Floor Statements

Mr. Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may consume.

Mr. Speaker, as a member of the House Government Reform Committee, I am pleased to join my colleague in the consideration of H.R. 4586, the Benjamin Franklin Tercentenary Commission Act.

This bill, which was introduced by Representative Michael Castle of Delaware on December 16, 2005, and was unanimously reported by the Government Reform Committee on March 30, 2006, extends the authorization of the Commission until fiscal year 2009.

Mr. Speaker, in 2002 Congress created the Benjamin Franklin Tercentenary Commission, a panel of 15 outstanding Americans chosen to study and recommend programs to celebrate Franklin's 300th birthday and to mint a commemorative coin of Ben Franklin. Extending the Commission past 2007 to 2009 will allow the funds from the sale of the recently issued Ben Franklin commemorative coins to truly benefit the many Commission programs planned and underway to honor Ben Franklin.

The Benjamin Franklin Tercentenary, which was founded in 2000 by a consortium of five Philadelphia cultural institutions, is currently presenting an international traveling exhibition entitled ``Benjamin Franklin: In Search of a Better World.'' This exhibit has been organized to commemorate the 300th anniversary of Franklin's birth and will travel around the United States and France. The exhibit premiered in Philadelphia last year and just recently stopped in St. Louis, Missouri, and from there it would go on to Houston, Texas; Denver; Atlanta; London; and Paris.

Benjamin Franklin was this Nation's greatest citizen perhaps, diplomat, statesman. He was a scientist, a philanthropist, humanitarian, inventor, and humorist.

As a matter of fact, Mr. Speaker, I can remember when I was a child and found things to read that reading about Benjamin Franklin was really just simply one of the great joys of growing up, and I never will forget one thing that he said. I mean, he had all of these ideas about virtue, and he said on temperance, ``Eat not to dullness, drink not to elevation.'' And I was asking a young fellow the other day what that meant, and he said that Franklin was saying don't eat until you get too filled and don't drink until you get too high. So, obviously, there are a lot of people in our country and our society who could remember that.

But I am indeed pleased that we are recognizing the amazing achievements of Benjamin Franklin by celebrating his 300th birthday and presenting an international traveling exhibition.

I firmly support H.R. 4586 and urge its passage.

Mr. Speaker, I have no further requests for time, and I yield back the balance of my time.

Mr. Speaker, I yield such time as he might consume to the gentleman from New York (Mr. Israel), one of the great sons of New York.

Mr. Speaker, I would yield myself the balance of our time.

Mr. Speaker, as a member of the Government Reform Committee, I am pleased to join my colleagues in consideration of H.R. 5664, which names the postal facility in Babylon, New York, after Jacob Samuel Fletcher.

H.R. 5664 was introduced by Representative Peter King and strongly supported by Representative Israel. This measure, which has the support and cosponsorship of the entire New York congressional delegation, was unanimously reported from our committee on July 20, 2006.

Jacob Fletcher, a native of New York and graduate of Babylon High School, was a young man with a life-long goal

of joining the military. Finally at the age of 27, he was able to join the Army. A member of the 173rd Airborne Brigade, Private First Class Fletcher made an historic jump into Iraq on March 23, 2003, the first week of the war.

Sadly he was killed when a roadside bomb exploded the bus on which he was riding on November 14, 2003, in Samarra, Iraq.

Mr. Speaker, designating the Cooper Street Post Office in Private First Class Jacob Fletcher's name honors the tremendous sacrifice of this soldier, and demonstrates how much we value his life. I urge swift passage of this bill.

Mr. Speaker, I yield back the balance of my time.

Mr. Speaker, I ask unanimous consent to claim the time of Mr. DeFazio.

Mr. Speaker, first of all, I want to commend Mr. Payne of New Jersey and all of those who have demonstrated tremendous leadership on this issue.

I have been told time and time again that the only way that evil can triumph is when good people do nothing, and I believe it was Dante who suggested that the hottest places in hell are reserved for those who declare neutrality and do nothing in times of great crisis.

We have all heard of the atrocities that are continuously being heaped upon the people in the Sudan. It is now time for us to act, and to act convincingly. We have to ask ourselves the question, if not us, then who? If not now, then when?

I am here tonight to help sound the alarm once again on genocide in the Sudan. There is no room for neutrality in the face of the crimes being committed there each day. Amnesty International has renewed its charge that the international community is not doing enough to protect women in the Darfur region and the refugee camps in Chad where mass rape is being used as a weapon.

Since 1983, more than 2 million black civilians have died during the civil war in the south Sudan. That struggle was especially brutal for the civilian population. Slave raids resulted in the enslavement of women and children, gang rape, ethnic cleansing and the imposition of famine conditions for hundreds of thousands of people.

On October 21, 2002, the President signed the Sudan Peace Act, which stated in part that the acts of the Government of Sudan constitute genocide as defined by the United Nations Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of the Crime of Genocide. That bill requires President Bush to certify every 6 months that the government in Khartoum is negotiating in good faith for an end to the civil war. According to some sources, we may be close to a framework for peace in that region.

Mr. Speaker, only a short time ago we paused here to mark the 10th anniversary of the genocide in Rwanda, where more than 800,000 people died while the world watched and did nothing. Once again, genocide has unfolded before us, and those who have taken note have expressed their horror at what we have seen. But where is the public outcry? Where are the front page pictures? Where is the response of our government on behalf of the American people? I can tell you there has been some, but there has not been nearly enough.

So I join with my colleagues here this evening to call for the unequivocal, absolute declaration that genocide in the Sudan must end, and that it must end now. Not next year, not next month, but tonight.

Madam Speaker, I want to thank the gentleman from California for yielding me time.

Madam Speaker, I am pleased to join with all of those who have expressed an interest and a concern in this resolution. I rise because I firmly move that we have the capacity to go far beyond where we are.

As a matter of fact, I recall John Kennedy once saying that peace is not found only in treaties, covenants and charters, but in the hearts of men.

I suspect that if he were alive today, he would say in the hearts of men and of women. I happen to believe that we learn what we live, and that if we actively pursue the concepts of peace that we find different ways to handle conflict resolution.

I know that there are people who would say, what is the point in talking about this? Well, I will tell you the point. And I want to commend the gentleman from Michigan, because I remember reading a book that said, in the beginning was the word. And, of course, the words go forth. And people internalize those words. So I am pleased to join all of those who have spoken on this issue today. I do believe that peace is possible.

Mr. Speaker, I want to thank the gentleman for yielding.

First, I want to commend him and Mr. Camp for their outstanding leadership and the passion with which they display relative to this issue and their personal involvement.

Mr. Speaker, I rise to recognize the significance of the Adoption and Safe Families Act of 1997. ASFA provided sweeping changes in Federal child welfare law designed to ensure children's safety and to quicken permanent placements in the event that a child could not return home.

By enacting the Adoption and Safe Families Act of 1997, Congress recognized the need to align Federal incentives with the desired goal of providing abused and neglected children safe, permanent homes. This law has helped move States to promote adoption and has helped moved children into permanent homes.

In praising ASFA, I want to take a moment to highlight the need to develop similar policies to promote permanency more broadly. ASFA has done much to promote adoption, but policymakers should extend ASFA's successes to other areas of permanency to address the needs of hundreds of thousands of children for whom adoption is not appropriate.

Using ASFA as a model, the bipartisan Pew Commission on Children in Foster Care recommended that Federal policies create subsidized guardianship programs and State incentives to promote permanency more broadly, be it via reunification, adoption or guardianship.

Also, we must use our understanding of the implementation of ASFA to make it better. I am particularly concerned about the over 29,000 children who have entered our child welfare system due to parental incarceration, most often from nonviolent acts. The parameters set forth by ASFA do not align well with those of the criminal justice system, leading to a permanent separation of many children from their parents and family.

I encourage my colleagues to consult the wonderful policy brief by the Brennan Center for Justice at the New York University School of Law on the topic. ``Rebuilding Families, Reclaiming Lives,'' draws attention to hurdles created by the lack of consistency in Federal policies with regard to children of incarcerated parents. It also offers policy recommendations to promote stability and well-being for the children.

Mr. Speaker, I also take this second to commend the One Church, One Family, One Child program in Illinois, who are indeed going to be here for the Angels in Adoption gala. They have developed a unique program of recruiting families to become foster parents to children coming out of correctional institutions. I commend them for that outstanding work and note Reverend Parks, Reverend Nelson and Ms. Hunt who have developed a fantastic program with the other members of their board.

Again, I commend the gentlemen for their outstanding work on this issue.

Mr. Speaker, I want to thank the ranking member for yielding.

I rise in strong support of the expressed intent and expressed purpose of this legislation. But as one who taught for 6 years in probably one of the toughest schools and one of the toughest communities in the country, I have some serious reservations about what this legislation actually does. And I guess my reservations are not unfounded, because I find that the American Association of School Administrators, the National School Boards Association, the Council of Great City Schools, Parent Teachers Association, American Civil Liberties Union, the American Federation of Teachers, and of course my own school district, one of the largest in the Nation, the City of Chicago School System, has some concerns. And many of the concerns expressed is that the legislation is unnecessary, because many school districts already have policies on search that take into consideration State laws and State court decisions. They are concerned that it overrides local and State policies on school searches, and that it establishes one-size-fits-all, although all of us know that circumstances in different locations and locales are very different.

It sends a confusing message to schools on what legal standards are, and it establishes a policy that gives teachers authority to conduct searches when authority for determining who could search should rest with the school board. And, of course, it penalizes schools inappropriately for noncompliance by withholding safe and drug free funds, even though not all school districts receive these funds.

So, Mr. Speaker, while the intent is good, and while all of us want to see our schools be the safe and secure places we know that they need to be, I find this legislation to be duplicative, unnecessary, and that it takes away in some instances rights that should be reserved certainly for local communities to make determinations about. For that reason, I oppose this legislation.

Mr. Speaker, I want to thank the gentleman from Texas for yielding.

Mr. Speaker, I rise today in honor of our Nation's senior citizens.

Senior citizens are a vital part of society to whom we have a responsibility of ensuring both economic and physical well-being. Seniors provide vital links to our past as well as serve as the caregivers to over 6.1 million of the Nation's children.

I recognize the importance of caring for our elderly and providing them with the services they need to live independently. I have a Seniors and Eldercare Task Force, composed of an outstanding group of experts who advise me on key issues of importance to the seniors in my district. They advised me on key issues for the reauthorization of the Older Americans Act.

Within the bipartisan process surrounding this bill, I am pleased that I was successful in including important changes to the act. My local experts said that seniors raising their grandchildren needed great access to financial support and information about

programs for which they are eligible. They said that seniors needed more services in their communities to avoid spending down their assets to qualify for Medicaid. They said that we needed a greater focus on mental health and elder justice. The reauthorization of the Older Americans Act addresses these needs, and I hope that this important legislation will pass this Congress.

However, we must do more to assist grandparent caregivers. These grandparents make up 5.7 million households living with over 6.1 million children, evidence that many of these grandparents are oftentimes caring for more than one child. In my congressional district, there are over 10,000 grandparents who are responsible for their grandchildren's needs. Indeed, the Seventh District of Illinois, my congressional district, has the highest percentage of children living with grandparents in the Nation.

Mr. Speaker, I believe that you can measure the greatness of a society by how well it treats its young, how well it treats its old, and how well it treats those who have difficulty caring for themselves. In this case when we provide grandparents, senior citizens, with the opportunity to help raise their grandchildren, then we are doing the Nation a great service.

I thank all of those who rose to support this legislation.

Mr. Speaker, I rise today in honor of National Grandparents Day. Designated as the first Sunday following Labor Day of every year, Grandparents Day began in 1979 by a proclamation from President Jimmy Carter. Unfortunately the vital work of grandparents frequently goes unrecognized and underappreciated. Not only do grandparents provide ties to our past, they often times provide care to the Nation's children.

Grandparents make up 5.7 million households living with over 6.1 million children, evidence that many of these grandparents are often times caring for more than one child. It is important to note that 42 percent of grandparent caregivers are the sole providers for the most basic needs of one or more of the children in their custody. Alarmingly, 35.8 percent of grandchildren under the age of 18 live in homes with Supplemental Security Income (SSI), or other form of public assistance, and 460,000 of these grandparent led households fall below the poverty line.

Chicago, alone, is the home to three of the top ten congressional districts for children living in the homes of grandparents or other relatives. In my congressional district there are 23,397 grandparents living with grandchildren and over ten thousand grandparents who are responsible for their grandchildren's needs; indeed the 7th District of Illinois, my congressional district, has the highest percentage of children living in kinship care in the entire Nation. Not only does my district have the highest incidence of grandparent-headed households in the Nation, it also has a disproportionate number of African American grandparent caregivers, around 82 percent of all grandparent-headed households. It is an unfortunate fact that the problem of grandparent- headed households disproportionately affects African-American grandparents who serve as kinship care providers at higher rates than other racial/ethnic groups; a fact that federal policies need to understand and address.

B.C. Forbes said, ``Upon our children--how they are taught--rests the fate--or fortune--of tomorrow's world.'' The fate of our children and their future lies with the millions of grandparents who tirelessly raise their grandchildren. Grandparent-headed households are an unremitting force on our Nation's children and deserve our gratitude and support.

Mr. Chairman, I appreciate the work that the Judiciary Committee has spent dealing with this very difficult and complex issue, and I want to thank the gentleman from Michigan for yielding.

All of us know that one of the biggest problems facing inmates when they get out of prison is the ability to get a job. The best way that you can convince a potential employer that you understand the world of work is that you have been working. Therefore, this program which provides inmates an opportunity to work needs all of the protection that it can possibly get.

I agree that we need to change some things about it. I would agree that we need to find a way to pay the inmates more, especially as they get close to release time so that maybe when they get out, they have got a little bit of money in their pocket that they can get started with back in civilian life.

But to do anything that would reduce the possibility of individuals working while they are incarcerated goes against the grain. It does not benefit our correctional system. It does not benefit our correctional institutions.

I spend time in the Federal prisons, and every administrator that I have come into contact with supports this program and wants to see it expanded, not reduced or possibly eliminated.

I again thank the gentleman from Michigan.

Mr. Speaker, I ask unanimous consent to claim the time of the gentleman from New York.

Mr. Speaker, I want to thank my colleague from Texas, Representative Eddie Bernice Johnson, for her leadership in making this week happen. Her resolution, H. Res. 928, passed the House on July 26, 2006, designating the week of September 10, 2006, as National Historically Black Colleges and Universities Week. I also want to commend Minority Whip Steny Hoyer for organizing this discussion this evening.

Mr. Speaker, there are 103 Historically Black Colleges and Universities in the United States that serve over 260,000 undergraduate students, with just over a quarter of all HBCUs offering either a first professional degree, a master's degree in business administration, or a J.D. or doctorate degree.

Historically Black Colleges and Universities are defined as institutions established prior to 1964 with the principal mission of educating African Americans. HBCUs educated approximately 14 percent of the Nation's African American undergraduate students, awarding almost one-quarter, 23.1 percent, of all bachelor's degrees to black students. Almost half, 46.8 percent, of the undergraduate students attending HBCUs received Pell Grants, indicating that these institutions provide key educational opportunities for low-income African Americans.

Mr. Speaker, I have 10 brothers and sisters. We grew up in rural Arkansas, where my parents were low-income sharecroppers. Seven of us attended the University of Arkansas at Pine Bluff. I also have three nephews and a niece who attended the same school, plus a number of cousins. I strongly believe that perhaps none of us would have been able to attend college had it not been for the fact that the University of Arkansas at Pine Bluff, which then was Arkansas AM&N College, existed.

These schools provide a nurturing environment and provide instructors that I remember even to this day. I remember the President, we called him ``Prexy,'' Dr. Lawrence A. Davis, Sr., who would often let us register, whether we had the money to pay our tuition or not. His son, Dr. Lawrence A. Davis, Jr., is now the current chancellor and is just doing an outstanding job.

I remember a cousin of mine who graduated from UAPB and then moved to Champaign, Illinois, got his master's degree, Willie Summerville, who was honored by the City of Champaign a few weeks ago for being its outstanding citizen. He organized a choir and took it to Rome to sing for the Pope.

I could go on and on and think of just any number of outstanding individuals who were able to demonstrate their abilities and competency because of these institutions.

I think of many of my colleagues. As a matter of fact, a majority of my colleagues who are African American graduated from Historically Black Colleges and Universities: Jesse Jackson, Jr., and his daddy, Jesse Jackson, Sr. I think of Representative Alcee Hastings, who went to Fisk University, and on and on and on and on.

But the real deal is these institutions are worth their weight in gold. They have contributed significantly to the development of our country. They need all of the support that they can get.

So, again, I thank Representative Eddie Bernice Johnson for establishing this week and congratulate all of these institutions for the tremendous job that they do.

Mr. Speaker, I yield myself such time as I might consume.

Mr. Speaker, S. 2590 calls for the creation of a new searchable database of all Federal grants and contracts to be made publicly available on the Internet. This will require the Office of Management and Budget to develop a database that can be useful to individuals and organizations researching Federal grant funding. In addition, it should allow the public to better access information about the billions of dollars spent on Federal contracting.

I would like to highlight one important difference between this bill and H.R. 5060, which passed the House in June. The database created under H.R. 5060 was missing a key component, information about Federal contract spending. Contract information is essential to meaningful public oversight. As Federal contract spending increases, and from 2000 to 2005, it has soared by 86 percent from $203.2 billion to $377.5 billion. There is a vital need for the public to be able to track and understand this spending.

I want to thank Chairman Davis and Majority Whip Blunt for reconsidering their position on the contract information issue and hope that our efforts today will make Federal contract information freely and easily accessible to the public.

I also want to commend the hard work of Senator Coburn and Senator Obama on this legislation. As Members of Congress, we have a responsibility to increase public understanding of Federal spending and public access to information about how taxpayer dollars are spent.

Currently, the public has access to a grants data system, the Federal Assistance Award Data System, that provides limited information about domestic grants. But this system is unwieldy and difficult to use. In addition, there is a publicly available database of contracts, the Federal Procurement Data System, FPDS; but it is too plagued with problems.

So, today, we try to improve on those systems. The key to success will be implementation. Without it, we will be where we are now, with poor access to information. If implemented properly, public oversight of Federal spending will, indeed, increase.

In closing, I must admit that I find it incredible that it has taken an act of Congress to make this information public. All of this information should be already available to the public. This is just one victory in our continuing fight for public access to government information.

Mr. Speaker, I reserve the balance of my time

Mr. Speaker, I continue to reserve the balance of my time.

Mr. Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may consume.

Mr. Speaker, I will close by just simply saying that I don't believe that we can overemphasize the importance of transparency in government, and especially as it relates to contracting. I would urge passage of this legislation. I am proud to be a cosponsor of it

Mr. Speaker, I yield back the balance of my time.

Mr. Speaker, it is my pleasure to yield such time as he may consume to the sponsor of this resolution, the gentleman from New York (Mr. Crowley).

Mr. Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may consume.

As a member of the House Government Reform Committee, I am pleased to join my colleagues in consideration of H.R. 6033, which names a postal facility in Woodside, New York, after the late Thomas J. Manton, former Member of Congress, who represented the Seventh Congressional District of New York.

I know that Representative Crowley has spoken eloquently about all of the exploits and all of what Representative Manton meant to New York. I know that there were a number of other New Yorkers who had intended to be here and probably were not able to make it. I know that Representative Caroline Maloney had intended to be here and Representative Nita Lowey had intended to be here, because they had indicated that they too wanted to express their appreciation for the tremendous and outstanding service that was indeed provided. And so just on their behalf and on behalf of all of the others who would want to have expressed themselves and could not, I would join with Representative Crowley and Chairman Davis in urging swift passage of this bill as we honor the life and the legacy of a true American and a great friend to all, Representative Thomas Manton

Mr. Speaker, I yield back the balance of my time.

Mr. Speaker, I rise to commend and salute the Congressional Black Caucus Foundation; its chairman, Representative Kendrick Meek; and President, Dr. Elsie Scott on an outstanding weekend of policy discussions and other meaningful educational and social activity.

Much of the credit for this year's success goes to the gentlewoman from Michigan (Ms. Kilpatrick) and the gentlewoman from California (Ms. Lee), conference co-chairs.

I also commend all of those who attended and thank all of the experts and leaders who led the discussion. It was a great weekend. Hats off to the Congressional Black Caucus Foundation.

Mr. Speaker, I yield myself such time as I might consume.

Mr. Speaker, as a Member of the House Government Reform Committee, I am pleased to join my colleague in consideration of H.R. 5434, which names a postal facility in Chillicothe, Ohio, after Officer Larry Cox. H.R. 5434 was introduced by Representative Robert Ney on May 19, 2006.

This measure, which was unanimously reported by the Government Reform Committee on June 8, 2006, was cosponsored by the entire Ohio Congressional delegation. Officer Cox, a member of the Chillicothe police department for 19 years, was serving as a Drug Abuse Resistance Education, DARE officer, at the time of his death. Although off duty, Officer Cox was shot and killed on April 25, 2005, as he chased and confronted a robbery suspect.

Mr. Speaker, I support this measure as a fitting tribute to the service and bravery of Officer Larry Cox and urge its passage.

I don't believe that I am going to have any additional speakers on this item and therefore yield back the balance of my time.

Mr. Speaker, I yield myself such time as I might consume.

Mr. Speaker, as a member of the House Government Reform Committee I am pleased to join my colleague in consideration of H.R. 5428, which names the postal facility in Morris, Illinois, after the late Joshua A. Terando. H.R. 5428 was introduced by my colleague from Illinois (Mr. Weller) on May 19, 2006.

This measure, which was unanimously reported by the Government Reform Committee on June 8, 2006, was cosponsored by the entire Illinois Congressional delegation. U.S. Army Sergeant Joshua A. Terando, age 27, a Reservist assigned to the Army National Guard's 2nd Brigade Combat Team, 28th Infantry Division, based in Washington, Pennsylvania, was killed on November 10, 2005. He died at Al Taqaddum, Iraq, of injuries sustained when his tank was attacked by enemy forces.

Sergeant Terando had completed 6 years of active duty in 2001 when he was called back. He had just over a year to serve in the Army Reserves. Joshua was remembered by his family as quick-witted, easygoing and loving.

Mr. Speaker, I commend my colleague for seeking to honor the sacrifice of soldier Joshua Terando by designating a postal office in his name in his hometown. No greater gift can one give than their life in the service and protection of others.

I strongly support this measure and urge its passage.

Mr. Speaker, I yield back the balance of my time.