Floor Statements

Madam Speaker, I rise today in support of H.R. 2831, the Lilly Ledbetter Fair Pay Act of 2007. I regret that this legislation is even necessary in the 21st Century, but even today, we see instances of pay discrimination time and time again.

The reason we are bringing this legislation to the Floor today is because unfortunately, activist judges on the U.S. Supreme Court have changed the rules to make it much, much harder for an employee suffering pay discrimination to bring his or her case to court.

Prior to that case, an employee had 180 days from her previous paycheck to file a lawsuit for pay discrimination. However, five members of the Supreme Court, led by Justice Samuel Alito, changed those rules. Now, an employee has 180 days from the time of the decision to file a lawsuit.

However, oftentimes it is extremely difficult to know when pay discrimination is occurring. In the Supreme Court case under which the new rules were decided, Lilly Ledbetter filed her lawsuit because she was being paid far less than the lowest paid male employee holding the same position as hers. And she only found out about this because an anonymous person slipped her a note that showed her that fact.

There was no way that Ms. Ledbetter could have known about her pay discrimination if she had not received this anonymous note. However, the five Supreme Court Justices decided that she could not sue because it had been more than 180 days since her employers had decided to pay her less than the men.

This legislation is not only beneficial to employees, it is good for employers as well. With the current strict time limits, employees have more of an incentive to file lawsuits if they suspect discrimination, simply because if they delay their suit, they will give up their right to sue. It does not make sense to encourage people to sue before they have all the facts. We should ensure that we have a statute of limitations that makes sense.

I have fought against pay discrimination since my first day in Congress. Discrimination of any kind should never be allowed, and I intend to keep fighting against it.

The Lilly Ledbetter Fair Pay Act is commonsense legislation that should be enacted into law as we work to end discrimination at all levels.

Madam Speaker, I strongly support H.R. 2831, and I would encourage all of my colleagues to do the same.

Mr. Speaker, I rise in strong support of H.R. 176, the Shirley A. Chisholm United States-Caribbean Education Exchange Program. I would like to pay tribute to our colleague, Barbara Lee, for introducing this excellent legislation and for the work of Chairman Lantos in moving H.R. 176 forward.

Representative Lee and I have traveled to the Caribbean together, and we have seen through our site visits, including to St. George's University in Grenada and an education program at an orphanage in Haiti, the tremendous need for expanded educational cooperation between the United States and the Caribbean. In fact, Prime Minister Keith Mitchell of Grenada listed cooperation on education as among the most important issues for his country's citizens.

As such, H.R. 176 creates an educational exchange program between the United States and CARICOM countries, called the Shirley A. Chisholm United States-Caribbean Educational Exchange Program, and provides educational-related assistance for the nations in the CARICOM region. Education is an area in which the United States has a clear advantage-- one which we should use to help our neighbors in the Caribbean.

As chair of the House Foreign Affairs Subcommittee on the Western Hemisphere, it has been a priority of mine to help promote good relations between the United States and CARICOM countries. Just last month, the Presidents and Prime Ministers of 14 Caribbean countries met with members of the House Committee on Foreign Affairs as part of the historic Conference on the Caribbean and discussed how we could expand relations. During our meeting, I told the Caribbean leaders that we would pass a U.S.-Caribbean Education Exchange Act soon and hold a hearing on deportees. With today's passage of the Caribbean education legislation and last week's hearing, I am proud to say that we have lived up to our promises.

Mr. Speaker, this bill is aptly named for Shirley Anita Chisholm, a former member of the United States House of Representatives from 1968 to 1983 who had family roots in the Caribbean nation of Barbados. I am glad that we honor her service with this important educational exchange program, and I urge my colleagues to support H.R. 176.

Mr. Speaker, I rise today in strong support of H. Con. Res. 136 which expresses the sense of Congress that restrictions on visits to the United States by high-level elected officials from Taiwan--including the President of Taiwan--should be lifted. And I thank my friend, Mr. Chabot of Ohio, for introducing this important resolution.

Taiwan is without a doubt one of the most important allies of the United States in the Asia Pacific region. Taiwan is a rising economic power and has consistently ranked as one of the top ten U.S. export markets. In 2005, U.S.--Taiwan bilateral trade totaled $57 billion. In addition, our political ties with Taiwan have become ever more important in a world where China is increasing its global reach.

I am the Chairman of the House Foreign Affairs Subcommittee on the Western Hemisphere. In Central America and the Caribbean, I have seen China continue to expand its presence while Taiwan becomes increasingly isolated. Given these realities in our own hemisphere, I believe that we must work closely with Taiwan to increase its global visibility and membership in international organizations when it is strategically and politically feasible.

Given our strong political and economic relationship, it would seem inconceivable that we would place restrictions on high-level elected officials of Taiwan during their visits to the United States. Taiwan is a key U.S. ally which is trying hard to maintain its international position, and we should give Taiwan our strong support. I commend Mr. Chabot for introducing this important resolution and hope that Congress can work closely with the Bush Administration to ensure that these restrictions are actually removed.

Mr. Speaker, in our Energy and Commerce Committee, we're

pushing ahead to grant health care coverage to millions of children, a program called SCHIP. Unfortunately, the President's proposal to reauthorize SCHIP is woefully inadequate. His funding level won't even cover the children currently enrolled in the program. Nationwide, 6 million children are covered by the SCHIP and another 9 million are uninsured. If there was ever a question of where our priorities are, it should be with strengthening and modernizing the SCHIP program.

I've just come from a meeting with our Governor, Eliot Spitzer. New York operates a separate stand-alone program under SCHIP, Child Health Plus. As of December 2006, nearly 400,000 children were enrolled and receiving comprehensive health coverage in the program. Our stand-alone SCHIP program has increased enrollment by over a quarter of a million children since the start of the program.

Nationwide, we have to remember that the SCHIP program is a critical part of our health care safety net, providing health coverage to more than 4 million low-income children who do not qualify for Medicaid. SCHIP has served New York and our country well, and I will continue to work to improve access for children's health care coverage.

I thank the gentleman, my distinguished friend, the chairman, for yielding time to me.

Mr. Speaker, it's time to get our troops out of the middle of an Iraqi civil war. It's time to start bringing our troops home.

My friends on the other side of the aisle are essentially saying ``stay the course.'' At what point, I would ask my friends, do we say that the administration's policies in Iraq have failed and it is time to change course? I think that time is now.

Even the Bush administration's interim assessment of whether the Iraqis are meeting basic benchmarks shows that they have failed to achieve any level of political and economic success. Here we are in the fifth year of the war, longer than World War II, more than half a trillion dollars and 3,600 American lives lost, and Iraqi politicians seem further apart than ever. Indeed, the evidence that our soldiers are involved in an Iraqi civil war is mounting and a solution seems even further from our grasp.

Young American service personnel cannot solve the problem of Iraq, because, ultimately, Iraq is not a military problem anymore; it is a political crisis. And if the Iraqis cannot solve their political problems, we cannot do it for them. Only Iraqi politicians can bring about a solution, and our military personnel should not be dying to hold together the collapsed Iraqi state.

Mr. Speaker, this war has turned into a great strategic fiasco, from the lack of planning to insufficient number of troops, to incompetent management of reconstruction projects, to the use of torture in military prisons. Our blunder in Iraq will affect our ability to succeed in the Middle East and elsewhere for years to come.

Therefore, I strongly support this bill, which requires that we begin redeploying American troops home within 120 days of enactment and ending by April 1, 2008.

Madam Chairman, I rise today in support of H.R. 1851, the Section 8 Voucher Reform Act of 2007. This bill will expand Section 8 Vouchers to improve system efficiency, encourage self-sufficiency, and increase the number of families who can participate. There are currently 20,370 vouchers in use in New York's 17th district which I proudly represent, and 2 million families using vouchers nationwide. These Section 8 Vouchers allow low-income families to choose the housing option that best fits their needs, and encourages permanent economic stability.

According to the National Association of Housing and Redevelopment Officials, there is funding for 150,000 vouchers that are not in use under the current Section 8 Voucher formula. By reforming Section 8 Vouchers, we put funding and vouchers in the hands of people who need them the most.

Madam Chairman, in New York we highly value Section 8 Vouchers housing. The vouchers provide much-needed assistance to families and individuals wishing to become more economically self-sufficient, but who lack the means to do so on their own. Simplifying and expanding Section 8 Vouchers will help alleviate a monumental housing crisis in the state of New York and throughout the country. H.R. 1851 relieves pressure on struggling communities and families and will bring economic security and self-sufficiency within their reach. H.R. 1851 reforms Section 8 Vouchers in a comprehensive and logical way, and I encourage my colleagues to support this important legislation.

Mr. Speaker, I rise in support of H. Res. 287 and thank our colleague, Congressman Alcee L. Hastings, for sponsoring this excellent resolution.

In 1507, German cartographer Martin Waldseemuller [VALD-say-meuller] drafted a map of the world that inaugurated the use of the name ``America,'' acknowledging the contributions of explorer Amerigo Vespucci, which forever altered the accepted geographical view of the world.

As Chair of the Subcommittee on the Western Hemisphere, with jurisdiction over the Americas--Latin America and Central America, North and South America--I am keenly aware that the use of this name has forever defined the region where we all live.

As we commemorate 500 years of the use of the name ``America'', let us rededicate ourselves to promoting better and closer relations between the United States and the countries of the Americas and hope that the next 500 years will be an era of peace and prosperity throughout the hemisphere.

I urge Committee Members to support H. Res. 287.

Madam Speaker, as Chairman of the Western Hemisphere Subcommittee, I rise in strong support of House Resolution 426 and I want to thank my colleagues, Congressmen Jim McGovern and Joe Pitts for introducing this important resolution.

As my colleagues have said, Colombia's internally displaced population represents one of the worst humanitarian crises in the hemisphere, and the second largest population of internally displaced in the world.

Many estimate that Colombia has the highest number of displaced persons in the world after only Sudan--up to 3 million people.

According to Amnesty International, over 60 percent of these displaced persons have been forced off areas of mineral, agricultural or other economic importance.

In fact, the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees has deemed it the ``greatest hidden humanitarian crisis in the world.''

This problem is particularly severe among Afro-Colombians and the indigenous. I hope that Colombian President Alvaro Uribe and the Bush administration can concentrate on this during the next phase of Plan Colombia.

The Colombian government's proposal for the second phase of Plan Colombia--the Strategy for Strengthening Democracy and Social Development--focuses greater attention on socioeconomic aid. However, the President's FY 2008 budget for Colombia did not reflect this change.

Therefore, I was particularly pleased that my friend and colleague from the neighboring district to my own Chairwoman Nita Lowey made welcome changes to our foreign assistance to Colombia in the FY 2008 House State and Foreign Operations Appropriations bill.

In particular, I appreciate Chairwoman Lowey's report language that indicates that U.S. foreign assistance to Colombia should be increased for organizations working with internally displaced persons (IDPs) and municipalities and departments with high IDP populations.

I was also pleased that funds in the FY 2008 Foreign Ops bill were targeted specifically towards Afro-Colombians who as I noted are among the chief victims in Colombia's civil conflict.

I would be remiss not to mention that I have been impressed by the significant progress made by President Uribe in reducing kidnappings, homicides and massacres in his country. No one can deny these results.

But I believe that we must now build on this success by working together in improving social conditions in Colombia, chief among them the plight of Colombia's internally displaced.

Madam Speaker, academic freedom is one of the bedrocks of a free society. This is known in the United Kingdom, just as it is known in the United States and other democratic nations.

Among the nations with an open academic climate is the democratic state of Israel. The views expressed on its campuses span the spectrum from left to right and liberal to conservative. Its students are of all ethnicities, speaking many different languages. But, on May 30, the University and College Union of the United Kingdom voted to urge its membership to consider boycotting Israeli faculty and academic institutions. This deplorable action by men and women of letters runs against the very tenets of free academic exploration. How can people of learning expect to share the studies of the great questions of our time if they are not speaking to one another?

Moreover, I fear that the reason behind this extraordinary step is much more dark and ominous. I believe that underlying this attack on Israel's academia is a not-so-well-veiled anti-Semitism. By singling out the conduct of Israel, a democratic and pluralistic country surrounded by a sea of dictatorships, the Union's leadership has taken absurdity and hypocrisy to new heights.

The legislation on the floor of the House today voices Congress's extreme disapproval of the Union's short-sighted, bigoted, and offensive action. I urge my colleagues to support H. Res. 467 and tell the nations of the world that academic societies are no places for closed-minded, hate-filled efforts to stifle free exchange.

Mr. Speaker, I thank my friend from Michigan for yielding to me.

I rise today, Mr. Speaker, in strong support of H.R. 1830, which extends trade preferences for Peru, Colombia, Bolivia, and Ecuador. I want to thank Chairman Rangel, the dean of the New York delegation, and Chairman Levin for their leadership on this issue.

I am the chairman of the Foreign Affairs Subcommittee on the Western Hemisphere, and as chairman, I believe that the extension of the Andean trade preferences is crucial in promoting development in the economically and politically fragile Andean region while also supporting essential U.S. geopolitical goals. My ranking member, Mr. Burton, just spoke and gave very good reasons why this should be supported. I agree with every one of them.

With anti-Americanism on the rise in the Western Hemisphere, I believe that positive engagement with the Andean region can both improve our image abroad and help us to more effectively engage our neighbors. Many of our neighbors in the hemisphere feel a huge sense of neglect from the United States. The extension of the Andean preferences is a great way to show our neighbors that we are engaged and do indeed care.

I believe that the preference program has been enormously successful, having created hundreds of thousands of jobs in the Andean region. Every job created in the Andean region is another potential illegal immigrant remaining in their home country. Without the extension of these preferences, these jobs, which are in sectors that do not directly compete with U.S. jobs, will be eliminated.

I am also in possession of a letter from the AFL-CIO which gives its approval of these agreements.

Moreover, I feel that without the extension of ATPA, many of the unemployed in the Andean region would turn to drug cultivation after they lose their jobs. The Andean preference program was originally created not only to support economic development in the region but also to divert illegal coca manufacturing toward legitimate industries. Using these trade preferences as a tool in the drug war is still very important today.

Mr. Speaker, let me conclude by mentioning that President Bush recently traveled to five countries in the Americas in an effort to reinvigorate our partnership with our friends in the region. Prior to his trip, President Bush said that ``The working poor of Latin America need change, and the United States of America is committed to that change.'' I believe that the extension of ATPA can help bring this well-needed change to our friends in the Andean region.

I want to emphasize that in my travels in the region, the region feels that the United States is looking elsewhere and is not engaged. The worst thing we could do would be not to pass this because it would prove their fears. We need to pass this. We need to do it quickly, and I urge Members on both sides of the aisle to support this.

Madam Speaker, Reverend Dr. Samuel Simpson, pastor of the Bronx Baptist and Wake Eden community Baptist Churches in the Bronx was born in Jamaica W.I. He relocated to the United States in the early sixties. He and his wife Lola Campbell have three children and five grandchildren. He is well known in the Bronx and the West Indian communities throughout the State and beyond.

In addition to leading the Bronx and Wake Eden congregations, Reverend Simpson has been instrumental in starting the Honeywell Baptist Chapel, and a newer mission in the Spring Valley area. Grace Baptist Chapel in the northern section of the Bronx is an off/shoot of Bronx Baptist Church. Reverend

Simpson also communicates his strong belief in helping people via the media, and writes a weekly column for the Carib News. Periodically he is heard on Family Radio and has been the subject of three books: ``What God did for Me,'' ``Sam Simpson, Architect of Hope,'' and his most recent ``To Dream the Impossible Dream.''

He serves in many capacities in the Baptist denomination. Among his leadership roles has been president--Baptist Convention of New York for two terms, and moderator--Metropolitan New York Baptist Association. Other areas of service were: president and board chairman of Protestant Council of Churches of New York, president, Bronx division of Council of Churches, chairman of the board and president, Bronx Shepherds Restoration, and board member, Northeastern Bible College. Reverend Dr. Simpson is a true man of God and a firm believer in serving the total person. He has worked tirelessly for his community both within and outside the Bronx seeking to improve the temporal and spiritual aspects of his congregation and his community.

We are a stronger, better community for his work.

Madam Speaker, I rise today to encourage my colleagues' strong support for the Alarm Customer VoIP Notification Act, which I am introducing today. I would also like to take this opportunity to thank my friend and colleague on the Telecommunications and the Internet Subcommittee, Congressman Cliff

Stearns, who joins me as an original cosponsor of this bill.

Currently, burglar and fire alarm signals are transmitted from the home or business to a central monitoring station over the traditional phone line system. In many cases, Voice over Internet Protocol (VoIP) phone systems will become a substitute for the current land line systems. When a VoIP (broadband) phone system is improperly installed, by either a consumer or a cable provider, there is a significant risk that existing alarm panels will be bypassed, and will no longer be able to send an alert to the alarm monitoring station.

Unless the consumer is notified and the system is properly tested, they will be unaware they no longer have alarm services they are relying on to protect their life, health, safety, and property. Approximately half of the 26 million alarm consumers will learn that their systems are no longer operable when a monthly automatic test is run on their system. However, even those with self-testing systems will be without alarm monitoring services for up to a month. The other half of Americans who have older legacy systems, which cannot be automatically tested by a central monitoring station, will only learn they no longer have alarm services during an emergency. To make matters worse, seniors with home health alert systems, Personal Emergency Response Systems--PERS, will be unaware that they have lost their health lifeline.

Consumers who utilize alarm systems have invested significantly to ensure that they have the security that burglar, health, safety, and fire alarm monitored systems provide. They should be given the information needed to ensure continued alarm monitoring services.

That is why I have introduced the Alarm Customer VoIP Notification Act. This bill requires that before a VoIP system is activated, the customer be notified that their alarm system needs to be tested and that they need to notify the alarm monitoring company. Again, I urge my colleagues' support and cosponsorship of this important consumer protection bill.

Madam Speaker, Reverend Dr. Samuel Simpson, Pastor of the Bronx Baptist and Wake Eden community Baptist Churches in the Bronx was born in Jamaica West Indies. He relocated to the United States in the early sixties. He and his wife Lola Campbell have three children and five grandchildren. He is well known in the Bronx and the West Indian communities throughout the State and beyond.

In addition to leading the Bronx and Wake Eden congregations, Rev. Simpson has been instrumental in starting the Honeywell Baptist Chapel, and a newer mission in the Spring Valley area. Grace Baptist Chapel in the northern section of the Bronx is an offshoot of Bronx Baptist Church. Rev. Simpson also communicates his strong belief in helping people via the media, and writes a weekly column for the Carib News. Periodically he is heard on Family Radio and has been the subject of three books: ``What God did for Me,'' ``Sam Simpson, Architect of Hope,'' and his most recent ``To Dream the Impossible Dream.''

He serves in many capacities in the Baptist denomination. Among his leadership roles has been President--Baptist Convention of New York for two terms, and Moderator--Metropolitan New York Baptist Association. Other areas of service were: President and Board Chairman of Protestant Council of Churches of New York, President, Bronx division of Council of Churches, Chairman of the Board and President, Bronx Shepherds Restoration, and Board Member, Northeastern Bible College. Rev. Dr. Simpson is a true man of God and a firm believer in serving the total person. He has worked tirelessly for his community both within and outside the Bronx seeking to improve the temporal and spiritual aspects of his congregation and his community.

We are a stronger, better community for his work.

Madam Speaker, health care has never been more important, or more complex, in the United States than it is today. An efficiently functioning health care system requires many contributors, perhaps especially evaluation and quality improvement.

Harry Feder is a senior vice president and chief operating officer of IPRO, one of the Nation's largest and most experienced health care evaluation and quality improvement organizations, and the man responsible for ensuring that necessary and appropriate care is provided across the continuum of care.

Faith Feder is well known for her commitment to education, her abiding concern for the elderly and the care of the needy. As part of her commitment to education, she has served as both the Treasurer and President of the SAR Academy, where she led a parent body of its 600 children. In addition, she has been involved in numerous communal causes that treat the uninsured and assist the elderly. She is a founder and treasurer of Foremost Home Care.

Harry has in-depth knowledge of processes and issues surrounding the monitoring and assessment of the Medicare and Medicaid programs. He has extensive knowledge and a national perspective on programs dealing with Utilization Review, Quality Improvement, Managed Care, Long-Term Care, Fraud and Abuse, and Independent Review of Appeals.

He was awarded a Masters Degree in Public Administration from New York University Graduate School of Public Administration and is a lecturer in the Department of Health and Epidemiology at the Albert Einstein College of Medicine as well as on the faculty of the New York University School of Continuing Education.

Those are some of Harry's and Faith's accomplishments and just a few of the reasons that they are being honored by the Riverdale Jewish Center. For me, however, it is not only these accomplishments, but their being my close and dear friends for so many years that makes them so special.

Madam Speaker, I rise today to commemorate World Day Against Child Labor. Today serves to remind us of the exploitation of child workers around the world and to encourage us to act as global leaders in ending these atrocities.

I learned of the brutal working conditions of children who labored in the cocoa fields through a series of articles published by Knight Ridder several years ago. One young boy, Aly Diabate, told how he was sold into slavery when he was barely four feet tall. He said, ``Some of the bags were taller than me. It took two people to put the bag on my head. And when you didn't hurry, you were beaten. The beatings were a part of my life. Any time they loaded you with bags and you fell while carrying them, no one helped you. Instead, they beat you and beat you until you picked it up again.''

In response to stories like these, I, along with Senator Tom Harkin, authored the Harkin-Engel Protocol to hold chocolate companies accountable to American consumers and the global community. The Harkin- Engel Protocol provides for the development and implementation of industry-wide global standards for the growing of cocoa beans and the manufacturing of chocolate products that are sold in

the United States. This framework provides a reliable capacity for the first time to publicly certify that cocoa used in chocolate or related products has been grown and processed without abusive child labor. The Harkin-Engel Protocol allows chocolate manufacturers to agree to take responsibility for the labor conditions of cocoa farms which they do not own.

It is not and should not be the way of this Congress to stand by while children anywhere are sold into slavery. And it is not our way to provide a marketplace for products tainted with the blood of children. I encourage the Members of this Congress to act as global leaders and help end child slave labor throughout the world. Madam Speaker, my hope is that we will use World Day Against Child Labor to raise American awareness of the pressing issue of child slavery and to rise to the challenge of accountability in American products.