Floor Statements

Mr. Speaker, Goldman Sachs, the most profitable U.S. securities firm in history, is on a well-publicized public relations (PR) campaign to improve its image.

Goldman is hoping that this will help erase the negative appearance that lingers in the public's mind after it paid $550 million to settle a Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) fraud suit last July. Since then, its stock has taken a beating.

But don't worry about Goldman. It's no secret that its strategy to reap billions in profits came in part by creating and selling high-risk mortgages in a form known as ``collateralized debt obligations.'' This, while tens of thousands of families in Cleveland--and millions elsewhere--were losing their homes to foreclosure and their communities to decay and neglect. It's also well-known that Goldman had no ethical problem placing big bets against its own investment clients.

In 2008, Goldman took $10 billion in below-market loans from the Federal Reserve, only to have the audacity to claim later that it didn't need that money after all. But those funds helped Goldman weather the financial crisis that they helped create. It's easy to claim now that they didn't need the help back when the financial system was nearly in ruins. But don't be fooled: it's still the same old Goldman, still as cunning and ruthless as ever when it comes to the pursuit of profits.

Goldman hopes its PR money will be well-spent, and that the American people will forget the way it profited so handsomely, even off of the misery of others, including its own clients.

But many of us are paying attention, and we will remember.

Mr. Speaker, I rise today in honor and recognition of Chief of Police Donald L. Wagner upon his retirement from the Rocky River Police Department after 45 years of dedicated service.

Chief of Police Wagner was born in Lakewood, Ohio on May 13, 1942. He graduated from Rocky River High School in 1960 and earned a bachelor's degree from Ohio University in 1964.

Chief of Police Wagner began his career with the Rocky River Police Department on April 1, 1965. He was promoted to Sergeant in 1974, Lieutenant in 1980, Executive Staff Assistant to the Chief of Police in 1985 and finally to Chief of Police in 1995. He is a member of the International Association of Chiefs of Police, the Ohio Association of Chiefs of Police, the Cuyahoga County Police Chiefs Association and the Metropolitan Crime Clinic Association.

The life of a police officer is one of true selflessness and service, and Police Chief Wagner is no exception. Each day the brave men and women of law enforcement put their lives on the line for the good of their communities.

Mr. Speaker and colleagues, please join me in honor of Chief of Police Donald L. Wagner for his exemplary service on behalf of his community. Chief of Police Wagner's dedication to making Rocky River a safer place to live and work is honorable and inspiring. I wish Chief of Police Wagner peace, health and happiness in all his future endeavors.

Mr. Speaker, I rise today in honor and recognition of Lieutenant Robert G. Sharp, upon his retirement from the Rocky River Police Department, following over 30 years of dedicated service.

Born in Berea, Ohio on December 20, 1952, Lt. Sharp was raised in the West Park area of Cleveland. A few years after Mr. Sharp graduated from John Marshall High School, he joined the Rocky River Police Department. He earned an associate degree in Law Enforcement in 1982 from Cuyahoga Community College and a bachelors degree in Technical Education in 1989 from the University of Akron.

Throughout the course of his career, Lt. Sharp received numerous commendations and special recognitions for his courage, lifesaving efforts, and dedication to those he served. In 1980, Mr. Sharp was promoted to Sergeant and later Lieutenant in 1984. He also served as the Commander of the Westshore S.W.A.T. Team from 1986 to 1996.

In addition to his outstanding career as a police officer, Lt. Sharp has been an active member of the community. He is a member of the Westpark Cleveland Historical Society, and in the past participated in the National Tactical Officer's Association as well as the Ohio Tactical Officer's Association.

Mr. Speaker and colleagues, please join me in honor of Lieutenant Robert G. Sharp for his exemplary service on behalf of his community. At the age of 58, Lieutenant Sharp has served and protected the people of Rocky River with courage for 34 years.

Mr. Speaker, I rise today in honor and recognition of Mr. Terence P. Hudec, Executive Staff Assistant to the Chief of Police of Rocky River, upon his retirement from the Rocky River Police Department after more than 35 years of dedicated service.

Mr. Hudec was born in Cleveland, Ohio in 1948. He graduated from Cathedral Latin High School in 1966 and earned a bachelors degree from John Carroll University in 1972.

Mr. Hudec began his career with the Rocky River Police Department on April 1, 1973. He was promoted to Sergeant in 1981, Lieutenant in 1986, and assigned to the position of Executive Staff Assistant to the Chief of Police in 1995.

The life of a police officer is one of true selflessness and service, and Officer Hudec is no exception. Each day the brave men and women of law enforcement put their lives on the line for the good of their communities.

Mr. Speaker and colleagues, please join me in honor of Mr. Terence P. Hudec, Executive Staff Assistant to the Chief of Police, for his exemplary service on behalf of his community. Mr. Hudec's dedication to making Rocky River a safer place to live and work is honorable and inspiring. I wish Executive Staff Assistant Hudec peace, health and happiness in all his future endeavors.

Mr. Speaker, I rise today in honor of Ms. Inez Killingsworth, founder of Empowering and Strengthening Ohio's People (ESOP), as she is recognized by ESOP for her multitude of achievements. Ms. Killingsworth has a long history of standing up for the rights of the people of her community, refusing to let their needs be ignored.

Ms. Killingsworth founded the East Side Organizing Project in 1993 as a means to address the unsafe conditions of her Union-Miles neighborhood. During the early 1990s, ESOP, under Ms. Killingsworth's leadership, began to rally against the lack of credit available to African Americans in the community. When predatory lending in the area increased and more and more community members were facing mortgage payments they could no longer afford, ESOP turned its focus to addressing this growing problem. ESOP became a statewide venture in 2008, when it opened 10 offices throughout the state of Ohio. The organization was then renamed Empowering and Strengthening Ohio's People. ESOP acts as a foreclosure counseling agency. Through tactics varying from protesting banks to negotiating agreements between lenders and borrowers to taking financial executives on tours of the collapsing neighborhoods that are in peril due to predatory lending, ESOP has helped thousands of families in Ohio avoid losing their homes. In 2009, 80% of ESOP clients received favorable loan modifications.

In 2010, Ms. Killingsworth received a Purpose Prize from the San Francisco think tank Civic Ventures. This prize is awarded annually to ten Americans over the age of 60 who are changing the world in the second half of their lives. The award comes with a $100,000 prize, part of which Ms. Killingsworth intends to use to create a program to help newly released felons find work. She also intends to address problems in other areas, such as the lack of healthy food choices in poor, urban neighborhoods.

Mr. Speaker and colleagues, please join me in honor of Ms. Inez Killingsworth for her unwavering dedication to solving difficult challenges faced by the people of Ohio. She has been a role model in her community, relentlessly fighting for justice. I wish Ms. Killingsworth peace, health and happiness in all her future endeavors.

Mr. Speaker, I rise today in honor and recognition of Lieutenant Bruce F. Gunsch upon his retirement from the Rocky River Police Department after more than 30 years of dedicated service.

Lieutenant Bruce F. Gunsch was born in Lakewood, Ohio on April 23, 1949. After graduating from St. Edward High School in 1967, Mr. Gunsch served in the U.S. Army from 1968 to 1971, achieving the rank of Sergeant. He earned a bachelor's degree in Business Administration from Cleveland State University in 1976.

Lieutenant Gunsch began his career with the Rocky River Police Department on February 14, 1977. He was promoted to Sergeant in 1984 and Lieutenant in 1987.

The life of a police officer is one of true selflessness and service, and Lieutenant Gunsch is no exception. Each day the brave men and women of law enforcement put their lives on the line for the good of their communities.

Mr. Speaker and colleagues, please join me in honor of Lieutenant Bruce F. Gunsch for his exemplary service on behalf of his community. Lieutenant Gunsch's dedication to making Rocky River a safer place to live and work is honorable and inspiring. At the age of 61, Lieutenant Sharp has served and protected the people of Rocky River with courage for 34 years. We thank him for his service and wish him health and happiness.

Mr. Speaker, Afghanistan continues to sink deeper into political crisis.

Afghan President Hamid Karzai's legitimacy and effectiveness as a leader is again being tested by the winners of last September's parliamentary elections. More than 200 parliamentarians have agreed to conduct a parliamentary session this weekend despite calls by President Karzai to delay the opening session due to complaints of fraud during parliamentary elections. Karzai appointed a special court to examine charges of fraud despite unanswered questions of massive fraud in his own reelection in 2009.

A May 2009 report by the United Nations, UN, estimates that the majority of the Afghan population lives in poverty, despite the country having received almost 40 billion in aid between 2002 and 2009. The report blames widespread corruption and abuse of power as a main cause of Afghan suffering, leaving ordinary people without even the most basic services.

If we accept the premise that we need to be in Afghanistan until corruption falls by the wayside, we will be in Afghanistan forever. We cannot afford to continue pouring billions of dollars in Afghanistan to prop up a hopelessly corrupt Afghan central government. It is time to end this war.

Mr. Speaker, admitting some ``very big mistakes,'' banking giant JP Morgan Chase revealed today that they overcharged more than 4,000 active-duty military personnel on their home loans and foreclosed, in error, on 14 of them.

The Service Members Civil Relief Act of 2003 provides military personnel certain rights and protections as they enter active duty with respect to credit card interest rates, mortgage interest rates, and mortgage foreclosures. Per the provisions of this act both mortgage interest rates and consumer debt interest rates can be limited to 6 percent in some circumstances and foreclosures are not permitted.

While Chase has apologized for this ``customer mistake,'' has agreed to send out $2 million worth of refunds and has resolved all but one of the foreclosure cases, the strain put on the service members and their families through the bank's failure to comply with this act is inexcusable.

Two issues need urgent attention if we are to avoid a recurrence of this kind of illegal behavior on the part of the banks: 1) We must accelerate the formation of the new Consumer Financial Protection Bureau that was created by Congress in the wake of the financial crisis; 2) We need to acknowledge that current interest rates are running as low as 4.6 percent for fixed 15 year loans and look into amending the Service Members Civil Relief Act of 2003 to reflect that reality, thus giving those who leave their families behind to serve our country the best rates available.

[From NPR.org, Jan. 19, 2011]

Bank Overcharged Military Families on Mortgages

(By Tamara Keith)

The banking giant JPMorgan Chase is admitting it made some

very big mistakes. As first reported by NBC News, the firm

says it overcharged more than 4,000 active-duty military

personnel on their home loans and foreclosed in error on 14

of them.

Julia Rowles and her husband, Marine Capt. Jonathan Rowles,

have been fighting with Chase ever since Rowles was

commissioned as an officer in 2006.

``They would say, `We will take your house. We will report

you to the credit agency. This is a bad situation that you

don't want to be getting into. Pay us today.' They were

harassing us for money that we did not owe them,'' Julia

Rowles says.

Her husband once got a collection call at 3 a.m. None of

that was supposed to happen. Under a federal law called the

Servicemembers Civil Relief Act, most troops can get their

mortgage interest rates reduced to 6 percent while on active

duty, and foreclosures aren't allowed. Rowles says her

husband, who is now overseas, was granted the lower interest

rate, but Chase didn't adjust its records.

``They kept still charging us 9 and 10 percent, and we were

paying upwards to $2,000 when we should have only been paying

$1,400,'' she said.

This week Chase said it would send out $2 million worth of

refunds to 4,000 active-duty customers like the Rowles family

who were overcharged. It also admitted to wrongfully

foreclosing on 14 homes, and said all but one of those cases

had been resolved. Bank officials declined an interview

request, but in a statement said: ``While any customer

mistake is regrettable, we feel particularly badly about the

mistakes we made here.''

But attorney Dick Harpootlian in Columbia, S.C., isn't

ready to accept the apology. He's one of the lawyers

representing the Rowles family in what he hopes will become a

class-action lawsuit against Chase.

``I was a prosecutor for 12 years. Everybody that got

caught taking money that wasn't theirs always said they were

sorry, offered to give it back and call it even,'' he said.

``And that's just not what ought to happen in cases like

this.''

Elizabeth Warren, a special assistant to President Obama,

says the case illustrates why the U.S. needs a strong

consumer financial protection agency. She's putting together

the new Consumer Financial Protection Bureau that was created

by Congress to look out for consumers in the wake of the

financial crisis. The agency will also focus on protecting

military families.

``We need a cop on the beat,'' Warren said. ``The laws are

in place, but there's no one to enforce them and no one to

speak up for these families. This is just wrong.''

Warren says the laws exist so service members can

concentrate on doing their jobs.

They should not be ``worried about paperwork and bills and

whether or not a loved one is being harassed for money that's

not even owed.''

Warren visited Lackland Air Force Base in Texas on Tuesday

to talk to military families about their financial concerns.

She was joined by Holly Petraeus, the wife of Gen. David

Petraeus, the commander of U.S. forces in Afghanistan.

Holly Petraeus was one of the first hires for the new

consumer bureau.

``I really can't think of anything better to be doing while

my husband is deployed forever than working on a project like

this,'' she said.

She'll head the office of Service Member Affairs, which

will be on the lookout for issues like those at Chase.

Mr. Speaker, yesterday the FCC approved the takeover of NBC, a television network, by Comcast, a cable TV and internet provider.

One condition of the merger's approval is that the combined company must not restrict access to any lawful online content. Another condition is that the merged company cannot give better treatment online to its own content than to the content produced by others. Comcast now has 23 million cable TV subscribers, and 16 million internet subscribers, making it the largest internet and cable TV service provider in the US. With such a pervasive conglomerate, it seems unlikely that these restrictions will ensure equal access to the internet, whose creation was funded by taxpayers.

Like any powerful tool, the internet must be protected from falling into the control of any one entity or entities which have too much authority to decide who can access it and what content they can put there. We need real Net Neutrality, not the FCC's recent proposal, which I will fight to strengthen.

Mr. Speaker, opposition to the war in Afghanistan is growing. At a time when the divides in our nation seem beyond repair, Americans are united in their concern over the war.

A recent poll of conservatives conducted by the Afghanistan Study group shows that 71 percent of conservatives overall, and 67 percent of Tea Party supporters are concerned about the costs of the war in Afghanistan. They worry that the costs will make it difficult to address the deficit and balance the nation's budget by the end of the decade. Two-thirds of conservatives polled support a troop reduction, with a further 30 percent supporting full troop withdrawal.

More than 6 out of 10 Americans oppose the war in Afghanistan according to another poll conducted by CNN this month. 56 percent believe that things are going badly for the U.S. in Afghanistan.

Yet we are being assured of progress in Afghanistan as the date for withdrawal continues to slip into 2014.

The financial costs of the war are unsustainable. The human costs threaten to undermine our national, economic and moral security.

It is time to bring our troops home. It's time to dedicate our resources to nation building here at home.

The for-profit health care system is the problem. Eight hundred billion dollars every year is spent on corporate profits, stock options, executive salaries, advertising, marketing, and the cost of paperwork.

In the for-profit system that we have, nearly 1 out of every 3 dollars goes for things not related to health care. If we took that $800 billion and spent it on care for people, we would have enough money to cover all medically necessary needs in addition to dental care, vision care, mental health care, prescription drugs, and long- term care.

We now have a situation where 50 million Americans don't have any health insurance. Americans wouldn't have to worry about losing everything they've worked a lifetime for because there is an illness in the family.

This debate is the wrong debate. A for-profit model is the wrong model. We should be talking about universal health care, single-payer, not-for-profit health care, Medicare for all, quality health care for all Americans.

Mr. Speaker, today the House of Representatives is debating whether to take a giant step backward by repealing the Affordable Care Act. If we are not going to debate how to improve the health care bill, we should be working to strengthen our economy.

A good place to help Americans out of a bad economy is to look at the number one cause of bankruptcies in the U.S.: medical bills. Specifically, over 62 percent of all bankruptcies are from medical bills. It is tempting to conclude from that statistic that most of those bills are due to the uninsured not being able to pay their bills. That would be wrong. In 78 percent of those medical bankruptcy cases, the victims had health insurance. That means that about half of all bankruptcies in the U.S. happen to people who have health insurance.

This is what happens when insurance companies make money by not providing care. Their job is to make someone other than them pay the bills--even if it is you or me, and even if we already have insurance. They make us pay the bills by selling cheaper insurance policies that do not actually cover us when we get sick.

We must eliminate the predatory for-profit health insurance industry by enacting H.R. 676, Medicare for All. No copayments, no deductibles, no premiums. For the same costs or less than we are paying now.

Mr. Speaker, everyone knows that insurance companies make money not providing health care. After all, they are in the insurance business; they are not charities. But with as many as 29 million Americans suffering from preexisting conditions, insurance companies want Congress to repeal health care reform. The provisions which require covering people with preexisting conditions would eventually cut into insurance company profits. Repeal means Americans will continue to pay more for insurance but get less--that is, if they can afford health insurance in the first place. The very idea of health care reform, solely within the context of a for-profit system, has been more than problematic.

Today, 50 million Americans have no health insurance. What are we going to do for them? Rather than waste time debating how much reform insurance companies will permit, if any, it is time to change the debate. It is time to

end the for-profit health care model. It is a time for not-for-profit- health care, single payer, universal Medicare for all, with an emphasis on wellness and personal responsibility. More about that tomorrow.

Mr. Speaker, I am pleased to bring to your attention the 33-year public service career of Paul Oyaski who is retiring from his post as the Director of Cuyahoga County's Department of Development on January 14, 2011.

Director Oyaski has directed with distinction the Department of Development since 2004, leading a staff of 62 in Ohio's largest county which serves all the people of Ohio's 10th Congressional District and surrounding districts. He has administered federal funding from the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development through the Community Development Block Grant (CDBG) program for 51 Cuyahoga County municipalities with fewer than 50,000 residents. His department has managed a $75 million budget supplemented by the CDBGs, the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act, the Department of Energy, and the Environmental Protection Agency. Through Paul's leadership, the people of Cuyahoga County were served ably and the federal dollars we appropriated were used wisely and with the people's needs first and foremost on the agenda. During his tenure as Director, he received numerous awards from the public and private sectors.

Prior to his service at the county level, Paul Oyaski served as the Mayor of Euclid, Ohio from 1996 to 2003. As mayor of a city with a population of 53,000, Mayor Oyaski became familiar with the administrative responsibilities associated with the CDBG program. He led Euclid to receive the Livable Cities Award from the U.S. Conference of Mayors in 2000 for positive race relations. He was also spokesman for the First Suburbs Consortium which represents Euclid and 14 other inner-ring suburbs of Cleveland.

Before his election as Mayor, Paul Oyaski served the City of Euclid with distinction as a member of the City Council, the Director of Community Services and Development, and as Law Director. Paul graduated from the Ohio State University School of Law with honors, earned his Bachelor of Arts Magna Cum Laude from Cleveland State University, and is a proud graduate of Euclid Senior High School where he was a member of the National Honor Society and received his letter for varsity soccer.

Mr. Speaker and honored colleagues, please join me in wishing Paul Oyaski well as he retires from a long and illustrious career in the public sector working with the people of his hometown of Euclid, and Cuyahoga County for these many years.

Mr. Speaker, I rise today in honor of Captain Roland Salcer, the longest working policeman in Ohio's history. Captain Salcer retired on January 1, 2011 from the Cleveland Heights Police Department after 60 years of dedicated service.

Born on December 27, 1924, Captain Roland Salcer was raised in East Cleveland and knew at an early age that he wanted to work as a policeman. Before achieving his goal of becoming a police officer, Captain Salcer served as a sergeant in the U.S. Army's tank corps for three years during World War II. During his stint in the Army he fought in the historic Battle of the Bulge.

On January 1, 1951 Captain Salcer began his career with the Cleveland Heights Police Department as a third-class patrolman. For the past 33 years he has served as a captain. During his tenure with the Cleveland Heights Police Department, Captain Salcer formed Ohio's first suburban police narcotics unit, played an integral role in a 1971 drug bust, and only used his firearm once. He has a stellar reputation as a reliable officer who has always treated people with dignity, fairness and respect. Not only is Captain Salcer the oldest and longest working police officer in Ohio's history, he is also the second longest working officer in the country's history.

Mr. Speaker and colleagues, please join me in honor of Captain Roland Salcer. At the age of 86, Captain Salcer has served and protected the people of Cleveland Heights with courage for 60 years.