Floor Statements

Mr. Speaker, I move to suspend the rules and pass the Senate bill (S. 39) to repeal section 10(f) of Public Law 93-531, commonly known as the ``Bennett Freeze''.

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

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

Mr. Speaker, the pending legislation would settle a longstanding dilemma faced by the people of the Navajo and Hopi Nations in Arizona. At the outset, I would commend our colleague from Arizona (Mrs. Kirkpatrick) for her tenacity in working to have this measure considered by the House, and hopefully by the end of the day, passed and sent to the President for his signature.

The need for this legislation dates back to an executive order issued in 1882 which set aside land in northern Arizona for the Hopi Tribe and such other Indians as the Secretary of the Interior may see fit to settle thereon. A 1934 act of Congress setting aside some of the same lands for the Navajo Nation further complicated the matter.

In 1962, a Federal District Court ruled that both the Hopi Tribe and the Navajo Nation had joint rights to use the land in dispute. This ruling created great tension between the two tribes over critical issues such as access to sacred sites and the development of lands in the joint use area. Because of this situation, in 1966 the Commissioner of the Bureau of Indian Affairs, Robert Bennett, issued a freeze on any development on the disputed lands. This freeze extended to some of the core aspects of tribal life, including the building of homes, improvement to property, public works projects, power lines, and water and sewer access.

After nearly a century of dispute between the Navajo Nation and the Hopi Tribe, the Navajo-Hopi Settlement Act was enacted in 1974 in an attempt to settle rights and interests between the two Native nations. However, in 1980, Congress amended that act to codify the Bennett Freeze. As a result of this freeze on development, tribal citizens living in the Bennett Freeze region find themselves living in 1966 conditions. Only 3 percent of these families affected by the Bennett Freeze have electricity and only 10 percent have running water.

In 2005, the Navajo and the Hopi governments entered into an intergovernmental agreement that resolved all outstanding issues regarding the land in dispute. This agreement contains language which puts an end to the ban on development on the disputed lands. The Secretary of the Interior approved this agreement in September 2006.

This legislation will clarify the law so that it is in agreement with all of the land users and finally close this longstanding dispute between neighboring Indian tribes.

I once again commend our colleague, Mrs. Kirkpatrick, who has a companion bill here in the House for her work in getting this bill to the floor today. The aforementioned conditions of those living in the Bennett Freeze area are unacceptable. The tribes have resolved their issues and the administration has fulfilled its duties, and now it is time for us to pass this legislation and fulfill our trust responsibility to these two native nations.

I urge all of my colleagues to support the passage of Senate bill 39.

Mr. Speaker, I reserve the balance of my time.

Mr. Speaker, it is my pleasure to yield such time as she may consume to the sponsor of the House companion measure to S. 39, the gentlewoman from Arizona (Mrs. Kirkpatrick).

Mr. Speaker, I have no further speakers, and I yield back the balance of my time as well.

Madam Speaker, one of the legends of the U.S. Virgin Islands, the Honorable John Lawrence Maduro will be laid to rest next week. Many will rise to speak in his honor for he was one of the founding fathers of the political system in the territory and as a consequence someone who influenced our community in the social and economic aspects as well.

Born on St. Thomas, Maduro was a graduate of Charlotte Amalie High School, New York University and George Washington University School of Law. He served in World War II in the North African and European theaters and achieved the rank of Master Sergeant and later Second Lieutenant in the U.S. Army Reserves.

We were proud to honor him and all living WWII Veterans in the Virgin Islands two years ago, and he was always very proud of his service

When he returned to the Virgin Islands in the 1950s, he became active in politics and in the process became one of the titans of the Legislature, serving for twenty-two years. He presided over the body twice and during his tenure, worked with his colleagues to achieve political rights for the territory that included the right to elect its own governor and delegate to congress, the right of the Legislature to apportion its seat in accordance to the vote rule, the right to fix the compensation of its members and the rights to override gubernatorial vetoes.

Maduro presented a weekly political radio broadcast that kept his constituency informed about legislative issues and also was an active partner in the law firm of Birch, deJongh and Farrelly.

It has been said of John L. Maduro that ``he was determined to create a Virgin Islands that would offer unlimited opportunities to its citizens in all areas of social, political and economic endeavor and a Virgin Islands where pride in one's heritage and homeland would be everlasting.''

Madame Speaker, John L. Maduro and Elmo D. Roebuck, who I spoke of earlier this week are part of a generation of leaders who put their intellect, their discipline and their foresight to the use of the people of the Virgin Islands. They were leaders who we were proud to follow, who rose to the challenge of shepherding the territory through the rapid changes of 20th century modernization and they gave our generation and the generations to follow a territory that is still poised to be a regional leader and a positive example of democratic government.

Madam Speaker, we will miss Johnny Maduro. The people of the Virgin Islands will not forget his example as we work to create for this century, a free and prosperous Virgin Islands.

First of all, I want to thank the President for his commitment to transforming our health care system so that everyone has access to quality health care--and demonstrating that commitment in this budget.

I then would like to thank Chairwoman Barbara Lee and Congressman Bobby Scott for adding to and filling out that outline to even better meet

the needs of our communities and all Americans, while remaining fiscally responsible.

In health care, with the additional $18 billion the CBC budget includes, we are able to fund a robust Ryan White that ends ADAP waiting lists; increases funding to the hard-hit South; brings services to incarcerated and ex-offender populations; and increases funding for the Minority AIDS Initiative.

An estimated in excess of 83,000 African Americans die from preventable causes every year. Our budget will raise the National Center for Minority and Health Disparity Research to an institute and increase its funding.

Lastly, our budget sets aside funding for the Health Equity and Accountability Act, which expands needed data collection, provides quality services for individuals with limited English proficiency; expands health programs to build a diverse workforce that is needed today; provides targeted and comprehensive services for diseases causing the disparities; elevates and expands the Indian Health Service; supports facilities and institutions in underserved communities and responds to the call for community-driven programs that address the health and social determinants that fuel the disparities through the creation of Health Empowerment Zones.

I urge our colleagues to pass this budget, to vote ``aye'' on a budget which ups the investment in all Americans and reduces the deficit.

Mr. Speaker, I rise today in strong support of the rule and in strong support of the Family Smoking Prevention and Tobacco Control Act.

Today, this body has the opportunity to take a long, overdue and significant step toward not only the regulation of tobacco--a product that is currently totally unregulated--but also on efforts to reduce the number of new smokers, especially children and adolescents who have been targeted by the tobacco industry for far too long.

I want to take this opportunity to thank Chairman Waxman for his unwavering commitment and leadership on this issue.

Because 7 in 10 African Americans who smoke choose to smoke menthol cigarettes, I am pleased that this bill provides provisions that accelerate the formation of the new FDA Tobacco Product Scientific Advisory Committee and directs it to issue recommendations on the use of menthol in cigarettes within 1 year of its establishment. It empowers States and communities to prevent the aggressive marketing that has the greatest negative impact in the hardest-hit communities and on our most vulnerable. It bans the additives used to manufacture flavored cigarettes that are marketed to children and creates a faster track for the development of smoking cessation and nicotine-replacement therapies.

As a physician who has seen firsthand the devastating impact that cigarette and tobacco products have on individuals and their families, I strongly urge my colleagues to reject the substitute, to vote ``yes'' on the rule and then ``yes'' to pass this legislation so that we as a Nation can finally regulate the leading cause of preventable cause of death in this country.

Mr. Speaker, this week in my district, the U.S. Virgin Islands, the people are gathering to bid farewell to one of our native sons, the honorable Elmo D. Roebuck. After having lived a life of public service, community activism, and cultural promotion, Roebuck passed away last week at the age of 74.

A political mover and shaker, Roebuck was one of the men who led and molded the U.S. Virgin Islands in its formative years. He, along with others, was responsible for the early successes of the territory on its road to self-governance. He was a mentor, a strategist, and a fervent fighter for the cause of the people of the Virgin Islands.

He was born in 1934 to Ector and Nathalia Roebuck and graduated valedictorian of the class of 1952 at the Charlotte Amalie High School in St. Thomas, U.S. Virgin Islands. In 1956, he graduated from what is now Hampton University in Virginia with a bachelor of arts degree in business administration. Returning to the Virgin Islands, Roebuck taught at the Charlotte Amalie High School and held several government posts before becoming the youngest Virgin Islander to hold a Cabinet- level post in 1964, when he was named by the late Governor Ralph Paiewonsky to head the Department of Housing and Community Renewal.

He later joined the Unity Party and then became one of the organizers of the new Democratic Party of the Virgin Islands in the 1970s, running as a candidate for Lieutenant Governor with the late Alexander Farrelly. The team lost that election, but he entered politics once again in 1972, becoming the highest vote-getter in the St. Thomas-St. John district in the race for a seat in the Virgin Islands Legislature.

Roebuck went on to serve six consecutive terms in that body, becoming chair of the finance committee in the 10th and 14th legislatures, and the President of that body in the 11th, 12th and 15th legislaures.

Mr. Roebuck is most remembered for his leadership in transforming housing in the territory. As commissioner of Housing Community Renewal, he was responsible for the formulation of an aggressive plan that provided a safe, decent home for every Virgin Islander. He oversaw the clearance of blighted, slum areas and the creation of modern neighborhoods across the Virgin Islands.

In 2005 in an interview with the online newspaper the VI Source, Mr. Roebuck recounted that his biggest accomplishment was the ``shepherding through of the Coastal Zone Management Commission,'' the body that oversees the development and preservation of one of the Virgin Islands most treasured resources, its coastal areas.

During his tenure in the VI Legislature, he was responsible for the creation of the Post Audit Division, which improved that body's ability to track government finances and advise senators on critical issues before that body.

Roebuck was also a Virgin Islands tradition bearer. Having learned the art of telling folktales with music and humor from his father Ector, he would share them with schoolchildren and anyone who wanted to enjoy the rich history and culture of the Virgin Islands people.

Mr. Speaker, the people of the U.S. Virgin Islands are saddened by the loss of Elmo Roebuck, whose community spirit was well noted in his legislative and administrative accomplishments; his service to his church and service organizations; and his sharing of Virgin Islands stories with young and old.

During his lifetime, he was knighted by the Queen of Denmark and honored by the Virgin Islands Legislature in 2003. This week he is being remembered for his cultural contributions with a storytelling wake at the Virgin Islands Legislature, and on Thursday, he will be laid to rest in a final goodbye by the people who served and loved him well.

I would like to express my condolences to his wife and his children and grandchildren. May they be comforted at this difficult time with the knowledge that his life was a life well lived.

I thank Congresswoman Fudge and thank you again for hosting this very special hour this evening.

Madam Speaker, tonight I'm pleased to join my colleagues to pay tribute to a highly esteemed American, who was both a historian and a history maker. Dr. John Hope Franklin passed away last week but left us with a rich legacy of scholarship that has strengthened generations of people, young and old, who have sought to understand race and racism, our country and our place in the world.

A prolific and important writer, as you have heard, Dr. Franklin was most well-known for his landmark 1947 publication, ``From Slavery to Freedom: A History of American Negroes,'' which has been credited with ``altering the ways in which the American narrative was studied.'' In a New York Times article yesterday, one of his colleagues pointed out that the book ``empowered a whole new field of study'' as the story of the marginalized became part of the mainstream.

The article also pointed out that Dr. Franklin and his scholarship became an important part of the movement for civil rights as he advised Thurgood Marshall and his team of lawyers during the Brown v. Board of Education case. In this, as well as his participation in the march on Selma led by the Reverend Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., the writer pointedly notes that he was a part of the history he so effectively brought to the forefront, and in doing so, he changed it as well.

It was one of the highest privileges afforded me since coming to Congress to meet and be able to converse with Dr. Franklin at a small dinner hosted by Congresswoman Maxine Waters in my early years in Congress and when he was chairing President Clinton's Initiative on Race. I was also privileged to be present as he was honored by the Library of Congress a few years ago, one of many, many deserved honors. Dr. Franklin was a historian in the tradition of the African griot, the memory keepers who captured the important moments of time that contribute to the identity and culture of a people and the advancement of a country.

In my district of the U.S. Virgin Islands, our historians, such as Dr. Gilbert Sprauve, Dr. Patricia Murphy, Dr. Gene Emanuel, Gerard Emanuel, Richard Shrader, Robert Johnson, Bill Cissell, George Tyson, Karen Thurland, Myron Jackson, Dr. Charles Turnbull, Ruth Moolenaar, Edgar Lake and many, many more work to preserve and retell our part of the Caribbean American story.

Dr. John Hope Franklin left us with a rich legacy of writings which continue to inform our journey in these United States of America. We thank him for his scholarship and his dedication to truth telling and extend our condolences to his family and friends.

Madam Speaker, as you have heard, March has also been designated as Women's History Month, and the Congressional Black Caucus is pleased to salute the role that women have played throughout our history in all endeavors, many of whom have never been recognized.

Tonight, I would like to say a few words about two women with Virgin Islands ties who made valuable contributions to the historic tapestry that is the U.S. Virgin Islands, as well as the United States, but who are little known to current generations.

The first is Rebecca Protten, whose life has been documented in the book ``Rebecca's Revival: Creating Black Christianity in the Atlantic World.'' She was born a slave, the child of European and African parentage. She lived in the 18th century and, remarkably for a black woman of that time, traveled between Europe, the Caribbean and Africa bringing the word of God to enslaved Africans and Europeans alike. She spent a lot of time in St. Thomas, U.S. Virgin Islands, gathering the enslaved to the faith and was even imprisoned for her work in assisting them in their needs.

According to historian and biographer Jon Sensbach, ``She was a preacher and a mentor, a provocateur and a profit, determined to take what she regarded as the Bible's liberating grace to people of African descent.''

A member of the Moravian faith, a church to which I also belong, which is credited with creating an educational

system for enslaved Africans and their children in my home district, which was then the Danish West Indies, Rebecca may have been one of the first ordained black women and, according to her biographer, she ``stood where the three currents of the 18th century black Atlantic world flowed together: The dramatic expansion of the slave trade, the Afro-Atlantic freedom struggle, and the rise of black Christianity.''

Another Virgin Islands woman, Nella Larsen Imes, is known as the ``mystery woman'' of the Harlem Renaissance and wrote two novels, Quicksand and Passing, which explored the difficulty of being a black woman in a society that marginalized both African Americans and women.

While details about her life are vague, according to biographer Thadious M. Davis, Larsen, according to her own admission, was the ``daughter of a Danish lady and a Negro from the Virgin Islands, formerly the Danish West Indies.''

Madam Speaker and colleagues, both of these women defied the odds and expressed the causes dear to their souls, despite the difficulties of being black women in harrowing times. Their lives and history are worth further exploration by students of history as we take a fresh look at Women's History Month.

I thank you again for yielding this time to me and for allowing me to share in this Special Hour this evening.

Mr. Speaker, incarceration rates in the United States have skyrocketed through the years. Approximately 2.3 million Americans are incarcerated and more than 1 in 100 American adults were incarcerated just at the start of 2008. Although the actual rates of HIV/AIDS infections in our nation's prisons are not known due the fact that current prison officials do not consistently test their prisoners; we see how this epidemic is effecting our nation and especially devastating the African American community.

An estimated 20 percent-26 percent of all Americans living with HIV/ AIDS are incarcerated at some point and are frequently incarcerated during the course of their disease. Persons at risk for incarceration are more likely than others in our nation to be at high risk for HIV/ AIDS infections especially related to risky behavioral practices and characteristics. These risk characteristics include minimal education, drug use, low socioeconomic status, multiple sex partners, a high prevalence of sexually transmitted infections, and histories of sexual abuse and assault. This also renders those in prison who are infected to become vulnerable to a whole range of other diseases. In custody HIV transmission occur through sexual activity, needle-sharing for drug injection, tattooing with unsterilized equipment, and contact with blood or mucous membranes through violence.

Incarceration is a crisis among African Americans. Research and data show that African Americans are disproportionately more likely than any other racial and ethnic group to be at risk for incarceration. In fact African Americans constitute just 13 percent of the American population but make up 44 percent of all prison and jail inmates. I am sure it is not surprising to see the correlation between this statistic and also the statistics that show that African Americans account for the majority of new AIDS cases, the majority of new HIV infections, and the majority of HIV deaths. The prevalence of HIV/AIDS in incarcerated men and women is 3-5 times that of the general population.

Particularly affected by the HIV/AIDS epidemic in incarcerated populations are African American women. The most astounding news is that prisons are the only setting in the United States where HIV prevalence is higher in females than in males, with approximately 2.6 percent of female and 1.8 percent of male state prison inmates known to be HIV infected. Further, African-American women make up two-thirds of newly reported HIV cases in females overall and 34 percent of all female inmates' cases.

In attempt to counter many assumptions, a number of published case studies and a smaller number of retrospective cohort studies have described cases of HIV transmission in U.S. inmates that occurred during incarceration. These studies only suggest that the incarcerated population needs to be fully included in HIV/AIDS prevention and treatment efforts. There must be a change in people's attitudes and the way we promote positive health initiatives through our federal prison systems.

I, therefore, rise today in strong and unwavering support of H.R. 1429, The Stop AIDS in Prison Act, which would require routine HIV testing for all federal prison inmates upon entry and prior to release from prison, provide inmates with education and treatment, and reduces the risks they may pose of transmitting HIV/AIDS to others in their communities after their release.

We all should support H.R. 1429 and ensure that incarcerated and ex- offender populations have access to adequate and realistic HIV prevention methods, receive voluntary and confidential HIV testing and are rolled into adequate HIV/AIDS-related care, treatment and services.

Thank you, Congresswoman Fudge, for organizing yet another time for us to speak to our colleagues and to the American people on an issue of great importance to them and to all of us. And I want to also thank Chairwoman Lee for her leadership, and our colleagues for joining us this evening, and for their leadership for introducing measures like the Foreclosure Prevention Act of 2009, to be introduced by Congresswoman Clarke who just spoke.

Mr. Speaker, members of the Congressional Black Caucus are pleased that we are finally beginning to see what may be a glimmer of hope that we will be able to help our country and those most affected climb out of the worst fiscal crisis since the Great Depression, a crisis caused by greed, and where the most vulnerable people are the ones suffering the consequences as we have heard this evening.

If one wants to truly fix a problem, one must fix it at its root causes, and the root cause of this current crisis is the housing bubble and the subprime mortgages and the way those were pooled together and then securitized. The initial remedies shored up the government- sponsored enterprises like Freddie Mac and Fannie Mae and the banks, but the homeowners were for far too long left holding the bag, an empty bag at that, and, unfortunately, misplaced blame.

At the heart of the American Dream has always been the dream of owning one's home. Unfortunately, too many Americans have seen this dream seriously distorted and deferred by the unhealthy antiregulation environment that gave lenders free rein to push products to unsuspecting customers who simply wanted a chance at that dream. There were 2.3 million foreclosure filings last year.

While some have blamed homeowners for biting off more than they could chew, the truth is that average Americans approach their bankers like they do their doctors, in an atmosphere of trust and vulnerability, and most never imagined that they would be approved if their lender didn't think they could keep up with their payments. But this is not the time for blame, it is the time for action. And I also rise to applaud President Obama, the Democratic-led Congress, Chairman Barney Frank, Congresswoman Maxine Waters, and others, who have come together to formulate an aggressive campaign to turn around this crisis which has threatened homeowners across this country.

President Barack Obama's comprehensive Homeowner Affordability and Stability plan will help stem foreclosures, keep families in their homes, and stop the plunge in home values for all homeowners. The President and this Congress have moved aggressively to help those in bankruptcy get a loan modification agreement, to help those who are underwater and in need of refinancing get a chance at a new start, and those who are in danger of foreclosure to avoid it altogether by being able to work it out with their banks and lending institutions.

By passing the Helping Families Save Their Home Act, the House has moved towards bringing fairness to families by giving them the same rights to keep their home as someone who owns two or three homes. Without spending one Federal dollar, it gives bankruptcy judges the chance to modify existing mortgages for families who file Chapter 13 so that they can make payments and stay in their homes. It also gives lenders more confidence to modify loans by protecting them from some lawsuits, and strengthens the FHA's Hope for Homeowners program by reducing fees and offering incentives for lenders.

Earlier, the Obama administration revealed the details of other parts of their recovery plan for homeowners aimed at helping those with existing Fannie Mae or Freddie Mac mortgages to refinance, and those who are not yet in foreclosure but are struggling to stay away from it to get a modification from their lending institution.

While the Obama administration has made it clear that not everyone will qualify for help, it is still true that millions can keep their homes under this initiative, saving families, neighborhoods, communities, and, indeed, our economy, from further decline.

There are many people in organizations in addition to the leaders I named earlier who played a role in getting us to this point, and I would be remiss if I did not mention the NAACP's efforts to demonstrate that minority communities were being unfairly targeted with these toxic mortgages. Many have been devastated. The NAACP has filed suit against at least one bank for targeting communities of color for subprime mortgages, and we congratulate them and stand with them on this effort. The Congressional Black Caucus and the Progressive Caucus also played important roles in ensuring that the focus was expanded to include the homeowner, not just the financial institutions, and that meaningful remedies were put in place for them.

These are all meaningful steps to address the mortgage mess that has been the catalyst to a severe domestic economic downturn that has resonated globally. Our President's plan and the laws that we have passed will not only help everyone who is in or threatened with foreclosure, but we hope that many millions of homeowners who are in trouble will be able to keep their homes.

We are concerned, though, that some of the financial institutions have been turning down Federal help, ostensibly because they don't like the strings that are attached, the oversight, and the requirement for transparency. Accountability and transparency is exactly what would have kept us out of this mess and what is needed going forward, whether they take the money or not.

The White House, HUD, Treasury, and Congress must use any authority that we have to ensure that the financial institutions who themselves have been the recipients of bailouts by the billions, and even those who are refusing, to ensure that they will fully participate in the homeowner rescue initiatives and extend the lifeline that many homeowners need and are praying for.

Fixing the root cause of the problem and making American homeowners whole again, restoring the American Dream, is what will begin to restore confidence in our government's ability to put us on a stable economic course, and what will finally begin to put our country on the road to financial recovery.

I thank you again for hosting this special hour. It has been my pleasure

to work with you on this, and I look forward to doing some more of this in the future.

Thank you. Madam Speaker, I join my Congressional Black Caucus colleagues this evening for what I consider to be one of the important, if not the most important aspects of our Federal budget, health and health care spending. I also rise, not only as a colleague and as a physician, but as a Chair of the Congressional Black Caucus Health Brain Trust, whose mission is to ensure that our community's unique health and health care issues are at the forefront as our budget process proceeds.

Finally, I rise to applaud President Obama for the steps he has taken and hopefully will continue to take to ensure that the social determinants of health are fully considered and solutions fully integrated into health care reform.

In recent years I have joined some of our other colleagues and religious leaders on the Hill to address the budget as a moral document, as you have heard our chairwoman speak to a few minutes ago, as a document that represents our country's values and our values of the people. In those years we decried the fact that the budget that was sent to Congress by the then President did not include support or in any way foster work that we are called to do by our faith, not just Christian faith but any faith, essentially to ensure that the needs of the least of these are met.

The Congressional Black Caucus, as a group, has also met with past Presidents, just as we met with President Obama 2 weeks ago. In these meetings

we outline our agenda priorities and indicate our hope for the President's support in health care, education, housing, economic opportunity, improved relationships with African and Caribbean countries and a number of other areas of concern.

Until now, neither have the goals of the religious community or the CBC, which parallel each other, even been partially approached. In fact, if it were not for the strong position taken by the Democrats in this body, and some of our colleagues on the other side who joined us, to protect them, programs like Medicaid, Head Start, Healthy Start, maternal and child health programs and many others would have been severely compromised and the lives of many of our fellow Americans with them.

We don't have to look far to remember that expanded coverage for uninsured children was impossible to accomplish until this new administration was sworn in. But change is coming. We, as a country, have reason to hope for a new and a better day. We are pleased, as we look at the outline that President Obama has sent for the year 2010, that it resonates not just with our request or that of religious leaders over the years, but that it responds to many of the long unmet needs of the American people.

It builds on the very important down payment made by the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act, which funds are already beginning to reach communities like mine across the country and provide a lifeline to families in this time of dire economic stress.

I want to spend a few minutes to focus on the health care parts of our budget, because as long as I have been in Congress, the grave differences in health care access, quality and health outcomes that have had a detrimental impact on the health wellness and life opportunities of millions of Americans every single year have been the focal issues of my efforts and those of the Congressional Black Caucus. These differences not only exist along lines of race and ethnicity, but also along lines of gender and geography.

The sad reality is this, because we as a Nation have not taken the steps necessary to close these health and health care gaps, it is estimated that 100,000 people, a disproportionate number of whom are racial and ethnic minorities, die prematurely from preventible causes every year. Additionally, because progress to address the root cause of health inequities, the social determinants of health, have been stagnant, health disparities are no longer only a racial and ethnic minority health problem. Today, they are an American issue.

This failure to improve health, to address its root causes, not only affects the health quality and lives of people of color, but undermines them for everyone in this country and weakens our country's position of leadership in the world.

The good news, however, is that we are in a new political day, and I am extremely heartened that our new President, President Obama, is aggressively taking steps to continue work begun in the ARRA and is making a sizable commitment--to the tune of $634 billion over 10 years--on health care reform.

And so we are pleased that he is making good on his promise to ensure and improve the health and health care of those millions of Americans who have been left out and forgotten for far too long and, in doing so, to bring about meaningful and thoughtful reform to our Nation's very broken and outdated health care system.

What is more, I applaud the President's emphasis on prevention, with this budget's historic $1 billion investment in prevention, as well as the other provisions that will address social determinants that are not normally seen as health-related, an investment worth making, especially since studies confirm that roughly 60 percent of the premature deaths in the United States are attributable to social circumstances, environmental conditions, and behavioral choices, all of which could be addressed through prevention and a more holistic approach to health.

For example, we know that educational attainment has a direct and indirect impact on health and health care. Well, so does President Obama, whose fiscal year 2010 budget strengthens and reforms the Nation's public schools and expands funds for college.

We know that having access to safe and affordable housing, as well as living in communities that are structurally and socially stable, has an impact on health. The President's budget provides $1 billion for an Affordable Housing Trust Fund. He has a fund that will prevent homelessness and strengthen families. Additionally, the President's plans invests $3.2 for the Low-Income Home Energy Assistance Program to help low-income families with their home heating and cooling expenses, which will not only prevent accidents, but will also help ensure that our homes are not places that make us sick.

We also know that the foods we eat have a direct impact on our health and well-being, which is why the President's budget, which includes robust funding to expand access to nutrition programs, especially among women and children and seniors, is so critically important to support.

Further, we are impressed that this budget seems to reflect an understanding of one aspect of health disparity elimination that previous budgets and many fail to grasp, that health disparity elimination will require far more than just covering all of our Nation's uninsured, as important is that is in itself.

In fact, we know that the lack of insurance accounts for roughly only 20 percent of the racial and ethnic differences and morbidity and mortality that we hear about and experience year after year.

So, I am extremely heartened that this budget includes significant increases in funding to many of the critically important programs that are needed to ensure health equity.

For this reason, Madam Speaker and colleagues, I look forward as Chair of the Congressional Black Caucus Health Brain Trust to working with my colleagues in Congress and with the President to ensure that we reform our health care system in a manner that does not just get it done, but that gets it done right.

To that end, while this budget aptly and appropriately emphasizes reducing un-insurance, bolstering prevention, closing gaps in the health care workforce, and ensuring that our Federal programs are strengthened, I want to stress that health disparity elimination must be an integral component as well.

Not only do health disparities cause, as I said, about 100,000 preventable deaths each year; in fact, health disparities are among the key factors that drive up health care costs that we, as a Nation, struggle to contain every year.

I know that designing a health care system that addresses the social determinants of health that exacerbate health inequities will require the willing to take bold steps and the visionary leadership to ensure that more than one step is taken. However, I also know that we have both of those today--both in the administration and in this Congress.

Together, we can reform our health care system in a manner that champions health equity, and together we can make this Nation, one person and one community at a time, healthier, stronger, and better prepared for tomorrow.

I yield back the balance of my time, and I thank you for taking on the challenge of this Special Order every Monday evening, and for focusing on the President's budget tonight.

There are other health and health care spending priorities set by the President in this budget that are downright long overdue.

For example, the budget enhances HIV/AIDS prevention and treatment by increasing resources to detect, prevent, and treat HIV/AIDS domestically, especially in the hardest hit communities, a disproportionate number of which are African American communities.

The President's budget sets aside $330 million to increase the number of doctors, nurses and dentists who practice in areas where there are known shortages in health professionals will play a very significant role in ensuring that whenever someone needs the services of a trained health care provider, he or she will be able to get it without having to travel 450 miles.

By investing $19 billion in health information technology, we will ensure that as we modernize our nation's health care system to maximize its efficiency, coordination and privacy, that we do so in a manner that does not create a two-tiered health care system.

This investment in HIT also will ensure that if and when another natural disaster hits one

of our cities along the coast or in one of the U.S. Territories, that survivors do not have to fear that their paper medical records will have perished in the basement of a hospital or clinic, or that their health and that of their families will be compromised because they do not have immediate access to needed health records.

The budget's $6 billion investment in cancer research--which reflects the Administration's multi-year commitment to double cancer research funding--will play a key role not only in reducing the egregious racial and ethnic disparities we see in cancer treatment, but also in cancer deaths.

And the budget's investment in Medicaid and Medicare to strengthen the programs, bolster their integrity and accountability, and expand the programs' research agendas is critically important, as these two programs play pivotal roles in ensuring that our nation's most vulnerable have access to needed health care services and treatments.

Finally, and of utmost importance to the people I represent in the U.S. Virgin Islands, President Obama signals in his budget outline his intention to move towards equity for the Territories in health and other related programs.

There are so many positive elements to this budget that indicate that we are headed in the right direction; especially as it relates to fixing our nation's health care system and that with his leadership and that of the leadership in this body we are beginning to build a health care system for the 21st century and beyond.

For this reason, Madam Speaker and colleagues, I look forward--as the Chair of the CBC Health Braintrust--to working with my colleagues in Congress and with the President to ensure that we reform our health care system in a manner that does not just get it done, but that gets it done right.

To that end, while this budget aptly and appropriately emphasizes reducing un-insurance, bolstering prevention, closing gaps in the health care workforce and ensuring that our federal health programs are strengthened, I want stress that health disparity elimination must be an integral component as well.

Not only do health disparities cause about 100,000 premature preventable deaths each year, but in fact, health disparities are among the key factors that drive up the health care costs that we--as a nation--struggle to contain each year.

Today, the President will convene a health summit as he continues to engage experts, Members of Congress, health providers and consumer advocates in what is one of many discussions on how to best fix our broken health care system and ensure access to quality health care for every American more efficiently and effectively.

We have already made a great down payment with the expanded SCHIP, the Medicaid and other provisions in the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act. We in this body continue to work with our President through our omnibus bill; and as we prepare to develop a 2010 budget, we do so in a holistic way, also addressing the social determinants of our health, which is critical in order for us to meet our obligation to close the gaps in health that cause premature preventive illness and death in the poor and people of color and those in our rural areas.

We must remember that health care is a right.

Mr. Speaker, I rise also in strong support of H.R. 44, the Guam World War II Loyalty Recognition Act, and urge my colleagues to support its passage.

I want to begin by welcoming former Delegate Ben Blaz as well but especially in commending my colleague and friend from Guam, the Honorable Madeleine Bordallo, for her steadfast and dedicated efforts to the enactment of this bill. Since becoming a Member of this House 6 years ago, nothing has been more important to her than the enactment of this legislation to provide compensation for those of her constituents who suffered unspeakable acts of horror during World War II.

Mr. Speaker, the people of Guam, as you heard, were subject to the severest and most inhumane public treatment--torture as well as death at the hands of the Japanese--and they have waited much too long for this compensation. The Guam War Claims Review Commission rightly found that Guam's residents were inequitably treated under the Guam Meritorious Claims Act and subsequent Federal laws meant to address World War II personal injury claims.

This commission, which was established pursuant to legislation sponsored by our former colleague from Guam, Robert Underwood, recommended that Congress enact legislation providing for additional compensation to Guam's residents, thus, the bill we are discussing today.

The struggle for fair compensation for the people of Guam has been ongoing now for more than 60 years. Sadly, many of the Chamorros who suffered these atrocities, as Ms. Bordallo has said, have passed away; but we must not let their suffering--largely due to the steadfast loyalty to the United States--be in vain. Passage of this is long overdue, and by doing so today, we will honor their memories and provide compensation to these brave Americans.

I worked with Congresswoman Bordallo during the last Congress to secure enough votes to pass similar legislation out of the House, but we ran out of time before we were able to get it out of the other body.

It's my fervent hope that our efforts will enjoy greater success in this Congress, and I again urge my colleagues to vote in favor of H.R. 44. The people of Guam have waited long enough.

Mr. Speaker, I thank Congresswoman Bordallo for those kind words and for yielding me time.

I rise, of course, in strong support of H.R. 714, legislation that I introduced to authorize the Secretary of the Interior to enter into a lease with the owners of Caneel Bay Resort in my congressional district. I want to begin by thanking Chairman Rahall, as well as Chairman Grijalva, for their strong and steadfast support of this bill. Chairman Grijalva actually traveled to my district to see for himself how important the resort is to the island and the people of St. John and to meet with not only the management, but the employees, because it is important to the entire Virgin Islands.

Mr. Speaker, Caneel Bay traces its roots to Lawrence Rockefeller's coming to the Island of St. John in 1952. He purchased the then- existing resort facilities and also acquired more than 5,000 surrounding acres to protect the area. In 1956, he donated the additional land to create the Virgin Islands National Park. At the same time, he created Caneel Bay Resort, comprising 170 acres, which continues to complement and be environmentally consistent with the natural beauty of the park's setting.

Mr. Rockefeller subsequently decided to transfer the land underlying Caneel Bay to the National Park Service while retaining the improvements and continuing the Caneel Bay operations. He accomplished this through the execution of a series of unique agreements generally known as a retained use estate, or RUE.

The bill before us is necessary because the RUE is slated to expire in 2023 and its current owners require more than the remaining 15 years to provide the capital and long-term financing necessary to reverse the decline of the facilities over the years and to return it to the grandeur and stature that it deserves. It has been impossible for them to get that financing with just 15 years remaining in the RUE.

Mr. Speaker, I have spent the last 4 years meeting with the National Park Service officials, representatives of the Rockefeller group, and various public officials and business partners to work out an equitable framework for the long-term lease with the National Park Service which will ensure the viability of the Caneel Bay Resort, the largest employer on St. John in the U.S. Virgin Islands.

In return for a long-term lease needed to ensure the infusion of capital funds, the owners have agreed to pay consideration to the government based on independent appraisals commissioned by the parties, which will include valuable land and buildings held by them outside the park but which are necessary for resort operations. No consideration is currently being paid to the government under the existing retained use estate which expires in 2023.

Mr. Speaker, Caneel Bay, along with virtually every business in the Virgin Islands, and I would say across the country, has suffered a dramatic decline in revenue and, in our case, future bookings. The company is being forced to make some very difficult decisions in an attempt to preserve its solvency so that it may survive this economic downturn. They are currently reducing employees' hours, have been forced to eliminate some positions and are laying off employees. They are making every effort to minimize losses due to the deepening economic recession as well as alleviate the impact on our long-term employees who are also struggling in this economic environment.

The bill was supported by the administration at hearings both in the House and Senate as the best means of conclusively addressing this issue.

In conclusion, Mr. Speaker, I want to thank the Natural Resources staff director, Jim Zoia, and the staff of the National Parks, Forest and Public Lands Subcommittee, in particular former staff director Rick Healy and current staff director Dave Watkins, for their hard work in making it possible for H.R. 714 to be on the floor today. I also want to thank the full committee ranking member, Doc Hastings, and subcommittee ranking member, Rob Bishop, and their staffs for their support as well.

I urge my colleagues to support the passage of this bill, which is very important to the economy of my district and the U.S. Virgin Islands.

Mr. BISHOP Of Utah. Mr. Speaker, I yield back the balance of my time.

Thank you, Congresswoman Fudge, and thank you for hosting this hour this evening.

Mr. Speaker, as we approach the end of Black History Month, once again, it is a privilege for me to join my colleague and friend-- Congresswoman Fudge--and all of my colleagues on behalf of the Congressional Black Caucus this evening, but it is a special honor to be able to come to this floor in tribute to the many heroes and heroines of the African American descent of our past.

In this Black History Month 2009, we particularly want to call attention to the ordinary people who have throughout our history stepped forward to do extraordinary things, the greatest number of whom remain nameless but to whom we owe a bottomless well of gratitude for the rights, freedoms and privileges we enjoy today.

As we prepare to go on the biennial Alabama Civil Rights Pilgrimage, they come to mind--the many who joined the leaders we do know: the Reverend Dr. Martin Luther King, our colleague John Lewis, Reverend Jesse Jackson, Ambassador Andrew Young, and others--but there were also those who anonymously joined in the bus boycott, the countless numbers who met in churches and in homes to plan, to strategize or to just lend support to the movement, those who risked jail by their actions, and those who went to jails and prisons or the young, courageous children who braved dogs and fire hoses because they were stirred by the injustices of the day and were inspired by the righteousness of the cause. There are countless others, some whose faces we see in pictures and who are named and those who remain nameless and very invisible. We may never know them, but their courage, resilience and sacrifice changed the course of history and this country. Their legacy is forever.

There are also many unsung heroes from an earlier time in my district whom I want to acknowledge as well. On February 12, on the 200th anniversary of the birth of President Abraham Lincoln, in the celebration of his birth and his legacy, the Congressional Black Caucus were the guests of the National Archives for a special viewing of the original Emancipation Proclamation. It was truly a moving moment for those of us who were able to attend.

Less known is the story of our journey to emancipation in the U.S. Virgin Islands. I will just recount two highlights--the first step, not the end, but the milestone that we reached in the mid-19th century.

One of the earliest rebellions by enslaved Africans in this hemisphere took place in St. John. The names of the leaders, Kanta and Klaes, are known to us but unknown to my colleagues and fellow Americans. They and others led thousands of their fellow Africans to wrest freedom from the plantation owners of that time. They were able to hold onto the island for over 6 months, and when surrounded and at the point of defeat, they jumped from an Annaberg cliff to the rocks below to their deaths. We only know the names of a few of those who led, but we honor the many others who fought to the death for their freedom. All of them helped to start the spark of liberty burning in our hemisphere.

Then on July 3, 1848, thousands of Africans still in slavery in St. Croix were led by Moses Gottlieb, known as General Buddhoe, to demand their freedom. Because of their numbers and their sheer determination, Governor Peter von Scholten of Denmark was compelled to declare ``all unfree in the Danish West Indies are today free.''

We thank all of those forever unknown men and women brought in chains from Africa but who broke those chains and delivered emancipation to the people of the then Danish West Indies, now U.S. Virgin Islands, almost 15 years or more, really, before our sisters and brothers in the United States joined us.

I just want to point out that men were not the only freedom fighters in the Virgin Islands. Those who fought in 1733 and those who planned and marched on the fort in 1848 certainly included many women. In fact, 30 years after emancipation, it was five women

led by Queen Mary who led a famous and successful labor revolt in St. Croix and Queen Coziah who, with several hundred female coal workers, staged another successful strike in St. Thomas in 1892.

There are many other unsung heroes. In fact, almost any of our local Virgin Island heroes, except for the many who also accomplished much here on the mainland, are unknown to most Americans, but I want to focus on two men whom I knew when I was growing up and who were close friends of my father's.

Despite the many times in recent months and years that the Tuskegee Airmen have been honored, it is not well-known that there were two who came from the U.S. Virgin Islands--Henry E. Rohlsen, who was born on St. John, and Herbert H. Heywood, who was born on St. Croix.

Herbert Heywood joined my father at Columbia University, where my father was attending law school, which was also Mr. Heywood's intended course of study. In 1943, at the age of 19, he interrupted his studies and enlisted in the Army Air Corps as an aviation cadet at Tuskegee Army Airfield in Alabama. He trained, and when he got his wings, he, too, flew the military P-39 and P-40 aircraft.

Henry Rohlsen, after whom the St. Croix Airport is named, also enrolled in the Army Air Corps' pilot training program in 1943. He had been living in New York at the time. After he earned his wings, he flew the famed P-51 aircraft in addition to the P-39 and P-40.

After honorable discharges, both eventually returned home and contributed to our community in significant ways. Both were elected to several terms in our early legislatures, and worked or volunteered in other capacities in government and community service.

Mr. Speaker, in recognizing them, I also recognize once again and honor all of the Tuskegee Airmen who fought prejudice and injustice at the same time they fought the enemy in the defense of our country.

Theirs was not an easy time to be a member of our armed services or even to be a black in America, before and after their service, but they persevered out of love and loyalty to this country. Their courage and contributions set the United States of America on the path to that ``more perfect union'' that we continue to strive to become.

Both Airman Herbert H. Heywood and Airman Henry E. Rohlsen have gone on to the eternal sky. We thank them. We thank their families for sharing these heroes with us and with our country.

Thank you, Congresswoman Fudge.

We prepared a few more just in case we had some extra time left in the hour.

So I'd like to also recognize and pay tribute to some Virgin Island pioneers in the area of environmental awareness and energy conservation: Mr. Onaje Jackson, Ms. Ann Marie Gibbs, Mr. Bevan Smith, Mr. Jesus Espinosa, Mr. Mario Francis, and Mr. Olasee Davis. And those are just a few.

Mr. Onaje Jackson is best known in the Virgin Islands and Caribbean region as a community partner who tirelessly promotes earth-friendly infrastructure and facility design, engineering, and implementation. He began his work when he realized that bad solutions for development in the Caribbean were leading to divisions in communities and environmental damage. Deep down, he knew that a lot of it had to do with developers not being armed with better solutions and designs at the outset of their conception process.

With this, Mr. Jackson set out to bring about a more holistic approach to planning, design, and engineering of island infrastructure; and over the years, he has continually collaborated with a broad cross- section of our community to design environmentally friendly solutions for our rapidly developing region. Individuals, local businesses, and international organizations all enlist Mr. Jackson's assistance when seeking to incorporate the latest in sustainable and renewable technology to their large- and small-scale development projects.

But Onaje has not worked alone. Along with many others, he has worked tirelessly with others that I named before: Bevan Smith, the director of the Virgin Islands Energy Office; Olasee Davis, community conservationist, activist, and professor at our university; Ms. Ann Marie Gibbs, a high school science teacher; community activist Jesus Espinosa, and Mario Francis, who have each worked to educate our entire community, but particularly our children, about the importance of conservation.

Each of these valued members of our community go above and beyond the call of duty to challenge our youth, to break through the walls of ignorance and profit to become stewards and protectors of our environment for generations to come.

So it's without reservation that I submit Mr. Jackson, Mr. Smith, Ms. Gibbs, Mr. Espinosa, Mr. Davis, and Mr. Francis as unsung heroes as they are environmental pioneers of the Virgin Islands community; and I am convinced that they will remain at the forefront of our community's efforts to preserve and conserve the natural resources that make the U.S. Virgin Islands the precious jewel that they are.

Their work, and that of others, has prepared us to use the opportunities that have been recently presented to us in the recently passed American Recovery and Reinvestment Act and others that I am sure will be a part of our President's promise of change.

And since we have some time left, I want to pay tribute to someone who is not only a local hero in the U.S. Virgin Islands but my personal one, my father.

Born at home and largely raised by his grandmother while his mother taught just about everyone in St. Croix in those days, it was not easy for him to go to college. He began at the most accessible one geographically and financially, although it is also an outstanding institution, the University of Puerto Rico. He later transferred to Colombia University in New York and was in their school of law.

It was then in his first year that he was drafted into the Army, probably around 1943 also, just like Tuskegee Airman Herbert Heywood. And after graduating from Officer Candidate School at Camp Davis, North Carolina, was commissioned as a second lieutenant in the Coast Artillery Corps and participated in the Normandy campaign and Pacific Theater operations.

After the war, he completed his studies at Colombia and took his family--my mother and I--back home where he embarked on what became a distinguished legal career. He was admitted to practice before the Third Court of Appeals in 1950 and the U.S. Supreme Court in 1955.

He practiced law privately and often for free or for chickens or for fish until 1962 when he was tapped by President John F. Kennedy to be our U.S. Attorney for the U.S. Virgin Islands. He was reappointed to a second term by President Lyndon Johnson.

But the most not just nonpartisan but apolitical person I know of, he was soon appointed to serve as the first native-born judge of the District Court of the Virgin Islands by then President Richard Nixon, and he retired from that post after serving several terms.

In his time on the bench, some of his decisions were groundbreaking in Virgin Islands jurisprudence such as Red Hook Marina v. Antilles Yachting Corp., which resulted in the Open Beach Law in the Virgin Islands; and another case, Hosier v. Evans and Chapman v. Gerard, which he championed the constitutional right of children from other Caribbean islands whose parents were brought in under legal arrangements to work in the Virgin Islands temporarily. But he championed the rights of those children to attend public school in the U.S. Virgin Islands. Others of his decisions set legal precedents which are referred to in cases up to this day.

I am justifiably proud of my father, but so are the people of the Virgin Islands, and judges, and attorneys who came in contact with him throughout his long career. For the rest of the United States, he is an unsung hero. So I'm proud to have had this opportunity to present this very brief and very incomplete synopsis of his life here this evening.

With that, I yield back the balance of my time

This body passed a very good recovery package. It's important to note, as we prepare to go to conference, that most economists have warned that it would be a far greater risk to pass one that is too small and that, therefore, it would be better to take that risk on the side of making the package a bigger one.

The increase in food stamps and unemployment benefits, the tax credits, all begin to put money in the hands where it's needed. Robust State stabilization funds and infrastructure projects, green jobs, small business and training provisions create and replace the millions of jobs lost over the past 8 years. That's the recovery part.

These and the education, health care, broadband and renewable energy provisions are the critical reinvestments and the important change that Americans voted for and want the President and Congress to bring about.

We should keep much that the Senate put in and keep our provisions, even if it means a bill that may cost $900 billion, because it would have the dramatic impact our communities need today and build the strong foundation our Nation needs for the future.

The American people want and need change. Let's begin it with a robust American Recovery and Reinvestment Act.

Mr. Chair, I want to thank Chairmen Waxman, Obey and Rangel, for their leadership and to thank all of the Ranking Members, Committee Members and Staff for this successful effort to bring the American Recovery and Reinvestment act of 2009 to the floor today so that we may deliver it on schedule to the President's desk. This bill, H.R. 1, will not only stimulate our economy, but will also do much to heal our Nation.

As our president has promised, this bill provides an immediate investment that will create jobs, but also does so with a look to the future so that the jobs created, the infrastructure built, the stronger healthcare system created, the technology that is expanded and the training and education that is improved, not only provides jobs for today but also those we need tomorrow. H.R. 1 will lay a strong foundation upon which to create a more stable and vital economy and will actually create savings in the future.

I am proud to support this bill for the very reason some on purely political reasons oppose it.

I support it because it begins to move our country in a new and better direction--one which once again supports children and working families and begins to lift Americans out of poverty and to expand access to quality, comprehensive and culturally and linguistically appropriate healthcare to everyone regardless of race, ethnicity, gender or geography.

As a physician and as the Chair of the CBC Health Braintrust, I am pleased that this legislation makes the sound and much-needed health and health care investments that many of us have been fighting for over the past eight years.

This bill not only invests needed resources into Medicaid, with increases for the Territories, it extends the period of COBRA coverage to help Americans who have lost their jobs keep their health care coverage and increases FMAP to bolster state economic recovery efforts, but it also begins to modernize our health care system through the widespread implementation of health information technology.

In H.R. 1 we finally begin to make prevention the priority it needs to be--with 3 billion dollars going into a prevention and wellness fund, 1.5 billion dollars going into modernizing and expanding health care services in community health centers and we finally invest in the diversification and expansion of our Nation's health workforce, increasing the number of primary care physicians, nurses and other health care personnel.