Floor Statements

Mr. Speaker, I ask unanimous consent to revise and extend my remarks in strong opposition to the rule and the conference report, which helps HMOs and hurts poor women, minorities, and the disabled.

Mr. Speaker, I rise in opposition to the rule and the Medicare conference report.

The process by which we come to this place has been ugly. The conference committee locked out the democratic leadership from the process, and is sending this bill down without the 3 days to review it that we were promised.

But we should not be surprised. The bill itself is a more important broken promise--this one to the Senior citizens and disabled persons who have relied on Medicare to be there for them, and who have waited long for a comprehensive prescription drug benefit. They would be the real losers if we pass this bill and that is why I am asking my colleagues to vote ``no.''

Let us not take away the Medicare wrap around provision for those who need it, let us not jeopardize the good prescription drug benefit so many of our seniors and disabled now have, let us not put any more money in the already rich HMO's, let us take the means test and the mean out of this bill, and above all let us not destroy Medicare.

Mr. Speaker, this bill stinks, and no amount of promises to fund rural hospitals or increase physician's reimbursement can make it smell any better. Besides, this is coming from the same Party leadership that has been cutting physician and hospital fees, and refusing to remedy them for years. If they are known for anything, it is for broken promises.

We have no reason to rush and accept this defective piece of legislation that takes away more than it gives, and puts the first nail in the coffin the Republicans have been building for a long time for Medicare.

Any prescription drug benefit won't take effect until more than two years from now, so if we really care about our seniors and disabled we should take the time to get it right.

And if all of the tears I see shedding on the other side of the aisle for our suffering doctors, the struggling hospitals are any more than of the crocodile variety, we should do the right thing before we go home and pass those provisions now.

Mr. Speaker, I have listened to the debate tonight, and I think everyone agrees that some seniors and disabled would benefit by this bill. But if truth be told, many would lose, which is not what we set out to do--we need and promised a bill that provides a prescription drug benefit for all Medicare beneficiaries, not just a few.

What is clear and why we should oppose this bill, is that if passed it would sound the death-knell for Medicare.

We must insist that the Republicans provide funding to shore up our rural hospitals. We must insist that the Republican leadership not only increase the physician payments this fiscal year, but fix the formula, so that the payments won't be cut again next year.

But what we must not do, is let this divide and conquer tactic make us pass a bill that would do more harm than good and physicians and hospitals should not allow themselves to be used to dismantle the very program they and the patients they are sworn to serve, depend on for the long run.

With a few crumbs to seniors and the disabled, and playing on the dire need of hospitals and doctors, this bill is nothing more than another corporate give-away.

We can afford to vote this bill down, start again, with an inclusive process--the benefit doesn't start for two years anyway. What we cannot afford to do and must not do is to kill Medicare; we must vote no on

Mr. Speaker, I rise in support of H.R. 280, legislation to create the National Aviation Heritage Area and urge my colleagues to support its passage. H.R. 280 includes as one of its sections, my bill, H.R. 1594, to provide for a suitability and feasibility study of establishing a St. Croix National Heritage Area in the United States Virgin Islands.

The island of St. Croix has a long, distinguished, and varied history, including being the site where Christopher Columbus first stepped onto what is now American soil. There is significant interest in preserving and enhancing the natural, historical and cultural resources of the island on a cooperative basis and such a study would provide guidance on how we can best achieve those purposes.

National Heritage areas are places where natural, cultural, historical and recreational resources combine to form a nationally distinctive landscape arising from patterns of human activity shaped by geography.

While each island can make a good case for designation, the island of St. Croix with its two historic towns--Christiansted built in 1734 and Frederiksted built in 1752--is richly blessed with all of the attributes that would justify this designation.

The town's historic architecture matured over a 100-year period. The town of Christiansted is one of the finest examples of Danish architectural designs in this hemisphere. Its history can be traced back some 4,000 years to 2500 BC.

In 1493 Columbus arrived at what is now the Salt River National Historic Park and Ecological Preserve, making it the only site under the American flag where his men went ashore, as well as the first recorded hostile encounter between Europeans and Native Americans.

Frederiksted has the distinction of having been the first jurisdiction to have raised its flag in salute of the new republic of the United States of America, and indeed the first designed flag was done by a resident of that island.

Among the many strong ties of great national significance between St. Croix and the United States, perhaps the most significant one is that this island was the boyhood home of Alexander Hamilton, and where he began to develop the skills employed as the first Secretary of the Treasury of this country.

I want to thank Full Committee Chairman Pombo, Ranking Member Rahall as well as Subcommittee Chairman Radanovich for their support is getting H.R. 1594 and H.R. 280 to the floor of the House today.

My colleagues, H.R. 1549 is a good bill, which could serve as a catalyst for reinvigorating the lagging tourism sector on St. Croix. I urge its adoption.

Mr. Speaker, I rise in support of H.R. 1189, to increase the waiver requirement for certain local matching requirements for grants to American Samoa, Guam, the Virgin Islands or the Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands. I want to commend my colleagues Eni Faleomavaega and Madeleine Bordallo for introducing the bill, which would increase the matching waiver requirement for the first time in twenty years.

Last year the Resources Committee unanimously passed a similar bill jointly sponsored by our former colleague from Guam Robert Underwood, Eni Faleomavaega and myself and I'm pleased that we are once again taking this action.

Mr. Speaker, as I indicated, it has been nearly twenty years since this law has been revisited. While territorial economies have improved each government, particularly my own, the government of the U.S. Virgin Islands continues to be challenged with rising unemployment, decreased government revenues, and attracting new capital for diversification. H.R. 1189 will help broaden U.S. territories' access to Federal grants by increasing the amount Federal agencies shall waive to $500,000.

The bill also seeks to end the inconsistent manner in which 48 U.S.C. section 1469(a) is applied by clarifying that the matching waiver applies to all federal agencies and departments making grants to the U.S. territories, not just the Department of Interior (DOI). The bill also requires DOI to provide a report to Congress on the effect of the updated waiver requirement.

It is my hope also Mr. Speaker, that Federal agencies will apply the waiver not just to grants awarded to the territorial governments, but also to non-profit organizations and other eligible non-governmental entities in the territories. Non-profit organizations in the territories fulfill a significant role in our communities. Groups such as Lutheran Social Services, the St. Croix Community Foundation and the V.I. Resource Center help meet the needs of the homeless, the disadvantaged, and those whose lives are buffeted by tough economic times. Their work is often supported by federal grants. Without such Federal assistance, the non-profit organizations in the territories would struggle to meet their missions and most would not be able to maintain the current level of assistance to our communities.

In conclusion, Mr. Speaker, I want to thank Chairman Pombo and Ranking Member Rahall for their willingness to support and shepherd this bill through the legislative process. I also want to particularly thank our former colleague Bob Underwood, who for most of his tenure in the House, made increasing the matching waiver for the territories one of his highest priorities. I urge my colleagues to support passage of this bill.

Mr. Speaker, I thank the gentleman from Maryland (Mr. Cummings) for yielding, and I thank him for hosting this Special Order today.

I would have come here to primarily discuss H.R. 3459, the Healthcare Equality and Accountability Act of 2003, which is a very important piece of legislation that the four caucuses that we have heard have introduced with our Democratic leadership in both this and the other body.

The bill, which I call the Heal America Act, would do just that: heal America, because the health of people of color is inextricably linked to that of all Americans. So the provisions that are included, which would expand Medicaid to include pregnant women, young people to the age of 20, and legal immigrants, which provides that Federal program set standards and pay for translation services; that includes programs for young people of color to enter the health professions at all levels, and even for older ones to enter the

health professions by changing their profession as long as they practice in underserved communities; which would strengthen the safety net facilities like our hospitals and our community health centers; fully funds and strengthens the Office of Civil Rights within the Department of Health and Human Services, as well as the Office of Minority Health which creates empowerment zones so the communities themselves, which face high disparities, will get the resources and technical assistance that they need to address their health care challenges. This bill would finally bring this country to the top of the list of nations in the world for our health, reverse the global statistics that we have heard from our chairman and, instead of being the thirty-ninth of all of the nations of the world, it would reduce the premature deaths and disabilities that exist in the people of color here; would begin to reduce the skyrocketing health care costs, and also to restore the greatness of this country, which has indeed been tarnished by our recent history here and in the world.

But tonight I want to focus more on an imminent threat to the equality and accountability in health care for millions of Americans. After years of promising a prescription drug benefit, and my knowing from experience as a family physician how badly it is needed, it is a painful task to come to this floor this evening to oppose what we understand is going to be brought to the floor as a Medicare reform bill, perhaps tomorrow. I, like many of my physician colleagues, was tempted to support it, just so we could get something done to alleviate the burden of health care for our patients. But the lives, the health, and the needs of our seniors and the disabled people in this country are too important to just take anything, no matter how defective it might be, just to do something. It would not be fulfilling our promise of a comprehensive prescription drug benefit; it would be reneging on that promise.

We who are here tonight have too much respect for our constituents. We know that we have to continually earn the trust that they have placed in us with their vote. So we are here tonight to oppose the Medicare conference agreement, and to tell our colleagues why.

Despite all of the carrots; for example, the rural provisions which themselves seem to be little more than smoke and mirrors, and the increased payments for physicians which, if the leadership believes, as I do, that it needs to be done, we can do that separately. The bottom line for me is that this bill begins to destroy a program that has provided real health security, that has kept many seniors and disabled persons out of poverty, and which has provided access to health care for them for over 30 years. I cannot in good conscience be a part of dismantling this important safety net program. Yes, I know that some provisions, like premium support, are just demonstration programs, but that is opening a door that should just remain shut.

This conference report goes against what we have been working towards in our caucus: the elimination of disparities in health care for African Americans and other people of color. African Americans are 8 percent of Medicare recipients, and 32 percent of African Americans who have some insurance, have Medicare. While 40 percent of all Medicare beneficiaries are below 200 percent of poverty, 65 percent of African American beneficiaries are. Thirty-three percent are below the poverty level period.

We are then disproportionately among the very poor, and this bill will increase cost-sharing for people who fall in that category. While it may start out relatively low in the first year, it can be counted on to increase with increasing drug prices which average 10 percent an increase a year.

I am also very concerned that there is a very strict means test that will be applied to even these poor beneficiaries: $6,000 for individuals and $9,000 for a couple, which means that many seniors and disabled who need this benefit will be left out.

All of this will mean that even the little that the bill does to provide for low-income Medicare beneficiaries will not be available for as many as up to 2.8 million individuals. This is not, Mr. Speaker, what we promised.

Let us look at what happens to beneficiaries who have prescription drug coverage. Not only will this bill jeopardize the retiree prescription drug benefit, and 22 percent of African Americans with Medicare have a retiree prescription drug benefit, as well as 17 percent of Latino beneficiaries, but how could we, in good conscience, also worsen the already bad situation this report would create for the very poor dual-eligible who would also lose benefits that they have under Medicaid because this bill would eliminate the wrap-around provisions.

Lastly, let me mention the potential cap on Medicaid, the potential cap on this Medicare prescription drug benefit if we pass the conference report. It goes to cost containment. We all know what cost containment has done for us thus far. It has filled the coffers of managed care corporations and, for the most part, has done so by reducing access to needed medical care for those who are enrolled and, virtually, it has left out the sicker, many of whom are poor, who are people of color, or who live in our rural areas. And has the cost of health care gone down in this country because of that cost containment? No, it has not. Have insurance premiums gone down or even stayed steady? No. They are increasing in double digits. So what we would be likely to see would be the rationing of care where we have just begun to see some minor changes. Cost containment would just expand the 2- and 3-tiered health care system where the sickest get the least care. This is not what we promised.

I want to take this opportunity to answer one of my constituents, Rosalee Dance from Saint Thomas. She asked the question, because she is confused like many seniors are in this country. She asks me two questions. She asks, is it true that the bill creates a situation where people either pay sharply increased premiums to stay in traditional Medicare where they can choose their doctors, or be forced out into an

Mr. Speaker, as we approach our annual celebration of Veteran's Day, this year we do so in the knowledge that our brave fighting men and women and those who support their efforts, are in the field in Iraq, in Afghanistan and in Guatanamo Bay, right now in defense of our country and our freedoms.

Mr. Speaker, all of our veterans have served with distinction and deserve the benefits that they have earned. That's why it is important that we invest in their health care and we ensure there is more than enough funding for the VA clinics and hospitals across the country so that our veterans of wars past and wars present can be well cared for.

Mr. Speaker, that is why our veterans deserve to have their tax burdens lifted, including the disabled veterans tax. They deserve to enjoy tax relief such as the child tax credit and they deserve to have their pay increased especially at this time, when they are being asked to sacrifice so much.

Mr. Speaker, the veterans of the U.S. territories, who have served in many wars with distinction, despite not being able to vote for president and not having voting representation in Congress, are also in need of increased health benefits, tax relief and access to business and other opportunities.

Over 200 soldiers from my district are currently serving in the Middle East, with many more in the National Guard and Reserve who have been called up to serve their country at different places across the world at this time.

Mr. Speaker, I would like to salute the veterans from my district who are being honored this weekend and who have served in the major conflicts of our time from World War II to Vietnam to the first Persian Gulf . . . they include Gloria Bell, Peter Thurland, Juan Cruz, Earl Morris, Olaf Jackson, Evelyn Crittenden, Agnes Day Henry, Edgar Iles, Nevlin Williams and Otto Tranberg.

Mr. Speaker, this year, it is important that our soldiers in the field, our veterans and their families all know that we appreciate their sacrifice and that this body pledges to support them in the best way that we possibly can.

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

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

Madam Speaker, S. 470 is the Senate companion measure to a House bill, H.R. 1209, that was passed by this body on September 23, 2003. It is a simple piece of legislation that extends for 3 years the authority for construction of a memorial to Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., here in the District of Columbia.

In 1996, Public Law 104-333 authorized the Alpha Phi Alpha Fraternity, Inc., through the Martin Luther King Memorial Project Foundation, to establish a memorial here in our Nation's capital to America's foremost civil rights leader. Since that time, the sponsors have worked diligently to secure memorial site and design approvals. In addition, there has been a fund-raising campaign under way to secure the necessary funds to build and maintain the memorial. However, not all of the necessary funds have been secured and ground cannot be broken until the funds are in place. That is the reason for the need for the extension.

Madam Speaker, I want to take this opportunity to applaud the Alpha Phi Alpha fraternity for the work they have done so far and their commitment to this project. S. 470 is a completely noncontroversial measure. I strongly support its passage by the House today so that the measure can be sent to the President for his signature and the work to establish this national memorial to this great American, a real world leader, can continue.

Madam Speaker, I reserve the balance of my time.

Madam Speaker, I yield 5 minutes to the gentlewoman from the District of Columbia (Ms. Norton).

Madam Speaker, I yield 5 minutes to the gentleman from Illinois (Mr. Davis).

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

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

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

Madam Speaker, I join my colleague in support of H. Con. Res. 268.

Madam Speaker, the United States has long been a leader in promoting the sustainable harvest of our ocean resources. Unfortunately, not all other countries have been as diligent. We must continue to press for effective conservation and management of our world's fisheries, not only at the International Commission for the Conservation of Atlantic Tunas, or ICCAT, but at all international fisheries organizations.

This concurrent resolution, H. Con. Res. 268, gives much-needed support to our U.S. commissioners as they enter into yet another round of difficult international negotiations. Ending illegal, unregulated and unreported fishing, not only of white marlin but all the species managed by ICCAT, is necessary to ensure the long-term sustainability of these fisheries and the United States commercial and recreational industries that depend on them.

I commend my colleague, the gentleman from New Jersey (Mr. Saxton), for this timely resolution, and I urge the House to adopt it.

Madam Speaker, I reserve the balance of my time.

Madam Speaker, I yield such time as he may consume to the ranking member of the subcommittee, the gentleman from New Jersey (Mr. Pallone).

Madam Speaker, I yield such time as he may consume to the gentleman from American Samoa (Mr. Faleomavaega).

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

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

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

Madam Speaker, H.R. 3249 extends the term of the Forest Counties Payments Committee until September 30, 2007. This date coincides with the expiration date of the Secure Rural Schools and Community Self-Determination Act of 2000. The committee, whose term expired on October 11, 2003, is to provide recommendations concerning Federal payments to States and counties in which public lands are situated. The bill is noncontroversial, and we do not object to it.

I want to take this opportunity to thank the two gentlemen from Oregon, the sponsor of the bill, (Mr. Walden), and our Democratic colleague (Mr. DeFazio) for bringing this legislation to the floor.

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

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

Madam Speaker, H.R. 1616, introduced by my friend and colleague, the gentleman from Georgia (Mr. Lewis), authorizes the exchange of land between the National Park Service and the City of Atlanta at the Martin Luther King, Jr., National Historic Site.

The national historic site was established in 1980 to preserve and interpret the birthplace, church, and grave of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. Part of the site also includes a vacant lot that is not historically significant to the site, but which the City of Atlanta would like to acquire as part of its redevelopment of the area surrounding the National Historic Site.

The National Park Service has established a visitor center and museum at the historic site that could be enhanced by acquisition of an adjacent parcel owned by the city. While there have been discussions of an exchange of the two properties under the site's Enabling Act, city- owned property can only be acquired by donation.

Madam Speaker, both the National Park Service and the City of Atlanta support this exchange. It is an action that would benefit both the national historic site and the city. This looks to be a win-win situation and, as such, we support the legislation.

Madam Speaker, it is an honor to serve with the gentleman from Georgia (Mr. Lewis) who, of course, was a trusted and invaluable worker and leader along with Dr. Martin Luther King and who continues to be a drum major for justice today.

Madam Speaker, I yield such time as he might consume to the gentleman from Georgia (Mr. Lewis).

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

Mr. Speaker, I rise to pay tribute to my friend Dr. Mohammed Ali Odeen Ishmael, Ambassador of Guyana to the United States of America and Permanent Representative of Guyana to the Organization of American States.

Ambassador Odeen Ishmael, who was born in 1948, was appointed to his current post, more than 10 years ago, in June 1993 and is presently the Dean of the Caribbean Ambassador.

Before becoming an Ambassador, Dr. Ishmael previously worked as a teacher in Guyana, and served during the 1970s in the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Guyana. He returned to teaching after his stint in Foreign Affairs. From 1985 to early 1993 he worked in The Bahamas in the areas of both secondary and adult education. He has represented Guyana at the OAS General Assemblies, and other specialized meetings of the hemispheric body in various countries of the hemisphere and has participated as a member of Guyana's delegation at the U.N. General Assembly since 1993. In addition, he has headed Guyana's delegation to meetings of the Regional Negotiating Machinery (of CARICOM) from 1997. From 1997, he has headed Guyana's delegations to meetings Foreign Ministers of the Organization of Islamic Conference (OIC); and he also participated in the Summits of Heads of States of the OIC in Tehran (1997) and Qatar (2000).

Ambassador Ishmael was also Guyana's chief negotiator at the Summits of the Americas of 1994 (Miami), 1998 (Santiago de Chile) and 2001 (Quebec City), and also at the Summit of Sustainable Development in Bolivia (1996). At the OAS, he served as Chairman of the Permanent Council in late 1994, and oversaw the restoration of democratic government in Haiti. He is the only Guyanese to serve in this prestigious position in the hemispheric organization.

He had previously served as Vice-Chairman of the Permanent Council during July-September 1993, and as Vice-Chairman of the Environmental Committee of the Permanent Council from August 1993 to July 1994. In 1994 he was also elected Chairman of the General Committee to prepare the OAS draft convention on the situation of persons with disabilities. In 1996, he was elected Vice-Chairman of the OAS Working Group on Sustainable Development.

In May 1997, Ambassador Ishmael was awarded one of Guyana's highest honors, the Cacique Crown on Honor (CCH). Many years earlier, in 1974, he was awarded the Gandhi Centenary Medal at the University of Guyana. In political life, Ambassador Ishmael served in the Central Committees of the Progressive Youth Organization (PYO)--serving as Second Secretary--and the People's Progressive Party (PPP) of Guyana, and in the course of his political work, he participated in numerous international conferences and activities in many different countries. He also assisted in lobbying Guyana's case for electoral reforms in different countries in North and South America, Europe and the Caribbean.

He has written numerous articles on Education, Guyanese history and international political issues, which have been published in newspapers and journals in Guyana, the Caribbean and North America. His published books include Problems of the Transition of education in the Third World, Towards Education Reform in Guyana, and Amerindian Legends of Guyana. An Internet edition of a fourth book, The Trail of Diplomacy, was released in late 1998. He is currently in the process of compiling and editing a lengthy collection of original documents on the Guyana- Venezuela border issue under the title, Guyana's Western Border. He is married and has two children.

I met Ambassador Ishmael when I was first elected to the House of Representatives and served as the Honorary Co-Chair of the Institute for Caribbean Studies Annual Awards Dinner. In the flowing years, I had the pleasure of working with him and his other Caribbean Ambassador colleagues on the several issues, from Trade to Immigration, and economic development, which continue to impact our democratic neighbors to the south.

I want to thank Ambassador Ishmael and his family for his commitment and dedication, during his tenure here in Washington, not only to issues affecting his home country Guyana but also to the issues and concerns of all of the countries of the Caribbean. I want to wish him much success in his new assignment and to say that Washington, DC Caribbean community will greatly surely miss his insightful, quiet leadership as well as his earnest friendship.

Mr. Chairman, I rise to oppose President Bush's request of $87 billion for the rebuilding of Iraq.

Mr. Chairman, these are the most troubling days this country has gone through in my lifetime, not just because we are at war, or even because of the terrorist attacks on 9/11, as horrific as that event and its aftermath has been, but because we are living in a time when we cannot rely on government to protect our civil liberties, and we cannot rely on the word and the stated intent of the administration in power. Moreover, it is a time when those sworn to uphold the Constitution undermine it at every opportunity.

For the President to ask then for $87 billion after having sent this country into the largest deficit in year with tax cuts for the wealthy and an ill conceived economic policy, without being accountable for the prior $65 billion, or even trying to justify this new request, is unbecoming of the high office he holds and a slap in the face of Members of Congress and the people we represent.

Mr. Chairman, I want our men and women protected, well equipped and with their needs addressed. I want us to restore basic stability and services to Iraq. I want troop support in Iraq from our allies, and I want the bulk of our soldiers home and out of harm's way.

More than anything, I want us to become a better nation and to regain the respect and the moral leadership that the current administration has squandered away.

Reliable reports such as one done recently by the Congressional Research Service has shown that this funding is not needed immediately. Other reports open questions on the efficiency and efficacy of what has already been spent. Just about every American has questions about why Bechtel and Halliburton have sole and uncontested claim to so much of the millions spent and proposed.

Mr. Chairman, there are too many questions which we have not only a right but a constitutional obligation to ask and have answered.

We do not help our soldiers, Iraq or our country by giving the President this blank check.

I urge my colleagues to vote no, and to insist that the President respect the Constitution, this body and the American people, and respond to our request for the important and accurate information needed to vote responsibly on this request.

Mr. Speaker, what an awesome privilege for me to have found myself in the presence of Dr. Dorothy Height--a brilliant woman, a woman of profound courage and insight--some of my living history as a woman, as person of African descent and as an American.

Mr. Speaker, by bestowing Dr. Height with a Congressional Gold Medal, we honor this body, and I am pleased to be part of this effort. Although Dr. Height is known most recently for her leadership role with the National Council of Negro Women, her life accomplishments exemplify her commitment for a better society for all individuals, especially for African-Americans.

Under the direction of Dr. Height, the National Council for Negro Women developed model programs on topics ranging from teenage parenting to eradicating hunger, and established the Bethune Museum and Archives for Black Women. The Bethune Museum is the first institution devoted to the history of black women. Dr. Height founded the Center for Racial Justice, served as President of the National Council of Negro Women and the Delta Sigma Theta Sorority, and held several leadership positions with the Young Women's Christian Association of America.

Beginning as a civil rights advocate in the 1930's, Dr. Height soon gained prominence through her tireless efforts to promote interracial schooling, to register and educate voters, and to increase the visibility and status of women in our society. Dr. Height's devotion and commitment to fight for social justice in this nation and throughout the world has been unaffected by time. She has been at the forefront of AIDS education, both nationally and internationally; under her direction, the National Council of Negro Women established offices in West Africa and South Africa and worked to improve the conditions of women in developing countries.

Dr. Dorothy Height's work represents the true meaning of public service. By awarding her with a Congressional God Medal, we honor a lasting legacy of public service that has been an invaluable to the progress of this Nation.

Mr. Speaker, I want to begin by thanking you Chairman Cummings and the rest of my CBC colleagues for providing leadership on this important issue to the American people.

Let me say at the outset that my fellow CBC members and I stand behind the courageous men and women in the military and are deeply grateful for their patriotism, courage and the sacrifices they are making.

Whether it is the courageous Sergeant Shoshanna Johnson or the several of my constituents that are laying their lives on the line for the country they love, they are all owed our gratitude and support.

I agree with you and my colleagues Mr. Chairman--as well as a significant number of my constituents who have sent me more e-mails opposing the President's request to spend an additional $87 billion on Iraq than on any other issue--that the administration should provide an accounting of all funds expended to date that were previously appropriated by the Congress, including details about all contracts for work in or related to Iraq.

We can't give the president a blank check particularly since there has been no real accountability for the already provided $63 billion for Iraq. And especially with frequent reports of equipment failure, and our men and women not getting the level of protection they should.

It is true that we have a responsibility to rebuild the infrastructure in Iraq, with emphasis on ``re,'' but we must also remember that we have many unmet needs here at home.

We need to make investments in health care and my colleagues on the other minority caucuses and I are working on a comprehensive bill to address the causes of health disparities in our communities which will require at least the same $900 million proposed for health in Iraq, to make the kind of investment in prevention, and control and treatment of the chronic diseases and to close the gaps that are driving up the cost of health care. And we need to include a comprehensive prescription program and mental health party.

In my own area, my constituents are severely challenged when it comes to access to health care because we have a large low income population and a Medicaid program which places a cap on payments to us and requires us to adhere to a local match which treats as though we were one of the wealthiest areas of the country.

In announcing our statement of principles, we in the Congressional Black Caucus, are

also very concerned about reports which suggest that the reconstruction of Iraq is being done in a cost efficient manner through the utilization of local Iraqis in the rebuilding process, for example, which is apparently being rejected in favor of very expensive projects that only certain companies can do. It is important that the American people have the assurance that we are not, through this process, just making friends of the Administration wealthy or more wealthy, which appears to be the current goal.

If the President truly needs this money, then there should be no problem or barrier to his giving the Congress and the American people an accounting of how previously appropriated funds for Iraq were spent, a plan for future spending and an exit strategy. And the administration should be willing to pay for it out of the high end of the tax cut.

It is irresponsible for the President and his supporters to continue to call for and threaten to increase tax cuts after getting us into this war and rebuilding effort on flimsy evidence and with so many needs here at home going unaddressed.

This Body gave a blank check before without adequate information. We cannot and must not do it again.

Mr. Speaker, I thank the gentleman from New York (Mr. Crowley) for yielding me this time.

It is a special honor and privilege today to rise in support of H.R. 1900, legislation sponsored by the gentleman from Massachusetts (Mr. Neal) to award a Congressional Gold Medal to the late, great Jackie Robinson in recognition of his many contributions to the Nation, and to express a sense of Congress that there should be a national day of recognition in his name. I applaud my colleague for sponsoring the bill which should be supported by everyone in this body.

Mr. Speaker, in the spring of 1947, Jackie Roosevelt Robinson played his first game with the Brooklyn Dodgers, breaking down baseball's decades-old color line and changing the face of baseball forever. Over the past few years, I too have had the pleasure of working with Jackie Robinson's older daughter, Sharon Robinson, on a number of activities and programs of the Jackie Robinson Foundation, which continue his legacy for our children and which has brought to my and many of my colleagues' districts.

On a broader note, my constituents and I owe a debt of gratitude to Jackie Robinson for opening the door and paving the way for all of us, but especially for several Virgin Islands major leaguers like Valmy Thomas, Elrod Hendricks, Al McBean, Elmo Plaskett, Horace Clarke, Jerry Browne, Joe Christopher, Henry Cruz, Midre Cummings, Jose Morales, and Calvin Pickering, as well as Bernie Williams whom we share with Puerto Rico.

Mr. Speaker, the bill before us is a long overdue tribute, and I rise on their behalf and on behalf of all Virgin Islanders. I only wish it had been bestowed on Jackie Robinson while he was still alive.

I urge my colleagues to support H.R. 1900.