Floor Statements

Madam Speaker, I am proud to commemorate Cinco de Mayo, the historic celebration of Mexican heritage and pride.

On May 5th, 1862, Mexican General Ignacio Zaragoza Seguin led 4,000 Mexican troops into battle against the French in the Battle of Puebla, just 100 miles from Mexico City. General Seguin led his brave troops to a spirited victory in spite of being badly outnumbered and lacking the modern weaponry possessed by the French.

The Mexican effort in the Battle of Puebla epitomized courage, as the outmanned troops survived three bloody French assaults and finally achieved resounding success. Numerous Mexicans gave their lives not solely for their country, but also for the timeless values of freedom and justice. The tremendous fight put up by the Mexican troops at the Battle of Puebla also had a substantial impact on the United States' history, as the French defeat provided President Lincoln with crucial support as the Civil War descended into chaos.

There can be no doubting the bravery, spirit or patriotism of the thousands of Mexican troops who fought and, all too frequently, gave their lives at the Battle of Puebla. In the spirit of remembering the sacrifices of those troops, Cinco de Mayo provides us with a perfect opportunity to recognize the sacrifice for sovereignty, the importance of courage and, above all, the universal yearning for freedom.

Cinco de Mayo is celebrated throughout Mexico and the United States with a joyous mixture of food, music and dancing. It has also taken on great significance in the United States as a day to celebrate broadly the culture and ancestry of Americans of Mexican heritage.

The Mexican forces who won the Battle of Puebla should not and will not ever be forgotten, nor will the values for which they fought. I commend those forces for their spirit and courage and I wish all those celebrating the holiday across Mexico and the United States a happy Cinco de Mayo.

Mr. Speaker, I am proud to support H. Res. 1079, a resolution supporting the goals and ideals of Financial Literacy Month 2008. With the economy in its current state, and with the anticipation of more hardships to come, it has become increasingly important for all Americans to have a basic understanding of financial systems and resources. Many of the challenges that we face today could have been avoided if more Americans were financially literate and able to make informed decisions while protecting themselves from abusive financial practices.

A recent 2008 Financial Literacy Survey prepared for the National Foundation on Credit Counseling and MSN Money highlights the growing need for quality financial literacy education. According to the report, over 50 million Americans have no money set aside for their own retirement, and roughly 76 million Americans have no savings outside of their retirement fund. Over 30 percent of Americans do not know their own credit score, and over 60 percent have not requested a free copy of their credit report in the past year. Approximately 40 million Americans make little or no effort to budget their finances or keep track of their own spending, and around 15 million Americans are being called by collectors and have seriously considered filing for bankruptcy. In the state of Texas, there were more than 184,000 prime and subprime mortgages in delinquency at the end of 2007, a situation that was closely linked to the lack of financial literacy among consumers. The problem is only worsened by the fact that one in four Americans say they would not consider buying a home at this time because they do not know enough to feet comfortable doing so.

By designating April as Financial Literacy Month, we are recognizing the importance of financial literacy and making an active effort to encourage and support quality financial literacy education programs. The American Dream cannot be obtained by those who suffer from dangerous consumer habits, poorly managed finances, unsustainable levels of debt, and barriers to mainstream financial services and institutions. Financial Literacy Month is a reminder for all of us to continue working so that every individual will have the tools and knowledge they need to attain financial security and strengthen our Nation's economy.

Mr. Speaker, I support H. Con. Res. 322, a resolution recognizing the 60th anniversary of the founding of the modern State of Israel, which occurred on May 14, 1948. On November 29, 1947, the United Nations General Assembly voted to partition the British Mandate of Palestine and create a Jewish state. On May 14, 1948, the people of Israel proclaimed the establishment of the sovereign and independent State of Israel. That date marked the success of a continuous struggle for a homeland for the world's Jewish population and laid the foundation for a free and independent state and a symbol of joy and protection for a people that have been--for too long--on the receiving end of oppression, discrimination, and injustice.

Since its independence, Israel has bravely defended itself from repeated attacks. Over the last 60 years, the modern State of Israel has built a nation, forged a new and dynamic democracy, and created a thriving economic, political, cultural and intellectual society. The people of Israel have established a pluralistic, democratic political system, including freedom of speech, association, and religion; a free press; free and open elections; the rule of law; and a fully independent judiciary. Their efforts and achievements have led the American people to feel a strong affinity for the Israeli people based on common values and shared cultural heritage.

This week, Jewish people around the world are celebrating the Jewish holiday of Passover. Passover commemorates the Exodus from Egypt and the liberation of the Israelites from slavery. It is traditional for a Jewish family to gather on the first night of Passover for a special dinner called a Seder. While many Jewish holidays revolve around the synagogue, the Seder is conducted in the family home. It is customary to invite guests, especially strangers and the needy to share with their fellow human beings the story of struggle, poverty, oppression, and survival. I had the pleasure of attending a Seder in Houston with Pastor Kirby John Caldwell and his wife Suzette.

The story of Passover should have a special meaning this year to those who seek to support individuals around the world who suffer from poverty, slavery, and injustice. Let the celebration of the founding of Israel be a symbol to the world of how a people who have experienced oppression and violence can rise to be strong, free and independent.

I am proud to support H. Con. Res. 322, a resolution recognizing the 60th anniversary of the founding of the modern State of Israel.

Madam Speaker, I wish to acknowledge and honor the 10 year anniversary of Equal Pay Day, a national day of recognition instituted by President Clinton in 1998 to raise awareness about the wage disparity and discrimination between men and women.

America has made some strides in narrowing this disparity in the workplace, but the fight for equal pay for equal work still remains prevalent and pertinent today. Thirty-five years ago, when President Kennedy signed the Equal Pay Act of 1963, women who worked full-time, year-round made 59 cents on average for every dollar earned by men. In 2006, women earned 77 cents for every dollar earned by men; the figures are even more unsettling for women of color. This data demonstrates that the wage gap has narrowed by less than half a cent per year. An 18 cent increase over 35 years indicates a significant wage disparity between working men and women that leaves a great deal of work for the employers and decision makers of today.

In the state of Texas, between 2004 and 2006, the average annual salary of men with a college degree or more was $63,000, while their female counterparts only received an average annual salary of $45,000 with the same credentials. In comparison, during that same time frame, the national average annual salary for men with a college degree or more was $66,000, while their female counterparts received only $50,000. Therefore, the state of Texas is about 5 percent below the national average in narrowing the wage disparity between men and women.

A great woman and former congresswoman from Texas, Barbara Jordan once said that, ``If the society of today allows wrongs to go unchallenged, the impression is created that those wrongs have the approval of the majority.'' To take the late Ms. Jordan's advice: we who live in today's society must not allow the wrongs created by wage discrimination continue to discount minorities and women.

I ask my colleagues and employers nationwide to take up the fight of eliminating the wage disparity between men and women as we all honor the 10 year anniversary of Equal Pay Day.

Madam Speaker, Senate Majority Leader Reid, Senate Republican Leader McConnell, House Republican Leader Boehner, Senator Hutchison, the Honorable Dr. Michael Ellis DeBakey and Mrs. DeBakey:

Please allow me to thank Senator Hutchison for her leadership; Representatives Burgess and Culberson for helping to acquire the 290 signatures needed to bring this bill to the floor; Speaker Pelosi, Majority Leader Reid, and the leadership for considering the legislation expeditiously; the President for signing it; and I especially want to thank God for the Honorable Dr. Michael E. DeBakey.

On September 7th his life will measure 100 years. However, the most meaningful measure of life is not how long one lives, but rather what one does with the time God gives. Dr. DeBakey, your living has made it possible for others to have better lives.

You have promulgated over 1,600 publications and operated on over 60,000 patients. You have either established or helped establish: the field of stroke surgery; the coronary bypass; the mobile army surgical hospital; the National Library of Medicine; the multiple transplantation procedure; and health care systems around the world

You epitomize the truest measure of life. As Ruth Smeltzer proclaimed, ``Some measure their lives by days and years, others by heart throbs, passion and tears; But the surest measure under the sun, is what in your lifetime for others you have done.''

You have proven that one person can not only impact the world but that one person can change the world for the good of all. If we did not have a Congressional Gold Medal, we would have to create one just for you.

Thank you, Mr. Chairman. However, the promotion I cannot claim. I'm still a lowly Member of the House of Representatives, not yet made it to that lofty level of being a reverend, but you are very kind. And I thank you for the many years of work that you have dedicated to this very issue that we have on the floor today. In fact, it can be said that your great work has caused us to have this opportunity to be here today.

I also would like to thank the ranking member, Lamar Smith, for his work in helping us to bring this to the floor, and the manager of the time, Member Steve Chabot, for your services that you've rendered as well. And I appreciate especially the comments that you've made today.

In celebrating or commemorating or recognizing the 40th anniversary of the Fair Housing Act of 1968, we are, in truth, recognizing the efforts of Dr. Martin Luther King because it was Dr. Martin Luther King who went to Memphis some 40 years ago to help what we call sanitation workers today, but back then we called them garbage men.

Dr. King had a basic premise of trying to help somebody. And to him, these persons, although known as garbage men, they were somebody. And he went there to help them in their efforts to obtain equal justice. And while there, the unfortunate circumstance occurred, and we lost Dr. King prematurely. But I do believe that he did not live in vain.

There is a spiritual song styled, ``If I can help somebody as I travel along, if I can help someone with a word or a song, if I can help someone from doing wrong, then my living shall not be in vain.'' Dr. King lived not in vain because this act, the Fair Housing Act, was passed after his demise. There are some historians who contend that it was his demise, in fact, that created the opportunity for it to pass as timely as it did.

And I am honored that Dr. King took up the cause of the lowly garbage men. However, 40 years later, there is still great work to be done, as has been indicated by the chairman, because 40 years later there are approximately four million acts of housing discrimination each year in this country. Forty years later, approximately 27,000 acts of housing discrimination and complaints are filed annually. Forty years later, 13 fair housing groups have closed their doors due to a lack of funding. Forty years later, 26 fair housing centers, or one-quarter of all fair housing centers, have either closed their doors or are at risk of closing their doors due to a lack of funding.

Forty years later, 87 percent of African Americans, Latinos and Asian Americans meet with real estate agents and experience some form of steering. Steering occurs when the agent will send a person of one ethnicity to an area where persons of this ethnicity may be residing, whites to white neighborhoods, blacks to black neighborhoods, or neighborhoods that are going into some form of transition. Forty years later, 20 percent of the African Americans and Latinos trying to buy or rent homes have their cause ignored.

Less than 1 percent of housing discrimination acts are reported 40 years later.

So we need to do something to change this. We need to fully fund the fair housing programs. FHIP, the Fair Housing Initiative Program, should be fully funded to about $52 million.

This program allows us to do what is known as testing, the means by which we acquired the empirical evidence that housing discrimination has actually occurred. There is no substitute for FHIP and the testing that takes place.

But also there is a piece of legislation, the Fair Housing Act of 2007, or H.R. 2926, which will give HUD some additional authority, will establish competitive grants, will help us to examine the causes of housing discrimination and talk about what we can do and, in fact, conclude what we can do to make remedies.

If we want to live not in vain as Dr. King did, let's help somebody. Let's do something about discrimination in housing and make real the great American ideal of owning a home.

Mr. Speaker, today I was unavoidably delayed and missed the vote on H. Res. 1084, the Rule providing for consideration of H.R. 2016, the National Landscape Conservation System Act (rollcall 165). Although H. Res. 1084 passed by a vote of 220-188, I respectfully request the opportunity to record my position. Had I been present I would have voted ``yea'' on rollcall 165.

Madam Speaker, this Monday, March 31, 2008, marked the 81st birthday of the late Cesar Chavez, a national hero who devoted his life to fighting for civil rights for all Americans. Today, I join the millions of Americans who will honor this migrant farmworker, labor organizer, and champion of social justice for his many contributions.

Cesar Chavez was a civil rights and human rights leader who learned about the importance of justice early in his life. After graduating from the eighth grade, a young Cesar Chavez went to work in the fields as a migrant farmworker to support his family. In 1962,

Chavez and Dolores Huerta founded the National Farm Workers Association, later to become the United Farm Workers, UFW. Chavez had the foresight to train his union workers and then to send many of them into the cities where they were to use the boycott and picket as their weapon. The UFW would soon become a significant political force, demonstrating that Mexican Americans could and would participate in electoral politics.

Chavez was able to successfully organize farmworkers because of his tireless leadership and nonviolent tactics that helped pass laws which would permit farmworkers to organize into unions and allow collective bargaining agreements. He also helped make people aware of the struggles of farmworkers for fair wages and safer working conditions. His movement was the beginning of La Causa, ``The Cause,'' a cause that was supported by organized labor, religious groups, minorities, and students.

Cesar Chavez, the founder and president of the United Farm Workers of America, AFL--CIO, died peacefully in his sleep on April 23, 1993. On August 8, 1994, Cesar Chavez was posthumously awarded the Medal of Freedom, our country's highest civilian honor, by President Clinton. Since his passing, ten States across the country have paid tribute to his memory by celebrating a statewide holiday name in his honor, including my home State of Texas.

Cesar Chavez left our world better than he found it. He taught us to face and overcome adversity with the rallying cry of ``Si Se Puede!'', or ``Yes We Can!''. His legacy inspires not just the more than 45 million Latinos in this country but every person who believes in nonviolence as a means to achieve social change. He truly was, in the words of Senator Robert Kennedy, ``one of the heroic figures of our time.''

Thank you, Member Scott, and I thank you for the stellar job that you have done on this budget. I thank Chairwoman Kilpatrick for what she has done as well.

The Members on the other side talk about control spending. I think we need to give some indication of what ``control spending'' is. Control spending occurs when you spend $144 billion per year on war and you cut Medicaid by $500 billion over 10 years.

Control spending is spending $12 billion a month on war, and you are cutting Medicaid by $100 billion over 10 years.

Control spending means that you can't fully fund health care, education, first responders and infrastructure repair; but you can spend $243,550 per minute on war.

It is time for us to assess our priorities. If we can spend $395 million per day on war, then we can spend $32 million to fully fund FHIP, the Federal initiative to make sure that we end discrimination in housing. We can fund it for 1 year for $32 million. It has been cut. In 2006 we had 27,000 housing discrimination complaints; 18,000 were resolved. The administration is presently requesting $26 million in 2008. That is a 15 percent cut, given that $6 million of it will go toward a study.

FHIP is a way to end discrimination in housing. We have to have the will to fund it. If we fund FHIP, we can end housing discrimination. The Fair Housing Initiative Program deserves to be funded, and let's control spending in some other areas and take care of home.

Madam Speaker, I wish to commemorate the month of March 2008 as Women's History Month in honor of the female trailblazers and unsung heroes in American history.

Historically, women have contributed significantly to the greatness of our Nation. American women from diverse origins have transformed and revolutionized politics, law, business, social service, civil rights, education, music, athletics, science and technology, as well as the military. Together, their dedication, perseverance and courage has generated a wave of opportunities for entire generations of women. The contributions of notable women such as Susan B. Anthony, Clara Barton, Harriet Tubman, Dorothy Height, Coretta Scott King, Sally Ride and many others have sparked an unstoppable momentum for women's rights and others.

In government, trailblazers such as Hattie Wyatt Caraway, the first woman elected to the U.S. Senate (1932), and Jeannette Rankin, the first woman in Congress (1917), paved the way for 16 female Senators and 70 female Representatives to be elected to the 110th Congress, which is the highest number ever in congressional history. More importantly, the House of Representatives elected Nancy Pelosi, the first woman to serve as the third most powerful official in America. In the legal sector, women such as Arabella Mansfield Babb, the first woman admitted to the bar (1869), and Belva Ann Lockwood, the first woman to practice law before the U.S. Supreme Court (1879), have opened doors for women to enter the professional workforce as legal experts. Similarly, Lucy Brewer, the first woman marine (1812), inspired her predecessors to defend their Nation with pride and valor.

These women and many others are legends today. Therefore, it is essential that all Americans acknowledge and celebrate the contributions of women throughout our Nation's history. In addition, as America's arms stretch out across the seas, we must honor women in the international community that have challenged, changed and improved the condition of women and others in their native countries. That is why on March 8, 2008, America celebrated International Women's Day.

I urge my colleagues and all Americans to commemorate women for their contributions to the advancement of our great Nation.

Madam Speaker, I was voting in the Texas Democratic Primary and missed the votes on:

H.R. 1143, To authorize the Secretary of the Interior to lease certain lands in Virgin Islands National Park (Rollcall 88). Although H.R. 1143 passed by a vote of 378-0, I respectfully request the opportunity to record my position. Had I been present I would have voted ``yea'' on Rollcall 88.

H.R. 1311, To direct the Secretary of the Interior to convey the Alta-Hualapai Site to the city of Las Vegas, Nevada, for the development of a cancer treatment facility (Rollcall 89). Although H.R. 1311 passed by a vote of 377-0, I respectfully request the opportunity to record my position. Had I been present I would have voted ``yea'' on Rollcall 89.

H.R. 816, To provide for the release of certain land from the Sunrise Mountain Instant Study Area in the State of Nevada and to grant a right-of-way across the released land for the construction and maintenance of a flood control project (Rollcall 90). Although H.R. 816 passed by a vote of 375-0, I respectfully request the opportunity to record my position. Had I been present I would have voted ``yea'' on Rollcall 90.

Again, I express my full support for these important pieces of legislation.

I thank the gentleman for the time.

I would like to thank Chairman Conyers for being there and making this resolution possible and bringing it to the floor. I also would like to remember Mr. Sensenbrenner, who at the time we first introduced this piece of legislation was the chairperson of the Judiciary Committee. And I recall how he made a great effort to get this legislation to the floor and to get it passed. I am grateful to the Honorable Steve Cohen who is our floor leader today, a lawyer par excellence who does an outstanding job on the Judiciary Committee. Thank you so much. I am grateful to Mr. Steve Chabot. Thank you for your very kind words. What you said about the NAACP is entirely correct, but it is also something that means a lot to a lot of people. And I think the people across the length and breadth of this country appreciate what you have said and how you have made it clear that the NAACP is important to us in the United States Congress.

I also want to thank the many persons, about 45 of whom signed on to this piece of legislation so that we could bring it to the floor this year. This is the 99th anniversary of the NAACP, having been founded February 12, 1909. The NAACP has always been an integrated organization. It has fought for integration. But it has from its genesis been an organization that has been integrated. And while we remember many of the names of the great NAACPers, James Weldon Johnson, of course, who was one of the great executive secretaries of the organization, we will remember always the name Roy Wilkins, who was a labor leader and executive secretary of the NAACP, W.E.B. DuBois, who was one of the great intellectuals of his time and of all time. We remember Julian Bond who today is the chairperson of the organization, and Dr. Benjamin Hooks who was an FCC board member but also a lawyer and executive director of the NAACP.

But some of the names we don't always remember are names of persons who are not African Americans who were there at the genesis of this organization. Mary White Ovington, this lady held one of the very first organizational meetings of the NAACP in her living room at a time when it was not popular to host a meeting for an organization like the NAACP. I also would remember, if we would, William English Walling and Oswald Garrison Villiard. These persons were not African Americans, but they literally put their lives on the line so that African Americans could have the types of rights and privileges that we enjoy today.

The NAACP, the Nation's oldest civil rights organization, has been there at times of need when it came to issues like the Civil Rights Acts of 1957, 1960 and 1964. It was there for us when we were lobbying for the Voting Rights Act of 1965. Brown v. Board of Education is always mentioned when we think of the NAACP, for it was Thurgood Marshall who took this case to the Supreme Court and won it, integrating the schools across this country.

But the NAACP was also there in the case of Shelley v. Kramer, and the case of Borrows v. Jackson. These cases outlawed restrictive covenants, racially restrictive covenants that barred African Americans from living in certain communities. The NAACP took these cases to the Supreme Court and won them as well.

If the truth be told, we live where we live, we sleep where we sleep and we eat where we eat because of the NAACP. It has made a difference in the lives of all Americans. And I am so grateful that this Congress has seen fit to honor it today for its 99 years of service.

As of late, the NAACP was a party to the legislation that we put before Congress to deal with noose intimidation. Noose intimidation, one of the latest means by which persons are having civil rights violated, and the NAACP was there to help us push this legislation through Congress, so as to make it very clear, transpicuously so, that this country will not tolerate noose intimidation. In fact, the President of the United States, as late as yesterday, made it clear that noose intimidation is unacceptable in this country.

The NAACP has been a part of the fiber and fabric of the human rights, civil rights movement in this country. If we did not have the NAACP, we would have to create the NAACP. It has been there for us. Today we are there for the NAACP.

Madam Speaker, it is with great sadness that I mourn the passing, and commemorate the courageous life, of my dear friend and colleague, Congressman Tom Lantos of California.

Congressman Lantos began a lifetime of passionate work for human rights as a young man when he escaped a forced labor brigade to join an underground resistance movement against the Nazis in his home country of Hungary. A Jewish survivor of the Holocaust, he was just a teenager when he undertook this important work, which began over 60 years of efforts to fight for human rights across the world.

Congressman Lantos' life of work on behalf of human rights culminated with over two decades of service in Congress, where he never failed to champion causes that he felt were just. In 1983, Congressman Lantos became a founding co-chair of the Congressional Human Rights Caucus, a caucus on which he served for the remainder of his life. Under Congressman Lantos' leadership, this caucus was on the forefront of efforts to protect women's and children's rights, to free political prisoners, to preserve religious freedom and to halt ethnic cleansing.

In recent years, Congressman Lantos directed his focus to ending the ongoing genocide in the Darfur region of Sudan, which has already claimed the lives of over 400,000 people. In 2006, he was among a group of 11 individuals who were arrested for committing civil disobedience outside the Sudanese Embassy in protest of the genocide. I can only say that it was an honor to follow in this wonderful man's footsteps by doing the same thing myself a few short weeks later.

Beginning last year, when Congressman Lantos became Chairman of the House Foreign Affairs Committee, he brought the crisis in Darfur and the recent violent crackdown on democracy activists in Burma to the forefront. It also must be noted that, under Chairman Lantos' leadership, the Foreign Affairs Committee finally began long-overdue oversight of the war in Iraq.

Congressman Lantos' inspiring leadership will be sorely missed, not only in this Congress, but by people around the world. I wish to send my deepest condolences to Congressman Lantos' friends, family and constituents for the loss of this irreplaceable man of good will.

Mr. Chairman, I would like to express my support for H.R. 4137, the College Opportunity and Affordability Act of 2007.

With each passing day, a college education becomes increasingly important for the success of our workforce while simultaneously becoming more expensive and unattainable. H.R. 4137 would address this unfortunate trend by making a quality post-secondary education more affordable and accessible for all Americans. This legislation includes a number of commendable provisions that will help to reform our higher education system so that it can better serve the needs of students and their families. It offers a comprehensive approach to reducing educational expenses and provides targeted support to groups with the greatest need.

I am particularly pleased with the efforts that have been made to increase access for low-income and minority students. The bill allows Pell grants to be made available based on a year-round enrollment schedule so that low-income and non-traditional students will have the flexibility and resources to obtain a college degree. Additional provisions in the bill will expand funding for minority-serving institutions such as Historically Black Colleges and Universities. There are also measures designed to strengthen the GEAR UP and TRIO college readiness programs so that low-income and first generation students will be adequately prepared.

If we truly wish to enable our students to achieve their full potential, we must not let them be confined by their financial limitations. I support the College Opportunity and Affordability Act so that all Americans will be able to pursue a higher education and achieve the American Dream.

Madam Speaker, today, Congress passed a $146 billion, bipartisan economic stimulus bill that will quickly send hundreds of dollars to poor and middle-class working families while offering businesses one-time incentives to invest in new equipment. Although there is much more to do if we are to meet the needs of American families, including extending unemployment benefits and food stamps, I believe that this stimulus is an important first step in our effort to help hardworking Americans.

This broad-based stimulus package will provide tax relief of up to $600 per individual and $1,200 per married couple, plus an additional $300 per child. Recovery rebate checks could be sent as early as mid- May, getting money to Americans who will spend it immediately to reinvigorate the economy. In Texas alone, approximately 8.6 million families will receive rebates averaging over $900. Nationwide, over 111 million families would receive these rebate checks, including 35 million with earnings too low to pay income taxes. More than 19 million of these are families with children and 13 million are struggling seniors. Nearly $50 billion of the rebate will go to middle-income Americans and those aspiring to it. Economists estimate that each dollar of broad tax cuts leads to $1.26 in economic growth.

The economic stimulus bill also helps address the crisis we are facing in our home mortgage market by permitting more borrowers facing defaults to refinance through the Federal Housing Administration (FHA). For 2008, the bill increases the FHA loan limits up to $729,750 from $362,790 to expand affordable mortgage loan opportunities for families at risk of foreclosure. In addition, the bill also enhances credit availability in the mortgage market by including a 1-year increase in the conforming loan limits for single family homes from Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac from $417,000 up to $729,750 for 2008. These increases in loan limits will benefit areas where housing costs are higher than the national average.

Mortgage rates on loans that currently exceed these loan limits are much more expensive than for smaller loans. These higher rates have hurt demand for housing in high-cost areas. The provisions in the stimulus will lower borrowing costs for many Americans, including middle-class families in high-cost cities to those who may be facing foreclosure. More importantly, this will allow more homeowners to refinance their existing mortgages, thereby increasing the effectiveness of the interest freeze for some subprime borrowers brokered by the Treasury in December. This is because more borrowers will be able to take advantage of the freeze to refinance into new FHA loans.

Finally, this bill will promote small business investment in equipment, which will spur job creation here at home. The bipartisan plan doubles the amount small businesses can immediately write off their taxes for capital investments made in 2008 from $125,000 to $250,000, for purchases of new equipment of up to $800,000 (from $500,000). It also provides immediate tax relief for all businesses to invest in new plants and equipment by speeding up depreciation provisions, so that firms can write off an additional 50 percent for investments purchased in 2008.

While more needs to be done, I am confident that this bipartisan economic stimulus package will help many American families in the weeks and months ahead.