Floor Statements

Mr. Speaker, my son played basketball at Dillard University. I went down to see his games as often as I could. On one occasion, we were driving around in his car, we were at a busy intersection, and the car stops. I didn't know what was wrong, but eventually I realized that he simply didn't have gas in it. I was not happy, but I didn't stand outside of the car and just continue to talk to him about the fact that the car stopped running and needed gas.

What we did is, we tried to get some gas to get the car out of the busy intersection because a lot of people were trying to get by. It would have been of no value for me to stand there and lecture him or talk about how horrible the situation was. We wanted to fix it.

That is the same thing with the Affordable Care Act. There are some problems. I think it would be crazy for anybody to say there are not problems. The law has already been passed by Congress, signed by the President, and

upheld by the Supreme Court of the United States.

We would be infinitely better off if we gave our time to repairing the problems that are there as opposed to standing in the intersection talking about how bad it is.

Mr. Speaker, as we enter the season of giving thanks, I reflect on an individual who made a lasting impression on me and this institution. I rise today to recognize and congratulate Leslie Woolley, my former Chief of Staff of five years, on her retirement. A Capitol Hill veteran, Leslie has had a long and distinguished career in public service and the financial services industry.

Prior to working for me, Leslie was the Vice President, for Congressional Relations and International Banking at the Conference of State Bank Supervisors. She had previously spent over twenty years in the Senate and the House working as a professional staff member for the U.S. Senate Committee on Homeland Security and Government Affairs for Sen. Joe Lieberman (then D-CT), for U.S. Senators Zell Miller (D-GA), and Bob Graham (D-FL), who were both on the U.S. Senate Banking Committee. She also worked for U.S. House of Representatives Financial Services Committee members Bill McCollum (R-FL) and Wes Watkins (then D-OK), and as a professional staff member on a House Financial Services Subcommittee for U.S. Representative Norm Shumway (R-CA).

Leslie served in the Executive Branch at the U.S. Department of the Treasury, where she was Director for Business and Public Liaison in the Office of Legislative Affairs and Public Liaison, during Secretary Larry Summers' tenure and at the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC) where she was the Deputy to the Chairman for Policy for the first woman Chairman of the FDIC, Ricki Helfer.

She had private sector experience as well, previously serving as the Vice President for Legislative Affairs at both the Investment Company Institute and at Chemical Bank.

Leslie has had the unique opportunity to provide 25 years of federal service doing what she has loved--working in financial services public policy. During her 35 years in Washington, the financial services issues were interesting and sometimes very challenging. In particular, Leslie guided the FDIC's legislative involvement with the 1996 Deposit Insurance Funds Act which recapitalized the Savings and Loan Insurance Fund (SAIF) and worked with Senator Miller to ensure that the internal controls sections that applied to corporations under the Sarbanes-Oxley Act of 2002 were more balanced than under the original drafts of the bill. Leslie worked with me on the 2010 Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act which was a response to the late-2009 economic recession, by bringing some of the most significant changes to financial regulation since the Great Depression and impacting all federal financial regulatory agencies and almost every part of the United States' financial services industry.

She holds both a Bachelor in Science and Masters in Business Administration degrees from Oklahoma State University (OSU). In 1995, Leslie was awarded the Distinguished Alumni Award from the OSU Alumni Association. In 2011, Leslie was named one of the top 50 MBA graduates from the OSU Spears School of Business at their 50th anniversary celebration. She has also received the Department of the Treasury's, Secretary's Honor Award (2001); and Women in Housing and Finance's Distinguished Leader Award (2004).

In addition to her professional career, Leslie has made time for and been active in her community. She was President of Women in Housing and Finance 1984-85, and a Board Member from 2002-04; She held the office of Treasurer for Women's Giving Circle of Alexandria from 2007-2011 and a Board Member from 2007 to the present; Leslie was President of the Oklahoma State Society in 1991; and the President of the D.C. Chapter of the Oklahoma State University Alumni Association from 1993-95, an Alumni Association National Board member from 1996-2001, and a member of the OSU Alumni Association Executive Committee from 1998-2001.

Even though the financial services industry has experienced its share of ups and downs, one thing has stayed consistent--the quality of the people, such as Leslie, who worked as colleagues and friends across different states, delegations, agencies, companies and trade associations for the betterment of our country. Upon her retirement, Leslie shared with me how blessed she was to have worked with each and every one of her colleagues and associates. Her husband, Doyle Bartlett and their two children, Ann and Cameron, have helped to make Leslie's career possible and her life better.

Mr. Speaker, I ask you and our colleagues to join me in thanking Leslie for her 25 years of public service in the financial services arena; for her five years of support, help, and kindness to me, my Congressional staff and the constituents of the Fifth Congressional District of Missouri. I wish her the very best in all her future endeavors.

Mr. Speaker, 2 days ago, what one newspaper called perhaps one of the gentlemen of Congress, Ike Skelton, died here in Washington. For those of us here in the Missouri delegation, as well as those who were involved with Congressman Skelton on the Armed Services Committee, we are here to convey to the body that our colleague, our friend, has, indeed, died, and we who had the opportunity to know and serve with him are, of course, very saddened by his unexpected death.

Ike Skelton was 81 years old. He served here for 34 years and served all of that time on the Armed Services Committee and, of course, becoming the chair of Armed Services. He was a man of great humility, a man of great distinction, and was to be honored in 2 weeks at the Truman Library in Kansas City.

We think that he has been such a significant player in Washington that we, indeed, had to stand up and express our pain over his passing.

Senator Claire McCaskill is here from the other side, and we are asking, at this time, for the Members to stand in silence in memory of Isaac Newton Skelton.

Mr. Speaker, later today, the WRRDA bill will come before this body. I intend to vote against it. The reason is that there are 23 earmarks in it. I support all of those projects, but I don't have an earmark in it--and I want one.

I am not one of those people who is going to pretend to the public, as many of us have, that earmarks cost the budget any more money than they do. They do not. We go around and talk about the ``bridge to nowhere.'' There is a bridge. It is called the Gravina Island Bridge.

The worse thing about this is that, constitutionally, we have the power of the purse. We have given it to the administration. So they put 23 projects out here and said, Well, they used to be earmarks. That is like cutting off the tail of an alligator and putting some little ears on him and saying, It used to be a dog.

Ladies and gentlemen, this is wrong. The public needs to understand that this earmark business is damaging the Constitution because it is our job to spend the purse.

Madam Speaker, on September 20, 2013, I was hosting President Obama and Ford Motor Company President Allan Mulally in Missouri's 5th Congressional District, which I have the honor of representing in Congress. We were at the world-class Ford Claycomo Plant where the proud members of UAW #249 produce the top-selling F-150 Ford pick-up truck.

Had I been present and voting on H.J. Res. 59, Continuing Appropriations Resolution, 2014, I would have voted no because this bill will cause irreparable harm to hard-working Americans and our national economy. We in Congress owe our constituents better and I remain committed to working across the aisle to forge a bipartisan consensus.

Mr. Speaker, I was unable to vote on rollcalls 477-483. Had I been present, I would have voted ``yes'' on the Motion to Recommit H.J. Res. 59.

Had I also been present on H.R. 1526, I would have voted ``no'' on Amendment 1, ``no'' on McClintock Amendment 3, and ``no'' on McClintock Amendment 5.

I would have voted ``yes'' on the Motion to Recommit and ``no'' on Final Passage of H.R. 1526.

Mr. Speaker, I have only 1 minute, but I would imagine 1 minute is sufficient to plead with my colleagues to pay attention to the facts.

The U.S. economy has not healed. We are still struggling with $7.25 an hour for minimum wage. And if you make $7.25 working all day, every day, you're going to make slightly over $15,000 a year; and you get approximately $4.50 a day to eat on, $4.50.

I think that there is a right thing that we all can do. We ought to join forces to do the right thing; and the right thing is not to approve this bill, to back away from it. I mean, we are a rich Nation that really is having economic problems. We can deal with our poor. Everybody in this country ought to have equal access to food.

Mr. Speaker, I probably don't need 5 minutes to say what I would like to say.

This is a very sad moment for the most powerful Nation in the history of this planet. We are on the verge of a government shutdown over ideology. I can remember in 1995, I was the mayor of Kansas City when the government shut down and the impact was Herculean, not just here in Washington, but around the country and around the world. And if we are proud to be Americans, it means that we pay our bills.

We are the only nation that still allows a vote by a legislature on paying our bills. Most countries won't do that because they don't need any disruption in paying their debts. We are close to declaring to the whole world that we don't pay our bills.

The other part that's troublesome is this whole issue of SNAP, or food stamps. And there are so many myths that roll around that it just turns my stomach.

I lived in a house with no running water or electricity until I was 7 years old. We moved into public housing. My father worked three jobs. He eventually was able to buy a home.

I know what it's like to be poor. I know what it's like to struggle. My father was able to send my mother to college when I was in the eighth grade, and then all four of his children graduated from college, too, with postgraduate degrees. So I am always insulted when I hear all of these irreverent and nasty comments about poor people. And we spread this stuff around the country to the point of absurdity.

We spread lies. ``Well, people go into stores and they buy alcohol with food stamps.'' Well, we don't have food stamps anymore. We have cards, Economic Benefit Transfer cards. And in spite of the lies that people tell, you can't buy alcohol with cards. You cannot buy lottery tickets. I heard Members of Congress--this Congress--tell people that they know that people in prison are getting food stamps, and they've seen people buy alcohol with food stamp cards. It doesn't work. And it divides and damages this Nation.

The other lie, over 70 percent of the people receiving SNAP benefits are the elderly, the disabled, and children. And we are against helping them? Another 25 percent are people who work every day, it's just that they can't make enough to survive.

I remember growing up and my mother would say, Eat everything on your plate; there are starving kids in Africa. Well, I'm not sure how eating everything on my plate helped them--I'm still struggling with that--but there are starving people not far from here, and the government of the United States is saying we'd rather shut down than to have a program that deals with the people who are in trouble.

I just heard a few moments ago about a 101-year-old person whose daily Meals on Wheels had been reduced. 101 years old, and people are celebrating that, Mr. Speaker? This is a sad, sad day. And by the end of next week, when we are shut down, it's going to be much sadder.

Mr. Speaker, due to family commitment, I was unable to vote on H.R. 1897. Had I been present I would have voted ``aye''.

Due to this commitment, I was unable to vote on H.R. 2879. Had I been present, I would have voted ``no''.

Had I been present for votes on H.R. 367, I would have voted ``no'' on Amendment 1, ``no'' on Amendment 3, ``no'' on Amendment 4, ``aye'' on Amendment 6, ``aye'' on Amendment 7, ``aye'' on Amendment 8, ``aye'' on Amendment 12, ``aye'' on the Motion to Recommit H.R. 367, and ``no'' on H.R. 367.

Had I been present, I would have voted ``aye'' on the Motion to Recommit H.R. 2009 and ``no'' on H.R. 2009.

Mr. Speaker, I ask unanimous consent to revise and extend my remarks in opposition to the farm bill rule and the underlying bill because, Mr. Speaker, there is a five-decade symbiosis between urban America and the farm community.

I rarely come to this well for a lot of reasons--most of them are negative--because I didn't come to Congress to make an enemy. I came here to make a difference.

I'm not here, Mr. Speaker, trying to put politics above productive policy; ideology above the injured. I'm not here to form a division, but inclusion. I'm not here because I believe in capitulation, but in compromise.

I believe that this bill is doing enormous damage not only to the body politic, but to this Nation, and we, the elected leaders of the United States Congress--this is not some little club. We are the Congress of the United States of America, the most powerful Nation on this planet. We can take care of all of the people.

There are poor children in rural areas that I represent, and I will never turn my back on them and I will never turn my back on children in the urban core.

Mr. Speaker, I object to this bill because this bill is not just going to create tension among us but the people of this country who depend on us. They depend on us. It is not like they can go to an alternative body to redress their concerns. If we are about anything, it is about trying to take care of these people. That's why we're here.

I suffer from vertigo. The only way I can stop from wiggling around and fainting when I get dizzy with vertigo is to keep my eyes on something that doesn't move. I get frustrated and dizzy being in this body, and the only way I can stand up is to keep my eyes on something that doesn't move. And the thing that does not move are the people of the United States, particularly those who are hurting. They don't move. My mind is going to stay right there on people who don't move: the hurt, the wounded--even the will to be an American. We've got to make sure that we take care of everybody in this country, Mr. Speaker.

I will not, I shall not, I cannot be silent as we continue to divide the Nation, and then we think we're doing something good because we're able to say something nasty to somebody. The people of this country deserve better. We deserve better.

I've never attacked people on the basis of their party or their ideology, and I won't do it. I will not do it. But I will not abandon what's right. I will not abandon the things that I keep my eyes on. I will not support this bill.

There are people in rural counties that I represent where Saline County, Missouri, a rural county, has greater poverty than Jackson County, where Kansas City sits.

This is not about trying to destroy some kind of system that we put in place to protect the rural areas. I'm concerned about the rural areas. I was born in Waxahachie, Texas.

My daddy sent my mother to college when I was in the eighth grade. I had never lived in a house with indoor plumbing until I was almost 8 years old. I lived in public housing. My daddy struggled. With a little help, my daddy sent four children through college. We moved out of public housing. My daddy lives in his own house right now in Wichita Falls, Texas.

All people are asking for, in some cases, is just a little help. Who can they turn to? I hope, I actually even pray, that it's the United States Congress.

Mr. Speaker, my first babysitter was the Reverend Noah Albert Cleaver, my great-grandfather. He took care of me and my oldest sister every day after preschool. He lived to be 103 years old. I was in college when he died.

My grandpa, born in Cherokee County, Texas, who died in Ellis County, Texas, never voted, not one time in 103 years because they had to pay $3.50 in a poll tax.

When the Supreme Court ruled on Tuesday saying that because of progress we don't need the voting rights any more, it's like having a cruise ship require everyone wear some kind of life vest. The ship goes down, everybody is saved, and they say, Well, because everybody was saved, we don't need life vests any more. It was the life vests that saved them. It was the Voting Rights Act that caused the voter participation to rise.

I will not insult the death and life of my great-grandpa by not being as active as I can to reinstitute section 4 of the Voting Rights Act.

Mr. Speaker, due to a commitment in my district, I had to miss votes on H.R. 1947. Had I been present, I would have voted Aye on Amendment 1, No on Amendment 3, No on Amendment 5, Aye on Amendment 8, Aye on Amendment 9, Aye on Amendment 14, Yes on Amendment 15, No on Amendment 16.

Mr. Speaker, while the public is split 50-50 on whether the science of climate change is settled, there is overwhelming agreement--over 97 percent--among climate scientists that the human activity of this Earth is causing climate change.

Imagine if we compare that percentage to the medical field. If 97 percent of 100 doctors told you that you have cancer, would you refuse to take treatment?

Whether one believes that humans are contributing to climate change is in some ways irrelevant because we are certainly paying for its effect. The Federal Government spent $96 billion in 2012 to clean up after extreme weather events. That's nearly three times the amount paid by private insurers. That is more than we spend on transportation or education.

Though many have yet to embrace the facts that climate research has found, we must take action to mitigate these growing costs. As Ben Franklin once said: an ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure.

Mr. Speaker, I rise today in recognition of St. Mary's Bundschu Memorial High School, an historic and admirable educational institution that has been a proud part of my district for well over a century. At this time, I would like to join with my friends and neighbors to say goodbye and thank you to St. Mary's High School, recognizing all that the teachers, staff, and administration have done for generations of our community.

Few institutions can claim the vibrant history that St. Mary's can. It can trace its roots back to 1853, when Father Bernard Donnelly founded the school on a small plot of land, donated by Susan A. Hamilton. On this land was a small one and a half story building, which Father Donnelly converted into a school. From humble beginnings came bold and bountiful blessings.

At that time Independence, Missouri was the farthest point westward to which steamboats could travel on the Missouri River. It would be twelve more years before the city of Independence even opened its first public school, so St. Mary's served as the first public school for the frontier town. The children of merchants, explorers, and pioneers began their education together.

As the town grew, so did St. Mary's. Throughout its history--even in 1876 when part of the building was destroyed by a cyclone--St. Mary's has served the students of this community. In 1946, the cornerstone of the co-educational St. Mary's High School was laid, and by the very next year, a new building was completed and accredited. By 1968, the school opened its doors wide, expanding enrollment to neighboring communities, from greater Independence and Sugar Creek, to Northeastern Kansas City, Blue Springs, Lee's Summit, Raytown, Buckner, Smithville, and Liberty.

Over the years, St. Mary's has dedicated itself to the education and development of young men and women, teaching them to realize their unique potential through an extensive curriculum, instructional excellence, global awareness, service and extra-curricular programs. Thousands of young adults spent their formative years learning and growing in the classroom, on the field, on the stage, and in the pews on North Main Street.

It is with these facts in mind that Mayor of Independence Don B. Reimal dedicated May 14, 2013, to be St. Mary's High School Day, recognizing the positive impact this school has had on the lives of all of us, and urging all citizens to join in promoting the welfare of all children and youth.

As this school year comes to a close, so too do the doors of St. Mary's. But what will go on in these days, months, and years to come, is the lasting legacy of education and experience, living on in the hearts and minds of St. Mary's alumni.

Mr. Speaker, it is my wish that this Congress pay tribute to this valued part of our community.

Mr. Speaker, I rise today to join the Columbia College Alumni Association in my home state of Missouri in recognizing one of the College's most prestigious alumni. Colonel Charles McGee is among the most decorated and accomplished Air Force aviators, holding an Air Force record of 409 fighter combat missions flown in World War II, Korea and Vietnam. He has also served as a former public servant to the Kansas City area. I am proud to know Colonel McGee and applaud him for his invaluable service and contributions to the Air Force, Kansas City, and to our country.

Charles E. McGee was one of the renowned Tuskegee Airmen of World War II and continued as a career officer in the United States Air Force for 30 years. He was born in Cleveland, Ohio on December 7, 1919, and as a youth, Charles was a member of the Boy Scouts of America and earned the Eagle Scout award on August 9, 1940. He later served in district and regional positions in the Boy Scouts. At the 2010 National Scout Jamboree, he was recognized with the Distinguished Eagle Scout Award.

During the Vietnam War, as a Lt. Colonel, McGee flew 172 combat missions in a McDonnell RF-4 photo-reconnaissance aircraft. After a series of other appointments both in the United States as well as in Italy and Germany, and promotion to Colonel, McGee retired on January 31, 1973. He ended his military career with an impressive 6,308 flying hours. Following his military service, Col. McGee has held many prestigious functional and honorary positions within the field of aviation.

In 1978, at the age of 58, he completed his college degree at Columbia College in Kansas City, over thirty years after his initial enrollment at the University of Illinois. Though interrupted by World War II, attaining a college degree had been a lifelong goal. I am honored to have the opportunity to congratulate Colonel McGee for this great achievement and am proud that he chose to complete his studies and continue his impressive career in the great State of Missouri.

In his civilian life, Charles served as the Director of the Kansas City downtown airport and as a member of the Aviation Advisory Commission. For 30 years, he has been an ambassador of the Tuskegee Airmen, Inc., serving three times as national President and giving numerous public addresses and has received accolades including the National Aeronautical Associations ``Elder Statesman of Aviation.''

In 2005, Col. McGee was part of a group of former Tuskegee Airmen, who flew to Balad, Iraq, to speak to active duty airmen serving in the 332nd Air Expeditionary Wing, the current incarnation of the 332nd Fighter Group.

Colonel McGee has been recognized for his combat and military service with a number of awards including: Distinguished Flying Cross with two Oak Leaf Clusters, Legion of Merit with one Oak Leaf Cluster, Bronze Star, Air Medal with 25 Oak Leaf Clusters, Army Commendation Medal, Presidential Unit Citation, Korean Presidential Unit Citation, Hellenic Republic World War II Commemorative Medal along with related campaign and service ribbons.

In 2007, President George Bush awarded him and the surviving Tuskegee Airmen the Congressional Gold Medal of Honor, the nation's highest civilian award, and in 2011, he was inducted into the National Aviation Hall of Fame in Dayton, Ohio.

I am honored to join Columbia College in celebrating Colonel Charles McGee's accomplishments and service, from which we have all greatly benefited. I want to thank Colonel McGee for the lives he has touched and his leadership in the field of aviation, in our military, and in his community.