Floor Statements

Mr. Chairman, I offer an amendment.

Mr. Chairman, I yield myself 3 minutes.

This amendment, which I am offering with my good friend and colleague from New Jersey, Albio Sires, addresses prepayment penalties and prime loans. This is a well-balanced amendment that has gained the support both of consumer groups and industry.

Prepayment penalties are designed to deter borrowers from refinancing, or just paying off their loans. This seems unfair; why should anyone be penalized for paying off their loans? Why should borrowers not be able to take advantage of a better offer if it becomes available? Isn't that how the free market system is supposed to work?

The underlying bill prohibits prepayment penalties on subprime loans and requires that prepayment penalties on prime loans expire 3 months before a loan resets. But I think we need to offer all borrowers, including prime borrowers, an alternative to loans with prepayment penalties. At the most, prepayment penalties should last 3 years, the time needed for lenders to recover their investment.

Mortgage lenders argue that prepayment penalties enable them to offer loans at lower interest rates because they are assured of income for a period of time. Our amendment just requires them to offer prime borrowers an informed choice. If a lender offers a borrower a loan with a prepayment penalty, they also have to offer that borrower a loan with no prepayment penalty.

Also, our amendment would limit the period of prepayment penalties to 3 years and limit the amount of the penalty to 3 percent of the outstanding balance in the first year, 2 percent in the second, and 1 percent in the third. This standard has already been adopted in many States and is often referred to as the ``California standard.'' It represents what reputable lenders consider best practices. Prepayment penalties beyond 3 years are simply unjustified by any market need.

This is a balanced amendment that gives lenders adequate security and the option to offer prime loans with prepayment penalties, but also gives prime borrowers a choice to avoid prepayment penalties if they so wish. It is a sensible and necessary step to improved disclosure and improved choice.

I urge my colleagues to support it.

Madam Chairman, I reserve the balance of my time.

Mr. Chairman, I yield the remainder of my time to my colleague who has personal experience with prepayment penalty abuses.

Madam Speaker, by every measure the war in Iraq has cost Americans far too much, whether it's lives lost, dollars spent, or our reputation tarnished around the world.

House Democrats plan to send the President a smaller war funding bill than the one he requested but one with a bigger message: Start bringing our troops home now.

Without a change in course, the Congressional Budget Office has estimated that Federal spending on the war could reach $2.4 trillion by 2017. A new report from the Joint Economic Committee finds that when you add in the ``hidden costs'' of the war, such as higher oil prices, interest payments, and helping to take care of our wounded veterans, the total economic costs will rise by over $1 trillion to $3.5 trillion.

It's time for a new direction in Iraq.

Mr. Speaker, I rise in support of H.R. 3996, the Temporary Tax Relief Act of 2007.

The Temporary Tax Relief Act will provide immediate tax relief for working families by preventing 23 million middle class families from paying higher taxes this April. Without this legislation, these 23 million families will be subjected to the alternative minimum tax, including almost 111,000 of my constituents.

When the AMT was enacted, it was meant to ensure the wealthiest among us paid their fair share of a tax that was never designed to hit the pocketbooks of middle-class families. While this is only a temporary fix, I want to be clear that I hope we can move forward in the near future to provide a long-term solution to this problem. I am proud that Chairman Rangel has brought this fix to the floor today while still adhering to the pay-as-you-go promise this Democratic controlled Congress has promised the American people.

While fixing the AMT is of outmost importance, we cannot afford to mortgage our children's and grandchildren's future to pay for this tax relief. Our country is currently burdened with over $9 trillion of national debt, each American's share at nearly $30,000.

We simply cannot afford to keep adding to this. In addition to the AMT fix, this bill would increase the eligibility for the refundable child tax credit, it extends research and development tax credits to promote innovative and high-paying jobs, and we are providing tax relief to millions of homeowners suffering from the current subprime mortgage crisis.

One concern that I do have with this legislation is the potential that the change to the taxation of ``carried interest'' may have the unintended consequence of capturing certain real estate partnerships.

We should not treat capital gains in real estate partnerships as ordinary income. These partnerships invest their own capital and should continue to be taxed at the capital gains rate.

I have joined a group of my colleagues asking for report language to clarify this issue and I hope that this concern will be addressed before final implementation of this legislation.

Mr. Speaker, the Democrats in Congress are providing common sense tax relief for middle class American families and we are doing

it in a fiscally responsible way. I urge this bill's adoption.

Madam Speaker, I rise in strong support of this conference report, which keeps our commitments to our veterans and invests in critical domestic priorities to strengthen our Nation. By putting the needs of the American people first, we are moving in a new direction to make overdue investments in education, health care, and jobs. We're doing this in a bipartisan way: both pieces of the bill originally passed the House with strong bipartisan support.

I would like to thank Chairman Obey again for working with Representative Weldon to secure an important provision that Representative Weldon put forward in today's LHHS conference report that will ban the use of funds from being used to administer a mercury- containing flu vaccine to children under the age of three. This provision implements the policy advocated by the American Academy of Pediatrics, the U.S. Public Health Service, and vaccine manufacturers. Providing our children with safe vaccines is long overdue.

In addition to making vaccines safer, helping families pay for college, funding job training and providing for groundbreaking medical research, this bill helps the heroes of 9/11 who have become sick because of their work at Ground Zero. These are police officers, fire fighters, cleanup workers and others who risked their lives in the hours after the planes hit and risked their health in the weeks and months that followed, laboring in the toxic dust and fumes. For the first time, funding for 9/11 health needs is being included in regular spending. The $52.5 million included in the conference report will go a long way in providing medical monitoring and treatment for everyone exposed to the toxins of Ground Zero.

I have to emphasize again the ``everyone.'' I have always said that it shouldn't matter

what hat you were wearing after 9/11, because everyone was exposed to the same toxins. Provisions in the bill recognize that reality; for the first time residents, area workers and school children who were exposed to the deadly toxins will move toward having the same high quality care that responders have. We've been fighting for residents for a long time, and this is a giant first step in taking care of them. I want to sincerely thank Chairman Obey and his outstanding subcommittee staff for their hard work.

It is critical that the Federal Government step up to the plate and fulfill its responsibility to all the victims of the attacks of September 11. New Yorkers know it, people from everywhere else in the Nation know it, and this spending measure shows that Congress knows it, as well. The President should sign this bill to keep our commitment to our veterans and invest in crucial domestic priorities, so that we can show all Americans we're serious about putting the people's priorities first and ensuring that the heroes and heroines of 9/11 get the care they need and deserve. It is the least we can do as a grateful Nation.

Madam Speaker, on November 5, 2007, due to transportation delays I was unable to cast my floor vote on rollcall votes 1034, 1035, and 1036.

Had I been present for the votes, I would have voted ``yea'' on rollcall votes 1034, 1035, and 1036.

Mr. Chairman, I rise in support and thank Congressmembers Klein and Mahoney for their leadership.

I have long held the belief that we need solutions to the growing crisis of availability and affordability of homeowner insurance. That is why I was the sponsor of the National Catastrophe Insurance Act in previous congresses, which would have established a Federal reinsurance plan following a disaster with more than $50 billion in insured losses.

Right now we are seeing the consequences of not having these products available. In the wake of a series of devastating hurricanes, large swaths of our country are seeing insurance companies either leaving the market or premiums that are simply too high for homeowners to afford. The legislation before us focuses on stabilizing the catastrophic insurance market by expanding private insurance capacity to cover natural disasters and by helping States better manage risk. This legislation allows States to participate in the plan by allowing their State-sponsored insurance funds to voluntarily pool their catastrophic risk with one another.

The private market, and not taxpayers, will take on the risk through the purchasing of catastrophic bonds and reinsurance contracts. Just as I support other efforts such as TRIA to provide certainty after catastrophic events, I believe it is prudent to put in place a system that insures risk. This allows affected communities and our economy as a whole to respond to each and every disaster in a clear and rational manner while protecting the residents, and I urge my colleagues to support the bill.

Mr. Speaker, I rise in strong support of the underlying bill and the Baldwin amendment. ENDA will offer real protections to tens of millions of Americans now. Right now, far too many workers go to work every day fearing that they could be fired on the spot, no questions asked, if their employer discovered their sexual orientation. This year, it is legal in 30 States to fire someone simply because he or she is gay, lesbian or bisexual.

Hardworking, tax-paying Americans shouldn't be forced into the shadows, and they should not have to live with the constant, legitimate fear that they could lose their jobs. That is why I strongly support providing protection from discrimination to transgender Americans, and I will not rest until their right to live their lives free of fear, discrimination, and intolerance is the law of this land.

Mr. Speaker, I know from my years on the city council where we worked to pass similar legislation and my years in the women's movement that we need to make history now and pass the underlying bill and protect people here in America now.

No one should be discriminated against because of his or her sexual orientation or perceived sexual orientation. And this bill will also lay the groundwork to provide sorely needed protections in the future to countless more Americans who need and deserve them.

This historic advance for civil rights has been more than three decades in the making--and it has not come easy.

When Bella Abzug first introduced a sexual orientation civil rights bill in 1974, she was able to enlist only one cosponsor, Ed Koch, my predecessor in the district that I represent. It stood absolutely no chance of passage.

We've come a long way since then, but our progress has been hard- fought and incremental.

Most of our greatest legislative victories have only been achieved step by step. The measure before us today is by no means complete or definitive.

The sad truth is that transgender Americans need and deserve protection from employment discrimination. All too often they bear the brunt of brutal bigotry, and are subject to unspeakable hatred and violence.

That is why I strongly support providing protection from discrimination to transgender Americans. And I will not rest until their right to live their lives free of fear, discrimination and intolerance is the law of the land.

In 1986, when I served on the New York City Council, we succeeded in passing legislation to bar discrimination on the basis of sexual orientation in employment and housing. That bill had come before the Council repeatedly since 1971. It took 15 years, but we finally managed to pass it. It was only later that the Council enacted specific protections for the transgender community.

Many said the 19th Amendment didn't go far enough when that passed. While it gave women the right to vote, it didn't address a host of social inequities between men and women, many of which persist today. Decades after that Amendment was ratified, we passed the Equal Pay Act and title VII. And, while we still haven't passed the Equal Rights Amendment, I remain optimistic that our day will soon come.

The New Direction Democratic Congress passed a hate crimes bill earlier this year that included important protections for lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender people. And we hope to have another important victory here today. I'm confident these incremental successes will lay the foundation for additional protections for the entire LGBT community in the future.

And so, while I deeply regret that transgender Americans are not protected by the legislation before us today, I nonetheless urge my distinguished colleagues to support it. I do so with the knowledge and the determination that we will be back to continue to press the fight for all Americans to live free from discrimination.

I urge my colleagues to help make history today by supporting this landmark legislation and taking this important step towards ensuring that discrimination based on sexual orientation will not be tolerated in the United States of America.

I would also like to thank Speaker Pelosi, Congressman Frank, and Congresswoman Baldwin for their leadership in this critical battle for civil rights.

Madam Chairman, I rise in strong support of this bill, and I urge my colleagues to help make history today by taking this important step forward.

Madam Chairman, I rise in strong support of this bill.

I urge my colleagues to help make history today by taking this important step towards ensuring that discrimination based on sexual orientation will not be tolerated in the United States of America.

In the year 2007, it is legal in 30 states to fire someone simply because he or she is gay, lesbian, or bisexual.

Hardworking, tax-paying Americans shouldn't have to live with the constant, legitimate fear they could lose their jobs. No one should be discriminated against because of his or her sexual orientation or perceived sexual orientation.

This bill will also lay the groundwork to provide sorely needed protections in the future to countless more Americans who need and deserve them.

History has shown that progress in the struggle for civil rights has been hard fought and incremental.

Most of our greatest legislative victories have only been achieved step by step.

While the measure before us today is by no means complete or definitive, I believe that the passage of this measure today will lay the foundation to provide additional protections in the future for the entire LGBT community.

So while I deeply regret that transgender Americans are not protected by this bill, I nonetheless urge my distinguished colleagues to support it. I do so with the knowledge and the determination that we will be back to continue to press the fight for all Americans to live free from discrimination.

Madam Chairman, I rise today in strong support of the amendment offered today by my distinguished colleague, Congresswoman Tammy Baldwin.

Transgender Americans need and deserve protection from employment discrimination. All too often they bear the brunt of brutal bigotry, and are subject to unspeakable hatred and violence inspired by fear and ignorance.

That is why I strongly support this amendment to provide protection from job discrimination to transgender Americans.

Congress took an important step earlier this year when we passed a hate crimes bill that included protections for lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender people.

It is unfortunate that there is not at this time the same degree of support in the House to pass this measure.

Discrimination based on gender identity and gender expression should simply not be tolerated in the United States of America.

And, while there may not be enough support for us to pass this amendment today, I pledge to work with my distinguished colleague from Wisconsin and other like-minded Members to educate and persuade this House of the need to enact protections from discrimination for transgender Americans.

We will not rest until the right of every American, regardless of his or her gender identity or gender expression, to live free of fear, discrimination and intolerance is the law of the land.

I urge my distinguished colleagues in this House to strike a blow for justice and tolerance by passing this amendment.

I thank the gentleman for yielding.

I congratulate the dean of our delegation for his leadership on this important agreement, and I rise in strong support.

Mr. Speaker, I rise in support of the U.S.-Peru Free Trade Agreement.

This agreement represents a new direction for trade agreements.

This agreement will provide greater market access for and remove tariffs on American goods with a country that already enjoys the export of a number of goods to the United States duty-free.

Working off the historic agreement negotiated by Democrats in May of this year, this agreement has been negotiated to include critical labor and environmental provisions and will help ensure the economic and national security of the region.

It was the lack of these environmental and labor standards that led me to vote against the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) and the Central American Free Trade Agreement (CAFTA).

Among the labor standards negotiated in this agreement are worker rights and protections for which we have fought these many years.

As a result of the May 10 agreement negotiated by House Democrats, the labor chapter of the Peru FTA includes a fully enforceable commitment that countries adopt and enforce the five basic international labor standards.

In addition, this agreement also includes commitments to enforce a sixth set of rights--those pertaining to acceptable conditions of work with respect to minimum wages, hours of work and occupational safety and health.

This agreement includes critical new environmental provisions.

It requires Peru to adopt, maintain, and enforce obligations under seven common multilateral environmental agreements; specify numerous concrete steps that Peru must take to curb illegal logging and impose a clear schedule for doing so; and it gives the United States

an unprecedented set of enforcement tools to ensure that Peru meets its environmental commitments.

These provisions are a far cry from the ``enforce your own laws'' of NAFTA and CAFTA.

Beyond the labor and environmental standards negotiated in this agreement, I believe this agreement is a vital instrument towards economic and political security.

Having a strong and stable ally in Latin America will allow aid to the United States in our continued battle against narcotic trafficking.

Again, I support this agreement and I urge its passage.

Madam Speaker, I rise to pay tribute to Lenox Hill Hospital on the occasion of its 150th Anniversary. Lenox Hill Hospital is an accredited not-for-profit acute-care hospital and teaching affiliate of New York University Medical Center located on the Upper East Side of Manhattan in New York City. Lenox Hill Hospital has become renowned for furthering medical research and establishing a tradition of excellence in patient care. It has earned a national reputation for outstanding medical care and treatment.

Lenox Hill Hospital was established in 1857 as the German Dispensary and today provides specialty services and ground-breaking care for millions of patients each year. Approximately 45% of Lenox Hill Hospital's patients are from Manhattan. The remaining 55% come from Brooklyn, Bronx, Queens, Long Island, the Tri-State area and around the world. Lenox Hill Hospital is particularly well known for its excellence in internal medicine, cardiovascular disease, orthopedics, sports medicine, maternal/child health and medical research.

For the past 150 years, Lenox Hill Hospital has been a leading innovator in many fields of medicine, developing standards and practices that became models for other hospitals throughout the country. In 1897, the hospital installed one of the first X-ray machines in the United States. Ten years later, the hospital established the first physical therapy department in the country.

In 1938, Lenox Hill was the first hospital to perform an angiocardiogram in the nation and in 1955 it became one of the first hospitals in New York City to open a cardiac catheterization laboratory. The first coronary angioplasty in the United States was performed at Lenox Hill in 1978. In 1994, Lenox Hill Hospital surgeons pioneered minimally invasive direct coronary artery bypass surgery. In 2003, the first FDA approved drug coated stent in the nation was implemented at Lenox Hill. In 2006, Lenox Hill opened a new radiology center featuring the only SPECT-CT in the Northeast, a machine which allows physicians to see inside the body in great detail and a new 64- slice CT scanner, one of the most highly advanced computerized imaging technologies available today.

Lenox Hill is respected as a leading responder to health crises. When tuberculosis was becoming a growing public health threat, Lenox Hill Hospital was the first general hospital in the United States to open a tuberculosis division in 1908. In 1943, Lenox Hill Hospital sent its medical unit to England to maintain station hospitals for military personnel during World War II. In 1989, the hospital established the first Lyme Disease Center in New York City.

In keeping with its tradition of providing an immediate and necessary response during times of crisis, on September 11th, when terrorists struck the World Trade Center, Lenox Hill assembled a disaster team that came to the aid of hundreds of New Yorkers. The hospital set up a free walk-in Crisis Counseling Center as well as a blood donor center. Lenox Hill Hospital, as it has done in the past, provided aid to people when it was needed the most and became a beacon of hope for so many on that horrific day.

Madam Speaker, I rise to request that my colleagues join me in paying tribute to Lenox Hill Hospital and its legacy of medical innovation and excellence in patient care.

Madam Speaker, I rise to pay tribute to Orphans International Worldwide and to its dedicated Founder and President, James Luce. Orphans International Worldwide is an innovative interfaith, interracial, intergenerational and Internet-connected non- profit initiative that helps the world's disadvantaged orphaned and abandoned children meet critical needs. By realizing his dream of developing an extensive international network of affiliated organizations working to help the world's youngest and most vulnerable citizens to overcome extraordinarily difficult circumstances, Jim Luce has truly distinguished himself as an extraordinarily dedicated and effective humanitarian, activist, and philanthropist.

With its North American offices headquartered in New York's Fourteenth Congressional District, Orphans International was founded in 1999 by the former investment banker Jim Luce in response to the global crises confronting children in disadvantaged circumstances, including the worldwide AIDS epidemic, natural disasters, low health standards and inadequate medical care, and devastating poverty. Assuming a carefully structured, sustainable approach, Orphans International has adopted as its vital mission the worthy goal of ``Raising Global Citizens.'' The organization helps address both the immediate needs of orphaned and abandoned children and the long-term development goals of improving disadvantaged communities in its project nations, whose list is expanding to include Indonesia, Guyana, Haiti, El Salvador, Peru, the Philippines, Romania, Ghana, Sri Lanka, and Togo. In recognition of its effectiveness in serving disadvantaged youngsters around the globe, Orphans International Worldwide was recognized by the United Nations as an official Non-Governmental Organization in December 2006.

Today, Jim Luce and Orphans International Worldwide continue not only to assure the survival of the disadvantaged and abandoned children they serve, but also to enable them to become contributing members of a global society by rendering service to their local communities. Orphans International often operates in troubled, regions grappling with the fallout from disasters caused by natural, economic, and political conditions. Through its programming, Orphans International instills in those whom it serves the values of leadership, conflict resolution, diversity and tolerance, and global citizenship, frequently bringing American students into a global partnership to help achieve these laudable goals.

Madam Speaker, I rise to request that my distinguished colleagues join me in recognizing Orphans International Worldwide and its Founder and President Jim Luce for their tireless efforts to promote the well- being of orphaned and abandoned children and to help realize the innate worth, dignity and potential of all citizens of the world.

Madam Speaker, today the House Judiciary Committee will hold a hearing on the Trafficking Victims Protection Act. Sex trafficking has been called the slavery issue of the 21st century. And because girls and women are its victims, it is one of the great women's issues of our time.

The lives of trafficking victims are pure horror. These photographs that are in the current issue of Prism magazine include mug shots or photographs of trafficked women arrested for prostitution over periods ranging from 1 to no more than 3 years.

Better than words could ever convey, the photos display the destruction that takes place for hundreds of thousands of trafficked girls and women. Notice how when they were first arrested, they all look distinctly different. But in the end, they all look the same. You cannot tell the difference from one to the other. That is because they have been abused, psychologically battered, broken and devastated at the hands of their pimps.

We need effective prosecution strategies against their traffickers.

We need to protect the victims of the sex trade industry and punish the predators who exploit them.

Mr. Speaker, I thank the gentleman for yielding and I rise in support of this important legislation.

Mr. Speaker, I rise in support of H.R. 3920, the Trade Globalization Assistance Trade Act of 2007.

This legislation would overhaul the current Trade Adjustment Assistance, TAA, program to better meet the needs of American workers and communities affected by globalization.

This legislation passed the Ways and Means Committee by the strong bipartisan vote of 26-14 and I hope that we are able to provide a similar bipartisan vote again here today.

After years of trade policies that all too often diminished the importance of our workforce, today's legislation will rightfully support the working men and women in our country.

Specifically, H.R. 3920 would expand Trade Adjustment Assistance coverage to more workers, including service workers, and substantially improve the program's training opportunities and associated health care benefits.

The bill also creates new benefits and tax incentives for industries and communities that have been hit hard by trade.

Finally, the legislation would promote long-needed reforms to the unemployment insurance system, recognizing that all unemployed workers, not just those who lose their jobs because of trade, deserve our support in getting back on their feet.

I congratulate Chairman Rangel for bringing forth this important legislation and I urge all of my colleagues to support this important legislation.

Madam Speaker, I rise today in strong support of H.R. 3963, a revised version of the Children's Health Insurance bill which the President vetoed on October 3 despite strong bipartisan support. Like the original, this bill ensures health care coverage for 10 million children.

This bill will preserve coverage for all 6.6 million children currently covered and will reach millions more children who are currently eligible but not yet enrolled. It is vital that we pass this important legislation to ensure that our nation's children receive the health care they deserve.

We cannot allow our children to slip through the cracks.

An overwhelming majority of the American people and Governors of both parties support our efforts to provide health insurance for our children.

Democrats have reached out to Republicans to craft this revised bill to address concerns that were raised with the original bill.

Today's vote will give the American people the opportunity to see whether these were legitimate concerns or merely political excuses.

This revised bill gives the President another opportunity to protect America's most vulnerable children. Let's send the President this bill giving him the chance to finally get this right.

I encourage my colleagues to join me in fulfilling our moral obligation to our nation's children by supporting this bill and giving them the health care they need and deserve.

Madam Speaker, as a co-chair and co-founder of the Congressional Caucus on Hellenic Issues, I want to welcome Mr. Alexis Galanos, mayor of Famagusta, Cyprus, to Washington, DC. Mr. Galanos has an important message to share with those of us in Congress about how his city became a ``ghost town'' when Cyprus was invaded in 1974 by Turkey. Famagusta is a symbol of a divided Cyprus and a crystallization of the situation there since the invasion.

Famagusta was a thriving port city in Cyprus until 1974. Its industrial sector supplied vital jobs to the nearby population, and it was an important tourist destination. In 1973, 88.9 percent of all imports and 73.6 percent of all exports went through Famagusta.

Tragically, a few short weeks after Turkey invaded Cyprus, Famagusta was bombed relentlessly by Turkish troops. Greek Cypriots fled in terror, and the city was sealed off with barbed wire fences by Turkish forces. Ultimately, 45,000 citizens of Famagusta became refugees in their own country, losing their land, businesses, homes, and neighbors.

As a result of the Turkish invasion and occupation, 160,000 Greek Cypriots, amounting to 70 percent of the population of the occupied area and over a quarter of the total population, were forcibly expelled from their homes and approximately 5,000 Cypriots were killed. More than 1,400 Greek Cypriots, including four Americans of Cypriot descent, remain missing and unaccounted for since the Turkish invasion. Sadly, since the invasion, churches, monasteries, and cultural artifacts have been destroyed, looted, vandalized, and illegally excavated. Many of these priceless items have been sold on the black market. Today, thirty-three years later, Turkey continues forcibly to occupy more than one-third of Cyprus with more than 43,000 Turkish troops. It is time for Turkey to remove its troops from the island so that Cyprus can move forward as one nation.

Just this month, we passed legislation introduced by my fellow co- chair, Representative Gus Bilirakis, which expresses the strong support of the House of Representatives for the implementation of the July 8, 2006, UN-brokered agreement between President of the Republic of Cyprus Tassos Papadopoulos and Turkish Cypriot leader Mehmet Ali Talat relating to the reunification of Cyprus. I believe that passage of this resolution will be a positive influence in moving this process forward in preparation for new comprehensive negotiations leading to the unification of Cyprus within a bi-zonal, bi-communal federation. Additionally, I have introduced H. Res. 407, which expresses the strong support of the House of Representatives for the positive actions by the Republic of Cyprus aimed at opening additional crossing points along the cease-fire line, thereby contributing to efforts for the reunification of the island.

The people of Cyprus, and Famagusta, deserve a unified and democratic country, and I remain hopeful that a peaceful settlement will be found so that the division of Cyprus will come to an end.

Once again, I want to acknowledge Mayor Galanos for being a tireless advocate on behalf of the exiled citizens of Famagusta