Floor Statements

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

Mr. Speaker, it is unfortunate that so few people know who Dr. Carter G. Woodson was, given his significant contributions to American historical scholarship. It is our hope that by adopting this bill, H.R. 1012, we might help educate the public regarding this great man's important contributions as well as preserving this historic property.

Dr. Woodson's impressive career included the founding of the Association for the Study of Negro Life and History, as well as publication of many seminal scholarly works, including ``The Negro in Our History,'' now in its 11th printing, and 35 years as editor of the ``Journal of Negro History.'' It is based on these and other accomplishments that Dr. Woodson has come to be recognized as the Father of Black History. Legislation signed into law during the 106th Congress authorized a study of Dr. Woodson's home here in the District to determine the suitability and feasibility of adding the property to the national parks system. That study was completed in June of last year and supported such inclusion. H.R. 1012 authorizes the addition of the home to our system of national parks under certain conditions.

We fully support the passage of this legislation. The gentleman from West Virginia (Mr. Rahall), the ranking member of the full committee, also is very supportive of this legislation. We both would like to congratulate the gentlewoman from the District of Columbia (Ms. Norton) for her effective and tireless efforts on behalf of this legislation.

We urge the adoption of H.R. 1012.

Mr. Speaker, I yield such time as she may consume to the gentlewoman from the District of Columbia (Ms. Norton), the sponsor of this legislation.

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

Mr. Speaker, 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, I am also pleased to rise in support of H.R. 856, legislation introduced by the gentleman from Texas (Mr. Stenholm), that would provide financial relief to the Tom Green Water District in Texas.

Persistent drought continues to devastate agriculture and create financial hardship for water districts in many areas of the western United States. Most water districts depend on water sales as their primary source of revenue. With water supplies at record lows, some districts cannot sell enough water to meet their financial obligations.

In the case of the Tom Green District, it is entirely appropriate that we extend the length of their contract term to allow additional time for the district to meet its payment obligations.

Mr. Speaker, I yield such time as he may consume to the gentleman from Texas (Mr. Stenholm), the sponsor of this bill.

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

Mr. Speaker, it is hard to understand just what the White House and the leadership of this Congress have against the poor folk in this country and the millions who have lost jobs because of the mess they have made of the economy.

Just look at the contrast between the frustrations of the people and the Republicans' proposed remedies. Over 43 million people with no insurance, yet they cut Medicaid. With unemployment high, Americans need the security of extended unemployment benefits, yet they refuse the extension Democrats have been fighting for. Those on welfare need more than a stopgap job that leads nowhere, and yet the training that can lift them out of poverty is being denied. People with disabilities, veterans, many others are also being shortchanged.

All children need a quality education, and yet education and college loans are underfunded. States are barely treading water, and all regular people are struggling under an increasing tax burden while taxes are being cut to save corporations and the rich. The Christian values this country was founded on do not reconcile with the actions of the White House and our Republican leadership. Colleagues, vote with the Democrats. Vote against the Bush tax cut, and let us get our country back on the right track.

Mr. Chairman, the reauthorization of the ``Workforce Reinvestment and Adult Education Act'' is critical to solving our nation's economic slump. The unemployment rate rose to 6.0 percent in April and the number of unemployed persons increased to 8.8 million in April. Jobless rates for adult women, teenagers, whites, African-Americans and Hispanics showed little or no change. During this time of economic recession, investing in the workforce benefits both employees and employers and strengthens our economy. Access to job training is critical for our nation's unemployed. But, H.R. 1261 is not a ``simple'' reauthorization of the Workforce Investment Act. Rather, H.R. 1261 is the beginning of dismantling the federal unemployment safety net that has served our nation for over 70 years.

There are several provisions of H.R. 1261 that are particularly troubling. The Republican bill removes nondiscrimination language from the existing law--thereby allowing organizations receiving funds under WIA to discriminate in hiring based on religion. I have received constituent letters urging a vote against H.R. 1261 because this legislation jeopardizes civil rights and religious freedoms by rolling back protection against discrimination or misuse of government funds by religious organizations.

Block granting is a bad strategy and one that we have seen often used by the Republicans. By block granting the current dislocated worker program with the adult training program and the state unemployment benefits program, welfare recipients and at-risk populations will have to compete not only with one another for much needed services, but competition would increase among programs for limited dollars. This approach weakens the individual job training programs instead of strengthening them. Restructuring WIA is not the answer to reduce our unemployment rate. Creating more jobs is the answer.

Instead of bringing up this damaging bill, the Republicans should also be bringing a bill to extend Unemployment Benefits. At the end of this month, the current Temporary Extended Unemployment Compensation program will terminate, and jobless workers who have extended their regular unemployment benefits will not be able to obtain assistance. This bill does nothing to address this issue.

The local WIA agency in my district, the U.S. Virgin Islands, has voiced concerns about the change in funding ration for youth programs under WIA. The current bill would cap participation for in-school youth at 30 percent. Under current law, both in-school and out-of-school youth are served. Services that would be dropped as a result of the Republican plan include summer employment opportunities, mentoring, and job counseling.

The reauthorization of WIA is an opportunity for Congress to address the unemployment issue in this country. Unfortunately, H.R. 1261 does not address the needs of this growing population. I urge my colleagues to vote ``No'' on the passage of H.R. 1261.

Mr. Chairman, I rise today to urge for the passage of H.R. 1298, and I want to commend my colleagues Barbara Lee and Tom Lantos, as well as Chairman Hyde and the entire CBC for getting us to where we are today.

The White House has also come a long way.

And so I am pleased to support this bill, which now provides $1 billion for the global Fund where it can be leveraged to greater levels of funding through contributions from other sources.

Hopefully as we see its success, the U.S. will increase its contribution to the global Fund where I am convinced we can do the most good.

This bill wisely builds on the program in Uganda, where the three pronged approach of abstinence, being faithful to one partner, and condom use has seen much success.

This is a major victory, not for those of us who have urged this approach but for the people whose lives will be saved.

Lastly, I am very pleased that the Caribbean is included, specifically Haiti and Guyana, but here too, I hope that we can see this funding expanded to other countries in the region, which also bear a heavy burden of HIV and AIDS.

We have come a long way in these two years, and even since the announcement of the $15 billion in the President's State of the Union Address this year.

Although we can still improve upon this effort, passage of H.R. 1298 will mark a great

step forward in responding to this strong moral imperative. We look forward to working with our colleagues and the White House to continue to match what will surely be growing need, and to do the same for the HIV and AIDS epidemic right here at home.

Mr. Chairman, I rise in strong opposition to this amendment. My colleagues and the chairman have worked very hard to ensure a proven approach to HIV and AIDS funding which is based on the successful Ugandan model. The President himself has seen the wisdom of this approach and supports it. We agree that abstinence is a great approach,

but it cannot be used alone, and it cannot be dictated where it absolutely cannot work. And where it works best is in a comprehensive educational program. Our own CDC experience attests to this; and as a family physician who has worked in family planning and HIV and AIDS, I know this is the best approach. It is the one that delays sexual activity, reduces partners, and more importantly saves lives.

I strongly urge all of my colleagues, no matter what their personal or religious convictions might be, not to impose them on others but to allow these funds that are so very important to the lives of millions of people to be used how and where they can be most effective. And this needs to be done globally as well as in our domestic programs.

Mr. Chairman, I urge my colleagues to reject this amendment and do a great thing here today by passing H.R. 1298 with the good amendments that have already been passed.

Mr. Chairman, the Americans with Disabilities Act, ADA, and the Individuals with Disabilities Action IDEA, are two primary and most important laws that protect the rights of a special segment of our population--individuals with disabilities. Today, we debate the passage of H.R. 1350, a bill to reauthorize IDEA, which was created to ensure that all children with disabilities are afforded a free and appropriate public education within the least restrictive environment, and that the rights of children with disabilities and parents of such children are protected. H.R. 1350, undermines the original intent of the law and essentially guts the protections it was intended to provide.

I support, 100 percent improving the quality of education for children with disabilities, but despite the statements of its proponents, this bill would not achieve this goal.

The base bill undermines civil rights provisions, something that seems under attack on many fronts by this administration, and as in the Leave No Child Behind Act, fails to fully fund it. This reauthorization would make IDEA nothing more than an empty promise.

I am also very much opposed to the DeMint voucher proposal. Is this yet another opportunity for the Republicans to force one of their favorite programs upon the unsuspecting public. It has been said that the amendment that Representative DeMint is scheduled to offer is not a voucher, since it allows vouchers without requiring them. That is a distinction without a difference. A voucher is a voucher is a voucher.

On behalf of approximately 1617 students with disabilities in my district, the U.S. Virgin Islands, and all the major organizations representing children with disabilities, I urge my colleagues to resolve the issues raised by voting for the Democratic amendments and to oppose final passage of the bill if these issues have not been successfully addressed.

Mr. Speaker, I thank the gentlewoman for yielding to me. It is a pleasure to be here with her.

I just had to come over and join the gentlewoman on the floor here tonight because the problems of Haiti and the obstacles that we have been facing together that the gentlewoman has led us through so steadfastly continue to plague that country and cause suffering to the millions of people who live there. So it is important for us as a caucus to stand here with the gentlewoman tonight and once again to call on our colleagues and the President of these United States to let Haiti live.

Last week I traveled to the eastern end of Hispaniola and there on that side, and it is so different, even when you just fly over the island. It turns from gray to green. There I found a struggling but overcoming people, where jobs were being created, standard of living was being raised, children were being educated, the health care system was ever improving.

It was my second time in the Dominican Republic but I have been to Haiti many times, and it troubles me deeply that this situation is so startling different compared to that of the neighbor on this same island in the Caribbean of which I am a part. And why should this be? Because the people of Haiti have accepted democracy that we helped to bring to their nation, and they have accepted its promise. Though imperfect, that democracy is new, and building democracies take time.

As I am sure this country will find out in Iraq, but perhaps we will be a bit more patient there than with the people of Haiti because we certainly have not been patient or supporting of their efforts to make democracy work. The reason for the difference is clearly that our country, the United States of America, has stood in the way of allowing the people of Haiti to grow, to thrive and to actually allow the democracy that we so are so honored to thrive in this country of poor but proud, hard-working and spirited people of African decent.

We are here tonight again to say let Haiti live, first, by releasing the loans that are needed to build their sanitation, transportation, health and educational infrastructure, and also by fully supporting the OAS mission there, whose responsibility it is to ensure the changes that we claim to seek in their judiciary and their police system and in their electoral process.

Mr. Speaker, I want to say thank you to the gentlewoman from California (Ms. Lee) and the gentleman from Michigan (Mr. Conyers) who have both led this fight for their faithfulness and steadfastness and the support of Haiti and their work on its behalf. We have under their leadership talked to people at Treasury. We have talked to leaders at USAID. We have talked to folks at the OAS. We have talked to the international lending institutions. I think we have done what we can. I guess we could do more. But we have done the things that have been open to us to do. There is no excuse for what this country is doing by holding back these so badly needed funds. As the gentlewoman said, 140 something million dollars is nothing to this country, but it means everything to the people of Haiti.

What Haiti is asking for is what has been done for every other country in this region that has been similarly situated. There is no reason for it to be treated different. Mr. President, our brothers and sisters are suffering, many are dying. And we are asking you once again to let that money go, to let our brothers and sisters go and to let Haiti live.

Mr. Speaker, a blessed woman from my district in the U.S. Virgin Islands, whose worth was far above rubies left this temporary earthly residence and went home.

I rise today to speak of Mrs. Ingerborg, ``beautiful daughter'', Agatha--``the good, the kind'', Cartier Henry, who was above all else a mother, to her nine wonderful children who have learned from her to dedicate their lives to caring and serving. She also ``mothered'' everyone who grew up in Gallows Bay, in the Seventh Day Adventist Church, her grands, great-grands and countless others.

Ingerborg Cartier Henry was born to Eugenie Phaire Cartier and Valdemar Cartier on February 6, 1911 on the island of St. Croix. She was educated under both the Danish and American public school systems.

She joined the Seventh-day Adventist Church in 1929, when she was baptized by Pastor C. G. van Putten. On December 21, 1932, she married Irvin Henry. To this union, nine children were born.

Mrs. Henry was an excellent cook, pastry maker and baker. Some people still talk about her black bread. She loved to entertain, camp, and travel. In the early hours of the morning of March 28, 2003, she quietly passed to her rest in her home in Gallows Bay where she resided for 61 years.

Mrs. Henry, Miss Inger, Mother Henry, Cousin Inger, Auntie Borg, Borgie, Mother will be greatly missed. We will always cherish her memory. Her husband, her children and all of us call her blessed. May she rest in eternal peace.

Madam Speaker, I rise in support of the Obey motion to instruct conferees to recede to the Senate amendment to the Emergency Supplemental bill, which would provide 26 weeks of additional temporary extended unemployment compensation for displaced airline related workers.

Mr. Speaker, I support our decision to provide assistance to the airline industry which is already a casualty of the War on Terrorism. Aviation workers fully understand the need to protect their country and workplace from future attacks. Over 150,000 aviation workers have already lost their jobs, and many of those who remain have been forced to take significant pay and benefit cuts to keep their companies afloat.

If we don't act immediately to provide emergency relief, the airlines are predicting another 70,000 job losses and even deeper cuts due to the war in Iraq. Many will no longer have the ability to pay basic living expenses. If we do nothing, workers will be forced to bear the expense of the war.

However, as we protect the airlines we must protect their workers as well. The Murray amendment in the Senate bill would assist those aviation workers who will lose their jobs by providing extended unemployment benefits, help for laid-off families to cover health care costs and job retraining assistance. To my dismay and regret, Congress after the terrorist attacks of September 11th, provided initial relief to airlines, while turning its back on relief for the workers themselves. We have the opportunity today to take another course and assist aviation workers who will likely be disproportionately affected by a war.

I urge my colleagues to support the Obey motion to instruct.

Mr. Chairman, I rise in support of Title VIII of H.R. 6, the Insular Areas Energy Security Act and I want to thank the Chairman of the Resources Committee, Mr. Pombo and especially the Ranking Member, Mr. Rahall.

While I am pleased that H.R. 6 includes the Insular Areas Security Act, I am disappointed that a substitute amendment by Mr. Rahall was not made in order because I believe it was a better solution to the concerns over energy production we are having in our country. The Rahall amendment would have ensured that more domestic energy is introduced into the domestic market, relieve transmission constraints for our western States, encourage renewable energy on federal lands, assure fairness in oil royalties, and protect our environment and our nation's monuments and parks.

The Insular Areas Energy Act will update a nearly twenty-year-old assessment of energy importation, consumption, and alterative indigenous sources that can be used by insular areas. A new part of this reassessment will be a recommendation and plan to protect energy transmission and distribution lines from the effects of hurricanes and typhoons. The amendment also gives the Interior Secretary the authority to fund such recommendations.

We are all aware of the tragedy and destruction a hurricane or typhoon brings once it reaches land. The majority of Americans become aware of such a storm when it heads up the eastern seaboard or makes its way inland from the Gulf of Mexico. They are awesome and dangerous. And there is not much that can be done when it is headed your way. Those of us whose districts have been in the path of such storms can attest to the devastation.

The Virgin Islands is affected by the strongest of storms, like Hugo and Maryland that eventually make their way to the U.S. mainland. But we are also all too frequent a target for lesser known hurricanes that never make it out of the Caribbean Basin but still manage to inflict just as much damage as those that reach Florida.

Some of the costliest destruction is to the Virgin Island's electrical infrastructure. Island wide outrages are common in the wake of a storm because our lines are not as hardened as they could be from a storm's strength. Ideally, in any location that experiences as much hurricane activity as my district, transmission lines should be buried underground. To have the majority of our electrical lines above ground poses a great threat to residents during storms and makes our system vulnerable and costly to repair.

I am pleased the Insular Areas energy act has been included in this bill which will work towards making our islands safer and less vulnerable to the devastation brought upon us by hurricanes.

Mr. Speaker, last year with the help of Congressman J.C. Watts and many others, we passed a sense of Congress that April should be Minority Health Month.

There have already been many conferences, briefings and other activities to call attention to the poor health, the lack of access and the wide disparities in the health of this country's minority populations. Whether it is heart disease, cancer, stroke, diabetes or AIDS, just to name a few, African Americans in particular, but all people of color, die and are disabled in numbers far disproportionate to their representation in our country.

No country can achieve its full greatness when it continues to essentially ignore the plight of one-third of its citizens and residents, when the right of health care is denied to so many.

Reverend Dr. Martin Luther King said that ``of all the forms of injustice, the denial of health care is the most shocking and inhumane.'' As we debate the budget, it would be shocking and inhumane to pass a tax cut of any size while almost 75 million people do not have full health insurance and while hundreds of people of color die every day prematurely from preventable causes.

We are a better country than this. Let us prove it before we go home to face our constituents and celebrate the most important holy days of the Christian and Jewish faith. In health, as in education, no one should be left behind.

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, as stated by the gentleman from Maryland (Mr. Gilchrest), the overall purpose of this legislation is to better coordinate and provide financial assistance to the States of Maryland and Louisiana in their efforts to eradicate and/or control nutria, a large member of the rodent family that has decimated wetland areas in both States.

Madam Speaker, no one denies the fact that nutria have become far too abundant in some regions of both States. In addition, it is the consensus of wildlife biologists that greater effort should be undertaken now to control this invasive pest before it ruins more valuable fish and wildlife habitat. This legislation is noncontroversial and should also help conserve coastal wetlands, something which is very important to my district. I support H.R. 273 and urge Members to do likewise.

Madam Speaker, 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. 108 would require the Secretary of Agriculture to pay the costs of environmental reviews conducted pursuant to the Educational Land Grant Act. The majority and my colleague have already clearly and very passionately explained the bill, and we have no objection. So we support H.R. 108.

Madam Speaker, 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, the McLoughlin House National Historic Site in Oregon honors the achievements of John McLoughlin, commonly referred to as the ``Father of Oregon.'' The site has been preserved and managed by the McLoughlin Memorial Association since its designation as a national historic site in 1941. Unfortunately, the association is no longer in a position to be the primary management entity for this nationally very significant site and is therefore seeking Federal acquisition of the site. Once acquired, the site will be managed as part of the nearby Fort Vancouver National Historic Site.

The gentlewoman from Oregon (Ms. Hooley) has worked tirelessly on behalf of this legislation and is to be commended for her diligence and perseverance. The McLoughlin House site might have well begun to suffer serious deterioration had she not stepped in to preserve this important historic resource.

Madam Speaker, I yield such time as she may consume to the gentlewoman from Oregon (Ms. Hooley).

Madam Speaker, I yield such time as he may consume to the gentleman from Washington (Mr. Baird).

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