Floor Statements

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

Thank you, Mr. Chair.

I would like to let this Congress know and the American people know that I've identified a funding source so that we can provide nutritious food and fresh fruits and vegetables to those Americans who live in areas around this country that the gentlelady from Texas (Ms. Jackson Lee) so appropriately described as food deserts.

As a matter of fact, this government currently spends hundreds of millions of dollars to build agricultural businesses, to help support farmers, to help new farmers start new agricultural businesses in order to address food desert issues. Unfortunately, that money is not spent here to help Americans eat better. It's spent in the Afghanistan desert. As a matter of fact, in this previous fiscal year, this government spent over $700 million on agricultural aid in Afghanistan. What I propose is to redirect 1 percent of that money that's going to Afghanistan right now, send it back to the United States so people here can eat nutritional food and have access to fresh fruits and vegetables.

And I would like to say one thing. The argument on why we're spending that kind of money to support farmers in Afghanistan is because we don't want those farmers growing poppies to sell opium to fund safe havens for terrorists. We understand that there are people around the world that want to attack this country like they did many years ago, but because bin Laden is now dead, it's time for us to reassess our mission in Afghanistan. We don't need to spend $100 billion a year in Afghanistan right now. We need to take a share of that money to help the American people. So, if we took 1 percent of the money that we spent last year, we would be able to fund the program proposed by the gentlewoman from Texas.

Look, I've got young folks in the city of Detroit right now that would likely not have to resort to selling drugs if they could make a living in urban agriculture. We need that money that's going to Afghanistan. We need it right here in the United States so we can help our farmers here, so we can support farmers' markets, so we can provide food and nutritional supplements to our pregnant mothers and to their infants and children. Our people in the United States need a share of their own money back here, and that's why I wanted to rise to raise this point.

Now, I understand that the rules of this House may not allow me tonight to redirect that money from Afghanistan back here to this budget. And you

know what also, too? We could use a share of that money to help retire our deficit and debt at the same time. I'd like to work with you on that. But you know what we should do? We should change these darn rules of the House so we can reduce the overspending, help create jobs here, reduce health care costs--because people are going to be eating a lot better, and help the American people right now during this economic recession.

I'd like to work with you. I'd also like to work to change the rules of the House so that we can do this, and I understand at this late date this is not the time to act, but I'd like to pledge an agreement to work with the majority so that we can save the American people money, save us health care costs, provide better nutrition, address those food desert issues, fund the initiative proposed by the gentlelady from Texas (Ms. Jackson Lee) and help end this economic recession and return us to prosperity.

With that, Mr. Chair, I ask unanimous consent to withdraw my amendment.

Mr. Speaker, we must save Medicare and Medicaid. With more and more people growing older and the costs of medical technology skyrocketing, the proposal to end Medicare would result in many seniors on a fixed income going bankrupt. The proposal to gut Medicaid would end up throwing our loved ones out of nursing homes and into the streets. I will tell you how Congress can best balance the budget. Just do these three things: Help create more jobs, help stop foreclosures, and help keep people healthy by providing health care to everyone.

I move to strike the last word.

Mr. Chairman, I represent metropolitan Detroit. And not too long ago I took some corporate officials for a tour of neighborhoods on the city's east side near where I grew up. I showed them blocks of big, beautiful brick homes, three and four bedroom homes. And when you got up close to those homes, you realized that none of them had windows, none of them. There were blocks and blocks and acres and miles of neighborhoods that have been devastated, devastated.

Now, I'm a member of the Homeland Security Committee. My duty is to protect metro Detroit from terrorist attack or tornado or some other natural disaster, but it wasn't a flood or a fire that destroyed those neighborhoods. They were devastated because of foreclosures, foreclosures that this body--that I accused when I was a member of the Michigan legislature of not effectively addressing the housing crisis. But also foreclosures that were caused in part by a lot of rich folks around here who are hoping, praying, gambling, wishing, betting that homeowners would lose everything that they have. What kind of country is this that we encourage people to make money--billions of dollars-- off people losing everything? That's outrageous. That's not American. Come on, people. We want folks to get rich because families lose their homes and other neighbors stay in their homes but they lose their entire life savings that they invested in it? Of course not.

This is why I ask us to support the Rosa DeLauro amendment, because the Commodity Futures Trading Commission needs more staff, it needs more resources. And some of you are saying, well, we can't afford it. But look at the cost, the cost to our families, the cost to our local units of government that can no longer afford to hire police and fire, the cost to our taxpayers who are now living in fear of crime because they don't have the protection of their first responders. That's a cost that we cannot afford to bear.

I urge all of you to support the DeLauro amendment. It's something that we need, and it's right for this country. We want people to earn money from offering value, not by destroying neighborhoods. I'm appealing to the best in you, support this amendment.

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

Madam Chair, I have an amendment at the desk.

This amendment would restore $5 million to the Women, Infants and Children Farmers Market Nutrition Program. This would allow low-income pregnant women and low-income women who have just given birth to purchase food directly from farmers to benefit their young infant children up to age 5.

This is very important in many areas around the country, especially in the area that I represent, the city of Detroit, where you don't really have that many markets around. Many times, families--even young mothers--have to go to gas stations and drug stores just to purchase groceries. That's not acceptable. That really encourages poor eating habits, poor nutrition, and it really increases our health care costs that all of us as taxpayers ultimately bear.

So I urge you to consider this amendment. It's a fair proposal, and it's very cost-effective. It provides low-income mothers and their children with good nutrition, which is the best medicine for health care--helping to get better nutrition to prevent people from getting sick.

The other thing, too, is that, throughout the entire debate on this budget, many of the speakers would say that those who benefit from these programs--low-income women, infants and children--really don't have a voice, so many of us here in Congress have to be their voice. I'd like to say, though, that the people who have benefited from these programs do have a voice.

My mother, Thelma Clarke, was a single parent, and she raised me. She was a child of the Great Depression. Ironically, during the Great Depression, she passed out in her school classroom because of malnutrition. It was during the 1930s, and times were very dire in the city of Detroit. She was experiencing tough economic times all the while I was growing up as a young kid and as a teenager. She vowed what happened to her would never happen to me, so she provided me with all the food I wanted--great meals with groceries that she purchased with food stamps. It worked for our family, so I want to say this, not just about this amendment but about the role of government.

I think the reason why this country is so great, and I thank God that my dad immigrated to this country, the United States, as opposed to another one, we are so great because we understand the value of pooling our tax dollars together to help each other. That makes this country stronger. It provides everyone, everyone, with an equal opportunity. That is what makes this country one of the most extraordinary in modern civilization. So I ask for $5 million. Let's give every child that same chance.

I yield back the balance of my time.

Well, it relates to a different issue. It deals with food safety, and that comes right after this. It does amend page 6 as well.

At least not dealing with this specific subject matter. I do have an amendment that amends this same page, page 6, and page 17, but that deals with reinstating funding on a food safety bill.

Let me consult with our staff here.

Thank you very much, and I will ask for a vote on this.

Madam Chair, I have an amendment at the desk.

Madam Chair, this amendment would restore $1 million to the Microbiological Data Program. Now, this is a USDA program that collects and tests fruits and vegetables, domestic and imported fruits and vegetables for bacteria that could cause illness and even death. Recent tests have discovered salmonella and strains of E. coli similar to that found in the German food supply that resulted in the deaths of 24 people and which infected over 2,400. So this amendment is important in order to protect the public from food-borne pathogens that could make the public sick or that could put innocent lives at risk.

I do urge your support.

I yield back the balance of my time.

Madam Chair, the funding source that I'm using to offset the cost of this amendment I believe won't undercut the vital mission of this agency, unlike the other sources that have been mentioned. However, I am willing to work with the majority on negotiating a proper funding source. All I care, the bottom line, is that the public is safe and that we are diligent and do the best that we can to identify these bacteria sources that could make the public sick.

Madam Chair, I demand a recorded vote.

Madam Chair, I rise in opposition to the amendment.

Madam Chair, this amendment would really undercut the whole purpose that I was offering an additional $1 million: to help protect the American people from food-borne bacteria.

Over 2,400 people were infected in Germany by a strain of E. coli; 24 of them died. We don't want this to happen here in this country.

The gracious chairman, the gentleman from Georgia, and I agreed to work something out to better protect the public. I'm just asking if maybe you could withdraw this amendment to give us a chance to work out something here.

I yield back the balance of my time.

Mr. Speaker, Americans are at risk. They are at risk of having their homes and their businesses demolished, of being injured and even killed, either by a natural disaster such as the tornados that have hit us recently or through a terrorist attack that will more likely come from within the United States.

This is not the time to cut the Homeland Security budget, and that's why today I propose taking military aid to Afghanistan and redirecting it to better equip and to hire more firefighters, more police officers, more emergency medical providers. State and local governments don't have the money to provide these resources because our home values have plummeted due to the foreclosure crisis, which this Congress has failed to address effectively.

There is one responsibility, though, that this Congress must honor, our duty to protect the American people. We, who live in this country, deserve to be safe.

Restore the cuts to the Homeland Security budget, and redirect the money from Afghanistan to protect Americans.

I move to strike the last word, Mr. Chair.

Mr. Chairman, I support this amendment, as

well, for several reasons. Number one, it's very obvious that our first responders, our firefighters, they are the first there to take care of the public when a natural disaster such as these tornadoes that have hit our country demolish homes and injure people.

But most importantly it is this: our local units of government right now don't have the money to properly equip and staff their firefighters. And here's why: their property values that they have depended on for their funding, well, they've been diminished because of the foreclosure crisis, a crisis that this Congress has failed to effectively address.

So there's one duty, however, that we can't turn our back on. And that's the safety of the American people. And that's why I urge you to at least partially restore funding for these important firefighter grants.

And while I may have a problem with the funding source of this amendment, I will tell you the appropriate way to fund our first responders, firefighters, police officers and emergency medical providers, take a share of the military aid that's going to Afghanistan right now; bin Laden is gone. We need to reassess our mission in Afghanistan and redirect some of that money to protect Americans right here at home. Let's put some of that money in the Homeland Security budget. It's our firefighters that are our first defense against a terrorist attack.

I support this amendment. We have the money. We just need to allocate it right. We've done enough in Afghanistan. Let's take some of that money and put it right here to protect the American people. Support homeland security, because the next threat that we likely will get from a terrorist will come from within our borders. Let's take care of our people right now.

I yield back the balance of my time.

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

Yes.

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

Mr. Chair, this amendment provides $3 billion to the State and local Homeland Security grant program. The effect of this amendment would be to fully restore the funding of this program to fiscal year 2010 levels. We have got to do this. American families are at risk right now. They are at risk of having their homes and their businesses demolished, of being injured or even killed, either by a natural disaster as occurred in the past few weeks as a tornado swept across this country, or by a terrorist attack, which is more likely to come from within our borders.

So we need this funding to hire new firefighters, police officers, emergency medical providers and to properly equip them, and to provide the radio and communication systems that allow our first responders to communicate with their counterparts in other jurisdictions.

The problem is this: our local governments and our State governments don't have the money to fund homeland security investments. It is in part because this Congress chose not to effectively address the foreclosure crisis. The property values upon which our locals are depending to fund first responders have fallen so dramatically, they really don't have the resources to do this. It's up to us. This Congress, it is our duty to secure the safety of the American people.

My amendment will do so by taking a portion of the money, the billions of dollars we spend overseas in Afghanistan to provide that country's security. I say let's take a portion of that and redirect it back home to protect Americans right here in our country because it is American tax dollars in the first place.

Mr. Chair, I appreciate your support, and I urge this Committee to support this amendment.

I yield back the balance of my time.

I would like to address the point of order.

Mr. Chair, what I heard is my amendment may not be in accordance with the rule; but I know one thing, it's in accordance with what we need in this country.

We need to take a share of that money that we are spending in Afghanistan to secure those people to secure our people here back home. That money that you say is not being spent, give it to me. The city of Detroit, we'll spend that money. We need the police officers, the firefighters, the emergency medical providers and radios to talk to each other.

I will do so, Mr. Chair, and to that end, I ask unanimous consent to withdraw my amendment and will offer separate legislation to protect the American people. We need to redirect that money from Afghanistan and bring it back home. Our people need it. It is our money in the first place.

Mr. Chair, I offer an amendment.

Mr. Chairman, what this amendment does is remove the restriction that the Urban Areas Security Initiative funding should be restricted to the top 10 urban areas by risk. You see, there are other metropolitan areas in this country that I believe are at similar or even higher risk of terrorist attack or damage through any other type of catastrophe.

The metro Detroit area is one of those. That area, the area that I represent, has the busiest border crossing in all of North America and has an international airport. It has a huge metropolitan population center. It has the world headquarters of General Motors. We are at high risk of an attack; but yet right now, according to the Homeland Security risk metrics, we are not rated in the top 10. We should be eligible for this funding, as well as other metropolitan areas.

Here's the point: even though bin Laden is now gone, we are still at risk of a terrorist attack in this country. But it is more than likely that terrorists will likely come from within the borders. So the first defense we have against terrorism or any other natural disaster is our first responders. We need more firefighters, more police officers, more emergency medical providers. They need to be properly trained and have the equipment, the radios and communication devices to communicate with each other.

The best way to protect our citizens, it is not spending it only overseas, all of our tax dollars, but investing it right here at home. This amendment will make sure that urban areas that are at high risk of an attack, such as metro Detroit, get the funds that they need.

The bottom line point is this: the reason we should step in and support our local units of government is because this Congress in the past did not effectively address the foreclosure crisis which has really robbed local units of government of their power to fund their first responders. The property values have dropped so low the money isn't even there.

I am asking Congress now: don't turn your back on this obligation to the

American people. Let's redirect money to the Homeland Security budget, to our first responders, our people there at the first line of defense against an attack from a terrorist or any type of natural disaster that could impact our people.

Mr. Chairman, I urge this committee's support for this amendment, and I yield back the balance of my time.

Offered By: Mr. Clarke of Michigan

Amendment No. 64: Page 12, line 6, after the dollar amount,

insert the following: ``(reduced by $50,000,000)''.

Page 45, line 18, after the dollar amount, insert the

following: ``(increased by $50,000,000)''.

Offered By: Mr. Clarke of Michigan

Amendment No. 69: Page 47, beginning at line 14, strike

``Provided further, That funds provided under section 2003 of

the Homeland Security Act of 2002 (6 U.S.C. 604) shall only

be provided to the top 10 highest risk urban areas:''.

Offered By: Mr. Clarke of Michigan

Amendment No. 70: Page 45, after ``$1,000,000,000,'' insert

``and in addition $2,000,000,000 which is hereby transferred

from unobligated amounts provided under the heading

`Afghanistan Security Forces Fund' under title IX of Public

Law 112-10,''.

Mr. Chairman, I demand a recorded vote.

Offered By: Mr. Clarke of Michigan

Amendment No. 64: Page 12, line 6, after the dollar amount,

insert the following: ``(reduced by $50,000,000)''.

Page 45, line 18, after the dollar amount, insert the

following: ``(increased by $50,000,000)''.

Offered By: Mr. Clarke of Michigan

Amendment No. 69: Page 47, beginning at line 14, strike

``Provided further, That funds provided under section 2003 of

the Homeland Security Act of 2002 (6 U.S.C. 604) shall only

be provided to the top 10 highest risk urban areas:''.

Offered By: Mr. Clarke of Michigan

Amendment No. 70: Page 45, after ``$1,000,000,000,'' insert

``and in addition $2,000,000,000 which is hereby transferred

from unobligated amounts provided under the heading

`Afghanistan Security Forces Fund' under title IX of Public

Law 112-10,''.

Mr. Speaker, this morning, as a member of the House Homeland Security Committee, I heard testimony that was very compelling. Even though bin Laden is dead, the terrorist threat to our country still exists, and it's a threat that's increasingly coming from within the United States.

My message to Congress: This is not the time to cut back on homeland security. Our local police, fire, and emergency medical providers are our first line of defense against any national emergency and against terrorist attacks. They need the funding right now to upgrade their communication systems so that they can better address this issue that faces Americans.

Again, let's protect our citizens by investing more in homeland security. Redirect the money from Afghanistan to protect our people here at home.

Mr. Speaker, I rise today to recognize Dr. Ananda Prasad as a pioneer in the field of health research. Dr. Prasad is responsible for over 50 years of research involving zinc as an element essential to human survival.

In 1963, Dr. Prasad was the first to describe cases of human zinc deficiency syndrome in young adults. While working at the University of Shiraz Medical School in Iran, Dr. Prasad met with a 21-year-old man who had the same physical characteristics as an 8-year-old boy. He diagnosed this patient as having extreme anemia and realized the condition was so prevalent in Iran it was considered an epidemic. Dr. Prasad continued to study patients with these symptoms, and discovered that a lack of zinc had an adverse affect on a human's height, weight, bone development, and sexual maturation.

During the past 50 years, Dr. Prasad has been at the forefront of scientific discoveries regarding zinc and zinc supplements. His work has saved countless lives in African and Asian countries, including his home country of India. In certain areas of South Asia where the infant mortality rate was as high as 85 percent, Dr. Prasad successfully worked to lower the mortality rate to 15 percent.

His lifelong work was recently awarded with the 2010 Mahidol Award in the Field of Public Health. This award, presented annually by the Prince Mahidol Award Foundation of Thailand, recognizes researchers and physicians for outstanding contributions in the field of public health for the sake and well-being of the peoples.

I honor and thank Dr. Prasad for his groundbreaking and pioneering work.