Floor Statements

Madam Speaker, 2008, is the Year of the Rat. As the Vietnamese community in Greater Cleveland gathers at St. Helena Catholic Church to enjoy their Vietnamese culture, I join them in celebration of this rich heritage.

The Tet is the time of the year for our Vietnamese neighbors to honor those that have gone before us and enjoy the company of family and friends. This year's celebration will honor community leaders, and serve as a demonstration of Vietnamese music and dance.

2008 also marks thirty-three years of service to the community by the Vietnamese Community in Greater Cleveland, Inc. The Vietnamese Community, Inc. has been an invaluable resource for hundreds of Clevelanders, linking them to needed services and serving to maintain the rich heritage of the Vietnamese people.

I would also like to take this opportunity to recognize Le Nguyen, President of the Vietnamese Community in Greater Cleveland, Inc., and all their members, for their commitment to Vietnamese-Americans of Northeast Ohio.

Madam Speaker and colleagues, please join me in celebration of the Vietnamese New Year, Tet 2008: Year of the Rat. May the Vietnamese community of Cleveland, and throughout the nation, carry on their proud heritage throughout the year.

Madam Speaker, I rise today in recognition of Brother Robert E. Lavelle. Born in Cleveland, Brother Robert has a philosophy to preserve the past while being a catalyst for initiating change that is needed for the future. He has one of the longest tenures of any independent school headmaster in this country. In his more than 27 years of dedicated work as Headmaster of Gilmour Academy, student enrollment has increased, the school's endowment has climbed, and the school has completed cutting-edge technologies that have been incorporated into a 21st century curriculum.

Under his skillful guidance, Gilmour Academy has developed a challenging curriculum with classes that are designed to help students learn to think critically and solve problems in a project-oriented world. The school has grown as a result of the brilliant insight of Brother Robert.

Madam Speaker and colleagues, please join me in recognizing Brother Robert E. Levelle for his long tenure of servitude to Gilmour Academy. May his commitment to education serve as an example for us all and inspire future educators.

Madam Speaker, I rise today in recognition of Sister Joan Gallagher, in celebration of her years of kindhearted service to the less fortunate within the Northeast Ohio community.

Sister Joan is credited for her vigorous involvement in major projects that have touched the lives of so many people. Joan has been credited for converting a former Academy into affordable housing for the less fortunate, developing a portion of a campus for the elderly seeking a God-centered environment and creating Joseph's Home, a home for homeless men with medical problems.

For many years she has helped guide the Famicos Foundation, a community development corporation that provides housing for low-income families and seniors.

Madam Speaker and colleagues, please join me in recognizing Sister Joan Gallagher. May her years of service to the most vulnerable among us be an inspiration to us all in the world today.

Madam Speaker, I rise today in recognition of John T. Kilbane. John has transformed his Cleveland union into an educated workforce prepared for the challenges of a global economy.

Since 1974, when he emigrated to the United States, John has put in many years of dedicated work. Whether working the front lines of the Ford plant or managing important projects for a west coast-based company, in his years of hard work, John has held numerous important positions within the Local #310 union.

John was instrumental in introducing apprenticeship programs that teach laborers to do things they never did before. John established the first Construction Craft Laborers Apprenticeship Program in Ohio. He is also responsible for the construction of his Local 310's new Training Center, which welcomed its first class in 2005.

Madam Speaker and colleagues, please join me in recognizing John T. Kilbane, an innovative leader in Cleveland, for his commitment to his brothers and sisters. May future generations of laborers draw inspiration from his efforts.

Madam Speaker, I rise today in celebration of the NASA Glenn Research Center. The NASA Glenn Research Center will be receiving its one-hundredth R&D 100 Award from R&D Magazine. R&D 100 award winners are chosen by the editors of the magazine as well as an external panel of experts in recognition of their contributions in developing the top 100 most technologically significant products of the year.

NASA Glenn Research Center's one-hundredth R&D 100 Award signifies the excellence of the Glenn Center's staff and the Center's significant contributions to NASA's mission. The Glenn Research Center and its staff have been included in these awards for over 41 years. Consisting of almost three-thousand civil service employees, The Glenn team has consistently strived for technical excellence in order to expand the boundaries of space, science and aeronautics technology.

Madam Speaker and colleagues, please join me in honoring the NASA Glenn Research Center's team on their significant contributions to the field of aeronautics and to continuing to work for maintaining NASA's global leadership in aeronautics.

Madam Speaker, I rise today to honor CDR James F. Rodes, Jr., for his exceptional service in the Cleveland police force and the United States Navy Reserve.

James attended Cuyahoga Community College while serving as a patrol officer and detective in the fourth district, graduating in 1986 with a degree in law enforcement and criminal justice. He worked his way through the ranks, starting as a patrol officer and team leader of the Dive Search and Recovery Team, and continuing his career as a detective in the Fugitive Unit, Accident Investigation Unit, Bureau of Special Investigations, and Homicide Unit. He retired on November 1, 2007, after 26 years of service.

James's distinguished career is also defined by his success in the Navy Reserve. He entered active duty on October 12, 1971, and was initiated Gunner's Mate Chief Petty Officer in 1985. He was a salvage diving officer in Cleveland, a company commander in Bosnia and Herzegovina, a commander in Japan and Akron, Ohio, and also served in Iraq from September 2006 to February 2007.

Commander Rodes spent his childhood in the Cleveland area and now resides in Brooklyn, Ohio, with his wife Diane. He is the proud father of two daughters, Lieutenant Stacy R. Meyers and Melissa A. Hazek.

Madam Speaker and colleagues, please join me in honoring Commander James F. Rodes, Jr., a man whose exemplary service in both the United States Navy and the Cleveland Police Department will serve as an inspiration for generations to come.

Madam Speaker, I rise today in celebration of Sheila Murphy Crawford. Thirty years ago, Sheila Murphy Crawford founded the Murphy Irish Arts center, which she established as a non-profit to support Irish cultural activities. She began in 1978 with 35 students. Under her guidance as director of the center, she currently has more than 250 students, ranging in age from 5 to 30.

In 2006, Crawford's spectacular choreography took third place at the 2006 World Championships of Irish Dancing in Belfast. Her dancers have earned very high rankings in many other national and international competitions. Among many of her other honors, she earned the highly desirable position of adjudicator of the world governing organization for Irish Dance, An coimistun le Rinici Gaeltica.

As a teenager, Crawford maintained the Irish Cultural Garden in Rockefeller Park. She later went on to become the director of the organization that oversees the verdant spot in 1995. For the past 8 years, she has also served as vice president of the Cultural Garden Federation of Cleveland. Currently, Crawford is heading a project to refurbish the Irish Garden.

Crawford's outstanding commitment to sharing Ireland's rich cultural traditions and values goes far beyond Irish dancing. She has been a five time president of a religious and cultural organization that raises funds for charity, the Ladies Ancient Order of Hibernians. In 1993, she was named Hibernian of the Year.

Madam Speaker and colleagues, please join me in recognizing Sheila Murphy Crawford's significant contributions to preserving and sharing Irish culture with the community.

Madam Speaker, I rise today in celebration of Regina Brett. Regina Brett reaches over half a million readers a week as a thrice-weekly metro columnist for the Cleveland Plain Dealer, which she joined in 2000 after 7 years as a reporter and columnist for the Akron Beacon Journal. Brett also hosts a weekly radio program on Cleveland's National Public Radio Station, WCPN, 90.3 FM. With the capacity to reach out to so many people through her column and radio show, she has been able to highlight issues and generate debate concerning topics that are of great importance to the Greater Cleveland community.

Regina Brett earned her B.A. from Kent State University and her M.A. from John Carroll University. She later went on to serve as president of the National Society of Newspaper Columnists. Among many of her honors and awards, in 1999, she was the recipient of the yearly awarded Batten Medal; established in memory of the late CEO and chairman of the Knight Ridder newspaper chain, which recognizes one journalist nationwide whose writing displays ``compassion, fairness, courage, and a deep concern for the underdog.''

Through her body of work, she has continued, fearlessly and relentlessly, to illuminate the challenges, victories, people and communities that make up and affect the Greater Cleveland area.

Madam Speaker and colleagues, please join me in recognizing Regina Brett's outstanding contributions to journalism and to the Greater Cleveland Community.

Madam Speaker, I rise today to honor Cleveland police Sergeant Dan Colegrove for more than 28 years of exemplary service in the Cleveland Police Department.

Dan served in a number of capacities during his time with the police. He began his career on October 29, 1979, in the fourth district, and then spent time on the Strike Force and the Detective Bureau from 1984 to 1989. He was then assigned to the Cleveland Police Mounted Unit until 1999, when he moved to the Fugitive Unit. In June 2000, he was promoted to sergeant and served his remaining time with a stint in the fifth district and the Detective Bureau until his retirement on December 7, 2007.

Madam Speaker and colleagues, please join me in honoring Dan Colegrove for his dedication to his community of West Cleveland.

Madam Speaker, I rise today in remembrance of Antonio Dimora, a beloved father and doting grandfather, and to honor his commitment to his Northeast Ohio community.

Antonio was born in Sicily in 1932 and immigrated to the United States in 1950, settling in a succession of Cleveland area communities. He was an avid outdoorsman, worked for Republic Steel and Buckeye Forge, and served as the Union Steward in the United Steelworkers of America. Later in life, Antonio devoted his time to volunteer work with the American Association of Retired Persons and Church of the Holy Angels in Bainbridge, Ohio.

Antonio's greatest joy in life was spending time with his wife, Mary Elizabeth; his four children, James, Ann Marie Miker, Theresa Agostino, and Diane Pieronek; and his nine grandchildren. He never forgot Italy, and enjoyed every opportunity to celebrate his Italian heritage.

Madam Speaker and colleagues, please join me in remembering Antonio Dimora, whose tireless work for the labor cause and deep affection for his family and community will be remembered by all who knew him. My thoughts and prayers go out to the Dimora family during this difficult time.

Madam Speaker, I rise today in opposition to H.R. 5104, a 30-day extension of the Protect America Act.

When the Protect America Act was passed by this body on August 4, 2007, I voted against the legislation because it gave legitimacy to the administration's surveillance of Americans without warrants. It is in the best interest of our Nation to allow this temporary law to expire and return to the permanent FISA law until this body can agree on legislation that protects our Constitution and upholds the civil liberties of U.S. citizens.

The FISA Court has ruled to prohibit warrantless spying on Americans when communications between foreign targets overseas are routed through the U.S. The permanent FISA law leaves in place mechanisms to monitor potential terrorist activity with the approval of the FISA Court.

We cannot allow baseless claims of being soft on terror to drive this debate. Those who use fear to gain power for themselves are in effect subverting our Constitution.

We are at a moment in the history of this country where it is absolutely important that Congress must not accept a false choice. We must defend Americans and our Constitution from the politics of fear. We must demand that the President cease his attacks on our civil liberties.

I oppose this legislation, and I will oppose all future attempts by this body to pass fear-provoking legislation that sanctions oppression against the American people.

When our Constitution was written and amended, the fourth amendment said: ``The right of the people to be secure in their persons, houses, papers, and effects, against unreasonable searches and seizures, shall not be violated, and no Warrants shall issue, but upon probable cause, supported by Oath or affirmation, and particularly describing the place to be searched, and the persons or things to be seized.''

This fourth amendment has been the bedrock of the freedoms that Americans enjoy from a government that would use its power to go deeply into people's private affairs.

We must stand for our Constitution. We must stand for the Bill of Rights. That is the purpose of my presence at this very moment before this House.

The Center for Public Integrity, in a report released today, has found the Bush administration led the Nation to war on the basis of erroneous information that it methodically propagated and it culminated in military action against Iraq on March 19, 2003. * * *

Madam Speaker, I ask unanimous consent to withdraw the offending words, to the end that they be stricken from the Record, and that I be permitted to revise and extend my remarks for the Record.

Madam Speaker, I wish to submit to the Congressional Record an article dated December 19, 2007 summarizing the plight of many of our Nation's veterans as they wait for their benefits.

[From the Plain Dealer, Dec. 19, 2007]

DFAS Says Hiring To Clear Backlog of Disabled Vets' benefits Claims

(By Sabrina Eaton)

Washington.--The federal agency that processes pay for

military retirees pledged Tuesday that its contractor will

hire an extra 61 workers in Cleveland to clear a backlog of

more than 48,000 benefit claims from veterans who are

disabled by combat injuries.

The director of the Defense Finance and Accounting Service

promised Cleveland Democratic Rep. Dennis Kucinich that the

backlog of claims--some of which date to 2003--will be

eliminated by April with the extra push from contractor

Lockheed Martin.

``Federal benefits are meaningless if the intended

beneficiaries do not receive them,'' said Kucinich, who

called it a ``tragedy'' that so many veterans have waited for

years to get money they're entitled to under a pair of

programs for disabled veterans.

The payments stem from a law enacted in 2003 that ended a

ban on veterans simultaneously receiving military retirement

pay and disability compensation for health problems traceable

to military service. Before 2003, veterans had to choose.

Disabled veterans have to apply for the simultaneous

payments under the ``Combat-Related Special Compensation''

and ``Concurrent Retirement and Disability Pay'' programs.

After they are approved, veterans can get back pay to the

date their eligibility began.

DFAS and the Department of Veterans Affairs have already

processed more than 130,000 of the cases and paid out more

than $220 million, says DFAS spokesman Thomas LaRock. Average

payments to veterans under the program have been $1,700, he

said.

LaRock said the easiest claims were handled first. The

more-complex cases were delayed because they require manual

computations. He said many of them are affected by special

circumstances, like changes in the veterans' disability

level.

``These are complicated cases that are left, and we are

processing them as soon as we can,'' agreed Lockheed Martin

spokeswoman Emily Simone.

One of the many veterans who has been lobbying DFAS,

retired Army pilot Wavie Sharp of San Antonio, Texas, says

payments have been handled in a ``painfully slow manner,''

and he noted that some older veterans have died waiting for

their money. He blames the problems on DFAS for failing to

demand progress from Lockheed Martin until Kucinich

intervened.

``I'm angry,'' said Sharp, who figures he is personally

owed between $10,000 and $31,000. ``They've been dragging

their feet for four years. This is a long time to ask for

patience. Thank God for Mr. Kucinich. Everyone else gave us

lip service.''

Madam Speaker, I rise today in remembrance of Zora McArthur Meissner, and to celebrate her life of service to others and her community.

As a young woman in Alabama, Zora devoted herself to the civil rights movement as she registered young black voters, fought for the desegregation of schools, and demanded equality in the workplace.

After moving to Cleveland, Zora earned her bachelor's and master's degrees from John Carroll University while raising her children. Her spirit for advocacy and empowerment led her to a number of jobs working with the most vulnerable populations in Cleveland. Zora's compassion embraced everyone she encountered, and her desire to make the world and Cleveland a better place never waned. She had a genuine desire to help people, and relished the time she spent with clients.

Zora is celebrated in life by her beloved husband of 37 years, Joseph; and her children Betina, Chiquita, and Paul.

Madam Speaker and colleagues, please join me in remembering and honoring Zora McArthur Meissner, for a rich life spent dedicated to her family and her community. May her strength and spirit live on in us all.

Madam Speaker, over the past few years this administration has been beating the drums of war against Iran. There are parallels against their efforts to try to create a war against Iran and the falsehoods that set us on the path to war against Iraq. We know that the United States intelligence community was able to demonstrate that the administration's claims that Iran had a nuclear weapons program were in fact not true.

The January 6 incident at the Strait of Hormuth is still another cause for this Congress to look deeply at the administration's Iranian war buildup, because it appears from news reports that the Department of Defense grossly inflated an encounter that took place in the strait, an encounter that was not like any that had taken place before, and then not only inflated it, but fabricated information that would cause the American people to believe that Iran was demonstrating military aggressiveness.

We really have to get off the path of war towards Iran and start working on building diplomatic relations.