Floor Statements

Madam Speaker, I thank my colleague for yielding me this time.

I rise in support of this resolution honoring the 45th anniversary of John Glenn's historic flight, making him the first American to orbit the Earth.

His journey in the Mercury-Atlas 6 Friendship 7 spacecraft was made all the more incredible by the complications that ensued during the flight. Scheduled for three orbits, the final two had to be piloted on manual control after a malfunction in the automatic controls. Still on manual control, Mr. Glenn piloted the capsule during reentry into the earth's atmosphere.

The spacecraft also sent a signal to the ground that the heat shield, designed to prevent the craft from burning up on reentry, was loose. Though ground control did not tell him, Mr. Glenn quickly deduced there was a problem. An external piece of the craft called a retropack, which was supposed to be jettisoned before reentry was left on to try to keep the heat shield in

place. During the reentry, pieces of retropack flew past the capsule's window in flames. Still, Colonel Glenn landed safely in the Atlantic Ocean to the relief of the Nation. During the flight, John Glenn was subjected to 7.7 Gs and traveled 76,000 miles.

His success helped lay the groundwork for the continuous string of successes NASA has since accumulated. John Glenn went on to continue his lengthy record of public service as a U.S. Senator from Ohio, even returning to space flight in 1999.

When we stand here and look back 45 years, it is almost impossible to imagine that a man would step into a small container with a huge rocket behind it that would propel him into an orbit. And when you think of the kind of courage that he demonstrated then, what is interesting about John Glenn is that all of the attention, the fame and adulation that came after that didn't affect him one bit. He was basically someone who served his country in the military, then went on to serve his country as a U.S. Senator, and while this historic occasion is being recognized, I think also we pay tribute to John Glenn the man, who has demonstrated that it is possible to be able to walk with kings and never lose the common touch.

And also, we celebrate his wife, Annie, who has been a constant companion at Senator Glenn's side and has always represented the finest tradition of American couples. John and Annie Glenn have so much to be proud of, and this Nation owes both of them a debt of gratitude, and I am glad to see that we are honoring the 45th anniversary of his historic flight. Also, I am so pleased that so many of my colleagues from Ohio are here to join in paying tribute to John Glenn.

Mr. Chairman, I move to strike the last word.

Mr. Chairman, I stand in opposition to the amendment and in support of the underlying bill, Mr. Rahall's bill, to restore the prohibition on the commercial sale and slaughter of wild free-roaming horses and burros.

A lot of people bet on horses. Today, the horses are betting on us. They are betting that we remember something essential about the America of long ago to which these wild horses and burros connect us, betting that we do not misuse our power to cause these horses, these wild animals to be subject to slaughter. They are betting that we have the sense to put together policies that can provide for the protection of the wild horses and burros.

Now, it is the responsibility of the Bureau of Land Management to enforce the laws on public lands that related to the bill that Congress passed 36 years ago that established as national policy that wild free- roaming horses and burros shall be protected from capture, branding, harassment, and death. And this Bureau of Land Management has not done the job. They haven't properly managed their responsibilities,

they haven't enforced the law. Why should we permit the wild horses to be further victimized by the Bureau of Land Management?

This legislation exposes part of the spirit of America to an attack because of the ineffectiveness and inefficiency and indeed the callous disregard of those at the Bureau of Land Management. Rather than pass a law which opens up wild horses to commercial sale and slaughter, we should be looking at a dramatic revision of the Bureau of Land Management's responsibilities here. We should be looking at that agency which took the responsibility by law in 1971 to make sure that these horses were protected, because they haven't done that. And now we are having Members advocate that we continue a condition where these horses are subjected to slaughter.

I think that occasionally we reconnect to our greatness as a country when we remember where we came from, when we remember our connection with the land, when we remember our connection with Native Americans, when we remember our connection with the sky, when we remember our connection with the water, and when we remember our connection with God's creatures who still, through the grace of God, freely roam the plains of this country as wild horses and burros.

Support the Rahall bill.

I thank the gentleman.

Madam Speaker, it has been long recognized that the Government of Sudan has tremendous responsibility to protect human rights and to maintain law and order. However, I would submit that the policies of the United States, since the Government of Sudan has said to be cooperating in the dubious war on terrorism, the Government of the United States has not been aggressive enough in causing Sudan to assert its responsibility for matters affecting Darfur in the first place.

Furthermore, there has to be a commitment obtained by that government to, first of all, investigate any of the war crimes and to see them taken to the ICC.

I think that it is imperative that this Congress not just pass this resolution but makes this the beginning of an ongoing effort to address the issues in Darfur.

Madam Speaker, I want to thank my good friend Mr. Ackerman for the opportunity to address the Congress on this issue.

As some of my colleagues are aware, on July 19, 2006, I introduced legislation to this Congress calling on the President to appeal to all sides in the crisis in the Middle East for an immediate cessation of violence and to commit the United States diplomats to multiparty negotiations with no preconditions. This resolution specifically related to the events that brought violence to Lebanon and to Israel as well.

I want to say from the start that I took that position because I believe that Israel has a right to survive and Israel is entitled to its security and so, too, the people of Lebanon have a right to survive and were entitled to their security.

I think that it is regrettable that our government did not become immediately involved in diplomatic relations so that we could have been able to forestall the disaster that was visited upon south Lebanon where tens of thousands of structures were leveled.

I am not speaking about this theoretically, Madam Speaker, because my wife and I went to south Lebanon and surveyed the damage, and it was utter destruction.

I would refer my colleagues to Amnesty International's report regarding the destruction in south Lebanon.

I also would like to put into the Record a copy of H. Con. Res. 450 which called on the President to appeal to all sides in the crisis.

H. Con. Res. 450

Resolved by the House of Representatives (the Senate

concurring), That Congress--

(1) calls upon the President to--

(A) appeal to all sides in the current crisis in the Middle

East for an immediate cessation of violence;

(B) commit United States diplomats to multi-party

negotiations with no preconditions; and

(C) send a high-1evel diplomatic mission to the region to

facilitate such multi-party negotiations;

(2) urges such multi-party negotiations to begin as soon as

possible, including delegations from the governments of

Israel, the Palestinian Authority, Lebanon, Iran, Syria,

Jordan, and Egypt; and

(3) supports an international peacekeeping mission to

southern Lebanon to prevent cross-border skirmishes during

such multi-party negotiations.

Mr. Speaker, American families are hardworking, good people and deserve financial security. American families do not deserve to have their physical, emotional and financial security compromised by predatory lending practices engaged in by the subprime mortgage industry.

Subprime mortgage lending includes a wide range of loan products. What these loans have in common is they are marketed to hardworking people made vulnerable by credit scores that disqualify them from traditional loans, or who have limited credit history, thereby limiting their borrowing power.

Subprime lending is associated with significantly higher levels of foreclosure than prime lending. Subprime lenders make excessive mortgage loans of up to $1 million, and often the borrower can obtain ``cash out'' refinancing. Additionally, subprime lenders offer 100 percent financing to those with poor or limited credit.

Subprime lenders are known for their forceful marketing techniques which have included ``stated income'' loans in which the borrower is not required to provide documentation. This places American families in danger of borrowing a substantially greater amount that what is reasonably affordable and places them in danger of being unable to meet their mortgage payments.

These predatory lending practices are forcing large numbers of American families into foreclosure. Said another way, American families are losing their homes, homes they worked hard for. They are enduring undue stress and emotional instability when confronted with this prospect.

In 2002, approximately 2.2 million American families who had borrowed money from a subprime lender had either lost their home to foreclosure or were thought to be in danger of foreclosure. The Center for Responsible Lending conducted a study in which they found that millions of American households will lose their homes and as much as $164 billion due to foreclosures in the subprime market.

In Ohio, my home State, Ohio leads the Nation in the rate of foreclosure.

Ohio's foreclosure rate is roughly three times the national rate, according to the Mortgage Bankers Association.

Cuyahoga County, which includes Cleveland, my hometown, had 11,000 foreclosures in 2005, more than triple the number a decade earlier. In Cleveland in 1995, local depositories held about 60 percent of the market share of mortgages. By 2005, that number dropped to 20 percent. What has happened to my city in the past decade is a story that is reflected nationwide.

Furthermore, foreclosure has a detrimental effect on the greater community. Neighborhoods with foreclosed properties are likely to experience declining property values. These lower property values and the corresponding decline in owner equity can contribute to additional incidents of foreclosure. Foreclosed homes are often left vacant for extended periods of time and can subsequently attract crime to neighborhoods.

I began my political career as a representative in the inner city. Later I became the mayor of Cleveland, and during my tenure, Cleveland became the first city to sign the Community Reinvestment Act agreement pursuant to the newly enacted CRA of 1977. The Community Reinvestment Act was passed to prevent lending institutions from withholding home loans or insurance from communities labeled as economically risky. The act was intended to expand credit and depository services to low- and middle-income communities.

The CRA extends and clarifies the longstanding expectation by hardworking Americans that financial institutions will serve the convenience and needs of their local communities. The CRA established a regulatory regime to monitor the lending, investment and services offered by banks in low- and moderate-income neighborhoods, and has resulted in significant benefits.

Lenders and community organizations have signed 428 CRA agreements totaling $4.1 trillion in reinvestment dollars between the CRA's enactment in 1977 and the beginning of 2005. The CRA has also facilitated a surge of home loans to low-income and minority households.

Despite these positive gains, significant financial problems continue to exist in low- and moderate-income communities.

When you look at a map of Cleveland, a pattern begins to emerge that is not unlike that being experienced by other communities. The pattern is this: In geographical areas where the number of subprime mortgage loans is the highest, the number of foreclosures for the same geographical area will also be high, while the number of prime loans made by depository banks will be relatively few.

Looking at the same geographical area, we find that neighborhoods experiencing these trends are predominantly African American neighborhoods. Lack of access to prime loans, a high frequency of subprime loans and a high rate of foreclosures are by no means specific to any racial group, but the pattern certainly carries an overtone of America's historic denial of equal rights based on race.

A recently published report entitled ``Paying More for the American Dream'' found that Citigroup, Countrywide, GMAC, HSBC, JP Morgan Chase, Washington Mutual and Wells Fargo all originated a substantial volume of both higher-cost subprime and lower-cost prime loans.

Mr. Speaker, this is an issue that I am proud to join my colleagues, including my friend and colleague from Cleveland, Mrs. Tubbs Jones, and I thank her for the work she has done on this issue.

American families are hard-working, good people who deserve financial security. American families do not deserve to have their physical, emotional and financial security compromised by predatory lending practices engaged in by the subprime mortgage industry.

Subprime mortgage lending includes a wide range of loan products; what these loans have in common is that they are marketed to hardworking people made vulnerable by credit scores that disqualifies them from traditional loans or who have a limited credit history thereby limiting their borrowing power.

Subprime lending is associated with significantly higher levels of foreclosure than prime lending.

Subprime lenders make accessible mortgage loans of up to $1 million and often the borrower will be able to obtain ``cash out'' refinancing. Additionally, subprime lenders offer 100 percent financing to those who have poor or limited credit.

Subprime lenders are known for their forceful marketing techniques which include ``stated income'' loans in which the barrower is not required to provide documentation supporting claims of income.

This places American families in danger of borrowing a substantially greater amount than what is reasonably affordable and places them in danger of being unable to meet their mortgage payments.

These predatory lending practices are forcing large numbers of American families into foreclosure. Said another way--American families are loosing their homes; homes that they have worked hard for. They are enduring undue stress and emotional instability when confronted with this prospect.

As 2006 came to an end, approximately 2.2 million American families who had borrowed money from a subprime lender had either lost their home to foreclosure or are thought to be in danger of foreclosure at some point in the near future.

The Center for Responsible Lending conducted a study in which they found that ``millions of American households will lose their homes and as much as $164 billion due to foreclosures in the subprime mortgage market.''

My home state of Ohio leads the nation in the rate of foreclosure. Ohio's foreclosure rate (3.3 percent) is roughly three times the national rate, according to the Mortgage Bankers Association.

Cuyahoga County, which includes Cleveland, my home town, had 11,000 foreclosures in 2005, more than triple the number a decade earlier.

In Cleveland in 1995, local depositories held about 60 percent of the market share of mortgages. By 2005, that number had dropped to 20 percent.

What has happened to my city in the past decade is a story that is reflected nationwide.

Furthermore, foreclosure has a detrimental effect on the greater community. Neighborhoods with foreclosed properties are likely to experience declining property values. These lower property values and the corresponding decline in owner equity can contribute to additional incidents of foreclosure in our communities.

Foreclosed homes are often left vacant for extended periods of time and can subsequently attract crime to our neighborhoods which further hurts our communities and threatens our families.

I began my political career as a representative of Slavic Village in the Cleveland City Council. Later I became the mayor of Cleveland and during my tenure, Cleveland became the first city to sign a Community Reinvestment Act Agreement pursuant to the newly enacted Community Reinvestment Act of 1977.

The Community Reinvestment Act, or CRA, was passed to prevent lending institutions from withholding home loans or insurance from communities labeled as economically risky.

Additionally the Act was intended to expand credit and depository services to low and middle income communities.

The Community Reinvestment Act both extends and clarifies the long standing expectation by hardworking Americans that financial institutions will serve the convenience and needs of their local communities.

The CRA established a regulatory regime to monitor the lending, investment and services offered by banks in low and moderate income neighborhoods and has resulted in significant benefits.

Lenders and community organizations have signed 428 CRA agreements totaling more than $4.1 trillion in reinvestment dollars between the CRA's enactment in 1977 and the beginning of 2005.

The CRA has also facilitated a surge of home loans to low-income and minority households.

Despite these positive gains, significant financial problems continue to exist in low and moderate income communities.

When you look at a map of Cleveland, my home town, a pattern begins to emerge that is not unlike what is being experienced by cities around the country.

The pattern is this: In geographical areas where the number of subprime mortgage loans is the highest, the number of foreclosures for the same geographical area will also be high, while the number of prime loans made by depository banks will be relatively few.

Looking at this same geographical area we find that the neighborhoods experiencing these trends are predominately African-American neighborhoods.

Lack of access to prime loans, a high frequency of subprime loans and a high rate of foreclosures are by no means specific to any racial group, but the pattern certainly carries an overtone of America's historic denial of equal rights based on race.

A recently published report entitled Paying More for the American Dream found that Citigroup, Countrywide, GMAC, HSBC, JP Morgan Chase, Washington Mutual and Wells Fargo all originated a substantial volume of both higher cost subprime and lower cost prime loans.

The report also found that for these seven lenders, the percentage of total home purchase loans to African Americans that were higher-cost was six times greater than the percentage of higher cost home purchase loans to whites. (41.1 percents vs. 6.9 percent).

Loans to Latinos that were higher-cost loans were 4.8 times greater than the percentage of higher cost home purchase loans to whites (32.8 percents vs. 6.9 percent).

In each of the cities examined, the seven lenders combined showed larger African American/white and Latino/white disparities than those exhibited in the overall lending market.

Foreclosure and discrimination in lending practices are serious problems for America's cities. We are now on the brink of a massive wave of foreclosures in this country.

Although there are a significant number of individuals and organizations working to reverse existing problems in the lending system and create viable alternatives to foreclosure and subprime mortgages, the tide will not be turned because the magnitude of the problem outstrips even the best of their abilities and efforts.

To turn the tide of foreclosure in America's cities, leadership at the federal government level is necessary as well. We must examine the problem and the steps that can be taken before it becomes bigger and beyond us all.

Madam Speaker, I rise today in recognition of Keith Sorensen for 25 years of volunteer service with the Northeast Ohio YMCA. His inspirational work has made an impact on many lives in our community.

Keith has never strayed too far from the water, and began his affiliation with the Southeast YMCA Riptide Swim Team as a student of Bedford High School. Upon graduation, Keith joined the United States Navy. As a sailor, Keith was a passionate leader and represented himself and our Country as a competitive swimmer.

After completing his service to our Country, Keith continued to devote himself to helping the community. For 30 years, he worked as a frozen food manager for Reider's Stop-N-Shop, and was the daily lifeguard of his old alma mater, Bedford High School. In 1996, Keith assisted the head coach and together they trained a talented group of students who would go on to be Ohio High School Athletic Association Northeast District and State Swim Meet qualifiers.

In addition to the countless hours Keith has dedicated to high school athletics, he has tirelessly spent the last 25 years coaching thousands of swimmers at the Southeast YMCA. Under Keith's direction as head coach, the YMCA focused on a program that stressed the importance of swimming fundamentals. As a result of his discipline and specialization in the breaststroke, many of his former students went on to have successful high school and collegiate swimming careers. Keith's commitment has not gone unnoticed; he has received numerous awards, most notably YMCA's Triangle Award by the YMCA of Greater Cleveland, and he was named ``CitiSun of the Year'' by the Sun newspapers for his volunteer work with the community. However, Keith's greatest accomplishment has been coaching his three daughters. Together, Keith and Maureen have watched their daughters set numerous records as swimmers for the Southeast YMCA and Bedford High School swim teams.

Madam Speaker and colleagues, please join me in honoring Keith Sorensen for his commitment to the Northeast Ohio community. His dedication is the embodiment of selflessness and he brings great pride to us all.

Madam Speaker, I rise today to honor Eugene Bak for his outstanding efforts and devoted work to Polonia and America, and his tremendous amount of civic work for the benefit of the Polish American Cultural Center.

Gene and his family immigrated to the United States in 1952, after spending a total of seven years in deportation in Siberia as well as Polish refugee camps. He obtained a Master's Degree in Business Administration from Seton Hall University and attended business programs at the University of Michigan, Harvard University and Syracuse University. Gene has spent his entire career in the chemical industry and retired as Board Director of OM Group (OMC) in 1999.

In 1982, Gene's affection for his beloved homeland led him to help the Americares Foundation raise funds to ship medicine and medical supplies to the people of Poland. He has since been a vital asset to efforts to expanding Polish culture in the Cleveland area, and as cofounder and Executive Director of the Polish American Cultural Center he has refurbished facilities to house distinguished Polish speakers, artists, shows and displays. Under his leadership, the Polish Heritage Museum opened as part of the Cultural Center to celebrate Polish history, as well as the history of Polish Americans.

Gene serves on a number of boards, such as the Advisory Board of Marymount Medical Center. Moreover his concern for people, both here and abroad, is impressive and admirable. As part of his titanic work he is helping the people in Poland to raise funds for the Laski Institute for the Blind as well as the Polish Children's Heartline Foundation, and he has significantly contributed to the cooperation between Poland and the United States.

Madam Speaker and colleagues, please join me in honoring Eugene Bak for using his unique skills and numerous talents in service to the people of Polonia and Northeast Ohio. May his tireless dedication and his achievements continue to inspire us all.

Madam Speaker, yesterday's decision by the Supreme Court to uphold the Partial Birth Abortion Ban Act threatens a woman's right to make her own choices about abortion and consequently choices pertaining to her own body. By upholding the first ever federal abortion ban the Supreme Court has brought us dangerously close to allowing politicians to make decisions regarding the control a woman is allowed over her own body.

The Court has, for the first time since its original ruling in 1973 establishing a woman's right to an abortion, showed no consideration for the health and safety of a woman. The decision is contrary to that of six other federal courts throughout the country. This decision disallows exceptions to be made in instances where a woman's health is at risk. In circumstances where the banned procedure is the safest for the health of the female patient, doctors will be powerless, except under threat of a two year criminal penalty, to do the right thing for their patient. The American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists, representing ninety percent of these medical officials, agrees that the ban causes interference in medical decision making and is detrimental to women's health.

The Court's decision forces us to look at where our society really is in respect to the rights and equality of women. How can we, in good conscience, tell the young women of today that they are equal and able to accomplish their dreams if at the same time society is seeking to control their actions and make decisions with regard to their own bodies? I empathize with the frustration that women around the country are feeling today; I realize the greater restrictive implications implied by the Court's ruling.

I imagine that a woman's decision to have an abortion, under any circumstances, must be one of the most difficult she will make in her life. It is a very private, very personal decision that is to be made by her and may include the support of family, friends and medical professionals. It is not a decision that is made lightly or without consequence. Today's decision has perilously hindered a woman's privacy and safety by allowing politics to interfere in medical decisions.

We must end the divisiveness that surrounds the issue of abortion so that we may begin the long overdue healing process. We must work to limit the need for abortions while at the same time ensuring safety. Access to prenatal and postnatal care through expanded Medicare coverage will be an important component as well as a living wage. I will maintain my support for social programs, and maternal and child nutrition programs to strengthen vulnerable families. I will continue to stand behind programs that teach sex education, domestic family planning and promote the use of contraception.

Mr. Speaker, the American people want the war in Iraq to end and the troops to be brought home. Why then is this House preparing to capitulate to the Bush White House and let the war continue? We have learned that the Democratic compromise with the President is to make withdrawal timetables nonbinding.

We have the power to end the war now. We should not give the President another dime for the war. We should not permit this war to continue to go on. Yet this House passed a $97 billion supplemental which gives the President money to keep the war going through September of 2008, and then a week later approved the President's budget for another $195 billion for Iraq to keep the war going into 2009. And now we are talking about a nonbinding timetable for withdrawal.

What is the difference between the Democrats and the Republicans on the war? Well, the Republicans do not want any timetables for withdrawal at all, and the Democrats, well, the Democrats want nonbinding timetables for withdrawal.

I thank the gentleman.

Mr. Speaker, when you listen to the debate, you can understand that we could be in Iraq for many, many years to come and could expand the war beyond Iraq unless we take a new approach which places diplomacy as the path to peace.

Mr. Speaker, our soldiers didn't lose the war. I maintain the war was lost the minute the White House fabricated a cause for war. The Bible says that which is crooked cannot be made straight, and our adventure in Iraq will prove the Bible was right.

On the one hand, some of my friends do not believe in any timetable to withdraw from Iraq, which means we could stay in Iraq indefinitely; on the other hand, some of my friends believe in timetables, even nonbinding timetables, which means we could stay in Iraq indefinitely.

I believe we are being presented with an insufficient choice. Congress is under no obligation to appropriate any more money for this war, yet we give the President $100 billion. We are under no obligation to give him any money to continue the war. We can best support the troops by using money that is in the pipeline to bring the troops home. I believe that is what the American people want.

Congress recently approved $97 billion in the supplemental. That could keep the war going well into next summer. Congress approved a budget a week later that would keep the war going into 2009.

Nearly 200 people died in the carnage in Baghdad yesterday. We understand that the occupation is fueling the insurgency. Our troop casualties are mounting towards 3,300. Last night, I spoke to the sister of one of those casualties who was a young Marine from my district. She raised the plea, what can we do to end this war?

Innocent civilian casualties are rising. The conservative estimate in June 2006 of the Lancet Report set at 650,000 the number of innocent civilian casualties. It is quite possible that at this time those casualties could be approaching 1 million. The cost of the war is upwards of $800 billion into 2008. We are borrowing money from China to wage a war in Iraq.

Mr. Speaker, Mr. Murtha's account of the disaster to our military does not need to be added to. But what should be said right now is that we are facing limited choices, and that is why, Mr. Speaker, I have proposed H.R. 1234, a plan to end the war, which begins with Congress not funding the war, pulling the plug on funding and moving forward with a plan that reaches out to the international community to get out of Iraq.

Mr. Speaker, environmental awareness has created an awareness of the urgency of collective action to save our planet. We need a similar commitment to dealing with violence in America. Would that the tragic events in Blacksburg, Virginia, which took 33 lives, be an isolated example of the effects of gun violence in America.

In fact, about 32 people perish each and every day in America in handgun-related incidents. The level of violence in our society constitutes a national emergency. I am offering the following approach to change America's direction, away from death and disintegration and towards life and social cohesiveness. First, passage of legislation to create a Cabinet level Department of Peace and Nonviolence, H.R. 808; second, passage of H.R. 676 to create Medicare for all, not-for-profit health care system focusing on mental health care issues; and, third, a ban on handguns, legislation which I am currently drafting.

America is being engulfed in violence every day. Let's show that we have the wisdom and the courage to come from our hearts to meet this challenge.

I thank my friend, Mr. Lantos.

I rise as a proud cosponsor of this bill emphasizing the importance of water. Despite the availability of advanced and inexpensive water treatment technologies and despite an aggregate level of wealth that should preclude injustice, one in six people in the world still lack access to safe drinking water. Global warming is expected to worsen the situation.

At the same time, privatization of our scarce water supplies is also proliferating. It drives up the price of a life-giving resource under the guise of making it cheaper. In its most egregious form, bottled water companies overpump a valuable water supply, restricting access to only those who can afford to pay more for water than for gas.

I represent an area of Cleveland that, like many nearby cities, relies on Lake Erie for drinking water. During negotiations by Great Lakes States over the conditions under which water could be withdrawn from Lake Erie and the surrounding Great Lakes, the bottled water industry slipped in their own language; it allowed exclusive, unlimited access to Great Lakes water by their industry. By weakening the agreement in this way, it also paved the way for any corporation to have full access to the lakes, even at the expense of the public water supply. This is happening at a time when both water quality and quantity are expected to decline as a result of global warming.

In Nottingham and Barrington, two small New Hampshire towns, a company called USA Springs is attempting to pump 310,000 gallons a day in an area populated with homes that get their water from small, private, household wells. The community is concerned about loss of their water supply, loss of water quality, degradation of nearby wetlands, but USA Springs is using their substantial resources to overwhelm the community. The result is that this company, USA Springs, is now dangerously close to winning this battle it started in 2001. Similar battles are being fought in communities all over the country.

The basic building blocks of life, like water, must be accessible by people before corporations and must be managed as a public trust, not reduced to a commodity.

Mr. Speaker, in the aftermath of the tragedy at Blacksburg, Virginia, it is becoming painfully obvious that the easy availability of handguns constitutes a growing national crisis of public health and safety, one that calls for a powerful, wide-ranging response from this Congress.

I am urging Members to support H.R. 676, the Conyers-Kucinich bill, which establishes a universal, not-for-profit health care system, which provides full and comprehensive mental health care.

Second, support H.R. 808, a bill establishing a Department of Peace and Nonviolence, which directly addresses the issues of domestic violence, gang violence, and violence in the schools which is reflected in our current homicide rates.

And third, the 33 deaths at Blacksburg constitute a national tragedy. So, too, does the fact that an average of 32 people each and every day in the United States perish in handgun-related incidents. Accordingly, I am drafting a bill to ban the purchase, sale, transfer or possession of handguns by civilians. A gun buy-back provision will be provided in the bill.

It's time for us to rescue this Nation from the violence which is engulfing it, and I have just articulated a three-point plan to do so.

Madam Speaker, I rise today to honor the life and accomplishments of Cornel ``Connie'' Tereck, whose fierce dedication to family, friends and country serves as a model for all who have been blessed by his presence.

As a member of the Greatest Generation, Connie served in the United States Navy during World War II, where he protected our country with great pride and courage. After retiring from the service, Connie carried this commitment to the security of our country into his professional life, as he went to work for the Department of Defense. He proudly worked at the Defense Contract Administration Service Region until his retirement in 1987.

Connie was known as a man of honesty, intelligence and wit, not only to friends and family but to the whole community. He took interest in and care of the people surrounding him, and his deep devotion to, and commitment for his family and friends stands as a shining example to us all. He was a beloved husband of 57 years to his wife, Laura, and his legacy will continue through three children and five grandchildren.

Madam Speaker and colleagues, please join me in honoring Cornel ``Connie'' Tereck as a true example of the spirit upon which this great Nation is built. We have lost a loving father, a faithful husband, a courageous serviceman and a wonderful neighbor, but his caring personality and loving devotion continue to inspire everyone that has crossed paths with him.

Madam Speaker, I rise today to honor and remember Marine Sergeant Alessandro Carbonaro. He served his country tirelessly until his death on May 10, 2006. The loss of this young, dedicated hero is felt by not only those who knew him, but also those who have been touched by the life that he led.

Sgt. Carbonaro was raised in Bethesda, Maryland, the only child of Fulvio and Gilda Carbonaro. He was a private, headstrong, and independent child who held his family dear. Over the years, Sgt. Carbonaro developed a passion for music, history, and writing. After graduating from Sandy Spring Friends School, Sgt. Carbonaro shocked his family and friends by volunteering to join the United States Marine Corps. He told his parents that he felt a strong sense of duty to his country and wanted to live the life that he envisioned.

Sgt. Carbonaro enlisted in the Marine Corps during the summer of 1998. He initially committed himself to five years of active duty. After September 11, 2001, however, his resolve strengthened and he felt an obligation to reenlist. Sgt. Carbonaro set his sights on the elite Marines Reconnaissance Unit, a status obtained by fewer than one in five who attempts it. By September 2004, he had been deployed to Iraq with the 2nd Reconnaissance Battalion. Sgt. Carbonaro was eventually awarded the Purple Heart.

Upon completion of his first deployment, Sgt. Carbonaro returned to Maryland and married Gilda Maria Arroyo on May 28, 2005. In March 2006, he returned to Iraq and was chosen to lead a unit of younger Marines. Sgt. Carbonaro did not regard these men as soldiers, but as brothers. His moral and physical strength made him the backbone of the unit. On May 1, 2006, when his unit's vehicles hit

an explosive device, his first concerns were for his fellow Marines.

Madam Speaker and colleagues, please join me in honoring and remembering Marine Sergeant Alessandro Carbonaro, who exemplified the ideals put forth by the Reconnaissance Creed--Honor, Perseverance, Spirit, and Heart. Please also join me in expressing my deepest condolences to his parents, his young wife, Gilda, and his extended family and friends. Although Sgt. Carbonaro will be profoundly missed, his unwavering devotion to his family and country will live on in the hearts of those who were touched by the life of this fallen hero.