Floor Statements

Mr. Speaker, one of our core Democratic principles in seeking health care reform is gaining control over health care costs. Contrary to my friend, the minority leader, what he said a few minutes ago, this is not government takeover of health care. It's about guaranteeing health care for all Americans and reducing the costs of health care which are just spiraling out of control.

If we fail to control health care costs, families will continue to be burdened with higher premiums and unaffordable out-of-pocket expenses; businesses will be forced to drop coverage or lay off workers; and our national and State budgets will become unsustainable.

Without reform, the costs of health care for the average family of four are projected to rise $1,800 annually for years to come.

In my home district of North Carolina alone, there were 400 health care-related bankruptcies last year, caused primarily by health care costs not being covered by insurance.

The reforms would cap out-of-pocket expenses at $10,000 per year, ensuring that no American will have to face financial ruin due to health care costs.

Mr. Speaker, I urge my colleagues to work together to find solutions.

Mr. Speaker, last November the American voters demanded change, and one of the many changes that they demanded was health care reform.

Now Democrats are responding with comprehensive health care reform, and we are hoping that our Republican friends will join us as we overhaul the broken health care delivery system. Health care reform will control spiraling costs. Without reform, the cost of health care for the average family of four is projected to rise $1,800 each year, and insurance companies will continue to control health care decisions.

Under our legislation, families with health insurance will see lower costs; rate increases for preexisting conditions and gender or occupation would be eliminated; out-of-pocket expenses would be capped; children will be guaranteed affordable dental, hearing, and vision care; preexisting condition denials and insurance companies' lifetime payments limits would be eliminated.

We must answer the call of the American people by enacting health care reform. Let's do it for the American people, and let's do it for the American economy.

I want to thank the chairman of the committee for giving me this very precious time this afternoon.

Madam Speaker, the House of Representatives is ready today to pass this historic legislation that will literally save the planet. You can call it a cap-and-tax all you want. You can say that the science does not support this legislation. You can say that the scientists are wrong. But I say, Republicans are wrong on this issue. We cannot afford to wait any longer to enact this legislation that will reduce greenhouse gas emissions. Chairman Waxman and Chairman Markey should each be commended for their extraordinary work in reaching a good compromise that will now allow this legislation to advance to the other body.

It saddens me that our Republican friends were not partners with us as we crafted this legislation, but Democrats understand the mandate of the American people, and we are moving forward. One of my roles as the vice chairman of the Energy subcommittee was to ensure that any increase in costs to consumers would be painless. So 15 percent of the allowances will be dedicated to providing a safety net for the lowest- income Americans. My district is one of the poorest districts in America. My constituents are low-income families, and they need the assurance that their goods and services will not dramatically increase. I am pleased with the report from the Congressional Budget Office that estimates that low-income households will actually see a net gain, not a loss, of $40 per year as a result of the legislation in 2020. The CBO also says that it is estimated that as a result of this legislation, the average cost per household will be, as the gentleman from the State of Washington said, 48 cents a day.

I ask my colleagues to join with me in voting ``yes'' on this important legislation.

Madam Speaker, I rise to y to express great sadness about the untimely passing of Elizabeth City-Pasquotank Public Schools Superintendent Dr. Tony Stewart.

Dr. Stewart has served as superintendent for the past nine years, and he had earned the respect of the community as a talented and dedicated educator who worked tirelessly to ensure every student received the best possible education. I will remember him for always stressing the responsibility and importance of working to make a difference in the lives of others.

He started his career in 1963 as a teacher, assistant principal and athletic director at Spotsylvania High School in Virginia before serving as a principal for several other schools in Virginia. Dr. Stewart's first job as a superintendent was at Culpeper County Schools in Virginia, where he served for 13 years starting in 1981. He became superintendent of North Carolina's Burke County Schools in 1994, where he served until coming to Elizabeth City-Pasquotank in 2000.

Dr. Stewart received his bachelor's and master's degrees from Appalachian State University and completed postgraduate work at the University of Virginia and Virginia Tech University. He received his doctorate in education from Nova Southeastern University in 1995 and also completed the Principal's Executive Program at the University of North Carolina that same year.

Madam Speaker, I ask that everyone join me in offering our deepest condolences to his family, friends, loved ones, community and colleagues. Dr. Stewart has been a tremendous asset to the community and he will be greatly missed.

Madam Speaker, on June 12, 2009 Nash County, North Carolina native and resident Mr. Rudolf Smith will be celebrating his 100th birthday. To mark this milestone, family and friends will be gathering for a party in his honor.

Mr. Smith was born on June 12, 1909, to sharecroppers, Mr. Willis Smith II and Mrs. Willie M. Smith on Joe Ellison's farm near Dortches in Nash County, North Carolina. He was kept home from school after the fourth grade because he was needed to work the crops.

Working six and a half days a week, Mr. Smith was barely tall enough to keep the plow in the field when he started farming.

Mr. Smith was married to Patty Alston in 1933. Together, they had six children.

Currently, he resides at Knight's Family Care Homes where he enjoys reminiscing about his past, walking, and eating anything he wants. He lives a healthy and fulfilled life.

Madam Speaker, I respectfully ask that you and my other distinguished colleagues join me in wishing Mr. Smith a very happy 100th birthday.

Mr. Speaker, from the creation of Medicare and Medicaid in 1965 to the reauthorization of SCHIP earlier this year, we have come a long way toward ensuring that every American has access to affordable, quality health care. These programs, Mr. Speaker, ensure that our children and the disabled and the elderly have access to health care. Now it is time to get serious and to help those people in the middle who have been left out.

Family health care costs are increasing. Families cannot afford the rising cost of health premiums, many employer-sponsored plans are providing less coverage and higher deductibles, and there are 45 million Americans with no insurance.

We must seize this opportunity to enact reforms that reduce costs, protect existing plans, preserve our choices in doctors, hospitals and care, and ensure affordable quality health care for all. I support President Obama and the Democratic leadership. We must act now.

Mr. Chairman, I have an amendment at the desk.

Mr. Chairman, I rise today in support of the underlying bill, H.R. 2200, the Transportation Security Administration Authorization Act of 2009. This is a necessary bill that will help to safeguard the American people. I want to commend my friend and colleague Chairman Bennie Thompson from Mississippi for steering this legislation through this process. Mr. Thompson, your leadership does not go unnoticed by Members of this body and the American people, and we thank you. We also thank the ranking member of this committee, Mr. King of New York, for his leadership and for his work on homeland security as well as the other members of the committee. I particularly want to thank the hardworking staff of the Homeland Security Committee for all that they do and for the work that they've done in getting this legislation to the floor today.

Mr. Chairman, I offer a very simple amendment to H.R. 2200. It authorizes a study on the feasibility of combining facial and iris recognition technologies for rapid and accurate identification in airport security checkpoint lines. The study would focus on merits of using the combined technologies and the potential for use. Researchers tell us, Mr. Chairman, that this new technology holds great promise for providing a highly reliable, efficient, unobstructed and accurate way to establish and verify identities. Unlike names and dates of birth, which can be changed from time to time, biometrics are unique and virtually impossible to duplicate. Biometric information is already being collected by DHS, the Department of Homeland Security, through its US-VISIT Program. This invaluable information helps prevent people from using fraudulent documents to attempt to enter our country illegally. Collecting biometrics also helps protect travelers' identities in the event travel documents are lost or stolen. One of my constituents had his passport stolen, and it was used fraudulently. He has been unable to travel overseas to visit his family now for more than 1 year. This technology would have made the issuance of new travel documents a less cumbersome process.

Utilizing advanced technologies like special cameras or imaging systems with enhanced interoperability of 2-D and 3-D facial recognition technology and systems, TSA could collect and analyze the biometric data in a few short seconds. The collection, analysis and identification of an individual, Mr. Chairman, would only take as much time as it takes a person to go through that dreaded security line at the airport. In fact, the security process would be sped up and would significantly lessen the time an individual spends in line. By combining the facial and iris recognition data, TSA officials will get an accurate identification of an individual and will have the opportunity to investigate further, if necessary. The effective use of these databases to confirm or discover personal identities is critical in maintaining our national security. Travel is made safer and, again, the technology is nonintrusive.

This study, Mr. Chairman, requested under this amendment will also help to identify any specific environmental and operational factors that might limit these biometric capabilities and provide insight and information for biometric acquisitions and procedures.

It is my hope, therefore, that Members will support this amendment. It is a commonsense approach, using technology to increase the level of security at checkpoints. I want to remind my colleagues that this technology is totally nonintrusive and has the potential for improving accuracy and efficiency and safety for TSA personnel and travelers alike.

At this time I am going to reserve the balance of my time.

I want to thank the gentleman for his support of this amendment and thank him very much for his work here in this body.

At this time, Mr. Chairman, I would like to yield 2 minutes to the gentlelady from California (Ms. Richardson), a hardworking member of this Homeland Security Committee.

I will yield those 45 seconds to the gentlelady from California (Ms. Richardson).

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

Madam Speaker, I rise in recognition of an announcement that Taiwan has been invite to participate as an observer at the annual meeting of the World Health Organization's governing body being held in Geneva next month.

With the strong support of the United States, Taiwan has persistently campaigned, especially after the SARS outbreak in 2003, to rejoin the World Health Organization but China has consistently blocked efforts to join any international body as an independent political entity.

So this marks a clear and important sign of improved relations between China and Taiwan, and I congratulate them on taking this important and meaningful step forward.

Since Taiwanese President Ma took office on May 20, 2008, relations between the two sides of the Taiwan Straits have greatly improved, paving the way for the first direct flights between the straits in 60 years, Chinese pandas being sent to Taiwan, substantially improved financial and business contact, and direct postal service and shipping.

Madam Speaker, I ask that my colleagues will join me in applauding the efforts to improve relations and to encourage further cooperation.

Madam Speaker, today we mourn the loss of Ernie Barnes, an athlete, artist and North Carolina native.

As a child, Mr. Barnes would accompany his mother to work, where she oversaw a prominent attorney's household staff in a home where he was captivated by the extensive collection of art books available to him. It was the start of a lifelong love of art.

As a junior high school student, Mr. Barnes was overweight and introverted. He spent his time drawing and hiding from the taunting bullies. A sympathetic teacher helped steer him into a weightlifting program, which enabled him to excel in both football and track and field once he got to high school.

Because of segregation, he was unable to consider nearby University of North Carolina or Duke University, and instead attended my alma mater, North Carolina Central University--then known as North Carolina College--on a football scholarship and majored in art.

Mr. Barnes was drafted in by the Washington Redskins, who, upon discovering he was Black, traded him to the then-world champion Baltimore Colts. He later played offensive lineman for the San Diego Chargers and Denver Broncos.

While on the playing field, Mr. Barnes said he was studying the human form and developing an eye for capturing the drama of sports. Each week he would sketch the defensive lineman who would be across from him in that Sunday's game.

``The drawings would help me understand the man I would be facing,'' he said in an interview.

Mr. Barnes' work relied on elongation and distortion to create a sense of energy, power, grace, intensity, and fluidity. His art also features people with their closed eyes, reflecting his sense, as he once expressed it, ``we are blind to one another's humanity.''

He was commissioned by the Los Angeles Olympic Committee to provide paintings for the Games and by the National Basketball Association to commemorate its 50th anniversary. He was also commissioned to provide paintings by the owners of the Los Angeles Lakers, New Orleans Saints, Oakland Raiders, and the Boston Patriots. Carolina Panthers owner Jerry Richardson, a teammate with the Baltimore Colts, commissioned Mr. Barnes to create the painting, ``Victory in Overtime,'' that permanently hangs at the Charlotte football stadium.

Mr. Barnes' ability to capture the powerful energy and movement of sports earned him ``America's Best Painter of Sports'' by the American Sports Art Museum in 2004.

In 2007, in a New York tribute exhibition sponsored by the National Football League and Time Warner, Time Warner Chairman and CEO Richard D. Parsons said, ``Imagine the courage and determination it took for a working class child from the segregated south in the 1940s to ignore all the naysayers and dare dream of becoming a successful artist.''

Mr. Barnes's work embodied his strong personal beliefs and spirit, crossing political, racial, and geographic boundaries.

Madam Speaker, I ask that my colleagues join me in observing the passing of a great American and one of the Nation's foremost African American artists. We are blessed that Mr. Barnes helped raise our collective consciousness and encouraged everyone to see the gifts and strengths in one another. We mourn his loss, celebrate his achievements, and send our deepest condolences to his family.

Madam Speaker, I rise to congratulate and recognize a young man from my hometown who was selected in last weekend's National Football League draft. The Carolina Panthers selected Everette Brown, a graduate of Wilson, North Carolina's Beddingfield High School and Florida State University.

Mr. Brown was the Seminoles starter at the right defensive end position in each of the 13 games during the 2008 regular season, and he was a finalist for the Ted Hendricks Award as the Nation's top defensive end. And, after leading the Nation in tackles for a loss, Mr. Brown was named to the All-Atlantic Coast Conference football first- team and runner-up as the ACC Player of the Year.

In addition to his tremendous play on the field, Mr. Brown has been a leader when it comes to community service. He has donated his time freely, volunteering at schools, The Able Trust, MDA Summer Camp, Tallahassee Seminole Club, Dick Howser Center for Childhood Services, Life Skills Center and Read Across America, among many others.

Madam Speaker, my community is extremely proud of this young man and I ask you to join me in congratulating him on his accomplishments. We must also recognize Mr. Brown's parents, Odell and Jenai, on raising this fine young man. I know they must be so proud and pleased that he will be playing his games so close to home.

Madam Speaker, it is with deep sadness that I report to the House of Representatives that Cote d'Ivoire's roving Ambassador Sarata Ottra Zirignon-Toure suddenly passed away on April 9, 2009. I have had the distinct pleasure of working with Ambassador Zirignon- Toure on the establishing the Congressional Caucus on Cote d'Ivoire. She proved instrumental in the establishment of the Caucus, which focuses on issues in West Africa, specifically the pending elections and peace efforts in Cote d'Ivoire.

For decades Ambassador Zirignon-Toure has been at the forefront of Cote d'Ivoire's political landscape--as a freedom fighter, advocate for democracy and leader in the women's movement. Her commitment landed her in jail in 1970 with a group of fellow activists who are now key members of government, including President Laurent Gbagbo. When their party, the Ivorian Popular Front, was recognized as the official opposition in 1990, she was named to the shadow cabinet, eventually receiving the foreign affairs portfolio.

A linguist, teacher and child psychologist by training, Ambassador Zirignon-Toure served President Gbagbo as deputy chief of staff since his election in 2000. She served as a roving envoy and troubleshooter with a special focus on relations with the United States. Her academic credentials include degrees and diplomas earned in the United Kingdom and Cote d'Ivoire. She worked for several years as a translator in New York and for the U.S. Foreign Broadcasting Information Service at the embassy in Abidjan.

Her intellect and leadership is most certainly a loss to Cote d'Ivoire and the United States. She will be remembered for her powerful advocacy in the United States on behalf of all Ivorian people.

On behalf of the Congressional Caucus on Cote d'Ivoire, I offer my sincere condolences to Ambassador Zirignon-Toure's family, President Gbagbo and the people of Cote d'Ivoire.

Mr. Speaker, the recession is real.

In my home State of North Carolina, we have 100 counties. All of them experienced an increase in unemployment during the month of January. Seventy-two of the 100 counties had a 10 percent or higher rate of unemployment. Across my district, 23 counties, we now have an average unemployment rate of 11.2 percent. The highest county is 15.6 percent. That is unacceptable.

These numbers are staggering, and people are hurting. We must remember, Mr. Speaker, that we have met these challenges before, and we will meet this challenge now. North Carolina will benefit from about $6 billion as part of the stimulus package, which will create or save 105,000 much-needed jobs.

I am further encouraged by the efforts to ease the credit squeeze afflicting small businesses by buying up to $15 billion of securities that are linked to small business. This is an important step, Mr. Speaker, in encouraging lenders to make more money available to entrepreneurs and small businesses.

I encourage the President to continue with his economic recovery.

Mr. Speaker, like most Americans, I am deeply outraged this morning that while millions of people suffer through this difficult economy, AIG executives are seeking to take $165 million in bonus pay. The scope and depth of this waste and greed are just shocking and unjustifiable. It is beyond my imagination that they would do that.

Mr. Speaker, I represent a district in North Carolina where the median household income is just a little bit more than $30,000 per year. These Americans must work extremely hard every day just to meet their obligations.

It is patently unfair that hardworking Americans could be asked to work harder to pay more taxes that are needed simply to provide AIG executives with multimillion-dollar bonuses. It is patently unfair.

I encourage this body and President Barack Obama to take every avenue possible to stop these bonuses or, if they are legally unstoppable, to tax them beyond belief.

Madam Speaker, I rise to applaud AT&T for its commitment to creating new jobs with an environmentally friendly, clean energy business model.

At a time when millions of Americans are suffering through one of the most difficult economies in many years, AT&T plans to create 3,000 new jobs as part of an $18 billion investment. Under this initiative, the company will enhance its broadband capacity--increasing Internet speed and accessibility for its customers.

AT&T also plans to invest $565 million in replacing its current fleet with 15,000 domestically manufactured Compressed Natural Gas, CNG, and alternative-fuel vehicles. Over the next 10 years, this will create or save 1,000 jobs.

The Center for Automotive Research, CAR, in Ann Arbor, MI., estimates that the new vehicles will save 49 million gallons of gasoline and reduce carbon emissions by 211,000 metric tons over the 10-year deployment period. That is equivalent to removing the emissions from more than 38,600 traditional passenger vehicles for a year.

Madam Speaker, AT&T has not only answered the call to help lead this country out of the economic downturn, but done so in an environmentally conscious manner. AT&T stands as a strong example for corporate America, and I hope that others will follow in their footsteps.

Mr. Speaker, yesterday it was announced that North Carolina's unemployment rate for January is 9.7 percent. This represents a 16 percent increase from December, and it is at its highest mark in 26 years. I have good reason, Mr. Speaker, to worry that the numbers will be even worse in my congressional district when they are reported.

It was devastating to learn yesterday that Cummins Diesel, Incorporated, will lay off 25 percent of its workforce. That is 390 people in Rocky Mount, North Carolina, an area that is already suffering an unemployment rate of nearly 14 percent.

We must pull together, not as Democrats or Republicans, but as Americans, to rally behind President Obama's plan to revive our economy. This is not a quick fix. It is a measured, responsible, transparent and accountable approach.

Mr. Speaker, I urge my colleagues to join me in helping families who are hurting.