Floor Statements

Madam Speaker, I rise today to recognize and pay tribute to Leslie A. Lewis. Mr. Lewis is being honored at a testimonial banquet on Saturday, November 17, 2007, for the many contributions that he has made to the Masonic Family, the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, and the city of Boston.

Mr. Lewis served our great Nation with honor and distinction as a member of the United States Air Force for 4 years before being honorably discharged in 1968. Since 1972, this great public servant has worked as a law enforcement official with the Trial Courts of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts.

In conjunction with his numerous civic duties, Mr. Lewis has played an active and vital role with the Prince Hall Free and Accepted Masons. In 1991, he was elevated to the last degree in Masonry and is the president of the Levi H. Morris Class. On December 11, 2005, Mr. Lewis was elected as the Most Worshipful Grand Master of the Jurisdiction of Massachusetts.

Integrity, honor, and trustworthiness are but a few of the many illustrious words that have been used to describe the outstanding character of Leslie A. Lewis.

Today, I ask my colleagues to join me in honoring Mr. Lewis for his selfless community service and gracious contributions to the Commonwealth of Massachusetts.

Madam Speaker, I rise today to honor and pay tribute to the recipients of the Omega Psi Phi Fraternity, Inc. Mu Nu Chapter's Academic Leadership Award and R.W. Snowden Scholarship Award. On Wednesday, November 14, 2007, the recipients of these awards were acknowledged for their outstanding achievements at an Omega Psi Phi Fraternity awards reception in Silver Spring, Maryland.

The awards reception was held in recognition of Omega Psi Phi's 2007 Annual Achievement Week Observance. The concept for Omega Psi Phi's observance of Annual Achievement Week dates back to 1920. Omega Psi Phi's Annual Achievement Week Observance provides this storied association with the opportunity to recognize the notable achievements of African-Americans.

The recipients of Omega Psi Phi Fraternity, Inc. Mu Nu Chapter's Academic Leadership Award and R.W. Snowden Scholarship Award are: Tyler Jackson, Andrew Clarke, Stefon D. Thompson, Dorian Calhoun, Ian Francis, Biruk Kifle, Alex D. Weaver, Zachary Graves, Joseph Belachew, Zachary Etheridge, Hizkias Neway, Ryan Spriggs, Ayodeji Obayomi, Deonte Williams, Chigozie Mbanaso, Benjamin Warner, Matteo Bellistri, Asante Hatcher, Natneal Gugsa, Roberto Marwanga, Samuel Berhe, Bradley C. Smith, Phillip Jenkins, Stephan Mulrain, Emiola Oriola, Jr., Robel Berhe, Patrick Owusu, Jonmarc Winfield, Adrian Stoute, Chase Barnes, Theo Josephs, Brandon Griffin, and Stewart Cornelius.

Today, I ask my colleagues to join me in honoring these recipients for their selfless community service and tremendous academic achievements.

I thank the chairman for yielding me the time.

I want to thank Chairman Scott and especially Congressman Danny Davis for not giving up on this legislation.

We have been here for approximately 6 years now, Mr. Speaker; and if we are ever going to make progress in the crime that is crippling our communities, we cannot give up on any human being, because it is not enough to say we are just going to lock up every offender and throw away the key. Such narrow-mindedness does nothing to prevent our vulnerable youth from being indefinitely trapped in our Nation's correctional system.

In order to stop crime, Mr. Speaker, we have to eliminate the criminal mindset. And we help to eliminate this mindset by offering alternatives for the offenders in their lives of crime. We do this by enrolling them in programs that provide them with an education, help them find employment, and remind them constantly of the consequences of antisocial behavior.

I am happy to say that the Second Chance Act does all of this. It reaches out to offenders by increasing their access to vocational education. It also goes a long ways in helping many of our juvenile offenders understand the dangers associated with crime and providing them with counseling services.

Many of the individuals currently incarcerated in this country are young, nonviolent, first-time offenders who made stupid mistakes. These kids should not be denied the opportunity to reposition their paths in a more stable and law-abiding direction.

This bill makes tremendous strides in protecting the public and rehabilitating offenders, and I urge my colleagues to vote for its passage.

I want to thank Chairman Miller for yielding the time to me, and I want to thank Speaker Pelosi, Majority Leader Hoyer, Chairman Miller, Messrs. McKeon and Keller, Leader Boehner, Minority Whip Blunt and all the other committee members on both sides of the aisle for bringing the Historically Black Colleges and Universities Capital Financing Improvement Act to the floor, and I rise in strong support of this legislation.

As a proud graduate of an HBCU, South Carolina State University, I understand the important role that HBCUs play in the development of our country. It is essential that this congressional body do all that we can to support these institutions and the students they serve.

Our Nation's historically black colleges and universities have produced some of America's brightest stars and most principled leaders, many of whom serve in this body.

I requested the introduction of this bill because many of the builders and buildings and facilities at some of these fine colleges and universities are deteriorating as we speak. This bill goes a long way toward making it possible for many of these schools to refurbish their infrastructure and to better serve the needs of their faculties and student bodies.

This legislation provides increased lending authority for bonds issued to support capital financing projects at HBCUs. Funds authorized through this bill will be used for the repair, renovation and the construction of facilities used for instruction, research and housing.

Mr. Speaker, institutions of higher learning are only as good as what they produce, and, in my opinion, no other set of institutions has a more impressive alumni role than our Nation's HBCUs. I encourage my colleagues to support this legislation.

I thank the chairman for yielding to me, and I thank the other side for allowing me this minute.

Madam Speaker, I rise today in support of the Peru Free Trade Agreement. This may come as a surprise to many of my colleagues, because I have seldom supported our previous trade agreements that have come before this body.

My reasons have been quite simple. I have considered most of the trade deals that have been offered to this body to be unfair to my constituents and many communities in my region of the country. But I want to thank the drafters of this legislation for bringing a bill to the floor that I consider to be fair. This bill addresses critical environmental and labor concerns that are very important to me and my constituents. This bill will help farmers in my district and all across this country compete in the global marketplace.

Because of the size and the diversity of this body, it is not an easy task to bring legislation to the floor that pleases everyone. Trade bills are almost certain to engender disagreements among our Members.

As I mentioned earlier, I have found many shortcomings with previous trade initiatives that have come before this floor. This bill, however, charts a new direction in trade legislation and should serve as a template for those of us to use in moving our trade policies in a more worker friendly and environmentally protective direction.

We have come a long ways with our trade policies in recent years, and we may still have a long ways to go before we are able to consistently get trade bills that are as good as I would like.

But it is important that this new Congress continue working to bring trade bills to the floor that are fair. This bill is a fair bill, and I encourage my colleagues to support it.

Let me thank Congresswoman Slaughter for yielding me this time.

Mr. Speaker, I wanted to come to the floor today to speak about an issue that seems to have occupied the time of some of my colleagues this morning and that led to a particular story in one of the publications here on the Hill this morning.

It has a headline that is about one of the earmarks in this bill, and let me point to it. It very clearly states, I think it's on page 78, that a $3 million request is being made for the First Tee program. It's found on page 78.

Now, in accordance with the rules of the House, this request was made by me and my name is attached to it because I'm very, very proud of it.

What I'm not proud of, however, is the headline that has been published this morning saying that a ``South Carolina Golf Center Nabs a $3 Million Earmark.'' That is utterly untrue.

This $3 million request is so that we can put on military bases the program called First Tee. This program will be there for the children of the men and women, many of whom find themselves in harm's way, so their children that they leave back here on military bases all over this country, some on military bases in foreign countries, their children will have the opportunity to participate in a nationwide character-building program which happens to use as one of its core components the game of golf, a game that has been made very, very popular by a young man of color, who has made this a sport that young, low-income children and children of color have finally become enamored of.

I just want to make sure that these children who live on these military bases will have the same access to this program that they have to softball, to swimming pools, to basketball that we fund in the appropriations bills every year. We put these programs on these military installations, and we say, softball, swimming, basketball, reserved for you all.

So I just want to say that I cannot prevent headline writers. I used to be in this business. I was in the newspaper business, and I know why we write headlines.

Not one dime of this request will go to any civilian facility in South Carolina or anywhere else in the United States of America. Every single dime of this is to be spent on defense facilities to the benefit of those children whose mothers and fathers are off defending our way of life, so that their children can have the same kind of opportunities that our children have.

And I find it a little bit insulting that we say we are going to reserve this kind of activity for the elite and not make it available to the children of the men and women who are preserving our way of life.

There's something about this. We know who is fighting this war. Rural, low-income families are carrying the burden of this war, and I think we've got a responsibility here to say to their children, we're going to treat you the same way we treat the kids downtown. And the kids in downtown, in Sumter, in my hometown, if they can have a First Tee program, I want those kids at Shaw Air Force Base 10 miles away to have that same kind of program. I want those kids at Charleston Air Force Base, while their families are off, that's where they're all leaving from, that base, to go off to fight in Afghanistan and Iraq. They're leaving their children there. I want their children to have the same opportunities on that base as kids have downtown Charleston.

And for us to single this out and write a headline like this, not one dime goes to this center, and they know it.

Thank you, Mr. Chairman, for yielding me time.

Madam Chairman, I rise in strong support of the Employment Non- Discrimination Act. As a former civil rights activist in South Carolina who has been incarcerated a number of times for advocating equal treatment for all, I have come to find that our Nation's civil rights issues are in fact human rights issues.

Whether you are talking about allowing people of color to sit and eat at lunch counters or about ensuring that gay and lesbian Americans can freely go to work and earn a living without fear of being discriminated against, you are talking about basic human rights.

Madam Chairman, before I came to Congress, I spent 18 years as South Carolina's human affairs commissioner. In that position, I came to find that bigotry and homophobia are sentiments that should never be allowed to permeate the American workplace. Such intolerance does nothing but take us back to a dark moment in our Nation's history that most of us never want to revisit.

I implore my friends on the other side of the aisle to stop misconstruing this issue as a marriage issue. This is an employment issue, not a marriage issue. And this bill does nothing to infringe on the institution of marriage which I have cherished for more than 46 years.

By passing this bill, Members of the House go on record as wanting to end discrimination in the workplace and not allowing its ugly face to persist. I urge my colleagues to bring fairness to the American workplace and support this important legislation.

I thank my colleague for yielding me the time.

Mr. Speaker, this resolution memorializes and commemorates the lives of seven students from the University of South Carolina and Clemson University who perished in last week's tragic beach house fire in Ocean Isle Beach, North Carolina.

I proudly represent the University of South Carolina, and I rise to thank the House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform for its prompt action on this resolution and to once again extend my deepest condolences to the families, friends, and loved ones of those University of South Carolina and Clemson students who we lost in this unfortunate event. They should all know that we will continue to keep them and their loved ones in our prayers as they mourn their tremendous loss.

There's little that we cherish more than seeing our children and grandchildren go off to school seeking to acquire the knowledge and skills that they will need to pursue their dreams and aspirations. It is an incredible feeling. And to have that promise cut short in such a dramatic and tragic way is probably more than anyone who has not had the experience can possibly imagine.

As we mourn with the University of South Carolina and Clemson University communities at this solemn time, we should all take some solace in knowing that these young people represented the best of our hopes and dreams for the future. Through their extracurricular activities and academic successes, they served as strong role models for future generations and as sources of pride for their families and friends. It is only fitting that we honor them for being the bright beacons of light that they were and that their loved ones will always remember them as being.

No words or sympathetic sentiments will ever undo the tragic loss endured by the University of South Carolina and Clemson communities. However, by passing this resolution, it is my hope that these communities understand that this congressional body stands in unison in offering our prayers and condolences.

May God bless all those affected by this tragedy.

Mr. Speaker, I rise in strong support of the Water Resources Development Act. The benefits that this bill provides are not only long overdue, but much needed by communities all across our great Nation.

The importance of this bill is highlighted throughout my congressional

district and this country. Part of my district has been labeled by some as a ``corridor of shame,'' communities bisected by Interstate 95. This region of South Carolina has some of the most serious health problems to be found anywhere in this country.

I have consulted the experts trying to ascertain why these health disparities exist in my district.

And they have said that the problems originate in the water that my constituents are drinking. In fact, they tell me that at the turn of the last century, the life expectancy in this country was less than 50 years. At the turn of this century, life expectancy has reached over 70 years. They say that this extension of life is directly attributed to the water that my constituents or the people in this country drink.

And beyond the health issue, this is also a safety and natural disaster issue. This bill authorizes funds for our coastal communities throughout the country that are susceptible to hurricanes and flooding. This legislation also reaffirms this Congress's commitment to helping our brothers and sisters who had their lives shattered by Hurricanes Katrina and Rita. This bill authorizes close to $2 billion for coastal restoration initiatives along the gulf coast.

So I encourage my colleagues to vote to override this veto because in doing so, you are safeguarding the health and physical well-being of millions of Americans.

Madam Speaker, I rise today to pay tribute to the South Carolina State University Bulldog football team. This season the Bulldogs celebrate 100 years of play on the gridiron, and what a tremendous century it has been.

In 1907, what was then South Carolina State Agricultural and Mechanical College played its first game against Georgia State in Savannah. Just 3 years later, SC State became a charter member of the Georgia (GA)-South Carolina (SC) Athletic Association, which eventually changed its name to the South Atlantic Association.

In 1919, South Carolina State College won its first GA-SC Intercollegiate Association Championship. The Bulldogs were on their way to building a tremendous legacy.

Just 4 years later in 1923, SC State lost an important rivalry game with Tuskegee College, 13-6, in Orangeburg. However, the loss fueled the fire in the Bulldogs, and they went on 4 years later to a perfect 7-0 conference record and to capture their second South Atlantic Conference title. That season the team racked up six shutouts and lost only one game. This began the Bulldogs' reputation as a powerhouse in the South Atlantic Conference.

Oliver C. Dawson was named the Bulldogs' head football coach in 1937, marking the beginning of a new era. Coach Dawson was a beloved leader on campus--teaching classes and coaching multiple sports. During his tenure, the football team took a 2-year hiatus due to World War II, but they came back full of passion. In 1947, they went undefeated in regular season play and took on Shaw University for the Black National Championship in Washington, DC. Although SC State lost that game 8-0, the Bulldogs showed the tenacity for which they have become famous. Coach Dawson left such a legacy at SC State that the current football stadium bears his name.

Many trying years followed the 1947 successful season. The team struggled to regain its elite status, and then in 1965 tragedy struck. Player John Devlin of Greenwood was stricken while on the field and died. This sudden loss of a player and teammate revived the Bulldog spirit and the team went on to an 8-1-0 record that season under the leadership of Coach Oree Banks. Devlin's #31 jersey became the first ever retired in SC State athletic history. That same season, several Bulldog players received All-Conference honors, and Coach Banks was named SIAC and NAIA District 6 Coach of the Year.

In 1970, SC State President Maceo Nance led the school to become a charter member of the Mid-Eastern Athletic Conference (MEAC). This transition was followed by the need to find a new head football coach. In 1973, SC State tapped alumnus Willie Jeffries to lead the Bulldogs. Prior to Coach Jeffries' arrival, the Bulldogs had posted a dismal 1-9 season. He followed that with a 7-3-1 record, which was just the beginning of a tremendous era in Bulldog football history.

Under Coach Jeffries, the SC State Bulldogs built a record of 50-13-4 in just six seasons, and won its first of eleven MEAC titles. In 1976, the team captured its first Black National Championship in a 26-10 win over Norfolk State.

Due to his great success, other football programs sought Coach Jeffries' leadership. In 1978, he left to make history as the first African American head coach at a majority white university at Wichita State.

The Bulldogs rallied under the helm of its former Assistant Coach Bill Davis, who led SC State to its second National Black Championship, and the first of two straight invitations to the prestigious Division IAAA playoffs. Coach Davis led the Bulldogs to dominate the MEAC in the 1980s with back-to-back, 10-game seasons in 1980 and 1981.

Coach Davis was succeeded by Dennis Thomas in 1985, who coached the Bulldogs for three seasons. Then in 1989, the Bulldogs' favorite son, Willie Jeffries, returned as head coach.

In his second stint, Coach Jeffries produced seven winning teams. In 1994, he led the Bulldogs to a 10-2 season, again winning the MEAC championship. Coach Jeffries ended his career as the Bulldogs head football coach in 2002, and he was succeeded by another SC State alumnus.

Coach Buddy Pough left his assistant coaching job at the University of South Carolina to return to Orangeburg to lead the team he loved. His passion for the team and the players showed, as he orchestrated a new era of Bulldog dominance. In 2004, SC State compiled a 9-2 record and the Bulldogs once again were at the top of the MEAC conference. That season, the team ranked number two in the final polls of both the Sheridan Broadcasting Network and the American Sports Wire. They earned a Top 25 Division I-AA poll ranking from both the Sports Network and USA Today/ESPN. Today, Buddy Pough continues to lead the Bulldogs with the same tenacity.

The South Carolina State Bulldog football team has compiled a vibrant 100-year history. Over the century, the Bulldogs have won eleven MEAC titles. They have three National Black Championships in 1976, 1981, and 1994, and earned NCAA Division I-AA berths in 1981 and 1982. Three of its players have been enshrined in the prestigious Pro Football Hall of Fame in Canton, Ohio--Marion Motley (Cleveland Browns, 1965), David ``Deacon'' Jones (Los Angeles Rams, 1980) and Harry Carson (New York Giants, 2006). In addition to retiring #31 John Devlin's jersey, four other Bulldog standouts have had their jerseys retired--#66 Deacon Jones, #75 Harry Carson, #90 Donnie Shell, and #94 Robert Porcher.

Madam Speaker, I invite you and my colleagues to join me in celebrating the extraordinary 100-year history of the South Carolina State University football team. As an SC State alumnus and football fan who spent my entire

life enjoying the talented and tenacious Bulldog teams, I commend the coaches and players who have contributed to this program's tremendous success. Go Bulldogs!

Mr. Speaker, I ask unanimous consent that all Members may have 5 legislative days in which to revise and extend their remarks and include extraneous material on the subject of my Special Order.

Mr. Speaker, it is interesting that I come after the gentleman from Missouri, because before leaving home down in South Carolina this morning, I went to dedicate a water project in a part of my State where they have a real problem with potable water, and extensive health problems as well. During that ceremony, it was asked of me what kind of guarantee that I have that this water project would be seen to fruition. This morning we were dedicating the first phase. There are two others.

In answering the question, I referred to the greatest of all books, the Bible. I referred to the Book of Hebrew, the 11th chapter. I call that the faith chapter of the Bible. I quoted Hebrew 11.1: Faith, the substance of things hoped for and the evidence of things unseen. I quoted that because in our work here, much of the time, though we don't view our work as being grounded in the Bible, we often strike out on faith. We have a little idea sometimes of exactly where any issue is going. I do believe that as we carry out our duties and responsibilities to the people of this great Nation, sometimes we ought to pause and give credence to where that emanates from.

So I am pleased that my good friend from Illinois asked me to come down tonight and to join in this special order commemorating the Bible during National Bible Week. When I was growing up, my father, who was a fundamentalist minister, never asked me to read the Bible, never instructed me to do so. He just told me every morning at the breakfast table to recite a Bible verse. Now, it would be a little difficult to do that without reading the Bible. He made sure that we didn't do the same one twice. Daddy set down the rule. He took Jesus' whip off the table. So it was very, very important for me to read the Bible daily.

He also had a second rule, and that is that every night before retiring to bed, we had to share with our parents, or one of them, some current event. He would often have ways of showing us how that particular event that we may have shared was grounded in the Good Book.

So long before I became House Majority Whip, I assumed the leadership of the Democrats' Faith Working Group. For the last 3 years now, Mr. Speaker, it has been my great joy to work with the members of our caucus, trying to get our membership comfortable with the fact that our work here is in fact faith-based.

If you doubt it, then I ask all of my colleagues to just take a look at my favorite book of the Bible, the Book of James. It has got nothing to do with my name, though that would not be a bad thing. It's a very short book, but it tells us a lot about our responsibility. There, in the second chapter of James, we are all instructed that if your brother or sister comes to you hungry and naked, it is not enough to tell them to go in faith; you feed them and you clothe them.

That is what this Congress is all about. This Congress is about doing those things that are necessary to make sure that our constituents and make sure that our citizens are fed that need to be fed or clothed that need to be clothed. I do believe if James were writing his epistle today, he would also tell us it is also important to house them when they need shelter.

Madam Speaker, it is with a heavy heart that I rise to memorialize the lives of Justin Anderson, Travis Cale, Lauren Mahon, Cassidy Pendley, William Rhea, Allison Walden, all students at the University of South Carolina, which I proudly represent here in this body, and Emily Yelton, a student of Clemson University.

Madam Speaker, when young men and women go off to pursue an education, their families hope for them a bright future and a long life. All seven of these young men and women lost their lives in a fire this weekend and I join with those that I represent at the University of South Carolina in offering condolences to these families. And I also say to the families of Clemson University, our heart goes out to all of them.

Madam Speaker, I ask that you and this body join me in a moment of silence in memory of these young people.

Madam Speaker, Mount Olive African Methodist Episcopal Church of Myrtle Beach, South Carolina will commemorate its 100 years of Christian service at a Centennial Anniversary banquet on November 17, 2007.

Mount Olive AME had a very humble beginning. A small group of faithful African American Christians came together in the Myrtle Beach area in the late 1800s and constructed a one-room structure known as the Bush Shelter. It was in this simple building that this group met to worship under the leadership of Reverend Jackson Hemingway.

In 1907, this group joined with other Christians in the area to organize Mount Olive AME Church. Three years later, a new church was built on the site of the old Myrtle Beach High School Baseball Field. Bishop B.F. Lee led the dedication of the new one-room, wood framed church. Reverend H.B. Salters was the leader of the congregation, and later became a bishop in the AME Church as well. Under his leadership, the church also served as a school for local Black children who attended school only six weeks to five months each year.

After a period of significant growth the church moved to a new location on Carver Street. In 1959, the parishioners' dreams of a new sanctuary were realized.

In 1973, the church was expanded to include an education building. The expanded facility enabled Mount Olive AME to host its first annual conference for the AME churches in the Marion District. This new structure also helped the church grow its education mission. One source of great pride are the church's youth programs, which provide Christian fellowship among young people. The year long programs usually culminate with an annual Christian retreat at Allen University in Columbia, South Carolina.

The church has grown other missions including Sunday School, Women's Missionary Society, Sons of Allen youth leadership mentoring, a media ministry which provides video and audio cassettes to the sick and shut- in, and a street ministry to those needing spiritual guidance.

The church also has outreach programs that serve to better the community as well. Members of Mount Olive AME provide assistance to help community members with their housing needs, utility bills, job referrals, drug counseling, voter registration, parenting skills and the church voluntarily stocks a food pantry. Under the dynamic leadership of Reverend Roger I. Washington since 1998, Mount Olive AME continues to uphold the vision of its founders.

Madam Speaker, I invite you and my colleagues to join me in commending Mount Olive AME Church for a century of faithful service. Its members continue to be beacons of hope in Myrtle Beach. They provide compassion and care for not only its members but also the least among them. I congratulate Mount Olive AME for its rich 100 year history, and I look forward to seeing the good works of the church as it continues to grow and serve the Myrtle Beach community.

Madam Speaker, it is with a heavy heart that I rise to memorialize the lives of Justin Anderson, Travis Cale, Lauren Mahon, Cassidy Pendley, William Rhea, Allison Walden, all students of the University of South Carolina which I proudly represent here in this body, and Emily Yelton, a student of Clemson University.

Madam Speaker, when young men and women go off to pursue education, their families hope for them a bright future and a long life. All seven of these young men and women lost their lives in a fire this weekend, and I join with those that I represent at the University of South Carolina in offering condolences to these families. I also say to the families of Clemson University, our hearts go out to all of them.

Madam Speaker, I ask that you and this body join me in a moment of silence in memory of these young people.