Floor Statements

Madam Speaker, I rise today to recognize and applaud Sam Rosales who has received the Arvada Wheat Ridge Service Ambassadors for Youth award. Sam Rosales is a 12th grader at Arvada School and received this award because his determination and hard work have allowed him to overcome adversities.

The dedication demonstrated by Sam Rosales is exemplary of the type of achievement that can be attained with hard work and perseverance. It is essential students at all levels strive to make the most of their education and develop a work ethic which will guide them for the rest of their lives.

I extend my deepest congratulations once again to Sam Rosales for winning the Arvada Wheat Ridge Service Ambassadors for Youth award. I have no doubt he will exhibit the same dedication and character to all his future accomplishments.

Madam Speaker, I rise today to recognize and applaud Samantha Herbert who has received the Arvada Wheat Ridge Service Ambassadors for Youth award. Samantha Herbert is a 7th grader at Drake Middle School and received this award because her determination and hard work have allowed her to overcome adversities.

The dedication demonstrated by Samantha Herbert is exemplary of the type of achievement that can be attained with hard work and perseverance. It is essential students at all levels strive to make the most of their education and develop a work ethic which will guide them for the rest of their lives.

I extend my deepest congratulations once again to Samantha Herbert for winning the Arvada Wheat Ridge Service Ambassadors for Youth award. I have no doubt she will exhibit the same dedication and character to all her future accomplishments.

Madam Speaker, I rise today to recognize and applaud Sarah Ellis

who has received the Arvada Wheat Ridge Service Ambassadors for Youth award. Sarah Ellis is a 12th grader at Ralston Valley High School and received this award because her determination and hard work have allowed her to overcome adversities.

The dedication demonstrated by Sarah Ellis is exemplary of the type of achievement that can be attained with hard work and perseverance. It is essential students at all levels strive to make the most of their education and develop a work ethic which will guide them for the rest of their lives.

I extend my deepest congratulations once again to Sarah Ellis for winning the Arvada Wheat Ridge Service Ambassadors for Youth award. I have no doubt she will exhibit the same dedication and character to all her future accomplishments.

Madam Speaker, I rise today to recognize and applaud Sarah Rose who has received the Arvada Wheat Ridge Service Ambassadors for Youth award. Sarah Rose is an 8th grader at Arvada Middle School and received this award because her determination and hard work have allowed her to overcome adversities.

The dedication demonstrated by Sarah Rose is exemplary of the type of achievement that can be attained with hard work and perseverance. It is essential students at all levels strive to make the most of their education and develop a work ethic which will guide them for the rest of their lives.

I extend my deepest congratulations once again to Sarah Rose for winning the Arvada Wheat Ridge Service Ambassadors for Youth award. I have no doubt she will exhibit the same dedication and character to all her future accomplishments.

Mr. Speaker, by direction of the Committee on Rules, I call up House Resolution 1448 and ask for its immediate consideration.

Mr. Speaker, for the purpose of debate only, I yield the customary 30 minutes to my colleague, the gentlewoman from North Carolina (Ms. Foxx). All time yielded during consideration of the rule is for debate only.

General Leave

I ask unanimous consent that all Members be given 5 legislative days in which to revise and extend their remarks on House Resolution 1448.

I yield myself such time as I may consume.

Mr. Speaker, House Resolution 1448 is a structured rule, providing for further consideration of H.R. 5297, the Small Business Lending Fund Act. It provides for the consideration of two amendments which were initially cleared as PAYGO-compliant but which were subsequently deemed to violate PAYGO after the first rule was adopted. These amendments have been revised to comply with PAYGO rules, and this rule treats them as part of yesterday's rule.

Mr. Speaker, in 2008, after years of lax regulation and Wall Street roulette, our Nation's economy fell off a cliff. Within a matter of months, many Wall Street giants fell, and they took the livelihoods of thousands of small businesses with them. Since that time, we have taken bold action to stabilize the economy, to invest in economic growth, and we are in the process of putting in place new rules to protect against the casino-like atmosphere that existed on Wall Street.

Yet for small businesses, they are still feeling the pinch. Accessing capital to build, to grow, to diversify, and to hire new employees remains a pressing challenge. In September of 2008, there was an earthquake on Wall Street, and the aftershocks are still being felt on Main Street. The purpose of this bill is to help those small businesses deal with the aftershocks of that credit crunch from a year and a half ago.

The underlying bill, the Small Business Lending Fund Act, establishes a process for community banks to lend responsibly to small businesses. Because of a mistake, two of my colleagues, Representative Schrader and

Representative Miller, were precluded from offering their amendments as reported in yesterday's rule. This rule merely allows for the consideration of their modified amendments so we can perfect this legislation and get our Nation's small businesses back to work.

I reserve the balance of my time.

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

Mr. Speaker, I appreciate the comments of the whip, but I think what we've got to do is to just talk about reality here.

The reality is, when George Bush left office in January of 2009, this country was losing 780,000 jobs per month. Last month, we gained 400,000 jobs. That's a swing of over 1.1 million jobs per month. Yet, on top of that, not only did the Bush administration leave this country in a terrible lurch with jobs; it left this country with a terrible lurch and with a terrible deficit of $1.3 trillion.

The Republicans would have America have mass amnesia, to forget where we were. In 2007, we spent $141 billion in Iraq. Today, they're telling us, Hey, let's sell off part of the country to pay our debts. We were spending $141 billion in Iraq and not paying for it. This year, we're going to draw that down to $65 billion. Republicans would have us forget.

Let's talk real money. I agree: we should never be wasting money in this country. Every dollar should be worthwhile and real, but we're going to spend $77 billion less in Iraq than under George Bush and at the end of the Republican rule of Congress.

So here we've improved employment by some 1.1 million jobs per month. We were left with a terrible deficit by President Bush of $1.3 trillion. We are drawing down Iraq and are saving real money. Then they come up with an advertising program of YouCut to sell assets of this country.

I reserve the balance of my time.

I would remind the Speaker and others that we're here on the small business lending bill, not on Mr. Chaffetz's proposal or any proposal like that. It may have merit at another time when that bill, itself, is brought forward, but we're here to talk about the small business lending bill, which provides community banks, smaller banks with funds to make credit available to the small businesses on Main Street that were hurt by the crash on Wall Street. So I would just remind the Speaker as to what this bill, the underlying bill, is.

With that, I reserve the balance of my time.

Mr. Speaker, I would just quote from a letter we received from the Independent Community Bankers of America: On behalf of the 5,000 members of the Independent Community Bankers of America, we strongly support passage of the proposed Small Business Lending Fund Act of 2010.

We're here on the rule to allow for that bill to go forward, and I would

like to remind the Speaker and others that that's the purpose of the hearing today.

With that, I yield 3 minutes to my friend from Kentucky (Mr. Yarmuth).

I yield 1 additional minute to the gentleman.

I remind my friend from Kansas that when you cut taxes for the wealthiest people in America, you prosecute two wars without paying for them, and you fail to police Wall Street so that it becomes a big casino and results in a crash leaving this country in terrible debt, and you turn a budget upside down, those are the policies that bring a country and bring small businesses to their knees. The country, because of various steps taken, has come out of the terrible dip of the last months of the Bush administration to where we're adding jobs.

We have a long way to go. We lost millions of jobs, and many small businesses were hurt in the process. The purpose of the bill that is to be voted on today is about providing funding to smaller banks so that small business will have credit, and people will get back to work. Providing a platform for small business to really get back on its feet and put the people back to work, so many of whom lost their jobs in this recession that was caused by the tax cuts, the two wars without payment, and failing to police Wall Street.

With that, I reserve the balance of my time.

Mr. Speaker, how much time does each side have?

I would ask my friend from North Carolina how many more speakers she may have.

I just would say, again, reading from the letter from the Independent Community Bankers of America. The Act, which is the Small Business Lending Fund Act, the Act would offer capital to interested community banks to increase small business credit. We urge the House to pass this legislation. The Nation's 8,000-strong community banks are well positioned to leverage this fund and have established relationships with small businesses in their communities to get credit flowing. On down it says, Notably, leveraging the $30 billion funds with community banks would potentially support many times that amount in loan volume to small businesses, as much as $300 billion in additional lending.

By reducing the dividend costs on the capital investment as lending increases, this program helps to ensure more community banks have both the incentive and greater capacity to increase total loans to small businesses. That's the purpose of this rule, to pass the underlying bill, which is to increase credit to small businesses and get them back on their feet and help continue to add jobs, as we have over the course of the last 14 or 15 months. When we were at the very depth of the recession, in January 2009, the last month of the Bush administration, losing 780,000 jobs; in April, where we gained 290,000 jobs; in May, 400,000 jobs. That's what this is about, putting people back to work, getting this country back on a strong financial footing.

With that, I reserve the balance of my time.

I, again, remind everyone that the rule and the bill are about small business lending. Again, I would refer to the letter from the independent community bankers. ICBA believes the proposed Small Business Lending Fund Act supports their recommendations, and this fresh program approach will attract a broader spectrum of community banks to boost small business lending and job growth. We applaud the new program focused on getting funds to Main Street's small businesses using Main Street community banks.

We're here to try to get money to small businesses throughout the country using the smaller community banks, regional banks. The purpose is to get them back on their feet, get them growing. We're not here to talk

about selling off assets of America. We're here to talk about getting small businesses back on their feet.

With that, I reserve the balance of my time.

I would remind my friend, at the height of the Iraq war we spend $141 billion, as we draw troops down to $65 billion, a savings of $76 billion a year. That is money. These things we can find other places to save where there is wasteful spending, $76 billion in Iraq. That is what this Congress is finding. That is what this President has found. Instead of going into war and not paying for it, $76 billion.

Mr. Speaker, I yield 2 minutes to the gentleman from Kentucky (Mr. Yarmuth).

I want to make sure that the record is clear that the amendments that are presented in today's rule are in full compliance with the PAYGO rule, and that is why we are proceeding with this second rule.

I reserve the balance of my time.

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

Mr. Speaker, small businesses cannot grow if credit is not available to them. Over the course of the last year and a half, credit has tightened substantially. This bill provides for a loan fund to small community banks and regional banks so that they can work with their small businesses throughout the country. This is not focused on Wall Street, but is focused on Main Street so we can get small businesses really back strong and prosperous and hiring people back so that this country is on a full and vibrant financial footing.

I would just remind the Speaker, we have strong support from a whole variety of organizations with respect to the bill: the National Small Business Association, the Small Business Majority, the National Association of Realtors, the Independent Community Bankers of America, the American Bankers Association, and a number of other organizations.

Our Nation's small businesses have waited long enough for much-needed capital, so we won't make them wait any longer. This credit crunch has taken its toll, but now it is time to focus on Main Street.

I urge a ``yes'' vote on the previous question and on the rule.

Mr. Speaker, I yield back the balance of my time, and I move the previous question on the resolution.

Mr. Speaker, listening to my friend from Pennsylvania, I remind him as well as others that the last month of George Bush this country lost 780,000 jobs in 1 month. Okay? Fourteen months later, 15 months later we gained some 400,000 jobs in this country, a swing of 1,100,000 jobs per month.

But in the process, down here in the recession after the Bush administration, we lost 8 million jobs. We have a long way to go to put those people back to work. But for Democrats, that's job number one, to continue to add jobs and put people back to work.

When President Bush left it was a $1.3 trillion deficit. We know that we have to rein in spending, and we can begin with Iraq, by drawing down those troops and saving this country some real money.

Our first job is to put people back to work, and that's what Democrats are going to do.

Mr. Chairman, I have an amendment at the desk made in order under the rule.

Mr. Chairman, I yield myself such time as I might consume.

Mr. Chairman, the amendment I offer with my colleagues today would increase the availability of capital for small businesses. It temporarily allows banks to amortize real estate losses over 6 years. In addition, smaller community banks would be incentivized to increase small business lending through an extended amortization period of up to 10 years.

The impact of this amendment deals with regional and small banks. It will be immediate and is a necessary step in providing greater availability of credit, which will lead to job creation and economic growth.

We had an earthquake on Wall Street about a year-and-a-half ago. Those aftershocks are still being felt by small businesses and small banks all across the country. It is for that reason these banks, in an effort to help small businesses regain their footing, deserve this kind of amortization and flexibility with respect to their loan portfolios. They did not cause the trouble that they now find themselves in, and we believe that amortization is appropriate.

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

Mr. Chairman, I would say the amendment provides that if there is a $250,000 loss, it is booked and it is open, but then is spread out for 6 up to 10 years. It's easily transparent and open.

I yield 1 minute to my friend from Florida (Mr. Klein).

At this point, I would also say to my friend from Texas, the amendment takes place immediately, not after 2 years.

I yield 1 minute to my colleague from Colorado (Mr. Coffman).

I yield 1 minute to my friend from Wisconsin (Mr. Kagen).

Mr. Chairman, how much time do I have left?

Thank you.

The point here is smaller banks, regional banks, unlike banks on Wall Street, did not create the credit and lending mess that exists today. Small businesses didn't create the mess that we see. And it is small business that employs so many people, and we have got to get folks back to work.

So the amendment allows for a bank to take a loss and then spread it over a period of time so that they can weather this storm until we get back to a good financial footing in this country. It is something that is necessary. It will assist with the availability of credit today and doesn't cost the taxpayer any money.

Something like this was used in the 1980s to assist the agricultural banks, and it worked at that time. It will work today.

I urge an ``aye'' vote on amendment No. 5, and I yield back the balance of my time.

Madam Speaker, by direction of the Committee on Rules, I call up House Resolution 1424 and ask for its immediate consideration.

For purposes of debate only, I yield the customary 30 minutes to the gentleman from Texas (Mr. Sessions). All time yielded during consideration of the rule is for debate only.

General Leave

I ask unanimous consent that all Members be given 5 legislative days in which to revise and extend their remarks on House Resolution 1424.

I yield myself such time as I may consume.

The rule provides for consideration of House bill 5072, the FHA Reform Act of 2010. It is a structured rule which makes in order 13 amendments. The rule waives all points of order against the bill except those arising under clause 9 and 10 of rule XXI. It further considers the amendment in the nature of a substitute from the Financial Services Committee be considered as read. Finally, the rule provides authority to the Speaker to entertain motions to suspend the rules on Thursday and Friday of this week.

Madam Speaker, H.R. 5072, the Federal Housing Administration Reform Act of 2010, provides FHA with the necessary tools to strengthen its mortgage insurance program and overall financial position. The collapse of the private sector in the wake of the financial crisis left a large void in the housing market. Banks didn't have the capital to lend, so potential home buyers were left out in the cold. FHA played a critical role in filling this void, providing a much-needed catalyst to the real estate industry, which was left reeling from the subprime debacle. This preserved hundreds of thousands of jobs in the real estate industry.

As a result of taking on a more prominent role, FHA's market share increased from about 4 percent to now more than 30 percent of total purchases, 88 percent of which are first-time home buyers.

This bill makes several necessary reforms which will make it more efficient and accountable. First, it provides FHA with the authority to raise the annual mortgage premium for new borrowers. It also provides FHA with enhanced authority when FHA finds evidence of fraud or noncompliance by a mortgagee. If a lender or underwriter is found to be violating FHA regulations when underwriting loans by making risky loans or cutting corners, the FHA can terminate that underwriter or lender's ability to lend under the program. The bill also improves FHA's risk management, and under the bill, the FHA will provide additional data which will give a clearer overview of FHA's fiscal position.

The bill we are considering here today is bipartisan and incorporates many changes sought by the Housing and Urban Development Department, industry stakeholders, and Members of Congress. It passed the Financial Services Committee by a voice vote with little opposition. Most important, the Congressional Budget Office analyzed the bill and estimates it will save $2.5 billion over the next 5 years.

FHA plays a critical role in the marketplace, and this bill strengthens the program so that it can continue its role in a sound manner. FHA was created during the Great Depression to stimulate the economy, particularly with regard to real estate. This purpose is equally important today, so it is crucial that we make reforms to the program that will allow it to keep up with the industry. This bill will promote responsible lending and reduce the deficit by $2.5 billion. I look forward to the debate on this bill, which will restore greater confidence in the housing industry.

I reserve the balance of my time.

Madam Speaker, I appreciate the gentleman's support of the underlying bill and the savings of $2.5 billion and that they'd like to proceed and make some cuts to Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac over the course of the next year, and that is something that ultimately we have to address.

Under Mr. Frank and under this Democratic Congress, we've already worked on reforms to Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, unlike my friends on the Republican side of the aisle. And I just remind them what their chairman of the House Financial Services said about the efforts to reform and revamp Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac back when the Republicans were in charge of both the White House and this Congress.

There was an effort to reform Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac between Mr. Oxley and Mr. Frank, but instead of getting any assistance, he fumed particularly about the White House. This was from an article in the Financial Times. It was by Mr. Oxley. This is an article written and quoted from Mr. Oxley in the Financial Times last September, September 9, 2008, where he fumes against criticism that the House didn't try to reform Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac back a few years ago. He says, ``All the hand-wringing and bed-wetting is going on without remembering how the House stepped up on this,'' to try to reform Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac. He said, ``What did we get from the White House?'' A White House that was controlled by the Republicans. ``We got a one-finger salute'' in trying to reform Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac.

Well, unlike under Republican leadership, we've been working on reforming Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, and we have been looking for ways to cut costs and expenses of the United States. And one of those places we're already doing something about, which makes their suggestion looks like peanuts, and that's in Iraq.

The Republicans, under the leadership of George Bush and the Republican Congress, cut the taxes for the wealthiest 1 percent, prosecuted two wars without paying for them, left Wall Street in disarray by failing to police Wall Street. And what did we get? We got a financial meltdown and a giant debt, $1.3 trillion, when Barack Obama took office. And now they're complaining about the costs that they left in place based on their way of running the country.

With that, I reserve the balance of my time.

Madam Speaker, I now yield 5 minutes to my friend from Massachusetts (Mr. Frank).

I yield the gentleman an additional 2 minutes.

Madam Speaker, I would just remind the body that we're here on the FHA bill, the reformation of FHA which my friends have applauded, and that's really what we're here to talk about, a savings of $2.5 billion, more accountability from FHA, which has had to fill a vacuum in the housing market because of the loss of so many lenders who got so involved with sub-prime loans.

So I'd also say to my friend Mr. Garrett, Madam Speaker, that I think that sometimes if you take a look at the past actions that we saw under the Republican Party and their failure to rein in Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, rein in a Wall Street that was out of control, cut taxes and not pay for wars, that gives you an idea of what they may be doing in the future. And that's what the people of this country want to have an idea of what to expect, and looking back at the past actions, I would say, gives you a good indication.

With that, I yield 2 minutes to my friend from Texas, Ms. Jackson Lee.

(Ms. JACKSON LEE of Texas asked and was given permission to revise and extend her remarks.)

I would ask the Speaker how much time I have left and how much time Mr. Sessions has left, and I would ask my friend how many speakers he has left.

I reserve the balance of my time.

I would remind my friend from West Virginia--and I do appreciate that $30 billion over 10 years--take a look at their proposition. It is for another bill for another day. We are dealing with FHA, which saves $2.5 billion today.

Also, I would remind her, Madam Speaker, that, over the course of this year and last year, we started drawing down in Iraq, which was costing this country upwards of $100 billion a year, not $30 billion over 10 years, $100 billion a year, not paid for by the Bush administration. So, as we draw down from 160,000 troops to some 50,000 or 40,000 troops this summer, we are going to save far more money than the Republicans and this Fannie Mae proposal project.

I yield 2 minutes to my friend from Massachusetts (Mr. Frank) to respond to some of the things my friend from West Virginia said.

I continue to reserve the balance of my time.

Mr. Speaker, sometimes you have to remind people from time to time about what happened in the past, because it's important. History is important.

I would remind my friend from Illinois, you know, that there was an effort to reform Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac when it was purchasing a lot of lousy loans that have resulted in these losses. But, instead, what did the reformation, the reforming of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac get back when you could have stopped these losses? We got the one- finger salute from the White House, a Republican White House that, for some reason or other, did not want to reform Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac.

And I have to tell you, Mr. Oxley, by giving that statement, we got a one-finger salute. When he made his statement on September 9, 2008, he described perfectly what the White House wanted to do with Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac. The White House, at that point, under the Bush administration, just, ``Let's buy all these lousy loans. Let's just keep it going.''

Well, that bubble burst. And the American people and the Democratic Congress and the Democratic administration are having to pick up the pieces now from that imprudent, improper approach to housing finance.

We want people to have homes that they can afford in this country. If they

can't afford them, then, okay, they don't get them. The FHA bill that is before the House today provides, in a proper and prudent way, insurance for those home purchases to people who can afford and can show their ability to make these payments.

That is the purpose of the bill today. My friends on the other side want to talk about some other thing that they didn't do 3 or 4 years ago.

Mr. Speaker, I yield 30 seconds to my friend from Massachusetts (Mr. Frank).

I yield the gentleman 15 additional seconds.

I would ask the Speaker how much time remains.

I yield 5 minutes to the gentleman from Massachusetts (Mr. Frank).

Mr. Speaker, I appreciated the initial comments by Mr. Sessions and a number of the other Republicans about the bill that is before us--or hopefully will be before us, the FHA Reform Act of 2010, which is a bill that provides more accountability to FHA, saves money, $2.5 billion over 5 years with FHA, and FHA has had to fill a vacuum left by a lot of the subprime lenders that made lousy loans and are now out of business. So it is a substantial agency that helps move housing in America, it is done in a prudent fashion, and the reforms in the bill make it even more prudent.

Now, my friends on the other side want to turn it into a Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac bill, but that's not what is before us. Apparently, they want to do it because they have a lot of guilt that they didn't do it 5 years ago when we could have saved this country $100 billion or more, but it wasn't done. Even the chairman, the Republican chairman of the House Financial Services at that time, wanted to see some reforms, but the Republican Senate and the Republican administration under Mr. Bush didn't want to. And you can't be more descriptive than Mr. Oxley was when he spoke of the reception that the reforms got from the White House when he said we got a one-finger salute. I mean, that's about as descriptive as it gets. They didn't want to reform it. Now they want to reform it, and they want to forget about history.

We're here, though, on the FHA bill. We're here to help turn this economy around. You want to talk about cuts? Well, let's look at Iraq. Let's look at some other things that--there may be savings in Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac over a period of time, there are bigger savings elsewhere, and we should be looking at those things. But we've got to get this country back to work, and that's what Democrats are doing.

Under the Bush administration to January 2009, we lost 780,000 jobs in that month alone. In April of this year, we gained 290,000 jobs, a swing of well over 1 million jobs per month. We've got to get people back to work. We've got to watch spending. But we've got to get the revenue side, and we've got to get people back to work. We've got to help them with their homes. This FHA insurance bill provides a reasonable and prudent insurer to assist with the purchase and sale of homes.

I urge a ``yes'' vote on the previous question and on the rule.

Mr. Speaker, I yield back the balance of my time, and I move the previous question on the resolution.

Mr. Speaker, I demand a recorded vote.

Madam Speaker, I rise today to recognize and applaud Marina Pshichenko who has received the Arvada Wheat Ridge Service Ambassadors for Youth award. Marina Pshichenko is a 12th grader at Arvada High School and received this award because her determination and hard work have allowed her to overcome adversities.

The dedication demonstrated by Marina Pshichenko is exemplary of the type of achievement that can be attained with hard work and perseverance. It is essential students at all levels strive to make the most of their education and develop a work ethic which will guide them for the rest of their lives.

I extend my deepest congratulations once again to Marina Pshichenko for winning the Arvada Wheat Ridge Service Ambassadors for Youth award. I have no doubt she will exhibit the same dedication and character to all her future accomplishments.

I thank my friends from Florida.

I wanted to follow Mr. Polis and just talk about the Rocky Mountain West, which really did receive Jewish immigrants with open arms. Sometimes there was discrimination, but generally it was open arms. In New Mexico, Colorado, Wyoming, ranching, farming, mining, construction, you name it, the Jewish community was involved in it. Merchants, oil and gas, the Manhattan Project down in Los Alamos in New Mexico.

So, my family, a great-great-great uncle immigrated from the Ukraine in the late 1800s, was part of a mining commune above a little town called Center, Colorado, remained in that mining commune for about 3 years, realized he didn't like being at about 11,000 feet in the mountains of Colorado, moved to the Denver area, where he had a small store, and that uncle then attracted the others who immigrated from the Ukraine. So the youngest brother came first, then the next brother, the next brother, and the next brother. My grandfather was the oldest. He was the last to arrive from the old country.

But the Denver area in Colorado really did allow people a chance to really show what they were made of, and the Jewish community in Colorado, in the Denver area, has flourished over the years. It has been very much a part of the fabric of the community in charitable efforts, as well as education and those kinds of things. And the heritage that we are talking about tonight, really at least in the Rocky Mountain West, the Jewish community and the Rocky Mountain West are inseparable.

I just thank my friend for organizing our Special Order hour, and I yield back to her.

Mr. Speaker, I move that the House do now adjourn.

The motion was agreed to; accordingly (at 11 o'clock and 13 minutes p.m.), the House adjourned until tomorrow, Thursday, May 27, 2010, at 10 a.m.

Madam Speaker, I rise today to recognize and applaud Nate Boeck who has received the Arvada Wheat Ridge Service Ambassadors for Youth award. Nate Boeck is a 9th grader at Arvada West High School and received this award because his determination and hard work have allowed him to overcome adversities.

The dedication demonstrated by Nate Boeck is exemplary of the type of achievement that can be attained with hard work and perseverance. It is essential students at all levels strive to make the most of their education and develop a work ethic which will guide them for the rest of their lives.

I extend my deepest congratulations once again to Nate Boeck for winning the Arvada Wheat Ridge Service Ambassadors for Youth award. I have no doubt he will exhibit the same dedication and character in all his future accomplishments.

Madam Speaker, I rise today to recognize and applaud Nhicam Hannah Nguyen who has received the Arvada Wheat Ridge Service Ambassadors for Youth award. Nhicam Hannah Nguyen is a 12th grader at Arvada High School and received this award because her determination and hard work have allowed her to overcome adversities.

The dedication demonstrated by Nhicam Hannah Nguyen is exemplary of the type of achievement that can be attained with hard work and perseverance. It is essential students at all levels strive to make the most of their education and develop a work ethic which will guide them for the rest of their lives.

I extend my deepest congratulations once again to Nhicam Hannah Nguyen for winning the Arvada Wheat Ridge Service Ambassadors for Youth award. I have no doubt she will exhibit the same dedication and character to all her future accomplishments.

Madam Speaker, I rise today to recognize and applaud Nadia Solano who has received the Arvada Wheat Ridge Service Ambassadors for Youth award. Nadia Solano is a 12th grader at Jefferson High School and received this award because her determination and hard work have allowed her to overcome adversities.

The dedication demonstrated by Nadia Solano is exemplary of the type of achievement that can be attained with hard work and perseverance. It is essential students at all levels strive to make the most of their education and develop a work ethic which will guide them for the rest of their lives.

I extend my deepest congratulations once again to Nadia Solano for winning the Arvada Wheat Ridge Service Ambassadors for Youth award. I have no doubt she will exhibit the same dedication and character to all her future accomplishments.