Floor Statements

Mr. Speaker, I want to thank the gentlewoman for yielding, also for her leadership on the Rules Committee and on so many issues that we are addressing in this body.

Mr. Speaker, let me just say once again I rise in opposition to this misguided $513 billion defense authorization bill.

I ask you, Mr. Speaker, what does it say really about our national security priorities when this bill authorizes a $9.1 billion missile defense program that has consistently failed, will never protect us from terrorists, and continues to siphon funds from other critical security priorities that keep nuclear materials out of the hands of terrorists and protect our ports from terrorist attacks?

What does it say about our priorities when billions of taxpayer dollars are channeled to military contractors with little accountability or oversight for combating waste, fraud and abuse? What does it say when we have another bill that authorizes Cold War era weapons systems?

Mr. Speaker, what does it say about our priorities when Congress once again authorizes nearly $50 billion more for the unnecessary war in Iraq without any accountability, direction or a way out? Every additional day our troops remain in Iraq is an extra day that they feel the insurgency in terms of the attacks. That is why I joined with my friend and colleague, Mr. Allen from Maine, in offering an amendment to clearly put Congress on record stating that it is the policy of

the United States not to have permanent military bases in Iraq.

This would take the target off of our troops' backs. Unfortunately this amendment was rejected, along with dozens of others which would have made this bill better. Yes, as the daughter of an Army officer, career Army officer, who consistently has supported our brave troops, I believe in a strong national defense, but this bill provides authorization for too many wasteful programs that fuel military contractors, does nothing to eliminate the waste, fraud and abuse at the Pentagon, and does very little, if you ask me, to put money into 21st century era national security needs that we need at this point rather than building in the continuation of Cold War era weapons systems.

I want to thank the gentlewoman for yielding and for her leadership. I rise in strong support of this amendment.

It would lift the ban on privately funded abortion care at overseas military bases where abortion is legal. Currently servicewomen or women military dependents are forbidden from using their own personal funds to obtain an abortion if they are stationed overseas.

Enacting this amendment will put an end to this discriminatory policy against the 350,000 women in our military who are serving our country each and every day. We must ensure that servicewomen overseas are guaranteed their legal right to access comprehensive health care services. We must demand that servicewomen overseas can obtain the same quality and range of medical care available to them in the United States.

We must protect those who risk their lives each and every day to protect their country. Let us reject this administration's ongoing politically motivated war on women and let's start by adopting this important commonsense amendment.

I urge my colleagues to vote ``yes'' on the Davis-Harman-Sanchez amendment and provide our servicewomen with access to their constitutionally protected right to choose.

Mr. Speaker, I rise this evening to celebrate Asian Pacific American Heritage Month.

Mr. Speaker, I would like to thank a great leader, our colleague, Congressman Honda, and the Asian Pacific American Caucus, of which I am a very proud member, for organizing later this night a special order to honor the contributions of Asian Pacific Americans.

Mr. Speaker, I cannot help but first recall and remind us of the great leadership of our beloved Congressman Bob

Matsui, whom we all knew so well, who led the fight for justice and reparations for Japanese Americans who were interned in our own country.

And it is in his memory tonight that I hope we will all reflect on the legacy and great contributions of not only Congressman Matsui, but so many Asian Pacific Americans who played a tremendous role in the development of our Nation.

I would like to acknowledge the late Congresswoman Patsy Takemoto Mink, our first woman of color to serve in the United States House of Representatives. She was a trailblazer for Asian Pacific Americans and women and all people of color. And it is wonderful to see that her impact is felt and that her legacy continues. We miss her tremendously.

APA Heritage Month is especially important to my congressional district. Asian Pacific Island American culture has a very large impact in the cities in my district. My district is the birthplace of Amy Tan, a Chinese American woman, and the New York Times best-selling author of the Joy Luck Club. Many have read that novel and its subsequent film adaptation. She has received countless acknowledgments, including the Bay Area Book Reviewers Award. Tonight, Ms. Tan's novels and short stories are part of high schools and universities literacy curricula nationwide.

My district is also the birthplace of Fred Korematsu, born in Oakland to Japanese immigrants who challenged the World War II internment of Japanese American citizens. As an American citizen, Mr. Korematsu refused, he refused to go to an internment camp, but he was arrested. He was sent to one in 1942 and branded a spy by newspapers. He opposed the internment policy in the Supreme Court, but in its 1944 decision, the Supreme Court upheld that policy. Unbelievable.

In 1983, Mr. Korematsu, appealed his conviction which a Federal court overturned, acknowledging that the government's case at the time had been based on misleading and racially biased information.

President Bill Clinton awarded Mr. Korematsu the Presidential Medal of Freedom in 1998, honoring Mr. Korematsu for fighting for human rights and ensuring the very liberties that created this great Nation.

Today, the legacy of Asian Pacific American leaders such as Ms. Tan and Mr. Korematsu, Congressman Matsui, Congresswoman Patsy Mink is apparent in the numerous and remarkable programs and initiatives in our communities and especially throughout my district.

There are several that I would like to recognize, including Oakland's Asian Students Educational Services, also known as OASES. As the City of Oakland is one of three cities in the Bay Area that has the lowest high school graduation rates for Asian students, this organization works to decrease cultural gaps in education.

I would also like to recognize the Oakland Asian Cultural Center. This center works by employing the belief that upholding cultural traditions and honoring cultural heritage are the core of maintaining healthy and liveable communities.

My district is also home to several of the Nation's leading health care providers for the APA community. Asian Community Mental Health Services, for example, is an organization that offers access to and increases community acceptance of mental care, in which many APA communities remain taboo.

Lastly, I would like to bring special attention to Asian Communities for Reproductive Justice and its executive director, Ms. Eveline Shen. Founded in 1989, ACRJ has been a long-time leader in ensuring that APA women and girls are equipped with the tools to make important decisions about their reproductive health. I commend Ms. Shen and the ACRJ's dedication to assisting women to obtain America's promise of liberty and justice for all.

Mr. Speaker, again I would like to thank Mr. Honda and the APA Caucus for inviting me to participate later tonight in this special order. Let us continue to unite and pay tribute to Asian Pacific Americans and remember the importance of their outstanding contributions to our Nation.

Madam Speaker, Washington Republicans realize they have a credibility problem with the American people when it comes to their cozy relationships with the oil industry.

For 5 years now, President Bush has stacked his administration with energy executives. Shortly after he took office, Newsweek commented that ``not since the rise of the railroads more than a century ago has a single industry placed so many foot soldiers at the top of the new administration.''

Two-thirds of the Department of Energy and its transition team worked for the energy industry, including

Enron's Ken Lay, who is now on trial for manipulating energy markets. It is no wonder that the Nation's three largest petroleum companies, ExxonMobil, Chevron and Conoco Phillips, posted combined quarter profits of almost $16 billion last week.

Rather than really address price gouging or the outrageous tax breaks that these companies continue to receive, House Republicans offer more of the same failed policies that have not worked for 5 years.

Madam Speaker, it is time Republicans realize that these companies are gouging the consumer. It is time that we pass the tough Democratic price gouging bill consumers deserve, no less. Price gouging is wrong. It's wrong, it's wrong, it's wrong.

Mr. Speaker, I rise today to join my colleagues in bringing attention to our Nation's uninsured.

As we commemorate Cover the Uninsured Week, I would like to say that it is criminal that there are over 45 million uninsured people in this country, 8 million of them children.

For a Nation that boasts about being the wealthiest in the world and claims liberty and justice for all, the fact that we have even one person without health insurance is a contradiction and a shame.

Every single year an estimated 18,000 people die because they are uninsured and cannot get the medical care they need. 18,000 lives lost solely because we as a Nation fail to provide a basic human right to those living in this country.

And instead of addressing this crisis head on, this Administration and Republican leadership have contributed to increasing numbers of uninsured people.

Mr. Speaker, during the Bush Administration the number of uninsured has risen by 6 million people. More people are now without health insurance than at any point since the Census began collecting comparable data in 1987.

The Republicans prefer politics and profit over vulnerable people. It is obvious that consumer driven health plans and cuts to Medicaid are not the answer to this problem. Health Savings Accounts and Association Health Plans provide benefits only to those who are rich and healthy. They will do nothing to decrease the number of uninsured who are typically lower-income and have more health problems.

The increase in the number of uninsured in this country also continues to disproportionately affect racial and ethnic minorities.

Of the over 45 million uninsured, 32.7 percent are Hispanic; 19.7 percent are Black; and 16.8 percent are Asian. Furthermore, over 25 percent of the Native American population is uninsured.

Despite this devastating crisis in our Nation, we do have a solution. It is universal access to quality health care and we must demand it for our people and make it a priority of this Congress.

The United States is the only industrialized Nation that does not provide some form of universal access.

As a co-chair of the National Health Insurance Caucus, I have fought in Congress for universal access. That is why I have sponsored H.R. 3000, the Josephine Butler United States Health Insurance Act and support my colleague John Conyers' universal health care bill, H.R. 676.

The goal of our legislation is so simple--to ensure that all individuals have access, guaranteed by law, to the highest quality and most cost effective healthcare services regardless of their employment, income, or healthcare status.

While I promote universal coverage, I also support the Family Care Act, the Medicare Early Access Act, and the Small Business Health Insurance Promotion Act, 3 bills that, if enacted, would provide health insurance to half of the uninsured.

If this nation fails to take action right now, the number of uninsured will only continue to increase. Currently, national health care spending is rising by more than 7 percent per year. We all know that as health costs rise, more and more people lose their health insurance either because their employer can't afford it or they can't pay for it.

Mr. Speaker, two out of every five or 41 percent of working-age Americans with incomes between $20,000 and $40,000 were uninsured for at least part of the past year. This is a dramatic and rapid increase from 2001 when just over one-quarter or 28 percent were uninsured.

In fact, only 19 percent of the uninsured are from families with no connection to the work force. That means 80 percent of the uninsured are working people. People who go to work, but cannot afford to obtain health care. We can not continue to spread the belief that employment guarantees access to health insurance.

If we don't acknowledge health care as a basic human right soon, it will be too late for some, and our societies most vulnerable will continue to suffer.

These are the Americans who are too often ignored. The uninsured have lived a campaign of survival, and deserve a voice today and every day on this floor.

These 45 million people are calling out for their government to put people before profit. They realize that access to quality health insurance or universal health care is essential in impacting health outcomes.

Over 40 percent of the uninsured have no regular source of health care and utilize emergency care due to avoiding high cost regular visits.

This situation creates an ongoing cycle of adults and children skipping the key preventive medicine steps, like routine check-ups, recommended tests, and low-cost treatments.

By ignoring preventive treatments and not addressing the sky-high health costs; we are creating sicker people.

It is a fact that the uninsured are more likely than those with insurance to be hospitalized for conditions that could have been avoided.

We are putting our uninsured in the position of choosing between dealing with an illness at its early and most treatable stage or feeding their family.

Mr. Speaker, the message we must send is that universal access to quality health care should be provided without discrimination to all.

We must make health care accessible! Make health care affordable! Make health care a guarantee!

I encourage all of my colleagues to support legislation that will put people before profit in our health care system.

Mr. Speaker, I rise in strong opposition to H.R. 5254.

This bill is a complete sham, and will do absolutely nothing to mitigate the high gas prices that our constituents are being forced to pay at the pump.

The fact is we did not get to $3 a gallon for gas because of our environmental and public health laws, and we shouldn't be gutting them In response.

The bottom line is that energy companies are not interested in expanding their refinery capacity because they want gas supply to remain tight so they can keep making record profits.

In a hearing last November in the other body, both the CEO's for Shell and ConocoPhillips indicated that they were not aware of any environmental regulation that was preventing them from building new refineries.

While in January representatives from Exxon indicated that they had no plans to build new refineries.

So what is the point of this bill if nobody wants it or needs it?

The real problem with high gas prices today boils down to two things:

1. The administration's deliberate decision to promote an energy policy developed by and for their cronies in the oil and gas industry at the expense of the American people.

2. The geo-political problems in the Middle East that have been exacerbated by the actions of this administration over the last six years.

Those are the issues we should be dealing with today.

Instead of gutting our Nation's environmental and public health laws and providing another giveaway to the energy industry we need to implement a strategy of energy independence.

We need to make immediate investments to expand energy efficiency and the use of renewable fuels, and we need to adopt a foreign policy that does not hold our constituents hostage to the latest political crisis in the Middle East.

I urge my colleagues to oppose this wrongheaded bill.

Mr. Speaker, I rise today with a heavy heart to join my colleagues here in the U.S. and across the globe in commemorating and honoring the extraordinary life of Dr. Mose Tjitendero, Speaker of the National Assembly in Namibia and a man known for his dedication to the principle of One Namibia, One Nation. Highly regarded throughout his life as an outstanding leader and a true patriot, Dr. Tjitendero was dedicated to advancing justice, independence and self-determination for the people of Namibia and for others around the world. Dr. Tjitendero passed away on April 26, 2006 at the age of 63 following a short illness.

Born the son of a Herero slave, Dr. Tjitendero hailed from a small village called Okomakuara in the Ovitoto area of Namibia. He was expelled from Augustineum Training

College in 1963 after he attended a political rally in Windhoek, and left Namibia for exile in 1964 when he was only 20 years old. Upon his arrival in Dar es Salaam, Tanzania, he was appointed to be the student representative of the South West Africa People's Organization, SWAPO political movement. In that role he became a radio broadcaster for the liberation movement, and as a part of the Tanganyika club, was instrumental in propelling SWAPO into an international movement in the 1960s.

In 1967 Dr. Tjitendero received a scholarship to attend Lincoln University in Pennsylvania, where he completed a B.A. degree in History and Political Science, and in 1976 he completed his Ph.D. at the University of Massachusetts School of Education. In the mid-1970s, SWAPO called Dr. Tjitendero to Zambia to open the United Nations institute for Namibia in Lusaka, where he taught for 5 years.

Dr. Tjitendero served as the first Speaker of Namibia's National Assembly from 1990 until 2004, and had been a member of the SWAPO Central Committee since 1981. He was instrumental in teaching and motivating other leaders in his country, and at the 2004 SWAPO Extraordinary Congress, he nominated Hidipo Hamutenya, a fellow student from his days at Lincoln University, to be his party's presidential candidate.

Throughout his tenure in the National Assembly, Dr. Tjitendero was widely respected and viewed as an impartial chairperson of parliamentary proceedings and an advocate for popular participation in Namibia's democracy. Revered by his colleagues as honest, hardworking, and thoroughly dedicated to promoting peace, freedom and national unity, Dr. Tjitendero's contributions to the development of democracy, equality and economic opportunity in Namibia are truly immeasurable. Though his death is loss to the entire Namibian nation, the legacy of his work will continue to improve countless lives in throughout Namibia and beyond for generations to come. My thoughts and prayers are with Dr. Tjitendero's wife Sandy and his two children, as well as all of his friends, colleagues, and the people of Namibia as they mourn the loss of this exemplary leader.

Madam Speaker, although not a perfect bill, I plan to support H.R. 282 based on several important decisions I authored and that were included in the committee-passed bill. First, and most importantly, this bill includes my language explicitly stating that this bill in no way constitutes an authorization to use military force against Iran. Additionally, it includes my provision clarifying that none of the funds authorized for democracy promotion should be used to fund destabilizing activities against Iran. Moreover, in the report accompanying this legislation, I was able to include language aimed at ensuring that none of the funds authorized in this legislation are channeled to democracy promotion organizations that may in turn bankroll covert action against Iran.

My vote today in no way detracts from my vigilance regarding this administration and its reported interest in another preemptive strike-- this time against Iran. I have and will continue to strongly oppose the so-called doctrine of preemption and believe we must engage Iran in smart and tough diplomacy regarding its nuclear programs.

Mr. Chairman, I offer an amendment.

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

Let me first thank our ranking member of the committee, my colleague and friend from California, Congresswoman Jane Harman, for her support of this amendment and for her leadership.

Mr. Chairman, this amendment is very simple and noncontroversial. It merely requires the President to submit a report to the House and Senate Intelligence Committees describing any authorization granted over the last 10 years to engage in intelligence activities related to the overthrow of a democratically elected government.

Mr. Chairman, we all know that democracy promotion is at the top of this administration's agenda, and I believe that there is no question that supporting democracy should be a nonpartisan issue that we all agree on because it is at the core of our Nation's values. It is, quite simply, fundamental to who we are as a people and what we stand for as a Nation. That is why we must support democratic movements as they take place across the world. Nothing less than our values are on the line if we don't. That is why we must be vigilant and safeguard against any actions that would undermine or threaten our ability to support democratic efforts.

It is clear that actions that undermine democracies also undermine our credibility in the world and, therefore, our ability to be viewed as a serious and legitimate agent of democracy. So if promoting democracy is to remain a critical pillar of our foreign policy, we must ensure that our ability to be this voice for people's movements throughout the world is not damaged by contrary actions. Who will believe us if our actions are inconsistent with our words? How successful will we be in achieving our goals?

So today I offer this amendment to support and protect our efforts toward promoting democracy and to help ensure that our actions are consistent with our values. Toward that end this amendment will help Members of this body stay well informed about our Nation's actions related to these types of overt or covert intelligence activities which is especially critical at this moment. This amendment will help increase transparency in the process by requiring a report that is organized and comprehensive over the past 10 years. It will also help provide this information in an organized fashion so Members do not need to sort through voluminous records or seek information on a country-by- country basis.

It is also critical to point out that that amendment in no way compromises the confidential and sensitive nature of the information as it requires the report to be delivered to the House and Senate Intelligence Committees and for Members to review it in a confidential and secure setting.

So, Mr. Chairman, I want to conclude by thanking again our ranking member for her support, and want to strongly urge all my colleagues here to stand up for democracy and to stand up for transparency by supporting this amendment.

I reserve the balance of my time.

Mr. Chairman, I want to thank the chairman for his support and want to make sure that it is on the record that we have talked and agreed with regard to the intent of this amendment.

Mr. Chairman, I yield 2 minutes to the gentlewoman from California (Ms. Harman), ranking member of the committee.

Mr. Chairman, I yield myself the balance of my time.

I want to thank the gentlewoman for her leadership and for her support. And, yes, we have talked over the years about this and wanted to come to some bipartisan agreement and solution. So I think this is a very modest yet very important amendment, and I want to thank again our chairman and ranking member for their support.

Let me also thank our staffs on both sides of the aisle. Especially I want to thank my chief of staff, Julie Nixon, for her support and leadership, and both the minority and majority staff for, again, helping us to figure out the appropriate language to accomplish the goals that we want to accomplish. I thank them for their support.

Mr. Chairman, I rise in strong opposition to this Republican budget which, of course, continues to take our country in the wrong direction. Not only does the Republican budget make harmful cuts to critical services for working families, it fails to live up to really any standard of morality.

By eliminating programs like HOPE VI and the Community Services Block Grant, and by slashing education training and social services funding, the Republican budget really is an all-out assault on millions of hard- working Americans.

Further, the issue of economic security which, of course, does not exist in this budget, economic security is really a critical component of national security, and the Republican budget even fails to adequately support homeland security priorities.

I represent one of the largest ports in the country, and I know firsthand how important port and container security is. Though the Port of Oakland achieved the ability to screen all cargo coming through last year, how many other ports are adequately funded to do this? Economic security and homeland security are put on the back burner in this budget, and that is simply unacceptable.

So I urge my colleagues to reject this budget resolution, because it is not a budget that we should be supporting.

Madam Speaker, I rise to highlight the cuts in the Republican budget resolution that target low-income children and women. A number of Federal block grants that help women, especially single and low-income mothers, are going to be forced to cut services to families as a result of these cuts in the Republican budget. Also, there will be continued flat funding.

Child Care Development Block Grant funding is frozen for the fifth year in a row. Since the beginning of the Bush administration, child care assistance for 250,000 children has been cut. In the next 5 years, 400,000 fewer children will receive child care assistance. This means that 25 percent fewer children will receive assistance in 2011 than did in 2000; and during the President's tenure the number of children living in poverty has increased, not decreased.

This is an immoral budget. It sacrifices funding for our children to pay for tax cuts for the wealthy. It should be soundly rejected. We talk about welfare reform and we talk about women being able to work, how in the heck are women going to work if child care is not available.

Mr. Speaker, first, let me thank our ranking member for yielding, and also for your leadership and for making sure that wherever genocide is occurring, you take action to stop it, Mr. Lantos. Thank you so much.

I want to thank also Chairman Hyde and Chairman Smith for their leadership and for making sure that as we move forward in addressing this atrocity that we work together in a bipartisan fashion. It is so important that the world see Democrats, Republicans, Independents, all of us coming together on this issue.

And to Mr. Payne, let me just thank you again for your leadership, for being oftentimes the lone voice in the wilderness and for staying there and plugging along and making sure that this House and the other body puts this as a priority because you knew early on what was taking place when many did not. So thank you for your leadership.

And let me also thank Mr. Royce and all of those who have been working and in the forefront of this effort because all of us understand now that we can no longer stand by as millions of innocent people are being displaced and hundreds of thousands are being murdered.

I visited Chad and Sudan last year with Chairman Royce and the Academy Award nominee Don Cheadle, and let me tell you we visited those refugee camps on the Chadian-Sudanese border.

Children drew pictures of airplanes flying with bombs dropping. Then they had the helicopters going underneath the airplanes. Then the militia, the Janjaweed on the horses, coming in burning and raping women and kidnapping people. These pictures were vivid that the children painted. It convinced me that the Khartoum government was clearly responsible for this slaughter.

We visited also just recently with our great minority leader, Nancy Pelosi, El Fasher and the refugee camps around the AU headquarters. Quite frankly, it has gotten worse. I want to thank Congresswoman Pelosi for her leadership, because we were able once again, and you heard her earlier, to visit the refugee camps and talk to people and see and learn what we must do in order to stop this slaughter.

This is an important bill. It addresses not only the immediate needs of the Darfurian people, but also the long-term goals of a political settlement. First of all, it also asks the Secretary of State to declare the Janjaweed a terrorist organization, because that is what it is, and we need to be very clear on that. The AU is currently doing a remarkable job, and this legislation helps us to help the AU in a better way in terms of providing for more support. They need more troops.

This legislation also blocks assets and restricts travel of any individual the President determines is responsible for acts of genocide, war crimes or crimes against humanity in the Darfur region.

It also supports the International Criminal Court's efforts to prosecute those responsible for acts of genocide in Darfur.

Mr. Speaker, I am disappointed that my provision for capital market sanctions, which our subcommittee approved unanimously, did not stay in the bill as it moved forward, but my provision to support state- sponsored divestment campaigns throughout our Nation is in there.

I want to thank our Chairs for making sure that that is there, because efforts to divest from companies that support the Khartoum regime should be applauded and the growing divestment movement must be supported.

The University of California is getting ready to divest, Harvard University has divested, Stanford has divested, as well as the States of Illinois, New Jersey and Oregon. These provisions with regard to divestment are very important.

Mr. Speaker, this bill makes sure that we step up to the plate now and put some teeth into our declaration of genocide. We cannot have another Rwanda, Mr. Speaker. One million people died, and all we could do there was go there later and apologize. Sometimes you see some of us wearing ``Not on Our Watch, Save Darfur,'' because we do not intend to have on our watch another genocide of that magnitude. 200,000 people is too many already. One person is too many.

So this bill will help us address the growing humanitarian crisis, and also the security crisis. In the long run, of course, we know that we must have a political solution and a peace accord.

I want to thank all of you, again, for making sure this remained a bipartisan effort.

Mr. Speaker, I rise today to honor the extraordinary life of Audrey Yvonne Willson, whose spiritual evolution led to her being known at the end of her life as Yve-I Rastafari. Yve-I was a beloved mother, wife, grandmother, friend, artist, educator and leader in our community and our world. She passed away on March 13, 2006 at the age of 63.

Born Audrey Yvonne Willson, she grew up in the Fort Greene Projects of Brooklyn, New York, where she developed the quick wit and savvy nature for which she was known throughout her life. Living in New York, she met and married Bob Law in 1962. During that period, she became an active member of the Congress for Racial Equality, and was at the forefront of the Black Cultural/Consciousness movement, identifying strongly with her African heritage as an activist of that era and throughout her life.

In the decade that followed, Audrey began a new journey, moving to Silver Spring, Maryland and obtaining her Masters Degree in Education as well as her Montessori certification. These achievements began her lifelong devotion to the education and healthy development of children, which included her own young daughters, and ultimately led Audrey to create her own educational model.

Audrey's journey of intellectual, cultural and spiritual discovery soon led her to West Africa, where she immediately fell in love with the people, their land, and their struggles. Her proficiency in the Spanish, Twi, Amharic and Arabic languages allowed her to be a teacher and a student of the people she met there, and through her travels she forged human and spiritual ties that would last a lifetime.

In the years that followed, her newfound faith of Islam led her to change her name to Ameena, and during her time in Africa she met and married her second husband, an American named Daud Malik Watts. Upon her return to the United States, she rededicated herself to her life's mission of serving our young people by opening, with Daud, the Reston Montessori School in Virginia.

As she continued her spiritual exploration in the 1980s, she was led to return to her birth name of Audrey. During that time she also traveled frequently to the west coast and split her time between working in the non-profit sector and developing her own small business selling her delicious homemade apple pies.

As she neared the conclusion of her spiritual journey, she changed her name to Yve-I Rastafari, which was a reflection of her becoming a Rastafarian. In the 1990s, when she underwent this transition, she also moved to

Hawaii, where she started Artists for Orphans, an international non- profit dedicated to providing educational, financial, physical and emotional support to orphans in Ethiopia.

After devoting herself to this bold, compassionate work for more than a decade, Yve-I left Hawaii to move back northeast to be with her ailing father, caring for him until his last day. After his passing, she returned to working with young children in Washington, D.C. before ultimately moving to California to be with and care for her youngest grandchildren.

Yve-I gave of herself easily and was wonderful with children. I witnessed time and time again, as she was the mother-in-law to my son, and along with me, was a grandmother to Simone the daughter of my son and her daughter. Whether we were together at family gatherings on special occasions or simply spending time with our children and grandchildren, Yve-I's generous and loving spirit brought a sense of comfort and togetherness to our family which has not only nurtured our youngest members, but has strengthened the ties between us all.

Throughout her life, Yve-I was fully dedicated to complete spiritual and human development and her devotion to becoming the most complete and aware person that she could was evidenced by her constant growth and personal evolution. At the end of her life it became her goal to return to Ethiopia to live out her days so that she could continue the work of Artists for Orphans and practice her religion at an age-old founding church of her faith, and that is what she did, being laid to rest on March 17, 2006 in Shashamene, Ethiopia, where she was known as Mama Love. She is survived by her life partner, Menelek Fitzgerald, her children Aisha Patrice, Abina, Yasmina, Memuna, Bilqis, Nasir, Mahmud, and Netanya; her siblings Adrienne, Donald and Wayne; thirteen grandchildren; her nephews; and numerous cousins, colleagues and friends.

Today the family and friends of the woman who journeyed from Audrey to Yve-I come together to celebrate her life and the countless ways in which her bright and compassionate spirit touched lives of others, no matter what name they knew her by during her lifetime. Her giving nature and deep wisdom was known to and cherished by all, and will continue to lift up the lives of our young people and all who knew her for generations to come. On behalf of California's 9th U.S. Congressional District, I am proud to add my voice to the countless others who have united in thanks, appreciation, and joy to remember this very special, remarkable and loving woman, Yve-I Rastafari.

Mr. Speaker, tonight I join my colleagues in highlighting the detrimental effects the President's fiscal year 2007 budget will have on women.

From health and education, to the protection and development of women and girls internationally, this administration intends to cut funding in programs that are vital to women's well-being and development.

Worse still Mr. Speaker, many of the programs that the President intends to cut disproportionately impact minority women negatively.

For example, in the area of health, the fiscal year 2007 budget cuts $1 million out of the National Center on Minority Health and Health Disparities. This is a critical facility that directs money and technical assistance to organizations working with minorities on diseases that disproportionately kill women, such as heart disease, diabetes and obesity.

Additionally, the President's budget would cut funds from the minority HIV/AIDS initiative which actively seeks to address the prevention and treatment needs of minority communities heavily impacted by HIV/AIDS.

The budget cuts the Office of Minority Health by a staggering $11 million and the Office on Women's Health would receive a significant cut.

It's not just health that is slashed in the President's budget.

The President proposes cutting funding for education initiatives for homeless children and youth by $600,000 and cut Pell grants by a whopping $430 million--with an award cap of $4,050.

Furthermore, the President has proposed a $1 million decrease to fair housing assistance programs for our most needy.

Mr. Speaker, I could stand here all night and list the outrageous cuts in health, education, and housing programs the President's budget would inflict, but I would be remiss if I didn't also highlight the cuts to programs that guarantee the safety of women domestically and abroad.

One of the most successful programs to prevent violence against women while funding the prosecution of those who have committed those crimes, the Violence Against Women Act or VAWA, will face a potential $39.5 million cut.

Additionally, women's health is the President's proposed $2 million cut to the United Nations Development Fund and a $9 million cut to the United Nations Population Fund will jeopardize the health and safety of women around the world.

Mr. Speaker, our budget is a moral document. It reflects the values of our Nation. I'm sad to say these aren't the values that my sisters in Congress and across the country hold dear.

Mr. Speaker, I urge all of my colleagues to think about what a budget like the one the President has proposed means to each and everyone of their constituents. You can't tell me we can't do better.

Mr. Chairman, I rise today in opposition to H.R. 609.

I ask you, when will the raid on student aid stop?

H.R. 609 continues to deepen the wound already inflicted by the Republican tax reconciliation bill that cut $12 billion in student loans, an continues the damage in President's proposed budget.

Mr. Chairman, today's students are taking out more loans, working longer hours, and graduating with record amounts of debt, yet this bill does nothing to increase the Pell grant.

The goal should be to make college affordable and accessible for all. Yet again, with this bill the Republican leadership's rhetoric is out of step with its actions. Attempts to make this misguided bill better have been stifled.

Mr. Chairman, for example, I offered an amendment with the purpose of helping those who help our students.

Unfortunately, my amendment hasn't been made in order.

My amendment would include those who work as school counselors, school social workers, and school psychologists in the student loan forgiveness program.

Currently, the U.S. national average student-to-counselor ratio is 488: 1. In contrast, the maximum recommended student-to-counselor ratio is 250: 1. Sadly, some schools don't even have one full-time counselor.

Mr. Chairman, my home State of California ranks last in student-to- counselor ratios, at the astounding rate of 945 students for every 1 counselor.

School counselors provide valuable skills and coping strategies for dealing with issues as diverse as home issues, career counseling, college placement and academic issues, conflict resolution, and drug and alcohol issues.

Congress intended loan forgiveness to encourage education professionals to serve in needy areas of the country.

Counselors do a great deal to help improve students' readiness to learn, their quality of life at school, and their consequent educational achievement.

Mr. Chairman, let's make sure we are making our future the priority, and stop this on-going raid on student aid.