Floor Statements

Mr. Speaker, I am proud to stand here with the membership of the Congressional Black Caucus, the Hispanic Caucus, the Asian-Pacific American Caucus, and the caucus for all Americans, the Democratic Caucus, in support of inclusive, quality, affordable health care for all Americans. I want to thank the gentlelady from California for her consistent leadership on these many issues important to those with no voice.

Democrats are committed to the elimination of racial and ethnic disparities in health care access, health care quality, health outcomes and the diversity of the health care workforce because all Americans deserve equal treatment and care.

A proper investment in health care will improve both the health and economic well-being of all our country and that's why we came together and drafted the Healthcare Equality and Accountability Act of 2003, which our caucuses introduced on November 6, 2003.

Our goal is the complete elimination of racial and ethnic health disparities and I believe this bill provides a major first step toward that goal.

The goal of equity in health care must be met, particularly in a country that boasts about upholding and spreading democracy and human rights.

It is criminal that in the United States the color of your skin and the languages that you speak can make you more likely to die of HIV/ AIDS, heart disease or diabetes, as a result of our negligent and culturally insensitive health care system.

We came together because we saw a need to offer solutions for the inclusion and the prioritizing of minorities in the health care system which today remains sorely inadequate.

In this bill, we have diagnosed the major health care shortfalls and provided sound and culturally-conscious solutions.

1. We ask for an expansion of the health care safety net, which will increase the availability, quality, and affordability of health coverage options that provide meaningful access to health services.

2. We ask for much needed diversification of the health care workforce, which will reflect the communities that have been neglected while incorporating a personal understanding of the backgrounds, experiences, languages, and perspectives of the minority people.

3. We ask that health care be declared not only a human right, but a basic civil right, and that every part of the 1964 Civil Rights Act is honored.

4. We ask for aggressive collection and dissemination of data on minorities to become a priority for the health care community.

The collection of this data keeps us on the pulse of our communities. We cannot help the minority community if we are blinded by Prop. 54's and other antiquated rules and regulations that negate the advances health care professionals have attempted.

5. We ask for a complete assault on HIV/AIDS and other diseases that are disproportionately killing the minority community.

Undiagnosed and uncared for, over 43 million Americans are uninsured--half of whom are minorities.

Further, those who have access to care are still dying of diseases that go undetected and

undiagnosed because the quality of their care is sub par.

We cannot stand by while the pharmaceutical and private insurance industries profit off of our communities.

We cannot stand by while rates of prostate and breast cancer, diabetes, and high blood pressure disproportionately take the lives of people of color around this country.

We cannot stand by while this Republican led Congress privatizes Medicare and cushions the pockets of their industry donors with the prescription drug bill, H.R. 1.

And finally, we cannot allow the Congress to pass any more health related legislation that doesn't have at heart the interests of the African American, Latino, Native American, or our Asian and Pacific Islander communities.

We will win the battle against ethnic and racial health disparities, because we are united.

I thank the leadership of all the caucuses who worked so diligently on this bill and I thank the Congressional Hispanic Caucus for designating this hour to talk about this progressive and comprehensive bill.

Mr. Speaker, I rise in strong opposition to this rule and the underlying bill.

This bill is a failure in process and policy. The Republican majority has steamrolled concerns, facts, and opposition, all to benefit powerful energy industries at the expense of American people.

This bill not only fails to promote a healthy energy policy, it will also cost the American people over $115 billion over the next decade.

It was written for big energy companies by big energy companies to benefit big energy companies, with a $416 billion package of tax breaks and production subsidies for the oil, coal, and nuclear industries.

Mr. Speaker, this bill threatens more than the pocketbooks of the American people, it also poses an imminent threat to our Nation's air quality, drinking water, and public land.

We see this threat to our public health most clearly in my home State of California.

MTBE, a known cause of cancer, is leaking out of storage tanks, but this bill shields MTBE producers and oil companies from product liability lawsuits and pays them $2 billion.

The gasoline additive, intended to reduce air pollution, has contaminated groundwater supplies in numerous California communities.

This bill will cause catastrophic harm to the public health and the public interest.

I strongly oppose this rule and this bill and I urge you to protect America's environment, protect America's health, and protect American taxpayers and to vote against this bill.

Mr. Speaker, I rise today to pay tribute to the life, work, and memory of Elizabeth Porter. Liz dedicated her life to serving and empowering people in the pursuit of peace and justice. Tragically, at only 38 years old, Liz was taken from us on Saturday, October 25th due to a brain aneurysm. It is no surprise that this alarming news brought people from all over to Roberts Park in my district last Saturday to honor her amazing life.

Liz's work in the pursuit of global peace and justice was extraordinary. Fluent in Spanish and French, she began her career in public service by serving in the Peace Corps in Niger, Africa. Despite contracting falciparum malaria in her first month on the job and being flown to France for treatment, Liz didn't hesitate to immediately return to West Africa to complete her two-year assignment. Following her Peace Corps work, Liz then took part in the World Teach program in Manta, Ecuador.

Liz returned to the United States in the early 1990's, and earned a law degree from the University of San Francisco. Liz began serving the immigrant community as a staff attorney for California Rural Legal Assistance in Modesto, winning numerous cases. After more than 3 years, Liz moved on to the legal department at the California School Employees Association where she worked until her untimely death 2 weeks ago.

Liz was serious about her beliefs, but more than anything else, she was fun. She loved music, the outdoors, a good glass of wine--and her laughter was infectious. She also never missed sending a note or gift to one of her countless nieces and nephews. Liz--or ``Fizz'' as she was known to her 7 brothers and sisters--was a light for peace and justice in a world that desperately needed her passion, her strength, her laughter, and her love.

Liz is survived by her husband, John Gragnani, a marriage and family counselor with Contra Costa County, and a memorial fund has been established to continue assistance to a family in Togo, West Africa, that Liz had been supporting. I join my colleagues today in honoring her memory and her life.

Mr. Speaker, I rise today to honor the Berkeley-Albany YMCA on its centennial anniversary and acknowledge its years of dedicated educational service to the community.

In 1903, a group of 21 young Berkeley men gathered in the basement of the First Baptist Church to create the Berkeley-Albany YMCA. They elected William Waste, then a young attorney, to be President. He continued on in that position for the next 37 years, even after he became Chief Justice of the California Supreme Court.

In 1906, the Berkeley-Albany YMCA performed its first act of community service, providing shelter and care to refugees of the San Francisco earthquake. That same year, meeting rooms, a gym, and showers were added to its rented quarters.

From 1909 to 1938, hundreds of thousands of dollars were donated by the public and prominent Berkeley citizens for the construction of a downtown Berkeley facility, an Albany structure, and a branch in West Berkeley. Additionally, 413 acres were purchased in Annapolis, California for the construction of a summer camp, YMCA Camp Gualala.

Bigger and better things soon followed, including day camps, several new buildings and additions, remodeling and expansion. An international exchange program began in 1968 with 16 students from Sakai, Japan whose visit was followed a year later by 16 students from Berkeley and Albany. In 1972, the YMCA became the grantee for a reorganized Head Start program, which it continues to operate, now in seven locations.

Today, with more than 30,000 members, the Berkeley-Albany YMCA is truly a community center for all. Opportunities for physical and mental advancement abound, whether in learning to swim, studying for a math test, or specialized aerobics programs for new mothers. The YMCA brings participants closer to a stronger physical, mental, and spiritual self.

Finally, as we honor the Berkeley-Albany YMCA today, I want to thank this organization for providing an endless stream of role models for our youth and teachers for our schools. I take great pride in joining the residents of Berkeley and Albany and all the alumni of the Berkeley-Albany YMCA to recognize and salute its accomplishments. I hope that the next 100 years are as exciting and gratifying.

Mr. Speaker, first let me thank the gentleman from Maryland, our chairman, for once again organizing this very important special order tonight recognizing the service of Americans veterans. Once again, let me just commend the gentleman from Maryland (Mr. Cummings) for his leadership and for ensuring that our country understands and recognizes that the Congressional Black Caucus stands tall here in this Congress on each and every issue with which our country is faced.

Yes, I am a very proud daughter of a veteran, and I represent a State which boasts the highest veteran population, ensuring that veterans receive their benefits of course, and recognition for their contributions is, therefore, a major priority for me. We owe every veteran around this country an enormous debt of gratitude. And we here in Congress really do have the opportunity and the obligation to honor that

debt by providing veterans with the benefits that they were guaranteed, including adequate benefits for veterans, surviving spouses and families, burial rights, health care, disabled tax credits, and home loan assistance. This issue, as my colleagues know, is not a partisan issue but a fundamental issue of fairness.

In July, during consideration of the fiscal year 2004 VA-HUD appropriations bill, my colleagues on both sides of the aisle were really, quite frankly, embarrassed by the Republicans' leadership attempt to shortchange to the tune of $1.4 billion those who sacrificed the most for our Nation. So yesterday this body unanimously voted to increase a host of veterans' benefits. But it has yet to deal with the most pressing veterans' issues like concurrent receipt legislation which would extend full retirement and health care benefits and end the practice of unjustly subtracting disability payments from veterans' pensions, creating, in effect, a special disabled veterans' tax. So that is why we have filed a discharge petition to bring H.R. 2569, the Salute to Veterans and the Armed Forces Act of 2003, to the floor. And tonight I call upon my Republican colleagues to join us in eliminating this unfair and very outrageous tax on our Nation's veterans.

Mr. Speaker, on November 11 we will remember our veterans, as we should really do each and every day. Injustice in housing must end. It is shameful that veterans are twice as likely to become homeless as nonveterans, and female veterans are about four times as likely to become homeless as their counterparts. It is also shameful that despite the fact that 76 percent of these veterans are on the street in large part due to alcohol, drug, or mental health problems, or a combination, quite frankly, of all three, that we here in Congress fail to provide the necessary resources to help them get back on their feet.

Looking back on the plight of so many of our Nation's homeless veterans, I cannot help but think and remember that so many are the victims of the 1980's and ``Reaganomics'' and today's struggling economy, and I am outraged that we are allowing their numbers to grow.

Finally, when we talk about the veterans and the failures of this country to fulfill its promises to them, we must also discuss and recognize the racial disparities and discriminations that affect every aspect of American society including, yes, veterans. People of color have served this country in numbers far out of proportion to their percentages within population.

How is this the case? The harsh truth is that economic forces oftentimes compel minorities to assume the risks of service, yet historically they have not received its rewards in equal measure. The truth is African American veterans were denied employment opportunities, education, housing, and, of course, jobs returning to America after fighting for America. I remember this very well. They are truly heroes. They are real patriots.

The creation of the Bureau of Colored Troops during the Civil War, the famous Buffalo Soldiers of the Indian Campaigns, the 92nd Division and the 761st Tank Battalion and African American women, who served in the Women's Army Corps and the Waves during World War II, and the 24th Regiment of the Korean War are only a few examples of the famous and forgotten African Americans who defended this Nation.

In many ways our military has become the most integrated institution in this country. Despite its advancements, however, in the treatment of blacks and minorities in the military, there remains issues that really do need to be addressed, legacies of biased drafting procedures, advancement, honors, distribution of benefits, and really back to it, the treatment upon coming back home after returning from active duty.

We must honor the legacy of all veterans as members of the Congressional Black Caucus tonight are doing. We choose to highlight the service of African American and other minority veterans. We respect their service and their role really as leaders. And I would like to just thank all of those who have contributed to American history for their service and for their sacrifice. This Congress must step up to the plate and put our money where our mouth is in a very real way, and that is to support our veterans.

In a note from the Veterans for Peace organization, I was reminded that Veterans Day was once called Armistice Day, the anniversary of the end of World War I, of course, the ``War to end all Wars.'' Tragically, that war has been followed by many others. Let us honor our veterans by working each and every day for freedom, for peace, and for justice.

Once again, I want to thank the chairman of the Congressional Black Caucus for his unbelievable leadership, focus, and for his commitment to honor in a real way our veterans.

The gentleman from Maryland (Mr. Cummings) is absolutely correct. I agonize every time I walk down the streets in my community and see veterans who are homeless, and then find that hospitals are closing and that they cannot get their medication and they do not have anyplace to sleep.

I think it is a shame and disgrace that we have allowed that to happen to our veterans, because here they are, proudly serving our country. We should roll out the red carpet upon their return, and we should have every program, every provision for them returning to either civilian life or life here in the military. That should be made easy, that transition.

Instead, what do we have? We have cuts in their funding, we have lack of medical care for them, and we have many of our veterans coming back

from different parts of the world with unknown diseases, and we cannot get them in for treatment or diagnosis or for any kind of medical care. It is mind-boggling to me.

I will tell the gentleman, I think we need to really look at what we mean when we say we support our troops, because, in supporting our troops, for me, that means, yes, protecting them and keeping them from harm's way, but also upon their return making sure that their families and their lives are not only made whole, but that they receive the type of incentives and the type of real action, affirmative action, that we should provide for them, because they have done such a job for this country.

That, in essence, is taxing disabled veterans for disabilities that they unfortunately acquired while serving this country.

They are taking away money from them after they have been hurt. That is mean. That is mean, and I think it immoral. Somehow, the entire country needs to wake up to that and say how unjust this is and correct this. That is why H.R. 2569 has got to come to the floor.

He should be. What we are doing is making veterans pay for their disabilities, which are no fault of their own. It should be just the reverse. We should pay them a stipend, an additional benefit, for what they have done.

Just very briefly. As the gentleman was talking, I am reminded of my childhood now. I can remember very vividly men in uniform, black men in uniform, being denied entrance to a restaurant or to a movie theater, or being forced to go to a water fountain that said ``Colored Only,'' in uniform. I can remember this.

I have so many unfortunate memories of proud African American men in their uniforms being turned away, being discriminated against for one reason, and that is because they were black. I think that they are true heroes, they are true patriots; and I hope that history will record their service to this great country. But also I think we need to make sure that history is accurate in its writing and in its history and not cloud over the fact that men in uniform did not have equal access to basic kinds of services, such as a water fountain.

The gentleman is right. History must be recorded accurately. I think only by telling the truth, by putting forth the true history of any group of people, but especially our veterans, whom we are discussing tonight, that has got to be a priority for our young people, because how will they know what to do in the future? How will they know how to live? What kind of values will they embrace, if they do not know of the struggles and of the challenges and of the fights that many people in this country have waged?

So history must be recorded, and it must be recorded accurately.

There are many veterans who are still with us who are getting older now who I have the privilege to know and work with, and those are the Tuskegee Airmen. What a wonderful legacy they have left.

I will never forget when I was working for our great statesman, Congressman Ron Dellums. I was on his staff and we worked very hard to get a display in the museum, I believe it was in the NASA museum, of the Tuskegee

Airmen. That was a real fight, but we got it there. Millions of people were able to read about, see and honor the Tuskegee Airmen because of Ron Dellums and because of the work we did to make sure that they received a prominent place in the museum here.

That is right. My final comment is, as I said earlier, I think we need to put our money where our mouth is now and try to fight like we know how to fight to make sure that each and every nickel that they deserve they receive.

Mr. Speaker, I rise today to honor a great woman and public educator, Ms. Joyce McCullum, for her 36 years of dedicated educational service to the community. Today, Ms. McCullum retires from her position as a teacher and administrator in the Oakland Unified School District in California.

B. Joyce Garrett McCullum was born to Willie Garrett and Rosa M. Jones in Pineland, Texas. She graduated from Vernon High School in Leesville, Louisiana, and earned a bachelor's degree in vocal music education from Southern University in Baton Rouge, Louisiana. She was then appointed to a Ford Foundation Fellowship and received a master's degree in music from Holy Names College in Oakland, California.

In September, 1967, Joyce McCullum began her educational career with the Oakland Public Schools as a teacher at Lockwood Elementary School, and continued at Hoover Jr. High, Lowell Jr. High, Roosevelt Jr. High, and Marcus A. Foster Middle School. She served as an administrator at Marcus Foster Middle School, Hoover Elementary School, E. Morris Cox Elementary, and then taught some more at Havenscourt Jr. High and Verdess R. Carter Middle School.

Ms. McCullum was predeceased by the late Reverend James T. McCullum, Sr., Pastor of New Hope Baptist Church for 32 years. She is also the proud stepmother of James T. McCullum, Jr., and grandmother of four grandchildren, and a surrogate mother to many. Joyce has been Director of Youth at New Hope Baptist Church, part of the Home and Foreign Mission District Association, and youth counselor for the California State Baptist Convention, Inc. Youth and Young Adult Auxiliary.

She has been actively involved in community services, having served as a life member of the NAACP, as President of the Oakland Alliance of Black School Educators, a life member of the National Association of Negro Musicians (NANM) and the Golden Gate Branch of NANM. She is also a member of the Alpha Kappa Alpha Sorority, Inc., Alpha Nu Omega Chapter, the Oakland Education Association, United Administrators of Oakland, and the Oakland Music Educators Association.

Finally, as we honor Ms. McCullum today, I want to thank her for being an exemplary role model, administrator, and teacher. I take great pride in joining the students of Oakland, Ms. McCullum's family, friends and colleagues to recognize and salute the accomplishments and contributions of B. Joyce Garret McCullum and wish her an exciting and gratifying retirement.

Mr. Speaker, let me just take a moment to thank the gentlewoman from New York (Mrs. Lowey) for her tireless efforts on the Foreign Operations Appropriations subcommittee to secure more funding for our global AIDS, tuberculosis, and malaria programs. She has been consistent and has really helped put the appropriations funding process in perspective. So I just want to commend and thank the gentlewoman from New York (Mrs. Lowey) for her leadership.

Mr. Speaker, I rise today to join all of our colleagues by supporting this motion to instruct conferees to accept the Senate's level of funding for our global AIDS, TB, and malaria programs in the fiscal year 2004 Foreign Operations Appropriations bill.

Mr. Speaker, AIDS, TB and malaria have quite simply ravaged Africa and the developing world. Every year over 6 million people worldwide die needlessly, sometimes of all three of these diseases. Six million people. Can you imagine. Just think for a minute. Six million people. Six million. That is roughly equivalent to losing the entire State of Indiana, Massachusetts, or Washington every single year.

Now, the vast majority of these deaths could be prevented for just over $300 a year, a price that is really continuing to drop. HIV/AIDS patients who are really on the brink of death can be revived with lifesaving antiretroviral therapies. For just $10 an entire course of DOTS treatment, TB-infected patients, who are often co-infected with AIDS, can be cured. For just 2 to $3 we can provide individuals with an insecticide-treated bed net to kill mosquitos and reduce malaria infections.

That is not a lot of money to save so many millions of lives, Mr. Speaker. These are not complicated interventions. Success stories like the clinic run by Dr. Paul Farmer in Haiti have proven that members of the community can be trained in a single week to monitor and provide effective drug treatments with a minimal level of supervision while ensuring maximum adherence of patients to an often-strict drug regime.

Programs like these must be strengthened and accelerated. With the help of the Global Fund to fight TB, AIDS, and malaria and the World Health Organization's new three by five AIDS initiatives, the capacity to scale up such programs will be greatly improved. Contrary to what many say and believe, the capacity is there to provide the care and treatment and prevention. These NGOs and these faith-based organizations, they only need the resources to do that. So that is where we must come in.

By agreeing to this motion to instruct the conferees, we can expand upon the initiatives of the Global Fund and WHO while also strengthening our own bilateral AIDS program.

This is very necessary, this motion. Last week the other body added the $289 million for the Global AIDS Fund via the defense budget authority, I believe, the budget authority offsets to their version of the foreign ops appropriations bill.

I want to be clear, though. This motion should not infringe on the $400 million that the House has already endorsed for the Global Fund this year. While I urge my colleagues to accept this motion, I must again voice my discontent that we are still not at the $3 billion which we authorized.

Secretary of State Colin Powell, I want to remind us all that he has said time and time again that the global AIDS pandemic is far more deadly and insidious than any form of terrorism. So by failing to treat it as such, we devalue the lives of those who are already suffering and dying. And by delaying the full funding of this initiative now, we only make the task more difficult later on.

Mr. Speaker, I want to thank the gentlewoman from New York (Mrs. Lowey) for her leadership and for making sure that this body moves forward in addressing this pandemic in the way that we should.

Mr. Speaker, my deepest sympathies go out to the Californians who are suffering in the devastating wake of the fires currently raging in the Southern part of my home state. I want to be clear: I unequivocally support the federal disaster assistance that California and Californians will require to rebuild in the aftermath of the tragic fires. That is why I am an original cosponsor of H.R. 3407, the California Funding for Immediate Relief of Wildfire Emergencies Act, which provides an emergency appropriation to FEMA of $500 million for disaster relief associated with the fires.

What I am opposed to, however, is the shameful, politically motivated decision to include the $500 million in FEMA funding in a bill that deals with the most serious question of war. Mr. Speaker, I cannot, and will not vote for almost $87 billion to fund the Bush Administration's continuing war in Iraq, and just as I voted against the original Supplemental Appropriations bill, I will vote against this conference report.

Mr. Speaker, I rise today to honor the memory of a fallen soldier and American patriot, 26-year-old Army Specialist Joseph Carl Norquist, for his unstinting service to the community and devotion to the country. On October 9, 2003, Spc. Norquist, a 26-year-old Oakland man, was in a convoy in Baqubah, Iraq when he was killed in a barrage of grenades and bullets.

Norquist was serving with the 588th Engineering Battalion, based in Fort Hood, Texas. In Iraq, the battalion is assigned to the 4th Infantry Division, also of Fort Hood. The 588th is conducting two separate missions in Baqubah; they are searching for weapons and rebuilding schools.

``Joe believed in the job he was doing in Iraq,'' his parents said in a statement. ``He thought it was worth it for the children, who would have better opportunities for a better life. We deeply mourn the loss of our son.''

Norquist, a native of Martinez, attended high school in Benicia, where he played on the football team. He received an associate degree from Diablo Valley College in Pleasant Hill and joined the Army in 2001. He served for a year in Korea before being assigned to his unit in Texas, where he was trained in evaluating obstacles and operating conditions for tank maneuvers.

Joseph was a big, broad-shouldered man who liked to watch wrestling on TV. According to his friends, Joseph liked to spend his spare time in the base gym, working out with weights. In the evenings, he would try out wrestling moves on his Army buddies. He was contemplating enrolling in a pro wrestling school in Austin once his Army days were done. He was recognized for his attention to detail and thoroughness, and will posthumously receive the Bronze Star and Purple Heart medals.

Finally, as we remember Spc. Norquist today, I take great pride in joining Joseph's parents, Carl and Sue, his friends and fellow soldiers to recognize and salute the accomplishments and contributions of Joseph Carl Norquist.

Mr. Speaker, I rise today to honor a great man and public servant, Mr. Weldon Rucker, for his 31 years of service to the community. Today, Mr. Rucker retires as City Manager of the City of Berkeley in California.

Weldon Rucker is a 42-year resident of Berkeley and proud husband of Jeanie Rucker, a former member of the Berkeley Unified School District Board of Education. They have two adult daughters and two granddaughters. He is a graduate of Saint Mary's College and holds a bachelor's degree in business management. On the national stage, Mr. Rucker serves as Vice President of the National Forurn of Black Public Administrators.

Mr. Rucker leaves behind a legacy of outstanding public service and leadership. He began his career with the City of Berkeley in the early 1970s as the City's Director of the Young Adult Project and then as Youth Employment Director. Rucker moved through the ranks of the City's administration, occupying the positions of Director of Human Resources and in the late 1980s and early 1990s as Director of the Health and Human Services Department.

He was appointed to the position of City Manager in February 2001 after having served as acting City Manager following the departure of his predecessor. Rucker previously served as an Interim City Manager in 1995 but declined an appointment to the City's top post at that time.

Under his leadership, the City of Berkeley has taken numerous initiatives to address chronic issues within the City and to firmly establish an open, accessible, and efficient City government.

Mr. Rucker is directly responsible for establishing the Office of Neighborhood Services, a direct link between City staff and the public that works to ensure fast and effective responses to local concerns. Under Neighborhood Services, Weldon set four full-time code enforcement officers to maintain close tabs on problem properties, graffiti, and illegal dumping among many other issues.

In an effort to improve access to city government, he also established the City Center, a one-stop information center for residents to help them navigate City bureaucracies and to provide answers to frequently asked questions and common requests. City Center provides information to thousands of residents and has proved to be an invaluable community resource.

Finally, as we honor Mr. Rucker today, I want to thank him for being an exemplary role model, administrator, and leader. I take great pride in joining the residents of Berkeley, Mr. Rucker's family, friends and colleagues to recognize and salute the accomplishments and contributions of Weldon Rucker.

Mr. Speaker, today I am introducing H.R. 3386, The New Partnership for Haiti Act of 2003, which will help Haitians overcome the many social, economic, and physical challenges currently facing the country.

Today in Haiti only 45% of Haitians have access to safe water and 28% have access to sanitation. Seventy-six percent of Haiti's children under the age of five are underweight, or suffer from stunted growth and 63% of Haitians are undernourished. Eighty percent of the population lives in abject poverty and the unemployment rate is estimated to be around 60%.

My longstanding interest in ending the AIDS pandemic has brought focus on Haiti, with 90% of all HIV/AIDS cases in the Caribbean. As we combat global HIV/AIDS, malaria and tuberculosis, maternal and child mortality, and many other life threatening diseases, we must address the long-term effect of dilapidated physical and health infrastructure and abject poverty throughout the world, including in Haiti.

My bill, the New Partnership for Haiti Act of 2003 offers a comprehensive plan for future engagement between the U.S. and Haitian Government. This legislation partners Haitians and Americans together to execute an environmentally sound approach to rebuilding Haiti. Its major provisions are aimed at developing basic sanitation, water, and other health infrastructures in Haiti.

The New Partnership for Haiti Act would bring the U.S. Army Corp of Engineers to train and educate Haitians on how to rebuild, pave, and maintain roads to provide access to rural and urban areas and to health clinics. It will commission environmental impact studies for these projects, focusing on long term, environmentally sound solutions--not short term remedies.

Haiti needs assistance in addressing its long-term health infrastructure development. The most basic of these needed development challenges is water. How can Haiti begin to combat its enormous health problems without basic clean and safe water?

Haiti's water quality is life-threatening. In a study released in May of 2003, Haiti ranked last in the world for water quality. The New Partnership for Haiti Act will provide funds and expertise through USAID to partner with Haiti on rebuilding of sanitation, water purification projects, and education for Haitians on how to maintain these systems themselves in the future. This bill will help Haitians build and maintain safer, quality sewage systems and safe water delivery for both urban and rural communities.

The New Partnership for Haiti Act will start a pilot program for American Health Professionals and also Engineers who are interested in going to Haiti and helping with the development process.

It is my hope that a transfer of knowledge from U.S. professionals in the fields of health and engineering to Haitians will ensure long term development and guarantee the success

of the programs similar to the success of the Global Fund and other international initiatives. By widening the knowledge base of non- governmental organizations and professionals in Haiti, the U.S. will take advantage of a unique opportunity and obligation towards Haiti's future.

We worked together to get the humanitarian loans, which had been held up by the InterAmerican Development Bank officially released on May 9, 2003. It is my hope that we can continue to push for the full release of these loans and the potential for future humanitarian grants through the IDB. I also believe we must move forward on establishing a health infrastructure for efficient delivery of these health and social sector funds.

Today I submit this legislation, and thank all of my original cosponsors: Reps. Donna Christensen, Elijah Cummings, Bennie Thompson, Al Wynn, Donald Payne, Sheila Jackson-Lee, Juanita Millender-McDonald, Robert Wexler, John Conyers, Corrine Brown, and Major Owens.

I look forward to the support of my colleagues and the Administration.

Mr. Speaker, I rise today to honor the memory of an extraordinary woman, Faith Fancher. Faith passed away in her home in Oakland, CA, on October 19, 2003, at the age of 53 after a long battle with breast cancer.

Faith Fancher was a popular reporter with KTVU Television, Channel 2 and the recipient of numerous awards. Her plight was well-known to thousands of KTVU viewers after she disclosed that she was being treated for the disease. She hoped her story would teach others the benefits of early detection, so she allowed her friend, Elaine Corral Kendall and a camera crew to follow her treatment, which began in the Spring of 1997. ``Faith's Story'' aired for three nights and won an award at the American Medical Association International Health and Medical Film Competition in 1997.

Faith was born in 1950 in Franklin, TN. She is the wife of Mr. William Drummond, professor of Journalism at the University of California, Berkeley campus. They met in 1979, in Washington, DC, while both were working at National Public Radio. They were married on October 20, 1982. Faith leaves behind one

stepson Sean Drummond and one stepdaughter Tamberline Drummond of New Jersey.

Faith graduated valedictorian of her class from St Francis de Salle Boarding School for Girls in Powatan, Virginia in 1967. She earned a Bachelor of Science degree in Education and English from the University of Tennessee at Knoxville summa cum laude in 1972 but her real education began with her broadcast career. Her first job was at WBR in Knoxville, TN. She was the first Black female journalist in Knoxville.

Faith Fancher was a remarkably strong human being. Her spirit-filled life inspired many to do good, to be humble, and to stay positive. Her smile, her diligent and dedicated work--in spite of the odds--kept hope alive for many. Faith's love for the human family transcended artificial barriers and truly united us. Faith touched the lives of many, and as we celebrate her life, let us rededicate ourselves to her values and her vision for a better world. Faith lived a life filled with ``faith, hope, and love.'' For this, we are deeply grateful.

To Faith's family, friends and fans, I extend my deepest sympathy.

Mr. Speaker, I rise today to honor James W. Head on the occasion of his retirement as President of the National Economic Development & Law Center (NEDLC). James has provided creative leadership and inspired vision for seventeen years. He leaves behind an organization that is nationally recognized for its success in creating strategies to address the economic and social conditions of low income and communities of color.

James is a pioneer in the community economic development (CED) movement. Along with being NEDLC's longest serving President, he served on the Board of Directors of the National Congress for Community Economic Development and led the formation and served on the Board of Directors of the California Community Economic Development Association, it's California statewide affiliate. During his tenure, the CED movement grew to encompass over 3,000 organizations.

Additionally, Mr. Head was instrumental in the expansion of the number of federally-funded legal services programs that provide CED representation and the formation and support of CED pro bono legal services within the private bar. He has also trained hundreds of law students in CED, and led the formation of numerous law school CED clinics and courses.

Within his field, James is a national leader in developing new strategies for securing jobs for disadvantaged persons. He promoted the sector concept, which links low-income and communities of color with regional labor markets. Under his leadership, the National Network of Sector Partners, an association of over 150 sector practitioners, was founded. Sector initiatives are being used by public agencies, community groups and Workforce Investment Boards across the county. As well, James is recognized for his work in developing new tools for investment in low-income communities. He played a key role in the creation of the Community Capital Investment Initiative, a model program that will result in the investment of millions of dollars in the San Francisco Bay Area's poorest communities.

Lastly, I would like to applaud Mr. Head for his efforts to promote the Community Reinvestment Act of 1977 as a tool for bringing new financial resources to impoverished communities. James chaired the Consumer Advisory Council of the Federal Reserve Board, promoting community banking and helping leaders understand the potential market in low-income areas. He served on the Board of Directors of the California Reinvestment Committee, a statewide advocacy organization that holds financial institutions accountable for meeting the banking needs of low-income communities.

On behalf of the 9th Congressional District of California, I take great pride in joining his friends and colleagues to salute an extraordinary leader, James W. Head.

Mr. Speaker, this Wednesday, October 22, 2003, marks the 10th anniversary of one of our Nation's premier scientific research centers, the Advanced Light Source (ALS), a Department of Energy facility located at Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory. The 9th District of California is the proud home of this remarkable facility and many of the scientists, students and administrators at the ALS are my constituents.

The ALS is a national user facility that generates intense light for scientific and technological research. It produces light in the x-ray region of the electromagnetic spectrum that is one billion times brighter than the sun. As one of the world's brightest sources of ultraviolet and soft x-ray beams--and the world's first third- generation synchrotron light source in its energy range--the ALS makes previously impossible studies possible.

The light is directed along 27 different beamlines toward experimental workstations, giving a wide range of researchers almost simultaneous access to the light source. This extraordinary tool offers unprecedented opportunities for state-of-the art research in materials science, biology, chemistry, physics, and the environmental sciences. Ongoing research topics include the electronic structure of matter, protein crystallography, ozone photochemistry, x-ray microscopy of biological samples, and optics testing.

Since its inception in 1993, the ALS has been at the forefront of science. Among its many accomplishments, it has helped reveal how bacteria resist antibiotics, how inexpensive and efficient solar cells can be fabricated, and how strange substances like quasicrystals possess properties never before seen. And among the ALS's many distinguished users is Roderick MacKinnon, a biophysicist who recently won the Nobel Prize in Chemistry based in part on research conducted at ALS beamline 5.0.2. His prize-winning foray into the properties of ion channels in cell membranes could lead to potential treatments for diseases like cystic fibrosis, epilepsy, and heart arrhythmia.

In the future, the ALS will stay at the forefront of science thanks to the dedicated staff at Lawrence Berkeley Laboratory and the more than 1,200 scientists who each year travel from around the world to conduct cutting edge research.

I ask my colleagues to join me in congratulating the dedicated employees at Lawrence Berkeley Laboratory past and present who have worked so diligently to reap the full benefits of one of the world's great tools of science.

Mr. Speaker, I would like to acknowledge my California colleagues, Congressman Farr, Congressman Dreier, Congressman Calvert and Congresswoman Capps for leading the effort on this important legislation.

Preserving our California culture, art and history is a priority for our entire delegation as evidenced by this bill's long list of cosponsors. The $10 million this legislation provides for the 21 missions will stimulate our economy through tourism, the minds of our youth through education, and will help preserve our history for generations to come. I am a proud supporter of this bi-partisan endeavor to save and restore our historic landmarks.