Floor Statements

Mr. Speaker, I yield such time as he may consume to the gentleman from New York (Mr. Meeks), the author of this legislation.

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

I am pleased to join my colleagues in the consideration of H.R. 3957, a bill to designate the facility of the United States Postal Service located at 218-10 Merrick Boulevard in Springfield Gardens, New York, as the Cynthia Jenkins Post Office Building.

Cynthia Jenkins worked as a librarian, community activist, and civil rights advocate after moving to Queens from Louisville, Kentucky. In 1969, while working for the Queens public library system, Cynthia cofounded the Black Librarians Caucus, to address racial inequalities in the public library system, as well as an educational action program, the Social Concerns Committee of Springfield Gardens, Inc.

In 1982, Cynthia became the first African American woman elected to public office in southern Queens, winning a seat in the New York State Assembly. For the next 12 years, she worked tirelessly on behalf of her constituents, focusing particularly on educational issues.

Cynthia passed away on October 31, 2001, at the age of 77. She continues to be remembered for her dedicated public service and for always fighting for the principles she believed in.

Mr. Speaker, we should pass this bill to honor the life and public service of State Assemblywoman Cynthia Jenkins.

I thank Representative Meeks for introducing this bill.

I urge its passage, and I yield back the balance of my time.

Mr. Speaker, at this time, I yield such time as she may consume to the gentlewoman from Texas (Ms. Jackson Lee), the author of this legislation.

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

Mr. Speaker, I had the good fortune to know former Representative Mickey Leland, and I am pleased to join my colleagues in the consideration of H.R. 78, a bill to designate the facility of the United States Postal Service located at 4110 Alameda Road in Houston, Texas, as the George Thomas ``Mickey'' Leland Post Office Building.

Born in Lubbock, Texas in 1944, Mickey Leland earned a degree in pharmacy from Texas Southern University in 1970. He quickly became a local civil rights leader, organizing the Black Citizen Action Team in protests against police brutality while using his medical background to found a door-to-door outreach campaign to educate low-income individuals about their medical care options.

In 1972, Mickey continued his health advocacy work in the Texas State House of Representatives, passing legislation to provide better access to affordable medications and HMOs.

In 1979, Mickey Leland was elected to Congress as the Representative for Texas' 18th District. After serving as the freshman majority whip, Representative Leland later served twice as at-large majority whip, chaired the Congressional Black Caucus from 1985 to 1987, and was reelected five times.

As a Member of Congress, Representative Leland advocated for an increase in hiring quotas for women and minorities in the telecommunications industry, and focused much of his attention on alleviating hunger across the globe, particularly in Africa.

During the 98th Congress, Representative Leland's efforts led to the creation of the Temporary Select Committee on Hunger, which studied the effects of domestic and international hunger and poverty.

Tragically, Representative Leland's career was cut short on a trip to Africa during the 1989 congressional recess. While checking on the progress of establishing a refugee camp in Addis Ababa, Representative Leland and three of his congressional aides lost their lives when their plane crashed over a mountainous region of Ethiopia.

Mr. Speaker, we should pass this bill to honor Mickey Leland's life and career as a tireless advocate for underserved and minority populations, both at home and abroad.

I urge passage of H.R. 78, and I yield back the balance of my time.

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

Mr. Speaker, I don't think there is any greater service that one can give than to give the gift of their life fighting for their country. Therefore, I am pleased to join my colleagues in the consideration of H.R. 5030, a bill to designate the facility of the United States Postal Service located at 13500 Southwest 250 Street in Princeton, Florida, as the Corporal Christian A. Guzman Rivera Post Office Building.

A native of Homestead, Florida, Christian Guzman Rivera graduated from Homestead Senior High's ROTC program in 2006.

With dreams of becoming a Marine firefighter, Christian graduated from the Miami-Dade Fire Academy, and in 2007, was assigned as a battalion engineer in Okinawa, Japan.

Tragically, on August 6, 2009, after having just received a promotion to corporal, Christian Guzman Rivera was killed while supporting combat operations in Afghanistan. Although he never got the chance to fight fires as he had hoped, Corporal Rivera was named an honorary member of the Miami-Dade Fire Rescue Department, and he still remains a role model to his younger siblings.

Mr. Speaker, we should pass this bill, H.R. 5030, to recognize Corporal Christian Guzman Rivera's honor, courage, and sacrifice.

I yield back the balance of my time.

Mr. Speaker, on Sunday, July 27th, 2014, Dr. Willie Wilson celebrated the 27th anniversary of Singsation, his nationally syndicated gospel television show at the Apostolic Pentecostal Church of Morgan Park, where Apostle William A. Ellis is Pastor and spiritual leader.

I take this opportunity to congratulate Dr. Wilson, not only for the longevity of this production, but also for his business success and for his humanitarian work with faith-based organizations.

Dr. Willie Wilson is no ordinary man. He is basically a man of great religious faith. Self educated, self made, high school dropout, multi millionaire business man, a great philanthropist who contributes somewhere in the area of a million dollars annually to small churches and provides financial support to many other charities.

In addition to running his businesses (Omar Medical Supply Company), he serves as Chairman and Chief Fundraiser for the Chicago Baptist Institute, a college level educational and training institute for clergy and lay individuals who want to learn how to more effectively practice Christian principles and practice in their everyday lives.

Dr. Wilson is well known for his hobby and passion for singing gospel music. On practically every Sunday afternoon, he, along with his gospel singing group and orchestra can be found at a small church singing gospel music, after which he always leaves a sizeable donation for the church.

A man among men, a giver from his heart, and a leader of leaders.

I commend and congratulate Dr. Willie Wilson as he and his friends celebrate 27 years of Singsation.

Mr. Speaker, Mother Louise Jones was born in Brewster, Florida on September 24, 1931. She later moved to Chicago, Illinois in 1943, with her Uncle John and Aunt Jessie Walker, who lived in the South Chicago Community.

Mother Louise attended James N. Thorpe Elementary School and Bowen High School. She joined the Pilgrim Baptist Church of South Chicago in 1946 and has remained active in the church affairs ever since. She served under Rev. Wainwright, she also served under G.G. Osborne and Rev. Hilliard Hudson as his pulpit nurse for 27 years.

Mother Louise's work and life were both immersed in the church. She held a number of governmental positions with the City of Chicago, County of Cook, and worked at both Oak Forest and South Shore Hospitals where she worked for 18 years until retirement in 2010.

Mother Louise loved politics and cooking and was actively involved with both. She was filled with vision, a warm spirit and hope. She was a helper and a giver, always giving and always helping.

Mother Louise was obviously one of the best social workers around, without even trying. She would sense a problem or need and always react to help.

We know that when time came, the good Lord just opened up the doors of heaven and said, ``Well done my good and faithful servant, Louise come on in.''

We express condolences to the family and friends, especially our friend and her daughter Dr. Sharon A. Latiker and immediate family and all of the host of loved ones that she is leaving behind.

May her soul rest in peace.

Mr. Speaker, I take this opportunity to congratulate Mrs. Martha Ann (Gibbs) Melton, who was born on August 7, 1914, to Charles and Chanie Gibbs. She is the youngest and only daughter of three siblings. Her two older brothers, Scott and Jim, have both made their transitions. After becoming a grandmother, Martha has been affectionately addressed as Granny by all who know and love her. She is indeed a very proud grandmother with 32 grandchildren and a host of great grandchildren and great-great grandchildren.

Martha Ann had a very interesting childhood. Her father, Charles Gibbs (Poppa) was one of 12 siblings born to Henry and Ann (Wright) Gibbs. Grandpa Henry Gibbs was a free slave in Clay County, West Point, Mississippi. Because he was a man of many trades--such as a farmer, shoe maker, textile worker, blacksmith, cotton gin operator, and molasses mill operator--Grandpa Henry's 12 children also followed in his path. His freedom came with a 225-acre land grant from the Cottrell Plantation owner, which was eventually inherited by his children and passed down through generations to living descendants. The young Poppa Charles Gibbs was a very hardworking farmer and shoemaker. His 3 children also had to work hard. Although there was always work to do, the kids did find time to play. Some of Granny's favorite games were baseball, hop scotch, and jump rope. Her recollection of a normal day was being up at day break, attending the one room Pooles' school house, and then working in the cotton fields until sundown where she was either chopping cotton or picking up 200 pounds of cotton a day during harvest. She took what she learned from Pooles' school to later earn a GED. Granny shared one of her favorite pastimes which was sitting and watching Poppa operate his shoe lasting machines to make shoes. She was always amazed how the machine would use a needle to punch and sew shoes. Not only did Poppa make shoes, but he also removed soles from old shoes and patched the soles to make them look new.

As tradition goes, the expectation is that, as the only daughter in the household, Granny would have a room with some special frills or girly touches. Quite the opposite, she remembers having the basics--a small bed, a trunk and a chifferobe, and she was quite content with her provisions. In addition, Sundays were special in the Gibbs family. Everyone got up early and put on their best attire for a day of worship at Primitive Baptist Church. Granny later became a member of Union Star Baptist Church (West Point) where she sang in the choir. Granny was also a member of the Prince Hall Masons, Heroines of Jericho Lounge, Court #324.

As a young woman, Martha Ann was a mother to 5 children, the late Chanie (Gibbs) Randle, Sallie (Collins) Sellars, Isaac Melton, Jr., Amos Melton, and Clarence Melton. Her husbands from previous marriages were the late Willie James Collins and the late Isaac Melton, Sr. She held a variety of jobs while living in West Point, ranging from day work at various homes to Bryan Bros. Packing Company, Swift and Company, working as a dry cleaning attendant, and later as a salesperson for American Burial Insurance Company.

In her senior years, Granny became ill and moved to Chicago to be cared for by her daughter, Sallie. Her church, Union Star Baptist, honored her transition with a letter for membership to Greater Garfield Baptist Church (Chicago) under the pastorship of Reverend George Henderson, where she serves faithfully and is the senior member of the Mother's Board. Granny occasionally breaks out in song during service, and is welcomed by Pastor Henderson. She affirms that her all-time favorite hymn is ``I Heard the Voice of Jesus Say.'' Even though Granny has reached this historical milestone, she continues to be one of the feistiest elders you will ever encounter. She has been there and done that and knows more than any of us will ever be able to profess . . . just ask her.

I take this opportunity to congratulate Mrs. Melton as she reaches a milestone of 100 years and commend her and her family for the great legacy of history and the contributions they have made to human kind.

Mr. Speaker, on Saturday, July 26th, I had the opportunity to march with the Mayor of Broadview, the Honorable Sherman Jones; Mayor of Westchester, the Honorable Sam Paulia; Cook County Recorder of Deeds, the Honorable Karen Yarborough; the Honorable Chris Welch, State Representative; the Honorable Edwina Perkins, Mayor of Maywood; Trustees of Broadview, Attorney Richard Boykin and Democratic Nominee for District 1 of the Cook County Board, as well as a host of dignitaries from throughout the western suburbs, especially Proviso Township.

Proud residents of Broadview were lined outside their beautiful homes as we made our way to the shopping center where a daylong family festival was being staged. I understand that Governor Pat Quinn came later to bring greetings and salute the Mayors and other elected officials and residents who had gathered.

I take this opportunity to congratulate the Village of Broadview on its 100 years as an organized part of Cook County and Proviso Township in the great state of Illinois.

Mr. Speaker, Rev. Mark McCollum was born in Sunflower, Mississippi on June 12, 1934. In 1954 he moved to Chicago, Illinois. In 1964, Rev. Mark McCollum and a small group of faithful followers and believers founded the New Home Baptist Church in February of that year. The church's first location was in the Stone Temple Baptist Church Annex on Millard and Douglas Boulevard. A year later on March 19, 1965, Pastor McCollum lost his right arm in an accident and the church moved several times before locating to 349 South Cicero Avenue. It was always Pastor McCollum's desire to be in a church building and the New Home Family worked and prayed for forty years for it to happen. They called those years, the wilderness years, referring to the 40 years the children of Israel wandered in the wilderness after leaving Egypt. The Church and its pastor had their challenges and struggles but as a skilled leader, administrator and businessperson, the church acquired most of the 300 South Cicero Avenue block and used it as leverage to purchase the new church location at 4804 W. Polk Street, which is now known as Dr. Mark McCollum Avenue.

While being a great preacher and pastor, Dr. Mark McCollum is also known as one of the greatest gospel singers in the world, and brings great joy and inspiration to thousands every week with his voice. He can be heard on radio every Sunday night on AM 1450 at 9:00 pm where thousands wait for his theme song, ``I Will Trust In The Lord Until I Die.''

Finally, the wait was over and for the past ten years the New Home Congregation has been worshiping at 4804 W. Polk St. in Chicago, Illinois and saying thanks be to God for all that he has done. As one who lived at 5252 W. Polk Street for twenty years, I say thank you New Home, Thank You Dr. Mark McCollum for all that you mean to our community!

God Bless and Keep you.

Mr. Speaker, I join with dozens of religious, child, tax, and poverty organizations to strongly oppose H.R. 4935 because it would push an estimated 12 million people, including 6 million children, into deeper poverty.

The child tax credit is one of the most effective tax benefits for families with children and is a shining example of smart Federal investment. The credit encourages work, raises millions of children from poverty, and helps grow economies and support businesses.

Rather than strengthening this antipoverty program, the bill will take away--eviscerate, wipe out--benefits for the most vulnerable Americans, denying financial assistance for basic necessities, like rent and food, and eliminating an average of $1,800 from low-wage families per year.

The child tax credit was designed to help hardworking, low-income families meet the needs of their children, but this child tax credit bill harms these families and threatens the well-being of millions of American children. In reality, the bill does exactly the opposite of what the child tax credit was designed to do. In essence, you could really call it the ``Reverse Robin Hood Child Tax Credit'' bill--take from the poor, benefit the more affluent.

I urge that we vote ``no.''

Mr. Speaker, Mr. James Lee Miller was born and raised in Tutwiler, Mississippi. He was educated in the Mississippi public school system during the 1930's and 1940's. He was baptized, attended the Mt. Zion Missionary Baptist Church and sung with the Delta Big Four Quartet.

In 1947, James married Ms. Essie Davis and they were blessed with four sons. He later united with Charlene Davies and to that union another four children were born. In the midst of his family life, James continued school, became a certified electrician and worked for local electric companies.

For over forty-five years James Miller, Sr. was a businessman and was well-known around Chicago. He was involved in the social entertainment business and that is where many people knew him.

His nightclub, The Texas Lady Lounge, was for many years one of the most popular spots in the community.

As a matter of fact for ten years I lived less than four blocks from the Texas Lady and it was not at all unusual for me and my friends

to have our discussions in the lounge over a glass of water, or whatever else we might be drinking.

I have been told that one's impact on the world is measured not only by what they bring but also by what they leave and Mr. James Miller has left a great impact and tremendous legacy, a devoted wife, twelve children, a host of grandchildren, relatives and friends. Prominent among them great preachers and leaders, Johnny Miller, Rev. Dr. Matthew Miller, Pastor Leon Miller and a great hands-on physician whose office I have used Dr. James Miller, Jr.

The Miller family is cherished in our community and this could not have happened without the life and the legacy of Mr. James Miller, Sr., born December 9, 1929.

Mr. Speaker, I strongly support H.R. 4980, the Preventing Sex Trafficking and Strengthening Families Act. This bill advances child welfare policy in many important ways. For over a decade, I have advocated via the Stronger Families Act or the Investing in Permanency for Youth in Foster Care Act that federal policy should incentivize permanency for all foster youth regardless of how they exit care--adoption, guardianship, or reunification. I am especially pleased that H.R. 4980 takes a tremendous step forward in recognizing guardianship as an important permanency option for foster children who cannot return home. For the first time, the bill provides incentives for states for placing foster children with legal guardians.

Guardianship and kinship caregiving are very significant for Chicago, for Illinois, and for the African American community. My Congressional District has the highest percentage of children living with grandparent caregivers in the nation, followed closely by two other Congressional Districts in Illinois. Nearly 400,000 children make up our nation's foster care population, with more than one in four (approximately 28%) of these vulnerable children living with a grandparent or other relative. Research clearly shows that kinship foster care families are safer, more stable placements that are more likely to keep children connected with their siblings and communities than non-relative placements.

Adoption is not a viable option for many children to exit foster care, with courts explicitly ruling out this option for thousands of children each year. Moreover, adoption is not equally availed by families of all races and ethnicities, especially those in African- American and Native-American communities. Research--including a report by the Government Accountability Office--indicates that African American children stay in foster care longer because of difficulties in recruiting adoptive parents and a hesitancy to terminate parental rights, as is required for adoption Importantly,

a study of the Illinois Subsidized Guardianship Demonstration Waiver showed that the offer of subsidized guardianship increased overall rates of family permanency by six percentage points over and above the level of performance in a randomly assigned control group that was limited to the option of adoption only. African American and Native American families tend to choose guardianship as a route to permanency rather than adoption because they do not see a need to legally sever the connection between parent and child. A grandmother raising her grandchild does not want to erase the legal connection of her child to her grandchild. Guardianship affords the same legal responsibility for a child as adoption only without legally severing the familial connection.

Thus, I applaud the bill for including an incentive for guardianship that is four-fifths the incentive for adoption as well as a guardianship incentive equal to that for that for adoption for older youth. Rewarding states for helping foster youth find permanent, loving homes via guardianship or adoption allows families to make the right permanency choice that best fits the particular needs and circumstances of their family, rather than incentivizing states to prioritize adoption alone.

To further support relative caregivers, I am very pleased that the bill extends the Family Connection Grants for one year. These grants provide funding for intensive family finding, kinship navigator programs, family group decision-making meetings, and residential family treatment programs. These programs promote permanency for children in care. In addition to the positive outcomes for foster children in relative care, research shows that kinship care placements are cost effective. In Illinois, cost studies estimated an average of $4,778 in savings of IV-E administrative expenses over an 8 year period compared to a matched control group that did not have this option. Extrapolating to the 10,000 children in Illinois discharged to guardianship between 1997 and 2007, the projected savings was approximately $48 million for the state of Illinois. Thus, Family Connection Grants improves the access of foster youth to safer, more stable family placements and reduce costs for state and federal governments.

Further, I am delighted that the bill includes comparable successor- guardian protections for children who exit to guardianship as those protections provided to youth who exit to adoption. Given that guardianship is an important permanency option for grandparent caregivers who are older and have health problems, the issue of continuity of care via successor guardianship is especially needed to protect children. Current law already provides this protection for adoptive parents; extending this protection to children in guardianship is a reasonable step to protect youth and keep them from re-entering the foster care system.

The bill implements many important changes to child welfare law, including: protecting children and youth at risk for sex trafficking; ensuring the foster youth have important documents when exiting care; empowering foster youth in the development of their own case plans; improving information in child welfare reports; modifying the calculation of permanency incentives based on improvements in rate rather than number to better capture placement success; enhancing reporting requirements related to the use of state dollars; strengthening benefits and services; and increasing funding for the Chafee Independent Living program.

Given the dramatic improvements to child welfare policy made by this bill, I strongly urge my colleagues to support the passage of this bill.

Mr. Speaker, family reunions are a way of staying connected, keeping relationships intact, strengthening bonds and recognizing heritage.

As a member of the U.S. House of Representatives, I take this opportunity to commend and congratulate the Jemison family on the occasion of their family reunion which is being held at the Best Western in Hillside, Illinois on July 24, 2014 through July 27, 2014. I commend you for the research done to establish your family tree and trust that you have a wonderful weekend.

There is nothing quite like a family reunion, there is nothing quite like seeing relatives that you have not seen for a while and there is nothing like sharing the joy of fellowship, love, and precious memories that family reunions generate. Therefore, I commend and congratulate you and pray that you have a wonderful weekend.

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

Tax-based aid represents more than half of all nonloan Federal support for higher education, giving tax policy a critical role in promoting college affordability, access, and completion.

Although I strongly support improving the education credits for students and families, I cannot support the Republican piecemeal tax approach that would add $825 billion to the deficit and imperil our economic recovery and the well-being of our citizens.

As partners in the Education and Family Benefits Tax Working Group, I was delighted to work with Representative Black and her staff from Tennessee. I want to thank her and her staff for a wonderful legislative experience. It was, indeed, a delight.

I also want to commend Chairman Camp for taking the bold initiative to put comprehensive tax reform in the discussion and on the table.

Our bill represents a bipartisan compromise that integrates promising reforms to tax-based education benefits suggested to us by both conservative and progressive stakeholders.

This bill simplifies our Tax Code and strengthens our investment in students and their families, expanding aid to the lowest-income students by modestly expanding the refundability of the credit, removing obstacles to claiming the credit, improving the coordination of tax and Pell policies, and indexing the credit to inflation.

However, the Student and Family Tax Simplification Act was intended as part of comprehensive tax reform. Within a comprehensive package, policymakers are better able to pay for our tax cuts and ensure that groups of taxpayers who may lose out in one section are helped in others.

I look forward to continuing to work in a bipartisan way to improve education tax policy, but I oppose moving this bill in isolation of other education tax reforms and at the exclusion of other critical tax provisions that help the working poor, strengthen economically distressed communities, promote affordable housing, help cover public transportation costs, incentivize businesses to hire hard-to-employ workers, and assist teachers with classroom expenses.

I don't think anything is much more important than education affordability, but I believe that first things come first. For me right now, before I would suggest spending any more money, I would suggest that we find a way to put an unemployment check in the hands of the 3 million people who are waiting in America, so they can live until they can get to college.

Thank you very much. I am pleased to be here to join you, Mr. Pocan, and other members of the Progressive Caucus as we talk about the real deal in terms of what it is that you do to reduce poverty.

I read some of what we are talking about, and I really couldn't believe that that had anything to do with the reduction or any efforts to seriously reduce poverty.

We have made some progress in the last 50 years, but it is unacceptable that 49.7 million people, including 13 million children, were poor in 2012. In my congressional district alone, 41 percent of children, or 67,000 children, live in poverty. It also is shameful that racial disparities remain in the experience of poverty, with child poverty for African Americans being 29.2 percent, in 2012, compared to 9 percent for their White peers.

And so I welcome working with anybody that would like to reduce poverty. As a matter of fact, ever since I have been here, I have championed two of the chief proposals mentioned by the Ryan plan: expanding the earned income tax credit to childless and noncustodial parents, as well as reducing incarceration among low-risk and nonviolent offenders.

The earned income tax credit is one of the most effective antipoverty programs that we have. A Brookings Institution report highlights that the high rate of incarceration in our country exacts considerable cost from American taxpayers, especially from State governments and families.

However, I am extremely concerned about the proposed way of paying for these programs. Rather than asking large corporations to pay their fair share of taxes or closing international tax loopholes that allow large, multinational companies to evade billions of dollars in taxes, the Ryan plan would eliminate or eviscerate many important programs like the Social Services Block Grant and the Economic Development Administration.

So I don't know what Mr. Ryan is really talking about. It seems to me that he is talking the same talk we have heard so often.

They didn't really deal with pay- fors. As a matter of fact, one of the reasons that many of us objected to the piecemeal way in which the Republicans are looking at what we call tax reform is we have been trying to move towards comprehensive tax reform where you look at all of the taxation that we are doing. And yes, there would be what is called some losers and some winners, but you wouldn't cherry pick and just give corporate giveaways and not do things like make sure that you have got the new market tax credits in, which are designed to help redevelop, restore, and reconstitute communities that are hurting, that are seriously underfunded and don't have things.

Many communities in my district which were actually burned out by the riots after the death of Dr. Martin Luther King are still burned out.

Let's say the majority on the committee made it permanent because we voted--that is, those of us who are Democrats voted against it. That is why I think it is so important that we are here this evening.

I just simply want to again commend Mr. Pocan for taking the leadership to bring us together and give us the opportunity to discuss these issues.

I just say: Right on, my brother. I am glad to be here with you.

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

I cannot support $825 billion in unpaid for, permanent, and piecemeal tax cuts while other critical investments that help our most vulnerable citizens, like the long-term unemployed and working poor, go unmet.

I strongly support extending the IRA charitable rollover, tax incentives for property owners who protect natural resources through conservation easements, tax incentives for charitable contributions of food inventory, and improving the private foundation excise tax to allow a better response to communities during economic troubles and natural disasters, a bill which I introduced.

However, I oppose adding almost $1 trillion to the deficit that will imperil our economic recovery and the well-being of our citizens. I oppose leaving

behind other critical tax provisions that help the working poor, strengthen economically distressed communities, promote affordable housing, help cover transportation costs, incentivize businesses to hire hard-to-employ workers, and assist teachers with classroom expenses.

Many of these bills provide examples of smart Federal investment. For example, in the first 2 years the IRA charitable rollover was available, more than $140 million was donated to support charities, with the median gift just under $4,500.

I strongly support giving food to the hungry and helping the needy. However, I cannot vote in favor of this package of bills because of their fiscal impact and the lack of fiscal responsibility to balanced policy.