Floor Statements

Mr. Speaker, I ask that the gentleman from New York, Peter King, join with me at this time.

It is a great honor for us at this time to present to you a young lady who did it the hard way. She's earned it. She's here with her husband, Bill, her mother, Pat, her dad, Jack. Bill and Katie, the children, are here. And symbolic of what a great country that we have during this time, a person with her credentials can go to the voters, and show that in this great country of ours, the people govern.

In order to give her the bipartisan support that she truly deserves, I would like to yield at this time to my friend, Peter King.

I present to you Congresswoman Kathleen Courtney Hochul.

I think those of us who are Members of Congress or within the Beltway understand that this is a political thing that's going on at one of the most serious financial times that our Nation is facing.

I only wonder whether or not our friends and creditors abroad, or those that respect the United States and even try to follow our fiscal ways in thinking that this is the strongest country in the entire world--for them to follow what we are doing, it is an embarrassment to the House, as well as the Senate, that the President of the United States of America would ask that our country be safe from a fiscal point of view by allowing the traditional increase in the debt ceiling. Notwithstanding the political differences we had, we come together as a Nation, not to play games on each other for political reasons, but we come together as a symbol for the free world to understand that if it's the United States of America, you can depend on us.

But now on the suspension calendar--which is an insult to those people who have studied the Constitution--in the House of Representatives, which is reserved for noncontroversial issues, when the whole world knows that this is controversial and is certainly not a subject that should be on a calendar called the suspension calendar.

So we still have some time to rehabilitate ourselves. I don't know how more ridiculous we can get, but I do hope that we avoid this in the future.

Mr. Speaker, I am recorded as having voted ``yes'' on H.R. 1216; it should have been a ``no.''

Mr. Speaker, May 20, 2011 marks the third anniversary of the Inauguration of Taiwanese President Ma Ying-jeou.

Much has transpired in those 3 years. Wars continue to plague our society. However, in the Taiwan Strait, tensions have abated and much of the credit must be given to President Ma for the courageous efforts he has made to lessen the tensions between China and the Republic of China (Taiwan).

While protecting the interests of the people of Taiwan, President Ma has made marked progress in the dialogue between the People's Republic of China (mainland China) and the Republic of China (Taiwan), thereby advancing peace in the Pacific.

For this he is to be congratulated and commended and we wish him much continued success.

Mr. Speaker, I rise to express my deep appreciation to the gracious hospitality President Lee Myung-bak of South Korea and his countrymen have extended to me, Secretary of Commerce Locke and my esteemed colleagues on the Ways and Means Committee--Representatives Jim McDermott, Joe Crowley and Dave Reichert--during our recent trip to the Peninsula as part of a trade delegation.

As a Korean War Veteran, I could not have been more proud to witness today's Dynamic Korea. Seoul's skyscrapers, booming businesses and rising apartment buildings are a testament to the resiliency and determination of the Korean people.

There are presently more than two million Americans of Korean descent living in our own country. In my home state of New York, there are more than 200,000 recent immigrants and native-born Korean-Americans who make significant contributions to our communities.

It is no wonder that trade and investment between the United States and Korea has been growing rapidly over the past few years. South Korea is the seventh-largest trading partner of the United States, with more than $80 billion in trade passing between our two countries. Korea is also the world's 11th-largest economy, the sixth largest market for U.S. agricultural goods, and the third largest destination for U.S. foreign direct investment in the Asia-Pacific region.

Korea has always been one of our closest and most important allies. Free trade between U.S. and Korea will strengthen our respective economies. In a speech to the American Chamber of Commerce in Seoul, Secretary Locke noted that ``the U.S.-Korea trade pact is the United States' most significant trade agreement in 17 years. And it's estimated to increase American economic output more than our last nine trade deals combined.'' In both countries, consumers will see lower prices for goods and services, businesses will have better access to supplies and technology, and workers will find more jobs available to them.

In addition, ratification of the agreement will enhance security and stability in Northeast Asia. A stronger South Korean economy is a bulwark against threats from North Korea. I remain astounded by the economic success that Korea achieved since I first landed at the Pusan Perimeter in the summer of 1950. There is such a satisfaction in knowing that the noble service and sacrifice of the nearly 1.8 million American soldiers, sailors, airmen and Marines were not made in vain.

On a personal note, I especially thank President Lee Myung-Bak and his Minister of Patriots and Veterans Affairs Park Sung-Choon for the moving ceremony held at the War Memorial of Korea in honor of my service and the U.S. veterans who fought to defend Korea sixty one years ago. Korea will always have a place in my heart as it does in the hearts of all veterans who have served then and those who serve now.

In closing, I extend my appreciation to Foreign Minister Sung-Hwan Kim, Trade Minister

Jong-Hoon Kim, and leaders in the National Assembly for their warm welcome. Our delegation is indebted to U.S. Ambassador Kathleen Stephens and her exceptional staff at the U.S. Embassy in Seoul, as well as Secretary Locke's Department of Commerce staff, for their outstanding support and professionalism that made our trip successful.

I am also grateful to my good friend, ROK Ambassador Duk-Soo Han, for his continuous work on strengthening the relationship between our two nations. He has been working tirelessly to move the U.S.-Korea FTA, and I look forward to the days and weeks ahead as the agreement moves forward and urge my colleagues to offer their own expressions of support.

Mr. Speaker, I want to indicate that I missed the last vote inadvertently; and had I been here, I would have voted in the affirmative.

Mr. Speaker, May 20, 2011 marks the third anniversary of the Inauguration of Taiwanese President Ma Ying-jeou.

Much has transpired in those three years. Wars continue to plague our society. However, in the Taiwan Strait, tensions have abated and much of the credit must be given to President Ma for the courageous efforts he has made to lessen the tensions between China and the Republic of China (Taiwan).

While protecting the interests of the people of Taiwan, President Ma has made marked progress in the dialogue between the People's Republic of China (mainland China) and the Republic of China (Taiwan), thereby advancing peace in the Pacific.

For this he is to be congratulated and commended and we wish him much continued success.

Mr. Speaker, I rise today, to recognize the lasting impact of the photo-journalists of the New York City Puerto Rican Community, as recently displayed at the 2011 New York Photo Festival.

The renowned exhibition features eight photographers, who during the 1970's and 80's catalogued the daily lives and growth of their community. Frank Espada, Joe Conzo, Pablo Delano, Perla de Leon, Ricky Flores, David Gonzalez, Maximo Colon and Francisco Reyes II all became voices of the community through their art. They captured on film the diaspora that makes New York City truly special as well as the everyday pioneers whose struggles inch our nation closer to our founding ideals.

During the decades that span these photos, the Puerto Rican community in New York rose up against prejudices that prevented them from enjoying their equal rights and established a more inclusive pride in their cultural heritage. Amidst the upheaval and hardships, these photographers captured the beauty in their surroundings. Today their work reveals a unique perspective into the rise of the New York's Hispanic Community.

I have attached for the record a recent Daily News article, written by Carolina Gonzalez previewing the exhibition.

Mr. Speaker, these photographers and their work must not be forgotten. Thanks to the efforts of Adriana Teresa Letorney, people from all over the district, the city, the country can discover the visual evidence of the Puerto Rican community in transition, from outcasts to vibrant, integral parts of our great nation.

[From the New York Daily News, May 11, 2011]

Exhibit Sshowcases Work of 8 Photographers Who Documented Puerto Rican

Community in '70s and '80s

(By Carolina Gonzalez)

Several people carry oversize papier-mache puppets

representing the Three Wise Men while others, dressed as

shepherds, herd actual sheep. They walk into one of the

arched passageways along upper Park Ave., making tracks in a

dusting of snow.

This scene from Dia de Reyes is instantly recognizable to

longtime New Yorkers familiar with El Barrio folkways. The

image, taken in 1978 by Frank Espada, is representative of

several dozen on display at a new exhibit dedicated to eight

Puerto Rican photographers documenting their community.

Titled ``Dia''--not after the Spanish word for ``day,'' but

after the Greek word for ``across''--the show is presented at

the FotoVisura Pavilion as part of the annual New York Photo

Festival, which opens today at DUMBO Arts Center, 111 Front

St., Brooklyn, and runs through Sunday.

The images are primarily from the 1970s and 1980s, set in

the South Bronx, East Harlem and the lower East Side. Many

were taken when the photographers were in their 20s.

``What I was looking for was a moment in time that the

Puerto Rican community took a stand in who they were and

started to develop its own voice,'' said curator Adriana

Teresa Letorney.

``It's important for my generation to see that, how this

group became a voice of a community.''

Letorney, who arrived from San Juan eight years ago to

study art, created FotoVisura, the organization sponsoring

the show, as a service for new and veteran photographers,

offering online space to show and share photographs.

``Dia'' is her first show dedicated entirely to U.S.-based

Puerto Rican photographers.

Some of Joe Conzo's shots document protests against the

1981 film ``Fort Apache, the Bronx,'' which many community

members saw as exploiting stereotypes of Bronx Puerto Ricans

as savage criminals.

An image by Espada of young dancers from Ballet Hispanico,

arms in the air and heads back, is as tender as any by Degas.

Some shots have elements burned into the popular

imagination as representative of Puerto Rican communities:

burned-out buildings, run-down businesses, dirty streets.

But as in several images by Pablo Delano, Perla de Leon,

Ricky Flores and David Gonzalez of happy children at play in

these settings, it is clear that where others saw ruins,

these shooters saw life.

For all the photographers, the work comes from a period

when they began to see themselves as serious shooters with a

responsibility to document their communities. But not all

ended up as fine-arts photographers.

Flores continues to work in journalism. Gonzalez is better

known for his journalistic writing, primarily at the New York

Times. De Leon is known as a filmmaker. Conzo's day job is as

an emergency medical technician, although he continues to

document hip-hop and salsa culture as a hobby.

Delano continues to work as a documentary photographer and

as a professor at Trinity College in Hartford, Conn. And

Espada, at 80 the oldest in the group, considers himself

``half-retired.''

The show is presented as a projected slide show, not a

traditional exhibit of printed photos. ``Having it be a slide

show in a way represents how this was a transient stage in

our lives, the impermanence of things,'' Flores said.

``Why aren't more people outside of our community aware of

what happened? How did our history get swept away?''

Mr. Speaker, I rise today, to recognize the lasting impact of a coalition from all across the country, now known as the Freedom Riders, who showed great acts of courage fifty years ago in 1961 to help pave the way for all Americans--regardless of color and background--to have the same opportunities to pursue their dreams. They traveled to the deep South to challenge the codified injustice in place and bring about an end of segregation.

James Farmer, the head of the Congress of Racial Equality, and his colleagues planned demonstration rides through the South because the Supreme Court's ruling of integration of bus and train stations and airports was not yet enforced. On May 4, 1961, thirteen riders--men and women, blacks and whites--left Washington, D.C. bound for New Orleans on May 17, the seventh anniversary of Brown v. Board of Education.

Between May and September of 1961, people of all ages, color and gender throughout the country traveled to Jackson, Mississippi. The Riders desegregated stations by entering the `wrong' waiting room, sitting at the `wrong' lunch counter, using the `wrong' restroom. They encountered severe prejudice and brutality. My dear friend and patriot, Representative John Lewis, was struck by a crate. Another good friend and colleague of mine, Representative Bob Filner, was arrested and incarcerated for two months after refusing to post bond.

Through their courage and determination, the Freedom Riders won. In September the

Interstate Commerce Commission issued new regulations mandating an end to segregation in bus and train stations. Their success inspired more people to participate in Freedom Rides elsewhere around the South during 1961. These Rides eventually led the movement to its landmark victories--the Civil Rights Act in 1964 and the Voting Rights Act of 1965. They continue to inspire a new generation of activists, such as the students of the New York State Youth Leadership Council, who invoked the memory of the Freedom Riders as they marched from places like Washington Heights in my hometown of New York City all the way to our nation's capital to demonstrate their support for the DREAM ACT.

Fifty years ago, Freedom Riders envisioned a country where everyone was given the equal opportunity to pursue their dreams. Thanks to their efforts, anyone in America can make his or her dream a reality by working hard with a can-do spirit. Today we honor the Freedom Riders by remembering their struggles and resolve, and by renewing our commitment to uphold their vision of promoting equal opportunity for all.

Mr. Speaker, I rise today, on National Teacher Day, to recognize the important work of nearly 4 million teachers in public, private, charter and religious education institutions all throughout our great nation.

Teachers go to work every day to educate, inspire and help children of all backgrounds to achieve their dreams and become successful. Among the eighty thousand educators in New York City is Dr. Althea Bradshaw- Tyson, principal of The Young Women's Leadership School (TYWLS) in my Northern Manhattan congressional district.

I had the privilege of visiting The Young Women's Leadership School (TYWLS) of East Harlem and seeing firsthand the extraordinary impact Dr. Bradshaw-Tyson and the teachers have had on their students. Under their guidance, TYWLS of East Harlem has made history and headlines by providing low-income students of color an outstanding college-prep education and by offering a personalized, dynamic, hands-on learning environment where girls thrive academically. Nearly every student of TYWLS graduates on time and attends four-year colleges.

At a time when our education system needs stronger support, our teachers are faced with innumerable obstacles. They are being blamed for the deficit, their rights taken away and wages slashed. Even worse, their livelihoods are being threatened by mass layoffs in school systems across America. Yet class sizes keep increasing as school budgets keep being cut.

We cannot hope to win the future without an educated and inspired workforce. Throughout this National Teacher Appreciation Week as we honor their invaluable service and efforts, let us remember the life- changing impact of outstanding educators such as Dr. Bradshaw-Tyson, and continue to support our nation's teachers.

Thank you for giving me this opportunity.

This substitute budget is listed as the ``Progressive budget.'' For reasons that clearly anyone can take a deep breath and see, as opposed to what Mr. Ryan is presenting to us as Republican, this is really what our country is all about: building on the great things that we've done and making certain that the young people who follow us will be able to say that we have improved their opportunities.

Make no mistake about it: Borrowing trillions of dollars and paying interest on that money puts us in a very bad economic position, not only in our country, but throughout the world. I assume that none of us here wants to spend a lot of time pointing fingers at each other about how we got to be where we are.

One thing is abundantly clear: If America is going to be progressive, it has to find a progressive solution in order to get out of that.

Thank you for this opportunity.

Unlike so many of my colleagues, I don't have any charts or anything to point out the direction in which I would want my great country to go, but I do have 40 young minds that come from the Frederick Douglass Academy, come from my alma mater on Lenox Avenue, come from Harlem. And in these minds are the dreams and the aspirations of all the young people that want to be a part of the progress that this Nation has made.

Most of them, their parents have never had an opportunity to go to college, but have been the recipients of

Pell Grants and other kinds of educational benefits. Most of their parents and grandparents have depended on Medicaid and Medicare. Most of these kids have dreams that most of your kids have today. It just seems to me that when they go home they should not be able to say that they witnessed the protection of the wealthiest people in the United States; but they should go home to say their dreams can be acquired, our Nation can be stronger, and they want to be partners in making certain that America can be all that she can be.

So as we welcome them, they are only symbolic, they are only representative of the young people of our great country, and I hope we can see clear to support them. Thank you for the opportunity.

Thank you, Madam Speaker.

As we're about to close this part of the legislative morning expressions of belief, I would just like to say that for decades, so many people have said that we can't tell the difference between Democrats and Republicans. Well, I think that is over, that the Republicans, in their Ryan-projected budget, have made it abundantly clear that there is a big difference.

All Americans--Democrats, Republicans, and independents--know that we have a tremendous deficit, that the interest is just blocking out programs that we have to support. While it's abundantly clear that there is an emergency that we have to deal with, the Republicans' method of doing this, through the Ryan budget, is to look for the most vulnerable people that we have--the poor that are sick, the older people that are sick, our young people that are trying to get an education.

It seems to me if we take a look at the alternative, in investing now for the future of this great country of ours, to make certain that education is a part of what we're doing, investing in our infrastructure so that as we pay off the debt we are still investing for the future, this is what the Democratic Party is all about. And, Madam Speaker, I truly believe this is what America is all about.

I am so glad you picked me at this time because I want to join the previous speaker in saying that the atmosphere and the attitude here is just too shrill. If we're dealing with the lives and the futures of the generations to follow, it should be in a different way. We should not just be fighting with each other.

So I make an appeal to ministers and priests and rabbis and imams to try to figure out, as we go into these holy holidays, whether or not the screaming is going to help or whether or not we're going to find ourselves with the lesser among us.

I don't know the whole story, but it runs something like: I was hungry, and you didn't give me anything to eat; I was thirsty, and you didn't give me

anything to drink; I was sick, and you didn't visit.

Well, it sounds like the answer that's going to be given is: Well, I told the State to take care of you. I'm sorry they didn't. Or, Don't you remember? I'm the guy that gave you a voucher. Or, I pulled myself up by my own bootstraps. Why can't you do it without a scholarship?

No, I think not. This great Nation was built to believe in God we trust. And it just seems to me when you're talking about the lives of our mothers and our grandmothers and the future of our children that all of the things we hoped and dreamed about, it's not going to be shattered by political budget ventures put together by the majority. If it's not stopped here, it's going to be stopped in the Senate or stopped in the White House. But I hope those that are listening that are involved in providing spiritual care, that recognize how important health care is for our sick and our poor, why don't you just write your Congressperson and share with us whether or not you think that we have an obligation to protect the wealthy among us rather than the lesser of our brothers and sisters.

We will be going home for a couple of weeks during these Easter holidays, and I do hope that all of us try to find out which side are we on: the rich or the lesser among us.

I thank you for the opportunity to greet a group of ministers that have come to the Nation's capital in order to support the resources to eliminate HIV and AIDS virus infections.

It is strange how God has made us forget the blessings that we have with good health until, of course, that health is endangered, and then we recognize that what we have depended on may be threatened or may be gone or may not even exist for the 40,000 people that don't enjoy health insurance.

But because this disease has such a stigma and because a million Americans suffer from it, and 500,000 Americans have died from it, it has been a very costly situation in terms of providing the medication to stop the disease and to prevent death. And death is certain without treatment.

These ministers have formed, some 20 years ago, in a group that was headed by Deborah House--and today it is directed by C. Virginia Fields, and Pastor Calvin Butts from the Abyssinian Baptist Church, a landmark in Harlem, New York City, and the country--have brought together ministers from all over the country as well as the National Medical Association and other outstanding people to make people aware of the fact that this disease is not only caused by the infection of the virus, but it's caused by reckless sex, unprotected sex, actions of men that are in prison, actions that when they come home they transmit through sexual activities to their wives.

So to a large extent, it is the ignorance of people that has caused this disease to explode and to spread beyond the communities where it was initiated.

It has cost a lot of money in order to make certain that we control the spread of this disease, but it doesn't really take that much money to be active in making certain that people are educated about the threat of those diseases.

And that is why they come to Washington today, when there is a belief that Medicaid that provides health care for the very, very poor--that it is not in jeopardy by people who want to transfer a Federal, a national, responsibility to the States, as we find proposals coming up this week.

That is why Medicare, which is a national program, is being threatened by the idea that people can get a voucher and go out and get insurance from an insurance company. Imagine going to an insurance company, being infected with AIDS, a terminal disease, and seeing what costs the private insurance company would ask you for without Federal assistance.

So it seems to me that all people--black, white, Catholic, and Protestant--could come together in terms of answering the question, How do you treat the lesser among us? How do you treat the poor in our community? And isn't it a fact that if we reach out a hand and provide the medicine and the support for those people who are infected with HIV and with AIDS, in the longer sense what we are doing is allowing Americans to be more productive, healthy, having healthy families and healthy children so that they will be able to get an education, a decent job, and provide America with the type of talent that is so important if we are going to meet the obligations of this new age where technology is going to be so important if we're going to be competitive.

So now is the time, where these ministers have come to our Nation's Capital, perhaps to reach out to people of

all faiths--whether they come from the mosques, whether they come from the synagogues, whether they come from our churches--to go back to the Biblical writings as we look at what we are faced with today. And that is, how does a great nation, as the United States of America--how do we treat our powerless? How do we treat our poor? What opportunities do we have for people who are poor to leave poverty and move to the middle class?

The answer to those questions, Mr. Speaker, is in our hands, and I do hope that we vote and do the right thing.