Floor Statements

Mr. Chairman, I thank the chairman for yielding me time.

As you know, my district is in northern New Jersey, right across the river from New York City. I also represent parts of Newark and Jersey City, which are both considered high-threat areas. As a matter of fact, the New York Times has called parts of my district as containing two of the most dangerous miles in the country. As you can imagine, my constituents deal with the threat of terrorism every day.

When I was Speaker of the New Jersey Assembly, I made homeland security a top priority. Already in my first year in the U.S. House of Representatives, we have tackled important national security issues. The reauthorization of TRIA is another step in the process and something of great importance to the businesses of my congressional district and to this country.

I believe that the Financial Services Committee has thoroughly considered this reauthorization. We held hearings in New York City back in March where we had the opportunity to hear directly from the mayor of New York, Mayor Bloomberg, and Senator Schumer about the need for TRIA reauthorization. I am confident that H.R. 2761 takes their suggestions into consideration. The work of the Financial Services Committee that led to the drafting of this bill makes me proud to be a cosponsor. I think this legislation addresses all the major issues involved in the reauthorization, while maintaining the system that continues to ensure that there is coverage for terrorist attacks.

I want to thank Chairman Frank and Congressman Capuano for introducing the reauthorization legislation, and I look forward to working with the committee and the leadership to make sure that this bill passes.

Madam Chairman, I rise in opposition to this amendment. I keep hearing time and time again from my constituents that they cannot afford a safe home for their children. I know this is a problem for many Americans across the country. In fact, recent research has indicated that in order to afford a modest two-bedroom apartment paying no more than 30 percent of their income for housing and working full time, a New Jersey family would need to earn over $20.00 an hour. Wages are simply not increasing fast enough to allow many families to even come close to this affordable housing wage.

Families need help. That is why I am so supportive of the Affordable Housing Trust Fund and the revenues that H.R. 1852 will provide to the Fund. This fund will increase home ownership and increase mortgage funding in areas of chronic economic distress. By increasing the level of home ownership, we will then increase the supply of rental housing for families. And where needed, we will increase our investment in affordable housing infrastructure to make a safe and affordable home a reality for every hardworking American.

I urge my colleagues to vote against this amendment that would strike the affordable housing trust fund and I urge everyone to vote in support of final passage the Expanding American Home Ownership Act of 2007.

Mr. Speaker, I rise in support of H.R. 2467, which will designate the U.S. Postal Service building at 69 Montgomery Street in Jersey City, New Jersey, as the ``Frank J. Guarini Post Office Building.''

Frank Guarini was born in Jersey City, New Jersey, and has served his State and country in a variety of positions. Early in his career, he was commissioned as a Naval officer at Columbia University and went on to serve in the United States Navy aboard the USS Mount McKinley, receiving the Naval Commendation Medal and three battle stars during World War II.

In 1965, he was elected to the New Jersey State Senate where he served for the next 7 years. On January 3, 1979, he was elected to represent New Jersey's 14th Congressional District in the United States House of Representatives, completing seven terms before retiring in 1993.

As a member of the House Committee on Ways and Means, Frank Guarini was a true champion for education, serving as the chief sponsor of legislation that encouraged employers to provide educational assistance to its employees tax free.

Even after his retirement, Frank Guarini's commitment to education and public service has not wavered. In 1994, he established the Guarini Center for Government Affairs at St. Peter's College in Jersey City, New Jersey, which strives to provide a forum for nonpartisan discussion of public policy issues and encourages today's students to take up careers in public service.

A central part of the Guarini Center's mission is to promote critical thinking and debate among the next generation of leaders at its Annual High School Oratorical Contest. The event is open to all high school students in New Jersey and throughout the tri-State area and attracts more than 100 students from 75 schools to compete each year.

I have known Frank Guarini for many years, and I can personally attest to the commitment and passion that he has for the State of New Jersey and this country.

I can think of no better way to honor the public service of this former New Jersey Congressman than to designate a U.S. postal office in his name.

I urge all my colleagues to support this legislation.

Madam Speaker, the President's war has already cost the American people dearly in both lives and tax dollars. Congress has appropriated nearly $477 billion for the war since March 2003, and the U.S. is currently spending an estimated $10 billion a month on the war. This spending continues despite reports that 15 of 18 benchmarks for success have not been met and casualties in the war are 65 percent higher this year than last.

This Democratic Congress and the American people are ready for a new direction. We believe it is time to bring our troops home and begin investing here in the U.S.

If you took just some of the money we are spending in Iraq and invested it here instead, we could take care of a lot of our seniors' prescription drug cost problems. And for the cost of just one week in Iraq, we could hire 51,000 more police officers to make our streets safer.

Madam Speaker, it is time for Republicans in this body to listen to the American people and join us in calling for an end to the financial drain of this war. It is time to invest in making our Nation safer here at home.

Mr. Speaker, I rise proudly this morning to tell this Nation and the children of the State of New Jersey that this House has heard their call for help.

Yesterday's passage of H.R. 3162, the Children's Health and Medicare Protection Act of 2007, was a significant achievement for the children of working Americans throughout this country. In New Jersey alone, this legislation will maintain coverage for over 120,000 children currently enrolled in New Jersey's FamilyCare program, while also helping the State provide care for the 136,000 children currently eligible for the program but not enrolled in it. The New Jersey FamilyCare program would also be allowed to extend coverage to 126,000 young men and women who are aging out of the program but still need access to health care.

I am especially glad that the CHAMP Act will also help 80,000 of the lowest income and most wonderful adults in my State keep their coverage through this program.

Mr. Speaker, the SCHIP program that we passed yesterday has the potential to have a significant impact on improving children's health care across this Nation.

Madam Speaker, on July 30, 2007, I missed rollcall vote Nos. 758, 759, 760, 761, and 762. Had I been present, I would have voted ``yes'' on rollcall 758, ``yes'' on rollcall 759, ``yes'' on rollcall 760, ``yes'' on rollcall 761, and ``yes'' on rollcall 762.

Mr. Chairman, I rise briefly to respectfully state my strong opposition to this amendment because I believe that we must not open our financial institutions to a state sponsor of terrorism like the Cuban regime.

The Rangel amendment has almost nothing to do with agricultural interests. In fact, it may actually cause harm to our agricultural community. What this amendment does do is threaten our national security. This amendment allows the Cuban Regime, a state sponsor of terrorism, access to U.S. financial institutions and allows its agents access to U.S. visas.

If adopted, the Rangel amendment will legitimize the Cuban Regime and provide them with the opportunity to continue its sponsorship of terrorism. It will also provide high level regime officials access to U.S. visas to travel throughout the United States. At a time when our country has declared a war on terror and we have worked to cut the flow of money to terrorists and terrorists access to our financial institutions, we must not open our financial institutions to help finance state sponsors of terrorism. By adopting this amendment, we will be doing just that, rewarding the Cuban Regime and supporting the financing of a state sponsor of terrorism.

I urge my colleagues to vote ``no'' on this amendment.

Mr. Speaker, over the last week, we have seen more proof of the devastating effects that war in Iraq is having on our Nation's budget and military.

Last week CRS reported that the average monthly cost of the Iraq War is now $10 billion a month. That means this year alone, the Bush administration has already spent $60 billion in Iraq. Just imagine how we could have used $60 billion here at home? We could have improved a lot of Americans' lives and addressed our deficit.

The war is also negatively impacting our military. Last week the Army announced it missed its recruiting goals for the 2nd month in a row, falling 1,000 recruits shy of its June goals.

Mr. Speaker, the status quo cannot continue in Iraq. That's why Democrats have repeatedly tried to change the direction of the war, with little help from our friends across the aisle. How much worse do things have to get before congressional Republicans stop blindly following President Bush?

The warning signs of change have been in the air for months. But Republicans refuse to see them.

Madam Speaker, I move to suspend the rules and pass the bill (H.R. 2547) to amend the Federal Deposit Insurance Act to prevent misrepresentation about deposit insurance coverage, and for other purposes, as amended.

Madam Speaker, I ask unanimous consent that all Members may have 5 legislative days within which to revise and extend their remarks on this legislation and to insert extraneous material thereon.

Madam Speaker, I yield myself as much time as I may consume.

First, I would like to thank Chairman Frank for moving this legislation through the committee and bringing it to the floor today.

I would also like to thank Congresswoman Biggert for sponsoring this legislation with me. I was happy to have such a strong proponent of consumer protection join me in introducing this bill.

We hear all types of stories about trademarks registered to a specific company being used inappropriately. In some cases, multimillion-dollar lawsuits are filed for copyright and patent infringement.

We have the same thing going on with the FDIC. Their trusted logo is being used to deceive consumers, but they have no recourse.

H.R. 2547 will allow the FDIC to levy cease and desist orders against any persons or entity that uses the FDIC's name, logo, abbreviation or any other FDIC-recognized indicator fraudulently and without the FDIC's permission. This legislation will also allow the FDIC to impose fines of up to $1 million per day against any person or entity engaging in falsely representing the FDIC's backing of a product.

This is important consumer protection legislation that is necessary to preserve the trusted name of one of the most recognized Federal agencies. In fact, the FDIC believes this legislation is necessary to help them to continue to fight financial scams.

I ask my colleagues to support H.R. 2547.

Madam Speaker, I reserve the balance of my time.

Madam Speaker, I have no further requests for time, and I yield back the balance of my time.

Madam Speaker, on that I demand the yeas and nays.

Madam Speaker, for the last 7 years, Vice President Cheney has perfected the art of meaningful oversight and avoiding any accountability to the American people. But who would have ever thought that such a defiance would lead the Vice President to the absurd, claiming that he is not a member of the executive branch. That's right, Cheney does not want to play by the established rules of safeguarding classified national information. He is now saying that he is not actually a member of the executive branch.

If the Vice President is not a member of the executive branch, shouldn't he be forced to turn over information to the congressional Democrats requested regarding his secret energy task force? After all, Cheney used executive privilege as an excuse for his secrecy.

Also, why should the office of the Vice President receive funding through the bill that funds the executive branch? That bill is actually on the floor today, and the House Democrats will offer an amendment to remove funding for the Vice President's office from this bill. House Democrats are not going to support the Vice President's latest attempt to avoid any accountability to the American people.

Madam Chair, I move to strike the last word.

I really want to thank Congressman Weiner, this has been an issue that is close to his heart, for offering this amendment.

Let me start my remarks talking a little bit about 9/11. I was the mayor of a small community across from New York, and I was a citizen. I watched as the Towers burned. I will never forget that vision in my mind. It was a symbolic blow to the Nation's spirit. But we have recovered our spirit. Today, America stands strong and proud again. And an important part of the recovery is due to the fact that we were able to get back to work. In short, we got back our lives.

As the Secretary of the Interior, Ms. Norton, said on September 12, 2001 while standing at the Hoover Dam, ``Even though atrocities such as those of September 11 can affect us, they cannot close us down.'' That is why I am cosponsoring this amendment today.

The only national park that remains closed from 9/11 is the crown of the Statue of Liberty. I hope that with this amendment we will open up the crown for visiting once again.

Yes, it is symbolic, but symbols are important. And let me say that there are three sites that most immigrants, when they come to the area, like to look at. One is the Statue of Liberty, the other is going up the Empire State Building, and the other is Niagara Falls. We can go to the other two, but we cannot go all the way up to the Statue of Liberty.

I thank my friend from New York for proposing this amendment and for his time.

I will yield.

We do have the Statue of Liberty in New Jersey, and we have the better side facing New Jersey.

Absolutely.

Madam Speaker. I rise to honor Hoboken City Councilman-at- Large Ruben Ramos, Jr. during Hoboken Cultural Week 2007. Ramos, Jr., who was born and raised in Hoboken, is the first Puerto Rican from, Hoboken to be nominated to the New Jersey State Assembly.

At age 25, Ramos, Jr. became the youngest councilman to be elected in the City of Hoboken in 1999, representing the 4th Ward. That same year, Ramos, Jr. was diagnosed with Hodgkin's disease. A proven fighter, Ramos, Jr. underwent rigorous chemotherapy treatment and was declared cancer free a year later, going on to become one of the most outstanding Hoboken citizens of Puerto Rican heritage.

Two years later, in 2001, Ramos, Jr. ran successfully for Councilman- at-Large, and became the youngest City Council President in the history of Hoboken. He was re-elected to the City Council in 2005.

During his 8 years serving on the Hoboken City Council, Ruben Ramos, Jr. has been able to work effectively with its members to bring effective development to the city and the waterfront. Ramos, Jr. took action to create more open space while expanding much needed residential parking spaces. Councilman Ramos, Jr. also helped clean up the Housing Authority and created the town's summer employment for teenagers program in city departments.

In the national arena, Ramos, Jr. was selected by Al Gore's 2000 election committee to serve on the Platform Committee of the Democratic National Convention in Los Angeles, where he delivered a stirring keynote speech. Ramos, Jr. was also chosen by the Democratic National Committee to serve on their credentials committee during the presidential campaign.

Councilman Ruben Ramos, Jr. is a graduate of Farleigh Dickinson University and has taught Social Studies to sixth, seventh and eighth- grade students for the last 10 years. Aware of their needs and hoping to shape the lives of young residents in the area, Ramos, Jr. has volunteered with the Hoboken Boy's and Girl's Club.

Please join me in honoring Ruben Ramos, Jr. during Hoboken Cultural Week and congratulating his wife Norma, his two beautiful daughters, and the Puerto Rican family members who helped shape the outstanding life of this young elected official that has become a role model for his fellow citizens.

Mr. Speaker, I ask unanimous consent that, during further consideration of H.R. 2764 pursuant to House Resolution 498, the Chair may reduce to 2 minutes the minimum time for electronic voting under clause 6 of rule XVIII and clauses 8 and 9 of rule XX.

Mr. Chairman, the funding that has been provided over the past 10 years to support the pro-democracy movement in Cuba has been working. U.S. assistance has provided books, newsletters and other informational material to the people of Cuba,

as well as over 385,000 pounds of medicine, food and clothing.

According to a USAID report, U.S. assistance has also funded journalism correspondence courses for more than 200 Cubans, and the publication of about 23,000 reports by independent Cuban journalists about conditions and events in Cuba.

Although the Cuban regime restricts nearly all political dissent, and denies its citizens the basic rights of free expression, association and assembly, our funding and assistance has allowed the pro-democracy and civil resistance movement in Cuba to dramatically increase in recent years.

As evidenced in this chart, from just 2004 to 2005 there was a 54 percent increase in the number of civil resistance actions reported on the island. Some of these civil resistance acts include citizens unwilling to cooperate with regime officials in repressing pro- democracy activities, and citizens boycotting regime control meetings and mass gatherings.

By supporting this amendment, the pro-democracy movement in Cuba can continue to organize, communicate their vision for the future of the Cuban people, and prepare to assume the role in the process of democratic transition.

But it is also important to realize that Cuba now is at the same stage that Spain was many years ago when they had a dictator for 40 years. The world looked to Spain and saw that many of the institutions promoting democracy prevailed. If we don't work to promote dissidents who are pro-democratic dissidents in Cuba, we're not going to have any institution when the changes for a Cuban democratic island will exist.

Mr. Chairman, I rise in support of the Lowey amendment.

This amendment would clarify existing language in the Foreign Operations bill that would only, and I repeat, only allow for NGOs to receive U.S.-donated contraceptives. This amendment makes it clear that only contraceptives will be donated and made available to millions of men and women around the world. Not funding.

By increasing global contraceptive supplies, this will help many women and men overseas plan their families, protect against sexually transmitted diseases, and minimize at-risk pregnancies.

Mr. Chairman, since the administration reinstated this policy in 2001, 20 nations have stopped receiving U.S. shipments of contraceptives. Women and children in these countries often suffer from high maternal and child mortality rates because of a lack of adequate health care and access to family planning. I believe we must give hope to these women and families by providing them with the contraceptives they need to make their own decisions regarding their families. And I also think it is essential to provide individuals with the tools they need to protect themselves against the spread of HIV/AIDS.

I rise in support, and I urge all the Members to support this amendment.

Mr. Speaker, I rise today to honor Robert J. Burrows, a respected and invaluable resident of the 13th district of New Jersey. Mr. Burrow's life set a higher standard in public service and dedication to the well-being of his community through his roles in the areas of education, public office and congressional service.

Robert Burrows made Bayonne, NJ, his home for the last 50 years. He was instrumental in shaping the City's government, making his mark after serving as Bayonne's First Ward Councilman from 1994 to 1998, Mr. Burrows also served as Commissioner of the Bayonne Board of Adjustment, later becoming vice chairman.

Robert Burrows helped shape the future of the City of Bayonne as a citizen-appointed Member of the Hudson/Bergen Bayonne Light Rail Advisory Committee. In this capacity, he led Bayonne in becoming the first stop of the historic light rail system that has brought expansion and economic development to the region. Mr. Burrows also served as trustee of the Board of Education during the construction of the Midtown Community School.

Throughout his life, Mr. Burrows was an active member of the community. He was a member of the Knights of Columbus, the Holy Name Society, St. Mary Star of the Sea Parish Council, the Bayonne Sicilian Club, and Irelands 32. Mr. Burrows also served on the Board of the Bayonne Community Museum and was First Chairman of the Bayonne Historic Preservation Commission. His love for public service was also demonstrated as a member of the New Frontier Democrats.

Born in Brooklyn, NY, Robert Burrows was a graduate of New York University. He was a dedicated employee of the Metropolitan Life Insurance Company for 42 years until his retirement as vice president of the Claims Division.

From 1998 to 2006, Mr. Burrows served as congressional aide to U.S. Senator Robert Menendez, and I was proud to have him serve in my office until his retirement. I congratulate Bob and his family for his dedication to the constituents of the 13th congressional district and in particular, to the residents of Bayonne.

The outpouring of expressions of condolence to his wife Marie, his children and grandchildren are evidence that his commitment to helping others will be deeply missed. I join them in mourning the loss of a true gentleman, whose memory will live in the hearts of the many people he touched.

Mr. Speaker, through a congressional debate on the Iraq supplemental funding bill, Senate and House Republican leaders said that significant improvements will be needed to be seen by September in Iraq, otherwise a serious course correction might be needed.

We'll see if Republican leaders will continue to back those words and will finally join us in moving the Iraq war in a new direction, or will they move the deadline to a later date like they have done in the past. It will be interesting to see if they stand by their statements in light of General David Petraeus' acknowledgment over the weekend that conditions in Iraq were not improved by September. The general also indicated that stabilizing Iraq will take as long as 10 years.

Mr. Speaker, Democrats remain committed to forging a new direction in Iraq. In the coming months, Democrats will continue to hold President Bush accountable to fight to ensure that the Iraqi people take control of the country. A 10-year commitment is simply unacceptable to us. Now we will see if the Republicans will stand by their past statements and join us in the efforts in September.