Floor Statements

Mr. Speaker, I was unavoidably detained and unable to attend session on Friday, February 3, due to personal reasons. Had I been present, I would have voted no on H.J. Res. 36, roll call No. 78, which provided for congressional disapproval of President Obama's Methane Waste Prevention Rule.

I am outraged by House Republican efforts to overturn substantial environmental policies of the Obama Administration, including and especially the Methane Waste Prevention Rule. This rule caps, for the first time, the amount of methane that oil and gas producers operating under federal leases are allowed to ``flare,'' or burn as waste. It also prohibits operators from releasing or ``venting'' natural gas into the atmosphere, and requires them to replace equipment that allows large amounts of methane to ``bleed'' into the air. This rule would result in 175,000 to 180,000 fewer tons of methane emissions each year, which is equivalent to removing nearly 1 million vehicles from our roads.

As a leading member on the House Energy and Commerce Committee, I have long been a champion for a cleaner, healthier environment for all New Yorkers and the American people. I have relentlessly fought to close Indian Point, oppose the Spectra Algonquin Pipeline, and resist the plan to anchor barges carrying crude oil along the Hudson River.

I will continue fighting to stop Republicans in Congress from undermining our environmental regulations and turning back the clock to a time when corporations could pollute unchecked.

Mr. Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may consume. I rise in support of this bill.

I want to thank Chairman Ed Royce, and I am pleased to cosponsor this bill that he has introduced to make it easier for people around the world to harness the power of the Internet. This bill passed in the last Congress but didn't make it through the Senate, so I am glad we are taking it up again.

Mr. Speaker, we know the way this incredible tool has shaped the world in the last generation. The Internet can instantaneously connect people across the world from each other who a few years ago would never cross paths in a lifetime. It allows citizens and journalists living under oppressive regimes or in war zones to get information out to the world. It allows entrepreneurs in emerging markets to sell their products in global markets.

To be sure, the power of the Internet can cut both way. ISIS has proved all too adept at using social media to recruit fighters and spread its hateful message. But put to its highest purpose, the Internet can help drive economic growth and spread stability and prosperity.

Unfortunately, too few people around the world have access to this tool. Roughly 60 percent of the world's population is not online, and the growth rate of Internet access is slowing. If you live in a poor community or a rural area, sometimes just because you are a woman, it is harder to take advantage of the Internet.

We know where that lack of access is holding populations back. Three- quarters of those who are offline live in just 20 countries. If we could close that gap, think of what it might mean for all of those people struggling to make ends meet, and that is exactly what this bill aims to do.

Chairman Royce's legislation calls on the administration to ramp up efforts around the world to expand access to the Internet. It encourages the State Department, USAID, and the Peace Corps to focus on Internet access as a diplomatic and development priority. And it states clearly that expanding Internet access, especially in the developing world, is an American foreign policy priority.

So I am glad to support this measure. I thank the chairman for all his hard work.

I reserve the balance of my time.

Mr. Speaker, I yield 2 minutes to the gentlewoman from California (Ms. Bass).

Mr. Speaker, I yield an additional 1 minute to the gentlewoman from California.

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

In closing, when we talk about the world becoming more interconnected, one of the main drivers of that trend is the Internet. Our enemies have taken advantage of this tool for destructive purposes. As we push back against that threat, our foreign policy should also help as many people as possible to use this tool in a positive way.

So this bill, again, helps move us in the right direction. I want to, again, say I am grateful to Chairman Royce for bringing it forward.

I am glad to support this bill, and I urge my colleagues to do the same.

I yield back the balance of my time.

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

Mr. Speaker, I rise in support of this legislation.

Again, I thank our chairman, Ed Royce, for his leadership and working together.

I want to acknowledge my good friend from New York (Mrs. Lowey), who authored this bill. For years and years, she has been a champion for access to education here in the United States and around the world.

Like the other bills before us today, we passed this legislation in the last Congress. I am glad we are taking it up so early this year so that, hopefully, the Senate can act.

Mr. Speaker, research tells us that more than a quarter billion young people around the world are not in school. For millions more, the educational opportunities are substandard. This lack of access puts so many young people at a tremendous disadvantage. Children should be in classrooms. They should be aspiring to their highest potential, thinking about what they want to be when they grow up.

The payoff of a few years of quality education is huge. Every year of primary school increases an individual's earning potential by 5 to 15 percent. It is not just those students who reap the benefits, it is really all of us.

Consider public health and economics. More educated populations are healthier and more productive. Consider threats to our security. In places like Afghanistan and South Sudan, where roughly half of children are not in school, we know that violent extremists and others are ready to fill the vacuum, leading these vulnerable young people down a dark, dark path. Research has also told us that in high-risk places like Somalia, where young people can learn about certain issues like nonviolent civic engagement, participation in violence drops by 14 percent and support for violence drops by 20 percent.

That is why education needs to be a foreign policy priority and why we need to be very careful as a new administration urges to make major changes in America's foreign assistance. This legislation calls for a 5-year strategy for expanding opportunities for kids to go to school all over the world, especially where children are most vulnerable. It would put a new point person in charge of making sure that our efforts across government are coordinated and effective, and it would place a special emphasis on monitoring and evaluation so that we know we are getting the best bang for the buck when it comes to our investments in basic education.

This bill would help to put children in classrooms around the world. It would give more young people a better shot at a full and successful life. I am proud to support it. I commend Mrs. Lowey.

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

Mr. Speaker, I yield 3 minutes to the gentlewoman from New York (Mrs. Lowey), the author of this bill.

Mr. Speaker, I yield an additional 1 minute to the gentlewoman.

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

In closing, I read a few weeks ago that the new administration was planning to retool the State Department to focus more on terrorism. The article suggested that the State Department might do away with some of our smart power efforts. That would be a mistake. I look at an effort like this one, expanding access to education, and I know that it isn't taking away from our ability to combat terrorism. In fact, it is critical to that fight.

When we help more young people get access to a good education, we are giving them the tools to think critically and resist those who mean us harm. We are helping give people an alternative, a path forward for their lives.

When kids don't have these skills, who do you think shows up? When children are told from a young age, with no competing message, that America is their enemy, how does that shape their lives?

So I hope that this bill gets to the new President's desk and that he sees the value not just in expanding access to education, but in the wide range of foreign policy priorities that help to project stability and make communities stronger, that show the world that the United States is a friend and a partner, and not an enemy.

Again, I thank Congresswoman Lowey for her hard work. I thank Chairman Royce for his hard work and collegiality, as always. I support this bill. I urge all Members to do the same.

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

Mr. Speaker, the Affordable Care Act has improved the health care and financial security of every American, regardless of where he or she gets health insurance.

Healthcare costs have been growing at the slowest rate in more than 50 years. Seniors in the so-called Medicare doughnut hole have saved more than $23 billion on their prescription drugs. Every American woman can rest easier knowing that women are no longer charged more than men for the same coverage. And 137 million Americans with private insurance now receive free preventive services.

Despite this remarkable progress, the majority has made it their mission to destroy the Affordable Care Act, no matter the cost, and those costs would extend far beyond the healthcare system.

A recent report found that repeal would cause just New York to lose more than 130,000 jobs in 2019 alone.

The Affordable Care Act has reduced the burden of healthcare costs for hardworking families not only in New York, but across the Nation; and it is those Americans for whom repeal would be so devastating.

We are making a mistake if we repeal ObamaCare.

Mr. Speaker, I yield 15 minutes to the gentleman from North Carolina (David Price), and I ask unanimous consent that he be allowed to control that time.

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

Mr. Speaker, I rise in strong support of this measure, and I thank the Speaker for his words.

I want to start by thanking Chairman Ed Royce, who authored this resolution. I am proud to be the lead Democratic cosponsor and glad to say that more than 30 Democrats representing a

broad cross-section of our party have signed on as cosponsors of this bipartisan legislation.

Ed Royce and I have worked together for the past 4 years, and we believe that foreign policy should be bipartisan and that partisanship should stop at the water's edge. Frankly, this is what we are doing today. We are condemning what happened because we think it is unfair and unjust.

I want to also mention that I join with my friend from North Carolina (Mr. Price) in authoring an amendment to this resolution that wasn't accepted which emphasizes a two-state solution. I want to thank Mr. Price for his hard work on that approach, and I support it. We talk in this resolution about a two-state solution as well.

Mr. Speaker, throughout its entire history, the State of Israel has never gotten a fair shake from the United Nations. Year after year after year, member states manipulate the U.N. to bully our ally, Israel, to pile on with one-sided resolutions, placing all of the blame for the ongoing conflict on Israel.

We saw a resolution like this come before the Security Council a few weeks ago, and today the House of Representative will go on record saying that that U.N. resolution is wrong, plain and simple. And frankly, we should not have voted for that.

The Security Council resolution is highly critical of Israel yet asks nothing directly of the Palestinians. That is biased, that is unfair, and that is not balanced. Again, we should have opposed it. We should have vetoed it.

The language about Jerusalem is not new but it remains deeply offensive to Jews, whose holiest site lies on the Temple Mount in East Jerusalem. The Kotel, the Holy Western Wall, is simply nonoccupied territory. And it is offensive to hear that.

So in the measure the House is considering today, we repudiate this flawed Security Council resolution. And at the same time, we will say once again that we support a two-state solution, that the only way to reach that goal is through direct negotiations between the Israelis and the Palestinians, and that this shameful Security Council resolution put that goal further out of reach.

Mr. Speaker, the international community faces the longest suppressing issues: mass killings in South Sudan, a crisis in Yemen, a humanitarian disaster in Syria, Russia's illegal occupation of the Ukraine, and North Korea's nuclear weapons program. Yet, rather than deal with those critical problems, the member states of the U.N. have chosen instead to use the international body to embarrass Israel. It is outrageous. This House Resolution that I am cosponsoring with Mr. Royce rightfully says that it is outrageous.

I think it was a mistake for the current administration to abstain on this vote in the U.N. I have been very clear about that, but I want to be fair. Before anyone turns this into another attack on President Obama, we should be aware of the history of this issue.

This is the first time in 8 years the Obama administration has allowed a resolution, opposed by Israel, to go forward. The George Bush administration allowed it to happen 6 times; the Clinton administration, 3 times; the first Bush administration, 6 times; and the Reagan administration, 10 times, including voting for one strongly condemning Israel for its ``premeditated and unprecedented attack of aggression'' when it wisely destroyed Iraq's nuclear weapons reactor in 1981.

But regardless of that history, it doesn't justify these latest abstentions. My mother used to say that two wrongs don't make a right. And she was right. It was wrong then, and it is wrong now.

I think allowing governments to bully Israel and the U.N. is a mistake, no matter who is in power. Instead, let's focus on what we should be doing when it comes to advancing the two-state solution.

This resolution calls for us to get back to the policy that many of us support: one, standing with Israel and the United Nations; two, stopping one-sided resolutions; and three, supporting direct negotiations as the only way to move toward a two-state solution.

This resolution says all that. Every one in this Congress should be voting for it because it is balanced. I am pleased to support this resolution, and I urge all Members to do the same.

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

Mr. Speaker, I yield 1 minute to the gentleman from California (Mr. Sherman), my good friend and senior member of the Committee on Foreign Affairs.

Mr. Speaker, I yield 1 minute to the gentlewoman from Nevada (Ms. Rosen), one of our new Members, who has made support for Israel part of her entire life and is giving her first speech on the House floor in support of this resolution and support of Israel.

Mr. Speaker, I yield 1 minute to the gentleman from the great State of New York (Mr. Suozzi), another new Member of Congress who is also making his maiden speech about the security of Israel and the U.S.-Israel partnership.

Mr. Speaker, I yield 1 minute to the gentleman from Georgia (Mr. David Scott).

Mr. Speaker, I yield the gentleman an additional 30 seconds.

Mr. Speaker, I yield 2\1/2\ minutes to the gentleman from Maryland (Mr. Hoyer), the Democratic whip.

Mr. Speaker, I yield an additional 15 seconds to the gentleman from Maryland.

Mr. Speaker, I yield 1 minute to the gentleman from Illinois (Mr. Schneider). We are pleased that he is back.

Mr. Speaker, it is now my great pleasure to yield 1 minute to the gentlewoman from New York (Mrs. Lowey), the ranking member of the Appropriations Committee.

Mr. Speaker, it is my pleasure to yield 1 minute to the gentleman from Florida (Mr. Deutch), my friend on the Foreign Affairs Committee and the ranking member of the Middle East Subcommittee.

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

When an unfair, one-sided resolution moves forward in the U.N., as Israel's ally, we have an obligation to say it is wrong. That is what this resolution does. This resolution also calls for a two-state solution. So my colleagues who are somehow portraying this resolution as not being for a two-state resolution, they are absolutely wrong.

I urge my colleagues, especially my Democratic colleagues, to continue to support the U.S.-Israel alliance, and you continue to support it by voting for this resolution. This is a fair resolution.

Let's remember, when Israel left Gaza and uprooted settlements, what did it get in return? Not peace, but terrorism. Stand with the people of Israel. Vote ``yes'' on this resolution.

I yield back the balance of my time.

Mr. Speaker, I rise today to urge the President to send defensive weapons to the beleaguered people of Ukraine. I just came back from a meeting in Europe with the President of Ukraine, Mr. Poroshenko, who pleaded with us that he needs help. The world cannot stand idly by and allow Putin Russian aggression to continue without giving the Ukrainians a chance to defend themselves.

I know that there are meetings and negotiations going on this week in Minsk, and I know that the leaders of France and Germany want to see if they can again put together some kind of an agreement before any weapons are given, but there was a Minsk agreement several months ago only to be broken by Mr. Putin, and the Ukrainians need help now.

As Mr. Poroshenko said when he addressed the joint session of Congress:

Thank you for the blankets, but blankets don't allow us to defend ourselves.

The Ukrainians are asking for antitank weapons, armored Humvees, longer-range counterartillery radars, drones, and additional advanced radios. We just would give them the ability to defend themselves.

Mr. Speaker, it doesn't involve U.S. military. It doesn't involve U.S. troops. How much longer can we watch the beleaguered people of Ukraine in siege? The United States should take moves and should take moves now. Send Ukraine these defensive weapons.

Mr. Speaker, it is important to pay homage to those who have left an indelible mark on the community and the country as a whole. Former Congressman Vito Marcantonio, whose distinguished career in office spanned 3 decades, is most deserving of posthumous commemoration.

Vito was born on December 10, 1902 to Italian parents in East Harlem. After graduating from NYU Law School in 1924, Vito became Fiorello LaGuardia's campaign manager and protege till 1934, when he was first elected to congress, filling LaGuardia's vacant seat in the House of Representatives.

Following defeat in 1937, Vito was reelected to the House in 1939 and served his East Harlem community in the House till 1950. His long- standing neighborhood presence, accessibility and responsiveness made him an extremely popular figure with the public. This powerful bond allowed Vito to build a strong coalition with a diverse political constituency.

As a legislator, Vito was a staunch defender of the civil rights of Italian Americans during World War II and of African Americans in the 40's and 50's. Vito advocated for the desegregation of Washington D.C. and in 1945 introduced a House resolution directing the Secretary of Commerce to investigate the employment practices of major league baseball clubs to determine if they were discriminating against African Americans. He was also known as the ``de facto'' representative of Puerto Rico in the House and led the drive to try to defeat the anti- union Taft-Hartley Act.

Vito passed away in 1954 and was buried in the Historic Woodlawn Cemetery in the Bronx. He now rests there next to his beloved wife and community activist, Miriam Sanders. On Saturday, August 9th, 2014 the Vito Marcantonio Forum hosted a commemorative event on the 60th anniversary of his passing at the gravesite. Their remembrance was important and well deserved.

Mr. Speaker, financial service organizations have the ability to change lives and lift up entire communities. Such has been the case with SUMA Federal Credit Union, which celebrated its 50th anniversary in 2014 at their Jubilee Banquet.

SUMA was organized by a small contingent of Ukrainian immigrants who settled in Yonkers after World War II. Citing the growing need for financial services in order to improve the quality of life for their families, they developed a credit union whereby financial resources would be pooled to help obtain less expensive loans and insurance.

To comply with National Credit Union Association requirements, they chose to support the Ukrainian American Youth Association, Yonkers branch, as their sponsor. Using shoe boxes to store cash reserves, the credit union opened for business in September of 1964, and in four short months had accumulated over $25,000 in assets from 82 members. For the next several decades, the SUMA Credit Union continued to grow and expand, establishing branch offices in Spring Valley, New York as well as Stamford, Connecticut.

Today, SUMA has a membership base of over 7,000 and over $286,000,000 in total assets. But their impact goes beyond the financial wellbeing of its members; it has lifted up an entire community and provided incredible support to the excellent works of the Ukrainian American Youth Organization.

The SUMA Federal Credit Union is a testament to the power of the financial sector and its ability to positively impact communities. I am proud to represent such a fine organization in the House of Representatives and wish them nothing but continued success in their next 50 years.

Mr. Speaker, those who selflessly give of themselves to serve the general good are the heartbeat of every community. Such is the case with Dr. Nader J. Sayegh, a lawyer and educator by profession who has done a great deal to give back to society.

Dr. Sayegh worked in education in many different capacities for more than 40 years, holding various titles and roles ranging from teacher and principal to superintendant. In that time he also received a law degree from Pace University, and has practiced every kind of law from personal injury and criminal to real estate and immigration for over 23 years.

But Dr. Sayegh's true passion is community involvement. Giving back to society was always an important tenet of his philosophy in life. He has served as Trustee for Yonkers Public Schools, a Liaison for the Westchester-Putnam School Boards Association, and a member of Yonker's Mayor Mike Spano's Education Re-Design Team, which looks for positive ways to reform the way we teach our kids. He serves as Chairman of the Charter Revision Committee, the President of the Yonkers Board of Education, and if all of that wasn't impressive enough, he is also multi-lingual.

Dr. Sayegh's work has been recognized and honored by many incredible organizations focused on civic engagement, including the NAACP, the March of Dimes, and the Red Cross.

On October 9th, 2014 another great organization, the Salvation Army, honored Dr. Sayegh at their annual dinner. I want to congratulate Dr. Nader Sayegh on this well-deserved recognition and thank him for the countless contributions he has made to better our community.

Mr. Speaker, the people who devote their lives so selflessly to public service are the ones who transform and change entire communities. Such has been the case with Aurelia Greene, my longtime friend and partner in government, whose distinguished career of public service has made a positive, lasting impact on the Bronx and far beyond.

A native Bronxite, Aurelia is a graduate of Livingston College at Rutgers University, where she majored in Community Development. Following school she became a Public Agency Administrator, a prelude to her eventual calling in government. She was elected female district leader for the 76th district before winning the Assembly seat in the Bronx's 77th district in 1981. For the next 27 years, Aurelia served in the Assembly with distinction, using her urban planning skills to negotiate for affordable housing, healthcare, a quality education and employment opportunities for all New Yorkers. She regularly sponsored educational and informational seminars to aid her constituents on issues of concern, and worked hard to bring economic development and businesses to her district.

Aurelia's legislative achievements are many, as she introduced and passed a number of important bills in the State Legislature during her time as Assemblywoman. Rising through the ranks, she became the Speaker Pro Tempore of the Assembly in 2006, the first African-American to hold the prestigious position which oversees the chamber in the absence of the Assembly Speaker. She also chaired the Assembly's Bronx delegation as the longest serving member in the Assembly from the Bronx.

In 2009, Aurelia was asked to serve as Deputy Borough President by newly elected Borough President Ruben Diaz Jr. She has been a steady voice and excellent confidant for the borough president ever since.

Aurelia celebrated her 80th birthday in October, 2014 at a gala brunch hosted in her honor. As I was in attendance, I had the great pleasure of wishing her nothing but the very best on the occasion, and thanked her for all of her amazing service to the public good.

Mr. Speaker, civic organizations play an indispensable role in our society by serving their communities and setting responsible public examples of how volunteerism and service can assist, enrich and inspire rising generations. Civic pride is truly the tie that binds our nation together.

The feeling of belonging to the larger whole, and the practice of serving the greater good is part and parcel of our responsibilities to each other. Those are the tenants that have guided the Yonkers Kiwanis Club, which celebrated its 85th year of service to the Yonkers community in 2014.

The Yonkers Kiwanis Club received its Charter on November 11, 1929, and has been an integral part of the community for decades. Since its founding, the Yonkers Kiwanis Club

has helped foster local youth through a wide variety of projects and programs, including scholarships for High School Seniors, book donations to reading programs, and holiday food baskets for people in need.

The Yonkers Kiwanis Club has also sponsored local children's service clubs, Teacher of the Year awards, and programs focusing on services and facilities for children with special needs. The Yonkers Kiwanis club has also worked in partnership with many organizations to provide service to the community, including Toys for Tots and the Red Cross. The Yonkers Kiwanians have also marshaled their resources to support awareness of health issues including Alzheimer's disease and Cystic Fibrosis.

I commend the Yonkers Kiwanis Club for 85 years of outstanding service, which they commemorated at their annual dinner on October 24, 2014. The impact of their work has been, and will continue to be, an important pillar of the Yonkers community.

Mr. Speaker, when organizations are able to ingratiate themselves with the community through good works, they often become a cornerstone of the neighborhood. Such is the case with Wartburg in Westchester, which celebrated its 150th Anniversary at the Wartburg Fall Festival on October 11th, 2014.

For over a century, Wartburg has offered integrated, comprehensive senior care services to both residents and people in their own homes. Their programs, from independent, assisted living to nursing home care and rehabilitation have become so renowned that U.S. News & World Report has named Wartburg one of the ``Best Nursing Homes in New York State'' for three consecutive years.

Their skilled Nursing facility, Licensed Home Health Care and Adult Day Services programs accept all patients, regardless of their income or their ability to pay.

Wartburg's status as a not-for-profit has also allowed them to reinvest heavily in the community, with initiatives that include over $7 million in uncompensated care each year for the aging population.

Wartburg's impact on the community is also economic in nature. They are the largest employer in the Mt. Vernon area and generate an estimated $80 million annually in direct and indirect activity for the surrounding communities.

Last year's Wartburg Fall Festival once again took place on the institution's beautiful, 34-acre wooded campus, which was founded in 1865 by Reverend William A. Passavant. I count myself fortunate to have such an exceptional organization housed within my district and I am honored to represent them in Congress. Congratulations again to Wartburg on 150 years of great work for the community.

Mr. Speaker, sometimes a simple civic organization intended to help and improve a small community can turn into a pillar of hope for an entire city. That has undoubtedly been the case with Regional Aid for Interim Needs, or R.A.I.N.

R.A.I.N. was founded in 1964 by Beatrice Castiglia-Catullo to serve those in need as a multi-social service agency. It provides an array of invaluable services to the senior community of the Bronx, many of whom are handicapped, home bound, or otherwise incapable of providing themselves with certain necessities.

R.A.I.N. has full-service neighborhood senior centers, home-delivered meals, transportation services, assistance with benefits and entitlements, case management and elder abuse services, in addition to community-based mobile meals for homeless and hungry persons. Their commitment to helping the elderly population has also led to the sponsorship of two residential housing projects for low-income seniors and an affiliated home attendant program that provides in-home attendant and care services.

Building off their incredible success in the Bronx, R.A.I.N. has recently expanded its services to Manhattan and has licensed to provide Home Health Care in all five New York City boroughs as well as Westchester County.

Today, R.A.I.N. has funding that accounts for 1,600 meals on wheels, 325 daily meals to the hungry and homeless, and 11 senior centers providing quality programming to over 100 seniors at each site every day. Thousands of New Yorkers have come to rely on R.A.I.N. as a lifeline, and as a Congressman representing parts of the Bronx it is always heart-warming and comforting to see one of R.A.I.N.'s trucks on a block in my district.

R.A.I.N. celebrated their 50th Anniversary on October 30th 2014. I want to personally thank their Board for all of the years of great service to the community. The work done by R.A.I.N. has literally saved lives and I am so proud to have such a caring organization operating in my district. Here's to many more great years.

Mr. Speaker, religious institutions have the power to shape and bind a community in ways that can forever change their neighborhood for the better. That has been the case with the Mount Carmel Pentecostal Church in the Bronx, which celebrated its 30th Anniversary in 2014.

The Mt. Carmel Pentecostal Church has been a beacon of hope and source of strength for its parishioners for so long because of the incredible commitment made by its leaders, Pastors Moulton and Judith Esdaille, who have served their community unselfishly for over 30 years. Their work to advance and grow the church they loved started in roles like Sunday School Teacher, Choir Director and Evangelist among others. Over time, Pastors Moulton and Judith began working to expand their congregation by developing outreach programs.

Driven by their creed, ``Each One, Win One,'' Pastors Moulton and Judith have made it their mission to help those in need. They created the Bronx Park East Home for the Aging Outreach program, the Mount Carmel Pentecostal Church Partners with Feed the Hungry program, a youth mentorship program, a monthly tract program to increase spiritual awareness in the community and a series of enrichment classes to uplift parishioners. They have also been able to partner their church with Mission to Africa and Haiti organizations, sending food, clothing and supplies to areas of the globe that are in dire need of assistance.

In addition to all Pastors Moulton and Judith have achieved for their church, they are also loving parents who have managed to juggle three children and family responsibilities with two full-time secular jobs by day. They are truly an impressive combination of leaders, who have done incredible work to reach out and touch the lives of countless people all throughout the world.

In 2014 the Mt. Carmel Pentecostal Church honored Pastors Moulton and Judith Esdaille for all of their fantastic accomplishments and contributions. I'd like to echo the congratulations of the church and thank Moulton and Judith for all they've accomplished and done for the Bronx community and beyond.

Mr. Speaker, a thriving community can only be achieved when its members strive to better their surroundings. For several decades, the Riverdale neighborhood has benefitted from the hard work and dedication of Susan Goldy, one of the northwest Bronx's most respected citizens and my dear friend.

Susan's work in Riverdale began in earnest in 1981 when she established her own agency, Susan E Goldy Inc., which specialized in the sale and rental of residential property. Her company immediately earned high marks for its professionalism, courtesy, integrity and reliability. As Susan's agency grew she began to enhance her involvement in other real estate related ventures, including the Bronx Manhattan North Association of Realtors, an organization which she served as President of in 1995 and 1996.

Later, Susan became a member of the New York State Association of Realtors (NYSAR) serving on and chairing many committees within NYSAR focused on growing communities through real estate interests. Not surprisingly in 2012, Susan was elected President of NYSAR, an obvious reflection of her outstanding work ethic and accomplishments within the organization and beyond.

Susan has been recognized over the years with numerous awards and honors from different community groups and organizations, including the YMCA, the Kingsbridge Riverdale Van Cortlandt Development Corporation and the New York State Legislature. She has also done a great deal of volunteerism in this community and beyond, working with the Red Cross and Habitat for Humanity to help those who were impacted by Hurricanes Katrina and Sandy.

Susan moved to Riverdale in 1972 to raise her children, Jason and Lauren. The entire Riverdale community is fortunate that she did. I have known Susan for many years and I absolutely treasure the friendship we have developed over that time.

In 2014, the Riverdale Neighborhood House honored Susan at their annual benefit, and they could not have found a more deserving honoree. Congratulations, Susan, on this honor!