Floor Statements

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

I rise in strong support of both these bills, H.R. 11 and H.R. 12. I think it is an excellent way to start the new session of Congress, to start the new year. I want to commend Chairman Mill and Representative DeLauro for their strong leadership on these issues for the last several years.

I know that we ought to begin by saying that everybody has equal rights, equal opportunity, and equal pay. I thank the gentleman again.

Mr. Speaker, I ask unanimous consent to take from the Speaker's table S.J. Res. 46 and ask for its immediate consideration in the House.

Yes, it covers whoever is nominated.

As written, it does not.

It would be limited to those in the position of Secretary of State.

That is correct.

Correct, it would.

Madam speaker, National Adoption Month is a time when Americans can come together to celebrate families grown by adoption. Individuals and families choose adoption for many reasons. Common to all adoptive families is that they offer loving,

permanent homes to children without such a blessing. Multiple States, neighborhoods, and agencies across the United States hold events during this month to encourage families to give children the gift of family through adoption.

There are many types of adoption. In 2007, approximately 51,000 children were adopted from the U.S. foster care system and 20,000 children were adopted internationally. Tens of thousands of children also are adopted within the United States each year. I recognize the joy and love that each of these families offers its adoptive children. I know that Raschke family from Oak Park, IL, exemplifies the happiness and rewards of being an adoptive family. Joe and Cathleen Raschke welcomed Nicholas Dan Raschke to their family in August 2006. Nicholas was adopted from the Vinh Long Orphanage in Vinh Long, Vietnam. As a young Chicagoan, Nicholas loves the Cubs, cold weather, and good food.

We have done great work here in Congress to promote adoption. We recently passed Public Law 110-351, the Fostering Connections to Success and Increasing Adoptions Act of 2008. This new law is designed to help place children in permanent, caring families through reunification, adoption, and guardianship. In addition to reauthorizing the Adoption and Safe Families Act, the new law supports subsidized guardianship, a policy approach that provides Federal support to kinship caregivers who provide their young relatives permanent, loving homes. I am pleased that we are taking steps to improve the lives of America's youth that are filled with desperate need.

So, during the 2008 National Adoption Month, I tip my hat to those who have opened their families via adoption, providing the care and love needed to grow our youngest citizens into tomorrow's leaders.

Madam Speaker, on October 31st America lost its unofficial historian laureate: Louis ``Studs'' Terkel.

Because he was so modest, Studs would deny it, but in fact he created a new genre of literature and history--the oral history.

Studs and his tape recorder probed every corner of our collective consciousness with the delicacy and certainty of a brain surgeon.

He interviewed the famous and the infamous, the rich and the poor, the celebrity and the common man and woman.

Invariably he was able to extract something very special, a strand of the grand story which is America. He recorded those stories in books such as Division Street: America, Hard Times: An Oral History of the Great Depression, Working: People Talk About What They Do All Day and How They Feel About What They Do, The Good War, Race: What Blacks and Whites Think and Feel About the American Obsession, Talking to Myself: A Memoir of My Times, Will the Circle Be Unbroken: Reflections on Death, Rebirth and Hunger for Faith, and Hope Dies Last: Keeping Faith in Difficult Times.

Madam Speaker, we all have conversations of all types every day. But Studs was able to turn his conversations into oral history because he was not just a passive observer of history, he was an active maker of history.

Studs earned a JD degree from the University of Chicago, but he never practiced law. Instead he apprenticed for his future career with a job in a writers project in the Works Progress Administration writing plays and learning the craft of acting.

He went on to become one of the founders of the Chicago school of TV by creating and hosting ``Studs' Place'' until he was blacklisted during the McCarthy period.

He spoke out for progressive causes, refusing to compromise his principles.

He finally found a home at WFMT, Chicago's classical radio station, where he created his own version of talk radio with great conversation and an eclectic selection of music, signing off each broadcast with Woody Guthrie's classic line, ``Take it easy, but take it.''

Studs had an irrepressible sense of humor and delighted in composing his own epitaph: ``Curiosity did not kill this cat.''

Studs was as much a part of Chicago as his friends Nelson Algren and Mike Royko but like Mark Twain he is claimed by all America. We will miss him.

Madam Speaker, I rise in favor of the Senate amendments.

I rise in support of the bailout proposal before us, and I do not voice my support without some trepidation. However, I feel that the state of our economy is such that we have no logical and prudent choice except to act and to do so now.

Like many people across America, I am not happy about using public money to benefit the robber barons on Wall Street. Therefore, I am pleased to see the high level of independent oversight contained in this package. I know that many people are saying that there is no real help for home owners, for people facing foreclosure, and for those who have already lost their homes and/or their life savings. Therefore, I am pleased to note that this package provides for loan modifications which state concretely that when:

1. The government owns the entire loan.

2. The Secretary of the Treasury and other agencies [FDIC, Federal Reserve, FHFA, GSE's] must:

A. coordinate efforts to gain ownership and control.

B. create a Government-wide plan to maximize loan modifications.

I. Government has a partial interest

The Secretary must:

1. Work with services to modify loans under Hope for Homeowners programs now strengthened to: (a) Allow homeowners to refinance before reset, (b) provide flexibility on

loan-to value-ration, and (c) speed up waivers for second mortgage holders.

2. The Secretary must also fund support to services to ensure the ability to do loan modifications, i.e., loans to cover capital advances.

II. Government has no ownership interest

1. Will offer loan guarantees to induce mortgage holders to make substantial loan modifications.

2. Applies to loans that may not be eligible for other Government refinancing programs.

III. Tenant Protections

1. The Secretary where permissible shall permit bona-fide tenants current in their rent to remain in their homes.

2. The interagency plan for maximizing loan modifications must include protecting Federal, State, and local rental subsidies and ensuring that any loan must take into account the need for operating subsidies.

Madam Speaker, I know that there has been and continues to be a great deal of talk about sweeteners. Well I use Equal, and I am ecstatic to note that in this package, serious consideration is being given to the concept of mental health parity.

If there is a sweetener which would have influenced my position and my vote, this is it. No, this is not a perfect bill and I am sure that some people on Wall Street will benefit; but I do believe that more people on Main Street will feel safer and more secure that their investments are being protected, that their homes and insurance policies will be saved and their children's futures will be more secure. I vote ``yes.''

Madam Speaker, I wish to take a moment to recognize October as National Breast Cancer Awareness month. Excluding skin cancer, breast cancer is the most common cancer among women, accounting for more than 1 in 4 cancers diagnosed in women in the United States. Breast cancer incidence and death rates generally increase with age. White women have a higher incidence of breast cancer than African American women after the age of 40. In contrast, African American women have a higher incidence rate before the age of 40. Of great concern is the racial disparity that exists in terms of breast cancer outcomes. In the United States, African American women are 37 percent more likely to die from breast cancer than Caucasian women, with 5-year survival rates being 77 percent and 90 percent, respectively. This discrepancy is unacceptable.

Health disparities related to breast cancer exist primarily due to poor early detection of the cancer and limited access to high-quality treatment. A lack of health insurance usually is linked with one having a more advanced stage of cancer at the time of diagnosis. The presence of supplementary illnesses, lower socioeconomic status, unequal access to medical care, and disparities in treatment may contribute to the observed differences in survival between lower and higher income breast cancer patients, specifically between African American and white women.

Many institutions are taking the initiative to understand and address these disparities. I am proud that a hospital in my Congressional district has accepted this challenge. The Sinai Urban Health Institute is the largest private provider of charity care in the State of Illinois, and it has helped raise awareness and care for breast cancer. Sinai recently completed a comprehensive epidemiological analysis of breast cancer mortality for African American and Caucasian women in Chicago. Strikingly, the study found that black women in Chicago had a 68 percent higher mortality rate of breast cancer than Caucasian women. Further, the study demonstrated that Caucasian women in Chicago had benefited from the incredible advancements in treatment over the past 2 decades, but that these treatment successes had no impact on the mortality rate for African American women. This report prompted the local health community to discuss solutions to the growing disparities. The experts involved centered their recommendations on three things: improve access to mammograms, the quality of mammograms, and the quality of breast cancer treatment. To do its part, Sinai developed a program to increase the access of low-income women to mammograms. I am impressed that Sinai's efforts resulted in an amazing increase in the number of mammograms conducted at Sinai. Specifically, the number of mammograms increased 60 percent from 2004 to 2007.

I also am pleased that this session I helped pass legislation to extend the authorization of the semipostal Breast Cancer Awareness stamp till 2011. Through the sale of this stamp, we are able to raise awareness of this disease and directly raise money for needed research. Sale of the Breast Cancer Semi-Postal stamp, first issued in 1998, has raised more than $54 million for breast cancer research.

As policymakers, we must continue to work together to raise money, promote awareness, and advance treatment for a cancer that is devastating our communities.

Madam Speaker, I wish to take a moment to recognize Captain Charles L. Stuppard with the United States Navy for his service and dedication as Commander of Task Group 56.6 in Kuwait, Iraq, and Afghanistan. As the Navy Individual Augmentee Support Group, Task Group 56.6 serves to in-process, oversee, train, out-process and care for members of the Navy assigned as Individual Augmentees to duties in the Global War on Terrorism. Rather than being a member of a particular military structure, such as a brigade or battalion, an ``Individual Augmentee'' (or IA) is a Sailor who fills a position for which there is a shortage or high demand. After a year serving as the Commander of TG 56.6, On Thursday, June 5, 2008, a Change of Command Ceremony took place at the CDR Phillip Murphy-Sweet Warrior Transition Program Facility, Camp Arifjan, Kuwait to recognize Captain Stuppard's leadership.

When I think of Captain Stuppard, I am reminded of the words of Martin Luther King, Jr., and Rosalynn Carter. Reverend Doctor King reflected, ``The ultimate measure of a man is not where he stands in moments of comfort, but where he stands at times of challenge and controversy.'' Mrs. Carter once said, ``A leader takes people where they want to go. A great leader takes people where they don't necessarily want to go, but ought to be.'' As the Commander of the Navy's IA Support Group, Captain Stuppard demonstrated the spirit of these quotes. During a time of great conflict and challenge, he was responsible for ensuring that thousands of Sailors were supported and cared for while performing a variety of specialized positions to meet theater requirements in Kuwait, Iraq and Afghanistan. To accomplish this, Captain Stuppard enhanced the check-in and training process of incoming personnel to theater, improved the support structures, provided oversight during the deployment, and strengthened supports for returning service members. Central to these successes were his commitment and ability to coordinate and streamline operational relationships within IA and non-IA stakeholders to provide the services needed by all to our IA sailors in the Global War on Terrorism. His coordinated efforts improved administrative efficiencies, which reduced the immediate risk and burden on deployed Expeditionary forces. Captain Stuppard was lauded for his ``Sailor first'' philosophy--developing programs, ensuring key supports for military personnel, and establishing benchmarks for continuous support for future operations. These activities demand adept leadership and an acute sense of mission goals to address the rapidly changing needs of deployed Sailors.

Truly, these accomplishments are impressive and worthy of the recognition of the United States House of Representatives. I wish Captain Stuppard well in his new role as the Executive Assistant to the Commander of Navy Installations Command at the Washington Navy Yard. I am certain that in this position he will continue to serve his country with honor, lead with wisdom, and display courage that few demonstrate but many admire.

Madam Speaker, although I am voting to support this bailout plan, I am concerned that we do not have enough of an equity remedy for small institutions that held preferred stock in Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac. I was recently contacted by Standard Life Insurance Company of Indiana (``Standard Life'') regarding an unintended consequence of the Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac government bailout. Standard Life is a small life insurance company domiciled and headquartered in Indiana, with executive offices in Kentucky. They have approximately 100 employees (all in Indiana and Kentucky) and 30,000 policyholders. They sell traditional annuities for pre-retirement savings and retirement income purposes. Their average customer is approximately 65 years old and average size policy is approximately $50,000.

I understand that between late 2007 and early 2008, based on repeated representations by Treasury and Regulatory officials that Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac were adequately

capitalized and were safe and sound, Standard Life purchased $31 million of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac perpetual preferred stock.

On September 7, 2008, Secretary Paulson announced the conservatorship of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, a part of which was the elimination of dividends on all preferred stock. The consequence of that action was to cause the securities to be rated near default, requiring Standard Life to carry them at a market value of 10 cents on the dollar for regulatory capital purposes, an immediate reduction of Standard Life's capital from $113 million to $85 million (or diminution of $28 million dollars, or 25 percent).

It is my understanding that this result has potentially dire consequences for Standard Life's survival, Kentucky and Indiana jobs and, most importantly, Standard Life's policyholders, if corrective action is not taken by September 30, 2008. Standard Life has been informed by the rating agency A.M. Best that its rating will be cut if the lost capital is not replaced by that time. The rating cut will be from a ``secure'' B++ to a likely ``unsecure'' B or lower. This will likely result in a cascade of negative events:

Shut down of sales; extended withdrawal activity (``run on bank''); and regulatory intervention, up to and including receivership and liquidation, which will result in delayed policyholder access to their funds and possible reduction of interest earned on their policies.

I believe this was an unintended consequence of the government moving quickly to stabilize Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac. There are a number of ideas being discussed to help companies like Standard Life. It is my hope and desire that the government rescue plan include an equitable remedy for Standard Life and companies in a similar position. I trust that before we finalize this legislation and the President signs it, we will have adequately addressed this very serious issue.

Madam Speaker, as we move into the month of October, I want to take a moment to recognize October as AIDS Awareness History Month. AIDS Awareness month provides an opportunity to focus on the fact that HIV/AIDS is a formidable problem across the country. The 2008 AIDS Awareness Month occurs at a time when we have learned that we are struggling in the fight against AIDS. In early August, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, CDC, released new statistics showing a 40 percent increase over previous estimates of new cases of HIV. The report found that that 53 percent of new HIV infections in 2006 were among gay and bisexual men, with almost one-third, 31 percent of new infections being among heterosexuals, which previous studies have shown have the greatest effect on African American women.

HIV/AIDS is a public health problem in our country and an emergency situation within the African American community. African Americans make up 13 percent of the United States population, but they account for 49 percent of the estimated AIDS cases diagnosed since the epidemic began. Since the beginning of the epidemic, African Americans have accounted for 42 percent of the estimated 950,000 AIDS cases diagnosed in the 50 states and the District of Columbia. Not only are African Americans more likely to get AIDS, they are more likely to die from it, with more than half of all AIDS-related deaths being among African Americans. The statistics in Illinois resemble those nationally. African Americans aged 13-24 have the highest average annual HIV rates. African American males aged 13-24 had an average annual HIV rate was 2.5 times higher than the rate in White males, and almost 4

times higher than the rate in Hispanic men. In Chicago, African American women represent 75 percent of all women living with HIV/AIDS, yet they account for only 37 percent of the general female population aged 13 and over. This disparity is unacceptable. HIV / AIDS is plaguing and destroying African American communities, robbing our community of its fathers, mothers, brothers, and sisters.

We must do more to address this problem. We must increase funding for both prevention and treatment. We cannot rely on the failed policies of this administration to ignore strategies proven to decrease risky behavior and lower transmission rates and embrace strategies that do nothing. We must emphasize prevention, not restrict the CDC's prevention budget by 19 percent. We must support the Minority HIV/AIDS Initiative and expand Ryan White. This is a public health. problem that mandates a comprehensive, intensive public health strategic response. I commend the City of Chicago's Department of Public Health, the State of Illinois Department of Public Health, and all of the organizations who actively are working to put at least a dent in this problem. I try to do my part to focus attention on this public health problem. A few weeks ago, I chaired an AIDS walk in Chicago that raised money for awareness and the fight for the cure. I also helped launch the ``Quality of Life'' Illinois Lottery game called Red Ribbon Cash. Proceeds gathered from the game will fund grants to public and private entities with HIV/AIDS prevention programs in Illinois. In terms of promoting prevention, I myself, have been publicly tested multiple times to convince the African-American community of the importance of being tested. America has within it the resources to address this issue; our political leadership must take action to do so. My fellow colleagues and I and all Americans need to do much more about this problem.

Madam Speaker, I rise today to recognize the service and sacrifice of a recent fallen soldier--Illinois National Guard Specialist Joshua Harris. Specialist Harris served with Battery B of the 2nd Battalion of the 122nd Field Artillery that provided security for police mentor teams in Afghanistan. Joshua was only 21, and he lived in Oak Park, Illinois. He deployed to Afghanistan in August of this year. On Wednesday, September 17, Joshua was killed by a roadside bomb in Afghanistan, along with Sergeant Jason Vazquez, 24, also of Chicago. Joshua was posthumously promoted to sergeant and Jason to staff sergeant.

At this time of loss and sorrow, I am reminded of the words of two famous poets. Kahlil Gibran once said, ``When you are sorrowful look again in your heart, and you shall see that in truth you are weeping for that which has been your delight.'' Henry Longfellow reflected, ``He spake well who said that

graves are the footprints of angels.'' These words capture what we know about Joshua--he was both an angel and delight to those around him. His death brings comfort to no one, but his life spread comfort to many. His friends and family have recounted that he worked for the betterment of his community and displayed kindness to all. From the time he was just a boy, Joshua wanted to serve in the military; a child who initiated saluting when he was just 9 years old. With hard work and dedication, he earned the rank of Eagle Scout in 2005. This is an impressive accomplishment that reflects a strong, dedicated character that Joshua applied to his life and military service. I also understand that his death steals from us a potential political leader--someone who loved history, particularly the civil war, and who demonstrated leadership on issues small and large.

Joshua died serving his country in the uniform of the Illinois National Guard. Therefore I send my condolences to the friends and family of Sergeant Harris during their time of grief, and I pay tribute to a true hero whose courage and sacrifice will always be honored and cherished in this country. We are grateful for all that he did for so many in Chicago, the United States, and the world.

Well, thank you very much.

I just want to commend and to thank you, Representative Clarke, for the leadership that you've taken on this issue as well as on a number of others. When you were elected, those of us who knew of your history and who knew of your family's history in New York were all delighted to know that we were going to have a queen warrior join us in the House of Representatives, and that's exactly what you have demonstrated yourself to be.

With every phone call that I have gotten--and I represent a district where the people like to be engaged and where they like to be involved--one of my biggest bills is probably my phone bill. That's because our phones are constantly being used all the time, all the time, all the time.

In practically every call that we have gotten, the people have said, ``Don't fall for the okey-doke.'' So, you know, you have to ask them ``What is the 'okey-doke'? What are you talking about? What are you asking us not to fall for?'' They'll say, ``Don't fall for any bailout plan that only bails out financial institutions, that only bails out financial investors, that only bails out sophisticated traders, that only bails out people who really know and who understand markets and who have got all of these sophisticated tools and all of this information. Make sure that John Smith gets bailed out. Make sure that Sally Jones gets bailed out. Make sure that Mary Jackson gets bailed out.''

In essence, what they were saying is make sure that, as to any bailout plan,

it has built into it consumer interest for the little guy--for the person who has invested and who has created a life savings that is being wiped out without a minute's notice, for the individuals who've got retirement plans that they've meticulously tried to put together and from which they're hoping to have some little nest egg at the end of their work. Make sure that these individuals' interests are, in fact, protected; make sure that they are included, and make sure that there is enough oversight to protect them.

As a matter of fact, one guy called, and he just said, ``If you want to make sure that you do something, make sure that you regulate, regulate, regulate, regulate, regulate and that you have oversight, oversight, oversight, oversight and that you have enough independence and enough people involved in oversight who don't have the institutional interests nor the self-interests that will take them away from the public interest.''

So it's the public interest that we're talking about protecting. I don't believe in having more oversight than you need to. I don't believe in regulating more than what is necessary, but I can tell you that I believe sincerely that deregulation has been part of the culprit. We know that people have come to us and have said, ``You're strangling our ability to grow and to make money.'' Well, how much money do you really want to make? When is enough, enough, enough?

Another person told me the other day that the history of the world, my sweet, is deciding who eats and who gets to eat. It seems to me that there is an opportunity with this crisis, that there is an opportunity to make sure that bailout plans and schemes will create jobs, that they will promote the redevelopment of many of our inner city and depressed rural communities throughout the country and that they will make sure that the money goes where it is actually needed.

So I am prepared to vote for that kind of a bailout plan. I am not prepared to vote for anything that does not represent the serious consideration of the public interest. I'm hoping that as we debate, discuss, develop, and align things this week that that's what we're going to come up with.

So I again want to commend you. I want to thank you. I want to appreciate your leadership, to appreciate the work that is being done. I can tell you that, when the dust settles and after all is said and done, the American people will judge us by what we do for America, not just by what we do for any category or for any group of interest entities but by what we do for America.

I thank you again, and it has really been a pleasure to stop by. I've got to go and do what just regular people do, you know. I've got to go and wash.

I yield back the balance of my time.

Thank you very much, Chairman Conyers, and you know, as you and Representative Christensen were talking about, everybody in and nobody out, of course you were talking about Dr. Quinton Young, who kind of coined the slogan, who started the Student Medical Association. So I can understand how Donna would have picked it up.

Unequivocally and without a doubt. So it has been an absolute pleasure to know and work with Dr. Young for a number of years. Those of us who considered ourselves to be health activists always wondered how Quinton practiced medicine, I mean, because he was so engaged and so involved, and yet he was engaged in the private practice of medicine part of the time. And of course, he was the medical director also at Cook County Hospital and a leader in the American Medical Association; although, he was considered a renegade.

Well, I should look forward to seeing him.

But I also want to commend you for your tremendous leadership. As a matter of fact, you have been a hero of mine on these issues long before I came to Congress, and even before I had the opportunity to really know who you were.

As a matter of fact, when I think of you, I often think of one of my favorite Biblical Scriptures that says, ``They that wait on the Lord shall renew their strength; they will mount up like the wings on an eagle; they will run and not get tired; and they will walk and not faint.'' And you have been running on these tracks for a long time. And still, while most Members have gone home, have gotten their flights and have made their way back--or trying to make their way back--here you are on the floor, late in the evening, leading a discussion on the need for national health insurance, or universal health care, and I can't help but commend that.

You know, as I think about the issue of health and all the problems that we face individually and collectively, I think of how unfortunate it is when individuals are illiterate because it cuts them off from the ability to communicate with the rest of the world; and how unfortunate it is when people live in substandard housing because they don't have the sanctuary or they don't have the feeling of knowing that at the end of the day they can come in out of the rain or out of the cold or come in from a society that may not be as comforting as they would like for it to be.

It's so terrible when children don't have access to good schools and decent education and can't be in a position to compete effectively with other members of society. And then to be unemployed, not have a job to go to, not be able to sustain oneself, not be able to know that you have the resources that you need. But then to be sick on top of all that means that your life is relegated, for all practical purposes, to a level of despair and uncertainty for which you can find or see no way out. The child who is sick at school and can't see a physician or go to a clinic.

There is no point to the teacher talking about, ``Johnny, study hard,'' because Johnny doesn't feel like studying. I mean, Johnny's stomach is hurting, or Johnny can't see the board. And so telling Johnny to study hard doesn't mean a great deal to Johnny. Or the guy who wakes up in the morning and turns on the radio and the blues singer is saying, ``get a job.'' ``Every morning about this time you bring my breakfast to the bed crying. Get a job.'' Well, that person doesn't feel like going out looking for a job because they're sick. They don't feel like it; they're despondent, they're in despair. And so they're not going to get a job. They're not even going to go out and look for a job because they don't feel like going to work.

And so health care, as far as I'm concerned, and for my money, is the most important aspect of life, because without a sense of well-being, one cannot

challenge or confront the rest of societal needs.

Our health is the foundation of everything that you can think of. I often believe that my mother died prematurely because she had to travel 100 miles to go to the hospital for her dialysis treatment because that was the closest hospital to where she lived where she could get the treatment. And so not having access to health care has limited, in so many different ways, the ability for people to just have hopes of the American Dream, to just believe that they can experience it.

Yeah, there are those who take the position that we could never have universal health care; I mean, they say, ``never, ever.'' But, you know, I remember when people said that you could never put poor people into managed care. I remember when people said that HMOs would not survive, that they would never, ever make it. I remember when people said that you really couldn't have the proliferation of clinics. I worked in a community health center, and I remember when those were getting started. They were part of the ``Great Society'' programs, part of the legislation that came out of the marches and demonstrations led by Dr. Martin Luther King that came after John Kennedy had been elected President, assassinated, and then Lyndon Baines Johnson became President. And Democrats--I mean, they were Democrats--embarked upon a new program, something called the ``Great Society'' programs, just as years before a fellow named Franklin Delano Roosevelt kind of led the Nation towards social reform that brought us Social Security and some other protections that we didn't have.

Well, I think that right now is the best possible time for us to take another giant step, a quantum leap, if you will, and make sure that no single individual in our country, no matter who they are, where they come from, how wealthy they are, how poor they are, how without resources they are, no single individual should have to live in the United States of America without adequate protection for health care.

I mean, we are the wealthiest Nation on the face of the Earth. We are the most technologically advanced Nation. Yes, we are hurting in some ways. And of course we are hurting because we have not seen the distribution of the resources be as adequate as we need to see them. We have not seen as many people with access to the goodness and the greatness of this country. But when 41 percent of working age adults have a problem paying their medical bills or have a medical debt that they will never be able to pay, then something is wrong.

And we have not seen what we are capable of seeing. I was just thinking of some of the things that people have been telling us about their experiences. And I guess if you live in an environment that I live in and where I live, you individually know these people. It's not a matter of reading it in the newspaper or reading it in the magazine, you know the individuals personally who are having these kind of problems. For example, Jerome. Jerome said to us, ``My wife was diagnosed with melanoma in September and died in November. I believe preventive health care and better diagnosis might have prolonged her life or provided a cure. She saw two dermatologists last year, and both failed to diagnose her condition. She went on to have moles and a cyst evaluated and removed. In addition to the failure to diagnose, the cost of insurance and deductibles exceeded $40,000. Prior hospital visits in the past 5 years for a stroke resulted in medical bills of approximately $100,000, which brought us to the verge of bankruptcy.

``Fortuitously, I received an inheritance last year which enabled me to pay the current bills. However, since being downsized 5 years ago at age 56, I have been unable to obtain employment. And my wife was unable to work due to the stroke and subsequent illnesses. I am a relatively well-educated man and I'm willing to work; however, I do not feel our current economic system values my experience and education. I am a certified financial planner. I have worked over 30 years with approximately $150,000 accumulated in retirement savings, all of which has been used for medical expenses. Without my inheritance, I would have my home, worth about $250,000, as my only asset.''

Julia writes, ``I've been fighting ovarian cancer for 19 years. I developed a secondary blood cancer last year and had to have a bone marrow transplant in January of 2007. Medicine is outrageously expensive. Luckily, I have mail order service that only costs $5 a prescription; otherwise, my medication would cost over $1,000 a month.

``Our insurance premiums cost $965 a month. My COBRA, just for me, is $565 a month. My husband and two children, which my husband pays for, $400 a month. My deductible is low, $250, but my family's is over $1,000. I am dreading if I am unable to work before COBRA runs out. I don't know what I will do for insurance as I am a teacher and don't know if I can get Medicare. I can't go on my husband's insurance as he works for a small company. They will get dropped by the insurance company if I am added. This has happened twice before.

``The medical system is broken. People shouldn't have to choose between health care and bankruptcy, which is the case for many who go through bone marrow transplants.''

Well, Congressman Conyers, as long as there are people like these in America, as long as there are individuals for whom the American Dream continues to be a tremendous nightmare, as long as there are people who have, in many instances, lost hope and given up, as long as there are individuals who can't see their way out no matter how much they struggle, how long, how hard and how difficult the challenges, and as long as there are people like you, who are willing to fight for every American, as long as there are people like you, I am going to be willing to join you.

And so I'm pleased that I was able to be here this evening to share with you and with Americans all over the country that health care should, in fact, be a right and not a privilege, that we must have a system where everybody is in and nobody is out.

I thank you. And I yield back the balance of my time.

Madam Speaker, I would like to take this opportunity to acknowledge and celebrate National Historically Black Colleges and Universities week, designated as September 7-13, 2008. It is a pleasure to recognize Historically Black Colleges and Universities--or HBCUs--and their successes in educating many of the nation's African American undergraduate and graduate students.

There are over 100 HBCUs, and they provide a key pathway for African Americans and other minorities to take part in higher education. Although HBCUs represent only about 2.4 percent of higher education institutions, they enroll almost 12 percent of African American students who attend college. These institutions offer degrees at various levels across many subject areas. They play a critical role in educating black students in the fields of science and engineering. Indeed, 2004 data demonstrate that, of degrees earned by African American students, HBCUs conferred 20 percent degrees in engineering, 39 percent in the physical sciences, 26 percent in computer science, 37 percent in mathematics, 36 percent in the biological sciences, 47 percent in agricultural sciences, 16 percent in social sciences, and 21 percent in psychology. This success is especially impressive given the historical financial discrimination these institutions endured from Federal and State governments.

It was an HBCU that started me on my path to become the person that I am today. Growing up in rural Arkansas, my parents were low-income sharecroppers, who raised ten children. Seven of us attended the University of Arkansas at Pine Bluff, which was then called Arkansas AM&N College. Subsequently, three of my nephews, a niece, as well as several of my cousins attended the same college. If it were not for the University of Arkansas at Pine Bluff, I strongly believe that my family members and I would not have been able to attend college. Many African American members of Congress and many of our nation's leaders have attended HBCUs--Jesse Jackson, Jr., Jesse Jackson, Sr., Alcee Hastings, Dr. Martin Luther King, W.E.B. Du Bois, and Thurgood Marshall, just to name a few.

The continued support and funding of HBCUs is essential to create more opportunities for people of color to thrive in education and become leaders of tomorrow. To this end, I advocated actively on their behalf during the recent reauthorization of the Higher Education Act. Today more than ever, professional success is linked with a higher education degree. I am pleased that the 110th Congress has demonstrated a commitment to strengthening HBCUs and other minority-serving institutions. HBCUs serve large populations of students with great financial and academic needs and deserve continued Federal support to graduate men and women of color. In honor of the 2008 HBCU week, I recognize HBCUs for their rich heritage, history, and culture and for the opportunities they provide to students to learn, grow, and succeed, regardless of race, ethnicity, or income.

Madam Speaker, today is a good day for the more than 4\1/2\ million grandparents in this Nation who are raising over 6 million children. Today is a good day for the 80,000 grandparents in Illinois who are raising their young grandchildren, and the 36,500 who are living with kinship caregivers. These families have told Members of Congress for years that they needed more support and that the system wasn't working for many children, and especially for African American kids.

Today we can tell them that we heard you and we are doing something about it. I commend Chairman McDermott, Ranking Member Weller, as well as Senators Clinton, Snowe, Grassley, Baucus and Rockefeller for their commitment to reforming foster care.

I rise in strong, unwavering, and resolute support for H.R. 6893. This compromise between the House and Senate advances child welfare in many areas. In particular, it recognizes that guardianship is an important path to permanency for tens of thousands of children in foster care.

In August 2007, the GAO confirmed something that my congressional district and the foster care community has known for years--that African American children are overrepresented in the foster care system, and that subsidized guardianship is a key Federal policy that can help thousands of children into permanent, loving homes.

I thank Chairman McDermott and Ranking Member Weller for including many of the provisions supporting kinship caregivers that I have championed for years. Specifically, the bill includes four core elements of my bill, H.R. 2188, the Kinship Caregiver Support Act, which I introduced with Representative Tim Johnson and which Senators Clinton and Snowe championed in the Senate.

It allows States to use Federal funds to support family caregivers raising relatives in the foster care systems.

It provides funding to establish kinship navigator programs; it requires notification of relatives when a child enters foster care; it extends eligibility for independent living services and education training vouchers for youth who exit foster care after age 16; and it allows States to waive nonsafety-related elements of the licensing requirements that may not apply to families.

In addition, I am very happy that the bill ensures that families that currently receive subsidized guardianship under the current Federal waiver program will be eligible under the new program. This provision protects over 6,000 children in Illinois, as well as the thousands of children in other States who benefit from the waiver program.

So again, Madam Speaker, I want to commend Chairman McDermott and Ranking Member Weller, and I also want to congratulate my colleague, Mr. Weller, as he prepares to leave Congress after a stellar career, and I thank Chairman McDermott for acknowledging the work of Stephanie Tubbs Jones. This is an excellent bill, and I urge its passage.

Madam Speaker, I move to suspend the rules and pass the bill (H.R. 6681) to designate the facility of the United States Postal Service located at 300 Vine Street in New Lenox, Illinois, as the ``Jacob M. Lowell Post Office Building''.

Madam Speaker, I ask unanimous consent that all Members may have 5 legislative days in which to revise and extend their remarks.

Madam Speaker, I now yield myself such time as I may consume.

Madam Speaker, as a member of the House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform, I stand with my colleagues from my home State of Illinois in consideration of H.R. 6681, which renames the postal facility in New Lenox, Illinois, in honor of Jacob M. Lowell.

H.R. 6681 enjoys the support of the entire House congressional delegation from Illinois and was introduced by Representative Jerry Weller back on July 30, 2008. The measure was taken up by the Oversight Committee on September 10, 2008 and was passed by the panel by a voice vote.

H.R. 6681 calls for honoring Jacob M. Lowell's service to this country. Jacob M. Lowell of New Lenox, Illinois, was assigned to the 1st Battalion, 503rd Infantry Regiment (Air Assault), 173rd Airborne Brigade, Camp Ederle, Italy, when he died on June 2 near Gowardesh, Afghanistan. He died of wounds suffered when his unit came into contact with enemy forces using a rocket-propelled grenade and small arms fire. This heroic son of Illinois was just 22 years old when he passed away.

Army Specialist Lowell played football for Lincoln-Way Central High School in New Lenox, Illinois.

He graduated in 2003 and 2 years later enlisted in the Army. According to his family, Jacob joined the Army because he wanted to serve his country.

Madam Speaker, in honor of Jacob M. Lowell's service, I urge that we pass without reservation H.R. 6681 and rename the postal facility on Vine Street in New Lenox, Illinois, after this great American serviceman.

I reserve the balance of my time.

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