Floor Statements

Madam Speaker, in 1963, when the Equal Pay Act was signed into law to grant the right to equal pay to women who worked full-time, year-round, women made 59 cents on average for every dollar earned by men doing the same level of work. In 2006, women earned 77 cents for every dollar earned by men. While that is progress, it is slow progress and it means that the wage gap between men and women has narrowed by less than half a cent per year since passage of that law. At the same time, African-American women today earn only 63 cents and Hispanic women bring home just 52 cents for each dollar earned by men.

In my State of Wisconsin, women with a college degree still make considerably less than men with the same amount of education. With rising gas prices, higher health insurance, and a disproportionate amount of single-family homes headed by women, it is of the utmost importance that workers receive fair and equal pay for equal work. This is not just a civil rights issue: it's a survival issue for women workers providing for their family's food, rent, and heat.

But a right to equal pay is no right at all unless it can be enforced.

Madam Speaker, I am a proud cosponsor of H.R. 1338, the Paycheck Fairness Act, which would strengthen the Equal Pay Act of 1963 by providing more effective remedies to women who are not being paid equal wages for doing equal work. For example women would be able to seek full compensatory and punitive damages because the bill would put gender-based discrimination on an equal footing with wage discrimination based on race or ethnicity for which full compensation is already available. The bill would also prohibit employers from retaliating against employees who share salary information with their coworkers, require the Department of Labor to enhance outreach and training efforts to work with employers to eliminate pay disparities, and create a new grant program to help strengthen the negotiation skills of girls and women.

This week, in honor of Equal Pay Day, the Senate plans to consider another bill, H.R. 2831, the Lilly Ledbetter Fair Pay Act, which is necessary to ensure that victims of workforce discrimination can seek effective remedies. A recent Supreme Court decision last spring made it extremely difficult for workers who suffer from workplace wage discrimination to seek justice in court. Instead of allowing workers who suffer wage discrimination to bring a case within 180 days of the last time they were illegally underpaid, the Supreme Court decision would require that the case be brought within 180 days of the first time that an employer first started to discriminate by paying lower wages.

This decision overturned precedent and made it much more difficult for workers to pursue pay discrimination claims. H.R. 2831 would simply restore the longstanding interpretation of title VII and other discrimination statutes, thereby protecting women and other workers.

Madam Speaker, equal work deserves equal pay, no matter your gender, skin color, national origin, age or disability. That's the law of the land. But we need to make sure that we have the measures in place to ensure that these rights can be strongly enforced.

Mr. Speaker, today I join a bipartisan House to stand up to the Bush administration to prevent it from irresponsibly slashing the Medicaid budget. States that work with the Federal government to run and fund Medicaid programs are already facing budgetary restraints, flat funding, and shortfalls. The administration's proposed cuts to Medicaid would exacerbate their budgetary crunch, and would directly affect the quality of care given to low-income kids, seniors, families and people living with disabilities.

The bill before us today, H.R. 5613, would place a 1-year moratorium on seven Medicaid regulations proposed by the administration. This 1- year moratorium would give Congress more time to evaluate the potential effects of his proposed cuts on State Medicaid programs and the individuals that they serve. Several groups have warned that the unexpected slashes in Federal Medicaid dollars could force States to shift their Medicaid costs to patients, who would be hard pressed to make up the differences in health care costs. At present, some 30 million low-income children depend on the Medicaid program.

The Government Accountability Office testified that it had not recommended the specific changes proposed by the administration, nor had officials there had time to adequately study the potential effects of these changes for 6 of the 7 regulations. Before the President starts tinkering with domestic programs upon which millions of our most vulnerable citizens rely, he owes it to them to do his homework. If he won't, then Congress owes it to the American people to investigate his proposed changes so we can fully understand their effect on poor and working families.

Nearly 2,000 groups from across the country, including school districts, hospitals, case management providers, and organizations serving people with disabilities and mental illnesses have joined us in support of the Protecting the Medicaid Safety Net Act. I am proud to be a cosponsor of this bill and urge my colleagues to cast their votes in favor of it.

Mr. Chairman, I would certainly like to thank Representative Waters, Representative Bachus, Chairman Frank and Speaker Pelosi for their outstanding stewardship on debt relief and for bringing this important measure to the floor today.

When governments are burdened with overwhelming and unmanageable debt, it prevents them from providing rudimentary quality of life to their citizenry, and that is access to clean water, modest shelter, basic nutrition, education and health care. When citizens are living on less than $1 a day, civility, democratization of institutions and innovation are greatly compromised or made improbable.

Therefore, it is not only our moral obligation to relieve debt, but it is in our national interests to promote a sustainable world with cooperating partners in our efforts to address global problems such as pandemic diseases, climate change and the prevention of genocide and terrorism.

I would urge all my colleagues to support H.R. 2634 and join in this day of jubilee.

Madam Speaker, Today, we gather to pay tribute to a remarkable man, and one of the most revered workers rights pioneers, Cesar Estrada Chavez. Cesar Chavez became one of our Nation's and the world's notable advocates for nonviolent social change.

Born on a small Arizona farm on March 31, 1927, Cesar Chavez began his life as a farm worker in the fields at age 10. He later served in the United States Navy during World War II.

Cesar Chavez didn't just learn about the struggle of migrant workers. He and his family lived it. He grew up moving from town to town and from school to school while his family worked in the fields.

He became a farm worker as soon as he finished the eighth grade. Born out of his sweat and toil was a fierce determination to give a voice to families like his who labored so hard and received so little in return.

Cesar Chavez became that voice of the farm workers. He established the United Farmworkers Union to establish this movement. The priorities he fought for are America's priorities: Better pay and benefits for workers. Better education for children. Health and safety protections for workers where there were none. He helped in expanding civil rights for minorities and advocated on behalf of every person living within the United States.

He was committed to the idea that no matter their education or their job, anyone can demand fair treatment at work. Before Cesar Chavez, farmworkers were exposed to horrifying conditions, working long hours and being poisoned by pesticides. Chavez drew national attention to the plight of the farmworkers. Because of Chavez, farmworkers can no longer legally be treated in the inhumane manner they were before.

Cesar E. Chavez was loved and respected by many, and he continued to fight for the rights of farm workers until his death in 1993. Chavez lived his life fighting for workers' rights, civil rights, environmental justice, equality for all, peace, non-violence, children and women's rights. Over 50,000 mourners came to pay their respects to the humble man, whose simple, modest manner was driven by his commitment to social justice.

In 1994, Cesar Chavez was posthumously awarded the nation's highest civilian honor, the Presidential Medal of Freedom. Robert F. Kennedy once described Cesar Chavez as ``One of the heroic figures of our time.'' He encouraged millions of people across the country

to join the fight for social and economic justice for farm workers and to empower the poor and disenfranchised.

It is important that we do our part to make America a place where everyone receives respect and opportunity. We must ensure Cesar Chavez' dream by promising every man, woman, and child in America a secure future with promising opportunities. We must work hard to raise the minimum wage, ensure that all Americans can earn a decent living and secure access to affordable health care. Selfless Service to others is why Cesar Chavez will always be an inspiration to all of us. Let's continue Cesar Chavez's legacy, by truly honoring his memory and continuing his commitment to achieving basic rights and dignity for all American workers.

Mr. Chairman, I thank the gentleman from Virginia. I rise in favor of the CBC alternative budget.

Mr. Chairman, a nation is judged by how it treats its most vulnerable; and during the last 7 years, families have experienced a decline in their income, increased hunger, skyrocketing home heating costs, and higher taxes. This has had a devastating impact on children, families, and our seniors; and that is why our CBC budget assumes extension of these family-friendly tax cuts, but just not extending the tax cuts, for example, for corporate offshoring of jobs.

The CBC budget goes above and beyond the President's budget request. Yes, we are spending. We are spending to reinvest in the future of America's children by providing increased funding for the State Child Health Insurance Program, the Low Income Heating and Energy Assistance Program, the child welfare services, the Child Care and Development Block Grants, the Community Supplemental Food Program, child nutrition programs, and Child Support Enforcement to address the problem of the 13 million children who live in poverty.

The CBC budget also recognizes the importance of fueling the global economy by providing increased funding for educational programs like TRIO and Head Start, and fully funds No Child Left Behind.

The CBC program also increases funding for Pell Grants and Perkins loans to ensure that young people will continue to have the opportunity to get a college education and, again, support America's aspiration to stay ahead in the global economy.

Last week, a government report revealed that employers made their deepest cut in staffing in almost 5 years in the month of February. The report showed that there was a net loss of 63,000 jobs, according to the Labor Department. The CBC budget acknowledges the importance of job training programs by providing increased funding for programs under the Workforce Investment Act.

Along with laying a strong foundation for children, families and seniors and workers, the CBC budget also takes care of our Nation's veterans by providing increased funding for post-traumatic stress disorder and mental health services. It is imperative that we provide veterans with the necessary resources to guarantee excellent health care for these courageous men and women.

Most importantly, the Congressional Black Caucus alternative budget applies over $16 billion to reduce the egregious Federal deficit.

I want to thank my colleagues, and particularly the gentleman from Virginia who worked on this budget.

I thank the gentleman from New Jersey.

The Democratic budget resolution is a lifeline to families during this economic downturn. One aspect of the chairman's mark before us calls on Congress to restore the harmful cuts made to the Child Support Enforcement program, and as a result of the only bipartisan amendment brought forth by the ranking member and me, it restores the ability of States to pass along every cent of child support collected to families rather than nickeling and diming them out of this child support to make repayments to government bureaucracies.

Since we have demanded that parents move off welfare and take financial responsibility for their families, child

support has become the premier safety net for children. Therefore, Congress should make every effort to ensure that child support is collected and that all of it goes to families.

The Child Support Enforcement program collected more than $24 billion for 17 million children participating in the program in 2006. The Child Support Enforcement program doubled its collection rate in the past 10 years and is consistently among the Office of Management and Budget's top-rated government programs. Why? Because research has shown that it is a very cost-effective program, that for every $1 spent on child support enforcement, $6.50 of child support is collected.

With this budget resolution, which restores the Child Support Enforcement cuts, the Congressional Budget Office estimates that $11 billion in child support payments would go uncollected over the next 10 years, even if States backfilled half of the lost Federal funds.

Additionally, Child Support Enforcement supports domestic violence services and initiatives to help fathers work, support their children and stay out of prison. Families need their child support payments to pay for their children's basic needs because children represent a disproportionate share of the poor in the United States. While they are only 25 percent of the population, they represent 35 percent of the poor. Loss of child support income could not come at a worse time for families. Their ability to make ends meet has already been battered by unemployment, rising gas and home energy costs and rising food costs.

And I thank the ranking member, the chairman and all of the members of the Budget Committee for looking at this very serious issue.

Madam Speaker, today I pay homage to an unsung hero among Federal programs. This initiative has found innovative ways to employ the blind and severely disabled persons among us. I am speaking, of course, of the AbilityOne Program, formerly known as the Javits-Wagner-O'Day Program, which in FY07 created over 40,000 quality jobs for Americans who were blind and/or severely disabled. Because of this program, blind and severely disabled people are able to gain skills and training that have helped them to find meaningful employment, which ultimately improved their quality of life.

Thanks to the AbilityOne program, blind and severely disabled people have more opportunities to more fully participate in society. Traditionally, people with these conditions are left with no other alternative but to rely heavily on Government programs such as SSI to support themselves. AbilityOne gives them more control over their own lives and destinies by allowing them to significantly reduce their dependence on Government resources. Recent studies have shown that the AbilityOne's employment program creates a positive net impact of $46.75 million to Federal and State governments in both reduction of entitlements and increases of payments employees make through income and payroll taxes. Moreover, this program also helps them to enhance their self esteem by giving them alternative ways of defining themselves, their place, and their purpose in the world.

Goodwill Industries of Southeastern Wisconsin Inc. is able to provide sound employment opportunities and training for 935 blind and disabled people through the AbilityOne Program. National Industries for the Blind and NISH, along with local nonprofit organizations in Milwaukee, Wisconsin are creating new employment opportunities for people who are blind or disabled. These local programs right here in our community make possible the economic and personal enhancement of physically disadvantaged people.

I commend the efforts of AbilityOne and Goodwill Industries of Southeastern Wisconsin Inc. in fighting to bring new opportunities and resources to those that are blind or severely disabled. The remarkable contributions that they have made to communities in and around Milwaukee are significant and worthy of recognition.

Mr. Speaker, I thank so much the gentleman from Illinois for yielding.

I rise today to express my strong support for H. Res. 1013, which emphasizes

the importance of school breakfast programs and their positive impact on a child's overall academic performance.

Again, I would like to thank the Education and Labor Committee for bringing this resolution forward in honor of National School Breakfast Week.

Mr. Speaker, every 35 seconds a child is born into poverty in this country. A recent survey done by the Department of Agriculture reported the prevalence of persistent hunger among children in the United States to be about 18 percent. In fact, as a Nation, we've seen a steady increase in childhood poverty since 2000, and we're now at nearly 13 million poor children. This means that every year there's an increased need for child nutrition programs.

Children represent a disproportionate share of the poor, Mr. Speaker, in the United States. While children are only 25 percent of our total population, they represent 35 percent of the poor.

With increased energy costs, medical copayments, higher rents and mortgages, these children live in distressed families that have difficulty providing their children an adequate breakfast every day.

The National School Breakfast Program is one of the most important school nutrition programs because it provides children with the nutrients needed to get the school day off to a healthy start; and, indeed, the National School Breakfast Program serves as a critical safety net for America's poor.

In fiscal year 2006, 9.8 million students participated in the National School Breakfast Program, and a total of 1.7 billion breakfasts were served, 81 percent of which were free or at reduced prices.

This past year, my own State of Wisconsin saw the most significant increase in school breakfast participation with a 25.3 percent growth rate, and that is largely due to implementation of universal classroom breakfast in most of Milwaukee's public elementary schools.

School breakfasts under this program must meet the nutrition standards under the Dietary Guidelines for Americans which recommend that no more than 30 percent of an individual's calories come from fat and less than 10 percent from saturated fats. In addition, breakfasts must provide one-fourth of the Recommended Dietary Allowance for protein, calcium, iron, vitamin A, vitamin C, and calories.

A 2002 study done by Massachusetts General Hospital and Harvard Medical School concluded that children who are at nutritional risk have significantly poorer attendance, punctuality, and poorer grades.

The study also showed that children whose parents reported food insufficiency were more likely to have repeated a grade in school, lower scores on standardized tests, lower grades in math, and more days tardy and absent from school.

Studies have also shown that students who fail to eat an adequate breakfast increase their chances of becoming obese.

With the growing amount of uninsured children, we must work to establish and expand the National School Breakfast Program in all States.

So, in honor of National School Breakfast Week, I ask that you vote to pass this resolution.

Madam Speaker, I rise to honor the life of Mr. Percy Julian, Jr., a pioneering civil rights and civil liberties attorney from my home State of Wisconsin. My friend, Percy Julian, Jr., passed away on February 24, 2008, at the age of 67.

Mr. Percy Julian, Jr. helped to make the civil rights laws passed in the Martin Luther King, Jr. era real tools for justice. He became best known for representing University of Wisconsin-Madison students charged in the Dow Chemical demonstrations in the 1960s, and further for handling pioneering employment discrimination and voting rights class action suits across the United States, often in cooperation with the NAACP Legal Defense Fund.

Percy Julian, Jr. grew up in the Chicago area but made Wisconsin his home. He was son to Percy Julian, Sr., an acclaimed scientist of the 20th century. A 2-hour documentary on Julian Sr., ``Forgotten Genius,'' which aired last year, not only highlighted his enormous contributions as a chemist, but also detailed how racism had hampered his career. Julian, Jr. said of his father in the documentary, ``My father took advantage of the country's promise of equality, but was in some ways undone by the country's failure to live up to that promise.'' Julian Jr. spent much of his legal career insuring the country met its promises.

Percy Julian, Jr. was both a fierce advocate and a model for other attorneys in promoting the importance of civility. While serving as a State senator in Wisconsin, I called upon Percy Julian, Jr. to utilize his expertise on voting rights and civil rights issues. His presence often caused the other side to retreat rather than face his formidable knowledge base.

He is survived by his wife, Jan Blackmon; daughter, Kathy Julian; and sister, Faith Julian. Wisconsin and our country have lost a valuable leader and a civil rights and civil liberties pioneer. Percy Julian, Jr.'s work in the areas of fair housing, voting rights, school desegregation, and first amendment issues have proved invaluable in preserving the rights of all people in our State and our Nation. I extend my condolences to his family and friends on this tremendous loss. Madam Speaker, for these reasons, I am honored to pay tribute to Percy Julian, Jr.

Madam Speaker, I rise today to recognize a woman of faith,

journalist, businesswoman, communicator and grassroots activist from the Fourth Congressional District. Mrs. Louvenia Johnson passed away on February 27, at the age of 96.

Born in McDermott, Arkansas, Mrs. Johnson relocated to Milwaukee in 1939, with her husband, Paul Johnson, who preceded her in death. She worked in the health care field as a Licensed Practical Nurse. She was Executive Director of Project Focal Point, a youth and elderly service agency. After retirement in 1981, she established ``The Christian Times'' with three others: Nathan Conyers, Lynda Jackson-Conyers, and the late Luther Golden. The weekly newspaper was devoted to church news within the city's African American faith community. The paper was renamed ``The Milwaukee Times Weekly Newspaper'' as it began to cover more general community news. The Christian Times remains as a standing feature section of that newspaper to this day.

Louvenia Johnson established ``The Black Excellence Awards Program'' in 1985, to recognize the good works of ordinary people from Milwaukee's black community whose accomplishments had gone unnoticed. The awards program observed its 23rd year on February 15, 2008. More than 680 local citizens whose activities have benefited all of Milwaukee have been recipients of the award.

Mrs. Johnson established The Louvenia Johnson Journalism Scholarship Fund in 1988 to assist college-bound high school graduates who wished to pursue careers in print and broadcast journalism. She initially funded the scholarship with money from her Social Security benefits. The scholarship funds are awarded during The Black Excellence Awards Program. To date, more than $350,000 has been awarded to area students through this non-profit, charitable organization. Previous scholarship recipients include Jamaal Abdul-Alim, an urban affairs reporter for the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel; and Silvia Acevedo, news reporter for WTMJ- TV/Channel 4 in Milwaukee.

Madam Speaker, for these reasons, I am honored to pay tribute to Louvenia Johnson who is survived by her siblings, Mr. Harvey Williams, Mrs. Algenora Davenport, nieces, nephews and many friends. Mrs. Johnson has made a positive impact on Milwaukee and her contributions and legacy continue to benefit the citizens of the Fourth Congressional District.

Mr. Speaker, I ask unanimous consent that I may hereafter be considered the first sponsor of H.R. 840, a bill originally introduced by Representative Julia Carson of Indiana, for the purposes of adding cosponsors and requesting reprintings pursuant to clause 7 of rule XII.

Mr. Speaker, as I speak, more snow is blanketing Milwaukee and southern Wisconsin, the latest in an unending series of snowfall that has overwhelmed municipalities in Wisconsin this winter. By mid-February, Milwaukee had received over 75 inches of snow compared to 33 inches at this time last year. Madison, our State capital, has already broken its record for the snowiest winter.

A few weeks ago, one storm dumped at least a foot of snow in southern Wisconsin, including 17 inches in downtown Milwaukee. Just outside of Madison, some 2,000 cars were stranded on a highway for up to 12 hours. Last week, Wisconsin's Governor, Jim Doyle, requested Federal assistance to help Wisconsin deal with snow removal and other emergency costs.

Yesterday, the entire Wisconsin delegation sent a letter urging the President to approve this request. Mr. Speaker, Wisconsinites are proud of our ability to handle snow; but in this case, Federal help is sorely needed and should be swiftly approved and provided.

Mr. Speaker, on rollcall No. 74, had I been present, I would have voted ``aye.''

personal explanation

Mr. Speaker, I move to suspend the rules and pass the bill (H.R. 5478) to provide for the continued minting and issuance of certain $1 coins in 2008.

Mr. Speaker, I ask unanimous consent that all Members have 5 legislative days within which to revise and extend their remarks on this legislation and to insert extraneous material thereon.

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

Mr. Speaker, H.R. 5478 corrects an oversight made in the Native American $1 Coin Act which passed the House by voice vote on June 12, 2007, and became public law on September 20, 2007.

The Native American $1 Coin Act authorized the minting of the ``Sacagawea Design'' golden dollar coin for circulation beginning in January, 2009. In that legislation, we purposely did not require the production of 2008 Sacagawea coins for circulation; however, the act unintentionally eliminated the Mint's authority to issue ``Sacagawea Design'' golden dollars in 2008 for coin collection purposes.

As a result, many of the standard U.S. Mint products the coin- collecting public is expecting to order and receive this year, such as annual proof and uncirculated sets, will not include a 2008 Sacagawea dollar.

The legislation before us would correct this oversight and immediately authorize the continued minting and issuance of 2008 ``Sacagawea Design'' golden dollars for numismatic purposes only. This is an important bill for coin collectors nationwide and for the popularity of the Sacagawea dollar coin.

I urge all Members to support its passage.

I reserve the balance of my time.

I have no other speakers, and I yield back the balance of my time.

Madam Speaker, on Wednesday, February 13, I was detained and unable to vote on rollcall 46. Had I been present I would have voted ``no.''