Floor Statements

Madam Speaker I rise today to honor a dedicated member of my staff, Mr. Ronald Kirk, who has dedicated his life to government service. Born on November 2, 1944, in New York City to William Henry Kirk and Marjorie Smith Kirk, Ronald Eugene Kirk, the fourth of five children, was born and raised in Harlem and is a product of the New York City Public School system. Ron's passion for community involvement and neighborhood empowerment was evident from the start of his life. After receiving a bachelor's in business administration from Pace University and a master's in business management from Manhattan College, Ron began his lifelong involvement in community service.

Early on, Ron became politically active and cut his teeth with such community based organizations as the Community Planning Board #10 in Manhattan, the Community Corporation/Harlem Youth in Action, Model Cities and several political organizations established in the Harlem community. He was twice elected Democratic District Leader in the 70th Assembly District of New York. Ron served as foundation director of the City University of New York and as a confidential secretary to a New York Supreme Court Judge. During his time in New York, Ron received numerous accolades and commendations from such notable individuals as Representative Charlie Rangel, former Mayor David Dinkins, Former New York Secretaries of State Basil Patterson and Percy Sutton. His efforts have been recognized by organizations such as the Sickle Cell Foundation, the Catholic Youth Organization, and the New York City Department for the Aging.

Upon moving to Atlanta, Ron served as a dedicated host for the 1996 Olympics held in Atlanta, Georgia, and worked for the David Scott for Congress campaign in 2002. For the past 8 years he has served admirably as my senior Immigration/Department of State Specialist and Constituent Services Representative.

Ron is a dedicated family man, having been married to the lovely Emma for 38 years, has two beautiful children, Kwesi and Amina, and three wonderful grandsons, Nikai, James and Malachai. Ron is actively involved in community outreach and the Red Oak Methodist Church in Stockbridge, Georgia.

It is with a heavy heart that I and my staff say goodbye to Ron as he retires from my Congressional staff. I am extremely proud of the accomplishments Ron has made throughout his life and for his outstanding work in my office. As this chapter of Ron's life closes and he begins his new chapter, it is a blessing to know that Ron's ability to be a social catalyst touched the lives of many in the 13th District of Georgia and the Nation. Ron, I wish you every success for the future and thank you for your outstanding work effort, passion for change, and your ability to look at the impossible and ask, ``why not?''

God bless Ron Kirk.

Thank you very much, Mr. Chairman. I appreciate you giving me a minute to speak on this.

This is the single most important issue facing the American people, jobs. You talk about troubled assets, what greater troubled assets do we have than jobs and homes? These are the troubled assets that the American people want us to respond to.

Throughout the length and breadth of this country, small towns, country towns, from Michigan, Ohio, throughout wherever it is, people are concerned about jobs. The misery index is high, the depression index is high. Do you know what a job means?

Here we have got $75 billion. What better place to put it than in small businesses, into the heart and the soul of the American economy, at the middle and at the bottom where people will spend it.

Ladies and gentlemen of this Congress, this is Christmastime. Next week is Christmas. What better Christmas gift can we give the American people than this jobs bill that will put our people back to work, that will build our homes, that will help our families, that will give them hope where they need it. They deserve this Christmas present this day.

Thank you so much, Ms. Fudge. I just want to say how proud we all are of you and your leadership that you are providing on the floor for this hour, that you have been going forward with all of this year. And I certainly want to single out for special praise our distinguished chairlady of the Congressional Black Caucus. The good Lord has surely brought us the right person at the right time to lead this caucus in a very serious sea of turbulent waters. And so, Ms. Barbara Lee, I just want to personally thank you for that leadership as we go forward.

Let me start at the very beginning, because I think that we need to understand what we are referencing when we

use the words ``targeting'' and ``focus.'' Let me just say clearly, yes, we are the Congressional Black Caucus. But we are talking about targeting and focusing our efforts on the basis of need, no more, no less, than what they did for Wall Street. You all may remember, I serve on the Financial Services Committee, and it was Secretary Paulson, the Republican Secretary of the Treasury, who rushed over here to Capitol Hill with just two pieces of paper, two pieces of paper. And said that the sky is falling down on Wall Street, and we needed to target and focus $700 billion or $800 billion he said, on Wall Street.

And then he went on to say, not only targeted to Wall Street, but targeted to specifically 12 to 15 bank and financial houses. Targeted, because that was where the source of the problem he felt. And he analyzed that source of the problem by saying it's because the credit markets are frozen. There is no lending. And we have to move.

Well, we sent him back, and we said, well, we can't do that; we have to have something more moving. And he came back and said, Well, let's target it to troubled asset relief, or TARP, so that we can relieve these troubled assets with these financial institutions. Again, targeted. The point I'm trying to make is that we know the value of targeting where the problem is.

All we are simply saying here is we have troubled assets. What more troubled assets in our financial institution can we have than the job and our homes? And it is more troubled assets than the 12 or 15 houses to unfreeze the credit, which we did, and which we moved to. We must do the same here. We are advocating strongly that we take the remaining $200 billion of this TARP money and focus it on where these troubled assets are now, jobs, and to saving our homes. This is what the American people want and need.

Ladies and gentlemen, let me just say, we have a soaring economy. But we must understand that it, too, is targeted. We have roughly 300 million people in this country. Eighty percent of those are targeted at the bottom one-third of the economic wealth stream of our economy. That means roughly 80 percent of that 300 billion, that is 270 million people, are targeted there.

And I bring that point up because, simply, our economy runs on mass consumption. Stores require spending. And it means that you need as many people going in that store buying that carton of milk or going into that auto dealership buying that car as possible. That is why this effort now--we've taken $700 billion, we've targeted the top; we need to take this $200 billion and target it at the bottom, and target it for jobs, and target it related to housing because they are so interconnected.

The most immediate thing we can do is what, again, we in the Congressional Black Caucus, 10 of us stood firm on the Financial Services Committee and said, no, no. No more. You're going to have to respond to this. If we did no more than anchor our movement in terms of providing moneys and target it into those areas that have high foreclosure, high closed and abandoned buildings and homes, and target money into those communities to fix up those homes, get them back on the market, that will save the housing prices and stop them from falling but will also create jobs in the most meaningful way for the very people we are trying to target it for. We need to also target money to help people who are losing their jobs to stay in their homes.

And secondly, we've got to target jobs to those people who no matter what you say about a rising tide lifts all boats, it doesn't. Many people are left behind. And nowhere is that more specific than in the African American community of African American males.

I will just recall in my closing to you this evening, we realized this, and we put the Manpower Training Act, and we targeted that. We realized this point, and we put forth what was known as the opportunities and industrialization centers into these communities where we paid for the salaries and the training, and for the individuals to go on to the jobs so that they not only are trained for the jobs that are existing, but they are actually placed in those jobs. There are new jobs coming, and they've got to be trained for them.

Madam Chairwoman, I just want to thank you again. I appreciate this opportunity, and again, I'm very proud of my colleagues and what we are doing. Thank you.

Madam Chair, on rollcall No. 953, the Frank of Massachusetts Amendment as modified, I was unable to vote. Had I been present, I would have voted ``aye.''

Amendment No. 2 Offered by Mr. Sessions

Thank you very much, Mr. Chairman.

I rise in strong support of this legislation, very much needed. When you talk of socialism, these are the same arguments that were held when Franklin Delano Roosevelt and members on the same body on the Democratic side of the aisle came forward to respond to the crisis in that generation. And there is no difference here today.

Oftentimes, when we've had great debates and when people get heated up in the call of the debate, when there's nothing else to argue, when there is no other point, you can always rely on ``it's socialism'' or ``it's communism.'' No. What this is is good ol' Americanism.

This is the most severe financial crisis since the Depression, and it requires this Congress to step forward with the intelligence and the sober mindedness to respond. This isn't socialism. This is good old- fashioned, good ol' free enterprise Americanism.

Let us talk for one second about one of the major issues that's been debated here, that this is not an end to bailout. This is an end of taxpayer bailouts to protect the American economy and American taxpayers from ever, ever again having to pay for a bailout. We don't know what the future holds in terms of ups and downs. This is not a socialist system. This is a free enterprise system. And that means we're going to be governed by the rigors of the markets, by supply and demand, by all of those things that are unforeseen.

But one thing we do know, that never again will the taxpayers have to foot the bill. That is what this does. It has worked well for us with

Madam Speaker, I move that the House do now adjourn.

The motion was agreed to; accordingly (at 12 o'clock and 8 minutes a.m.), the House adjourned until today, Thursday, December 10, 2009, at 10 a.m.

Mr. Speaker, today the arc of history will hover over this House of Representatives, and the question facing each and every one of us today as 14,600 of our American citizens are losing their insurance every day is: where are we going to stand on this arc of history today? I ask you, are you going to stand with the negative forces of ``no'' or ``kill the bill'' or ``I object''? Or are we going to stand with the hope of America that has been expressed all of the way down from Teddy Roosevelt to Franklin Delano Roosevelt to Harry Truman to Lyndon Baines Johnson to Teddy Kennedy, and to John Dingell?

I say to you today, this House of Representatives, stand up and say I am not afraid of the future because the key to our future is to make sure that all Americans have access and have affordable health care insurance. That's what the American people are expecting us to do, to stand up for America.

Madam Speaker, as the Proverb states, ``Who can find a virtuous woman? For her price is far above rubies.'' I rise today to recognize a truly virtuous woman whose life is not only far above rubies, but one of great milestones and accomplishments that is worthy of celebration. On November 27th of this year, Mrs. Maggie Katie Brown Kidd will turn 105 years old and I am honored to serve as a spokesman for Mrs. Kidd's family members and friends who will recognize her birthday with a party in her honor.

Born during President Theodore Roosevelt's second term in office, Mrs. Kidd has been blessed to see 17 Presidents in her lifetime. The eleventh and youngest child of William and Lucy Brown, Mrs. Kidd learned the importance of hard work and faith in God at an early age. Baptized at the Mount Zion Baptist Church by the Reverend Henry Gresham, she served under the leadership of the Reverend W.M. Combs until she moved to her current home in Atlanta Ga. However, her faith is her Lord and her dedication to the church never left her and she instilled the traditions of faith and her work in her own family. She married the late Willie Kidd, III on November 30, 1940, and together they raised their two children, John and Rosalyn. She is also the proud grandmother to four and the great-grandmother to three and serves as the matriarch of her loving family.

Mrs. Kidd's family describes her as a loving and selfless member of her community, offering her time and whatever she has to those in need. She is also an avid quilter and participates in family gatherings and activities outside of Georgia. Her most favorite moments, however, are the ones on a quiet afternoon stitching in her favorite chair.

Madam Speaker, I am so honored to serve as Mrs. Kidd's representative. Her life is a living history of the times and events that have shaped our great land and is a monument to how far we've come as a nation. Moreover, her life serves as a testament to individuals and families everywhere that a strong unbinding faith in the Lord, coupled with hard work and a dedication to family will carry you far in life. As the Proverb states, ``favour is deceitful, and beauty is vain: but a woman that feareth the LORD, she shall be praised''. Mrs. Maggie Katie Brown Kidd truly embodies the example of a virtuous woman and I ask my colleagues to join me in recognizing her life by wishing her a very happy 105th birthday.

Mr. Speaker, ladies and gentlemen, America is a great country. It is the greatest country on the face of the Earth.

The reason that it is the greatest country on the face of the Earth is that, at great moments of crisis, this country has risen to the occasion. When it was during the Depression, we rose to the occasion. When we needed Social Security, we rose to the occasion. With Medicare, we rose to the occasion.

Also at that time, there were the naysayers. There were people who would just say ``no.'' That's what my friends on the other side of the aisle did. Where is their plan? They have no plan.

At this moment of crisis, we Democrats are standing here, and are saying America deserves better. America deserves the best. Now, they talk about our being in the dark with plans? We've had health care debates. We've had

meetings. We've had bills moving through three houses in this Congress--two in the House and in the Senate. Republicans have had their shot. We need this bill. Let's stand up for America and have health care.

Mr. Speaker, I come down to concur with my colleague Mr. Deal from Georgia. The water situation in our State of Georgia is dire. It's a very delicate situation. We are working towards a very, very good response for the people of Georgia and for our entire region. We've just had the court ruling. It's very sensitive there. Our major concern--and again, this is with great respect to the chairman. He just spoke and we concur with that as well. But we need to be very careful that there is no language in the reporting language or in any of the studies that removes the words ``for human consumption'' for water. Because if the manuals are not constructed with the measurements by using water that is used for human consumption, that shoots right into our bull's-eye because that's why in metro Atlanta, in the Lake Lanier area where the point of the discussion is, we use that water for human consumption. So we're very sensitive to anything that would disallow that. We are working with the Governors of both Florida and Alabama, jointly with our Governor of Georgia, to come to a conclusion. As you all may or may not know, the judge, when he ruled in his decision, declared that it would be here in Congress that we would have to at some point reauthorize the water use of Lake Lanier and that region for human consumption. So this language would make it very difficult for us. We certainly want to concur with that. I concur with Mr. Deal and the folks in Georgia, and I would respectfully hope that our words would be taken within the spirit of understanding that we are to deliver those words. I thank the chairman for yielding.

Thank you so much, Chairman Oberstar, and thank you for your graciousness, Madam Speaker, and your offer of help and condolences that you have extended to each member of our Georgia delegation and to all the people of Georgia. We thank you for your concern, and yours, Mr. Chairman.

I certainly rise with a heavy heart. This is an extraordinarily challenging time for the people of my State of Georgia and certainly for people in my congressional district, for, Mr. Speaker, of the nine persons that have lost their lives so far, six of them have come from my district, and, as a matter of fact, six have come from one county, and that is Douglas County. So our hearts and our prayers go out for all of these families.

Rest assured that this Congress has their thoughts and their needs deep in our bosom at this time of great sacrifice and of great hurt and pain. It is important for the people of Georgia to know that we in Congress are moving swiftly in concert with our President to make sure that this gets the signature of a statement of national emergency and a declaration of emergency, because until that happens, we will not be able to get the funds that are needed.

That is what is of utmost importance now. There are people without homes. There are people without homes without any flood insurance, which means that that would be on their backs to pay for, which many do not have. The estimate of damage is over $300 million as we speak and continues to grow. So we need to move with all swiftness, with all quick dispatch, to get this Federal aid down and to make sure that the people, particularly in those areas that were hit throughout Metro Atlanta, but also in the areas of Cobb County in my district.

We have been in touch with our county commissions in those areas, with Tom Wortham in Douglas County and the mayor of Douglasville, Mayor Mickey Thompson, who are working feverishly to make sure that they are responding to the needs of our citizens.

So, Mr. Speaker, Mr. Chairman, all the Members of the Congress, we certainly appreciate the condolences, and we appreciate the care and the sincerity that this Congress is expressing to the people of Georgia, and we assure the people of Georgia that we will get the help down to them quickly.

Mr. Speaker, let me just start out by saying this. We're hearing complaints from the other side that we are taking over the private enterprise system; we are taking over the free enterprise system.

Mr. Speaker, I yield 3 minutes to the gentleman from North Carolina (Mr. Miller).

Let me say this: Mr. Garrett's amendment is sort of like not having a say-on-pay but maybe just a little whisper. Mr. Garrett's amendment goes at the heart and the soul of this bill and that is this: that we must have a very strong, definitive say-so from the shareholders.

Now, Mr. Hensarling, the gentleman from Texas, pointed out about the bailouts and how we're to prevent this. This measure that we have is designed to prevent this same situation from happening again. In section 4, as he pointed out, the reason we need section 4--and let us remember what section 4 is: section 4, again, is the heart and soul of this because it spells out how we're going to go about preventing bonuses tied to incentives that have dragged down this economy and brought us into the financial situation we have.

He questions the regulators. Maybe the American people might need to know who we're talking about. We're not talking about somebody over here inexperienced we're just going to set up. Who are these regulators? These regulators are the Federal Reserve Bank whose duty it is to regulate our economy. It is the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency, the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation that has to go in afterwards and fix banks and declare bankruptcy of banks. The Office of Thrift Supervision, the National Credit Union Administration Board and the Security and Exchange Commission and the Federal housing agencies.

What is this awesome power we're giving to them? It's spelled out very simply. What we want them to do is simply we will require these regulators to prohibit certain compensation structures at large financial institutions if they could have a serious adverse effect on financial instability. That's what we are trying to do. We're trying to prevent the same thing from happening again.

And then, secondly, we will require Federal regulations to write rules requiring Federal institutions to simply disclose their incentive-based pay plans, incentives that are tied to risk behavior.

Mr. Speaker, what has happened that brought this on here is a simple case, AIG. They went and they set up a little department with 430 employees out of Connecticut and over into Europe and assigned them risky behavior and signed their rewards to that risky behavior for their bonuses. The company came down. We had to bail them out. And you know who had to pay for those bonuses? The taxpayers. This bill is designed to prevent that. This amendment is designed to gut it.

Vote down the amendment.

I thank the chairman for yielding.

I just want to state that under the auspices of my subcommittee, food safety is a jurisdiction that we handle. It is very important as we move forward on this to understand that we have got to make our food supply safe. There is no greater thing we can do for the American people and the people of the world than to give absolute assurance that our food supply is safe.

Now, I come from a State, Georgia, where we had an outbreak from salmonella in which we lost eight lives, eight persons that would be alive today if we had this bill in place, because we would have a process of accessing records that we don't have now.

Before this bill is passed, in order to get records from a manufacturer or food processing plant, we can't get it until the food outbreak occurs. But under this bill, when we are inspecting the plant, we will be able to get access to those records. If this was in place, eight Americans would be alive today.

Mr. Speaker, 76 million Americans suffer from food poisoning from our food supply a year; 5,000 are dying.

Five thousand are dying. There is no more plain thing we can do.

And I have heard some comments from those who oppose this bill that this bill does nothing, but it does, Mr. Speaker. It provides for us to have inspections at food plants every 6 to 12 months. Do you know how often we are inspecting them now? Once every 10 years. The American people deserve better than that. They deserve for us to have a trace- back system so that we can trace back and get the origins of the outbreak as quickly as possible.

This is a tremendous bill, a tremendous bipartisan effort, and the American people are expecting us to pass it, and pass it overwhelmingly.

Mr. Speaker, for the remaining seconds, the bill on two points:

It violates the rule, and it will weaken the FDA program. This bill inspects the food processing plants at an increased rate, far more than it is doing now. Again, it violates the rule, and it weakens the FDA's program. On those grounds, we reject this motion to recommit.

Thank you so much, Chairman Dingell. I appreciate that so much. I really, quite honestly, can't understand how anybody could vote against this bill. We've already had three outbreaks that have definitely taken lives of the American people. But I want to thank, Chairman Peterson on our Agriculture Committee, as well as Chairman Dingell; and I certainly want to congratulate and thank our staff on my own subcommittee, Chandler Goule and Gary Woodward, for the excellent job that they have done. And to the gentleman on the other side, we've had hearings on this; but the greatest hearing we've had on this has been the threats to the safety of the American people. If we enact these measures in this bill, we will save American lives.

Let me just tell you about one example: Better access to records in order to prevent the outbreaks. This bill will give the FDA access to the records of food producers and manufacturers during the time that they are inspecting the plants. Under current law, the FDA must wait for the food-borne illness to occur before they can even access the records. Now, ladies and gentlemen, if this had been in place, eight people would be alive today from the peanut outbreak in my district of Georgia. This is an important bill, it's timely, and I urge its passage.

Mr. Speaker, I move to suspend the rules and agree to the resolution (H. Res. 507) supporting the goals of National Dairy Month, as amended.

I yield myself such time as I may consume.

Mr. Speaker, it is timely that the House considers this resolution, this very important resolution, in support of the goals of National Dairy Month today because our Nation's dairy farmers are providing healthy, nutritious milk and dairy products to millions of American families, even as the families of dairy farmers are facing very tough economic times, very challenging times, Mr. Speaker.

The U.S. dairy industry is an important contributor to our Nation's agriculture economy. The United States leads the world in cows' milk production, accounting for more than $284 million in farm receipts in 2007. Dairy farmers across the country are producing the milk and dairy products that we give to our children and to our grandchildren, knowing that they are getting the nutrients that they need for strong bones and for growing bodies.

Mr. Speaker, unfortunately, our Nation's dairy farmers are feeling the severe pain of very difficult and trying economic times that they're experiencing right now. We are committed to doing everything we possibly can to help our dairy farmers through this very challenging time as quickly as we can. Dairy prices remain at historically low levels, and many farmers cannot even get the credit that they need to stay in business. We must help our dairy farmers.

As chairman of the Subcommittee on Livestock, Dairy, and Poultry and food security, I have scheduled the second in a series of three hearings this week to take a very thorough look at the difficult economic conditions facing the dairy industry and to look at the options that we have to help our Nation's dairy farmers. Help them we must, and help them we will to weather these financial difficulties until the economy can recover. We must get our dairy farmers back on their feet where they rightfully belong.

Mr. Speaker, I urge the passage of this resolution that will, in some small way, give due recognition to the hard work and to the sacrifices of our Nation's dairy farmers. It will also highlight the importance of dairy products and healthy and balanced diets for the American people and for the people of the world.

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

Mr. Speaker, I now yield as much time as he may need to the gentleman from Connecticut (Mr. Courtney).

Mr. Speaker, the gentleman from Connecticut just spoke. He has been putting in a tremendous amount of energy in coming before our committee and in giving us expert testimony as he did last week.

I just want to commend you, Mr. Courtney, on what you are doing. Your constituents are certainly prouder than ever. I join with you in making sure that we adequately respond to the pressing needs.

Now, Mr. Speaker, I would like to yield to another distinguished gentleman, the gentleman from Vermont (Mr. Welch) as much time as he may consume. He is one of my colleagues who also came before our committee and who has been putting in tireless hours on this great, great crisis in our dairy industry that we are facing.

Mr. Speaker, as we close out on this bill, I just cannot think of more appropriate words at this time than those words that were said by one of our great Founders. It might be very appropriate now as we look at the crisis facing the dairy industry. That Founder was Alexander Hamilton, Mr. Speaker. And Alexander Hamilton said these words: that the greatness of our Nation and the Federal Government of our Nation shines at its brightest at our moment of crisis.

Well, this is a crisis, Mr. Speaker. It is a very special, unique crisis that is facing a very special and beloved industry--ice cream, milk, our cheeses, our butters--our dairy farmers. All across this country from the Atlantic coast to the Pacific Ocean, from Texas to Vermont and Connecticut, there is no industry that represents the grandeur and the greatness of America as our dairy industry. And it is time for this Federal Government to do precisely what Alexander Hamilton spoke of when he said, At the time of crisis is when our Nation shines at its most brilliant. Let this Nation, let this Federal Government shine on the dairy industry now.

I yield back the balance of my time.