Floor Statements

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

Mr. Speaker, I would like to start by thanking Mr. Hensarling, the chairperson of the committee. He gave me his word. He said this bill would come to the floor, and he has kept his word. I would like to thank the ranking member, Ms. Waters. She committed to help with this bill. In fact, the genesis of this was a conversation I had with her, and she kept her word. I'd like to thank Mr. McHenry. Indeed, he and I do serve on Oversight and Investigations, and I appreciate very much his being here today to help us by managing this piece of legislation. I believe he and I will accomplish additional things on a bipartisan basis. This is a bipartisan piece of legislation.

I'd also like to thank the staff. While I will stand here and hopefully rise to the occasion, it really takes greater people to make the occasion. These people are the staffers that work long into the night on many occasions to try to reach a consensus on legislation. The staff really put a lot of time into this legislation, Mr. Speaker, and I think they should be complimented.

I especially would recognize one staffer in particular, Ms. Harmeet Kaur. This is her last week in our congressional office. She's a fellow, and I'm honored to say she worked with us on this piece of legislation.

Finally, I'd like to thank our veterans. Mr. Speaker, we stand here in the well of the House and enjoy many of the freedoms that we have because there are people who are willing to go to distant places, willing to risk their lives. Indeed, Mr. Speaker, many of them do not return the way they left. I just believe, Mr. Speaker, that the least a grateful Nation can do is make sure that when they return home, they return home to good jobs, the best health care, and good housing. I believe that it's almost sinful to see a veteran standing on the corner with a sign that reads, ``Homeless, hungry.'' I believe that we ought to do everything within our power to help people who are willing to risk their lives for us.

I had the good fortune or misfortune, I'm not sure which, to pass by a VA hospital with a sign out front that read, ``Come in and see the price of freedom.''

Something that bears repeating: ``Come in and see the price of freedom.''

The price of freedom is quite high, Mr. Speaker. The price of freedom will cost some in the prime of their lives things that you and I can never replace, money can't buy. And when money can't buy and you and I can't replace, the least we can do is all that we can. This is why we're asking that this Special Assistant be placed in the Office of the Secretary of HUD, that this be codified into the law; that it is not going to be easy now for this person to be replaced or this position to be removed.

And, Mr. Speaker, I must say also that HUD has been quite helpful. HUD has established a similar position in another part of the Department, but this would place a person in the office with the Secretary. And this person in the Office of the Secretary would try to help us with some of the statistics that we find abhorrent.

We find that there are approximately 76,000 to 144,000 veterans who are homeless. This is unacceptable. We find that on any night in 2012 about 62,000 veterans were homeless. This is unacceptable. And what this assistant will do is work with the homeless veterans organizations, serve as a liaison person to the Department of Veterans Affairs, the U.S. Interagency Council on Homelessness, and with State and local officials, and not-for-profit organizations. This assistant will coordinate services with these various entities.

Mr. Speaker, this is not enough, but it is a start. It is a continuation, if you will, of what we've been trying to accomplish. Mr. Speaker, I beg that my colleagues--I would besiege them and implore them to please support this legislation because you're really supporting our veterans.

Mr. Speaker, in closing, I will remind us that the greatness of America is not going to be measured by how we treat people who live in the sweets of life. The greatness of America is often going to be judged by how we treat people who live in the streets of life. Too often, we have people who have served their country living in the streets of life. They literally live on the streets. It is time for us, the richest country in the world, where one out of every 100 persons is a millionaire, to acknowledge what our veterans have done to make it possible for us to enjoy these great and noble American ideals as extolled in the Pledge of Allegiance, liberty and justice for all, and in the Constitution, wherein we would have all people be created and treated equally.

So, Mr. Speaker, I just beg in closing that we, Members, take advantage of this opportunity to support our veterans. It is not something that is going to break the bank. In fact, it has a minimal impact on the deficit, but it can have a huge impact on our veterans.

I thank you, Mr. McHenry, and I yield back the balance of my time.

Mr. Speaker, I stand in solidarity with my colleagues in the commemoration of the 50th anniversary of the bombing of the Sixteenth Street Baptist Church in Birmingham, Alabama. On that Sunday morning of September 15, 1963, twenty-two people were wounded and four young African American girls, Addie Mae Collins, Cynthia Wesley, Carole Robertson, as well as Denise McNair lost their lives in an act of racial hatred.

The Sixteenth Street Baptist Church was a prime target because of its landmark status in the Civil Rights Movement, having hosted civil rights leaders, including Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. However, these individuals, who sought to strike fear in the hearts of those fighting for civil and human rights, undoubtedly failed. The bombing of these innocent individuals seeking to find solace in their spiritual faith redoubled the ardor of those fighting against racial prejudice and for equality.

Having been born into segregation, I know the sting of invidious discrimination. Nevertheless, it is heartening to see that all these years later we have made much positive progress toward equality as evidenced by the election of President Barack Obama and my own election to Congress. Notwithstanding the many strides toward freedom, the righteous struggle against hatred in all its forms continues. Let us today reaffirm our abiding commitment for human and civil rights for all.

In closing, Mr. Speaker, I wholeheartedly endorse and support H.R. 360, which posthumously awards a Congressional Gold Medal to Addie Mae Collins, Denise McNair, Carole Robertson, and Cynthia Wesley, in recognition of the 50th commemoration of the bombing of the Sixteenth Street Baptist Church.

Mr. Speaker, I would like to express my deepest sympathies for the victims and their families of the horrific Boston Marathon Bombing, which took place on Monday, April 15, 2013.

To date three people have been killed, including an eight-year old boy, and many were also wounded in this senseless violence as people sought to athletically express the power of perseverance, while their loved ones cheered them on. The glory and the innocence of athletic achievement as well as supporting one's families and friends in such a pursuit must not be desecrated by this tragedy.

While we will never truly understand what causes someone to seek to maim and kill others in cold blood, faith will console where reason cannot. We can find some solace in the extraordinary heroism displayed by runners who finished the race after the bombing and continued running to the nearest hospital to give blood, as well as the spectators who rushed to the aid of the wounded immediately after the blast.

Those responsible for this heinous deed will be brought to justice, and the singular steadfastness of our great nation to punish the wrongdoers and support the victimized will once again be apparent.

I thank the many persons who have labored long and hard to help fulfill Dr. Martin Luther King's dream. He devoted his life to transforming neighborhoods into brotherhoods, and I'd like to speak to you today about this concept because, to do this--to transform neighborhoods into brotherhoods--we must become

neighbors. We have to have communities wherein all persons are a part of the fiber and fabric of the various communities that we live in.

Dr. King was in Memphis, Tennessee, in 1968, and he was there on this mission of bringing people together. He was there to help with some issues related to workers and workers' rights. Unfortunately, on April 4 of 1968, Dr. King was assassinated. His life's work did not end, however. His dream is still alive, and because he dared to transform neighborhoods into brotherhoods, the President of the United States at that time, President Johnson, took up the fight for Dr. King, and within 7 days a piece of legislation passed through the House that dealt with discrimination as it relates to where people live.

This legislation had bipartisan support. The Democratic supporter was Senator Walter Mondale, a very well-known figure in American politics. The Republican supporter was an African American, by the way, who was a member of the Senate, the Honorable Edward Brooke. These two Senators had for years been trying to pass this legislation to eliminate discrimination in housing. They had some degree of success, but they were not able to get the legislation passed.

In 1968, 7 days after Dr. King's death, the Fair Housing Act of 1968 passed, prohibiting discrimination based upon race, color, religion or national origin as it relates to the sale or to the financing of housing. In 1974, the act was amended to include sex discrimination. In 1988, it was amended to prohibit discrimination based upon physical or mental handicap as well as familial status.

The Housing Fairness Act, which I have introduced, models this piece of legislation. It, too, deals with discrimination that is invidious with reference to refusing to rent to a person, to sell housing to a person, to negotiate housing, to make housing available, to set different terms for some than for others, to falsely deny that housing is unavailable when it is available. This kind of discrimination still exists, but it's important for us today to realize that it is very much having an impact on persons whom many of us do not assume are victims of housing discrimination. The FY 2011 statistics, the latest available to me, connote that 27,092 complaints were filed with programs associated with the Fair Housing Initiatives, and of these complaints about 12 percent to 54 percent of them were complaints based upon disability.

Now, it's important for us to focus on disability for a moment because many of our veterans returning from wars, persons who chose to go to distant places, don't always return the same way they left. Many of them have given their lives, and others have survived, but they have survived and they are handicapped. Many of them returning will be discriminated against because there are people who discriminate against people who are handicapped. They may not know that it's a veteran, but whether they know or not, the act of discrimination is still harmful.

I will submit to you that it makes sometimes tears well in the eyes of people who understand how our veterans have fought for us. So I am here today to make an appeal that we support Fair Housing Initiatives and that we do all that we can to transform neighborhoods into brotherhoods.

Mr. Chairman, I thank the ranking member for the time.

Mr. Chairman, depending on your point of view, there is something in this budget for you to like and to love. If you like repealing the Affordable Care Act and replacing it with nothing, then you love this budget.

If you like having senior citizens pay more for their pharmaceuticals in the twilight of life, then you love this budget.

If you like having 26-year-olds and under come off of the insurance policies that they're currently on with their parents, then you love this budget.

If you like the notion that health care should become wealth care in the

richest country in the world, where one out of every 100 persons is a millionaire, then you love this budget.

If you like the whole concept of having voucher care, as opposed to Medicare, then you really love this budget.

My dear friends, I neither love it nor like it. I'm against it, and I won't vote for it.

Mr. Speaker, I would like to honor the memory of a spiritual leader and a pillar of Houston's Sunnyside community, Mrs. Atherlene Monroe. With extraordinary dedication, Mrs. Monroe devoted her life to the spiritual instruction of others and her family.

Mrs. Monroe was born in Houston, TX on February 6, 1935. Her parents instilled within her an unshakeable faith, and a desire to spiritually mentor as well as teach others. On December 20, 1953, Mrs. Monroe met and married another pillar of the Sunnyside community, Reverend Rugley Monroe. Jr., Pastor of the El Bethel Missionary Baptist Church. Together Reverend and Mrs. Monroe raised three sons as well as one daughter. They worked to serve their community as well as save the souls of a multitude of people.

Mrs. Monroe served in several roles at the El Bethel Missionary Baptist Church and the local spiritual community. Through her selfless hard work and integrity, she eventually became a member of the choir, president of the Women's Mission, as well as treasurer of the Southside's Minister's Wives Union organization. She was also a faithful companion to her husband of 59 years in all his endeavors.

Finally, Mr. Speaker, Mrs. Monroe will be missed dearly by a host of family and friends. The family includes her husband, four children, Rugley Monroe, III, Angeline Stewart, David Monroe, Sr., and Patrick Monroe, Sr., as well as her nine grandchildren, twelve great- grandchildren, and one great-great grandchild. Mrs. Monroe will be remembered in the Sunnyside community as an exemplar of a faithful Christian lady, wife, mother, and teacher.

I thank you so much for the time.

Isn't it ironic that today, the Supreme Court of the United States of America is considering section 5 of the Voting Rights Act in terms of whether it will continue to apply to the United States of America and those specific States and areas that are included therein. This is being done at the same time we are considering the Violence Against Women Act, which in my opinion should be called a Family Violence Act. I say this because we cannot exclude people because of their sexual orientation.

This is my watch. I have a duty to stand up for those who are being left out or left behind. This act should include the LGBT community, and any

substitute that would remove the LGBT community is a substitute that I cannot support.

Isn't it ironic that today, the Supreme Court is considering section 5 of the Voting Rights Act, and we just had a statue of Rosa Parks made available to the public in Statuary Hall? Friends, it's time for us to come up to the standards of this time, and let's bring all of our people with us. The LGBT community merits our consideration. I will not vote for the substitute. I support the LGBT community.

Mr. Speaker, I would like to acknowledge the appointment of Mr. Dean Corgey to the Port of Houston Authority Commission, on January 16, 2013. Mr. Corgey is well-suited to the position of Port Commissioner, based on his decades of community service, outstanding leadership, and stellar credentials.

Mr. Corgey is a humble man who has worked in various capacities on all four coasts, before he became vice president of the preeminent Seafarers International Union's Gulf Coast Region and now a Port Commissioner. I know he will use his numerous talents to ensure the Port of Houston remains a world-class port.

Mr. Speaker, I am blessed to have the opportunity to pay tribute to a dear friend of over ten years. A man of character who can be an extraordinary agent for change. Mr. Corgey is an indefatigable and hardworking individual, who will continue to serve the city of Houston well.

Thank you, Madam Chair. And I thank the Speaker for the time.

I congratulate you, Madam Chair, on being the newly elected chairperson of the CBC, and I pledge to work with you to do all that I can to assist you, not only with the many programs that we have, but also with ending this culture of violence.

Madam Chair, on this, the eve of the birthday of Dr. King, it is appropriate to quote him. He reminded us that the truest measure of the person is not where you stand in times of comfort and convenience, when all is right with the world, your health is good, your bills are paid, friends are all around. The truest measure of the person is where do you stand in times of challenge and controversy.

Challenge and controversy, when young people are dying in the street, when domestic violence is claiming the lives of spouses and paramours and lovers and friends, when churches are being shot up, where do you stand?

Let's talk for just a moment about some of these circumstances. I attended a funeral just recently. It was the funeral of Ms. Latasha Jones. Ms. Jones was killed on Christmas Eve, December 2012. She lost her life in the presence of her son. Her daughter lost her life as well, victim of domestic violence.

It's one thing to know and use the term ``victim,'' another thing to attend the funeral of a victim. It was a sad occasion. Mother and daughter, son there to only suffer heartache knowing that he will never see his mother or his sister again.

I have the program from that funeral, and I have the obituary. I shall place this in the Record.

Latasha R. Jones

October 14, 1977-December 24, 2012

On October 14, 1977 in Houston, Texas, a baby girl was born

to Clarence M. Jones and Patricia Jones. They named her

Latasha Rochelle Jones. Latasha confessed to Christ at an

early age at South Park Baptist Church, in Houston, Texas.

She attended Houston area public schools and graduated from

North Shore High School in 1997, in Houston, Texas.

On September 27, 1994, she had her first daughter:

Chamarea' Schane' Hoskin. On February 8, 1999, she gave birth

to her second daughter: JaKaela Neshae Newhouse. On May 24,

2005, she gave birth to her first son: Chance Javion-Lee

Adams. Latasha was a kind-hearted, loving caregiver. She

pursued her dream of caring for children while she was

employed with many different daycare facilities. While

employed at KinderCare, she was a Senior Quest Teacher. She

truly had a passion for educating and nurturing children.

Latasha also traveled down other avenues of care-giving by

completing her education and dream of becoming a Certified

Medical Assistant at PCI (Professional Careers Institute).

Latasha completed the course and graduated on June 20, 2012.

While attending PCI. Latasha was employed with Home Depot,

where she worked very hard to provide for her family.

Latasha was preceded in death by her father, Clarence M.

Jones, her grandmother Shirley McDonald, three cousins:

Cheryl L. McDonald, Jermaine McDonald and Byron J. Scranton,

her step-brother: Clarence Owens.

Her loving memory will linger on in the hearts of her

Mother and Pow-Pow: Patricia A. Wilson and Earnest ``Lee''

Wilson, Sr.; her daughter: Chamarea' Hoskin, her son: Chance

J.L. Adams; her sisters: Candi Jones, Alicia Jarmon (Jai

Francis, Sr.), Rashaunda Jarmon; step-sister: Wendy W. Thomas

(Randy) and Desiree Jarmon; step-brothers: Ernest L. Wilson,

Jr. and Marcus Vivian; her nieces: Jailicia Martinez (Robert

M.), Morgan Francis, Jordyn Lassaint, Avry Francis and Zoey

Sarumi; her nephews: Jai Francis, Jr., Tristen Francis,

Randall Thomas, Caden Francis, Seven Francis, Shia Francis

and Tru Irven, a host of loving Aunts, Uncles, cousins her

God-Mother Emori Davis, and a host of other loving relatives

and friends.

May Latasha R.I.P. with her daughter, JaKaela.

Mr. Speaker, today, due to unforeseen circumstances, I missed the following votes:

H.R. 6672--To reauthorize certain programs under the Public Health Service Act and the Federal Food, Drug, and Cosmetic Act with respect to public health security and all-hazards preparedness and response, and for other purposes--had I been present, I would have voted ``yea.''

H.R. 1845--Medicare IVIG Access Act, as amended--had I been present, I would have voted ``yea.''

H. Res. 668--To refer H.R. 5862, a bill making congressional reference to the United States Court of Federal Claims pursuant to sections 1492 and 2509 of title 28, United States Code, the Indian trust-related claims of the Quapaw Tribe of Oklahoma (O-Gah-Pah) as well as its individual members--had I been present, I would have voted ``yea.''

The old adage ``live and let live'' is not enough. We now must live and help live. We have persons who will be severely impacted by the fiscal cliff if we don't take action. FEMA may lose as much as $878 million, and this would affect persons who are victims of disasters. Persons who receive rental assistance may lose as much as $2.3 billion in help.

It is not enough to live and allow others to live. We have to live and help others to have a better quality of life. Let's avert and avoid the fiscal disaster.

Mr. Speaker, as Congress and the President continue to move toward a compromise addressing the ``Fiscal Cliff,'' I support a balanced approach that creates jobs and supports long-term economic growth. A key component of sustained economic growth is the extension of the current tax rates for middle class Americans. Furthermore, I support an approach that boosts the confidence of small business owners and provides them with the certitude they need to meet the demands of a recovering economy. Congress must support an approach that avoids the harmful sequestration spending cuts that may affect nearly every sector of our economy and threaten our economic recovery. It is my hope that my colleagues and I can act as partners in promoting economic fairness that will steer America toward a brighter future.

Mr. Speaker, we hear a lot of talk about the consequences of the fiscal cliff on the wealthy, the well-off, the well-heeled, and the well-to-do. We don't hear a lot of talk about how it will impact the least, the last, and the lost. Permit me today to share just a bit of information.

Rental assistance for the poor would fall by $2.3 billion. Nutrition programs for women, infants, and children would lose $543 million. Those who provide services to persons who get Medicare--doctors--would lose about $4 billion.

Mr. Speaker, if we are to have an act of Congress, we have to have a Congress willing to act. It is time for us to act, to protect the least, the last, and the lost, as well as others.

Mr. Speaker, yesterday I was unavoidably detained and missed the following votes:

1. H.R. 5044, the Andrew Carpenter Tax Act, as amended. Had I been present, I would have voted ``yes'' on this bill.

2. H.R. 5912, to amend the Internal Revenue Code of 1986 to prohibit the use of public funds for political party conventions, and to provide for the return of previously distributed funds for deficit reduction, as amended. Had I been present, I would have voted ``no'' on this bill.

Mr. Speaker, I refuse to participate in what I call ``Medicare class warfare.'' I refuse to pit those who are 55 and above against those who are under 55.

Mr. Speaker, I believe that those of us who are above 55 ought to want the same health care for those who are under 55 that we're going to receive.

I refuse to participate in Medicare class warfare. I believe that those who are at the dawn of life should know that they will have the same health care benefits that we will have at the twilight of life.

Again, I refuse to participate in Medicare class warfare.