Floor Statements

Mr. Speaker, throughout this year, myself, my colleagues, and our staff have been bombarded by physician lobbyists desperate to prevent a 4.4 percent reduction in Medicare payments scheduled to go into effect in January 2006. While I can empathize with their desire for more money--who doesn't want a raise?--I think it's time that we quell this fevered pitch with a dose of reality and a few facts. That is why I am introducing the Medicare Physician Payment Reform Act today.

Without Congressional intervention, physician fees will decrease 4.4 percent next year and an estimated 5 percent reduction for many years thereafter. This is due to what is widely agreed upon to be a flawed formula in the payment system known as the sustainable growth rate (SGR).

That being said, it is important to note that even if the cuts go into effect next year, total spending for physician services would more than likely increase. This is because physicians have been steadily providing more services, and more intensive services, in recent years. While some growth may be desirable--for example providing additional preventive services--data show that much of the current growth has no clinical benefit or may even be harmful. Although I agree that our current SGR mechanism is flawed, I have serious reservations about repealing it without putting

something in its place that will account for the increase in volume and intensity of physician services in Medicare.

At the same time physician groups and members of Congress have been focused on the SGR, other issues with the physician fee schedule have emerged, including the accuracy of pricing for primary care services. These issues, although less well known, are critical to maintaining beneficiary access to high quality care. It has been 14 years since the current reimbursement system was implemented. It is time for Congress to receive an evaluation of how well this system is meeting its goals. In our effort to find a permanent solution to the SGR, we should not miss an opportunity to address these underlying issues.

Medicare Physician Payment Reform Act calls on the Medicare Payment Advisory Committee (MedPAC) to conduct a comprehensive review of the physician payment system, including recommendations on the accuracy of Medicare pricing and alternatives to the SGR. To allow time for MedPAC to complete their work, the bill provides for a 1.5 percent increase for the next 2 years for physicians.

The bill also provides two important additional components. First, the bill protects beneficiaries from Part B premium increases that would otherwise result from the physician update. Second, it repeals the so-called ``45 percent trigger,'' which was created in the Medicare Modernization Act of 2003 to restrict Medicare's general revenue support. If this trigger is left in place, physician increases will force a counter-productive, cyclical effort to cut Medicare spending.

Given problems with potentially unjustifiable increases in volume and intensity of physician services, coupled with other perverse financial incentives in the system, repeal of the SGR is irresponsible and unaffordable. Likewise, the status quo is unacceptable. It is clear that problems with the physician fee schedule go far beyond the difficulties of the SGR, and Congress needs expert guidance to find solutions.

Congress has become quite proficient at short term solutions to Medicare physician payment problems. Unfortunately, this near-sighted view comes at the expense of other Medicare changes that could directly improve benefits or decrease costs for Medicare beneficiaries. This bill lays out a plan for a permanent solution enabling physicians to count on fair annual payment adjustments. It's better for physicians, patients and the American taxpayer.

Numerous proposals have been introduced to find solutions to these payment problems and such a fix is included in the Senate version of the pending budget reconciliation legislation. The concept of pay for performance is also heavily promoted as a potential solution, though everyone should admit that it would take many years for it to be implemented and prove effective.

I think it's imperative we ask the experts for their recommendations before acting, while at the same time ensuring access is maintained and beneficiaries are protected. The Medicare Physician Payment Reform Act of 2005 will provide the intellectual foundation to enable Congress to enact a thoughtful, permanent solution for the physician reimbursement system by 2008. I urge my colleagues to consider this approach as the best alternative to ensure that physicians are appropriately paid and beneficiaries are protected.

Mr. Speaker, I rise today in strong opposition to H.R. 4297, yet another tax break for the richest among us at the expense of those who have the least.

The Republicans want to cut taxes by $94.5 billion. How do they pay for these cuts? Before Thanksgiving they voted to cut $50 billion from programs that help the poorest Americans. The conclusion is obvious: They are paying for the tax cuts for wealthy Americans by cutting programs for working Americans.

Under the tax break package presented today, a family of four surviving on $30,000 a year will get an average of $50 extra in their tax return next April. Meanwhile, a millionaire will gain an extra $51,000.

Lets just see what kind of lifestyle enhancement these tax cuts can buy:

The $30,000 working family of four can use the extra $4.16 they receive each month to buy any one of the following: 1.75 gallons of gas; a half-pound of cheese; one gallon of orange juice; two loaves of white bread; three grapefruits; or for those indebted to the NRA, 6 bullets for a .44 Magnum.

People making over $1 million get a tax break of $4,250 a month, that they could use to purchase one of the following: leases on four BMW 750i sedans; 17 iPod nano's; a 50 inch flat screen plasma TV; a five karat diamond tennis bracelet; or a 10-day European cruise. Or, if they wanted to, they could pay the monthly health insurance premiums for four families.

If the Republicans want to cut taxes, they should pay for it. We could save billions by pulling our troops out of Iraq. That could pay for Katrina relief and stop cuts to important programs for working families. Instead of handing out holiday tax breaks to rich Republican campaign donors, we should be rolling back Bush's tax breaks for millionaires to better fund important programs like Medicaid and student loans.

Also, Republicans need to drop the ``fiscal conservative'' moniker. These tax breaks combined with last month's cuts on programs for those in need will rack up $44 billion in new debt. The fiscal disciplines of the Republican party apparently means we drive our nation into debt and send the bill to our children and grandchildren.

The numbers don't lie. The Republican priority is tax breaks for the rich, nothing more. They will cut programs for the poor and increase the deficit by billions of dollars to get their way. I urge all my colleagues to stop this insane fiscal policy by voting ``no'' on this bill.

Mr. Speaker, on that I demand the yeas and nays.

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

(Mr. STARK asked and was given permission to revise and extend his remarks.)

Mr. Speaker, the first thing is, here we go again. If we are rewarding an ally for helping us in Iraq, where I understand there are no Bahranian troops, but we have got a Navy base. Well, if we are paying off for a Navy base, how about Cuba? Why do we not throw these guys in? I think we have got a big base in Cuba where we are torturing prisoners, so why not toss them in if that is the reason for going into this free trade agreement.

The problem with the Bahrain Free Trade Agreement is the same ones that we have had with Australia, Morocco, CAFTA. And the administration keeps sending the same flawed arguments and agreements.

I have supported trade. But it has got to be fair before it can be free. And unfortunately, this administration does not see it that way. Like our recent free trade agreements, it fails to promote basic labor rights, environmental standards, and is a payback or a sell out to PhRMA for letting the pharmaceutical industry write into these agreements wording that extends their patents and extends the time before generic medicines are available.

Now, it may be that Bahrain is somewhat richer than other nations and can wait longer, but it is a bad policy. You are going to hear today about Bahrain's labor rights. That is great. But it does not hold them responsible for maintaining those improvements. It is sort of enforce your own laws, and Bahrain could change those laws tomorrow.

The same hollow standards apply to environmental protections. They could be changed. My 10-year-old son wishes that he could have enforce his own bed time. But that is not the way it works, Mr. Speaker. Until the core international labor organizations standards and strong environmental protections are included in the text of the agreement, we should all vote against these free trade agreements.

If you trust the administration to tell you the truth, maybe you could vote for it then. But I think recent experience in the war, in torture, and other instances have shown us that those assertions are subject to question by reasonable people.

So this agreement, like many other bills, helps Big Pharma. It does not do much for labor. It does nothing to assure us that we will have environmental safety in Bahrain should they, God help us, ever run out of oil. And it seems to me that we are giving away a lot of our American rights. And I urge any of you just to remember the disagreement we had many years ago over China.

And many of us said, the minute you give permanent most favored nation to China, you will never again be able to negotiate with them. Look at the footage when our delegation was in China and the hands that went in front of the cameras as China prohibits free and open press coverage of what goes on there.

Until we are ready to get fair exchange for these free trade agreements, we are selling our American heritage. I urge a no vote on the Bahrain Free Trade Agreement.

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

Mr. Speaker, I yield 5 minutes to the gentleman from Ohio (Mr. Brown), a colleague nominated for the Nobel Prize in literature for his best selling book ``The Myth of Free Trade,'' also an author who understands that the King of Bahrain was not elected. I do not care what kind of a democracy it is, kings do not get elected. And if my good friend from Wisconsin had suggested that we could take our troops out of Iraq immediately and substitute this cockamamie free trade agreement, I would join with him in that, but I am not sure that that is what he thought.

Mr. Speaker, I am happy to yield 5 minutes to my friend from Vermont (Mr. Sanders).

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

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

Mr. Speaker, I would like to associate myself with some of the remarks of my distinguished friend from Maryland. He is right, Bahrain is a flea on the elephant when it comes to the difference that it will make in economic impact to the United States.

But if we really wanted to help in the Middle East, maybe we would have sold parts for C-130s to Iran and saved 100 people from dying because of our embargo on selling aircraft parts to a country that could not maintain safe aircraft because the United States refused to deal with them.

Maybe we ought to question whether this vote is really whether you trust the administration, an administration that many people think lied to us about getting us into war in Iraq in the first place. Many people think the administration is lying to us about torturing, and here we are talking about what is supposedly a democracy. Is this any more of a democracy than Saudi Arabia? It has a king. It votes, maybe.

I think that the real issue is if we do not get it in writing, if we do not have enforceable rules, can we trust the administration or will the administration continue to sell out to the pharmaceutical industry, which will harm the people of Bahrain, in repayment for campaign contributions?

These are the kinds of things that are at issue here. Do you trust this administration? Do you trust them to help anybody but the very rich? Do you trust them to keep their word about what they are doing? And if you do not, as many of us do not, you will voice that protest and vote against this bill.

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

Mr. Speaker, the Department of Veterans Affairs buys drugs for about half the market price, saving the American taxpayer billions of dollars. It does this by insisting on the best price offered to other customers, by negotiating for further discounts, and by moving market share through the use of a formulary or preferred drug list.

The formulary is an excellent one that provides Veterans with the drugs they need that are safe and effective.

This formulary is under attack by `think tanks' that may receive a lot of money from drug companies. PhRMA wants to convince the American public that, like the children of Lake Woebegon, all drugs are above average and should be readily available to be marketed to all Americans at whatever price the companies want to charge. The fact is, most drugs--about 80 to 85 percent in recent years--are me-too drugs: copies of stuff already on the market that bring little or nothing new to the fight against diseases. There is no need to cover all these drugs on a formulary. Rather, by using a formulary to list only the safest, most effective drugs, a buyer can obtain huge discounts from the companies. An exceptions and appeals process can ensure that in those rare cases where a non-formulary drug is needed, it will be available.

Listing all new drugs on a formulary can also be dangerous, because many drugs are approved after only six months or so of testing on a few thousand people or less. As doctor and Senator Frist has said, there should be a 2 year moratorium on the mass advertising of new drugs, because we really don't know how safe they are. Vioxx and Celebrex are classic examples of drugs that added little new but have unacceptable risks.

The VA formulary never listed Vioxx and Celebrex. Good for them. Vioxx alone has been estimated to have caused up to 40,000 unnecessary deaths and another 100,000 heart attacks or strokes.

But the Manhattan Institute has just published a paper by a Frank R. Lichtenberg who says he is a Professor at Columbia University's School of Business. The thesis of the paper is that because the VA does not immediately cover every drug, like Vioxx and Celebrex, veterans are starting to die earlier. The Professor includes in his paper one of the most hilarious, or saddest examples of sophistry I've ever seen. He plots on a graph the life expectancy at birth of all males, and shows it rising from 72 years in 1991 to 74.5 years in 2002. He also plots veterans' life expectancy, which rises from about 77.6 years to 80.5 years by 2004. But then he does something that, if he were a student, would earn an ``F''. He superimposes the two life expectancy lines in different colors on the same chart but uses different vertical lines to represent the two different populations. The Veterans' axis on the left starts at 77.0 years and rises to 81.5 years. The life expectancy at birth of all males axis on the right side of the chart starts at 70.5 and rises to 75.0. By doing this, he makes it appear to the quick scanner or casual reader (i.e., most of us), that Veterans are dying sooner than the rest of American males. Instead, Veterans are living 6 years longer.

The Professor deserves an ``F''--and so does the drug industry for trying to libel the VA drug system.

We need a system like the VA's for Medicare. It would save us hundreds of billions of dollars in the years to come--and save us from the Vioxx's of the future.

Mr. Speaker, I rise today to honor Newark, CA's Mayor Dave Smith. His recent re-election makes him the second longest serving mayor in the country as he embarks on his 28th consecutive year of service.

Mayor Smith began his career in public service as the Fremont chapter president of the Jaycees, a fraternal business group. He then ran for, and was elected to, the Newark city council in 1976. Two years later he was elected Mayor, where he has remained ever since.

During his tenure, Newark has become a model for the country to follow. It has a $35 million surplus, a low crime rate, beautiful parks and well-maintained streets. Newark city council meetings are efficient and exemplify Mayor Smith's ability to build consensus among the city's leadership.

He has steered Newark through the dot-com boom and bust, avoiding the common pitfalls that plague many other cities. His plans for managed growth have allowed Newark to thrive. Also, he is a respected governmental figure--not an easy trick for a Republican representing a city that is registered 55 percent Democratic.

Smith's nickname, Mr. Newark, is well deserved. With an easy style prone to practical jokes and trombone solos, he has become an accomplished politician, a beloved public servant and a committed member of his community.

Mr. Speaker, I rise to honor Dave Smith's dedicated commitment to the city he serves. His ability to lead Newark, one of the jewels of the East Bay, is unquestionable and I for one hope he continues to serve for another 28 years.

Mr. Speaker, I rise today to pay tribute to the city of Newark, CA's extraordinary city manager, Alberto ``Al'' T. Huezo. After a long and illustrious career, he will retire on December 30, 2005.

He was hired by the city on July I, 1974 and promoted to the position of city manager on July 1, 1996. For the last 9 years, City Manager Huezo has guided Newark in an exemplary fashion. He defines his position as city manager as ``the chief executive officer of an organization that provides municipal services.'' He emphasizes the word services and describes his role also as ``an ambassador for the organization, someone who actively markets and promotes that organization to people on the outside, potential customers and certainly customers within.'' During his tenure as city manager he never lost his focus on service.

When asked how he would like to be remembered, Mr. Huezo responded ``as a man who didn't take himself too seriously, someone who did his job with passion and gusto.'' Among his legacies to the city is the development of Newark's Silliman Center, a modern multi-purpose community center, and maintaining city services through difficult fiscal issues and challenges. He points to the proudest moment of his career, as city manager, as being part of a team that dealt effectively with the nationally publicized Eddie ``Gwen'' Araujo homicide in Newark. This tragedy put the city under a microscope and communities acted with dignity and as a tightly knit group to face the challenge together.

Referring to his legacy, Mr. Huezo points to the people that he has promoted or brought into the city's organization and the key people in place to lead Newark forward.

I join the city of Newark and its residents in wishing Al Huezo all the best upon his well deserved retirement. He has been a trusted public servant and we shall miss his warm personality and the genuine, consistent caring he expressed when carrying out his duties to make Newark a model city. Thank you, Al Huezo, for making a positive difference with your commitment to excellence.

Mr. Speaker, most Americans watching their televisions looked on in horror at the extent of the poverty and desperation among the victims of Hurricane Katrina. President Bush and congressional Republicans apparently looked at these pictures with indifference and disdain.

I am forced to believe this because their budget bill--the so-called Deficit Reduction Act--aims to cut more than $50 billion from nearly every poverty program this country offers for the sake of later passing approximately $60 billion in tax breaks for the wealthiest Americans.

Sadly, their recent actions fit neatly with their track record. Since the Republicans gained control of both the White House and Congress in 2001, 1.7 million more Americans live in poverty, average median income has declined $1,700, and the minimum wage--which has not been increased since 1997--has its lowest purchasing power since 1990.

This budget continues the Republican trend of failing the American people in every possible way.

The Republican budget requires poor mothers with children under age 6 to double their weekly work hours from 20 to 40 in order to remain eligible for job training and vocational education. Yet, it fails to provide $10.5 billion for childcare funding which the non-partisan

Congressional Budget Office estimated would be needed for mothers to afford to work the longer hours and maintain their benefits.

Disgracefully, their proposals don't stop there. The Republican budget leads to $24 billion less in child support payments. It also cuts $14.3 billion from Federal student aid programs so the average student borrowing for college will now pay an additional $5,800. It cuts health care for disabled and impoverished people, aid for abused and neglected foster children, financial assistance to the aged and disabled poor and food subsidies.

However, they don't cut everything. In true Republican, let-them-eat- cake fashion, the Republican budget does have one program to help those in need. The bill provides two $40 coupons to people so that they can buy converter boxes for their television sets, so they can watch digital television.

Together, America can do better than trading crisp, clean digital television for food, health care and education. I urge my colleagues to vote against this disgrace and not pay for tax cuts for millionaires on the backs of the poor.

Mr. Speaker, I rise in strong opposition to this Republican stunt and their efforts to embarrass a decorated Vietnam War Veteran.

Yesterday, Congressman John Murtha, a Democrat with impeccable military credentials and an honored military record, suggested that U.S. troops leave Iraq at the earliest practicable date. Today, I cosponsored that resolution. His knowledgeable and respected voice joins the loud and clear pleas of the Out of Iraq Caucus--of which I am a proud member. His voice joins former generals, intelligence officers, Presidents, and mothers and fathers across America who know that we are mired in a war that cannot be won and to truly honor our troops, we need to bring them home.

Unfortunately, tonight the Republican leadership refused to bring Mr. Murtha's resolution to a vote. I can only presume because Mr. Murtha's resolution made too much sense. Instead, the Republican leadership is offering a sham-resolution in an attempt to embarrass and insult a member of Congress who has served his country nobly in uniform-- something most of our colleagues on the other side of the aisle know nothing about.

Perhaps the Republican Leadership's time would be better spent in an effort to finish the business of this country instead of wasting hours attempting to besmirch the record of a decorated Vietnam War Veteran and demagogue an issue that demands honest consideration.

Mr. Speaker, I rise today to pay tribute to a remarkable woman, Harriet Burgess, President and founder of American Land Conservancy. For the past 20 years, Harriet, who presently resides in Inverness, California, has applied her consummate skill in building consensus among legislators, government agencies, landowners and environmental groups for the conservation of public lands.

Her list of acquisition accomplishments while Vice President of the Trust for Public Land reveals a national landscape of treasured sites. She saw a need for a non-profit land acquisition agency that would tackle the most challenging and difficult projects. She founded the American Land Conservancy to rescue irreplaceable environmental acreage from imminent development.

Through her talent and perseverance she has kept intact precious tracts of land from California's Topanga Canyon to the Sierra Nevada and has been a matchmaker in arranging swaps and purchases of private lands for public uses from the Malibu coast to the Columbia River Gorge.

One transaction in Nevada involved 44 different property swaps. She has also masterminded the acquisition of lands along the upper Sacramento River and the North Fork American. She played a role in the addition of a one thousand plus acre parcel to the San Francisco Bay Area's renowned Gate National Recreation Area.

Harriet Burgess grew up in Xenia, Ohio where her fondest memory is wandering through the forest looking for wildflowers. But she didn't get into protecting public space until after her children were grown, when she volunteered to rewrite the zoning ordinance for Fairfax County, Virginia. During her time in Virginia, she was an exemplary member of my legislative staff in Washington, DC.

After a divorce in 1978, she moved to California and headed the western regional office for the Trust for Public land before founding the American Land Conservancy in 1990. The Conservancy, under Harriet's direction, has become a potent force in safeguarding California's most precious open spaces. Through sheer persistence and tenacity Harriet has time and again brought seemingly out-of-reach projects within grasp, helping local communities realize their dreams of protected land for open space.

Harriett Burgess has been a tireless and highly effective advocate of wilderness and recreational open space protection. Her list of accomplishments will be felt by generations.

As friends gather on November 16, 2005 to pay tribute to Harriet's extraordinary contributions, I join them in thanking her for the fruits of her efforts. We are grateful for her tenacity and perseverance to protect our precious lands.

Mr. Speaker, I rise to honor the life of former Representative Edward Roybal who passed away on October 24, 2005. He is survived by his wife, Lucille Beserra Roybal, and his three children, Rep. Lucille Roybal-Allard, Lillian Roybal-Rose an Edward Roybal, Jr.

Edward Ross Roybal was born on February 10, 1916 in Albuquerque, New Mexico and then moved to the Boyle Heights area of Los Angeles at an early age.

He began his political career as many of us did--by losing his first run for office. In reaction to that defeat, he founded the Los Angeles Community Service Organization (CSO) with the goal of mobilizing Los Angeles's Mexican-Americans against discrimination in housing, employment and education.

In 1949, following a groundswell of support from minority communities, Mr. Roybal was elected to the L.A. City Council, the first Hispanic to serve on the city council in more than a century.

In 1962, he was elected to the U.S. House of Representatives representing an LA District that changed several times during his 30- year tenure in the House.

At the time of his election, he became the first Hispanic from California to serve in Congress since 1879.

He was one of the founding members--and became the first chair--of the Congressional Hispanic Caucus (CHC).

During his time in Congress, he ascended to the powerful Appropriations Committee, where he was an outspoken advocate for funding for education, civil rights, and health programs.

He was one of the first members of Congress to press for HIV/AIDS research funding.

He was a true advocate for senior citizens as well. He served on the Select Committee on Aging--and was the Chairman from 1985 to 1993. He worked tirelessly for the rights of senior citizens and was most proud of his efforts to protect and expand the Meals on Wheels program.

Upon his retirement from Congress in 1992, Representative Roybal was honored to see his daughter--and our colleague--Lucille Roybal-Allard elected to Congress to represent the newly-created 33rd District, which included a portion of the same district that Rep. Ed Roybal had represented in Congress for 30 years.

After leaving Congress, Ed continued to advocate for those he cared most about and founded a non-profit research agency, now called the Edward R. Roybal Institute for Applied Gerontology, at the California State University--Los Angeles campus.

In 1999, the Centers for Disease Control (CDC) honored Rep. Roybal's support for public health programs by naming its main campus in Atlanta in his honor and awarding him its Champion of Prevention Award.

Rep. Roybal was a tireless advocate for the less fortunate. He served his country with honor both in uniform and in this Congress. His contributions will be remembered and celebrated; his death will be deeply mourned.

On behalf of Congress, I extend my deepest sympathies to those he loved and those who loved him. He had a rich life and we can best honor him by striving to live up to his example of how best to serve.

Mr. Chairman, I rise in opposition to H.R. 4128, which bars local governments from using eminent domain for economic development.

The urban renewal of the last decade has benefited every part of the country and many cities in the 13th Congressional District. The very purpose of government is to make tough decisions that benefit the community, and I cannot support Congress taking away this essential government function.

This bill would also extend the Federal Government ever further into matters in which it doesn't belong--in this case--real estate planning and development. City councils are elected and empowered to make the difficult choice when private property should be utilized for the good of the community. Congress cannot and should not tie the hands of locally elected leaders to do what they believe is in the best interest of their communities. If those local officials make the wrong choices, voters will no doubt respond.

Mr. Speaker, I rise with my colleague and neighbor Ms. Barbara Lee to pay tribute to Bonnie Dettmer who is being honored as the 2005 Castro Valley Business Person of the Year in Castro Valley, California.

Bonnie Dettmer died recently and her admirers felt it a fitting tribute to honor her as the 2005 Castro Valley Businessperson of the Year. She was the Castro Valley Chamber of Commerce's top administrator for twenty years and worked tirelessly, during her long tenure as Executive Director, to make Castro Valley a better place to live and work.

She achieved many milestones as Executive Director of the Castro Valley Chamber of Commerce. Her noteworthy accomplishments include personal outreach to businesses in Castro Valley to increase membership, serving as liaison to the Castro Valley Sheriff's Department and membership on the Sheriff's Advisory Committee, working to negotiate a water pipeline installation through Castro Valley that proved to be least disruptive to the business and community at large, honoring over 380 students for awards as Student Citizens of the Year at the Chamber's annual luncheon, leading an Anti-Racism march in Castro Valley and uniting the community to denounce bigotry and racism, and organizing hundreds of volunteers to successfully manage community events, such as the Fall Festival, Volunteer Recognition Night, and Citizen of the Year.

She is a recipient of the Rotary Paul Harris Fellowship Award for ``Service Above Self'', an award from the Private Industry Council and a Public Education Service Award for her commitment to the Student Citizen of the Year Program.

Friends and admirers describe Ms. Dettmer's love for Castro Valley. She would work her regular 40 hours a week and then add another 20 to 30 hours on nights and weekends. She left a special mark on any activity in which she was involved.

The Business Person of the Year Award will be presented in her memory at the Castro Valley Chamber's annual luncheon on November 1, 2005. We join the community in honoring her memory by designating the award to this well deserved, exemplary community leader. We shall miss Bonnie Dettmer. She leaves a legacy of accomplishments that will continue to be felt for many years to come.

Mr. Speaker, I rise with my colleagues Representative Ben Cardin of the Third Congressional District of Maryland and Representative Steny Hoyer of the Fifth Congressional District of Maryland today to bring to our colleagues' attention an excellent article that appeared in the Inside Annapolis Magazine this month about a family business in Galesville, MD. The business, Smith Brothers, Inc., is an excellent example of American ingenuity and entrepreneurship. We are proud to know Kenneth Smith and his son Jeff Smith and would like to congratulate them on the recent acknowledgement of their value to the community. America needs more people like the Smiths, who have a can-do attitude and are willing to work hard to excel. We have attached a copy of the article, which explains some of the history of the company and family and how their attitude has helped them in business and life.

Smith Brothers: Building on a Firm Foundation

(By Kathy Bergren Smith)

When the makers of the upcoming romantic comedy starring

Matthew MacConaughney and Sarah Jessica Parker came to

Maryland scouting locations and resources, one of their first

stops was in the quiet village of Galesville; just south of

Annapolis. The film includes multiple scenes of frolicking

dolphins and the marine coordinators needed a way to

transport the radio-controlled ``stand-ins'' as well as

millions of dollars worth of camera and sound equipment

around the Bay. They found what they were looking for at

Smith Brothers, an eighty-seven-year-old family business that

provides tugboat and barge services for customers as diverse

as Paramount Pictures, the Lincoln Tunnel and the Calvert

Cliffs Nuclear Power Plant. The company's extensive fleet of

charter equipment is the largest between Baltimore and

Norfolk. Marine contractors rent Smith Brothers equipment to

build piers and bulkheads, dredge channels and shoot off

fireworks. The story of how Smith Brothers became the ``one

stop shop'' for tugs, barges, cranes, anchors and chains goes

back . . . way back . . . and is best told by the company's

president, Kenneth Smith, the last of the Smith Brothers.

``Our family had been here in Galesville for several

generations when my older brothers began the business in

1918,'' says Smith. Indeed, an occupancy notice dated 1952 is

tacked to the bulletin board in the office on Tenthouse

Creek, notes that the premises has been legal since 1862.

Back then, the Smiths, like most of their neighbors in

southern Anne Arundel County, were oystermen. But they were

also entrepreneurs, operating a lime kiln which reduced the

oyster shells into fertilizer for other major industry of the

area, farming. In 1916, the eldest of the seven Smith

Brothers, J. Edward ``Eddy'' and Nelson began to freight

oysters by truck to Washington's dandies.

``Eddy and Nelson made a great team,'' recalls the much

younger Kenneth, who is now ninety. He and his older sister

Agnes, are the only siblings of the original nine that

remain. Agnes, a former post-mistress in Galesville, at 101

still serves as a social and historical center for the

community. Kenneth comes to work each day and remains active

in the business.

``After World War I, when Eddy came home, he and Nelson and

Captain Oscar Hartge began to build docks around the river,

that is how they got started,'' says Kenneth Smith. As the

city dwellers from Washington began to take drives in their

new automobiles, the face of bay country began to change.

Boarding houses and marinas were built to accommodate the new

tourist trade and summer homes with docks sprang up along the

West River. Pile driving overtook oystering as the Smiths'

primary occupation. Captain Oscar Hartge, a member of a

family whose name is synonymous with yachting on the Bay,

sold his portion of the business to his friends, the Smiths,

for $1 to take a position as captain aboard a private yacht.

Ultimately, six of the seven brothers and one close friend,

Robert Leatherbury, became Smith Brothers, Inc. The brothers

were very hard-working and quickly built a reputation as high

quality contractors. Throughout the 20's and 30's taking

meager salaries and putting every spare cent into the

business, the brothers grew the company. World War II took

Kenneth and many of the workers overseas, but when they

returned, the business began to thrive. Crews worked on

the land as well as the water, building bridges for the

Baltimore Beltway (695), the West Virginia Turnpike and up

and down the Eastern Shore.

Many Annapolis waterfront landmarks were built on the firm

foundation of Smith Brothers. A railway at Trumpy's was

installed by Carroll Smith who forged a long-lasting

relationship with the fabled boat builder. On the city dock,

pilings under the Marriott were driven by Carroll's crew

alongside other larger contractors. Bulkheading was built

near what is now Fawcett's by the brothers. Kenneth remembers

the unusual payment scheme developed for that project.

``That land was owned by Bert Spriggs (a car dealer) and

when we finished up the bulkhead, one of my brothers said to

him, ``Say, how about instead of paying us with a check we

just pick out some new cars?'' and darned if he didn't go

along with that,'' says Kenneth chuckling at the thought.

``Who would go along with that today?''

Today, there is a quiet dignity- to Kenneth Smith as he

recalls the old times. He is a man who has spent well over

half a century both as a crack crane operator and a respected

businessman. Kenneth bought out his brothers one by one and

today he and his son, Jeff, have moved the company in a new

direction.

``Competition for the type of bridge building and pile

driving we always did got very stiff in the late 80's,'' says

Jeff Smith. He and his father made the tough decision to stop

bidding and let the crews go. ``We had no alternative at the

time,'' he says.

There were also creative ways of dealing with overdue bills

that would not fly today . . . like the time that the owner

of a large vacation home in south county balked at paying for

a pier built by Nelson and his crew. Before taking the rig

back to Galesville, Nelson confronted the owner about

payment. When the owner refused to pay, Nelson gave the

signal to the crane operator to crank up the pile driver. He

then positioned the crane to begin tearing out the pier.

Kenneth cannot control his laughter as he recalls the man

``running down the pier waving a check!''

Instead of doing the contracting themselves, Kenneth and

Jeff began to rent equipment to other contractors. Their six-

acre construction yard in Galesville has gradually become a

``rent it'' center for those engaged in heavy construction.

Jeff and his father have built an inventory of barges and

tugboats and cranes, plus the intangible asset of Kenneth's

vast experience.

The tug and barge fleet has grown in size and scope and the

Smith Brothers' red and white colors can be found from New

York to Florida. Around the Bay, the newest addition to the

fleet is the Megalodon, a 50' tugboat named for the

prehistoric shark that roamed the local waters. Megalodon was

the product of the latest Galesville collaboration between

the Smiths and Hartges. Capt. Oscar Hartge's grandson,

Preston, is the operations manager at Smith Brothers. When

the company decided it was time to build a new tug, Preston

took the project on with vigor.

``It has come full circle here, our families have both been

part of the maritime history of this county and Jeff and I

are both committed to continuing our legacy,'' says Hartge.

Kenneth is moving into a supporting role at the yard, and

he too is pleased to see the company continuing to thrive.

``You know, very few family businesses survive, all too

often the hard work of one generation is squandered on young

people, but the Smith Brothers philosophy has always been to

work hard and not to ask anyone to do something you would not

be willing to yourself. I see that same quality today here at

the yard when Jeff and Preston are out there together

arguing, it reminds me of the old days when the brothers

would cuss and fuss and then go out and have dinner

together.''

Mr. Chairman, I rise in opposition to the so-called Lawsuit Abuse Reduction Act because it would hurt all Americans by exposing them and their attorneys to motions intended to harass them and slow down the legal process, a tactic often used by wealthy defendants in civil rights trials.

Prior to 1993, defendants in civil rights cases would file a crushing number of motions alleging frivolous actions on the part of the plaintiff in a blatant attempt to delay the case. In 1993, the rules were changed and judges were empowered to determine sanctions for frivolous lawsuits on a case-by-case basis, removing this delay tactic from wealthy defendants. However, since the Republican Party doesn't think judges have any business deciding how to run their courts, they want to repeal this change and revert back to the days of delayed justice.

This is one of many reasons why the U.S. Judicial Conference, headed by Chief Justice John Roberts, opposes this bill. Further, H.R. 420 is unconstitutional because it forces every State court to implement new court rules and procedures, even though Congress has no jurisdiction over State courts.

Justice delayed is justice denied and I am proud to stand up for our Constitution, judicial system, and all Americans by voting no on this bill. If that makes me a friend of the trial lawyers, then I proudly stand with the brilliant litigators Thurgood Marshall and Abraham Lincoln in opposition to political hacks like Karl Rove and George W. Bush.

Mr. Speaker, last night Ed Roybal passed away. He is survived by his wife, Lucille, and his three children: our colleague of course, Lucille Roybal-Allard; her sister, Lillian Roybal-Rose; and Ed, Jr.

Ed was born in 1916, served in the military, served in the House here for 30 years. He was the first Hispanic from California to serve in Congress since 1879. Among his distinct honors, he was the founder and the first chairman of the Congressional Hispanic Caucus.

He was chairman of the Select Committee on Aging for a number of years and a great supporter of Meals on Wheels; and, of course, his great honor and joy was having his daughter succeed him in what was part of his district.

On a personal note, I happened to talk with a lady who had been a page some years ago here in the House. She remembers Ed Roybal as a kind Member and as a very polite and distinguished Member. For all of us who pass the pages in the cloakroom, I think we all know when a page remembers that from a number of years ago, it goes a long way.

We will miss him, and our heartfelt sympathy to Lucille, her family, and her mother.

Last night, October 24, 2005, former Representative Edward Roybal died in Pasadena, California. He is survived by his wife, Lucille Beserra Roybal, and his three children, Representative Lucille Roybal- Allard, Lillian Roybal-Rose and Edward Roybal, Jr.

Edward Ross Roybal was born on February 10, 1916 in Albuquerque, New Mexico and then moved to the Boyle Heights area of Los Angeles at an early age.

After military service in World War II, he began his political career as many of us did--by losing his first run for office. In reaction to that defeat, he founded the Los Angeles Community Service Organization (CSO) with the goal of mobilizing Los Angeles's Mexican-Americans against discrimination in housing, employment and education.

In 1949, following a groundswell of support from minority communities, Mr. Roybal was elected to the L.A. City Council, the first Hispanic to serve on the city council in more than a century.

In 1962, he was elected to the U.S. House of Representatives representing an LA District that changed several times during his 30- year tenure in the House.

At the time of his election, he became the first Hispanic from California to serve in Congress since 1879.

He was one of the founding members--and became the first Chair--of the Congressional Hispanic Caucus, CHC.

During his time in Congress, he ascended to the powerful Appropriations Committee, where he was an outspoken advocate for funding for education, civil rights, and health programs. He was one of the first Members of Congress to press for HIV/AIDS research funding.

He was a true advocate for senior citizens as well. He served on the Select Committee on Aging--and was the chairman from 1985 to 1993. He worked tirelessly for the rights of senior citizens and was most proud of his efforts to protect and expand the Meals on Wheels program.

Upon his retirement from Congress in 1992, Representative Roybal was honored to see his daughter--and our colleague--Lucille Roybal-Allard elected to Congress to represent the newly-created 33rd Distirct, which included a portion of the same district that Representative Ed Roybal represented in Congress for 30 years.

After leaving Congress, Ed continued to advocate for those he cared most about and founded a non-profit research agency, now called the Edward R. Roybal Institute for Applied Gerontology, at the California State University--Los Angeles campus.

In 1999, the Centers for Disease Control, CDC, honored Representative Roybal's support for public health programs by naming its main campus in Atlanta in his honor and awarding him its ``Champion of Prevention'' Award.

Representative Roybal was a tireless advocate for the less fortunate. He served his country with honor both in uniform and in this Congress. His contributions will be remembered and celebrated; his death will be deeply mourned.

On behalf of Congress, I extend my deepest sympathies to those he loved and those who loved him. He had a rich life and we can best honor him by striving to live up to his example of how best to serve.