Floor Statements

Madam Chair, I want to thank the gentlewoman from California and the other gentlewoman from California for their stellar and steadfast leadership on these and other matters that the American people are facing.

Madam Chair, as a member of the Energy and Commerce Committee and both the Congressional Black Caucus and the Progressive Caucus, I am pleased to come to the floor in support of three budget alternatives that reflect the Democratic priorities and values.

Today, I want to highlight the value added to the Democratic budget by the two alternatives and thank my colleagues who supported the CBC budget alternative. The CBC and Progressive budget alternatives offer to the American people and to this Congress rational budgets that are fiscally sound and morally responsible.

The Congressional Black Caucus and Progressive Caucus alternative budgets invest Federal resources in programs that benefit the constituencies of all the Members of this House: education, health care, economic opportunity, retirement security, and homeland security.

The CBC and Progressive alternative budgets make these investments while reducing the Federal deficit, which has spiraled out of control and out of sight over the last 6 years of Republican rule.

The CBC and Progressive Caucus alternatives make necessary investments in minority health care and for community health centers that provide critical health services to urban-based congressional districts like mine, and rural-based congressional districts as well, and investment in the care and treatment of victims of HIV and AIDS.

The CBC and Progressive Caucus alternatives invests in our Nation's veterans by restoring the cuts the President's budget proposed in the veterans health care and veterans benefits.

Madam Chair, I urge my colleagues to join me in support of the American people and in support of the CBC and Progressive Caucus alternative budgets.

As a member of the Energy and Commerce Committee and both the Congressional Black Caucus and the Progressive Caucus, I am pleased to come to the floor in support of three budget alternatives that reflect the Democratic priorities and values.

For the first time in more than 13 years, the Budget Committee's resolution fulfills many of the critical commitments that Democrats made to the American people in the last election: that we would reduce the Federal deficit and make investments in the key domestic programs that are so important to our constituents, and I will be proud to support it. Today, I want to highlight the value added to the Democratic budget by the two alternatives.

The CBC and Progressive Caucus alternatives offer to the American people and to this Congress rational budgets that are fiscally sound and morally responsible. The CBC and Progressive Caucus alternative budgets invest Federal resources in the programs that benefit the constituencies of all of the Members of this House: education, health care, economic opportunity, retirement security and homeland security. The CBC and Progressive Caucus alternative budgets makes these investments while reducing the Federal deficit--which has spiraled out of control and out of sight over the last 6 years.

The Congressional Black Caucus and Progressive budget alternatives focus on addressing the disparities that exist in America's communities and invest in the future of this Nation by fully funding the No Child Left Behind Act, expanding the Head Start programs, and funding the SCHIP program so that every uninsured child can have access to medical care. The CBC alternative also provides needed funds to rebuild schools and colleges damaged by Hurricane Katrina.

The CBC and Progressive Caucus alternatives make necessary investments in minority health and for Community Health Centers that provide critical health services to urban-based congressional districts like mine and rural-based congressional districts as well, and investments in the care and treatment of the victims of HIV and AIDS.

The CBC and Progressive Caucus alternatives invest in our Nation's veterans by restoring the cuts the President's budget proposed in veterans' health care and benefits. To meet these critical needs of America and its citizens, the CBC and Progressive alternatives repeal some of the tax cuts to the two top income brackets. Even after funding our domestic priorities, both of these alternatives achieve significant deficit reduction.

Madam Chair, I urge my colleagues to join me in support of the American people and in support of the CBC and Progressive Caucus alternatives.

Mr. Speaker, today marks an historic vote, one that will go down in history and signal a turning pointing in the war in Iraq. Much like the vote authorizing the President to go to war in 2002, this vote will be a defining moment, and one that will be discussed and debated for years to come.

While I do not believe this is a perfect bill, I personally would vote to bring our troops home today if that was an option, in fact this bill is the best compromise that could be adopted. Finally, there is an end in sight to this ill-conceived war, and Congress is sending a message to the Iraqis, that our sons and

daughters will not continue to shed blood to defend their country indefinitely.

We are sending the Iraqi government a message, that the time to step up their own efforts to bring peace and stability to their own land is fast approaching.

Mr. Speaker, this vote is one of conscience and the decision to vote for or against it is deeply personal. But let us make no mistake, the consequences of our actions here today will be widely felt and the impact will be broad and far-ranging. The American people are watching closely, and the eyes of the world are on us as well.

Today's vote is an example of what makes America great and what makes our democracy so strong. The fact that we, as elected Members of Congress, can express the will of the American people and compel the Administration to alter its misguided policies of war, demonstrates the essence of American society.

After years of having a free reign, with no accountability, consultation, or oversight from Congress, the President will now be compelled to listen to the will of Congress, and therefore the will of the American people.

Winning the war in Iraq will require a political and diplomatic offensive, not sending more of our men and women into harm's way to facilitate a civil war. With a clear conscience, but a heavy heart I cast my vote for the Iraq supplemental. My only solace is that we finally can see an end to this ill-fated war.

Mr. Speaker, I rise today to voice my extreme disappointment over the deplorable living conditions that our brave men and women of the Armed Services have been subjected to upon returning home from their courageous service in Iraq.

How can the same administration that is calling on these young soldiers to put their lives in harm's way over and over again, allow them, after they are subsequently injured, to come back to these shameful living conditions?

As a veteran, myself, I am truly ashamed and appalled. When our brave warriors are treated like second class citizens, after being injured fighting for the values and interests of this country, it sends a very dangerous signal to those presently serving in Iraq, as well as to those who are considering serving their country through military service.

Let us fix this mess today, and make the welfare of our Armed Service members a real priority, instead of treating them like pawns in this administration's war games.

Madam Speaker, I raise today to voice my support for this resolution. For too long now, under a Republican-controlled Congress and a Republican-controlled Senate, the President has been given a free hand and a blank check to conduct this war in Iraq, for far too long without any oversight, for far too long without any accountability from this the equal branch of government, this U.S. Congress. Madam Speaker, and because of the Republicans' unwillingness and the Democrats' inability to question the President or his administration about the conduct of this war, we now find ourselves embroiled in a civil war on a foreign soil.

We are not seen as liberators. We are seen as an occupying force on a foreign land. We are seen as an occupying army by the Iraqi people. Madam Speaker, we are trapped in a deadly situation where American soldiers and Iraqi citizens are targeted for murder, mayhem and maiming.

Many of our top generals and experts in this field have testified that the American troop presence is the biggest, largest, most provocative catalyst to the violence in Iraq. The Iraqi people are very suspicious of this administration and the motives of this President. And they do not view foreign soldiers in their cities, in their towns, in their homes as something that they desire.

So if the Iraqi people no longer want us in their country, and if the military objective, which was supposed to be the toppling of Saddam Hussein has been achieved, then why do we still have hundreds of thousands of our troops there?

Why on Earth are we sending more troops to this unstable and volatile area when it is obvious that the solution to this problem is not a military one, but a political one?

Madam Speaker, if we want to get out of this hole, then we must first stop digging. It is well past time for this President to finally understand that he cannot solve the world's problems with brute force, the American military, and our boys' and girls' lives. We must begin a serious and political and diplomatic effort in this region to hold the Iraq Government responsible for protecting its own people and to solicit comments from Iraq's neighbors as well as our friends and allies around the world to help stabilize Iraq and to rebuild that devastated country.

The Iraqi people do not want to see more American troops coming into their homes and into their cities. They want their chosen, duly elected leaders to step up to the plate and to protect them as they were elected to do. And they want their foreign occupiers to leave their homeland.

Madam Speaker, this is not hard to comprehend. Would we not want the same thing if a foreign military came and occupied our cities, our States, our Nation, our homes?

This war is draining American resources and stretching our military to the point where we will be unable to protect ourselves against any real threat to our national security. We know that to date over 3,000 American soldiers have lost their lives in Iraq, and more than $500 billion has been appropriated for this unjust and this misguided war.

Yet dispute these costs, neither the American people nor this Congress has been given a reasonable explanation or reasonable grounds for keeping American troops in Iraq to do the job that Iraqi soldiers should be doing for themselves.

Madam Speaker, because of our grave missteps, our enormous miscalculation, the situation in Iraq has steadily declined. And there is no evidence that increasing the number of American soldiers at this point will do anything other than provide more targets to the Iraqi insurgents and make the situation in Iraq even more volatile.

Madam Speaker, after being wrong on so many counts time and time again, I believe the stakes in this war are too high for us to continue to put blind trust in this administration. The world in which we live deserves more

Madam Speaker, I am against this troop surge because the American people and the Iraqi people want truth surge. They want strategy, not more of the same.

It is the job and the responsibility of this Congress to reflect the will of the people who have put us here, and demand that the Administration bring an end to this ill-fated war, not escalate it.

Believe me, Madam Speaker, it brings me no pleasure to have this debate and publicly disagree with the President, but my solemn oath to my constituents, as well as my conscience and integrity prevent me from doing anything less.

It is time for us to end our occupation in Iraq. I urge all of my colleagues to join me in supporting H. Con. Res. 63.

Madam Speaker, I rise today to acknowledge a woman who has touched the lives of so many people with her caring, her intelligence, her compassion and her generosity. This woman has been a friend and inspiration to me personally and has affected the lives of so many people here in the Congress, in the First Congressional District which I represent, as well as throughout the country, with her wisdom and her expertise in the legislative process.

Madam Speaker, I am referring to my deputy chief of staff and legislative director for the past 9 years, Mrs. Yardly Pollas-Kimble. It saddens me to announce that Mrs. Pollas-Kimble will be leaving my office and embarking on a career in the private sector, where I am sure she will continue to be very successful and widely acclaimed.

Madam Speaker, anyone who has worked on the Hill for any significant amount of time has probably heard of or worked with Mrs. Pollas-Kimble in some capacity. Not only has Mrs. Pollas-Kimble been the glue that has held my office together for so many years, but she is a person that countless other staffers from many offices on both sides of the aisle have come to rely on for information, for direction and for guidance. I don't know of anyone who has been so accessible to so many people, and always with a smile on her face, as Yardly has been.

Directing my legislative agenda for the past 9 years, Mrs. Pollas- Kimble has been someone that I have come to rely on deeply, and she has guided many legislative initiatives for my office, including the COPE Act, the Family Telephone Connection Protection Act, the Telecommunication Ownership Diversity Act, the Nursing Relief for Disadvantaged Areas Act, and the Payday Borrower Protection Act.

By the way, Madam Speaker, if any of my colleagues would like to sign on as cosponsors to any of these fine pieces of legislation, they can call Yardly today or tomorrow before she leaves.

But seriously, Madam Speaker, my office and Congress as a whole will truly be missing a jewel of a person when Mrs. Pollas-Kimble leaves the Hill. Rarely have I worked with a person who so seamlessly embodies the spirit of the American dream, with the perfect combination of ingenuity, creativity, class, compassion and intellect.

Born in New York City, and I won't say what year, Yardly moved with her family to Haiti when she was 8 years old. While in Haiti, Yardly saw both the natural beauty in the people, language and culture, as well as the poverty and destitution that she would later dedicate her life to helping to eradicate, not only in Haiti, but throughout the world.

After graduation from high school at the age of 16, which proves that she was a genius, Yardly returned to this country where she graduated from the University of Houston with her Bachelor's degree in politics. Yardly would go on to earn a Master's degree in public accounting and a Juris Doctorate from American University here in Washington, D.C.

After receiving her MPA, Yardly traveled to West and Central Africa, where she spent 2 years monitoring elections in fledgling democracies. While in Africa, Yardly was able to hone her multilingual skills, as today she is a fluent speaker of four languages, including French, Spanish, English and Creole.

While attending the University of Houston, Yardly would meet fellow classmates and future husband Kevin Kimble, and the two were married in 1992. Today they have two beautiful children, Anael and Kohl, who are both on the path to education and leadership.

Madam Speaker, I can't express how much Yardly has meant to my office, where she has been a trusted advisor, a confidant and a friend to me. Yardly has also served as a mentor and a tutor of the legislative process to everyone on my staff who has been a part of our family. Additionally, I cannot count the times I have seen staffers from other offices call or drop by to ask Yardly's opinions on specific legislation or the legislative process.

Madam Speaker, I have been truly blessed to have Yardly on my staff for so many years, and I am truly proud to call her a friend. I know she will be successful in future endeavors.

Madam Speaker, the NFL did not have a single black head coach in the modern era until the Oakland Raiders, your district, hired Art Shell way back in 1989. The reason for this was not simply because the NFL was considered a racist league, but it was that teams tended to hire people they knew, team owners hired the individuals who they were familiar with. And they looked for candidates that offered a comfort level and an image of what sports success had always looked like in the National Football League.

Unfortunately, that image was always white, that is, until now, Madam Speaker.

Madam Speaker, regardless of who wins this Sunday, although I proclaim victory, the owners and fans will hopefully realize that success is not always white and male. Hopefully, after Super Bowl XLI is concluded, NFL teams will truly seek to find the best and most qualified candidate to lead their teams, whether they look like Bill Parcells or Dennis Green. Hopefully, other African American assistant coaches and candidates for coaching positions who have never been given an opportunity to coach a team will finally have a chance to make a name for themselves rather than NFL teams continually recycling the same old faces regardless if they have ever been successful or not.

Who knows if it is mere coincidence or not that the Steelers, the Pittsburgh Steelers, hired young Mike Tomlin, the team's first black head coach in its 74-year history and, I might add, an assistant under Tony Dungy in Tampa Bay, on the same day that Lovie Smith and Tony Dungy made the Super Bowl.

Madam Speaker, it is always appropriate at this time to share gratitude and high regards for those individuals who make courageous decisions, and I share my gratitude and my high regards for Steelers owner Dan Rooney, the namesake of the so-called Rooney rule, the man who successfully lobbied in 2002 for a history-making rule that requires all NFL teams to interview minority candidates for coaching jobs before they hire their choices.

It is because of visionaries like Mr. Rooney that people like Lovie Smith and Tony Dungy were even given a chance to become a head coach in the NFL in the first place. And the whole NFL league, indeed the Nation, is better off because of it.

Madam Speaker, I would like to send my congratulations to both coaches, Tony Dungy and Lovie Smith, and to their teams, the Chicago Bears and the other team, and say, Go Bears this Sunday in Miami.

Madam Speaker, I name it and I claim it. On Sunday, the Chicago Bears will be the new NFL Super Bowl champions. And I know my friend and colleague from Indiana realizes that deep down in the pit of his heart.

Madam Speaker, I rise today to voice my strong support for H.R. 5, the College Student Relief Act.

This important piece of legislation will make it easier for all students to attend college, and help reduce the burden on middle class families struggling to give their children a chance for a greater future with more opportunities.

Madam Speaker, if education is truly a priority of this country and this government, then let us act now and put our money where our mouth is. There is nothing more important to the future of this country than providing all of our children with a great education, and preparing them for a world which they will someday be required to lead.

Providing our children with the opportunity to receive an affordable college education is a legacy we can all be proud of, and is one that can define this 110th Congress in the most positive light.

At a time when college education is continually skyrocketing and middle and lower class families are seeing their budgets being constantly squeezed, lowering the interest rates on college loans will help those who need it most in our society.

Though some will say that the American economy has been booming over the last few years, and they will point to record increases in profits, salaries, and bonuses as proof, unfortunately Madam Speaker, many Americans have been left out of this great wealth and prosperity.

Today, we have an opportunity to help all Americans. By enacting this bill we are extending the opportunity for a brighter future through education to all sectors and classes of our society. American families need this bill. America needs this bill.

According to the Congressional Advisory Committee on Student Financial Assistance, increased college costs will prevent over 4.4 million high school graduates from entering a four-year public institution over the next decade. I repeat, over 4.4 million, students will be unable to afford a quality college education over the next decade, Madam Speaker.

This restriction on higher education will not only hurt students and families, but it will have a devastating effect on our country as a whole.

At a time when the global economy is becoming more competitive and America's dominance in the fields of science, math, engineering, and technology is being challenged by countries all over the world, we need to be providing more opportunity to our best and brightest students, and give those who have been stuck in the generational cycles of poverty and despair, a chance to improve their life situations, and give their families opportunities that have eluded them in the past.

By the year 2020, according to the American Youth Policy Forum, the United States will be facing a dire shortage of college-educated workers that threatens our entire economy.

Madam Speaker we must act now to confront this threat. I urge all of my colleagues to join me in supporting this bill with bipartisan support, because doing so makes sense, and failure to do so will lead to consequences down the road that will affect our entire economy and way of life.

Mr. Speaker, I rise today to wish a very happy birthday to the former heavyweight champion of the world, and the undisputed greatest boxer of all time, Muhammad Ali.

Mr. Speaker, Muhammad Ali never shied away from speaking his mind on issues concerning racial inequality, social injustice and human rights issues, either while he was heavyweight champion, or today, as he continues to be a world leader on these issues.

Since retiring from boxing, Ali has raised over $50 million for charities here in the U.S. and around the globe, and he has delivered millions in food and medical supplies to countries throughout Africa and Asia.

He has been on international aid missions to Cuba, and he played a key role in getting American hostages released from Iraq before the start of the Persian Gulf war.

Muhammad Ali's penchant for peacemaking was recognized by U.N. Secretary-General Kofi Annan in 1998 when Ali was named a U.N. Messenger of Peace.

While serving at the U.N., he also worked to build the Muhammad Ali Center in his hometown of Louisville, KY, to promote respect, hope and understanding among all people, and which strives to help all individuals realize the greatness within them.

Standing on principle and never casting aspersions on those who challenged his moral convictions, Ali objected to the war in Vietnam, and refused to be inducted into the U.S. Army in 1967.

As a consequence, Ali was indicted for draft evasion, convicted, and was stripped of his boxing title. Eventually Ali was ultimately vindicated in the United States Supreme Court, which overturned his conviction, by a unanimous vote in 1971, but not before losing valuable years of his livelihood and being wrongly accused of being unpatriotic and disloyal to the country he loved so dearly.

Muhammad Ali would regain his boxing title in 1974, but far more important was the manner in which he wore the mantle of champion.

Mr. Speaker, Muhammad Ali is not only one of the greatest athletes of our time, he has become one of the most recognized and beloved people in the world, and he insists on using his celebrity to help his fellow man and woman.

His athletic prowess made him famous, but it is his heart and good deeds that will have cemented his place in our hearts forever.

Muhammad Ali is a hero in every sense of the world, and we all owe him a debt of gratitude for his role in making America a more conscientious and better country.

Mr. Speaker, I want to thank the chairman of the committee, Mr. Miller, for his outstanding work on our behalf.

Mr. Speaker, today is the day that the Lord has made. Let us rejoice and be glad about it.

Today we are here to honor our promise to the American people. They have asked us and we have promised to increase the minimum wage, and we are here to deliver on that promise. I wholeheartedly rise in support of H.R. 2, to increase the minimum wage from $5.15 to $7.25 an hour. The American people deserve better.

Mr. Speaker, raising the national minimum wage is a first step in reducing the poverty rate in America. America's families have seen their real income drop by almost $1,300 since the year 2000 while the cost of health insurance, gasoline, home heating and attending college have increased by almost $5,000 a year.

As you know, the minimum wage has not been raised since 1997, and that is inexcusable and unconscionable. Mr. Speaker, the Bible tells us that our servant is worthy of his hire. Well, the American people are certainly worth more than the current $5.15 minimum wage that they are receiving.

Again, I rise in support of this outstanding legislation, and I thank the committee and thank this chairman for being a stellar, outstanding leader in bringing more income to the American household.

Mr. Speaker, in 2004, my state of Illinois, had the 4th highest numbers of African Americans living with AIDS--nearly 8,000--of the more than 35,000 people living with HIV/AIDS. Despite the improvements in the health outcomes of AIDS patients in the general population, in communities of color AIDS is the leading cause of death of African American women between the ages of 25 and 34 and the third leading cause of death among Hispanics between the ages of 35 and 44.

Mr. Speaker, last week, the House Energy and Commerce Committee, on which I serve, reported H.R. 6143, the Ryan White HIV/AIDS Treatment Act by a vote of 38 to 10. While the bill is flawed in several respects--particularly in the level of funding that it authorizes to provide essential treatment and services to victims of HIV/AIDS--the legislation did, for the first time, codify the Minority Aids Initiative (MAI) as a separate title of the Ryan White CARE Act reauthorization.

This means that for the first time in its history, the Minority AIDS Initiative will become permanent law when H.R. 6143 is enacted.

The Minority AIDS Initiative is specifically designed to bridge the gap in HIV service delivery by providing culturally competent and linguistically appropriate HIV care and support services provided for under the MAI.

Since communities of color still account for a disproportionate number of HIV/AIDS cases, I am pleased that the Committee's bill took the first step in directing resources to address the problem of HIV/ AIDS in the African American community. It is my sincere hope that future Congresses will be able to more adequately address this epidemic.

Madam Speaker, I thank the gentlewoman for yielding this time to me.

I rise in support of this important bill to reauthorize the National Institutes of Health, and I want to thank both Chairman Barton and his committee staff and also the ranking member, Mr. Dingell, for working with me and my staff to accommodate my objectives and address the enduring problem of racial disparities in medical research and health care.

As I said during the Energy and Commerce Committee markup, politics is the art of the doable, the art of the possible. With regard to racial health disparities, this bill reflects a thoroughly negotiated compromise, and it does four outstanding and exemplary things.

First, it mandates that the director of NIH assemble all relevant information and data on health disparities research at the institutes in his critical role as portfolio manager.

Secondly, the bill includes reporting requirements on specific demographic information for its training activities at NIH. This addresses our deep-seated desire to determine the number and percentages of people of color as researchers at NIH.

Third, the bill designates health disparities as one of the 10 major categories subject to the summary reporting requirements by which NIH must now abide.

Fourth, it strengthens the mandate to verify that clinical trials are diverse and inclusive of women and people of color.

Madam Speaker, while I don't think this bill is a perfect bill, and many of us would have preferred a more aggressive agenda to tackle health disparities, these four provisions are significant, and they are worthy of support.

Let me close the same way I concluded my remarks in the Energy and Commerce Committee. I emphasized that the bill before us, the NIH Reform Act of 2006, is indeed just the beginning and not the end. Not only do I believe we can do more to compel NIH to aggressively address racial disparities in medical research, but we can do more to address racial disparities in all aspects of health care. And while I appreciate this bill's efforts to partly address this enduring injustice, and I know that the chairman and the ranking member worked hard to accommodate my concerns, along with the concerns of my colleagues on the Energy and Commerce Committee, I hope we will continue to work on this problem in a bipartisan manner that achieves lasting results.

Mr. Speaker, we are at a very dangerous point in time in our fight for human rights and human dignity as the atrocities in the Sudan continue to spiral out of control and hundreds of thousands of lives are held in the balance.

Millions of Sudanese have already been brutalized, raped, murdered, and displaced as the world stands idly by and waits to decide whether they are going to intervene or not on behalf of those victims.

Mr. Speaker, we cannot afford to wait any longer. This Nation, our Nation, America must reclaim its role as the world's moral leader and the world's greatest defender of the oppressed. At a time when we are asking others to trust our judgment and join us against tyranny, there is no other call as just as the one we face in Darfur.

America cannot and the world cannot continue to turn a blind eye to the atrocities taking place in Sudan. History would judge us harshly for allowing these acts of brutality to fester,

and this purge on humankind will forever and ever stain our collective memories.

President Bush, in looking back on these same atrocities that took place in Rwanda, once a very long time ago declared, ``Not on my watch.''

Indeed, all decent, responsible peoples now look back in disgrace and horror as we recall how genocide was passively allowed to take place in our modern and civilized world, and we did nothing, absolutely nothing, to stop it.

Today, as we face the same predicament, it is imperative that we act quickly and decisively to stop the brutality before it spreads any further, stop the rapes, stop the murders before they spread any further, because this type of mass murder and brutality not only hurts those who are being oppressed, but it also damages the souls and the psyches of those who stand by and provide no help. If we are the true leader of the free world, then America has the added responsibility and the duty to stand up and fight for the oppressed. We have the power. We have the prominence. We have the influence to act, and that is what we must do. We do not have to use brute force in Sudan to fight these atrocities, but at the very least, we must, we must, we must rally the world to this cause. We must show honor. We must show courage. We must lead others in this struggle for human dignity and respect.

My friends, this is not a Republican or a Democratic issue. This is not even an American issue. This is a human issue. And we all have a stake in the outcome, because if we live in a world where people are allowed to be mutilated and raped, where people can be pushed out of their homes and murdered indiscriminately and without reproach while the powerful just stand by and watch, then we are losing the war against terror, and the world we are leaving for our children will be one not worth fighting for.

We must act. We must act now. We must stop the murder and the genocide in Darfur.

Madam Speaker, I ask unanimous consent to have my name removed as a cosponsor of H.R. 65.

Mr. Chairman, I was disappointed with this bill during the mark-up in the Energy and Commerce Committee, and I remain disappointed with the final version on the floor today. With information technology, this Congress has an opportunity to revolutionize the way health care is delivered in this country, but this bill is weak and it merely props up the status quo. And, Mr. Chairman, this bill could actually make things worse.

My main concern is that underserved communities would not be a part of the health care information technology revolution. Too often communities such as those I represent where a disproportionate number are minority Americans and are the last to garner the benefits of new technological developments. As such, it is vital that any serious HIT bill have a funding component that aids low income providers. Unfortunately, this bill does virtually nothing to address this very serious problem.

Nor does this bill have adequate requirements for interoperability which is, of course, a very huge flaw. Many low-income residents in densely populated urban environments do not have a primary care doctor that serves as a consistent medical provider. Instead, these citizens often go from provider to provider, from clinic to clinic, and receive their health care only sporadically. As such, it is vital that all of these providers are connected to interoperable information systems, such that they are all able to communicate with each other and share necessary medical information. Without interoperability requirements, we are left with the possibility of a network of fragmented health care delivery systems that are not able to talk to each other and coordinate care.

Mr. Chairman, I must oppose this bill, and I urge my colleagues to oppose it also.

Mr. Speaker, I rise in the spirit of ``Just Do It.'' Congress must reauthorize the Voting Rights Act this week. No more delays, no more excuses. Just do it. Do it now. I say this with no degree of exaggeration. The Voting Rights Act is the essence of democracy.

Mr. Speaker, many of us, including myself, would not be here on the floor of the House of Representatives if it were not for the original Voting Rights Act of 1965. It is, quite simply, one of the most important laws in the history of our Nation. Accordingly, previous Congresses have consistently reauthorized and renewed the Voting Rights Act in a deliberative, bipartisan manner. We must do the same. Don't empathize. Just reauthorize. Just do it.

Mr. Speaker, as much progress as we made since the 1960s, we still must be vigilant. We still must strive for universal enfranchisement. For all of our successes, too many Americans face barriers to the basic right to vote.

Mr. Speaker, don't apologize. Just reauthorize. Just do it. No more delay. Let's get this work done and get it done today.