Floor Statements

Mr. Speaker, I thank the gentleman.

Mr. Speaker, I rise to congratulate the crew and all of the NASA employees on the successful completion of their mission, known as STS- 121, the second return-to-flight mission. The mission serves as another example of the historic accomplishments of each of NASA's centers.

I am proud to say that the NASA Glenn Research Center in Cleveland, Ohio played an essential role in the mission. Over the last year, NASA Glenn's researchers and scientists have worked to improve the safety of the shuttle.

Glenn's supersonic 8 by 6 foot wind tunnel was used to make detailed measurements of the ways in which the shuttle would be affected by the absence of what is called the protuberance air load ramps, PAL. The PAL ramp is used to smooth the airflow over the exterior cables and fuel lines. The information gained from the tests was used to decide to fly without the PALs, which is the biggest aerodynamic change in the history of the space shuttle.

Glenn has also been part of a team testing NOAX, a material designed to fill spaces in the shuttle's surface. On the third space walk, shuttle astronauts tested the compound's performance during the intense heat of reentry. Early indications are that the experiment went very well.

Glenn also has experiments in the international space station that will further the safety of human presence in outer space. For example, this mission began an experiment on the space station that will improve the detection of fire in a microgravity environment.

NASA is deserving of thanks and congratulations from Congress. I support this resolution. I thank Congressman Paul for offering it, and I want to thank all of my colleagues who have been supportive of this program and who understand its relationship to the future of our Nation and the future of the world.

Madam Speaker, I thank the gentleman for yielding me time.

While I share a commitment to the survival of Israel and the right to security, I am not going to assert that I know more than my good friend Mr. Lantos or my good friend Mr. Ackerman, that I know more about the suffering of the people of Israel.

But I can have compassion for those who have suffered and for not just Israelis, but the Lebanese and the Palestinians as well. And it is in that spirit that I share with the House my concerns that the situation in the Middle East is spiraling out of control, and this resolution may not diffuse this crisis.

I deplore the fact that in the past 8 days, 13 Israeli civilians have been killed, 2 Israelis soldiers have been captured, and many more killed in raids. I also deplore the fact that in the past 8 days, 300 Lebanese people have been killed, 1,000 have been wounded, and a half million have been displaced from their homes.

In the past 8 days, democracy in Lebanon has been attacked, perhaps grievously. The Prime Minister hinted today in a speech to foreign ambassadors that his government may not be able to survive. No government can survive in the ruins of a nation, he said.

The past 8 days of crisis in Lebanon and north Israel follow months of escalating violence in Gaza. Numerous innocent Palestinians have been killed. Between June 4 and June 13, 14 Palestinian civilians, including 5 children, were killed in Gaza.

On June 9 at a Gaza beach, a blast killed eight Palestinians, including an entire family of 7-year-old Huda Ghaliya. Numerous innocent Israelis have also been killed.

On Sunday, July 25, a group of Palestinian fighters, including members of Hamas's armed wing, attacked an Israeli post near the Kerem Shalom border, which resulted in four Israeli casualties and the kidnapping of the Israeli soldier Gilad Shalit.

Israel began an offensive in Gaza on June 28. Since then, Palestinian militants have fired 17 homemade rockets towards Israel. The Israeli Army has carried out 168 far strikes and fired more than 600 shells into Gaza.

The Government of the Palestinian Authority is breaking, as lawmakers, ministers and members of the police force have been arrested. In today's Washington Post, Harold Meyerson published an op- ed called, ``The Guns of July,'' comparing the past week's escalation of violence in the Middle East to the escalation of violence over the course of a month in Europe, that began with the assassination of Austrian Archduke Ferdinand by a Serbian nationalist terrorist and led to World War I.

He said we are in the midst of what ``may be the brink of a cataclysmic regional war with ghastly global implications.'' He wrote, ``While the two crises and sets of conflicting forces are by no means parallel, in each the power of nationalism, the sense of national victimization, the need for revenge, the opportunity for miscalculation, the illusion of obtainable victory and all-around fear and rage loom large. More inexplicably, so does the American absence.''

The resolution before us today does not rein in the chaos in the Middle East. This resolution, it could be said, is limited in its ability to rein in war and destruction, which unfortunately may continue. Furthermore, by condemning Syria and Iran, this resolution threatens to bring the U.S. into a regional war in which everyone would lose, including Israel, a longtime friend and ally.

Moreover, condemning Syria and Iran closes the door for possible diplomacy that would be needed to end this conflict. President Bush himself acknowledged the value of Syria just yesterday, when he said that Syria has the potential to stop the ongoing crisis.

If the United States wants to help stabilize the region, as we should, we must act as an honest broker to all parties involved, the Israelis, the Palestinians and the Lebanese. We can do this without abandoning our affection and our commitment to the survival of Israel.

Moreover, the United States should bring in equipment, and Jordan to help to mediate this escalating conflict. Recently, Egypt's President Mubarak dispatched his intelligence chief to help calm the situation between the Israelis and the Palestinians. The intelligence chief demanded that a doctor be allowed to see the captive Israeli soldier and is trying to mediate between the factions. The U.S. is in a good position to mediate as well between the Israelis, Palestinians, and Lebanese.

The U.S. has a history of trying to mediate between the Israelis, our longtime ally, and the Palestinians.

Regarding the Lebanese, it was just over a year ago that this House passed multiple bills supporting the people of Lebanon. One bill, House Resolution 91, condemned the attacks that killed former Prime Minister Hariri and killed and wounded other Lebanese victims.

The United States stood with the Lebanese people then. Today, nearly 300 Lebanese people have been killed. The government is on the verge of collapse. The Lebanese people need the support of the United States now, just as the Israelis need our support.

What they need and all parties need, what the region needs and what the world needs, is for the U.S. to call upon all sides to quickly stop the violence. But today's resolution fails to support the Lebanese people in their hour of need.

Today, I introduced a bill, H. Con. Res. 450, calling upon the President to appeal to all sides in the current crisis in the Middle East for an immediate cessation of violence and to commit U.S. diplomats to multiparty negotiations. Only by acting as an honest broker can the United States have any authority and success in bringing peace to the region, which is crucial at this critical time.

Remembering the lessons of World War I, if everyone has taken a side in a conflict and can't see the need for even-handedness, then cataclysm can follow. It is important to be a strong ally. It is fine to be a strong ally, but it is not fine to get pulled into a conflict because we lacked the vision to be more than one-sided.

This latest conflict in the Middle East will not be solved militarily. The solution will have to come back to diplomacy. The current violence makes a diplomatic solution even harder to achieve. Yet the resolution before the floor doesn't commit the United States to any diplomatic action that could quell the violence and resolve the conflict. This is a grave missed opportunity.

I urge my colleagues to cosponsor my bill, H. Con. Res. 450 to bring about peace in the Middle East before the crisis spirals further out of control, further damaging the hopes of all people in the region and the world.

I again want to thank Mr. Lantos for his unstinting and unwavering commitment to the survival and hopes and dreams of people of Israel, because I think that, Mr. Lantos, you and everyone who has spoken in defense of Israel, I think all of us want the same thing. We want peace, and we want the survival of Israel and all the people.

Mr. Speaker, we make war with such certainty, yet are befuddled how to create peace. This paradox requires reflection if we are to survive. Making and endorsing war requires a secret love of death, a fearful desire to embrace annihilation. Creating peace requires compassion, putting ourselves in the other person's place, and all of their suffering and all of their hopes, and to act from our heart's capacity for love, not fear.

The fight against terrorism in the 21st century is beginning to have the feel of the fight against communism in the 20th century, conjuring of enemies, scapegoating and wanton destruction. Our war on terror has become a war of error, so we blame the exercise, our capacity for warmaking. And because we have not yet begun to explore our capacity for peacemaking, we are reduced to a predatory voyeurism, once making war, watching war, being aghast at war, impotent to stop our own creation.

We are the most powerful Nation, but we do not have the power to reserve for ourself or to grant to our allies an exemption from the laws of cause and effect.

The fate of the world hangs in the balance, and until we consciously choose peace over war, life over death, the balance is tipping toward mutually assured destruction.

Mr. Speaker, with all due respect to my beloved colleagues, what if a man and a woman have a partnership which does not produce children? Is their marriage invalid? Is it less sacred? And the use of the word ``illegitimate'' here is a little troubling because I thought we dispensed with those kinds of references as we became more enlightened.

It is easy to take a stand for the institution of marriage in the abstract, but try doing it in your own life and that becomes a little more complex. It is far easier to tell others how they should live and whom they should be permitted to marry. The science of human relations requires humility. Whether in the heights of unity or the depths of divorce, our relationships, our companionships, our partnerships, are our greatest teachers. Our relationships are also a sphere of influence which should be free from government interest or interference.

Government does not belong in the bedroom or secretly listening on your phone, reading your books, reviewing your e-mails. Government does not have a rightful role in determining who you should love, who should love whom, and therefore enter into the formalization of a civil marriage contract.

We do not often quote from the Declaration of Independence here, but I think it would be useful if I recited some words that are instructive at this moment:

``We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men,'' and we know now all people, ``are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable rights, that among these are life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness.''

Thomas Jefferson went on to write that governments are created to secure these rights. I might add that this government was not created to crush those rights.

Today, with a proposed constitutional amendment defining marriage, we would establish a law which would be at odds with the 14th amendment, which guarantees equal protection of the law. What is next? Amend the Pledge of Allegiance to take out the words ``with liberty and justice for all''? What is next? Recarve the dais in front of us here, which has words carved into wood, and I will read them for those who are not able to see them: words carved below the Speaker: ``Tolerance,'' ``Justice,'' ``Union,'' ``Liberty''? Do we just take that apart?

Move it? Leave it blank?

You wonder why this Congress is not held in higher regard. I will tell you why. In Iraq, our troops are caught in a crossfire of a civil war which grows more deadly every day. The administration has no exit strategy. Congress does nothing.

In Iran, the Department of Defense is actively preparing for war while the administration sets the stage for negotiations that they intend to fail. Congress does nothing.

In the Middle East, the region stands on the brink of a full-blown war in which there will be no winners. Congress does nothing.

In North Korea, the administration won't negotiate with North Korea, while North Korea is thumbing its nose at the international community. Congress does nothing.

Here at home, you want to talk about a threat to the institution of marriage? 45 to 50 million people are without health insurance; bankruptcies at a record level; people in home foreclosures. Let's talk about a threat to the institution of marriage. Congress is doing nothing about any of that.

Today, in a shameless attempt to divert, distract, and distort from the lackluster performance of this Congress, the House is set to write discrimination into the U.S. Constitution. Iraq, Iran, the Middle East, North Korea, health care, gas prices, the minimum wage? No, the most pressing issue in America is gay marriage.

Mr. Speaker, I have a parliamentary inquiry.

Mr. Speaker, the 14th amendment, section 1, says that no one shall be denied equal protection of the laws. Now, if this would pass, would this legislation, this constitutional amendment, supersede that provision of the 14th amendment and make that provision of the 14th amendment null and void?

Mr. Speaker, I rise today in honor and recognition of Chief Jack Murphy, whose recent retirement as the chief of police with the city of Brooklyn reflects 40 years of excellence in law enforcement, framed by leadership, accomplishment, integrity and an unwavering commitment on behalf of the security and safety of the people of Brooklyn.

Chief Murphy's illustrious career in law enforcement began in 1966, when he became a police officer with the city of Brooklyn. He honorably served our Nation in Vietnam, and soon thereafter resumed his vocation in law enforcement. Chief Murphy and his wife Marie continue to hold family and community as the foundation of their lives. Together they raised four children: Ann Marie, Matthew, Mary Beth and Maureen. Both Chief Murphy and Marie Murphy followed the call of service to others and instilled the significance of integrity, hard work and giving back to others within their children. Marie has devoted her career to the teaching profession.

Beyond his expertise in law enforcement and exceptional leadership abilities, Chief Murphy is known for his unwavering work ethic, affable nature and personal and professional integrity. Straightforward, fair and honest, Chief Murphy garnered the admiration and respect of everyone around him, and was consistently unfazed by the inevitable ebb and flow of small town politics.

Mr. Speaker and colleagues, please join me in honor, gratitude and recognition of Chief Jack Murphy. His exceptional tenure as police officer and chief with the city of Brooklyn is forever framed in integrity, efficiency and accomplishment, and will continue to strengthen the foundation of safety and security for every resident and business owner of Brooklyn. I wish Chief Murphy, his wife Marie, and their three daughters and son, an abundance of health, peace and happiness as he journeys onward from here.

Mr. Speaker, rise today in honor and recognition of the leaders and members of Our Lady of Mount Carmel Parish, of Cleveland, Ohio, as they celebrate 80 years of faith, guidance and support, embracing generations of citizens throughout our Westside Cleveland community.

In 1926, Our Lady of Mount Carmel was established to serve the spiritual and cultural needs of the Italian-American residents of this neighborhood. Father Sante Gattuso and Father Martin Compango were selected by then-Cleveland Bishop John Farrelly to assist and guide the needs of the growing population of Italian-American families, including newly arrived immigrants from Italy.

Father Sante slowly garnered the trust and admiration of the people of the West 69th neighborhood and people began gathering on the front porch of the Fascano family home, where services were first conducted. Storefront space was rented for many years until ground was broken on West 70th Street in 1949, the year that the parish and newly built grade school found a permanent home--all of which was made possible by the faith, commitment and devotion of Father Sante Gattuso and the faithful Italian-American community of the Westside.

Mr. Speaker and Colleagues, please join me in honor and recognition of every leader and member of Our Lady of Mount Carmel Parish, as they celebrate 80 years of cultivating faith, hope and heritage for generations of families within our Cleveland community. We also rise in honor and memory of the struggle, sacrifice and triumph of the founding members of this parish, who journeyed to America with few possessions beyond faith, love and hope in their hearts and the grit to survive. Love and faith still shines from Our Lady of Mount Carmel Parish, encircling this neighborhood with light, strength and hope rising on the dawn of every new day.

Mr. Speaker, I rise today in honor and recognition of Dr. Edgar B. Moore, beloved husband, father, friend, educator, and spiritual leader. Dr. Moore leaves a legacy at Baldwin-Wallace College that reflects his personal passions and professional accomplishments in his roles as both chaplain and professor.

Dr. Moore began his career at Baldwin-Wallace in August 1962, when he was hired as chaplain. He immediately became involved in various chapel activities while counseling and advising students and teaching in the Religion Department. At the end of his first year, the History Department underwent major changes, and Dr. Moore was asked to take a position as professor of history. He accepted and was named chairman while remaining chaplain. Dr. Moore remained in the History Department until his retirement.

Dr. Moore's involvement at Baldwin-Wallace extended far beyond the History Department. His students became babysitters for his and his wife's three children, Cynthia, Robert, and Mary Louise. He chaperoned spring formals and Greek parties and assisted in the formation of the Cosmopolitan Club, which brought American and international students together to promote greater understanding between cultures.

Dr. Moore continued his own education while teaching at Baldwin- Wallace. In January 1966, he earned his doctorate of philosophy from the University of St. Andrews in Scotland. Through a series of visits, he developed a relationship between the schools, which led to the present Academic Studies Abroad program. Dr. Moore attended Northwestern University in the summer of 1969 for graduate classes in African Studies. His new knowledge and ongoing interest in uniting cultures led to the African Studies program.

Mr. Speaker and colleagues, please join me in honor and gratitude to Dr. Edgar B. Moore, whose outstanding 44-year career was defined by his steadfast commitment to spiritual growth, education, and appreciation of diversified cultures. While his students and colleagues will miss him immensely, his legacy and contributions to the Baldwin-Wallace community will live on for many generations to come.

Mr. Speaker, I rise today in honor and recognition of David and Becky Jewel, united in marriage and united in their exceptional service to our Nation's veterans, upon the occasion of their retirement that follows more than 53 years of combined, outstanding service within the medical facilities of the Veterans Administration.

Rebecca Jewel is a registered dietician and has guided veterans in nutrition health, awareness and education at VA facilities across the Nation, including VA medical centers in Hines,

IL, Fort Wayne, IN, and in Cleveland and Brecksville, OH. Her medical career also includes work at Parma Community General Hospital in Parma, OH. and Christ Hospital in Cincinnati. Besides serving as the Advanced Systems Dietician, Rebecca provides on-going tech support and training for nutrition employees, and also serves a facilitator for many Goal Sharing teams within her department.

David Jewel, the chief of External Affairs for the Louis Stokes VA in Cleveland, has also served at VA medical centers in Ann Arbor, MI, and Cincinnati, OH. David has consistently led efforts to ensure that veterans are fully informed about the benefits entitled to them. He has led the effort to upgrade vital areas of communication within the VA, with a focus on minority veteran's affairs, community affairs programs and public relations. David has been the codirector of the Medical Center's Combined Federal Campaign for the past 4 years.

Mr. Speaker and colleagues, please join me in honor, recognition and gratitude to David and Rebecca Jewel, whose individual and united dedication to our Nation's veterans is framed by commitment, compassion, integrity and accomplishment. Their service and leadership has been a significant component that reflects the strength and quality within the VA, and is a brilliant example of service for anyone who will follow. I wish David and Rebecca Jewel an abundance of health, peace and happiness as they journey onward from here.

Mr. Speaker, I rise to pay special tribute to a woman of extraordinary achievement, her life an inspiring lesson of the power of great determination. Stellar Mamotto was born to humble beginnings in the Dodoma region of Tanzania, East Africa, one of four children. She strived for her educational development, not only for her own personal growth, but to be of service to her community. In 1995, Ms. Mamotto won a scholarship to study for a Certificate in Rural Development Planning and achieved the highest grade. She trained to become a teacher from 1996 to 1998. Just two years after qualifying, she was made Deputy Head Mistress of the Chilonwa Secondary School, a rural school in Tanzania's poorest region. Her involvement extended far beyond her educational responsibilities. She became dedicated to the long-term economic progress of the Tanzanian people through her work in community development and environmental sustainability in Chilonwa.

Mr. Speaker, Ms. Mamotto knew that her own aspirations and the aspirations of the people she served in the rural areas of Tanzania depended upon her pursuing higher educational opportunities. So in September of 2003, as a result of her untiring efforts, her scholarship and her personal charisma, the resources to study abroad suddenly materialized and she found herself traveling to Canterbury, England where she enrolled in the University of Kent to study Environmental Social Science. Her remarkable journey took her from the bush to university classroom. Finally, through great perseverance and sacrifice, she completed her studies and today, July 13, 2006, will receive her BA from the University of Kent at ceremonies in Canterbury Cathedral.

Mr. Speaker, each graduate's story is important. Some graduates, however, embody the hopes and dreams of millions of fellow countrymen and women. Stellar Mamotto's graduation represents not just the triumph of a single individual, but the triumph of the human spirit over all obstacles. And it represents a new beginning for Ms. Mamotto as she endeavors to take yet another step to even greater academic achievement.

Mr. Speaker, Members of the United States House of Representatives, please join me in honoring Ms. Stellar Mamotto for her achievement and as she continues to strive to be of service to the people of Tanzania.

Mr. Speaker, nearly 4 years ago, this administration came before us and promoted their idea of peace and democracy in the Middle East. Their vehicle for accomplishing this? A unilateral first strike against Iraq and the subsequent occupation.

Let us reflect on this policy this morning. In Iraq, over 2,500 American soldiers have died, tens of thousands injured, over 100,000 innocent Iraqi civilians killed, and countless injured. We are mired in a civil war there, and violence is growing every day.

In Iran, international efforts at diplomacy have been undermined by our Iraq policy. This administration seems determined to repeat the disaster of Iraq in Iran, most recently by trying to link Iran to the attacks on Israel.

As a broader regional war breaks out between Israel and Lebanon, spurred on by Hezbollah, instead of trying to find ways to end the conflict by rescuing negotiations between the Palestinians and Israel, this administration, which has an unfortunate talent for war, is making statements which will contribute to escalation.

Israel urgently needs diplomatic assistance. The only way the U.S. can reclaim its role as a mediator is to speak and act like a mediator. You can bomb the world to pieces, but you can't bomb the world to peace.

Mr. Chairman, the passage of the Voting Rights Act in 1965 was a reaction to the ``exceptional conditions'' of the time. Obstacles to voting, borne of racism, had become accepted practice in many States. Many of these obstacles were written directly into State constitutions. These deterrents, including literacy tests and poll taxes, were designed to exclude and restrict nonwhite voters.

As we quickly approach the expiration of provisions of the Voting Rights Act, we must stop and take a hard look at voting rights in America. Although the taxes and tests are now a memory, remnants of the prejudice and fear that conceived of them remain. In the many hearings held by the Judiciary Committee examining the expiring provisions, the committee found numerous recent incidents in which objections were raised to changes in voting law.

One of the nine States subject to the provisions of section 5, provisions that require preclearance of changes to voting law by the Department of Justice, is Georgia. Since 2002, four objections have been raised against proposed changes to laws in that State. These four objections stopped discriminatory changes in that State.

The long lines and intimidation tactics used in my home State of Ohio in 2004 are proof that this reauthorization will not, in and of itself, solve our Nation's need for voting reform. But it is a strong step in the right direction.

The Voting Rights Act is still needed in America. We have stopped many of the egregious practices that plagued our voting system in 1965, but our work is not done. I strongly support the reauthorization of the Voting Rights Act and encourage my colleagues to join me in voting for this important bill.

Mr. Speaker, at least 30 percent of the $3.2 trillion spent annually for health care in the United States goes to the for- profit system while 50 million Americans, many of them working, are without health insurance. About $660 billion goes for corporate profits, executive salaries, stock options, advertising, marketing, and the cost of paperwork.

If we took all that money and we put it into a public health system, a national health care plan, we would have enough money to cover everything for everyone, all medically necessary care, including dental care, vision care, mental health care, prescription drug and long-term care.

Health care is a big money maker for corporate America, however, and people we know can't afford necessary health care because premiums, co- pays, and deductibles keep going up. About half of the bankruptcies in America are health-care related.

It is time for this country to break free of the shackles of the insurance companies, and we can do that by Members of Congress supporting H.R. 676, the Conyers-Kucinich-McDermott bill, which calls for a universal health care plan where all people are conferred and, finally, we meet the moral challenge that this country has of providing health care for all.

Mr. Speaker, I thank the gentleman and I thank Mr. Miller for his motion to instruct.

With all due respect to the chairman, the Miller motion to instruct establishes in the language that in no case shall the wage be less than $7.25 an hour. It is not a cap. It actually establishes a floor, not a ceiling.

We all understand that for many people even $7.25 may not be enough, but the Miller amendment creates some progress in an area where the American people haven't seen much progress. Think about it. Do you know, if the minimum wage had kept pace with increases in corporate executive compensation over the last dozen years, do you know what the minimum wage would be today? It would be over $16. That is how far and fast the top executive salaries have gone up.

But those people who provide the service for those executives and for all of us, those people who work in restaurants, who work in hotels, those people who are humble working people, $5.15 an hour, and it has been frozen there while the cost of everything keeps going up.

My constituents talked to me over the July 4 break about the high cost of gasoline. If you are making $5.15 an hour and gasoline goes up to $3 or more a gallon, what does that do to your family budget? We have some practical considerations we need to look at here and we are not looking at them.

That is why I am rising in support of the Miller motion to instruct conferees, because vocational education and training are vital parts of workforce development in America, and they help to provide the highly trained, skilled workers that our Nation needs.

But you can get training and you can get education, but that doesn't assure

you of a decent wage. That is because full-time, year-round, minimum- wage earnings of $5.15 an hour leaves a family of three 31 percent below the poverty line.

We are all told in this country that if you work hard, you will get ahead; if you get a good education, you will get a decent job. What is happening in America, people are working hard and they are not getting ahead. They are getting an education and they are not getting a decent job, they are not getting decent pay. Seven million Americans have been frozen at this $5.15 minimum wage.

How do people survive? How do they feed their families? How do they have health care? How do they pay the rent and the mortgage on $5.15 an hour?

There is a moral dimension to this as well. How can we, in a country which has such enormous wealth, turn our backs on our brothers and sisters who are frozen at $5.15 an hour and say, No, no, you can't have more money to feed your family. No, you can't have more money to pay the rent. No, you can't have more money to pay for gasoline. No, you can't have more money because if we give you more money, the whole economy is going to be in trouble. Come on, we all know that is not true.

We all know that America has the capacity to create even more wealth, but there is a maldistribution of the wealth, and the proof of the fundamental maldistribution of the wealth is the fact that we are not able to raise this minimum wage to a level that presents a living wage.

It is estimated that over 7 million workers would receive an increase in their hourly wage if the minimum wage were raised to just $7.25 an hour as Mr. Miller's legislation, the Fair Minimum Wage Act, proposes. An additional 8.2 million workers earning up to a dollar above the new minimum wage would also benefit.

This country has always been about our aspirations to lift everyone up. When we stop doing that, we become less than America. When we forget those who have less, what does it matter who we are? The Scriptures command us, Whatever you do for these, the least of our brethren, you do for the Lord.

Whose work are we doing here? Are we doing the Lord's work when we turn around and cast out those who are the humble workers in our society? No, we are not.

It is time to remember where we came from as a Nation. It is time to remember our higher aspirations. Vote for the Miller amendment.

Mr. Speaker, I rise today in honor and remembrance of Judge John Manos, devoted father, grandfather, veteran, community leader and outstanding jurist.

Judge Manos grew up in Cleveland, OH, the son of Greek immigrants. He attended Lincoln High School followed by the Case School of Applied Sciences. There, he was captain of the football team and earned a degree in metallurgical engineering. Judge Manos served in the Navy for 2 years before returning to Cleveland to become an engineer. Over the next 4 years, he earned a law degree from Cleveland Marshall Law School. Judge Manos practiced law for 13 years before then Governor James Rhodes selected him to fill a vacancy in the Cuyahoga County Court of Common Pleas. He remained at the court until 1969 when he was appointed to the Eighth Ohio District Court of Appeals, and finally to United States District Court for the Northern District of Ohio by President Ford in 1976.

Judge Manos developed a solid reputation for preparedness and fairness during his tenure in the courtroom. Even through extreme illness and hospitalization, Judge Manos continued hearing legal matters and continued to render thoughtful and poignant decisions. His commitment to quality lawyers and judges went beyond the bench when he set up an intern program where students witnessed proceedings and then performed research in order to grasp the multifaceted prism that is the American legal system. Aside from his professional achievements, Judge Manos was an active member and leader in numerous civic and legal organizations, including the Cleveland Chapter of the American Hellenic Educational Progressive Association, Federation of Community Planning, the visiting committee for physical education and athletics of

Case Western Reserve University, and a member of the Board of Overseers at Cleveland-Marshall Law School.

Mr. Speaker and colleagues, please join me in honor and remembrance of Judge John M. Manos. Please also join me as I offer my deep condolences to his companion Gloria Donahue; to his sons, Michael and Keith; to his daughters, Donna and Christine; to his son-in-law, Patrick; to his 12 grandchildren; and to his extended family members and many friends. Although he will be greatly missed, his steadfast devotion to family and friends and unwavering focus on legal equality and justice highlighted his life, and his memory and impact will live on within the hearts of his family and friends, today and for all time, and he will never be forgotten.

Mr. Speaker, I rise today in honor and remembrance of Anna Chatman, devoted wife, mother, grandmother, great-grandmother, businesswoman, community activist and friend and mentor to many.

Mrs. Chatman lived her life with great joy and in endless commitment to her faith, family and community. Together, she and her beloved husband, the late Reverend Marcellus Chatman, raised their daughters, Marcella Caffie and Ruby Alexander. Her devotion to family extended outward into the community, where she touched the lives of countless individuals through her focus on social justice and political empowerment. In 1969, Mrs. Chatman founded the Harvest Day Care Center. As owner and operator, she secured funding in order to provide quality day care for mothers on welfare, which enabled numerous parents to break through the wall of poverty by having a safe and affordable place to bring their children while they worked. The Harvest Day Care Center remains in operation today, run by Mrs. Chatman's daughter, Ruby Alexander.

Mrs. Chatman's inner light, dynamic personality and her ability to connect with people created lasting impressions on those around her and served to forever change the landscape of the Democratic Party in Cuyahoga County. Even though she had no prior experience in politics, then U.S. Congressman Louis Stokes asked Mrs. Chatman to accept the role of executive director of the 21st District Caucus (which became the 11th District Caucus), knowing she could rally the support of African-Americans who felt overlooked by the Democratic Party. Mrs. Chatman inspired and guided countless individuals to become empowered and involved in the caucus. Under her direction, the caucus evolved to become one of the most powerful political organizations in the Nation, attracting up to 50,000 people to the caucus's annual Labor Day picnic and existing as a catalyst of political action and societal justice.

Mr. Speaker and colleagues, please join me in honor and remembrance of Anna Chatman, whose joyous life reflected great joy and an unwavering focus on lifting the lives of others. I offer my deep condolences to her daughters, Marcella and Ruby; to her grandchildren, great-grandchildren and great-great grandchildren, and to her extended family members and many friends. Although she will be greatly missed, her singular life, framed by love, integrity, conviction and strength, will shine forever in the hearts of her friends and loved ones and will forever illuminate the soul and hope of our entire community.