Floor Statements

It's time to raise the minimum wage.

Mr. Speaker, I love America, and I want to make real the ideal expressed in the Pledge of Allegiance, liberty and justice for all. Justice not just for those who make more in a day than a minimum wage worker makes in a year, not just for those who are in, those who are in charge, in control, included, but justice also for those who are out, who are left out of the economic recovery, who are without health insurance, who are locked out of an apartment because they cannot afford to pay rent.

Mr. Speaker, in the final analysis, the justness of America will not be determined by how we treat millionaires in the suites of life but, rather, how we treat minimum wage workers in the streets of life.

Mr. Speaker, it has been said, but it bears repeating, that a person working full time, full time at $5.15 an hour, will make $10,700 per year. If that person happens to have a child, that person is living below the poverty line of $13,461.

No one in this, the richest country in the world, should work full time and live below the poverty line. In this country, we want people to work their way out of poverty. What better way to have them do this than have a minimum wage that gives people a job and money that takes them above the poverty line.

Mr. Speaker, it is sinful for us to continue this debate without adding that in this country one out of every 110 persons is a millionaire. People don't want welfare. People want self-care. We want to give people the means by which they can say farewell to welfare. Raising the minimum wage will do this.

Mr. Speaker, I wish to mourn the death of Major Joseph ``Trane'' McCloud, 39, who was planning to celebrate his 40th birthday next week, but instead tragically died on Sunday, December 3, when the CH-46 helicopter he was riding in crash-landed in a lake in the Anbar province of Iraq. Additionally, I urge my colleagues to mourn the deaths and honor the lives of all of our soldiers who have died defending our country.

Major McCloud was a career marine who had been in Iraq for 3 months as the operations officer with the 2nd Battalion, 3rd Marine Regiment. Major McCloud was described by his family as ``a Marine's Marine.'' He sacrificed the most active years of his life while in armed combat as a platoon and company commander defending the United States of America.

This was the second war in the Middle East that Major McCloud had served in. His service in the Persian Gulf war in 1991 was equally commendable. During the Persian Gulf war in 1991, McCloud served on the USS Missouri, as part of the final group of Marines to work aboard the ship before it was decommissioned.

Major McCloud's tremendous service to his country was not limited to the Armed Forces. He also worked at the Pentagon, completed a fellowship here in the U.S. House of Representatives, and served as an instructor at the Marine Corps Officer Candidate School in Quantico, VA. His dedication to teaching was just as strong as his dedication to the protection of this Nation. When Major McCloud worked for Representative Joe Wilson (R-S.C.), he assisted on military issues and took a special interest in a loan forgiveness program for inner-city teachers. This gentleman was the absolute prototype of the compassionate and dedicated soldier.

Shortly after President Bush declared the war on terrorism, McCloud was deployed to Zamboanga, in the Philippines, in charge of a small Marine unit during a time of intense violence and bombings.

McCloud was remembered yesterday as a good-natured man with a wonderful sense of humor who cherished his family above anything else.

A 1989 graduate of the University of Tennessee, Major McCloud leaves behind his wife Maggie and three children: Hayden, 7, Grace, 5, and Meghan, 2.

Mr. Speaker, I urge my colleagues to mourn the death of a great soldier, husband, and father, MAJ Joseph ``Trane'' McCloud, and all the soldiers who have fallen while defending our Nation's freedom.

Mr. Speaker, I wish to bring to my colleagues' attention the devastating impact that HIV/AIDS continues to have on our country and, in particular, on African Americans.

African Americans make up only 12 percent of the United States population yet account for over 50 percent of all new HIV diagnoses. We must ask ourselves why this statistic is so high and continue to focus on ways to reduce it.

AIDS diagnoses among African Americans are increasing while diagnoses among other groups are decreasing. By the end of 2003, 172,278 African Americans were living with AIDS and studies show that number is rising.

This crisis is having an especially crippling effect on African American women who account for over two-thirds of new HIV/AIDS cases among women. Additionally, AIDS is the number one cause of death for African American women ages 25-34.

These statistics clearly reflect a catastrophic problem facing African Americans today. It is imperative that we continue to support prevention efforts and encourage a willingness to speak out about this disease in our community. We must assume the challenge of combating this crisis. If we do not, our complacency will only contribute to the devastation caused by this disease.

Mr. Speaker, I thank God for our peace officers; and I especially thank God for Officer Rodney Johnson, who will be laid to rest today.

On Thursday he left the comfort and safety of his home so we might be safe in our homes. On Thursday, he put his life at risk so that our lives would not be at risk. On Thursday, he sacrificed his life so that we might have a better life.

A wife has lost a husband, children have lost their father, humanity has lost a great humanitarian.

Thank God for peace officer Rodney Johnson. May he rest in peace.

Mr. Speaker, I thank the chairman, Chairman Rogers, and Congressman Meek.

Mr. Speaker, I would like to paraphrase the great Frederick Douglass, who reminded us that we may not get all that we have worked for; however, we will work for all that we get.

Clearly, we have worked to get more Border Patrol agents. It is important

that we do so. At the rate of 33 to 1, 66,000 before we can get 2,000, it will take a considerable amount of time to get the number of agents needed. So we should work and we have worked for more Border Patrol agents.

However, the record should also reflect, Mr. Speaker, that we have worked for more Customs and border protection officers. They are the people that inspect people as well as cargo at ports of entry. They are the persons who caught the Millennium Bomber. They need help, too. I thank the chairman for his indication that we will move in that direction.

This bill is not all that we have worked for, but it is all that we can get right now, and I urge my colleagues to support the bill. I thank the chairman and Congressman Meek.

Mr. Speaker, I rise today to oppose H.R. 4844.

I am a strong supporter of re-establishing the integrity of our elections. The last 6 years have exposed serious flaws in the way we conduct elections.

We use electronic forms of voting that cannot be audited, there is no verification system in place and we all remember the month that this country stood still while we tried to figure out who won the Presidential election in 2000.

In the countless election problems this country has seen recently, none of them were because of voting by non-citizens.

H.R. 4844 would require voters to present government-issued I.D. in order to vote. Currently, that document is a U.S. Passport. Aside from the impact this would have on minority voters, this will also impact the elderly.

Under the bill, mail-in ballots would have to include a photo copy of an ID proving that you are a citizen. Currently, that document is a U.S. passport.

Seventy-five percent of Americans don't have a passport and many of the senior citizens in my district don't have the resources to pay $97 dollars to get a passport.

Forcing Americans to spend their hard earned money to get a passport or some other form of identification in order to vote sounds a lot like a poll-tax.

Finally, it is already illegal to vote if you are not a citizen. State and local officials are already able to enforce these laws. Secretaries of State and County Clerks have the authority to remove ineligible voters from the rolls to prevent voter fraud.

This system works and there is no need for this legislation.

If we want to address election integrity, let's talk about providing a paper-trail and having audits of election returns so we can ensure every vote is counted come election day.

I urge my colleagues to vote against H.R. 484.

Mr. Speaker, I ask unanimous consent to speak out of order.

Mr. Speaker, I rise to remind my colleagues that Dr. King was right when he proclaimed that the measure of a person is not where a person stands in times of comfort and convenience, but, rather, where a person stands in times of challenge and controversy.

I have a question for my colleagues, Mr. Speaker. The question is: Where do we stand on one of the great challenges and controversies of our time? Where do we stand, Mr. Speaker, on the question of genocide in Darfur? A question that transcends race because there really is but one race, and that is the human race; a question that transcends gender because what is happening in Darfur is happening to persons of both genders. Where do we stand on one of the great questions, one of the great controversies of our day?

It has been said that hundreds of thousands have been killed. Nobody really knows how many; millions displaced, but nobody really knows how many. Where do we stand on this great challenge and controversy of our time?

I have been to Darfur. I was there in the month of August. I have seen the throngs of humanity living in huts made of straw, living on the ground and off of the land, persons living under conditions that we would not want animals and lower life forms to live under. I have seen these conditions. No running water, no electricity, no sanitation facilities. Where do we stand on one of the great challenges and controversies of our time?

I met with the general of the AU forces. He made it very clear that they were being outgunned, that they were being overpowered under certain circumstances, that they needed help, and he would welcome the presence of the U.N. forces. Where do we stand on one of the great challenges and controversies of our time?

We met with NGOs. They told us of how 11-year-old babies had been raped, and how the government would not allow an offense report to be filed. File an incident report, say that it happened, but don't give enough details so that a proper prosecution could take place. Where do we stand on one of the great challenges and controversies of our time?

I met with former rebel leaders who are now part of the government. They want the U.N. forces. They understand that genocide is still taking place in Darfur. They understand that unless we have outside intervention, it will continue. Where do we stand on this great challenge and controversy of our time?

A superpower has to have super vision. Where there is no vision, the people perish. And when a superpower doesn't have super vision, you have super deaths, super atrocities. Where do we stand on one of the great challenges of our time?

Mr. Speaker, Mr. Payne, members of the CBC, Leader Pelosi, we stand with the people of Darfur, the indigenous population. We stand for justice, for the least, the last and the lost. We stand for making sure that no decent, self-respecting company does business with Darfur. Any company that does business with Darfur commits a sin. This is one of the great tragedies of our time. We stand for standing against those businesses that are allowing this tragedy to continue, because if you do business with this country, you are doing business with those who are perpetrating genocide.

So, Mr. Speaker, I want you to know that there are good people in this House, and we are calling on people of goodwill to take a stand against one of the great challenges and controversies of our time.

Mr. Speaker, it is written that ye shall know the truth and the truth shall set you free.

The truth is that this bill is not about raising the minimum wage; it is really about an inheritance tax break of around $800 billion for the wealthiest. It is not about those who work at $5.15 an hour, who work through Easter, work through Thanksgiving, work through Christmas, and at the end of the year make $10,712. It is not really about them. It is not about the least, the last, and the lost. It is about the well-off, the well-heeled, and the well-to-do.

In this country, one out of every 110 persons is a millionaire. In this country, we spend $177 million per day on the war, yet we haven't raised the minimum wage since 1997. It is not time to raise it; it is past time to raise it. And it is time to do it without tagging it to an inheritance tax break for the wealthiest.

Mr. Speaker, I rise in support of H. Con. Res. 384, a resolution recognizing and honoring the 100th anniversary of the founding of the Alpha Phi Alpha Fraternity, Incorporated, the first intercollegiate Greek-letter fraternity established for African Americans.

Since its founding on December 4, 1906, Alpha Phi Alpha Fraternity, Inc., has provided voice, vision, and pride to the struggle of African- Americans and persons of African descent around the globe.

Alpha Phi Alpha, was founded at Cornell University in Ithaca, New York, by seven college men who recognized the need for a strong bond of brotherhood among African descendants in this country. The visionary founders, known as the ``Jewels'' of the fraternity, are Henry Arthur Callis, Charles Henry Chapman, Eugene Kinckle Jones, George Biddle Kelley, Nathaniel Allison Murray, Robert Harold Ogle, and Vertner Woodson Tandy.

The fraternity initially served as a study and support group for minority students who faced racial prejudice, both educationally and socially, at Cornell. Alpha Phi Alpha chapters quickly spread to other colleges and universities, many of them historically black institutions, soon after the founding at Cornell. While

continuing to stress academic excellence among its members, Alpha also recognized the need to help correct the educational, economic, political, and social injustices faced by African-Americans and persons of African descent around the world.

The Jewel founders and early leaders of the fraternity succeeded in laying a firm foundation for Alpha Phi Alpha's principles of scholarship, fellowship, good character, and the uplifting of humanity. These principles of this organization hold true to this very day.

Alpha Phi Alpha has long stood at the forefront of the African- American community's fight for civil rights through leaders such as: W.E.B. DuBois, Adam Clayton Powell, Jr., Edward Brooke, Martin Luther King, Jr., Thurgood Marshall, Andrew Young, William Gray, and Paul Robeson.

For almost a century, Alpha Phi Alpha Fraternity, and all the ``Brothers of the Black & Old Gold,'' the official colors of the fraternity, have continuously served their community, country, people, and each other in a manner that is befitting of an organization of such character, dignity, and commitment. I, too, am a proud member of Alpha Phi Alpha, and it is an honor to be a part of an organization with such a rich legacy.

Mr. Speaker, I urge my colleagues to support this resolution recognizing and honoring the 100th anniversary of the founding of the Alpha Phi Alpha Fraternity, Incorporated, the first intercollegiate Greek-letter fraternity established for African Americans. Please vote in support of H. Con. Res. 384.

Mr. Speaker, today I speak for the least among us. And in speaking for them, I remind us that it is time for us to raise the minimum wage. That is ``raise'' as in r-a-i-s-e, not raze as in r-a-z-e, because there are people in this country who would raze, who would decimate, not elevate, who would decimate the minimum wage.

Mr. Speaker, these people are not among those 37 million who are living in poverty. They are not among the millions who make $5.15 an hour. They are not among those who suffer and languish in poverty with no way out.

Mr. Speaker, those who make $5.15 an hour work through Christmas. They work through Easter. They work through Thanksgiving. And they make, at the end of the year, $10,712.

Mr. Speaker, it is time to raise the minimum wage. I speak for the least, the last, and the lost.

Mr. Speaker, I would like to honor the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People--NAACP--for its 97 years of faithful service as champions of social justice on behalf of African-Americans and for fighting for almost a century so that all Americans could realize and experience the American dream. The NAACP has always been comprised of dedicated people who would not stand still while the rights of Americans of color were denied and they have built a legacy on ensuring that every single American was able to carry out their lives under the full protection of the law.

From the ballot box to the classroom, the dedicated workers, organizers, and leaders who make up this tremendous organization and maintain its status as an immense civil rights organization have been continuously fighting on the frontlines for social and economic justice.

Since the foundation of this great organization was laid down more than a century ago alongside the banks of the Niagara Falls, this movement has fought long and hard to ensure that the voices of African- American women and men would be heard. The legacy of pioneers such as W.E.B. DuBois, Thurgood Marshall, Rosa Parks, Mary Mcleod Bethune, Mary White Ovington, Joel Elias Spingarn and Roy Wilkins, along with the hundreds of thousands of nameless faces who worked tirelessly can not and must not be forgotten.

The history of the NAACP is one of sacrifice and suffering. From bold investigations of terrorist lynching, protests of mass murders, segregation and discrimination, to testimony before congressional committees on the vicious tactics used to bar African-Americans from the ballot box, it was the talent, determination, and tenacity of NAACP members that saved lives and changed many negative aspects of American society.

Mr. Speaker, Medgar Evers was a World War II veteran and a field secretary for the NAACP. This proud member of the NAACP was one of the many martyrs of the civil rights movement and his assassination at the hands of a white supremacist from Mississippi in 1963 helped prompt President John Kennedy to ask Congress for a comprehensive civil-rights bill, which President Lyndon Johnson signed into law the following year. Because of the continuous sacrifice of NAACP leaders and members like Medgar Evers, America is a better place than it was 40 years ago and because of the continuous effort of the NAACP America will provide a better tomorrow for all of our citizens.

Mr. Speaker, it is my privilege to honor the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People--NAACP--for its 97 years of faithful service on behalf of African-Americans as champions of social justice and for its leadership in the continuous struggle for civil and human rights for all.

Mr. Speaker, I would like to honor the life, legacy, and leadership of Benjamin L. Hooks. For 15 years Benjamin L. Hooks presided over America's largest and most influential organization for African-Americans, the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People, NAACP. Under his leadership, the influence of this organization was greatly enhanced, adding several hundred thousand new members to its

ranks. Beginning in 1977, when he became executive director of the NAACP, he began issuing formal opinions on topics as diverse as the lack of Black executives in Hollywood, the role of the Black middle class on the improvement of life in the low-income areas, and the 1991 nomination and confirmation of Judge Clarence Thomas to the U.S. Supreme Court.

Benjamin L. Hooks was born in Memphis, TN in 1925, the fifth of seven children of Robert B. and Bessie Hooks. Although his family was comfortable by so-called Black standards, Hooks would recall wearing hand-me-down clothes and watching his mother stretch the groceries so everyone had enough to eat. Hooks's parents were both hard-working Americans, and his grandmother was the second Black woman in the United States to graduate from college--Berea College in Kentucky.

During the Second World War, Benjamin L. Hooks found himself in the humiliating position of guarding Italian prisoners of war who were allowed to eat in restaurants that were off limits to him because he was not White. The experience helped to deepen his resolve to fight against all forms of discrimination in the United States. After his wartime service--he was promoted to the rank of staff sergeant--he would later head north to Chicago to study law at DePaul University. Even after putting his life on the line for his country, no law school in his native Tennessee would admit him simply because he was not White.

Hooks earned his J.D. degree in 1948 and promptly returned to Memphis, vowing to help break down segregation. He passed the Tennessee Bar examination and opened up his own law practice, confronting prejudice at every turn. By the late 1960s Hooks worked as a judge, a businessman, a lawyer, and a minister. Twice a month he flew to Detroit and preached at the Greater New Mount Moriah Baptist Church. Always dedicated to the civil rights struggle, he constantly made himself available to the NAACP as needed for civil rights protests and marches.

On November 6, 1976, the 64-member board of directors of the NAACP elected Hooks executive director of the prominent civil rights organization. Dr. Hooks and his wife handled the NAACP's business and helped to plan for its future for more than 15 years. He told the New York Times that a ``sense of duty and responsibility'' to the NAACP compelled him to stay in office through the 1990s. In February of 1992, at the age of 67, he announced his resignation from the post after many years of faithful and dedicated service. The service of this great leader will never go unforgotten.

Mr. Speaker, it is my privilege to honor the life, legacy, and leadership of Benjamin L. Hooks.

Madam Speaker, it is past time to raise the minimum wage. It was last raised in 1997. Currently, a person working full time at $5.15 an hour will make $10,712 per year. The poverty line is $13,461 for a family of two.

We must raise the minimum wage. No one should work full time and stand in a welfare line. No one should work full time and live below the poverty line. People do not want welfare. People want self-care.

It is time to raise the minimum wage.

Mr. Speaker, I rise today in support of the resolution, and I rise, Mr. Speaker, to make note of the heroes in our society and the heroines in our society.

As I do so, I am reminded of a statement that calls to our attention the notion that a great person or great people will always rise to the occasion, and our astronauts have truly risen to the occasion. They are making it possible for us to travel not only to the planets, but also to the stars and beyond. They have truly risen to the occasion.

However, just as a great person will always rise to the occasion, it takes an even greater people to make the occasion, and I want to salute as well the many persons, some of whom are nondescript, who help make it possible for a great people to rise to the occasion: the janitors who work as a part of this team, all of the contractors and subcontractors who are a part of this team. Every person associated with this effort deserves to be commended for the outstanding job that has been done.

So today we celebrate not only those who rise to the occasion, but also those who make the occasion.