy. to help Americas families who are unemployed. who are losing income. who are losing jobs. President Obama stepped forth with the American Recovery Act. The Republicans stepped forth with saying "no." That was reflected when Minority Leader JOHN BOEHNER gave instructions to his colleagues to oppose the bill. Even as President Obama was traveling the Hill to meet with them and discuss this bill with them. they decided in advance of that meeting they would say "no." Minority Whip ERIC CANTOR of Virginia has said that "no" is going to be the Republican strategy on this economic crises. "No" is going to be their strategy. he said. The Republican national spokesman of late. radio host Rush Limbaugh. added that "no" is the strategy by asserting on the air that he wants President Obama to fail. Does he understand if President Obama fails that the American families lose income. they lose their jobs. and the crisis continues? And here we see the repeating of "no." It was President Hoover in the midst of the Depression with his policy that the Federal Government could do nothing to help this Nation. and he was so wrong. He asked Will Rogers to think up a joke that would stop hoarding by the American public. He asked Rudy Vallee. Can you sing a song that would make people forget the Depression? I will give you a medal. He asked Christopher Morley. Perhaps what this country needs is a poem. |
GEORGE | MILLER | democrat | 2009-02-13 | H | California | M | This economic crisis will not be solved by a song. a poem. or a good joke. It will be solved by this Congress going to work with this new President to meet this crisis head on. It will be solved when we provide jobs in this country. when we free up the credit markets. when we force the banks to lend as they should be doing. and we provide this stimulus bill. All Members of Congress should be very proud to vote "aye" on this legislation and yield to the cries and the needs of American families and workers. |
VAN | HOLLEN | democrat | 2009-02-13 | H | Unknown | M | Mr. Speaker. today we stand shoulder to shoulder with President Obama to say to the American people. help is on the way. This package packs a punch where its needed most: readytogo infrastructure projects. tax relief for middle America and small businesses. essential forwardlooking investments in areas like clean energy. health IT. scientific research and education. priorities that will create or save millions of jobs in this country. Now. throughout this debate weve heard from those who. for a variety of reasons. think we should do nothing. While those voices may be sincere. inaction is not an option. Just say no is not an answer to the American people at this time. And if our colleagues on the other side of the aisle want to define themselves as the party of "Nobama" .I think that the American people will call them and say its time for us to work together. There are also those that say we should do this through tax cuts alone. And they propose substituting a middle class tax cut package with a tax package that once again benefited those who are relatively well off. We dont need more of the same. We need to put this country to work. I urge adoption of this legislation. |
GENE | GREEN | democrat | 2009-02-13 | H | Texas | M | Mr. Speaker. I rise in strong support of H.R. 1. the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act. When we return home for our district work period. we do not have to look far to see the impact this recession has hadworkers are being laid off. consumer confidence is down. and people are spending less because they have less to spend. Despite my opposition. we voted last year to give $750 billion to Wall Street to try to slow this recession. that did not work. I supported the House version of the American Recovery and Investment Act. and I am supporting the Conference Report. because it is time we invest in Main Street. rit just Wall Street. The White House Council of Economic Advisers. along with the Departments of Labor and Commerce have estimated this bill will create nearly 270.000 jobs in my home state of Texasmore than in any other state besides Californiaand 7.400 of those jobs will be in our 29th Congressional District. Unlike the $750 billion Troubled Asset Relief Program. this isnt just a bill for white collar workers--the H.R. 1 is a bill for teachers. construction workers. medical professionals. electrical workers and engineers. police and firefighters. as well as those who may not be working because of the dire state of our economy. This bill will create and save jobs by reinvesting in roads. highways. public transportation. schools. education. the electrical grid. health technology and services. communications infrastructure. and numerous other areas of our economy. For the last eight years. too many of these areas have been neglected. Today. we have the opportunity to invest in these areas to stimulate the economy and create jobs to get our economy started back in the right direction. The bedrock of Americas competitiveness is a welleducated and skilled workforce and we must prepare our students for our globalized economy. This bill takes key steps towards ensuring that we do just that. Starting with our youngest generation. H.R. 1 provides $2.1 billion for Head Start and Early Head Start to allow an additional 124.000 children to participate in these programs. Harris County. where our district lies. serves a combined total of 6.649 Head Start children per year through four direct. Head Start grantees. In fact. Houston in 2003 served the lowest percentage of eligible children compared to other cities in Texas. Harris County is the third most populous county in the nation and in review of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services Biennial Reports to Congress on Head Start. Los. Angeles County served 29.703 eligible children. Cook Countyserved 20.406 children. and the New York boroughs served 24.260. Funding Head Start grantees is based on the number of children under the age of 5 years whose family income is below the federal poverty line. According to U.S. Census figures for 2005. not only is the poverty rate for Harris Countys population under age 5 higher than the national average in 2005 of 21 percent. but Harris County represented the highest percentage of children below the poverty line for all above listed counties. The poverty rates for 2005 are: Los Angeles County 23.8 percent. Cook County 22.5 percent. NYC boroughs 27.3 percent and Harris County 28.7 percent. I look forward to working with the Department of Health and Human Services to address this disparity in funding now that new monies will be available to serve more eligible children. Additionally. this bill will provide muchneeded investments in our elementary and secondary schools including $13 billion for Title I grants to help disadvantaged kids reach high academic standards and $39.5 billion to local school districts that can be used for preventing teacher cutbacks and layoffs and make keyinvestments in things like modernizing our schools. Finally. this bill will invest in preparing our younger generations for our globalized economy by providing $15.6 billion to increase the maximum Pell Grant by $500. By doing this. we will help seven million students pursue postsecondary education and take the steps they need to get the certification or degree necessary to pursue and keep a job in these difficult times. Additionally. H.R. 1 provides students with a new "American Opportunity" tax credit of up to $2.500 of the cost of tuition and related expenses paid during the taxable year. Combined with the increase in the Pell Grant. this tax credit will give our lower and middle income students additional peace of mind in taking on the financial costs of pursuing a college degree or certificate. Another way to build a 21st century economy is to engage contractors across the nation to create jobs rebuilding our crumbling roads and bridges and building transit and rail lines. The American Recovery and Reinvestment Act will do this by providing funds to modernize our roads and bridges and invest in transit and rail projects to reduce traffic congestion and gas consumption. I strongly supported the inclusion of these funds as this investment would create or sustain more than 2.4 million jobs and $439 billion of economic activity. I am pleased to see that H.R. 1 provides for $1.5 billion in supplemental discretionary grants that will be awarded to state or local governments or transit agencies on a competitive basis for projects that will have a significant impact on the country. metropolitan area. or region. This bill reads that this money includes in investing in projects already participating in New Starts or those ready for entry into revenue service. While I would like to have seen a lot more money dedicated to these type projects. I am glad that transit agencies will be able to compete for entry into revenue service. We have two critical transit projects in the greater Houston area. the North and Southeast light rail corridors. Both projects are near completion of the New Starts process in the Federal Transit Administration. While the final details on the projects are being addressed to prepare the projects for entry into Final Design and for Full Funding Grant Agreements. the projects are ready to begin construction in less than 90 days. have environmental clearances. and have received favorable cost effectiveness ratings. By investing in these two projects. work can begin quickly. creating thousands of jobs in a region that suffers not only from the current economic conditions but also from the lasting effects of Hurricane Ike. I look forward to working with the Department of Transportation to see that these two projects receive the attention they deserve. I am also pleased H.R. 1 includes valuable health related provisions including COBRA subsidies. health IT funding. an FMAP increase. temporary DSH allotments. a temporary extension of transitional Medical Assistance. and funding for community health centers. However. the final version of the bill does not include the temporary option for states to procide Medicaid coverage to unemployed or uninsured individuals. Instead. H.R. 1 relies on COBRA subsidies to provide health insurance coverage to the unemployed. The House passed version of H.R. 1 gave states the option to provide Medicaid coverage to the unemployed or uninsured and this provision should be in the final version of the bill. In our district. most individuals work low wage jobs that often do not provide health insurance and therefore they are not eligible for COBRA coverage. This leaves a large portion of individuals without health insurance or access to Medicaid. More and more lower wage individuals. who never had health insurance. are losing their jobs. They are delaying their health care because they cannot afford to go to the doctor and often end up in the emergency room with more costly medical problems because they delay medical care. It makes sense to give states the option to extend Medicaid coverage to these. individuals because it saves money in the long run and provides these individuals with health care coverage. The legislation also makes critical improvements to the smart grid provisions established in the Energy Independence and Security Act of 2007 by eliminating the cap on the allowable number of smart grid demonstration projects and increasing the grant funding available for these efforts. Houston is a leader in moving toward smart grid solutions. Center Point Energy. a leading energy delivery company in Texas. will invest over $600 million in automatic metering systems. or AMS. over the next five years to support smart grid infrastructure. AMS technology is the first step in moving towards an automatic grid which will allow consumers to manage and monitor the electric use in realtime. reduce energy consumption. and improve grid reliability. I am also pleased with the changes to the Weatherization Assistance Program which will help lowincome families make their homes more energy efficient. This will decrease the amount of fossil fuels needed to heat and cool homes. reduce home energy bills and create jobs in the home weatherization industry: a winwin for everyone. It creates a temporary $6 billion Department of Energy loan guarantee program for renewable energy and electric transmission projects. up to $500 million of which can be used for the development of leading edge biofuels. including biodiesel. I applaud the inclusion of $4.6 billion in funding for the Army Corps of Engineers. although the Corps needs much more funding to address its backlog of critical projects. While the funding is not distributed to specific projects. it is my hope the Corps will fund worthy projects by the Port of Houston and the Harris County Flood Control District. I also support the $1.2 billion for EPAs nationwide environmental cleanup programs. including Superfund. which I hope can be utilized to clean up the San Jacinto River Waste Pits. Mr. Speaker. our economy is crumbling. workers are being laid off. people are losing their health insurance. and families are finding it harder and harder to make ends meet. This legislation will start us back on the right track by looking out for those who have been most affected. and by broadly investing is multiple sectors of our economy. We cannot stand by and do nothing. and for those reasons. I urge my colleagues to join me in supporting this legislation. |
EDDIE BERNICE | JOHNSON | democrat | 2009-02-13 | H | Texas | F | Mr. Speaker. I want to commend my Chairman. Mr. OBERSTAR. and Chairman OBEY for elevating the importance of Obey infrastructure investment towards the economic recovery of our Nation. I strongly support the Conference Report to H.R. 1. particularly the infrastructure components. which direct desperately needed funds into our Nations roads. bridges. transit systems. airports. and waterrelated infrastructure. Each $1 billion of Federal funds invested in infrastructure creates or sustains approximately thirtyfour thousand jobs and $6.2 billion in economic activity. The $64 billion dollars for infrastructure investments outlined in the bill will provide a real. tangible benefit to the seven hundred thousand individuals currently unemployed. in my. statewhether as a paycheck for those responsible for constructing these vital projects. or through increased productivity for small businesses that produce the materials needed for infrastructure projects. However. unlike other economic recovery proposals. infrastructure investment provides not only a shortterm benefit to American families. it also provides a longterm benefit in terms of sustainable and reliable infrastructure. as well as the potential for increased productivity for the Nations economy through the efficient movement of goods and services. Finally. infrastructure investment provides one of the only benefits that cannot be shipped off to foreign lands. The direct beneficiaries of domestic infrastructure projects are our towns. our local communities. our constituents. |
CORRINE | BROWN | democrat | 2009-02-24 | H | Florida | F | Mr. Speaker. earlier this month. House Republicans refused. to a person. to support the economic course that President Obamas recovery plan offered. The Republican proposal is made up almost entirely of tax cuts for the wealthy and strips virtually all of the jobcreation investments. that was necessary to transform our economy for the future. Their alternative plan had no funds. for American infrastructure needs. no investment in energy efficiency. and no protection for health care. no money for police officers and teachers and no food assistance for struggling families. and offered no chance for America to come out of this recession stronger and more able to compete economically. Mr. Speaker. when are House Republicans going to realize that you can fool some of the people some of the time. but you cant fool all of the people all of the time? E 1230 |
GEORGE | MILLER | democrat | 2009-02-24 | H | California | M | Mr. Speaker. I rise today in support of this resolution to honor -the life and accomplishments of Paul Newman. a truly great American and a man I am proud to have called my friend. Sadly. Paul passed away late last year. Paul was a magnificent human being. While he played the antihero on the silver screen. in real life he was a true hero. Like his character Cool Hand Luke. Paul Newman was not afraid to rock the boat. Paul never limited his horizonsin his acting. his advocacy. or his vision of our world. He once admonished some of his colleagues who shied away from politics. he said. "Do you abdicate the responsibilities of citizenship merely because you carry a Screen Actors Guild card . . . Or do you dig deeply and become as knowledgeable an expert as you can and speak your piece and hope your weight was being thrown on the right side?" I knew Paul before he knew me. and when our friend. Lizzie Robbins. introduced us to one another. I realized I had never met anyone like him in public life before. He was modern despite his age. he remained curious throughout his life. he had an enormous passion and steadfast commitment. He started the Hole in the Wall Gang kids camp for kids with lifethreatening diseases. and they attended the camp free of charge. He was an advocate of nuclear disarmament. early childhood development. and a healthy environment. He even helped to pioneer alternative fuel technologies to cut carbon emissions. It was an honor to be on the receiving end of his exultations. his missives. his opinion pieces for the vision that he and I shared for peace and justice for this world--even while the right wing tried to punish him in the marketplace for his willingness to speak his mind. But the right wing could never win that argument because America knew Paul Newman. and they trusted him. With Pauls enormous success in acting and business where he raised over $250 million for the charity of his Newmans Own brandand thats in addition to giving away half of his income a year. |
GEORGE | MILLER | democrat | 2009-02-24 | H | California | M | In giving away half his income to causes he supported. it was especially striking how humble Paul had remained throughout his life. But Paul was the first to acknowledge luck in his life. He said. "The beneficence of it." he said. "in many lives and the brutality of it in the lives of others. especially children. who might not have a lifetime to make up for it." Paul once asked what he owed his fans after all of these years. to which he humbly replied. "Thank you." And thats exactly what the world owes him. I want to thank Congressman COHEN for introducing this resolution. and I want to offer. obviously. my best wishes to Pauls familythe kids and the grandkidsand to that magnificent partner of his in a magnificent relationship. Joanne. and thank them for sharing Paul with us during his great life. |
AL | GREEN | democrat | 2009-02-24 | H | Texas | M | Mr. Speaker. I thank Chairman TOWNS. Ranking Member ISSA. Subcommittee Chair Lynch. the manager of the resolution on the floor from Ohio. Congressman JORDAN. and I also thank the many cosponsors of this resolution. Mr. Speaker. how appropriate it is that this resolution would come to the floor of the House of Representatives on the day that the newly elected President of the United States of America would address a joint session of Congress. How appropriate it is because the newly elected President of the United States of America is a significant manifestation of how important black history is in the United States of America. It is on this day that he will address this joint session of Congress. and he is a person of African ancestry. While it is true that we should remember the horrors of history. it is equally as true that we should celebrate the successes of history. And I believe that this resolution is a means by which we can engage in the celebration of good deeds accomplished and great things done that can engender the inspiration to do that which must be done. So let us today celebrate the fact that African Americans were able to overcome involuntary servitude with the help of Americans of good will of all hues. of all colors. And because they were helped and they were able to overcome involuntary servitude. we should allow this to engender the inspiration necessary to go forward and deal with some of the problems that African Americans are confronting today. the problems of housing that finds African Americans without homes many times and. being evicted from homes on too many occasions. Lets celebrate the many successes in the area of education. from Phillis Wheatley. to many other great educators. Dr. Benjamin Mays. for example. And as we celebrate their successes. let this engender within us the inspiration to deal with the dropout rates around this country that can be in excess of 50 percent in some quarters of the African American community. 1H2616 Lets celebrate the successes in the civil rights movement that enabled us to overcome the indignation and humiliation of segregation. But as we celebrate this. let it engender within us the inspiration to help the many who are still suffering around the world. who have not had their human rights and human dignity respected by their governments. Let us celebrate the many political accomplishments that we have right here in the House of Congress. We have Member CHARLIE RANGEL. who happens to chair Ways and Means. Member BENNIE THOMPSON. African American. who happens to chair Homeland Security. Member MAXINE WATERS. African American. who happens .to chair the Housing Subcommittee of Financial Services. |
AL | GREEN | democrat | 2009-02-24 | H | Texas | M | And as we celebrate the accomplishments of these great and noble Americans here in the House of Representatives. let it provide the inspiration for us to understand that we are here not because of our color. not because we are of African ancestry. we are here because the people of America expect us to do the great work that has to be done. So this is a time for celebration that engenders inspiration. and I am honored to be inspired to move forward and support this resolution. And I beg that all of my colleagues would vote for it. |
WASSERMAN | SCHULTZ | democrat | 2009-02-25 | H | Unknown | F | I thank the gentleman. I rise in support of this important piece of legislation and suggest that our good friends on the other side of the aisle are either suffering from some state of amnesia or maybe stuck in an alternative universe because its pretty clear that the American people are suffering. that we are living through the worst economic crisis in almost any of our lifetimes. I dont know that theres anybody who is a Member of this Congress today that lived through the Great Depression. but there is an unprecedented crisis that the spending and appropriations in this legislation will help address beyond the important recovery legislation that we passed last week. It is critical that we invest in the quality of public education. that we make sure that children and the frail elderly have the services that they need. that we make sure that we rebuild our infrastructure. and that we make sure that we make an important and historic commitment to improving the quality of life of all Americans. Thats what this legislation will do. and I am proud to support it. |
GEORGE | MILLER | democrat | 2009-02-25 | H | California | M | Mr. Speaker. I rise in strong support of the Omnibus Appropriations Act. The legislation before us today invests in key priorities for our country from energy to education. and will help address critical needs that were ignored under the previous Administration. In addition to the other important work that this Omnibus Appfoprations Act will do alongside the Recovery Act to make our economy stronger. I want to call special attention to the work this legislation will do to respond to the serious drought that we face in Califomia. The bill before us today provides significant funding for the federal water reclamation and reuse program administered by the U.S. Bureau of Reclamation. That program. known as Title XVI. helps local water managers to treat wastewater and use the clean water that results for commercial irrigation and industrial processes. Under Title XVI. the federal investment in water recycling is matched many times over by monies from state and local agencies. so its not only environmentally sustainable. its costeffective. The Title XVI funding in todays bill builds on the historic investment in the program that was contained in the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act. I am hopeful that this important program will continue to thrive under President Obama and Secretary Salazar. In the San Francisco Bay Area. including in Pittsburg in my congressional district. water managers have put together a regional planning effort to invest in water recycling infrastructure. This bill bolsters that regional cooperative effort by providing $8 million for the Bay Area Regional Water Recycling Program. On behalf of my constituents and the communities around our region. I w.nt to sincerely thank Chairman OBEY. Chairman VISCLOSKY. Ranking Members LEWIS and FRELINGHUYSEN. and especially the Committee staff. for their support for this important funding. The funds will quickly create and sustain jobs. and will provide a reliable water supply for local planners and residents. I look forward to working with the Bureau of Reclamation to ensure that they expeditiously enter into individual agreements with the local implementing agencies so that the Bay Area projects are quickly funded through the Bay Area Clean Water Agencies or its successor. I also know that some of the local water agencies in the Bay Area had to begin their projects before this bill was completed so that they did not lose their state and local funding matches. It is my understanding that the authorized federal funding may be used for reimbursement of construction costs already underway and carried out. As the Bureau works with the local agencies to disburse the funding in this bill. those agreements should provide for reimbursement of the projects construction costs as necessary. I strongly support the FY 2009 Omnibus Appropriations Act. and I urge my colleagues to do the same. |
CORRINE | BROWN | democrat | 2009-02-26 | H | Florida | F | Thank you for giving me the opportunity to speak on this rule. Mr. Speaker. I rise in support of this bill but with some reservations because I know that its not a perfect bill. but its a perfect beginning. I also have held numerous meetings in my district concerning foreclosure. and. you know. we need to assist people to avoid the foreclosure process. We have over 1.000 foreclosures a month* in my district of Florida. and we need to include legal aid and other community organizations like Wealth Watchers and those that are helping families to avoid losing their homes in foreclosure. |
CORRINE | BROWN | democrat | 2009-02-26 | H | Florida | F | I met with the credit unions who have been working very hard and doing a real good job. but they are not included. They cant get any of the TARP money. so they are limited with their amount of participation. We are having a hard time getting banks to get them to do what we intended them to do. What is the possibility that we c~n also discuss how we can include credit unions in getting additional resources to help our constituents? Mr. HASTINGS.of Florida. If the gentlelady would yield. Id have you to know that this wont be the last vehicle in straightening out financial services. But you cite to the credit unions correctly. I. too. have had meetings with them. Theyre very concerned about the cramdown provisions allowing that it may very well cause increases. and they have been extremely responsible in our respective communities. |
ZOE | LOFGREN | democrat | 2009-02-26 | H | California | F | Mr. Speaker. we are facing a crisis of historic proportions in the housing market. Every 13 seconds. a new house in America goes into foreclosure. What this has caused is a dramatic decline in the value of housing all over the United States. For example. in Contra Costa County. across the bay from my home. housing values in one year have declined 53 percent. So those values. the collapsing housing market. is something we need to interrupt. This bill is part of that effort to interrupt the collapse of the housing markets by doing something that we should have done long ago to restore fairness to the bankruptcy system. Now. bankruptcy has been part of the Constitution since the very beginning of the United States. and what it allows is for people who are insolvent. who cannot pay their bills. to go into bankruptcy court and reorganize. The unfortunate thing isand the unfair thingis that people who are bankrupt. who are insolvent. who are in bankruptcy court. can get reorganization for their yacht. for their investment property. for their vacation homes. for their cars. for their credit cards. for their jet airplane. but not for the mortgage on their principal residence. Thats not fair. Thats not reasonable. This bill changes that. And in doing so. it restores some fairness to the chapter 13 process. The voluntary modification system has not worked so well. According to Business Week last week. only 35 percent of the voluntary modifications have actually resulted in lower monthly payments. In fact. in 47 percent of the cases. theyve resulted in increased mortgage payments. So its small wonder that most of those voluntary reorganizations end up with a redefault in 6 months. |
ZOE | LOFGREN | democrat | 2009-02-26 | H | California | F | I would just like to note not anyone can go into bankruptcy court. You have to be insolvent. We made it very tough in 2005 to get in there. But we do believe that banks and lenders will come to the table with the Stick that homeowners could. in fact. go into the bankruptcy court for relief. Its important to note what this is not. This wont cost the taxpayers one dime. This is about lenders eating part of the cost for the collapse of the housing market. Its not a bailout from the taxpayers. It makes lenders take some responsibility for what has happened. I think its about time that the banks stood up to their own responsibility and participated in part of this solution. which they have not done to date. This bill has been narrowed. Its only for retroactive loans. Weve made many other adjustments. but its sound policy. Its something we should do as soon as possible. Its going to help millions of people. and its going to help stop the collapse of the housing market and the collapse of prices. |
WASSERMAN | SCHULTZ | democrat | 2009-02-26 | H | Unknown | F | Mr. Chairman. I rise in support of H.R. 1106. the Helping Families Save Their Homes Act. Mortgage foreclosures lay at the very heart of our financial crisis. Until we stop this bleeding. we cannot hope to stabilize the housing market and truly rescue our economy. This legislation is about more than just shoring up our economy. its about helping hardworking Americans hold on to the American Dream. Foreclosures uproot families and decimate communities. Vacant homes blight our neighborhoods and depress all of our property values. Foreclosure rates are now approaching heights not seen since the Great Depression. In my own home State of Florida. we have the second highest foreclosure rate in the Nation. Since January. more than 4.200 Florida families have lost their homes. Another 1.2 million Florida homeowners are "under water." that is. they owe more than their homes are worth. Mr. Chairman. my constituents. our constituents need a lifeline. and we must throw it to them. Voluntary modification is just not working. and our current bankruptcy laws fail our families. Unlike every other secured debt. including debts secured by second homes. investment properties. luxury yachts and private jets. the mortgage for a primary residence cannot be modified in bankruptcy. That is simply not fair. The Bankruptcy Code should be a safety net of last resort for families in distress. In this recession. excluding the family home makes no sense and fans the flames of foreclosure. This bill allows families to remain in their homes and avoid foreclosure. It will also lead to a financial recovery for the lender that would be as good or better than they could get at a foreclosure sale. This is a winwin. I know some wellmeaning opponents believe families will rush headlong into filing for bankruptcy. We all know. however. that the grave consequences of filing for bankruptcy means it will always be a last resort. Thank you. Chairman CONYERS and Chairman FRANK. for your leadership on this issue. |
ZOE | LOFGREN | democrat | 2009-02-26 | H | California | F | Mr. Chairman. there has been a lot discussed here on the floor today that this is a problem that is limited to just a few parts of our countryCalifornia. Nevada. Florida. I just think this is important: I went and got the records for year to year on the rate of foreclosure. In Alabama. there was nearly a 73 percent increase. in Arkansas. a 127 percent increase. in Hawaii. a 139 percent increase. in Kentucky. a nearly 60 percent increase. in Maine. a 104 percent increase. in Missouri. a nearly 60 percent increase. in Nebraska. a 165 percent increase. in New Hampshire. a 356 percent increase. in New Mexico. a 270 percent increase. in North Carolina. a 126 percent increase. in North Dakota. a 150 percent increase. This is happening all over the United States. and Ill tell you: when foreclosures hit a neighborhood. when half of the block is up for sale in a bank sale. the value of your home declines dramatically. and when the meth dealers move into those naked homes. Ill tell you that it does nothing to increase the value of the homes of the remaining homeowners. It is essential that we interrupt this foreclosure wave. Now. this very modest bankruptcy piece is a small part of the picture. Its important to note that. contrary to some of the comments. this provision only relates to mortgages entered into before the effective date of this bill. It is not prospective. It is retroactive only. We have further narrowed the provision in the managers amendment. which will be discussed later. but I think its worth noting that the bad faith on the part of a debtor throws the whole thing out. Weve made tremendous improvements. Its essential that we act soon. |
LINDA T. | SANCHEZ | democrat | 2009-02-26 | H | Cali | F | fornia. Mr. Chairman. I rise in strong support of the Helping Families Save Their Homes Act. The mortgage meltdown affects everyone. No one is immune from the widespread effects of home foreclosures. It hurts the families who are forced out of their homes. of course. but it also hurts their neighbors. who see a drastic drop in property values and communities that have to cut back services due to losses in property values. For too many. the American dream of owning a home has quickly eroded into a nightmare. The bills mortgage bankruptcy and loan modification provisions will provide direct help to real American families. As the former chairwoman of the Commercial and Administrative Law Subcommittee. I held many hearings on the mortgage foreclosure crisis and its impact on families. I know that this bill fixes an inequity in the bankruptcy code by ensuring that. under limited conditions. homeowners and bankruptcy proceedings will have access to the full range of financial support and options available. I urge my colleagues on both sides of the aisle to support homeowners and neighborhoods by supporting this vital piece of legislation. |
WASSERMAN | SCHULTZ | democrat | 2009-02-26 | H | Unknown | F | Mr. Speaker. I ask unanimous consent that it may be in order at any time on Wednesday. March 4. 2009. for the Speaker to declare a recess. subject to the call of the Chair. for the purpose of receiving in joint meeting the Right Honorable Gordon Brown. Prime Minister of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland. |
WASSERMAN | SCHULTZ | democrat | 2009-02-26 | H | Unknown | F | Mr. Speaker. I ask unanimous consent that when the House adjourns today. it adjourn to meet at 12:30 p.m. on Monday next for morninghour debate. |
GENE | GREEN | democrat | 2009-03-03 | H | Texas | M | Madam Speaker. I rise today to mark two important occasions. One hundred seventythree years ago yesterday. March. 2. 1836. Texas declared its independence from Mexico. We celebrate this declaration of freedom from tyranny knowing that during the same time in 1836 the Alamo was under attack by the Army of Mexicos dictator. Santa Anna. and would fall after 13 days of resistance. As Texans and Americans. we honor freedom and those who protect it. I also want to celebrate the birth of a new Texan. our fourth grandchild. Tristan Michael Green. born February 11. 2009 to our son and our daughterinlaw. Chris and Brandy Green. Tristan was born at 10:37 a.m. at 18 inches and weighing 6 pounds. 4 ounces. He is healthy and eating constantly. * We welcome another Texan to join his big brother. Dylan. God bless Texas and the United States of America. |
ZOE | LOFGREN | democrat | 2009-03-03 | H | California | F | Madam Speaker. I submit for publication the attached copy o the Rules of the Committee on Standards of Official Conduct the U.S. House of Representatives for the 111th Congress. The Committee on Standards of Official Conduct adopted these rules pursuant to House Rule Xl. clause2(a)(1) on February 10. 2009. I am submitting these rules for publication in compliance with House Rule Xl. clause 2(a)(2). The Committee is reviewing its rules and will make revisions to conform with House rules pertaining to the Office of Congressional Ethics. The revised rules will be submitted for publication after they are adopted by the Committee. FOREWORD The Committee on Standards of Official Conduct is unique in the House of Representatives. Consistent with the duty to carry out its advisory and enforcement responsibilities in an impartial manner. the Committee is the only standing committee of the House of Representatives the membership of which is divided evenly by party. These rules are intended to provide a fair procedural framework for the conduct of the Committees activities and to help ensure that the Committee serves well the people of the United States. the House of Representatives. and the Members. officers. and employees of the House of Representatives. |
ZOE | LOFGREN | democrat | 2009-03-04 | H | California | F | Mr. Speaker. I move to suspend the rules and agree to the resolution (H. Res. 45) raising awareness and promoting education on the criminal justice system by establishing March as "National Criminal Justice Month". |
ZOE | LOFGREN | democrat | 2009-03-04 | H | California | F | Mr. Speaker. I ask unanimous consent that all Members have 5 legislative days to revise and extend their remarks and include extraneous material on the resolution under consideration. |
ZOE | LOFGREN | democrat | 2009-03-04 | H | California | F | Mr. Speaker. I yield myself such time as I may consume. Mr. Speaker. I would like to commend Congressman TED POE of Texas for introducing this legislation. Establishing March 2009 as National Criminal Justice Month will help increase awareness of the harmful effects of crime. not only on the immediate victims. but on our society as a whole. It will also help bring public focus on the need to make our criminal justice system as effective as possible. not only in responding to crime. but in helping to reduce its incidence. Millions of Americans have been victimized by crime. Millions more are on parole. on probation. or incarcerated. And our Nation spends billions of dollars each year on efforts to address crime. And yet too many Americans say they have little confidence in the criminal justice system. There are a number of steps we can take to address this lack of confidence. For one. we could invest more resources in education. Educated Americans not only have more opportunities. they also have a greater appreciation of the effects they have on the world around them. and they certainly have a much dramatically lower incidence of criminal behavior. By failing to invest in education. we have allowed a cradletoprison pipeline to develop. What we should be building is a cradletocollege pipeline instead. And we see the unfortunate results on any given day. over 2/2 million incarcerated in our prisons. almost all of them poor. almost twothirds of them African American or Latino. Theres another thing we need to do. and thats to focus beyond the step of incarceration and to think about rehabilitation. keeping firsttime offenders from becoming repeat offenders. That requires investing meaningfully in vocational training. education. counseling and other skills development that prisoners need in order to reenter society and become productive citizens. Congress took an important step in that direction last year when it passed the Second Chance Act. Now we need to follow through with adequate funding to make its promises take hold. Third. I think its time we acknowledge the failure of the socalled War on Drugs as our government has fought it over the last few decades. Increasingly stiffer and stiffer sentences for nonviolent drug offenses hasnt worked. not to significantly reduce illegal drug use or the criminal enterprise that has grown up to feed it. Its worked only to swell the prison population. Its time that we brought more of the focus on intervention. treatment and yes. factbased education to come to grips with the drug problem. The Drug Courts program has been more successful in curtailing recidivism because of its focus on treatment. Studies show that those sent to Drug Court have a 1year recidivism rate. only onesixth as high as those sent to prison for a similar offense. I believe making this month National Criminal Justice Month can help the many in our communities who are dedicating themselves to reducing crime bring greater awareness to their efforts. I encourage my colleagues to support H. Res. 45 as well. I reserve the balance of my time. |
ZOE | LOFGREN | democrat | 2009-03-04 | H | California | F | Mr. Speaker. I once again commend the gentleman for introducing this legislation. I urge its passage. I share his enthusiasm for our system of justice. that preserves the rights of the defendant but also elevates the needs of the victims for justice. We honor those who work in our system. be they judges. prosecutors. defense counsel. police officers. and I would say. yes. also drug treatment people who are trying to prevent crime from recurring. So this month celebrates those in our community who serve in the criminal justice system. They deserve our thanks. I yield back the balance of my time. |
ZOE | LOFGREN | democrat | 2009-03-04 | H | California | F | Mr. Speaker. I ask unanimous consent that all Members have 5 legislative days to revise and extend their remarks and include extraneous material on the bill under consideration. |
ZOE | LOFGREN | democrat | 2009-03-04 | H | California | F | Mr. Speaker. I yield myself such time as I may consume. Mr. Speaker. H.R. 1127 extends two immigration programs. one for religious workers and one for doctors who serve in medically underserved areas. through the end of this fiscal year. If we do not extend these programs. they will sunset on March 6. 2009. just 3 days from today. These programs are too important to let expire. The Special Immigrant NonMinister Religious Worker Program allows religious workers to enter the United States to do important work. The 5.000 religious workers eligible for these visas each year are called to a vocation or are in traditional religious occupations with bona fide nonprofit religious organizations. They are missionaries. counselors. instructors. and pastoral care providers. Considering the current economic crisis we are experiencing and the degree to which Americans are turning to religious organizations for help. these religious workers are needed now more than ever. The other program is the socalled Conrad "J Waiver." a critically important immigration program that helps medically underserved communities attract highly skilled physicians. This program is crucial to the States as it helps them attract doctors who have received their medical training in the United States to work in areas that desperately need doctors. Its importance was demonstrated again a year and a half ago when a tornado utterly destroyed the town of Greensburg. Kansas. Without this program. that town would not have had any doctors. They were of tremendous help in keeping casualties to a minimum. We need to keep this program going so that States can attract medical talent and can keep the doors of small town clinics open. Both of these programs have strong bipartisan support. and this bill would extend the programs through the end of the fiscal year when the issue can be revisited. hopefully. in a much broader context. I commend committee Ranking Member LAMAR SMITH for his work in making this a bipartisan measure. I urge my colleagues to support this important legislation. I reserve the balance of my time. |
ZOE | LOFGREN | democrat | 2009-03-04 | H | California | F | Mr. Speaker. we have no additional speakers. If the gentleman has additional speakers. I would reserve and allow him to proceed. |
ZOE | LOFGREN | democrat | 2009-03-04 | H | California | F | Mr. Speaker. I would just urge. again. support for this measure. I would also like to include in the RECORD a letter dated today signed by a number of religious groups. including the Lutheran Immigration and Refugee Service. the Mennonites. the National Association of Evangelicals. the U.S. Catholic Conference of Catholic Bishops and others outlaying the need for religious workers in this country and urging support of the bill. DEAR REPRESENTATIVE: We write to strongly urge the House of Representatives to pass |
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in Data Studio
This dataset is a subset of the Stanford Congressional Record dataset:
Gentzkow, Matthew, Jesse M. Shapiro, and Matt Taddy. Congressional Record for the 43rd-114th Congresses: Parsed Speeches and Phrase Counts. Palo Alto, CA: Stanford Libraries [distributor], 2018-01-16. https://data.stanford.edu/congress_text
It contains speeches from the daily subset (covering 1981–2017) made by members of the Democratic and Republican parties that include 20 whitespace-separated tokens or more and did not have an "Unknown" as either the first or last name.
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