Floor Statements

Madam Speaker, as the House prepares to vote on the Child Health and Medicare Protection Act, known as the CHAMP Act, later today, I think it is important to refute some of the misleading talking points that Republicans are seizing on as they oppose this health insurance for millions of American children.

First, Republicans claim that by strengthening the State Children's Health Insurance Program, known as SCHIP, we are advancing ``government doctors,'' advancing ``government health plans.''

This could be no further from the truth. Government does not deliver SCHIP services. Instead, it is private doctors and private health plans through private insurance. This program is operated successfully in my State of New Jersey and around the Nation.

Second, Republicans say that we are trying to expand the program to reach middle-income families. Again, that is false. We are not expanding the program. Today, 5 million children are eligible for SCHIP but are not enrolled. We are strengthening the program so that we can reach almost all of these children, the vast majority of whom come from low-income families.

Madam Speaker, I urge my colleagues to pass this bill.

Madam Speaker, as a senior member of the House Education and Labor Committee, I am proud that today many Americans will receive their first pay raise in a decade because the Fair Minimum Wage Act passed by the Democratic Congress goes into effect.

These hardworking Americans, 40 percent of whom are minorities, will receive a 70-cents-per-hour raise today, which will be followed by two more 70-cent increases in July 2008 and July 2009. This will result in a total of $2.10 increase, or $4,400 a year. This boost in pay will make a significant difference in the lives of these American families who are trying to survive on a minimum wage that has reached its lowest effective level in more than half a century. It means more food on their tables, better health care for their families, and a shot at sending their children to college.

Everyone who works full time should have the chance to achieve these pieces of the American Dream. And with this increase in minimum wage which begins today, they can.

I am proud to be a part of the Democratic Congress that passed this long overdue pay raise for millions of hardworking Americans. I want to note that my home State of New Jersey led the way in an increase in minimum wage. Our minimum wage is already $7.15 an hour, and that rate was effective since October 2006.

Madam Speaker, there is an urgent need for the United States to invest in financial literacy. On June 15, 2007, the Washington Post reported that, according to the Mortgage Bankers Association, ``the percentage of U.S. mortgages entering foreclosures in the first three months of the year was the highest in more than 50 years.'' With aggressive subprime lenders preying upon unknowledgeable yet eager homeowners, foreclosure rates around the country have reached unprecedented heights.

On June 10, 2007, the New York Times reported that ``private loans have become the fast-growing sector of the student finance market, more than tripling over five years to $17.3 billion in the 2005-2006 school year, according to the College Board.'' Yet, in that same article, it was reported that many students fail to understand the risks associated with private loans as opposed to federally subsidized loans. Along those same lines, easy access to credit cards without the understanding of its potential pitfalls has led to the indebtedness of many college students.

According to the Bureau of Economic Analysis, personal savings for Americans in May 2007 was negative $139.8 billion, which was an $18 billion increase from the previous month. The Federal Reserve Board stated that consumer debt has exceeded $2.4 trillion as of May 2007. According to the 2007 Retirement Confidence Survey conducted by the Employee Benefit Research Institute, it is not registering with American workers that the U.S. retirement system is no longer one of defined benefits but that of defined contributions. In fact, fewer than 50 percent of workers have retirement savings and investments over $25,000.

These facts are unfortunately not surprising. The results from the JumpStart Coalition for Personal Financial Literacy's 2006 survey showed that of the approximately 5,700 high school seniors nationwide tested, participants scored slightly above 52 percent on a test of very basic financial literacy skills.

The United States must address this growing problem of financial illiteracy. The consequences, as shown by these statistics, could be dire if more is not done. I would encourage the Federal Government to take proactive measures to stem this tide. The Department of Education, in particular, can play a key role in reversing this negative trend by instilling the principles of fiscal discipline while our children are still in their formative years and in fact, can work to incorporate these values into already existing subjects such as mathematics, social studies and business classes.

As a matter of fact, I will soon be introducing the Youth Financial Education Act which would authorize monies for financial literacy through State block grants and through the Fund for the Improvement of Education. I hope to work with other Members of Congress and appropriators to see this important initiative realized.

I would like to begin by thanking Chairman Miller for his leadership on this bill and certainly urge my colleagues to vote for the College Cost Reduction Act of 2007.

Mr. Speaker, I rise in support of H.R. 2669, the College Cost Reduction Act of 2007. This legislation will provide the single largest investment in college financial aid since the 1944 GI Bill, helping millions of low- and middle-income students and families pay for college.

This legislation would provide about $18 billion over the next 5 years in college financial aid at no cost to the United States taxpayers, no new costs.

This new investment is critically important because college costs have grown nearly 40 percent in the last 5 years. Students are graduating from college with more debt than ever before. Many would-be students are holding off going to college or skipping it altogether because they do not believe they can afford it.

By boosting scholarship and reducing loan and tuition costs, the College Cost Reduction Act of 2007 makes an historic investment in America's college students, its economic competitiveness and its future, while maintaining fiscal responsibility.

I urge my colleagues to support this landmark legislation.

Madam Speaker, for 6 months, Democrats have succeeded in changing the direction of this country. We have replaced Republican rubber stamps with meaningful Congressional oversight.

The Democratic House has now passed 50 key measures since January, most with strong bipartisan support. Thanks to this Democratic Congress, millions of Americans will receive their first pay raise in almost a decade on January 24. As a senior member of the House Education and Labor Committee, I was proud to support the long overdue increase in the minimum wage.

Gulf coast hurricane communities will get much needed relief, up- armored Humvees and critical military

support are getting to our troops, and fiscal responsibility has been restored to the Federal budget after the White House and Republican-led Congress reversed President Clinton's budget surplus and replaced it with the biggest budget deficit in American history.

This is only the beginning. This House has also passed legislation that will better protect our Nation by fully implementing the recommendations of the nonpartisan 9/11 Commission. Let's continue to move forward in this positive direction.

Madam Speaker, I would like to submit for the Record an excellent article written by Mr. Jeffrey Gettleman of The New York Times June 18, 2007 entitled ``In Ethiopia, Fear and Cries of Army Brutality.'' It is about the forgotten people of the Ogaden and accurately describes in great detail the systematic abuses against civilians by the Ethiopian government security forces.

In the Ogaden Desert, Ethiopia.--The rebels march 300

strong across the crunchy earth, young men with dreadlocks

and AK-47s slung over their shoulders.

Often when they pass through a village, the entire village

lines up, one sunken cheekbone to the next, to squint at

them.

``May God bring you victory,'' one woman whispered.

This is the Ogaden, a spindle-legged corner of Ethiopia

that the urbane officials in Addis Ababa, the capital, would

rather outsiders never see. It is the epicenter of a

separatist war pitting impoverished nomads against one of the

biggest armies in Africa.

What goes on here seems to be starkly different from the

carefully constructed up-and-coming image that Ethiopia--a

country that the United States increasingly relies on to

fight militant Islam in the Horn of Africa--tries to project.

In village after village, people said they had been

brutalized by government troops. They described a widespread

and longstanding reign of terror, with Ethiopian soldiers

gang-raping women, burning down huts and killing civilians at

will.

It is the same military that the American government helps

train and equip--and provides with prized intelligence. The

two nations have been allies for years, but recently they

have grown especially close, teaming up last winter to oust

an Islamic movement that controlled much of Somalia and rid

the region of a potential terrorist threat.

The Bush administration, particularly the military,

considers Ethiopia its best bet in the volatile Horn--which,

with Sudan, Somalia and Eritrea, is fast becoming intensely

violent, virulently anti-American and an incubator for

terrorism.

But an emerging concern for American officials is the way

that the Ethiopian military operates inside its own borders,

especially in war zones like the Ogaden.

Anab, a 40-year-old camel herder who was too frightened,

like many others, to give her last name, said soldiers took

her to a police station, put her in a cell and twisted her

nipples with pliers. She said government security forces

routinely rounded up young women under the pretext that they

were rebel supporters so they could bring them to jail and

rape them.

``Me, I am old,'' she said, ``but they raped me, too.''

Moualin, a rheumy-eyed elder, said Ethiopian troops stormed

his village, Sasabene, in January looking for rebels and

burned much of it down. ``They hit us in the face with the

hardest part of their guns,'' he said.

The villagers said the abuses had intensified since April,

when the rebels attacked a Chinese-run oil field, killing

nine Chinese workers and more than 60 Ethiopian soldiers and

employees. The Ethiopian government has vowed to crush the

rebels but rejects all claims that it abuses civilians.

``Our soldiers are not allowed to do these kinds of

things,'' said Nur Abdi Mohammed, a government spokesman.

``This is only propaganda and cannot be justified. If a

government soldier did this type of thing they would be

brought before the courts.''

Even so, the State Department, the European Parliament and

many human rights groups, mostly outside Ethiopia, have cited

thousands of cases of torture, arbitrary detention and

extrajudicial killings--enough to raise questions in Congress

about American support of the Ethiopian government.

``This is a country that is abusing its own people and has

no respect for democracy,'' said Representative Donald M.

Payne, Democrat of New Jersey and chairman of the House

Foreign Affairs subcommittee on Africa and global health.

``We've not only looked the other way but we've pushed them

to intrude in other sovereign nations,'' he added, referring

to the satellite images and other strategic help the American

military gave Ethiopia in December, when thousands of

Ethiopian troops poured into Somalia and overthrew the

Islamist leadership.

According to Georgette Gagnon, deputy director for the

Africa division of Human Rights Watch, Ethiopia is one of the

most repressive countries in Africa.

``What the Ethiopian security forces are doing,'' she said,

``may amount to crimes against humanity.''

Human Rights Watch issued a report in 2005 that documented

a rampage by government troops against members of the Anuak,

a minority tribe in western Ethiopia, in which soldiers

ransacked homes, beat villagers to death with iron bars and

in one case, according to a witness, tied up a prisoner and

ran over him with a military truck.

After the report came out, the researcher who wrote it was

banned by the Ethiopian government from returning to the

country. Similarly, three New York Times journalists who

visited the Ogaden to cover this story were imprisoned for

five days and had all their equipment confiscated before

being released without charges.

Ethiopia's Tiananmen Square

In many ways, Ethiopia has a lot going for it these days:

new buildings, new roads, low crime and a booming trade in

cut flowers and coffee. It is the second most populous

country in sub-Saharan Africa, behind Nigeria, with 77

million people.

Its leaders, many whom were once rebels themselves, from a

neglected patch of northern Ethiopia, are widely known as

some of the savviest officials on the continent. They had

promised to let some air into a very stultified political

system during the national elections of 2005, which were

billed as a milestone on the road to democracy.

Instead, they turned into Ethiopia's version of Tiananmen

Square. With the opposition poised to win a record number of

seats in Parliament, the government cracked down brutally,

opening fire on demonstrators, rounding up tens of thousands

of opposition supporters and students and leveling charges of

treason and even attempted to kill top opposition leaders,

including the man elected mayor of Addis Ababa.

Many opposition members are now in jail or in exile. The

rest seem demoralized.

``There are no real steps toward democracy,'' said Merera

Gudina, vice president of the United Ethiopian Democratic

Forces, a leading opposition party. ``No real steps toward

opening up space, no real steps toward ending repression.''

Ethiopian officials have routinely dismissed such

complaints, accusing political protesters of stoking civil

unrest and poking their finger into a well/known sore spot.

Ethiopia has always had an authoritarian streak. This is a

country, after all, where until the 1970s rulers claimed to

be direct descendants of King Solomon. It is big, poor,

famine/stricken, about half/Christian and half/Muslim,

surrounded by hostile enemies and full of heavily armed

separatist factions. As one high/ranking Ethiopian official

put it, ``This country has never been easy to rule.''

That has certainly been true for the Ogaden desert, a huge,

dagger/shaped chunk of territory between the highlands of

Ethiopia and the border of Somalia. The people here are

mostly ethnic Somalis, and they have been chafing against

Ethiopian rule since 1897, when the British ceded their

claims to the area.

The colonial officials did not think the Ogaden was worth

much. They saw thorny hills and thirsty people. Even today,

it is still like that. What passes for a town is a huddle of

bubble-shaped huts, the movable homes of camel-thwacking

nomads who somehow survive out here. For roads, picture Tonka

truck tracks running through a sandbox. The primary elements

in this world are skin and bone and sun and rock. And guns.

Loads of them.

Camel herders carry rifles to protect their animals. Young

women carry pistols to protect their bodies. And then there

is the Ogaden National Liberation Front, the machine-gun-

toting rebels fighting for control of this desiccated

wasteland.

Rebels Live Off the Land

Lion. Radio. Fearless. Peacock. Most of the men have

nicknames that conceal their real identities. Peacock, who

spoke some English, served as a guide. He shared the bitter

little plums the soldiers pick from thorn bushes--``Ogaden

chocolate,'' he called them. He showed the way to gently skim

water from the top of a mud puddle to minimize the amount of

dirt that ends up in your stomach--even in the rainy season

this is all there is to drink.

He pointed out the anthills, the coming storm clouds, the

especially ruthless thorn trees and even a graveyard that

stood incongruously in the middle of the desert. The graves--

crude pyramids of stones--were from the war in 1977-78, when

Somalia tried, disastrously, to pry the Ogaden out of

Ethiopia's hands and lost thousands of men. ``It's up to us

now,'' Peacock said.

Peacock was typical of the rebels. He was driven by anger.

He said Ethiopian soldiers hanged his mother, raped his

sister and beat his father. ``I know, it's hard to believe,''

he said. ``But it's true.''

He had the hunch of a broken man and a voice that seemed

far too tired for his 28 years. ``It's not that I like living

in the bush,'' he said. ``But I have nowhere else to go.''

The armed resistance began in 1994, after the Ogaden

National Liberation Front, then a political organization,

broached the idea of splitting off from Ethiopia. The central

government responded by imprisoning Ogadeni leaders, and

according to academics and human rights groups, assassinating

others. The Ogaden is part of the Somali National Regional

State, one of nine ethnic-based states within Ethiopia's

unusual ethnic-based federal system. On paper, all states

have the right to secede, if they follow the proper

procedures. But it seemed that the government feared that if

the Somalis broke away, so too would the Oromos, the Afar and

many other ethnic groups pining for a country of their own.

The Ethiopian government calls the Ogaden rebels terrorists

and says they are armed and trained by Eritrea, Ethiopia's

neighbor and bitter enemy. One of the reasons Ethiopia

decided to invade Somalia was to prevent the rebels from

using it as a base.

The government blames them for a string of recent bombings

and assassinations and says they often single out rival clan

members. Ethiopian officials have been pressuring the State

Department to add the Ogaden National Liberation Front to its

list of designated foreign terrorist organizations. Until

recently, American officials refused, saying the rebels had

not threatened civilians or American interests.

``But after the oil field attack in April,'' said one

American official who spoke on the condition of anonymity,

``we are reassessing that.''

American policy toward Ethiopia seems to be in flux.

Administration officials are trying to increase the amount of

nonhumanitarian aid to Ethiopia to $481 million next year,

from $284 million this year. But key Democrats in Congress,

including Mr. Payne, are questioning this, saying that

because of Ethiopia's human rights record, it is time to stop

writing the country a blank check.

In April, European Commission officials began investigating

Ethiopia for war crimes in connection to hundreds of Somali

civilians killed by Ethiopian troops during heavy fighting in

Mogadishu, Somalia's capital.

Women Are Suffering the Most

In the Ogaden, it is not clear how many people are dying.

The vast area is essentially a no-go zone for most human

rights workers and journalists and where the Ethiopian

military, by its own admission, is waging an intense

counterinsurgency campaign.

The violence has been particularly acute against women,

villagers said, and many have recently fled.

Asma, 19, who now lives in neighboring Somaliland, said she

was stuck in an underground cell for more than six months

last year, raped and tortured. ``They beat me on the feet and

breasts,'' she said. She was freed only after her father paid

the soldiers ransom, she said, though she did not know how

much.

Ambaro, 25, now living in Addis Ababa, said she was gang-

raped by five Ethiopian soldiers in January near the town of

Fik. She said troops came to her village every night to pluck

another young woman.

``I'm in pain now, all over my body,'' she said. ``I'm

worried that I'll become crazy because of what happened.''

Many Ogaden villagers said that when they tried to bring up

abuses with clan chiefs or local authorities, they were told

it was better to keep quiet.

The rebels said that was precisely why they attacked the

Chinese oil field: to get publicity for their cause and the

plight of their region (and to discourage foreign companies

from exploiting local resources). According to them, they

strike freely in the Ogaden all the time, ambushing military

convoys and raiding police stations.

Mr. Mohammed, the government spokesman, denied that, saying

the rebels ``will not confront Ethiopian military forces

because they are not well trained.''

Expert or not, they are determined. They march for hours

powered by a few handfuls of rice. They travel extremely

light, carrying only their guns, two clips of bullets, a

grenade and a tarp. They brag about how many Ethiopians they

have killed, and every piece of their camouflage, they say,

is pulled off dead soldiers. They joke about slaughtering

Ethiopian troops the same way they slaughter goats.

Their morale seems high, especially for men who sleep in

the dirt every night. Their throats are constantly dry, but

they like to sing.

``A camel is delivering a baby today and the milk of the

camel is coming,'' goes one campfire song. ``Who is the owner

of this land?''

Let me thank Congresswoman, Chairwoman Lowey and, of course, Congressman Blumenauer for the opportunity to join in this colloquy.

As chairman of the Subcommittee on Africa and Global Health, I recently called a hearing on the implementation of the Water for the Poor Act where Congressman Blumenauer testified. I agree with him that the State Department, in its 2007 report to Congress, reflects inflated figures and a lack of concrete strategies for providing sustainable access to drinking water and sanitation for the poor.

The Millennium Development Goals, a catalyst for the Water for the Poor, aimed to reduce by one-half the proportion of people without access to basic sanitation and safe drinking water by 2015. Due, in part, to the State Department's inefficient execution of sustainable programs, the MDG target is being missed in sub-Saharan Africa, which has had the slowest rate of improvement in this category compared with all other regions.

Furthermore, the State Department reported that in fiscal year 2006, the U.S. helped 9 million people receive improved access to water. Of the beneficiaries, 75 to 80 percent was in the Middle East, and 25 percent was outside this region. According to the United Nations, most countries in the Middle East and North Africa are on track towards reaching the MDG targets. Our efforts should be directed to regions such as sub-Saharan Africa, which has the highest proportion of people living without access to improved water sources of any region in the world, and is not on track to meet its MDG target. Therefore, of the $150 million appropriated to Africa and the Middle East, I feel that more than 50 percent should be allocated to the countries in Africa, where the need is greatest.

So I conclude by saying also, the State Department's water funding in Africa has primarily been used for emergency relief efforts, rather than water supply and management projects that deliver sustainable results. In maintaining the vision of the Water for the Poor Act, assistance should be focused on improving the sustainable management of drinking water and sanitation.

I agree with Congressman Blumenauer and Chairwoman Lowey that of the $300 million appropriated for fiscal year 2008, a significant amount should be directed towards sustainable water management with programs in Africa.

With efficient execution and adequate funding, the objectives of the Water for the Poor can be accomplished. Access to safe water and sanitation plays a central role in promoting global public health, economic growth, poverty reduction and environmental sustainability.

I look forward to working with Congressman Blumenauer and Congresswoman Lowey in increasing our funding to regions with the greatest need and improving the strategies in place to provide the world's poor with sustainable, safe, drinking water and basic sanitation.

Mr. Chairman, I offer an amendment.

Mr. Chairman, I rise today to offer an amendment which increases the amounts available in the Foreign Operations appropriations bill to fight the global spread of tuberculosis by adding an additional $50 million by taking $25 million from the Economic Support Funds account and $25 million from within the Child Survival and Health Programs account.

According to the World Health Organization estimates, someone is infected with the organism that develops into TB every second. Every second. An infected person may not develop full-blown TB, but in 2004, of the 9 million people who were newly infected, 2 million died. The good news is that it is entirely curable.

However, the treatment requires patients to be on a drug regimen for 6 months. If they do not complete the regimen, or if they complete it but take an incorrect number of pills during the treatment, the infection can develop into what is known as multiple drug resistance or MDR-TB. MDR-TB is not responsive to either of the two first-line TB drugs, and the treatments that are available take longer and are more expensive than regular TB medications.

But as news headlines earlier this month have shown, there is an even more deadly threat: extensively drug-resistant TB. XDR-TB is not only resistant to the two first-line drugs but also to three of the six second-line drugs. The treatment required to cure a patient can be radical, including the removal of part of the lung that has been infected.

Earlier this month, a Georgia man who had been diagnosed with a dangerous strain of TB known as extremely drug-resistant tuberculosis, or XDR-TB, traveled through four countries, completely unimpeded. If he had been infectious at the time, there could have been an outbreak across two continents.

We must also keep in mind that XDR-TB has a deadly linkage with HIV and threatens to undermine all of the investments we have made in the global fight against HIV/AIDS. The devastating effect of patients with HIV first gained global recognition last August with reports of an outbreak in a hospital in South Africa where 52 of 53 patients with XDR-TB died. Half of them died within a matter of 16 days.

This tragedy serves as a sobering example of what may happen across Africa if we do not act to prevent another outbreak. Given XDR-TB's resistance to both the low-cost, first-line anti-TB drugs and to several of the classes of second-line drugs used, we are faced with a burgeoning epidemic driven by HIV infection that is lethal.

Since the initial outbreak, South African medical authorities have documented some 400 cases in dozens or more hospitals in South Africa. What is troubling, however, is that no one knows for sure that these 400 cases represent the extent of the outbreak because XDR-TB typically kills quickly and doctors' ability to identify it is severely limited; so many people may have simply died without its even being diagnosed.

Experts believe that XDR-TB has moved beyond South Africa into other countries in the sub-region where the capacity to identify it and control it is significantly weaker than in South Africa and where the HIV/AIDS rate continues to drive the epidemic. As a matter of fact, there are only two laboratories in 48 countries in sub-Saharan Africa that can determine this disease.

All of us here today must work together to take the necessary steps to enhance the ability of the medical establishments in Africa and other developing countries to identify, treat, and stop the spread of drug-resistant TB, primarily in Africa, and to head off further incursions of XDR-TB into the United States. Failure to do so will result in potentially devastating health catastrophes.

Mr. Chairman, I ask unanimous consent that I be allowed 1 more minute.

Mr. Chairman, Ms. Ros-Lehtinen was strongly supporting this and was hoping to come here, but she is not here at this time.

So I will just conclude by saying that it is my intent that none of the $25 million in this amendment that comes from the Economic Support Fund will come out of Economic Support Fund assistance to countries and programs in the Middle East or ESF-funded programs that support Afro- Colombians or ESF-funded programs for Sudan, Liberia, and Congo, ESF funds that are to be channeled towards the Trans-Saharan Counter Terrorism Initiative, or ESF funds that are for democratic assistance programs. So I wanted to make that clear so that we know exactly where these funds come from.

Thank you very much.

I rise to urge my colleagues to oppose the Pitts amendment that would strike the underlying language that provides flexibility to the President on designing his HIV/AIDS programs.

In 2003, Congress and the President came together to establish the Global HIV/AIDS Initiative. Five years ago, the world was optimistic that we could, with additional funding, start to turn the pandemic around. As we have heard, success has not been as easy as we would have hoped, and over 4 million people were newly infected last year. That is why, in addition to increasing the amount of money we are spending to combat HIV/AIDS, we must take every effort to ensure that we are spending money as wisely as possible.

The chairwoman's bill contains language which gives the President maximum flexibility. There is no empirical data to my knowledge which supports the abstinence-only earmark in P.L. 108-25, the original PEPFAR authorizing legislation. The earmark calls for one-third of all prevention funds to be spent on abstinence-only until marriage. No one has ever explained the rationale for that figure. The provision of flexibility to the President to determine how much money to spend on abstinence-only is way overdue.

I urge my colleagues to vote against the Pitts amendment and to support the chairperson in this endeavor.

Mr. Speaker, since Democrats took over Congress, we have tried to establish a process to responsibly end our involvement in Iraq. We, like all Americans, have watched in sadness as 3,422 of our brave soldiers have lost their lives, including 57 of those who came from the State of New Jersey.

That is why Congressman Pascrell and Congressman Pallone, Congressman Holt, Congressman Rothman and Congressman Sires and myself voted against this resolution.

As we said, we have asked the President to have a responsible end to our involvement, but 3,422 deaths later, the lives of 57 Americans from New Jersey have been lost. Already we have passed and sent to the President a plan that would include a timeline for troop withdrawal.

Our best efforts, however, have been consistently met with a veto. Indeed, President Bush continues to stubbornly, recklessly insist that his failed Iraqi policy continues without any reasonable compromise. We, along with the great majority of Americans, strongly disagree with the President. He has been wrong every step of the way, and it is long past time to bring U.S. involvement in Iraq to a conclusion.

The Democratic leadership has tried repeatedly to bring finality to the war. But because of a lack of a veto-proof majority, today they have relented on key requirements to help bring about the end.

While we understand why the proposal before us was crafted in such a way, that we believe we must continue to forcibly stand up to the President.

We voted against spending even more money in Iraq because there were no timelines or real accountability on an administration that has proven to be utterly incompetent on the most important issue of our time.

As late as yesterday at a major address, the President continues to try to directly implicate Iraq in 9/11. It was Osama bin Laden, al Qaeda, who made it very clear on that dastardly, cowardly act on September 11 to our World Trade Center that it was done by al Qaeda, done by the Saudi who led this and still continues to lead this terrorist organization.

So why do we continue to try to stretch the reason for going in and having an attack on Iraq that it was because of 9/11. We know that there is the continued attempt to connect the two when they are not connected. Now we hear al Qaeda is strong and doing well in Iraq. However, before 9/11, there were no al Qaeda operatives in Iraq.

So we have now a country that is no better off, really. More people die there. We have a world that is really not any safer. Yet, and still, we have a President who refuses to see the light, continues to go down a path of destruction. So, for that reason, I am proud of my colleagues, Pascrell, Pallone, Holt, Rothman, Sires and myself who stood up and said, enough is enough, the time is now.

Madam Speaker, it is with a great deal of enthusiasm that I ask my colleagues here in the House of Representatives to join me as I rise to offer heartfelt congratulations to Father Edwin Leahy--Father Ed--as he receives an honorary degree from Rutgers-Newark. Father Ed will also serve as the commencement speaker on Thursday, May 17, 2007. He is the headmaster of St. Benedict's Preparatory School in Newark,

Mr. Speaker, congressional Democrats are trying to move the Iraq war in a new direction, but we are not getting much help from the White House or the congressional Republicans. House Democrats have now voted four separate times over the last 3 months to change the course of the war, but every single time House Republicans refused to join us.

For weeks congressional Republicans were saying that the withdrawal timeline proposed would lead to America's defeat in Iraq. But now a week after the President vetoed that bill, Republican leaders are saying that our generals must make the troop surge work by this fall. Republican leaders have now indicated that there should be a timeline for progress in Iraq, stating that, ``By the time we get to September or October, Members are going to know how well this is working, and if it isn't, what is plan B?''

Mr. Speaker, it appears that Republicans are slowly but surely coming around to timetables in Iraq. This doesn't mean that they are defeatists, as their own talking points have suggested in the past. It means that they may be turning into realists.

Mr. Speaker, over this past weekend, five more American soldiers were killed in Iraq, bringing the number killed in April to over 100 U.S. soldiers. It was the deadliest month for American soldiers this year. Sadly, the total number of Americans killed now stands at 3,351, along with thousands of innocent Iraqi men, women and children.

The realities on the ground that our brave soldiers continue to face day in and day out stand in stark contrast to President Bush's pronouncement 4 years ago that major combat operations in Iraq were over.

If major operations were over 4 years ago, what have our troops been fighting the last 4 years? If indeed our mission was accomplished 4 years ago, as the banner behind the President on that aircraft carrier proclaimed, what are American troops still doing in Iraq?

If the President truly wants to bring our mission to a just conclusion, he should work with Congress instead of simply vetoing our funding bill as he did. It's now up to the President to decide if he will support accountability for Iraqis, benchmarks for success, and new direction in Iraq, for we cannot stay this course.

Madam Speaker, I move to suspend the rules and agree to the resolution (H. Res. 272) commemorating the 200th anniversary of the abolition of the transatlantic slave trade, as amended.

Madam Speaker, I ask unanimous consent that all Members have 5 legislative days to revise and extend their remarks and include extraneous material on the resolution under consideration.

Madam Speaker, I rise in strong support of this resolution and yield myself as much time as I may consume.

I would like to first commend our distinguished colleague and former member of the Foreign Affairs Committee, Ms. Lee of California, for introducing this very important resolution.

I am honored and humbled to commemorate the 200th anniversary of the abolition of transatlantic slave trade with this resolution, for its legacy continues to reflect the racial biases and socioeconomic disparities that still exist in this country and throughout the Americas.

As we consistently admonish the prevalence of modern-day slavery worldwide, because it still exists in some parts of the world, it would be hypocritical if we did not acknowledge the history of transatlantic slave trade which existed for so long in this country, and therefore it is appropriate that we speak about it at this time, its 200th anniversary.

For over 300 years the United Kingdom and other European countries kidnapped and sold millions of Africans into slavery. The transatlantic slave trade is known as the largest forced migration in the history of the world. Estimates range from 25 to 50 million Africans were forcibly brought to the United States, the Caribbean, Central and South America and to Europe. Sharks migratory patterns were changed because these predators followed the ships in the Middle Passage because when a slave died they were thrown overboard, or if they were killed because they were protesting, or if they committed suicide, the sharks knew that they could follow the ships, and it changed the migratory patterns of sharks during this period of time.

African labor was an essential feature of economic development in Europe and her former colonies, including the United States. All of the nations involved flourished economically as a result of slave labor.

The fact that slavery was not abolished in the United States until Abraham Lincoln declared to end slavery in the Confederacy in 1863 with the Emancipation Proclamation. However, slavery was really not abolished in the Union.

Interestingly enough, in my State of New Jersey, slavery continued until 1866. In New Jersey, a mother, a woman could become free at the age of 21, and a man at the age of 25, but their children had to continue in slavery. And so

the emancipation only freed slaves in the Confederacy, and did not free slaves in the Union. And so, as I have indicated in New Jersey, there were still slaves a year after the end of the Civil War in 1866.

The dignity of our Nation demands our recognition of this tragic part of American history. I extend my highest respect and appreciation for the contributions and struggles of African Americans to create an equitable and just society from which we all benefit today.

I strongly support this resolution, and urge my colleagues to do the same.

Madam Speaker, I reserve the balance of my time.

Madam Speaker, I thank the gentlewoman for her generosity.

Madam Speaker, at this time I would like to yield 7 minutes to the sponsor of the resolution, Representative Barbara Lee from the Ninth District of California, member of the Committee on Appropriations.

Madam Speaker, I yield 2 minutes to the gentlewoman from Texas, Representative Eddie Bernice Johnson, chairman of the Transportation and Infrastructure's Subcommittee on Water Resources and Environment.

Madam Speaker, I yield 3 minutes to the gentleman from North Carolina, Representative G. K. Butterfield, the vice chairman of the Energy and Commerce Subcommittee on Energy and Air Quality.

Madam Speaker, I yield 3 minutes to the gentlewoman from the 11th District of New York, Representative Yvette Clarke, a member of the Commerce and Small Business Committee.

Madam Speaker, I yield 3 minutes to the gentleman from the Seventh District of Illinois, chairman of the Oversight and Government Reform Subcommittee on Federal Workforce, Postal Service and the District of Columbia, Representative Danny K. Davis.

Madam Speaker, it is my pleasure to yield 3 minutes to the Representative from the Sixth District of California, Representative Lynn Woolsey.

I yield 3 minutes to the gentlelady from the 18th District of Texas, Representative Sheila Jackson-Lee, chairwoman of the Homeland Security Subcommittee on Transportation, Security and Infrastructure Protection.

(Ms. JACKSON-LEE of Texas asked and was given permission to revise and extend her remarks.)

Madam Speaker, I yield 1 minute to the gentlelady from California (Ms. Solis), a member of the Committee on Energy and Commerce.

Madam Speaker, I yield 3\1/2\ minutes to the gentlewoman from the 13th District of Michigan (Ms. Kilpatrick), the chairperson of the Congressional Black Caucus and a member of the Appropriations Committee.

Madam Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may consume.

Madam Speaker, let me thank the gentlelady from California once again. As she said, we hope that the history will be integrated into our textbooks. In New Jersey, I am proud to say, William Payne, assemblyman, passed Amistad legislation that will integrate the history of African Americans in the history of New Jersey. Our current Member of Congress, Albio Sires, was the Speaker of the Assembly when that great legislation was brought through with his assistance.

When we read about Patrick Henry, who said, ``Give me liberty or give me death,'' or Nathan Hale, who said ``I regret that I only have one life to give for my country,'' we will read about Crispus Attucks, the first person killed in the Revolutionary War on March 3, 1770. We will read about Peter Salem and Salem Poor at the Battle of Bunker Hill, that fired the shot. They said, ``Don't fire until you see the whites of their eyes.'' They killed Major Pitcairn, who led the Boston Massacre.

When we hear about the Civil War, 50 percent of the Navy were African Americans, once Frederick Douglass convinced President Lincoln to allow them.

In the Spanish-American War, as I conclude, we hear about the Rough Riders of Teddy Roosevelt, but it was the Buffalo Soldiers at the Battle of San Juan Hill that saved the Rough Riders of Teddy Roosevelt from annihilation, which has been kept from our history.

I could go on and on, but since the time has expired, at another time I will hope to be able to get through World War I and World War II and to the present time.

Madam Speaker, I have no further requests for time, and I yield back the balance of my time.

Madam Speaker, I move to suspend the rules and agree to the resolution (H. Res. 158) observing the 200th anniversary of the abolition of the British slave trade and encouraging the people of the United States, particularly the youth of the United States, to remember the life and legacy of William Wilberforce, a member of the British House of Commons who devoted his life to the suppression and

abolition of the institution of slavery, and to work for the protection of human rights throughout the world, as amended.

Madam Speaker, I rise in strong support of this resolution and yield myself such time as I may consume.

Madam Speaker, I would first like to thank Congressman Joe Pitts, who was the prime sponsor of this resolution, and the other cosponsors. Congressman Pitts is a strong human rights activist and has worked on issues of Western Sahara and other issues dealing with suppressed people, and so this resolution honoring William Wilberforce by Congressman Pitts and encouraging young Americans to remember his life, legacy and dedication to the abolition of the British slave trade.

Mr. Wilberforce was born in 1759 in England into a wealthy merchant family. He studied at Cambridge University, where he began a lasting friendship with the future Prime Minister of England, William Pitt.

In 1780, Wilberforce was elected at the age of 21 years of age to the British House of Commons. His self-indulgent lifestyle as a young man changed completely when he became an evangelical Christian, prompting him to dedicate his life to social reform, particularly dealing with the institution of slavery.

During his time, the British Empire controlled the largest portion of the slave trade. As we have heard, estimates are from 25 to 50 million Africans were captured and taken from Africa to the Western Hemisphere and forced into bondage over centuries.

Wilberforce was mentored and counseled by John Newton, a former slave trader and the author of ``Amazing Grace,'' which was a song that John Newton wrote when he was caught in a storm with slaves. That is when he said ``Amazing grace, how sweet the sound,'' and he asked the Lord to forgive him and he became an Abolitionist. That is where this song originated, which is still sung at Irish funerals, played by the bagpipes, and, of course, it opens up many services in African American churches throughout this country.

But Mr. Wilberforce talked about the horrors of the slave trade and he devoted the rest of his life to the suppression and the abolition of slavery. In his major speech on abolition in the House of Commons, he argued that the slave trade was morally reprehensible and an issue of natural justice. He described in vivid details the appalling conditions in which slaves traveled from Africa through the Middle Passage and argued that abolishing the slave trade would also bring an improvement in the conditions of existing slaves in West Indies, then, of course, under the domination of Great Britain.

In addition to his anti-slavery activities, Wilberforce was active in at least 69 different projects, focusing on issues such as prison reform, education, child labor conditions, animal cruelty, and cultural reformation. He was certainly a man who was indeed ahead of his time.

Mr. Wilberforce fought for 20 years in the House of Commons to pass legislation banning the slave trade; and on February 23, 1807, Britain passed a bill banning slave trade. Wilberforce died on the 29th of July, 1833, shortly after the act to free slaves passed. He had labored for 46 years to abolish slavery in the British Empire.

Wilberforce helped inspire and encourage those who fought against slavery in the United States, including political leaders like John Quincy Adams, who actually handled the Amistad Case in Connecticut of some slaves who in the Caribbean freed themselves and ended up on trial, and John Quincy Adams won the case. But he was influenced by Mr. Wilberforce, spreading the message of hope and freedom throughout America.

As a matter of fact, Wilberforce University, as we heard Mr. Burton mention earlier, founded in 1856 in Wilberforce, Ohio, and the first historically black college in the United States of America, is part of the honored legacy of Wilberforce in the United States.

Wilberforce University was a final destination for the Underground Railroad that brought over 100,000 slaves from the South to freedom. As a matter of fact, currently, the president of Wilberforce University is a former Member of this body, Reverend Doctor Floyd Flake.

Wilberforce once said, ``Men of authority and influence may promote good morals. Let them, in their several stations, encourage virtue. Let them favor and take part in any plans which may be formed for the advancement of morality.'' I think those words stand today, if we would listen to what Mr. Wilberforce said at that time.

I ask all of you to listen to the words of Wilberforce and to vote for this resolution to honor Mr. Wilberforce's work and legacy, his commitment to each and every person's human dignity, value and freedom. I urge that we pass this resolution.

Madam Speaker, I reserve the balance of my time.

Madam Speaker, we have one additional speaker who has not yet arrived, so I reserve the balance of my time.

Madam Speaker, I yield 2 minutes to the gentlewoman from California (Ms. Lee), a member of the Appropriations Committee.

Madam Speaker, I yield as much time as he may consume to the Representative from the 14th District of Michigan (Mr. Conyers), chairman of the Judiciary Committee and dean of the Congressional Black Caucus.

Madam Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may consume.

Let me conclude once again by thanking the prime sponsor, Congressman Pitts, for this resolution and just say that as I was indicating before about a little bit about our history, it is important that we remember history. It is important that the House of Commons fought and Mr. Wilberforce would not give up his fight.

Actually, New Jersey back in 1863 passed the 13th amendment that was proposed by President Lincoln, although New Jersey did not support Lincoln in his elections. The Republicans passed the 13th amendment, but interestingly enough, the Democrats opposed this, and in the next election the Democrats swept out all the Republicans in the New Jersey State legislature and actually rescinded the 13th amendment.

So New Jersey did not pass the 13th amendment, refused to take up the debate on the 14th or 15th amendments. There was a time in our State where we were called, rather than down south was called up north or down north, because we did have problems, even in the North, attempting to get basic things like 13th amendment abolishing slavery; 14th amendment, due process under the law; and 15th amendment, giving the right to vote to all citizens.

We still have to fight injustice. No one would think that our great Garden State, which today is such a leader in the right things, had such a spotted past and a troubled history.

I urge support of this resolution.

Madam Speaker, I yield back the balance of my time.

Madam Speaker, I ask unanimous consent that all Members may have 5 legislative days to revise and extend their remarks and include extraneous material on H. Res. 158.

Madam Speaker, let me thank the prime sponsor, Ms. Solis, for introducing this very important House Resolution 100, expressing the sympathy of the House of Representatives to the families of women and girls murdered in Guatemala, and encouraging the Government of Guatemala to bring an end to these crimes.

Let me commend Ms. Solis from California, not only for the women in Guatemala but she has actually expressed concerns for the deaths of women in Mexico. We have had discussions with Ms. Solis about the murders on the border of the United States and Mexico where women have been killed and there are a tremendous number of unsolved crimes there, and she visited that community in Mexico to express our concern for the women of that region and that country. So this is simply an extension of the work that she has done so well on behalf of women not only here in this country but throughout the world.

As we know, since 2001 more than 2,000 women and girls have been murdered in Guatemala, often preceded by abductions, sexual assault, or brutal mutilation. The murder rate has continued to increase and has grown from 2001 where there were 303 reported to more than 500 in 2006. And so we have asked the Government of Guatemala and actually the United Nations, and they recently signed an agreement to establish the International Commission Against Impunity in Guatemala, which has a mandate to investigate and promote prosecution of illegal security groups and clandestine security organizations that function with impunity and are suspected of attacking human rights defenders and other crimes that have undermined the overall security in Guatemala.

So when we look to Guatemala and we express our sincerest condolences to the families of these women and girls, we must look at the condition of women throughout the world, even here in the United States. At a recent hearing last week of the Education and Labor Committee, we find that women make 82 cents on the dollar compared to what men make. And the sad part is that, as women progress in their years of work, the gap between men and women actually expands because they start at a lower base. Men's salaries go up, women's salaries remain stagnant, and the gap becomes even greater.

So as we remember the women of Guatemala, let's remember that there is still gender bias throughout the world.