Floor Statements

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

Mr. Speaker, the majority has explained the purpose of H.R. 694, but it is truly fitting that we are proceeding with this legislation.

The Gullah/Geechee culture is unique. These proud people trace their ancestry to enslaved Africans who were forced to live and work along the coastal areas covered by the legislation. Because of the isolation of these coastal lands and islands, African Americans in these areas developed a distinct language as well as unique arts, crafts, music, and religious customs. It is a living culture that continues to evolve today and is definitely one that should be preserved and celebrated. I have had the opportunity in traveling to Charleston, South Carolina, with the distinguished gentleman from South Carolina (Mr. Clyburn), to whom I will yield shortly, to sample some of that culture and the food as well.

Mr. Speaker, I want to commend my colleague and friend, the gentleman from South Carolina (Mr. Clyburn), for his work on developing this important legislative initiative. The gentleman from West Virginia (Mr. Rahall), our ranking member on the Committee on Resources, joins me in congratulating the gentleman from South Carolina (Mr. Clyburn) for his effort, and we strongly support H.R. 694 and urge its passage before the House today.

Mr. Speaker, I yield such time as he might consume to the gentleman from South Carolina (Mr. Clyburn), the distinguished vice-chair of the Democratic Caucus.

Mr. Speaker, having no further speakers, I yield back the balance of my time.

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

Mr. Speaker, it is unfortunate that the private landowners in this case were unable to reach an agreement with the Air Force to resolve this ongoing dispute. However, because ensuring that Holloman Air Force Base operates effectively and safely is critical to both the Air Force and the residents who live and work near the base, we have worked closely with the gentleman from New Mexico (Mr. Pearce) to craft a legislative solution.

Compared to the version of this legislation introduced in the previous Congress, H.R. 486 contains a number of changes made at the request of the minority, and we appreciate the inclusion of those changes, and at this time we would not oppose the adoption of H.R. 486.

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

Mr. Chairman, I rise in support of the Velazquez amendment to H.R. 27 but in strong opposition to the underlying bill. H.R. 27 is a fundamentally flawed and partisan job training bill, which does nothing to address the root causes of why little actual job training services are provided under the Workforce Investment Act.

The Velazquez amendment would compensate for the harm in the Bush administration's policy of raising the fees on 7(a) loans and its proposal to undermine existing job-training programs by establishing an untested job-training voucher program. It addresses these two critical issues by offering a solution that would benefit entrepreneurs by providing them the opportunity to use funds from personal reinvestment accounts to secure the capital needed to start small businesses.

Mr. Chairman, with our high employment rate and the administration's failure to create the number of jobs it promised, entrepreneurship is a viable alternative to unemployment. The Velazquez amendment allows unemployed individuals to use the personal reinvestment accounts to defray the costs of the administration's recent fee increases for the 7(a) loan program. This fee increase on the 7(a) program puts the program out of reach for newly unemployed workers. This amendment would help to defray the cost of the 7(a) loan program for potential borrowers.

Access to capital is the biggest obstacle that entrepreneurs face in starting small businesses. A vote for this amendment is a vote to give unemployed workers resources to invest in their future by securing capital to start small businesses. Not only would this amendment help our Nation's unemployed, it will also boost job creation. After all, small businesses account for approximately 75 percent of the net new jobs added to the economy.

I would like to commend Ranking Member Velazquez on her amendment and continued commitment to our Nation's small businesses. I urge my colleagues to support the Velazquez amendment.

Mr. Speaker, I thank the gentleman from New York (Mr. Towns) for yielding me this time and for his leadership on this important issue.

I rise to support this resolution. Monday of this week was National Black HIV and AIDS Awareness and Information Day. It is timely for us to consider this resolution, but this can only be the beginning.

Today, African American women have a 23 times greater AIDS rate than white women, and African American men almost nine times greater rate of AIDS than their white counterparts. It was my honor, along with the gentlewoman from California (Ms. Lee), this Monday to host the Howard University National AIDS Education and Training Center here on Capitol Hill for a briefing on where we are in the epidemic and the outstanding work they have been able to do in providing technical assistance, training and support to centers and providers around our country that serve minority populations with HIV and AIDS.

It was great to hear and see the Minority HIV/AIDS Initiative funding doing exactly what it was intended to do, build capacity in heavily affected communities and improve culturally and linguistically concordant community-driven services.

Later on in the evening of Black AIDS Day, I joined New York City Council Speaker Gifford Miller and Councilman Al Vann in recognizing several community activists for their work. We also honored Debra Fraser Howze, the founder and president of the National Black Leadership Commission on AIDS, who chaired the day's activities nationally. Debra was also one of the moving forces behind the creation of the Minority HIV/AIDS Initiative, and we take this opportunity to recognize her contribution.

I also want to talk about some of the threats that are increasing the risk of HIV and AIDS, especially in women. First are the cuts in the President's budget in AIDS programs and all of health, but also the cuts in education, housing, and economic opportunity programs which will fuel the spread of this disease.

Second is the misguided decision on the part of the department not to target funding of the small initiative to the indigenous community and faith-based organizations in the most severely impacted communities of color. We have to empower our communities to be able to effect change.

Third is the ideological intrusion into good science and documented effective preventive practices. My colleagues, we cannot bury our heads in the sand and deny the effectiveness of condoms for the sexually active, and neither can you insist that abstinence-only programs be used when they ignore the reality of situations of the people who need to be protected and whose lives we need to save.

So this resolution is important, and I want to join everyone in applauding the gentlewoman from California (Ms. Lee) for her leadership and her firm stance in not allowing the sense of the resolution to be diluted, and all on this side and the other side of the aisle who supported her. But it can only be a beginning; we have a lot more to do, and we will be calling on our colleagues to join us in doing what we must to win the war against this epidemic that has come to devastate so many communities of color, HIV and AIDS.

Mr. Speaker, I rise in support of H. Res. 69 that honors the life and accomplishments of the late Ossie Davis, an American actor and activist par excellence.

When you think about the importance of images, and the lives you can influence with images, you have to agree that Ossie Davis has stood tall as an image well respected by several generations of Americans, in particular African American youth.

As an actor, playwright, and filmmaker, Ossie Davis crafted images that reflect what is good about African American manhood. His tall stature, his deep voice, his choice of roles that successfully portrayed the lives, hopes and dreams of African American men from youth to senior, gave the world a view of the best that we can be.

As an activist, Ossie Davis did not fail to speak up for his fellow man, he was a vibrant part of the struggle for civil rights in this country. He lent his voice and his energies to those causes that benefited not only himself, but many of those around him.

Ossie Davis's legendary partnership with Ruby Dee as an artist, an activist and as a husband and father, was also a strong and enduring image for all American families.

I commend Ossie Davis at the culmination of his life, for contributing to the health of the African American community by providing us with healthy images of ourselves to treasure and to pass on to our children.

The Congressional Black Caucus has lost a friend in Ossie Davis. He helped to frame our mission all those years ago by emphasizing to us at the first Annual Legislative event that ``it is not the man, it's the plan.'' Over the years we have been encouraged by his friendship and we will miss his counsel.

Mr. Speaker, I thank the gentleman from New York (Mr. Owens) for yielding to me and for his leadership. I look forward to working with him and our other colleagues to propose a fix for the wrongs that are in the President's budget with the budget that the Congressional Black Caucus will present a little later in this process.

I have heard a lot of descriptions, Mr. Speaker, of the President's budget, but the word that keeps coming to my mind is shameless.

It is a budget of misplaced priorities that will only serve to widen the disparities that the Congressional Black Caucus and many other good Members of this and the other body have been working tirelessly to close, gaps that belie the values on which this country was founded and undermine our Nation's promise.

First of all, the budget we have been sent is unfair. The burden of the deficit, the war and homeland security is thrust on the poor and the middle class, while the wealthy would reap the benefit of tax cuts, which further take us down the slippery slope of debt and deficit.

It is based on more of the trickle-down economics that have never worked because the trickle always stops just short of those who need it most. Let us have some trickle-up economics for a change, so that there would be shared burden and shared benefits, if any.

Further, the President's budget does nothing to reduce the deficit. It keeps and deepens our debt to China and other countries and defers payments on what we do today to our children and grandchildren. They should not have their future crippled by debts we can and must avoid in our time.

Try though the White House might, they cannot seriously think they can justify it by budget shell games and turning attention to certain past increases the President signed only after having been made to do so, kicking and screaming all the way, by Democrats.

If left as it is, this budget would deal a serious blow to health. As in years past, no mention is made by the Secretary of the most serious issue facing us in health care today, the inequality and injustice of health care disparities, especially in racial and ethnic minority populations.

Medicaid, which has been faced with increased demands due to the failed economic policies of this administration, takes a near fatal hit in the President's budget. This is the bulwark of health care in this country, and it needs to be strengthened, not weakened.

Further, the Centers for Disease Control, on whom the protection of our health, the prevention of disease and the strength of our bioterrorism shield depends, would see a severe cut, as would programs that train doctors, nurses and other health providers. It cuts bioterrorism medical training and preparedness in hospitals, many of whom cannot adequately meet their everyday demands, not to mention surge in the case of an attack.

Rural health programs are slashed; newborn sickle cell screening and Indian health facilities construction grants are eliminated; and there are even cuts to CDC's HIV and AIDS, STD and TB budget at a time when our communities continue to be plagued by these diseases. Just today, I read of a TB outbreak, a tuberculosis outbreak, in northeastern South Carolina.

No ounce of prevention; with this budget we will have to pay the full pound of cure.

Today, I shared a program with former Speaker Newt Gingrich. I would suggest that the President and the House leadership and Senate leadership speak with him on this. He gets it.

Here I am not quoting him verbatim, but I am doing so accurately. He said that this country must raise the level of health care of everyone, no matter

where they live, of all races and ethnicities on a par with our white population and continue to raise that bar as well. He further went on to say that unless we do so and place more emphasis on prevention, we will never contain the dramatic increases in health care spending or improve the health of this Nation overall.

This is the message that we in the Congressional Black Caucus, together with our colleagues in the Hispanic Caucus, Native American Caucus and Asian Pacific Island Caucus, as well as the Progressive Caucus, have been trying to get across all along. I hope that hearing it from a Republican leader can finally have that message break through.

When the Congressional Black Caucus met with President Bush a few weeks ago, we tried to impress upon him the urgency of acting, not talking, but acting with budget and programs, to close the gaps in health care that weaken this country morally, economically and in terms of our national security. As we also told him, we tell our colleagues: Every year that we fail to live up to what is our moral obligation to do good, to heal, to feed and to clothe the least of these, as we have been called, we as a Congress, through our omission, are complicit in the premature, preventable deaths of close to 100,000 African Americans and other people of color every year.

The submission of the President's budget is only the beginning of a process. It began wrong, but we can and must make it right. All we are asking for is a budget that is fair, that is just and that finally brings about the equality for all that our country has promised.

Mr. Speaker, I thank the gentleman for the time.

Mr. Speaker, if the gentleman would yield, with the level funding, from Maternal and Child Healthy Starts with cuts in many of the prevention programs, with the elimination of funding for training the physicians, the doctors and nurses and other health providers, from our communities who have the cultural sensitivity to deal with the diverse populations that use the Community Health Centers, there will be empty buildings.

Yes, exactly.

Mr. Speaker, I rise today to introduce legislation to address a long held concern of my constituents on the island of St. John, Virgin Islands; the need for the National Park Service and the government of the Virgin Islands to agree on an exchange of land so that residents of St. John can build a school to accommodate students from K-12.

Mr. Speaker, my constituents in the Virgin Islands have been wrestling with this issue for several years now. Since the 1970's, enrollment in public schools on St. John has grown considerably and the local government has no more land on which to expand either of the two current St. John public schools.

Just last month a 7-year-old boy by the name of Javon Alfred was struck and killed by a delivery truck, as he was on his way home from the only public school on St. John. The Julius Sprauve School, where Javon was a second grade student, is located in an urban area with significant vehicular traffic. With the significant increases in population that St. John has witnessed in recent years, the location of the Sprauve School is not the most suitable at the present time.

Mr. Speaker, St. John is an island only 28 square miles in size, two thirds which comprises the Virgin Islands National Park. Without an exchange of land between the National Park Service and the government of the Virgin Islands, there is no place to build a school on St. John. While the residents of St. John have benefited from a boom in tourism on that island, they have had to give up many long held traditions, including the right to fish in local waters. The exchange of land for a school on St. John is a matter that is long overdue. It is high time that this issue be resolved. The residents and students of St. John deserve nothing less.

I urge my colleagues to support passage of this bill.

Mr. Speaker, today the House is considering H.R. 5394, a bill

sponsored by my colleague Paul Ryan of Wisconsin to amend a section of the recently passed American Jobs Creation Act of 2004 as it relates to the Federal excise tax on the sale by a manufacturer, producer or importer of any bows or arrows of a certain weight.

While I do not expressly support or oppose H.R. 5394, I rise to express my disappointment that the people of my district, the U.S. Virgin Islands, are not afforded a similar opportunity to address certain changes to the provisions of the Jobs Act as they relate to the residence and source rules applicable in U.S. possessions.

It is the longstanding policy of the United States, as reaffirmed in the Tax Reform Act of 1986, to promote the economic development of the U.S. Virgin Islands through tax policies that grant the Virgin Islands exclusive taxing jurisdiction over its residents and the right to tax the income of non-residents that is either sourced in the Virgin Islands or attributable to Virgin Islands businesses.

The American Jobs Creation Act of 2004, which was signed into law on October 22, 2004, significantly changed the Federal tax rules that form the foundation of Virgin Islands economic incentive program, the Economic Development Commission (EDC). Unless the changes made to this program by the Jobs Act is amended or appropriately modified by regulation, they have the potential to cause substantial damage to the Virgin Islands EDC program and cause significant losses to the Government of the Virgin Islands beyond those attributable to the EDC program.

While the statement of the managers accompanying the conference report for the Jobs Act indicates that Congress was concerned about U.S. citizens inappropriately claiming benefits as residents of a possession while continuing to live and work in the United States, the provisions of the new IRS Code section 937 would have much broader impact, affecting individuals who never resided in the United States and also place restrictions on the different economic development programs that go far beyond identified abuses.

It is for these reasons Mr. Speaker, that the government of the Virgin Islands sought to have these changes narrowed and clarified through legislation similar to H.R. 5394, but we were unsuccessful in our efforts to date. Accordingly, I beseech my colleagues, the chairman of the Ways and Means Committee and you, Mr. Speaker, to work with me when we return next Congress to address these concerns and avert a potential economic catastrophe for the Government and people of the Virgin Islands.

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

(Mrs. CHRISTENSEN asked and was given permission to revise and extend her remarks.)

Mr. Speaker, it is with pleasure that I join my colleagues in support of S. 437. The bill includes several important revisions, including new language in title 4 that will assist the San Carlos Apache Tribe, the White Mountain Apache Tribe, and other tribes in Arizona, as they work to complete their own comprehensive water settlements. I am grateful for the cooperation shown by everyone who participated in this effort.

As I express my support for S. 437, I also wish to remind my colleagues that this legislation is the most significant and far- reaching water settlement legislation ever considered by this House.

Certainly, the benefits to all parties including the United States will be significant. But this legislation will also be very expensive, and many of the costs will be off-budget, avoiding the annual appropriations process.

The legislation, in effect, will settle claims of the Gila River Indian Community by dramatically restructuring the payments for the Central Arizona Project. However, I am satisfied that, on balance, the benefits of this legislation will significantly outweigh the costs on the taxpayers.

We support the passage of S. 437.

Mr. Speaker, I yield such time as he may consume to the gentleman from Arizona (Mr. Grijalva).

Mr. Speaker, I yield such time as he may consume to the gentleman from Arizona (Mr. Pastor).

(Mr. PASTOR asked and was given permission to revise and extend his remarks.)

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

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

Mr. Speaker, H.R. 4593 has been returned to the House with Senate amendments that both add and detract from the bill that originally passed the House last month. The additions to the bill involve modifications that the Senate made to the Lincoln County, Nevada, public land provisions. These changes bring the bill's language more in line with what has been done previously on public land sales in Nevada.

This refinement has been tempered, however, by the fact that the Senate deleted the designation of the Ojito wilderness in New Mexico that was included in the original House-passed version of H.R. 4593. The gentleman from New Mexico (Mr. Udall), the sponsor of the Ojito wilderness language, had developed a bipartisan proposal that has significant local, State and national support, and it is regrettable that his language is not this bill before us today.

Mr. Speaker, the amendments made by the Senate to the Lincoln County public lands provisions are an improvement, and notwithstanding the dropping of the Ojito wilderness land designation, we have no objection to the consideration of H.R. 4593 by the House today.

Mr. Speaker, I yield such time as she might consume to the gentlewoman from Nevada (Ms. Berkley).

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

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

(Mrs. CHRISTENSEN asked and was given permission to revise and extend her remarks.)

Mr. Speaker, H.R. 1113, which authorizes a land exchange at Fort Frederica National Monument in Georgia, has been amended by the Senate to clarify that the proposed land exchange is only exempt from a narrow and specific provision of law.

Even with the passage of this legislation, there is much work left to be done with this proposed exchange. Appraisals and archaeological surveys of the lands in question have not been completed. As such, the value and historic significance of the proposed lands have not been established.

Furthermore, the National Park Service testified that the noncontiguous parcel that would be acquired through the exchange will likely increase the administrative and operational costs of the national monument necessitating an evaluation of this question as well.

It is important to note that H.R. 1113 authorizes but does not require a land exchange at Fort Frederica National Monument. Before any exchange could occur, the National Park Service would be required to complete appraisals and historical surveys, as well as comply with the requirements of NEPA and the National Park Service management standards. These legal and administrative procedures are in place to ensure that the exchange, if it does go forward, is in the public interest.

Mr. Speaker, that being the case, we do not object to consideration of H.R. 1113, as amended.

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

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

(Mrs. CHRISTENSEN asked and was given permission to revise and extend her remarks.)

Mr. Speaker, H.R. 1964 originally passed the House last November and has been returned to the House with amendments by the Senate to clarify the scope of the legislation. Even with the Senate changes, the legislation remains a sweeping conservation and preservation mandate for a large area across four States.

Mr. Speaker, we support the goals of H.R. 1964 and do not object to its consideration by the House today.

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

Mr. Speaker, I yield such time as he may consume to the gentleman from New York (Mr. Engel).

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

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

(Mrs. CHRISTENSEN asked and was given permission to revise and extend her remarks.)

Mr. Speaker, H.R. 1446 is a bipartisan proposal which was introduced by the gentleman from California (Mr. Farr), our colleague, which originally passed the House on October 20, 2003.

This bill has been returned to the House with a Senate amendment that makes a number of changes to the bill. These changes do not detract from the overall goal and direction of the legislation, and we do not object to them.

The California missions are important historical and cultural resources that preserve and interpret a rich and varied history of exploration, conquest and settlement. The small grant program authorized by H.R. 1446 will be used for secular purposes which preserve those qualities of the missions that are historically and culturally significant.

Mr. Speaker, we support the passage of H.R. 1446 as amended by the House today.

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

Mr. Speaker, I yield 2 minutes to the gentleman from Virginia (Mr. Scott).

Mr. Speaker, I yield 6 minutes to the gentleman from California (Mr. Farr), the sponsor of the bill.

Mr. Speaker, I yield 3 minutes to the gentlewoman from California (Mrs. Capps).

Mr. Speaker, I yield 3 minutes to the gentlewoman from California (Ms. Woolsey).

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

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

Mr. Speaker, the majority has already explained the purpose of S. 1241, and it is altogether fitting that we proceed with this legislative designation.

Kate Mullany was an early female labor organizer and leader. In the 1860s, at a time when there were few labor unions and even fewer women involved in the labor movement, she organized and led the first all- female union for laundry workers. She achieved national recognition in 1868 when she was appointed assistant secretary of the National Labor Union, making her the first woman appointed to a national union office.

I want to commend the gentleman from New York (Mr. McNulty) for his sponsorship and tireless work on behalf of the companion legislation he introduced in the House. I would also note the contributions of the ranking member of the Committee on Resources, the gentleman from West Virginia (Mr. Rahall), who guided this designation through the Committee on Resources both this Congress and last Congress.

Mr. Speaker, the Kate Mullany House is on the National Register of Historic Places and was designated a National Historic Landmark in 1998. Designation as a National Historic Site will enhance the preservation and interpretation of the work of this pioneering woman, and thus I support the passage of S. 1241 by the House today.

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

Mr. Speaker, I yield such time as he may consume to the gentleman from New York (Mr. McNulty), the sponsor of the bill in the House.

(Mr. McNULTY asked and was given permission to revise and extend his remarks.)

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

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

Mr. Speaker, it is with pleasure that I join my colleagues in full support of S. 1727.

Farming communities and urban areas who benefit from Bureau of Reclamation projects will now be ensured that ongoing dam safety work will continue. In addition, the Bureau will now be required to consider ways of reducing cost for new dam safety projects.

We support the passage of S. 1727.

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