Floor Statements

Mr. Speaker, I ask unanimous consent for the immediate consideration in the House of the bill (H.R. 2952) to authorize the Saginaw Chippewa Tribe of Indians of the State of Michigan to convey land and interests in land owned by the Tribe.

Mr. Speaker, this legislation is similar to the bill we just considered in that it also deals with an exemption from the Non-Intercourse Act.

Our colleague, Representative Dale Kildee, introduced this measure to exempt the conveyance of non-trust lands made by Tribe located in Michigan. In this particular case, the law is preventing this Tribe from fully engaging in non-gaming economic development. The pending measure is necessary so that the Tribe can sell fee lands bought for investment purposes and to otherwise engage in real estate investment.

I urge my colleagues to support this measure.

The bill was ordered to be engrossed and read a third time, was read the third time, and passed, and a motion to reconsider was laid on the table.

Mr. Speaker, I ask unanimous consent that the Committee on Natural Resources be discharged from further consideration of the bill (H.R. 2963) to transfer certain land in Riverside County, California, and San Diego County, California, from the Bureau of Land Management to the United States to be held in trust for the Pechanga Band of Luiseno Mission Indians, and for other purposes, and ask for its immediate consideration in the House.

Mr. Speaker, preserving tribal cultures is a fundamental aspect of the United States' trust responsibility to Indian tribes and is key to the survival of Native America. The Federal government can begin to meet this responsibility by transferring land that is an integral part of a tribe's culture to the tribe. This measure does just that.

Introduced by my friend from the other side of the aisle, Representative Darrell Issa, this measure would transfer land administered by the Bureau of Land Management to be held in trust for the Pechanga Band in California. The land contains sites and plants integral to the Tribe's culture and religion.

Because of the importance of the land to the cultural survival of the Tribe, the legislation requires that the land may only be used for the protection, preservation, and maintenance of archaeological, cultural, and wildlife resources. Only maintenance roads may be constructed and the land must be administered in accordance with a memorandum of understanding between the Tribe and the United States Fish and Wildlife Service.

The pending measure would also transfer approximately 12 acres to the San Diego Gas and Electric Company, which has an unauthorized electric line on part of the land. The land will be transferred only upon payment of fair market value for the land, plus payment for the past unauthorized use of the land.

Last Congress, a similar measure passed the House, and I would note that this measure is supported by the City of Temecula, and the Riverside County Board of Supervisors.

I urge my colleagues to support this measure.

The bill was ordered to be engrossed and read a third time, was read the third time, and passed, and a motion to reconsider was laid on the table.

Mr. Speaker, I ask unanimous consent for the immediate consideration in the House of the Senate bill (S. 375) to waive application of the Indian Self-Determination and Education Assistance Act to a specific parcel of real property transferred by the United States to 2 Indian tribes in the State of Oregon, and for other purposes.

Mr. Speaker, the Indian Self-Determination and Education Assistance Act has frequently been hailed as one of the most important pieces of Federal Indian legislation. Despite the success of this law, in this instance, the law is impeding two Tribes located in Oregon and their efforts to engage in non-gaming economic development.

In this case, the Secretary of the Interior transferred approximately 20 acres of land to these tribes via a quitclaim deed. But because it was transferred pursuant to the Indian Self-Determination Act, it contains a reversionary clause. This clause requires the land to revert back to the United States if the land is not used for economic development purposes. Although the Tribes intend to use the land for economic development purposes, they are unable to obtain conventional financing because of the reversionary clause.

Senator Smith of Oregon introduced S. 375 to address this issue and our colleague Representative Darlene Hooley is the sponsor of an identical measure in this body. The legislation simply directs the Secretary of the Interior to reissue a quitclaim deed that is not subject to the Indian Self-Determination Act.

I urge my colleagues to support this measure.

The Senate bill was ordered to be read a third time, was read the third time, and passed, and a motion to reconsider was laid on the table.

Mr. Speaker, I ask unanimous consent for the immediate consideration in the House of the

bill (H.R. 31) to amend the Reclamation Wastewater and Groundwater Study and Facilities Act to authorize the Secretary of the Interior to participate in the Elsinore Valley Municipal Water District Wildomar Service Area Recycled Water Distribution Facilities and Alberhill Wastewater Treatment and Reclamation Facility Projects.

Mr. Speaker, H.R. 31 will help the Elsinore Valley Municipal Water District build a recycled water treatment and distribution system. This fast-growing area in southern California is heavily dependent on water from rivers and storage reservoirs that are hundreds of miles away. The modest financial assistance provided by H.R. 31 will help southern California reduce its reliance on imported water and help to sustain water supplies during droughts.

We have no objection to this non-controversial bill.

The bill was ordered to be engrossed and read a third time, was read the third time, and passed, and a motion to reconsider was laid on the table.

Mr. Speaker, I ask unanimous consent that the Committee on Natural Resources be discharged from further consideration of the resolution (H. Res. 16) recognizing Virginia's James River as ``America's Founding River,'' and ask for its immediate consideration in the House.

Mr. Speaker, H. Res. 16 would grant the recognition of the House to Virginia's James River as ``America's Founding River.''

The resolution was introduced by our colleague, Representative Jo Ann Davis of Virginia.

The James River rises in the Allegheny Mountains and flows to the Chesapeake Bay. It is one of the longest rivers in our country to lie in a single state.

Mr. Speaker, Native Americans gave the name of their great chief Powhatan to the river that nourished the tribes along its banks.

In 1607, when English colonists established their first permanent settlement in America, they named the river--and their new town--after King James the First.

The James River sustained those early settlers, supported the growth of the first colonial capital in American, and provided a route for the first westwardbound pioneers.

The land along the James was home to many of our founding fathers and presidents, and great mansions still grace its shores.

Mr. Speaker, H. Res. 16 would grant the recognition of the House to the historic, economic, recreational and environmental importance of the James River and encourages the people of the U.S. to celebrate the contributions of the river to our Nation's history as part of the ceremonies and activities during Jamestown's 400th anniversary.

The resolution also reminds us of our commitment in 2000, as part of the Chesapeake Bay Restoration Act, to improving water quality in the bay's tributaries, including the James, and calls on us to recommit ourselves to protecting and restoring that great river.

Mr. Speaker, we have no objection to H. Res. 16, and urge its passage.

Mr. Speaker, I ask unanimous consent that all Members may have 5 days to revise and extend their remarks on the 10 measures previously considered.

Mr. Speaker, I rise in support of H.R. 180, the Darfur Accountability and Divestment Act of 2007.

I am proud to be a cosponsor of this important and timely legislation to authorize States to divest from companies in Sudan, and to prohibit new federal contracts with companies doing business with the genocidal regime in Khartoum. Current estimates indicate that as many as 450,000 people have been killed and over 2.5 million have been displaced due to the ongoing genocide in the Darfur region of Sudan. The security situation on the ground is continuing to deteriorate and the violence is spreading to surrounding countries.

As a member of the CBC and an African American, I joined my colleagues in support of H. Res. 333, in the last Congress, to designate the weekend of July 15-17 as a National Weekend of Prayer and Reconciliation for Darfur. The tragic and unforgivable/unforgiving genocide occurring in Darfur is as significant as acts of terrorism on which we are more focused. Over a million people, driven from their homes, now face death from starvation and diseases as the Government and militias attempt to prevent humanitarian aid from reaching them. These acts of genocide, civil terrorism, and inhumanity must stop! And the legislation we are considering today will go a long way in achieving this result.

The Darfur Accountability and Divestment Act of 2007 requires the Secretary of the Treasury to create a list of companies who have a direct investment in or are conducting business operations in Sudan's power, mineral, oil, or military equipment industries. The list will be published in the Federal Register six months after enactment, and every six months thereafter.

Many of our constituents are standing up and demanding that their hard earned money not be used to support a pariah government that is killing its own people. In passing H.R. 180 today we will be doing our part help protect the Sudan divestment movement at the State level and to help it continue to grow.

I urge my colleagues to support passage of this bill.

Mr. Speaker, I rise in strong support of H.R. 176, the Shirley A. Chisholm-U.S. Caribbean Educational Exchange Act of 2007 and urge my colleagues

to support its adoption. As an original cosponsor of this important bill, I want to congratulate my friend and colleague, the Honorable Barbara Lee for her hard work in getting the bill to the floor today.

Mr. Speaker, U.S.-Caribbean educational exchanges have been on the forefront of multilateral discussions in recent years. Many believe that education exchanges are an excellent means to developing and protecting democratic values. And while the U.S. has not particularly focused on educational advancement in the Caribbean, other nations have. Thousands of Caribbean students participate in exchange programs to distant parts of the globe, yet the U.S. has no specific exchange program for Caribbean scholars.

This legislation would establish in the State Department's Office of Public Diplomacy a U.S.-Caribbean educational exchange program for high school, undergraduate and graduate students, as well as scholars.

It would also enable the U.S. Agency for International Development to develop a regional strategy to expand existing early education initiatives. And the legislation would allow both State Department and USAID to use public-private partnerships to implement the program.

The State Department has repeatedly advocated educational exchanges as one of the best means of public diplomacy. For decades, the Caribbean, our ``Third Border,'' has been one of the U.S. staunchest allies with strong democratic traditions. We've seen how critical the adherence to these democratic ideals has been given how quickly the governments of the region were able to maintain order and rebuild in the wake of the recent devastating hurricane seasons. Furthermore, the leadership in these affected countries was cultivated right here in the

Mr. Chairman, I rise in strong support of the Farm Bill Extension Act of 2007 not because it is a perfect bill but because of the many good things that it does for poor people and minorities in our country.

I want to begin by commending Chairman Peterson and Subcommittee Chairman Cardoza for their willingness to work with me and other members to address concerns we had with the bill.

I am especially pleased that the bill includes language to correct an apparent oversight in the 2004 Specialty Crops Competitiveness Act that defined a State to exclude the Virgin Islands or any of the other smaller territories; which meant that my district, the Virgin Islands has been denied any specialty crop block grant funding by the USDA.

Mr. Speaker, the Virgin Islands once had a significant history of agricultural production. A substantial portion of our current agricultural production now consists of vegetables (e.g., cucumbers, lettuce, and tomatoes), fruits (e.g., bananas, mangoes and papayas) and horticultural specialties, including ornamental plants. The Government of the Virgin Islands and in particular our Department of Agriculture, believes that there are considerable opportunities to expand production of these specialty crops.

As an island economy, we must import a large portion of its fruits and vegetables for its own residents and for the 2 million tourists who visit the Islands each year. We see great opportunity to increase local production of fresh specialty crops to serve both its residents and visitors. The eligibility for us to receive specialty crop block grant funding would greatly assist us in our efforts to expand and enhance specialty crop production in the Virgin Islands.

The bill before us provides $365 million in mandatory funding to expand the specialty crop block grant program, meaning that our farmers will not have to rely upon annual renewal of the program through the appropriations process.

I am also very pleased the Farm Bill Extension offers significant improvements to the Food Stamp Program, 1890 land-grant institutions, and improved access to programs for Socially Disadvantaged Farmers and Ranchers, including language and funds to address outstanding claims from Pigford v. Veneman.

Mr. Chairman, as I noted at the outset, this bill is not a perfect bill. But as the old saying goes, we should not let the perfect be the enemy of the good. This is a good bill for the American people and I urge my colleagues to support its adoption.

I thank the gentleman for yielding.

Mr. Speaker, I rise in strong support of the rule and the conference report on H.R. 1, which implements the recommendations of the 9/11 Commission. And I am proud to be associated with this bill as a member of the Homeland Security Committee and as a member of the conference.

I want to join my colleagues in applauding our committee Chair, Bennie Thompson, for skillfully leading the House conferees and working with the Senate to reach a compromise between the Senate and House negotiators on this legislation that strengthens the safety of all Americans against terrorist attacks and catastrophic disasters.

H.R. 1 was the first bill we Democrats passed when we assumed leadership of this Congress, and this conference report fulfills our promise to fully implement the recommendations of the 9/11 Commission.

With this conference report, we will see greater distribution of homeland security grants for States, territories, and high-risk urban areas based on risk, while still ensuring that all of our districts have funds available for basic preparedness. It creates a dedicated grant program to improve interoperability at local, State, and Federal levels. The conference report requires 100 percent screening of maritime cargo within 5 years, and it also recognizes the important role that the private sector plays in securing our Nation by engaging the private sector to strengthen and secure 85 percent of the Nation's infrastructure.

Mr. Speaker, I also want to congratulate Leader Pelosi and all of our leadership for their steadfast commitment and dedication to making protecting our homeland one of the top priorities for Democrats.

I urge my colleagues to support passage of this conference report.

Madam Chairman, I would like to express my support for the FY 2008 Labor, Health and Human Services, and Education Appropriations Bill. This bill takes an important step in providing affordable education and quality health care. The strength

and the future security of our country depend on our investment in health, education, and insuring that the needs of our workforce are addressed. H.R. 3043, as drafted, includes increased funding for many programs important to our state and local education, health, and labor agencies.

The bill addresses increases in funding at all education levels from early childhood to higher education. Although most of these increases are still below FY 2005 levels, it is the beginning of reversing the decline in Federal funding which has not been compatible with increased costs related to NCLB (which imposed new and stronger mandates on our State and local education agencies). H.R. 3043 provides for $1.6 billion over last year's level to fund NCLB programs, especially for Title I programs to help poor children. The bill also provides for increased funding for Head Start centers, as well as special education grants that benefit 6.9 million children with disabilities.

I would like to extend my support to the Gwen Moore-Tom Cole-Bobby Scott-Carol Shea-Porter amendment that will put a stop to the harmful Upward Bound (UB) evaluation that is being conducted by the Department of Education. The Upward Bound program has been threatened both financially and administratively and I am hopeful that my colleagues will not support provisions that threaten to eliminate this long- standing program. I strongly urge my colleagues to support this amendment that would eliminate the Absolute Priority program, which is an evaluation tool used by the Administration to justify the elimination of the UB program.

As the Chair of the Congressional Black Caucus Health Braintrust, I would be remiss if I did not mention the positive direction that this bill takes the health and well being of Americans, and the important steps it takes to bolster our health care infrastructure.

This bill increases funding for critically important programs, such as HCOP and other provider training programs, as well as for critically important Federal agencies and offices, such as the National Center for Minority Health and Health Disparities at the National Institutes of Health, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, and SAMHSA.

Unlike the President's budget, this bill represents the positive direction we need and should take to ensure that our health care system--at every level, from research, to training, to actual care--has the capacity and resources to adequately treat the millions of Americans who access it. I am enthusiastic about provisions in H.R. 3043 that provide funding in my district, the U.S. Virgin Islands, for follow-up glaucoma screening and perinatal care. These programs are an important part of bridging the gap for the elderly, low income and uninsured individuals.

Despite its numerous amendments and three days of debate, the bill as written provides funding for programs that help to improve our Nation's education, health care and labor programs. I urge my colleagues to support its final passage.

Yes. Not only that, but Congressman Clyburn's district will be hosting a disparities conference, as well as the Tri- Caucus, the Hispanic, Black and Asian Pacific Caucus this weekend.

Mr. Speaker, I'm pleased to join my colleagues to call attention to some critical unmet health care needs that this 110th Congress is called upon to address.

And I also want to applaud our chairwoman, Carolyn Cheeks Kilpatrick, for making this hour available to us and to thank Congresswoman Stephanie Tubbs Jones for her leadership as well.

Before I speak about the children's health insurance program, which is up for reauthorization, I want to remind this body that we have not yet appropriated the level of funding that would make a dent in the health disparities that result in 100,000 unnecessary deaths every year because of our country's failure to address them. We worry more about a few dollars that may be less than necessary than we worry about the unnecessary loss of life that happens every day in this country, although we have the wherewithal to stop them.

Until our country funds disparity elimination adequately, people of color will continue to get to health care services late, if at all, and become disabled or die prematurely from preventable causes.

This Congress will have the opportunity to do just that by passing the Healthcare Equity and Accountability Act, introduced by the Black, Hispanic, and Asian Pacific Caucus last week. That is the way to improve health for everyone and to begin to drive down the skyrocketing cost of health care.

Mr. Speaker, I also want to call our attention to the now chronic underfunding for the AIDS Drug Assistance Program, or ADAP. As we have underfunded it every year, the gaps have grown and the waiting lists for lifesaving medicines have grown longer. Some of those waiting in line have died because of our neglect. This Congress, led by Democrats who have always understood the challenges faced by the HIV/AIDS community, more than half of which are people of color, needs to correct this deficiency in funding for this important program.

And, also, Mr. Speaker, very soon we will be reauthorizing the State Children's Health Insurance Program. We need to do so fully. Now when we have the opportunity to do the right thing for America's children with whose welfare we are charged, we are poised to shortchange them, to let them down, and to leave them without access to health care. That is unbelievable. There are 9 million uninsured children, of which 6 million are at or below 200 percent of poverty and eligible for SCHIP. I think we should cover all of them, but current proposals don't even cover one-third of those who are eligible.

This Congress should do nothing less than cover all 6 million eligible children, and we must do so with robust programs to foster their mental, dental, and nutritional health. Investing in our children is investing in our future.

The CBO has said that it would cost at least $60 billion to cover all of those eligible children. We are told there are not enough offsets, not enough money to cover the costs.

Well, there are no offsets for the civil war in Iraq, which we are funding while our children are being caught in the crossfire, and there were no offsets for the tax cuts to the wealthiest individuals in this country, both of which are funded in part with money borrowed from Communist China. If we can go into bad debt for those, then we can certainly go into good debt for our children because it is an investment that pays back invaluable dividends. I am willing to bet, Mr. Speaker and colleagues, that we will have to set PAYGO aside for some measure that is deemed important, probably even before this Congress adjourns. So let's do it now for America's children. There is no one and nothing more important than they.

There is one other alternative, and that would be to provide funding to cover all 6 million children for a shorter period of time and revisit that program 2 or 3 years from now when we should be out of Iraq and the tax cuts for the rich would expire. That, I think, is another viable alternative.

We know that the President has said that he will veto a bill if it costs what he considers too much and even the modest proposals from the House and Senate fit that bill. I think that that is a fight the American people would want us to take on because our children are just that important. And so using his own words, I would say ``bring it on.''

Let's not let there be any more Deamonte Drivers, the 11-year-old who died because he could not get an $80 tooth extraction. We are a better country than that.

Thank you, Congresswoman Tubbs Jones.

Mr. Speaker just a little over a week ago I traveled to Fort Bragg in North Carolina to see yet another 100 men and women of the Virgin Islands National Guard off to Iraq.

Among those who left on Sunday and are now deployed, there are several who are doing their second tour as well as a father and his daughter.

It was not easy, but I put my best face forward while there because I knew that it was much harder--extremely difficult--for their families.

Mr. Speaker, the only reason I could smile and be upbeat in my message to them is because I knew Democrats would be here today, passing this measure to set a time limit for our troops to be deployed in Iraq and to begin their return home.

And so Mr. Speaker, I rise to support this resolution as the first step to ending U.S. involvement in the civil war that Iraq has become. And I will be here in full support on the efforts that will follow to close Guantanamo and to ensure that the White House responds in a timely and appropriate manner to what they are being directed to do in H.R. 2956 today.

And I hope we will insist that he does so long before January 2008.

Mr. Speaker, I want to take this opportunity to once again applaud your leadership and that of Chairman Ike Skelton.

Because of H.R. 2956, ``The Responsible Redeployment from Iraq Act'', and the measures that will follow, I am confident we will see a day, in the not too distant future, when no other American or son or daughter of our allies will die for a war we cannot justify.

Madam Chairman, I rise today in support of H.R. 1851, to reform the housing choice voucher program under section 8 of the United States Housing Act of 1937. I commend the Honorable Maxine Waters for her leadership on this issue of pressing socioeconomic concern.

In 1937, we had a Nation still suffering from the Great Depression. In fact, in 1937, the economy fell into a recession which caused high unemployment and left many wondering how they would put a roof over their family's heads at night. In response to this problem, the United States Housing Act was enacted, which helped hard-working American families to stay off of the streets.

This bill also helped to push the United States policy of spending on infrastructure to help the economy, as promoted by the principles of Keynesian economics. In today's economy we are seeing a new problem emerge--the growing income gap.

According to a January 27, 2007, CNN report entitled, ``Mind the gap: Income Inequality, State by State,'' Americans whose annual income places them in the top 5 percent of the income bracket ``saw their incomes rise as much as 132 percent between 1980 and 2003. The bottom 20 percent of families, meanwhile, saw their incomes rise by no more than 24 percent.'' With such inequality today's housing crisis becomes obvious--the ``haves'' are purchasing more real-estate and thus driving housing costs to levels far above the budget of ``have-nots.''

Just as the Federal Government took the lead and helped struggling American families in 1937, we must step in and make sure their efforts are applicable to today's specific housing crisis by amending Section 8 of the United States Housing Act 1937 to address the problems of 2007.

In my district of the Virgin Islands I see multimillion dollar estates constructed in areas of previously low to moderate income. Often times this works to drive up property values and drive out those who can no longer afford to live in the area. It has driven up housing costs and even rental prices. This bill will help address this issue by adding 100,000 new Section 8 vouchers, and by expanding their use for home purchase as well as rent. It will allow a public housing agency to authorize a family in crisis to occupy housing immediately so they are not left on the streets while a slow moving bureaucratic agency ``evaluates'' them. H.R. 1851 also includes provisions to address existing inadequacies in the programs that have created long waiting lists and a program that has more applicants than available housing.

By passing H.R. 1851, Congress will take a much needed step towards improving a much needed program. I urge my colleagues to support this bill and help make a good program stronger and better.

Mr. Speaker, I rise today in support of H.R. 2669, the College Cost Reduction Act. I commend the Honorable George Miller for introducing this much needed piece of legislation and for his leadership on this issue and education in general.

As you all know, college costs in America are simply out of range for far too many Americans. The University of the Virgin Islands, a Historically Black University in my district, costs $10,000 per year while the median income of a Virgin Islands resident is $32,613. One does not have to be a rocket scientist to see the problem. It is further amplified when examining my alma mater, the George Washington University. Tuition at George Washington for an undergraduate starting this fall will be $39,210 per year--a hefty sum when considering that the median income of need-based federal loan borrowers in 2003-2004 was $45,000.

This welcome legislation will raise the maximum value of the Pell Grant Scholarship by $500, thus increasing its purchasing power and benefiting roughly 5.5 million low- and moderate-income students. And this is only the beginning.

The College Cost Reduction Act will also cut in half interest rates on need-based student loans which so often become an unnecessary burden over the heads of those just starting out in their respective professions. In lowering the interest rates from 6.8 percent to 3.4 percent over the next five years, we are saving the average student borrower $4,400 on their overall loan. The sad reality is that many students from middle class homes miss out on obtaining a secondary education because of a failure on our part. Many middle class students have guardians that make too much money to qualify for Federal grants but not enough to actually provide needed financial support.

Every one of our children and indeed every American strive to reach the American dream. As their representatives, we must support them in this pursuit by granting middle class Americans every opportunity possible to obtain affordable higher education. This legislation will expand eligibility of grants by almost 600,000 students, thus, helping to end the unfair burden many students from middle class homes now face.

Colleagues, I urge you to support this needed legislation. The College Cost Reduction Act of 2007 will be the single largest increase in secondary education support by the United States Government since the GI Bill--and it will not cost the American tax payer one cent. Our young people are America's future. It is critical that we invest in that future.