Floor Statements

Offered By: Mrs. Maloney

Amendment No. 11: Under ``Minerals Management Service--

royalty and offshore minerals management'', after the first

dollar amount insert ``(increased by $1,000,000) (reduced by

$1,000,000)''.

Offered By: Mrs. Maloney

Amendment No. 11: Under ``Minerals Management Service--

royalty and offshore minerals management'', after the first

dollar amount insert ``(increased by $1,000,000) (reduced by

$1,000,000)''.

Madam Speaker, I rise today in support of H. Res. 751, recognizing the cultural and educational contributions of American Ballet Theatre.

For 65 years American Ballet Theatre has educated and inspired us through their artistry and commitment to bringing dance to America and American dance to the world.

While ABT is truly a national company and has performed for countless people in all 50 states and 42 countries, I want to speak today about the special relationship between American Ballet Theatre and the city of New York.

In my district we have been the beneficiaries of six decades of American Ballet Theatre's world-class art. Next week, ABT will open their annual engagement at the Metropolitan Opera House, performing their renowned mix of great ballet classics and challenging new works.

These performances are a primary reason that American Ballet Theatre is universally regarded as one of the world's great ballet companies. From the scale of the productions to the artistry of the dancers, ABT's performances are truly something to behold and I encourage my colleagues to see one of their engagements at the Kennedy Center, in New York City, or in your home state.

ABT's importance to my city transcends these annual performances at the Met, however. Every year the company performs a second series at smaller venues in New York, allowing ballet fans the unique opportunity to watch many of the world's greatest dancers in an intimate setting and enhancing New York's status as one of the world's cultural capitals.

Beyond their performances, American Ballet Theatre's educational mission and their focus on bringing ballet and the classic arts to audiences that otherwise would not have access is truly special. For over 10 years, ABT has offered extensive outreach and in-school arts programming in public schools, completely free of charge. ABT focuses its efforts in underserved communities and ``at-risk'' schools in New York, bringing the arts to schools that suffer from budgetary cuts to arts programming, and they reach over 20,000 New York students each year. During the 2006 spring season at the Metropolitan Opera House, ABT will distribute 10,000 complimentary tickets to New York students who would not otherwise have access to ABT's incredible artistic resources.

American Ballet Theatre truly is an American treasure, and should be recognized for enriching the cultural landscape of New York and our country. I want to thank my cosponsors and the leadership of both parties for bringing this resolution to the floor. And again, I encourage all of my colleagues to experience the talent and artistry of American Ballet Theatre.

Mr. Speaker, I rise today in strong opposition to the tax reconciliation conference report, H.R. 4297, that will cost $70 billion over 10 years and provides little to no tax relief for working American families. Today is yet another missed opportunity by the Republican-controlled Congress to provide real tax relief to working families. For example, this bill would extend the capital gains and dividends tax cut set to expire in 2008 for an additional 2 years through 2010. While on the other hand, the bill would only provide a 1- year extension in relief for the Alternative Minimum Tax (AMT) that affects an estimated 15 million middle-class taxpayers and already expired in 2005.

Originally intended to ensure the wealthy taxpayers paid their fair share, the AMT has become a tax on the middle-class. Without adjustments for inflation like the federal income tax, the AMT targets a growing number of people each year. Those most affected by the AMT are taxpayers in States like my home State of New York, with high property taxes, high local and state income taxes, and high sales taxes. These taxpayers are middle-class families. Instead of taking this opportunity to pass real AMT reform, the House Republicans have chosen to barely patch this problem without providing any real relief for working families.

Making matters worse, this conference agreement also drops three provisions in the Senate bill that would have rolled back nearly $5.4 billion over 10 years in unneeded tax breaks and loopholes for the oil industry. This is truly unbelievable when we see oil companies earning record profits and consumer paying record prices.

I wish this Congress could get their priorities straight and pass real AMT reform and provide leadership for true fiscal responsibility.

Mr. Speaker, I rise today to congratulate a constituent of mine who is being honored by the American Bar Association (ABA) as a recipient of their Pro Bono Publico Award. Ms. Steinberg is being recognized by the ABA for her work in assisting families of World Trade Center Victims.

I will be submitting for the record the ABA's description of her service, but I also want to personally recognize the work that she has done for our community. I have been proud to work with Ms. Steinberg to draft legislation, H.R. 3575, The September 11th Family Humanitarian Relief and Patriotism Act. This legislation would provide humanitarian assistance to the non-citizen victims of 9/11 by providing them with an adjustment of their immigration status. Ms. Steinberg's commitment to this legislation is a very personal one, as she has dedicated countless hours assisting these families. I commend her commitment to humanity and I congratulate her on this well deserved recognition by her peers.

ABA's Description of Debra Steinberg's work:

debra brown steinberg

Ms. Steinberg led the Cadwalader firm's 9/11 pro bono

efforts providing representation of families of World Trade

Center victims. She personally represented several families

of 9/11 victims. Furthermore she played a leading role in the

creation and development of the New York Lawyers for the

Public Interest 9/11 Project which came together in early

October 2001.

She drafted The Association of the Bar of the City of New

York's comments on the interim and final regulations for the

9/11 Victim Compensation Fund, she drafted a substantial

portion of the 9/11 Victims and Families Relief Act in NY,

and she's assumed a leading role in advocating at both the

state and national levels on behalf of victims' families. In

particular, she drafted substantial portions of legislation

to provide legal recognition and protection to family members

of non-citizen victims of the attacks--the September 11

Family Humanitarian Relief and Patriotism Act (pending in

both the House and Senate).

Ms. Steinberg's public service was honored in the United

States House of Representatives (May 18, 2004) and in a New

York State Senate Legislative Resolution (April 29, 2003).

Ms. Steinberg also received the New York State Bar

Association's 2003 Pro Bono Service Award.

Mr. Chairman, I thank the gentlewoman for yielding.

Mr. Chairman, I rise in strong support of this amendment. This amendment is about treating the women who serve our country in the United States military fairly and with respect.

Current law forbids female military personnel from obtaining abortions using their own funds from overseas military hospitals. This amendment allows U.S. servicewomen access to reproductive health care abroad, just as they would receive at home.

A male member of the armed services needing medical attention receives the best, and all his medical needs are covered. But a female member needing a specific medical procedure must return to the United States, often at great expense, or go to a foreign hospital, which may be unsanitary and dangerous. This is absolutely wrong and unfair.

No taxpayer money would be used to fund any abortions. The servicewomen themselves would pay for their own care. The amendment would simply lift the ban on privately funded abortion care in U.S. military hospitals.

Right now, many women are overseas protecting our constitutional rights. We should protect their constitutional rights by passing this amendment.

Madam Speaker, last week's economic news underscored major flaws with the Bush economic policies. The economy is growing and productivity is high, but the benefits of growth are showing up in the bottom lines of companies, not in the paychecks of American workers.

Last Friday, while the Commerce Department reported a rebound in GDP from a weak fourth quarter, the Labor Department reported that a key measure of the compensation paid to workers failed to keep up with increases in the cost of living. The typical family is seeing its economy squeezed by rising costs of gasoline, health care, and college educations.

The President and his colleagues on the other side of the aisle are more interested in fiscal policies that worsen the budget deficit than in addressing the real economic challenges that are facing America's working families.

Mr. Speaker, I rise today to share with my colleagues a wonderful speech made by Nanor Harutunian of the Armenian Youth Federation at a recent event that I attended in New York City to commemorate the 91st anniversary of the Armenian Genocide.

The speech reads:

Your eminence Archbishop Oshagan Choloyan, Reverend Clergy,

Government Officials and Honored Guests.

In the words of Martin Luther King Jr.: ``Our lives begin

to end the day we become silent about things that matter.''

Silence, is a spoken language in itself. Silence may often

speak louder than words. Silence, verbalizes fear, ignorance,

tacit agreement, carelessness, and defeat. What it does not

portray is anger, persistence, perseverance, knowledge, and

strength. The Armenian Youth Federation will never be silent.

We will continue to speak for justice and truth.

As the Armenian Youth, the AYF was built on the endurance

and determination of its ancestors. Determination to keep our

nation and our country united, free and independent. It is

this determination that we possess when we hold the Turkish

government accountable for the Genocide of the Armenian

people 91 years ago. We stand united not only as an

organization but as a people to honor the memory of over one

and a half million Armenians killed at the hands of the

Ottoman Empire. It is by educating ourselves that we become

empowered. It is through this education that we can make a

difference. We are the children, grandchildren, and great

grandchildren of those Armenians who were forced out of their

homeland, of those Armenians who perished. We have worked and

will continue to work with other communities to raise

awareness of crimes against humanity. We have held protests,

rallies, vigils and memorials in the name of justice and

honor.

Dr. King also said ``The ultimate measure of a man is not

where he stands in moments of comfort and convenience, but

where he stands at times of challenge and controversy.'' If

one is afraid to stand up for what he or she believes in,

then it is not worth believing in anything at all. We stand

for recognition and reparations. Our ancestors had their

families, homes, culture, and country taken away from them.

The Armenian Youth Federation calls for the atrocities of the

past to be recognized. Only by first recognizing the past,

can we truly recognize our future.

Mr. Speaker, when President Bush took office 5 years ago, the average price at the gas pump was $1.45. It has more than doubled over the past 5 years. And Republicans over the past 5 years have controlled the House, the Senate and the White House. Washington Republicans have done nothing to pass a sound energy policy that would wean us from foreign oil, create conservation programs, and provide incentives to develop alternative fuels, programs that would help us provide consumers some relief.

It took Republicans 4 years before they finally passed an energy bill, but that bill continued massive subsidies to the oil industry like the rip-off ``royalty in kind'' program. The President's own Energy Department admitted at the time that the energy bill would do absolutely nothing to lower gas prices. Five years of Republican power, and 5 years of no positive results for the consumer.

Mr. Chairman, I rise in strong opposition to H.R. 4975, the so-called ``Lobbying Accountability and Transparency Act.''

The time is long past due for meaningful lobbying reform. We have seen scandal after scandal emerging in the past year that has demonstrated that the way business has been done in Washington must be changed.

The public deserves to have an open government with honest elected officials who are truly acting in the best interests of their constituents, not their own personal or financial interests.

It's time for the culture of corruption to end.

Yet the bill that has come to the floor today does little to reform the lobbying process. I am disappointed that the Rules Committee failed to make in order numerous Democratic amendments that would have enacted fundamental changes including a substitute amendment that contained provisions from the ``Honest Leadership and Open Government Act'' which I and many of my Democratic colleagues have cosponsored. This legislation, among other important provisions, would clean up the government contracting process, ensure that votes on the House floor are not held open for hours to twist arms, and ban gifts from lobbyists.

This is not a problem requiring only cosmetic solutions. This is a serious problem that needs fundamental reforms to restore the integrity not only of the political process, but of Congress.

We must act to restore the public's confidence in their House, the people's House.

I believe that true reform must include the proposals put forth in the ``Honest Leadership and Open Government Act,'' and since the Majority has refused to let that happen, I will oppose the bill before us and I urge my colleagues to do the same.

Mr. Speaker, I rise in honor of Holocaust Remembrance Day, Yom

HaShoah, to pay respect to the millions of Jews who perished as a result of the Holocaust. Today more than ever, it is important to recall the insanity that swept through Europe and allowed ordinary men and women to become mass murderers or to permit others to turn a blind eye to the killing. We need to remember the six million Jews whose lives were cut short because of a concerted effort to annihilate an entire people. Their deaths were not the natural result of war and deprivation. They were killed intentionally and for no other reason than that they were Jews. We should also celebrate the brave individuals who sheltered, cared for and protected Jews despite the danger to themselves.

It is shocking to find that a mere 61 years later, Iran's President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad is openly denying the very existence of the Holocaust. President Ahmadinejad stunned the world last December when he made a speech declaring that the Nazi's mass murder of Jews during World War II was a myth. Foreign minister Manouchehr Mottaki affirmed that Holocaust denial is now the official Iranian government position. ``The words of [President] Mahmoud Ahmadinejad on the Holocaust and on Israel are not personal opinions, nor isolated statements but they express the view of the [Iranian] government,'' Mottaki said.

In March 2006, at the initiative of Iran's Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, state-run Isfahan University sponsored a conference to `re-examine the scientific evidence for the Holocaust.' More conferences are expected, as Iran tries to wrap its insupportable views in scholarship. Unfortunately, these Iranian leaders are giving voice to a view that is becoming all too common.

After President Ahmadinejad spoke, the vast majority of world leaders immediately condemned his irrational claims. UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan urged all UN members to ``combat such denial and to educate their populations about the well established historical facts of the Holocaust, in which one third of the Jewish people were murdered along with countless members of other minorities.'' I believe we need to take affirmative steps in the United States to make sure that our young people understand the horrors of that evil time. That's why I introduced the Simon Wiesenthal Holocaust Education Assistance Act of 2005, to ensure that programs are developed throughout the country to teach young people about the millions who died and the terrible repercussions of unfettered hatred. I am pleased that Senator Menendez introduced a companion bill in the Senate today.

As the generations who survived the Holocaust pass away, we need to make sure that new generations know the horrors of that terrible time. We need to make sure that those who would deny the existence of the Holocaust do not have the ability to rewrite history. The pain of those who perished at the hands of the Nazis is all too real. We have an obligation to remember a time when pure evil swept the globe, millions were swallowed up in the gas chambers and the Jewish people were nearly wiped out of existence. As Simon Wiesenthal said, ``For your benefit, learn from our tragedy. It is not a written law that the next victims must be Jews. It can also be other people. We saw it begin in Germany with Jews, but people from more than twenty other nations were also murdered.''

Mr. Speaker, as a proud member of the Congressional Caucus on Armenian Issues, and the representative of a large and vibrant community of Armenian Americans, I rise to join my colleagues in the sad commemoration of the Armenian Genocide.

Today we declare to people living in every comer of our globe that the Turkish and American governments must finally acknowledge what we have long understood: that the unimaginable horror committed on Turkish soil in the aftermath of World War I was, and is, an act of genocide.

The tragic events that began on April 24, 1915, which are well known to all of us, should be part of the history curriculum in every Turkish and American school. On that dark April day, more than 200 of Armenia's religious, political and intellectual leaders were arrested in Constantinople and killed. Ultimately, more than 1.5 million Armenians were systematically murdered at the hands of the Young Turks, and more than 500,000 more were exiled from their native land.

On this 91st anniversary of the beginning of the genocide, I join with the chorus of voices that grows louder with each passing year. We simply will not allow the planned elimination of an entire people to remain in the shadows of history. The Armenian Genocide must be acknowledged, studied and never, ever allowed to happen again.

I recently joined with my colleagues in the Caucus in urging PBS not to give a platform to the deniers of the genocide by canceling a planned broadcast of a panel which included two scholars who deny the Armenian Genocide. This panel was to follow a documentary about the Armenian Genocide which aired just last week. Representative Anthony Weiner and I led a successful effort to convince Channel Thirteen in New York City to pull the plug on these genocide deniers.

The parliaments of Canada, France and Switzerland have all passed resolutions affirming that the Armenian people were indeed subjected to genocide. The United States must do the same. I will not stop fighting until long overdue legislation acknowledging the Armenian Genocide finally passes.

Of course, an acknowledgment of the genocide is not our only objective. I remain committed to ensuring that the U.S. Government continues to provide direct financial assistance to Armenia. Over the years, this aid has played a critical role in the economic and political advancement of the Armenian people. I have joined with my colleagues in requesting military parity between Armenia and Azerbaijan in the FY07 Foreign Operations Appropriations bill. We also have requested an adequate level of economic assistance for Armenia and assistance to Nagorno-Karabakh.

On this solemn day, our message is clear: the world remembers the Armenian Genocide, and the governments of Turkey and the United States must declare--once and for all--that they do, too.

Mr. Speaker, today I am again re-introducing legislation that is intended to help solve the shortage of available, affordable child care facilities. In my congressional district in New York City, more than half of all women with pre-school children are in the workforce and the need for child care is enormous. This is not a local problem but one that is national in nature.

The Children's Development Commission Act or Kiddie Mac, will address this problem by authorizing HUD to issue guarantees to lenders who are willing to lend money to build or rehabilitate child care facilities. It also creates the Children's Development Commission which will certify the loans and create federal child care standards. Kiddie Mac will also give micro-loans to facilities which need to make the necessary changes to come up to licensing standards, as well as provide them with lower cost fire and liability insurance. Through some of the premiums paid by the lenders, a non-profit foundation will be formed which would focus on research on child care and development, as well as create educational materials to guide potential providers through the certification process.

I have introduced this legislation in several past Congresses but the need for it has only grown more acute. I urge my colleagues to consider the proposal and join me in enacting it this year.

Mr. Speaker, I thank the gentleman for yielding and for his leadership on the Rules Committee.

As we can tell by the debate, there were a number of critical issues, the warrantless wiretaps and many others, that were denied by this restrictive rule.

It has become clear to me that the Republican leadership of this House simply does not care about protecting the civil liberties of the American people.

Last night, in a bipartisan effort, Congressman Shays and I went before the Rules Committee for the fifth time, seeking the opportunity to debate an amendment that would create the Privacy and Civil Liberties Board as envisioned by the 9/11 Commission. This morning, we learned for the fifth time in a row that the Rules Committee has denied this House even the opportunity to debate this important amendment that is supported unanimously by the 9/11 Commission and by the 9/11 families.

This is just the latest in a series of actions by the Republican House leadership to deny us the opportunity to have a full debate on the protection of our civil liberties, and I want to make sure that people listening know the track record of this House.

When we were considering the intelligence reform bill that enacted many of the 9/11 Commission's recommendations, it was this House that refused to include a committee-approved, bipartisan amendment to create this board in any legislation passed by the House of Representatives. It was this House that stripped the Privacy and Civil Liberties Oversight Board's subpoena power, bipartisan makeup, and qualifications requirements during conference negotiations. All of these provisions had passed the Senate, a vote of 96-2, but the House of Representatives struck it out.

It is this House that has refused amendments by members of the Intelligence Committee to require a budget line for this board and the authorization we are voting on today backing up the President's action to defund the board in his budget. And it is this House that denies our repeated attempt to even debate an amendment that would give the board the power and authority that it needs to do the job. I hope the American people are watching, because this House refuses to do anything to protect the civil liberties of the American people.

And I would like to quote from the 9/11 Commission report where they said, ``If our liberties are curtailed, we lose the values that we are struggling so hard to defend.''

Again, they have spoken out many times in support of this Civil Liberties and Privacy Board that would provide balance and restraint to the National Intelligence Reform Act, and I urge my colleagues to have a strong ``no'' vote on this restrictive rule.

Mr. Speaker, I rise today to acknowledge American Business Media, ABM, located in my congressional district, as it celebrates 100 years of service to business media and the American economy. ABM is the not-for-profit, global association for business information providers, including producers of magazines, Web sites and digital content, trade shows, newsletters, rich data, custom publishers, as well as conventions, conferences, seminars, trade shows. ABM's 300 member companies represent about $20 billion in annual revenues and include such respected brands as Dow Jones, Forbes.com, The Economist, Farm Journal, Google, PC World, plus about 5,000 additional print and electronic titles, and 1,000 trade shows. Its mission is to help business information providers excel at their tasks and provide the best intelligence available to their readers--the captains of industry.

Established in 1906, ABM has a staff of specialists in governmental affairs, marketing, communications, promotion, education and finance. More than 20 active ABM member committees regularly assess developments in the industry and formulate the Association's positions on key issues. ABM hosts prestigious editorial and creative excellence awards programs, and initiates events that are focused on enhancing the knowledge of and providing services to members and the industry. ABM offers a first-rate opportunity for networking and creative peer interchange at these meetings, and brings together thousands of the best minds in business information each year.

I congratulate American Business Media on this momentous occasion and wish it continued success.