Floor Statements

Mr. Chairman, I would like to thank Chairman Hunter, Ranking Member Skelton, and committee staff for including my legislation improving TRICARE dental coverage into this bill.

Currently, TRICARE will only pay for medically necessary dental work in a hospital if the condition has a medical component.

That means if a young child or disabled dependent has a serious dental condition and cannot be treated in the office, the general anesthesia costs get passed to the family.

As a former Army and private practice dentist, I can tell you that hospital dental care is medically necessary in limited cases, and that these costs are an unjust burden on military families.

This Authorization finally acknowledges that fact, and I urge its support.

Mr. Speaker, I rise today to congratulate Mr. and Mrs. Carl Rafoth of Augusta, GA on the occasion of their 70th wedding anniversary, which they celebrated on April 21, 2006. Carl and Hylda Rafoth were married on April 21, 1936, in Youngstown, OH. Carl supported his family of four children by working at the Islay Dairy Company in Youngstown. Since then, their family has grown significantly in size, as they now have 11 grandchildren and 14 great-grandchildren. Their family resides throughout the country in Georgia, Ohio, and Pennsylvania, where their children, grandchildren, and great- grandchildren hold fast to the work ethic and patriotism instilled in them by these two fine Americans.

Carl's and Hylda's many decades together exemplify our American values concerning the institution of marriage. They are committed citizens, and even in their golden years, they have never waned in actively serving their family, their country and their community in Augusta. Their service and dedication are a model for all Americans, and I come before the House with the hopes that they had a most memorable 70th anniversary.

Mr. Chairman, I rise in strong support of the Burton amendment. This commonsense reform requires colleges and universities receiving Title VI funds to disclose contributions and gifts under a publicly searchable database known as the Integrated Postsecondary Education Data system.

I generally believe that institutions of higher learning ought to focus their time and energy on the business of educating young people, not complying with burdensome reporting requirements. However, this particular case demands as much sunlight as humanly possible.

Over the last several decades, American students and faculty members have been bombarded with a steady stream of rhetoric attacking American foreign policy in the Middle East and throughout the world. Many refer to this as the ``Blame America First'' philosophy that permeates throughout college campuses and takes root in small yet influential international studies programs.

And while the so-called ``intellectuals'' hired to staff these programs are well within their rights to engage in important foreign policy debates, it is important to note that much of this debate is bought and paid for by, foreign entities that do not have American interests in mind.

In fact, a wave of foreign money from oil-rich countries in the Middle East, including Saudi Arabia, is directly responsible for funding programs on college campuses that produce vicious rhetoric attacking American foreign policy in the Middle East and the War on Terrorism. These centers purportedly train teachers and professors, supply materials, and often preach a radical anti-democratic and anti- Semitic agenda in our classrooms at every level.

Allowing the American people to access information will help them discern fact from fiction in the field of ``International Studies.'' The Burton amendment accomplishes this goal by giving average Americans the ability to connect the dots. After all, if an oil-rich sheikh funds a Middle East Studies program in the U.S. with millions of dollars, it stands to reason he might have an ulterior motive.

The American people deserve a right to know.

Mr. Speaker, I rise today to pay tribute to Raymond Floyd for his service to our Nation, the game of golf and the Masters Tournament. Few events in the world of sports can compare to the pageantry, beauty and grace of the Masters Tournament in Augusta, GA. And there are even fewer individuals who have contributed to that prestige as much as Raymond Floyd.

Early in his career Raymond Floyd became a role model for young people with his dedication to the game of golf, his family, and family values.

Raymond was inducted to the World Golf Hall of Fame in 1989. In 1992, he was honored as Golf World's ``Man of the Year.'' Then, in 1994, the Floyd family was named ``Golf's Family of the Year'' by Golf Week magazine.

Raymond Floyd's record in golf includes 62 victories worldwide. He won two PGA Championships, one Masters Championship, and one U.S. Open Championship. He played in eight Ryder Cup competitions and served as captain for another Ryder Cup Team. He holds numerous scoring and course records. He is also the only player to win on both the PGA and Senior PGA Tour in the same year. He has also joined the legendary Sam Snead in winning during each of his four decades on the professional tour.

In addition to his accomplishments playing on the course, Raymond Floyd has made a

name for himself in the art of golf course design. His understanding of the game of golf, combined with a desire to create courses that are both beautiful and challenging has resulted in numerous quality golf courses.

Mr. Speaker, Raymond Floyd is among the names of the other greats in golf history. His accomplishments on and off the course will live forever.

Mr. Speaker, there is a physician in my district who deserves the thanks of our Nation and this Congress for his actions in combat in Iraq.

Naval Commander Rich Jadick, MD, of the Medical College of Georgia in Augusta deployed to Iraq in the summer of 2004. He arrived just in time for the Battle of Fallujah, the heaviest urban combat American troops have endured in a generation.

Newsweek Magazine quotes Dr. Jadick's commander, Lt. Col. Mark Winn, that as a direct result of Dr. Jadick's courageous actions under fire, at least 30 U.S. Marines were saved from death.

During just 30 days of combat, Dr. Jadick treated over 600 Marines and Iraqi soldiers and civilians. He established a forward aide station well advanced beyond the safety limit prescribed for combat medical personnel. His courage in ignoring the danger to himself in order to provide life-saving treatment for wounded personnel led to his being awarded the Bronze Star with a ``V'' for valor.

Mr. Speaker, on behalf of the people of the Ninth Congressional District of Georgia, I commend and thank Dr. Jadick for his heroism and extraordinary service to his Nation and his fellow man.

Mr. Speaker, though I was absent on Wednesday, March 15, 2006, for personal reasons, I wish to have my intended votes recorded in the Congressional Record for the following series:

march 15, 2006

Rollcall vote 40 on Ordering the Previous Question on H.R. 4939-- ``aye.''

Rollcall vote 41 for the Adoption of the Rules for H.R. 4939-- ``aye.''

Rollcall vote 42 on Approving H. Con. Res. 190--``aye.''

Rollcall vote 43 on the Gilchrest Amendment to H.R. 4939--``nay.''

Rollcall vote 44 to pass H.R. 4944--``yea.''

Mr. Speaker, though I was absent on Thursday, March 9, 2006 for personal reasons, I wish to have my intended votes recorded in the Congressional Record.

March 9, 2006: Rollcall vote 33 on Ordering the Previous Question on the Rule for H.R. 2829--``aye''; rollcall vote 34 on Chabot amendment to H.R. 2829--``aye''; rollcall vote 35 on the Hooley amendment to H.R. 2829--``aye''; rollcall vote 36 on the Paul amendment to H.R. 2829-- ``nay''; rollcall vote 37 on the Rehberg amendment to H.R. 2829-- ``aye''; and rollcall vote 38 on the final passage of H.R. 2829-- ``aye.''

Mr. Speaker, though I was absent on Wednesday, March 8, 2006 for personal reasons, I wish to have my intended votes recorded in the Congressional Record for the following series:

Rollcall vote 21 on ordering the previous question for H.R. 710-- ``aye''; rollcall vote 22 on the motion to instruct conferees on H.R. 2830--``no''; rollcall vote 23 on H.R. 4192--``aye''; rollcall vote 24 on H.R. 1053--``aye''; rollcall vote 25 on H. Res 673--``aye''; rollcall vote 26 on H.R. 3505--``aye.''

I was absent on Wednesday, March 8, 2006, for personal reasons. My intended votes are as follows: Rollcall vote 27 on the Cardoza Amendment to H.R. 4167--``aye''; rollcall vote 28 on the Waxman Amendment to H.R. 4167--``no''; rollcall vote 29 on the Capps, Stupak, Waxman, Eshoo Amendment to H.R. 4167--``no''; rollcall vote 30 on the Wasserman Schultz Amendment to H.R. 4167--``no''; rollcall vote 31 on the Motion to Recommit on H.R. 4167--``no''; rollcall vote 32 on the Final Passage of H.R. 4167--``aye.''

Mr. Speaker, I was absent on Thursday, March 2, 2006, because of a recent death in the family.

Had I been present on rollcall vote No. 18 on the Previous Question on the General Debate Rule for H.R. 4167, I would have voted ``yea.''

Mr. Speaker, it is my honor today to bring attention to the fact that March 2006 is National Eye Donor Month. As a Member of the Energy and Commerce Committee's Subcommittee on Health and a recipient of organ donation myself, I am firmly committed to promoting organ, eye, and tissue donation.

I have been blessed with the same gift thousands of transplant recipients have received: the gift of life. Sometimes that gift comes in the form of a longer life. Other times, in the case of cornea transplant recipients for example, the gift is one of enhanced life, or the simple ability to continue every day activities. The recipient is allowed the opportunity to enjoy one of the things so many of us take for granted--a chance to see the world around us. Few of us know personally the challenges associated with lost vision, but the fact that our Nation's eye banks exist and have helped so many Americans is a testament to their good work. As our Nation's seniors live longer and vision issues confront the baby boom generation in record numbers, the challenge will grow

and the work of our Nation's eye banks will prove even more important. I know they are up to this new challenge and Congress must stand behind them.

The first successful transplant of cornea tissue was made more than one hundred years ago. Since then, advancements in medical technology have been phenomenal. Cornea transplants are now among the most common and most successful transplant procedures. More than one million people, ranging in age from nine days to 107 years old, have received eye tissue transplants.

All eye banks are not-for-profit organizations that are community- based and work with local philanthropic organizations, such as Lions Clubs, to educate citizens on the importance of donation. The community-based reach helps contribute to their success. Eye banks facilitate approximately 46,000 sight-restoring transplants each year. In my home state of Georgia, over 1,000 Georgians have been given the gift of sight with the help of the Georgia Eye bank and our ocular transplant physicians. Their success is a testament to their hard work but it also indicates that Congress must join eye banks in the struggle they face everyday.

The Eye Bank Association of America has been vital in advancing the cause of eye donation for the past 45 years. Their efforts to raise awareness and support for eye donation have done wonders for the development of safe and effective transplants. This year marks the 23rd anniversary of Eye Donor Month.

If you are not yet an anatomical gift donor, I encourage you to become one. I know all too well what may seem like a simple check on a card can mean to those awaiting a life-saving or life-enhancing donation. I continue my call and challenge to all Americans to discuss this issue with their families and consider becoming an organ, eye, and tissue donor. Such conversations must take place around the kitchen table, not after a loved one is gone. The process of becoming a donor takes just a few minutes, but its impact can last a lifetime for recipients. I also hope that people consider the merits of donating not just solid organs, but tissue and corneas as well. As our eye banks have proven, being able to give the gift of sight is truly a testament to our medical advancement.

As this month goes on, I encourage my colleagues to recognize the success of eye banks across our Nation and work to increase local awareness about corneal transplants and the importance of donation. Transplants that give the gift of sight change Americans' lives every day, and we must do everything in our power to support this effort. I, for one, will do my part and hope you will join me in saluting our Nation's eye banks during Eye Donor Month.

Mr. Speaker, there was a very subtle illegal guestworker plan stuck in the budget the administration just submitted to Congress. That budget calls for the United States to allow over one million new illegal immigrants to infiltrate our borders during 2007.

As a matter of fact, last year's budget is allowing one million illegal aliens to enter this year as well. That is how many immigrants enter our country illegally each year under our current enforcement plans.

We know it will happen because it happens every year under current enforcement policy; and we are going right ahead with the same old plan, knowing in advance that it will be a near total failure.

We continue talking about how we are adding 1,500 new border agents in 2007. That won't be in the field until 2009, letting another two million illegal aliens to walk across our border.

We talk about how we are adding technology and fencing, but that won't be ready until 2010, allowing another million illegals in our country.

Right now, with our current budget and reform plans, we are, by default, agreeing to allow an additional four million illegal aliens into our country. That is equivalent to the population of South Carolina or Oregon.

Think about that. We are being asked to add a 51st state populated entirely by low-income illegal aliens.

Mr. Speaker, I cannot find an excuse for this. We know right now how to bring this flood of illegal immigration to a virtual halt, and I think within the next 2 weeks. We need somewhere between 36 and 48,000 troops immediately deployed to the southern border.

Now, the Minuteman Project in April showed that with between 18 and 24 additional enforcement personnel per mile, we can effectively secure our border for the first time. And it was not just the Minuteman Project that revealed these statistics. The U.S. Border Patrol conducted similar demonstration projects in 1993. Operation Blockade in El Paso and Operation Gatekeeper in San Diego produced the identical same results.

We have a good idea on how much a deployment like this would cost. $2.5 billion a year. But, you know what? That is less than 4 percent of the minimum $70 billion a year we are currently spending covering the health care, education and the different costs for illegal immigrants.

We already know how long it would take to get these troops on line and end this nightmare. One week. That is how long it took NORTHCOM to place 70,000 National Guard and regular Army troops on the Gulf Coast in response to Katrina, and we are still railing about how that took too long. One week.

If the burden of the National Guard is too heavy, we can ask our governors to loan the Nation's 15,000 State defense forces to help. We can call up the Coast Guard Auxiliary and the U.S. Air Force Civil Air Patrol.

We have laws in place, thanks to changes we made in the 108th Congress. Title 32, Section 9, U.S. Code now allows our governors to call out their National Guard for homeland security missions such as this at 100 percent Federal expense.

Governor Janet Napolitano of Arizona has supposedly made such a call on the Department of Defense. Her State legislature voted earlier this week to force her to follow up on that request.

Mr. Speaker, we need every Member of the House to urge their Governor to deploy all necessary forces to combat this invasion. We need the President to order the Department of Defense to fund this mission at 100 percent, and we need new legislation forcing the issue if action is not forthcoming. We can solve this problem if only Congress has the will.

Mr. Speaker, today I would like to mark a milestone in Southern politics and culture by recognizing the 50th Anniversary of a culinary and political tradition in my district--Sconyers Barbecue Restaurant of Augusta, Georgia.

Those outside my region might not be aware of how much a role a successful ``barbecue'' plays in Southern hospitality and politics.

The first thing one needs to understand is that in the South, the word itself can be noun, a verb, or an adjective. It is more than food, it is a cultural identification, and one that crosses all party lines.

I don't think there is any better example of this than Larry Sconyers and Sconyers Barbecue Restaurant in Augusta, Georgia.

Sconyers Bar-B-Que was founded 50 years ago in 1956, when Claude and Adeline Sconyers could no longer make a living at farming and decided to give their hobby a try.

With all their children but one grown and no one to help them on the farm, they opened Sconyers Bar-B-Que on Peach Orchard Road, just about a mile from the Tobacco Road of Erskine Caldwell fame. The small restaurant was an instant hit, with classically prepared southern barbecue.

Larry Sconyers, Claude and Adeline's youngest son, took over the business after the death of his father. Under Larry's direction, the hobby grew into a major business in the Augusta area, with a move to a larger and more upscale location.

But Larry wanted to take the traditional southern barbecue to a higher level--catering.

Over the years Sconyers' Bar-B-Que has been served on the White House lawn for President Jimmy Carter and members of Congress, in Atlanta at the Georgia Capital as well as at many local and state events, including my own fundraising barbecues.

Larry's close ties with political events almost cost us this wonderful asset.

He was enticed to run for office himself, first serving as a Richmond County Commissioner from 1991-95, then as the first Mayor of a consolidated Augusta-Richmond County--Georgia's second largest city-- until he retired from direct politics in 1998 to return to the barbecue business.

All this isn't just me talking. Sconyer's Barbecue has been featured in People's Magazine as one of the top ten Bar-B-Que restaurants in the United States.

Mr. Speaker, on behalf of the people of the 9th District of Georgia, I commend Larry Sconyers, the Sconyers family, and the entire staff, past and present, of Sconyers Barbecue for a half-century of service and traditional southern hospitality to the people of East Central Georgia, the South, and the nation.

Mr. Speaker, I rise today to pay tribute to a courageous young man who died while serving our country in the war in Iraq. Corporal Anthony Thomas McElveen, Company F, 2nd Battalion, 7th Marines, 1st Marine Division, was killed by enemy action while conducting combat operations on December 1 in Fallujah, Iraq.

On behalf of the people of the 9th Congressional District of Georgia, I wish to extend condolences to Corporal McElveen's family and friends, and especially to his widow Carrie who resides in my district.

I also extend the thanks of our state and nation to a brave Marine and his family for their sacrifice in keeping the fight for our freedom on foreign soil. Corporal McElveen's courage, dedication to duty, and willingness to pay the ultimate price to preserve his country will never be forgotten.

Semper Fidelis.

Mr. Speaker, I thank my friend from Texas for the time.

Mr. Speaker, I rise in strong support of H.R. 4519, which would extend seed grant money for the creation and operation of high risk pools. I thank my friend, Mr. Shadegg, for bringing this. This is extremely important legislation. It has the potential, if it works right, to help all of us pay lower premiums in the future for our insurance policies.

This is a nonpartisan issue. High risk pools have quietly become very important and are a very important part of our Nation's public-private patchwork of health care coverage. The folks covered are often times employed. They are paying taxes. But they cannot get coverage under a normal insurance plan.

Pools are already covering thousands of people who through no fault of their own do not have access to group health insurance and cannot simply afford the coverage in the individual market. Thirty-one States are already operating high risk pools that offer good coverage at reasonable prices.

I hope with the passage of this bill my home State now will be able to join that number. Mr. Speaker, this legislation takes us a step closer to making sure that everyone can purchase the health insurance protection they need. I know the worries associated with a serious health condition, and my constituents know the danger that catastrophic health care costs can pose to working families, especially rural families and the self-employed. High risk pools reduce costs on the government in the long term by providing a private safety net of coverage.

I urge my colleagues to support this legislation, and I hope at some point in time we will take up Mr. Shadegg's idea of tax credits for health care. But in the meantime, we need to make sure we get these high risk pools in place, and that will allow many Americans to buy health care insurance because the premiums will be reduced.