Floor Statements

Mr. Speaker, I rise today to honor Thomas Sacco, a veteran of World War II. After waiting 58 long years, he has finally been awarded the Purple Heart that he earned as a young private while serving his country in Europe.

Private Sacco was barely 18 years old when he volunteered to serve as a paratrooper in the famous and sometimes feared 101st Airborne division.

He was wounded in the town of Noville, Belgium. As his outfit advanced toward the Axis Army he was struck by shrapnel in his left arm and back and rendered unconscious.

58 years later his heroism and sacrifice is being recognized by the United States Government.

Mr. Speaker, I am proud to call Thomas Sacco a constituent and I ask you to join with me in thanking him for his service.

Mr. Speaker, I rise today to recognize the South Lake Memorial American Legion Auxiliary #55 on their Anniversary. Sixty-six years ago this Auxiliary was founded by the brave veterans of World War I and has been serving their community ever since.

Most recently, they were recognized as one of the strongest promoters of the ``Spinoza Bear Program''. This is a compassionate crusade that brings a smile to thousands of grieving children.

Their commitment to public service is renewed every year as they sponsor two young women to attend Girl's State, a wonderful program that has been developed to foster political activism in our nation's youth. They are involved in countless other activities that promote community involvement by their members.

Mr. Speaker, I am proud to call the men and women of the South Lake Memorial American Legion constituents, and I ask that you join with me today to congratulate them on their service to our nation.

Mr. Speaker, I rise today to commemorate an important historical anniversary in Sumter County, Florida, in my Fifth Congressional District.

Sumter County recently turned 150 years old and the people of the area celebrated this anniversary in true Sumter-County style this past weekend. I was pleased to be a part of the events and join some of my constituents in celebrating this milestone in the county's history.

Sumter County first appeared on Florida's map on January 8, 1853 after State legislation called for its creation from a portion of Marion County, its neighbor to the north. Today, a century and a half later, Sumter County is home to more than 54,000, Floridians and that number is growing rapidly.

But rapid growth won't change what Sumter County is known for--its sense of community. Home to warm people and, as in the rest of Florida, warm weather, thousands of new residents move to Sumter County each year and find a home in what we've known for sometime to be one of the best places in the country to live.

I congratulate the residents, the municipalities and the businesses of Sumter County as they recognize this important anniversary. I wish them 150 more years of growth, development and prosperity.

Mr. Speaker, I rise today to commemorate ``Boomtown'' days in Dunnellon in my Fifth Congressional District of Florida.

This festival is held each year in Dunnellon to celbrate the history behind how the city of Dunnellon came to be.

Mr. Speaker, the story of how Dunnellon came to be is an interesting one, but not atypical of a town formed in the late 1880's in this country.

Dunnellon was created in 1887 and then saw its population boom in 1889 affer phosphate was discovered there. The mining industry then ``boomed'' in the town and was responsible for the town's rapid growth and prosperity. Dunnellon was then dubbed a ``Boomtown.''

Each year, the city celebrates its heritage with a festival offering fun activities, contests, and parades for the people of Dunnellon.

This weekend, the residents of the city will carry on the tradition of celebrating ``Boomtown days.'' I wish them the best and am proud to honor them in this Chamber today.

Mr. Speaker, I rise today to congratulate the Crystal River Middle School Cheerleaders, from my Fifth Congressional District of Florida, for winning the national championship in their division at a competition held in Orlando last month.

The competition hosted more than 200 cheerleading squads from across the nation and truly was a venue for the best of the best to showcase their talents.

These seventh and eighth grade girls captured the top honors in the small school division and brought to Citrus County the first national championship trophy of any school, in any sport--ever.

The squad of 14 girls, led by Head Coach Irene Hupp and Assistant Coach Terry Yant, has made the city of Crystal River, all of Citrus County and the entire state of Florida very proud. I am immensely proud of them as well.

Mr. Speaker, it is my pleasure to honor Amanda Bass, Marlana Camden, Tiffany Daniel, Nicole Davis, Katie Dicks, Sabrina Gonzales, Brittany Jones, Amber Lunginsland, Amanda Mayor, Alyssa Parker, Hailey Roberts, Jilica Smith, Jacke Vivian, and Kylee Zarro.

They have accomplished a remarkable feat and deserve every accolade sent their way. I am proud to honor them before this body this evening and am proud to have such motivated hard working young people call my district home.

Mr. Speaker, I rise today to urge my colleagues in the House to support a real jobs and economic growth package. It is time to bring much-needed stimulus to our economy and to bring renewed hope to American workers. There are currently several million Americans actively looking for work and unable to find it. For those individuals and those families, it is imperative that we do all that we can to put this willing, able and well-qualified workforce to work. We must provide

the means for economic growth and job creation. That is what creates jobs. We need to put more money in the hands of American workers to spend and invest so that jobs can be created. When individuals have more disposable income, they spend it or invest it, and that improves the situation of businesses. When businesses have more money at their disposal, they can expand and hire more people. Tax relief creates jobs. It is that simple. The more people we have working, the more money we will see spent and invested in this country. The more money we see spent and invested in this country, the quicker the economy will rebound. The quicker the economy rebounds, the better off we will all be.

Mr. Chairman, I thank the gentleman for yielding me this time.

I rise, first of all, to commend the gentleman from Delaware for the very hard work and the dedication he has for improving education for special needs children. I have some concerns about the bill, and I bring them up because I hope they will be addressed in conference. Number one, I read through the bill and spoke to staff. It does not seem to have any mechanism in there to inform parents of services that actually are available to them for their children. The second concern that I have is that a parent might choose a 3-year IEP because of a misunderstanding or being misinformed by the school district. We must ensure that parents are not intimidated by school districts into agreeing to a 3-year IEP when, indeed, there needs to be more follow-up for many students. And, third, we need to make sure that there are not any retaliation tactics that may occur at some school districts. Parents tell me that very often they fear retaliation. I would encourage the sponsor of the bill to make sure that these considerations are taken in when they do the conference.

Mr. Speaker, I rise today to honor Thomas Sacco, a veteran of World War II. After waiting 58 long years, he has finally been awarded the Purple Heart that he earned as a young private while serving his country in Europe.

Private Sacco was barely 18 years old when he volunteered to serve as a paratrooper in the famous and sometimes feared 101st Airborne division.

He was wounded in the town of Noville, Belgium. As his outfit advanced toward the Axis Army he was struck by shrapnel in his left arm and back and rendered unconscious.

58 years later his heroism and sacrifice is being recognized by the United States Government.

Mr. Speaker, I am proud to call Thomas Sacco a constituent and I ask you to join with me in thanking him for his service.

Mr. Speaker, the budget that we have before us today is one that we should all be proud of. What we are doing is, we are keeping our promise on education aid. Education aid is up, over 6 percent over the 2003 level. Pell Grants are up 12 percent.

And, Mr. Speaker, particularly in my district, where I have a large number of veterans, it is very important that the veterans understand that we are $6.2 billion over the fiscal year 2003 figures. That is a 10.7 percent increase. And in discretionary spending, which is health care, where there is a long wait in my State on Priority 8, where veterans are having to wait up to 18 months for service; we are increasing that amount by 12.9 percent.

We are keeping our promise on education. We are able to provide the veterans benefits that are necessary, and we also are making sure that the uninsured at least have a start and a chance at having some insurance.

Children's health care, which is very important in every single State, whether it is called SCHIP in some States, or we called it KidCare, it is up by $14 billion, a 9 percent increase.

Sure, we had to postpone when we balanced the budget to 9 years, but we are at war, we have a downturn in the economy, and this budget answers what I believe the majority of the constituents in the State of Florida absolutely need. What it does is it also protects Medicare and puts additional funding into Medicare of 7.7 percent more.

That is a responsible budget, and that is one that I can go home very proudly and tell people that these are the figures that we have in our budget while still insisting that every agency go after fraud, waste and abuse. That is responsibility, my colleagues.

Mr. Chairman, I thank the gentleman for yielding time to me.

I rise today in very strong support of the Federal Deposit Insurance Reform Act of 2003. This very critical legislation increases the standard maximum deposit coverage from $100,000 to $130,000, and then indexes the increase every 5 years to account for inflation.

However, most importantly to the seniors in my district, H.R. 522 calls for a doubling of the maximum deposit coverage for retirement accounts. This would allow seniors to maintain coverage on up to $260,000 in their retirement accounts.

The amendment offered today would strike this coverage without doing it for any good reason. The increases are modest and necessary in this bill. If the coverage limit actually had been keeping pace with inflation, today the standard limit would be about $200,000. This bill proposes an increase to only $130,000.

The FDIC is in great need of these commonsense reforms, and I urge my colleagues to join with me in support of H.R. 522 and to oppose any amendment that would strike the coverage increases.

Mr. Speaker, I rise today to tell my colleagues about a bill I introduced 2 days ago. It is H.R. 1511. The purpose is to honor British Prime Minister Tony Blair with a Congressional Gold Medal.

Mr. Blair is a true ally and friend to this country and has shown incredible leadership, resolve, and solidarity with the United States in recent months. I thank him for his friendship, and I want to honor his commitment and contribution to this country by bestowing him with this honor.

The Congressional Gold Medal is the highest expression of national appreciation for distinguished achievement and contributions to the United States that Congress can offer to any individual. The Congressional Gold Medal of Honor was originally created by this body in 1776 to recognize military leaders, and the first recipient was George Washington.

Since that time, the award has evolved to include world leaders and humanitarians as well. Great Britain has long been one of America's closest friends and staunchest allies. I thank the Prime Minister and Great Britain for the loyalty, resolve, and support they have shown throughout this most recent conflict. I ask my colleagues to join me in supporting this resolution to pay tribute to a great man and a great leader.

Mr. Speaker, I ask unanimous consent that all Members may have 5 legislative days within which to revise and extend their remarks on H.R. 743.

Mr. Speaker, I rise today in support of H. Con. Res. 118, sponsored by the gentleman from Georgia (Mr. Kingston), urging the Iraqi government and military to treat our troops humanely and our POWs also in accordance with the Geneva Conventions.

Our prisoners of war should be protected by the standards the Geneva Conventions outline, which prohibit persons engaged in warfare from humiliating, televising or harming prisoners of war.

Mr. Speaker, we probably all remember the news stories about our POWs from the conflict in Afghanistan at Guantanamo Bay in Cuba. The POWs there were made to kneel; and people around the world erupted in protest, claiming that we were being unfair to them.

This is nothing compared to what our prisoners of war in Iraq are having to endure. The Iraqi soldiers have not followed the traditional rules of warfare. They have dressed their troops in civilian clothes and hidden them in crowded public places and placed troops in hospitals and schools and fired upon our troops who cannot fire back, and they have instructed their troops to ambush Americans while attempting to surrender.

Mr. Speaker, just today I had the unfortunate experience of calling a family in my district whose son was killed in the line of duty in Iraq. Lance Corporal Brian Rory Buesing, who was only 20 years old, was ambushed by Iraqi troops who were pretending to surrender. These kinds of unfair, inhumane, indecent actions are happening, unfortunately, all the time in this conflict. I urge the Iraqi government to treat our prisoners of war with the respect we treat theirs. We urge other nations in the world to be as outraged at their practices as I am and I am sure all my colleagues are, and I urge them to also support this resolution.

Mr. Chairman, first of all, I would like to thank the gentleman from Iowa (Mr. Nussle), the chairman, for working so hard on this budget. I have had lengthy discussions with him about my concerns for protecting Medicare and veterans. The spending cuts that were in the original budget that we passed out of the Committee on the Budget concerned me deeply. He listened and I am very pleased with the results.

Most Americans agree that Medicare must be reformed. The 38-year-old program benefit package is outdated and actually insufficient for most seniors' needs. The current program lacks much-needed prescription drug coverage, leaving many seniors to choose between food and drugs. I know. I represent many of those seniors. The Republican budget begins the process of reforming the outdated Medicare system. It includes a historic proposal to provide $400 billion over 10 years to update the Medicare benefits package and also provide a prescription drug benefit. Additionally, I have worked with the committee and the Republican leadership to ensure that Medicare is untouched by across-the-board cuts. The constituents of the fifth congressional district have also expressed a great concern that the veterans healthcare system is broken.

I have constituents in my district who are being forced to wait up to 16 months for an appointment to see a physician, and in some of the counties it is up to 18 months. Last year, in fiscal year 2003, there was a 12 percent increase in the VA medical care funding, yet the waiting times have not substantially improved. The system must be fixed.

Additionally, this budget provides for an increase in veterans' discretionary spending of 6.1 percent over fiscal year 2003, as well as a 7.5 percent increase in mandatory outlays. We are working to ensure that these resources are adequately and geographically spread so that we meet the needs of seniors.

I urge my colleagues to vote in favor of increasing the spending on veterans' health care and protecting those who have always been willing to protect us. The budget works for seniors, and I urge support.

Cutting 1 cent on the dollar for other agencies in fraud, waste and abuse is very, very achievable. Let us not say that we cannot find the savings. We deserve, for the sake of the taxpayers, to at least try.

Mr. Speaker I rise today to congratulate Florida's new Lieutenant Governor, Toni Jennings, who was appointed Monday by Florida Governor Jeb Bush.

I served with Toni in the Florida State Senate and I know from working with her in that capacity what a dedicated public servant she is.

A Florida native and the first woman to hold this post in Florida's history, Toni brings a wealth of legislative knowledge and dedication to the State of Florida with her to the Executive Branch.

Toni was the youngest woman ever elected to the State Legislature when she took office

in 1976 at the age of 27. In 1980, she was elected to the Florida Senate where in 1996 she became the first woman ever elected as President of the Florida Senate. In 2000 she became the first senator ever to be elected to two consecutive terms as Senate President. Senators trusted Toni. The House leadership trusted Toni and the voters trusted Toni.

She was also the first woman Minority Leader in either house of the legislature serving two terms, from 1983-84 and from 1986-88 while in the Senate.

A former fifth-grade teacher, Toni was a strong champion of education issues in the Senate and earned a reputation as such. Toni instilled in every senator that there were no ``Ds'' or ``Rs'' in TEAM.

I am proud to say she's the Lieutenant Governor of my state and I know Florida is lucky to have her. Congratulations, Toni.