Floor Statements

I thank the gentleman.

After $5.3 billion was spent in the 2008 Federal elections, I never heard anyone utter a word that said the problem we face today in Washington is that we need more private money in politics. Never has anyone said to me, I wish the super-rich had more influence over our government and elected officials, especially in campaigns for President and Congress.

I never received a letter from a constituent that expressed a desire to get further away from one person-one vote and move closer to one corporation-one vote. What I have heard from my constituents is a deafening demand to get money out of politics. This bill takes us in the opposite direction.

We should be chasing the moneychangers out of the people's temple, not turning our government into an auction house. This legislation is upside down.

Private financing of elections corrodes our democracy. Private contributions of Federal elections must end. Private financing equals government in the private interest. Public financing--the hope of government in the public interest.

We need to restore our democracy and end private contributions. We shouldn't have any contributions from special interests. We need government of the people, by the people, and for the people returned to this government.

The right to organize is a fundamental right in a democratic society. In fact, workers' rights are human rights. This bill seeks to frustrate workers' rights to an election through attacking the National Labor Relations Board.

Today workers have to wait an average of 101 days to cast a ballot in an election, 101 days to wait for union representation. How long should workers have to wait to be able to assert their fundamental rights in a democratic society if we really believe in democracy?

Some of us believe that when a majority of workers want to be able to have a union, they should be able to do so forthwith.

We believe in government of the people. Why then would corporations want to block or frustrate the right of workers to be able to organize? I think it's pretty obvious. When workers are organized, they have the ability to participate in being able to say what their wages are worth. So this is about wages. It's about benefits. It's about workplace safety, about working conditions.

Workers rights are human rights. And this assault on the NLRB actually ends up being translated into a fundamental assault on our democracy. If we believe in a democracy, then we believe in a right to organize, a right to collective bargaining, a right to strike, a right to decent wages and benefits, a right to a secure retirement, a right for workers to participate in a political process.

This is America. Let's lift up the standard of workers--not attack it by making the day of their election and claiming a union farther and farther away almost to the point of nullification. Stand up for the American workers. Defeat this bill.

Mr. Speaker, pursuant to clause 1, rule I, I demand a vote on agreeing to the Speaker's approval of the Journal.

Mr. Speaker, I object to the vote on the ground that a quorum is not present and make the point of order that a quorum is not present.

While Congress is in a deadlock over tax and spending cuts, we learn the Feds secretly gave Wall Street banks over $7.7 trillion. Where did the Fed get that 7.7 trillion? They created most of it from nothing. While our government slid into massive debt, the Fed picked winners and losers and secretly helped big banks tally record profits.

Remember the great debate we had here over $700 billion in TARP funds? There was no debate over the $7.7 trillion the Fed gave the banks. Did Congress have a clue? There's another game going on way over our heads, and our constituents are struggling while the banks, with the help of the Fed, have captured control of our government. Now the rating services are threatening us that if we don't come up

with a deal, they'll downgrade U.S. debt.

Could the threat to our national sovereignty be any clearer? It's time for Congress to listen to the wisdom of our Founders and reclaim its constitutional primacy over monetary policy. There is a way. It is called the NEED Act. The Fed takes our freedom and gives it to the banks. Let's take our freedom back from the Fed.

Mr. Speaker, I rise today in recognition of the Spanish American Committee for a Better Community, an organization that has been addressing the most pressing issues of the Hispanic/Latino community living in Cleveland since 1966. It is celebrating its 45th anniversary on November 18, 2011.

The Spanish American Committee for a Better Community is the oldest and largest Hispanic human services organization in Ohio and serves more than 5,500 people annually. Its vision is to continuously enhance programs and services designed to foster self-sufficiency, career readiness, and wealth creation for individuals, children, and families, with a goal of creating socioeconomic stability in the community and in the entire Northeast Ohio region. It offers programming in several areas including family support, early childhood enrichment, educational training, home ownership counseling and employment training.

The success achieved by the Spanish American Committee is acknowledged by outside organizations. The United Way recognizes the Spanish American Committee as a partnering agency. The Spanish American Committee is a national affiliate member of the National Council of La Raza. Additionally, the United States of America's Department of Housing and Urban Development has certified the Spanish American Committee as a housing council site.

Mr. Speaker and colleagues, please join me in honoring the Spanish American Committee for a Better Community as they celebrate 45 years of community assistance.

Mr. Speaker, I rise today in honor of the Honorable Judge Patrick Carroll of the Lakewood Municipal Court, who is being recognized at Recovery Resources' Bronze Key Gala on November 17, 2011.

Judge Carroll attended Cleveland State University, and graduated in 1974 with a bachelor's of arts degree, majoring in economics. In 1977, he earned his Juris Doctor degree from CSU's Cleveland-Marshall College of Law and was admitted to the Ohio Bar Association the same year.

Following graduation, Judge Carroll served as a law clerk to the 8th District Court of Appeals from 1977 to 1979. He then worked as an assistant county prosecutor for the Cuyahoga County Prosecutor's office from 1979 to 1984, and from 1979 to 1990 worked in private practice.

Judge Carroll has been the presiding judge for the Lakewood Municipal Court since 1990, and has been serving in that position for 21 years. During his tenure, Judge Carroll has been a notable advocate of the Community Work Service Program, Alcohol Awareness Program, Expedited Civil Cases Procedure, Housing Court Task Force, nigh Court Sessions and Mediation Task Force. He also supports Recovery Recourses, a nonprofit organization that helps people with mental illness, substance abuse, and other addictions, and for which he is being recognized for his support and work at their Bronze Gala.

Mr. Speaker and colleagues, please join me in honoring the Honorable Judge Patrick Carroll of the Lakewood Municipal Court as he is recognized at the Bronze Key Gala for his support of Recovery Resources.

Mr. Speaker, I rise today in recognition of the Saint Angela Merici School, a recipient of a Federal Blue Ribbon Award.

The Blue Ribbon Schools Program is a program designed to highlight schools which have proven records of academic excellence. These schools have demonstrated a dedication to their student bodies which prepare their students for higher education and life beyond the classroom. Such institutions serve as examples to be emulated in schools across the nation.

The Saint Angela Merici School is one of 305 schools in the nation to be awarded the title of a Blue Ribbon school. The school is located in Fairview Park, Ohio and enrolls 520 students from pre-Kindergarten to Eighth grade. The school was founded in 1923, and is a Roman Catholic school in the Saint Angela Merici Parish.

The Saint Angela Merici School has a strong academic focus and high standardized test scores that exceed the national average. In 2010, the entire eight grade class was in the top fifteen percentile in reading and mathematics, and a majority of the class placed in the top tenth percentile. The rest of the school scored above the eighty-sixth percentile.

The school provides a broad curriculum, with religious studies, world languages,

wellness programs and performing arts as well as mathematics, sciences, social studies, English and technology. The vast range of curriculum in the school follows from the goal of the school, to help the students achieve the highest standards of academic excellence.

Mr. Speaker and colleagues, please join me recognition of Saint Angela Merici School, a 2011 National Blue Ribbon School.

Mr. Speaker, I rise today in honor of Mrs. Ruby L. Terry as she retires from the United Black Fund of Greater Cleveland, Inc. (UBF) where she served as the Executive Director for 19 years.

Established in 1981, by George W. White, the United Black Fund was the result of the merger of the Negro Community Federation and Blacks Organized for Social Services. The

UBF is a non-profit charitable organization that funds more than 80 non-profits annually that serve thousands of poor, Black and other minority children, families and seniors. In addition to funding, UBF provides free of charge of grantsmanship, workshops, and informational forums to the public. The mission statement of the UBF is to acquire, accumulate, and allocate funds to not-for-profits to alleviate suffering, poverty and illiteracy; strengthen the tradition and ethic of giving among African Americans to promote economic self-sufficiency; empower the African American Community through education to reach its highest potential; educate the African American Community to understand the value of re-directing income to build wealth within the African American Community.

Prior to becoming UBF's Executive Director in 1992, Mrs. Terry served as the UBF's Board Chair for 15 years. Under her direction, the UBF underwent several changes to become a stronger organization. She created a new board of directors, implemented the first Strategic Plan, and organized new events to increase funds. She began the UBF's annual Anniversary Gala and the UBF/Cleveland Browns Alumni Celebrity Golf Tournament. Additionally, she formed partnerships with many Cleveland organizations including the Cleveland Indians. It was also under Mrs. Terry's leadership that the UBF obtained Federation status with United Way Services of Greater Cleveland, Inc.

Mr. Speaker, join me in honoring Mrs. Ruby L. Terry and congratulate her on retiring after decades of serving the African American community of Greater Cleveland.

Mr. Speaker, I rise today in honor of Kensington Intermediate School, a recipient of a Federal Blue Ribbon Award.

The Blue Ribbon Schools Program is a program designed to highlight schools which have proven records of academic excellence. These schools have demonstrated a dedication to their student bodies which prepare their students for higher education and life beyond the classroom. Such institutions serve as examples to be emulated in schools across the nation.

Kensington Intermediate School is one of 305 schools in the nation to be awarded the title of a Blue Ribbon school. It has shown itself to be among this group of elite institutions. In 2010, Kensington was named Excellent with Distinction, which is the Ohio Department of Education's highest award. Last year, the school system ranked 5th in Cleveland Magazine's prestigious Top Ten List of Cleveland Area Schools.

Kensington has continued on its path of academic excellence by scoring 96.5% and 92.5% proficiency in the Ohio 5th grade Science and Math Achievement Assessment tests, respectively. The 3rd grade Reading Achievement Assessment score has repeatedly been the highest in the county.

Mr. Speaker and colleagues, please join me in honoring Kensington Intermediate School, a 2011 National Blue Ribbon School.

Mr. Speaker, I strongly support a number of provisions in H.R. 2112, the Fiscal Year (FY) 2012 Agriculture, Rural Development, Food & Drug Administration and Related Agencies Appropriations Act, such as the vital funding for low-income food assistance programs. I must voice my outrage at language included in this legislation which blatantly ignores and imperils the health of this country's school children.

Just days ago, language was inserted into H.R. 2112 which prevents the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) from implementing important new school lunch standards that are scheduled to go into effect next year. The language also allows pizza, if it has at least two tablespoons of tomato paste, to be defined as a vegetable.

Childhood obesity is a disease effecting 17% children throughout the country. According the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, childhood obesity has more than tripled in the past 30 years and in 2008, more than one third of children and adolescents were overweight or obese. Nationally subsidized meals at schools have a responsibility to feed our children healthy and nutritious food. The USDA has developed new school nutrition standards and is ready to implement them. Instead, we are allowing these industries to make and keep our children sick, to put them at risk for serious cardiovascular diseases, type 2 diabetes, stroke, osteoarthritis and several types of cancer.

The needs of special interest groups are being put ahead of the health needs of children across the country. By including these provisions, we are allowing the salt, potato growers and frozen food industries to continue feeding the childhood obesity epidemic. According to the Institute of Medicine, a typical high school lunch contains around 1,600 milligrams of sodium; this is more than half of the daily recommended amount.

One of the largest barriers school nutrition programs face is cost. This is why I have authored a bill that would eliminate the tax deductibility of advertising and marketing of fast food and junk food that targets children. Despite the fact that research shows that marketing and advertising is a primary factor in increasing obesity rates in children, the tax code allows companies to deduct their advertising and marketing costs from tax returns. The government essentially subsidizes childhood obesity. My legislation has the potential to raise billions of dollars to pay for student nutrition programs.

Mr. Speaker, I rise today in honor of Mr. Sean S. Ennis, a man who has given so much to serving communities both at home and abroad, as he is inducted to the Ohio Veterans Hall of Fame.

The Ohio Veterans Hall of Fame was established by former Governor George V. Voinovich in 1992. It is designed to commemorate servicemen and women whose lives demonstrate a dedication above and beyond the call of duty. The Ohio Veterans Hall of Fame seeks to recognize Ohioans who have worn the uniform of this Nation's Armed Forces honorably, and then continue to contribute to their community, state and nation.

Mr. Sean S. Ennis is a prime example of the veterans honored by the Ohio Veterans Hall of Fame. He served with the U.S. Army during the Vietnam War. Since his military service, Mr. Ennis has been an active member of the veteran and Greater Cleveland community. He has been involved with the March of Dimes for over 20 years and volunteers with the Vietnamese Tax Clinic and the Cleveland Airport USO. He is a board member of Honor Flight Cleveland and the Vietnam Veterans of America, Buckeye State Council. Mr. Ennis is the President of Vietnam Veterans of America Chapter 15 and the Chaplain of Veterans of Foreign Wars Post #2533.

Mr. Speaker and Colleagues, please join me in honoring the Ohio Veterans Hall of Fame as they induct Mr. Sean S. Ellis, whose life of service has impacted the lives of countless people in Cleveland and around the world.

Mr. Speaker, I rise today in honor of the Cleveland Mediation Center as it celebrates its 30th anniversary. The Mediation Center has provided an essential forum for dialogue and communication which has fostered cooperation and peace within the community. It has proven especially valuable for the city's youth, who often lack the voice to raise their concerns about problems which directly affect them.

The Center began as the Community Youth Mediation program in 1981. Focusing on the Near West Side community of Cleveland, this organization became the first grass-roots youth oriented mediation program in the country. The Center provided guidance to thousands of individuals and helped to address issues of truancy, school violence, and cases of abuse and neglect. Two of the programs developed by the Center would go on to be used by both the Juvenile Court and Cleveland Public Schools.

Following these successes, the Center was utilized in engaging the city at large. By 1992, it had expanded its youth centered approach to include issues such as neighbor to neighbor mediation and training. Homelessness has also been one of the Center's major concerns, particularly in addressing discrepancies between the city's homeless population and services provided by city agencies. Today, the Cleveland Mediation Center continues their mission of promoting constructive conflict resolution, especially among youth, and strengthening community ties with an emphasis on mediation and mediation training.

Mr. Speaker and colleagues, please join me in honoring the Cleveland Mediation Center in celebrating their important role as facilitators within their communities and enabling fellow citizens to work through their conflicts in peaceful and constructive ways.

Mr. Speaker, I rise today in honor Sister (Sr.) Judith Ann Karam, who is being honored at Care Alliance Health Center's Thanksgiving Dinner on November 12, 2011.

A Cleveland native, Sr. Judith Ann joined the Sisters of Charity of St. Augustine in 1964. She attended Duquesne University where she received a bachelor of science degree in Pharmacy. She later earned a master's of science in Hospital and Health Services Administration from The Ohio State University.

Sr. Judith Ann began her career in the healthcare industry in 1962 as a pharmacy technician. She also worked as a pharmacist and health care administrator. In 1998, Sr. Judith Ann served as Major Superior of the Sisters of Charity of St. Augustine. Today, she serves as the Chief Executive Officer and President of the Sisters of Charity Health System. Throughout her career, Sr. Judith Ann has developed a new joint venture hospital, formed health care partnerships, restructured partnerships, developed conversion foundations, as well as a nursing home serving 22 Catholic religious congregations.

In addition to her career, Sr. Judith Ann is an involved member of the health care community. Having served on hospital boards since 1973, Sr. Judith Ann serves on the national board of the Ministering Together and the Governance Committee of the Catholic Health Association and is a fellow of Healthcare Executives in the American College.

In the community, Sr. Judith Ann is a board member of the Greater Columbia Chamber of Commerce, Midlands Business Council in Columbia, South Carolina and University Hospitals Health System in Cleveland, Ohio. She has also served as a Director of Walsh University in Canton, Ohio, Trustee for Columbia HCA Healthcare Corporation, the American Red Cross, Cleveland Chapter and the Detroit Shoreway Community Development Organization. She is also a member of the Alumni Association of The Ohio State University Health Services Management and Policy Program.

Because of her dedication to the field of health care and her community, Sr. Judith Ann has been recognized countless times throughout the past several decades. She was inducted into the Rho Chi Honor Society in 1971, received the Distinguished Alumnus Award from The Ohio State University Health Services Management and Policy program in 1998, the 2001 Women of Note Award from Crain's Cleveland Business, and in 2006, the Distinguished Service Medal from Walsh University. Additionally, in 2007, she received the Pro Ecclesia Et Pontifice from Pope Benedict the XVI.

Mr. Speaker and colleagues, please join me in honoring Sister Judith Ann Karam as she is recognized by Care Alliance Health Center.

Mr. Speaker, I first met George Condon when I was a copyboy at the Plain Dealer. It was the mid-sixties and the newsroom was a combination of Ben Hecht and Salvadore Dali, where nervous news jockies whipped the keys of their typewriters, men against white space, racing against a looming deadline, frenzied calls of ``boy, boy'' echoing summoning the serfs to duty. Unpretentious and approachable, columnist George Condon would occasionally appear in the midst of the tumult gazing upon the chaos with an amused wisdom about the city room and the city, befriending even a lowly copyboy who confided in him his own dreams of one day being Mayor of Cleveland.

While the strong, quick pulse of the city could be felt in the news room, George Condon knew there was a deeper story upon which all news was built.

``There is no satisfactory way to describe a city or to convey its spirit in words,'' he wrote in Cleveland, the Best Kept Secret, ``Facts and statistics, names and dates, prose and poesy all are well- intentioned bids to give flesh and breath to a chunk of real estate, but they hang lifelessly on the skeleton. If there is a way to give life to a city with words, those words must try to renew some of the lives that created the city.

In Shakespeare's Henry IV, Glendower proclaimed: I can call spirits from the vasty deep. Hotspur replied: Why, so can I, or so can any man. But will they come when you do call for them?''

Read Cleveland, the Best Kept Secret and George Condon's account of the clash over a hundred years ago between Mark Hanna and Tom Johnson and you will see that when George Condon called the spirits forth, they leaped onto his pages, their lives renewed vividly, dissolving the barriers between past, present . . . and future. For it was in November, 1976, after reading George Condon's account of the struggle between privileged interest and public interest that I made a decision to launch a full-scale campaign to save Johnson's Muny Light from a takeover by the then Cleveland Electric Illuminating Company.

A year later, because of the primary impact of his writings on my own life, I asked George Condon to be the master of ceremonies at my inauguration as Mayor of Cleveland.

Anyone who read his works could not help but be moved by his ability to bring to life his beloved city and all the characters who populated it. What made George Condon's writings so unique was his power of observation, fused with love and tempered with a non-judgmental humor.

He was our Boswell. One of the debates that George Condon played out in his work was the efficacy of the promotional campaign which declared Cleveland to be the ``Best Location in the Nation.'' He thought such a declaration could be off-putting to the visitor. After all, each city has its celebratory aspects. But upon further reflection, we can claim that title, not because we have the biggest buildings, or the grandest stadiums, or the most powerful

corporations, or the best freeway system, but because a humble wordsmith named George Condon picked words from heavens and brought a shower of stars upon this community year after year, ennobling us, making us lighter, making us wiser.

Mr. Speaker, I rise today in recognition of Dr. Johan Galtung, who is being honored by the American Muslim Alliance

Foundation with the Abdul Ghaffar Khan International Peace-Builder Award.

In 1930, Dr. Galtung was born in the city of Oslo, Norway. He received his doctorates in mathematics in 1956 and in sociology the following year. In 1957, Dr. Galtung moved to New York and began teaching at Columbia University in the Sociology Department. He returned to Oslo in 1959 and founded the Peace Research Institute Oslo, where he would serve as director for the following decade. In 1969 he took a position as a professor of peace and conflict research at the University of Oslo. He has since taught at universities around the world and is currently teaching courses in the Human Science Department at Saybrook University.

In 1993, Dr. Johan Galtung established the TRANSCEND Network for Conflict Transformation. TRANSCEND encompasses Transcend Peace University, Transcend Media Service, Transcend University Press, Transcend Peace Service, Transcend Research Institute, International Peace Institute and the Journal of Peace Research. Their mission is to bring about a more peaceful world by using action, education and training, dissemination and research to transform conflicts nonviolently, with empathy and creativity, for acceptable and sustainable outcomes.

Dr. Galtung's contributions to international peace have earned him the Right Livelihood Award, Bajaj International Award for Promoting Gandhian Values, First Morton Deutsch Conflict Resolution Award, Norwegian Literary Prize Brage, Augsburg Golden Book of Peace, Eric Bye Memorial Prize, Corean Demilitarized Zone Peace Prize and in 1987, the Alternative Nobel Peace Prize.

Mr. Speaker and colleagues, please join me in congratulating Dr. Johan Galtung as he receives the Abdul Ghaffar Khan International Peace-Builder Award from the American Muslim Alliance Foundation.