Floor Statements

Mr. Speaker, as Congress takes on the essential task of strengthening our health care system, we have an extraordinary opportunity here to do something good and right for the American people. While the challenges before us are multiple, shifting the health care paradigm from a system that treats the symptoms of sickness and disease to one that promotes life-long wellness and prevention for all Americans would be a very good and meaningful start.

The current health care debate, which focuses on a loosely defined, government-operated ``public option,'' has yet to address several underlying complexities within our system. But the essential question here is really simple: How do we improve health outcomes and reduce costs while protecting vulnerable persons? A thorough policy debate must be grounded in these cornerstone objectives to effectively improve the quality of and access to health care for all Americans, or else we are simply discussing a new government-financing mechanism without regard to unsustainable cost projections.

Madam Speaker, recently the Secretary of State appeared before the House Foreign Affairs Committee and confirmed that it is the administration's goal to include abortion as an integral element of ``reproductive health care'' provided by

the United States overseas. This hearing came on the heels of the Secretary's words of praise for Margaret Sanger as a personal heroine. Margaret Sanger was a notorious American eugenicist who advocated tirelessly for policies to eliminate persons she deemed inferior and unworthy to live, namely the poor, the immigrant, and the black child.

While the Secretary at the hearing did rightfully deplore the racist comments attributed to Margaret Sanger, the administration's policies regrettably continue to champion abortion both here and abroad. This continues despite the fact that more and more Americans oppose the practice, let alone using taxpayer dollars to fund it, or imposing it on persons across the world who may be weaker and more vulnerable.

Margaret Sanger's world view should shock the conscience and evoke equal condemnation from thoughtful persons on both sides of the aisle.

Madam Speaker, for this reason, I was stunned to learn that in a July 12 interview with the New York Times, Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg echoed the sentiments of Sanger. While explaining the outcome of Harris v. McRae, a 1980 Supreme Court ruling that upheld the Hyde amendment, which disallows Medicaid funding for abortions, Justice Ginsburg said this, ``frankly I had thought that at the time Roe was decided, there was concern about population growth and particularly growth in populations that we don't want to have too many of.''

Madam Speaker, did you hear those words? Justice Ginsburg, I repeat, actually said this, ``There was concern about population growth and particularly growth in populations that we don't want to have too many of.''

Madam Speaker, to whom was Justice Ginsburg referring? Who would Justice Ginsburg prefer to not have live? It is unfathomable that in this day and age, a Justice of the United States Supreme Court would articulate such a patently genocidal sentiment.

This is more of the same discredited, amoral philosophy of social engineering that offers no comfort, no vision of the common bond of all humanity, particularly for those who are weak and vulnerable among us.

Madam Speaker, it is with a very heavy heart that I have to say such things. I know we have come much further than this in our society. Millions of Americans believe that we are big enough and loving enough as a Nation to embrace the mother and her unborn child and truly care for life. We can do better. We must do better. Women deserve better than abortion, and America deserves better from its leaders.

I have an amendment at the desk.

Mr. Chairman, I appreciate having an opportunity to offer this amendment to promote renewable energy in rural America.

America needs a bold new energy division, and I believe this amendment can help. Our sustainable energy future must include the integration of conservation, as well as new technologies, powered by clean renewable sources such as wind, solar, biomass and biofuels.

Specifically, Mr. Chairman, my amendment would transfer $2 million from the United States Department of Agriculture Office of the Chief Information Officer to the Rural Energy for America Program.

While I do recognize the importance of funding for the Office of the Chief Information Officer and its role in providing enhanced technology at the Department of Agriculture, this appropriations bill does provide a $44 million increase for the office compared to last year. I believe it is appropriate to transfer a small amount of that increase, $2 million, to our Nation's renewable energy efforts. Specifically, again, my amendment shifts this funding to the Rural Energy for America Program, known as REAP. The REAP program funds a wide range of renewable energy projects that stimulate rural economies, help create jobs, and address environmental concerns. This funding promotes energy efficiency and renewable energy production and is directed to farming communities and rural small businesses.

I would also like to emphasize, Mr. Chairman, that in last year's farm bill there is included a new program that has parallel goals to REAP and is designed to create models of energy independence on a rural community level. This new program, the Rural Energy Self-Sufficiency Initiative, authorizes the Secretary of Agriculture to make grants to up to five eligible rural communities annually. The pilot program grants would be used to develop an integrated renewable energy system in order to increase energy self-sufficiency through technologies as well as other renewable sources, such as biofuels, biomass, biogas, geothermal, and wind and solar, resulting in model systems and best practices that could be replicated elsewhere in the Nation.

Because of the importance of this new program, it is my hope that the $2 million provided in this amendment, should it pass, would be directed to the Rural Energy Self-Sufficiency Initiative as the appropriations process moves forward.

Mr. Chairman, I do believe that renewable energy is changing today's agriculture and rural communities. It is clearly in our national interest to help rural communities integrate a wide variety of renewable energy sources and technologies as we move toward energy independence and environmental security.

New development and signs of interest in renewable energy production are booming, Mr. Chairman, and I am proud that my own State, Nebraska, is a leader in creating green jobs in the country.

This amendment does strengthen Congress' resolve to creatively appropriate monies for the best practices in regards to renewable resources and develop new energy options throughout our country.

I urge its adoption, and I reserve the balance of my time.

I would like to thank the chairwoman of the committee for her support of this amendment. It's important. Clearly, we have a similar vision on a bold, new, sustainable energy vision for the country, and I think this is important and will help very much.

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

Madam Speaker, pursuant to the Republican Leadership standards on member requests, I am submitting the following information regarding the earmarks I received as part of the FY10 Agriculture Appropriations Bill:

Requesting Member: Congressman Jeff Fortenberry

Bill Number: H.R. 2997, FY10 Agriculture Appropriations Bill

Account: Special Research Grants

Project Name: Drought Mitigation

Amount: $469,000

Name and Address of Requesting Entity: University of Nebraska-Lincoln located at 202 Agricultural Hall, Lincoln, Nebraska 68583

Description: This funding is for the National Drought Mitigation Center (NDMC) which conducts research and educational programs on drought mitigation and planning for drought. The project has assisted numerous states and municipalities in developing drought plans and implementing drought response action teams. The Center has received national visibility for providing information on the severity of drought throughout the United States. Both print and electronic mass media routinely use Center produced materials in their news stories on the drought.

Mr. Chairman, I believe that it is critical for us to provide a clear vision for U.S. foreign policy to represent the best of the United States of America. I want to thank Chairman Berman and Ranking Member Ros-Lehtinen for their efforts to bring this important measure to the floor today.

Mr. Chairman, a Muslim cleric once whispered to me, Do not forget the goodness of America. America is justice.

While much has changed in the world in recent years, the core ideals that made the United States a generous, principled and prosperous Nation--the commitment to justice for all--remain unchanged. We are now entwined in a more interdependent world, which entails the potential for great good or for great harm. We can innovate to build sustainable capacities to help all persons achieve their full potential, or we can find ourselves in a race against time in seeking to prevent advanced technological capacities, such as nuclear weapons development, from serving tyrannical purposes that aim to destroy and to subjugate free people to coercive ideologies.

While not always popular, I believe that it is essential to engage other nations as a force for good in the world by maintaining a robust and effective diplomatic and assistance framework. This is why I do support some of the more aggressive proposals contained in this measure, such as the augmentation of Foreign Service officers at the Department of State and at the United States Agency for International Development.

We simply cannot respond to monumental changes in the world with an overextended workforce and with diminished capacities to accomplish complex and difficult assignments. However, it does concern me that many people throughout the world hold a dualistic view toward our country. Given the nature of the system of government that we have been very fortunate to inherit, they look to us in hope, and they see the United States as a force for great good. However, on the other hand, they are wary of the imposition of controversial Western-style notions upon them.

For instance, pursuant to Secretary Clinton's recent testimony before the House Foreign Affairs Committee, we are now faced with a policy that equates abortion advocacy with health care advocacy, a policy that is very divisive in our own country and is one that many nations around the world repudiate. It is not consistent with internationally accepted notions of human rights. Such a policy will undermine the very relationships we are seeking to strengthen through this measure.

While I see great value in strengthening our foreign relations overall, I remain deeply concerned that the bill before us today provides a framework for injecting jarring and discordant notes from divisive and unresolved domestic disputes here in our country into U.S. foreign policy. We should be using this process to find our common ground, to develop the tools that actually bind the human family, that lift weary human hearts around the world, that provide justice for all, especially for vulnerable persons, including the elderly, the mother and her unborn child, the father seeking to provide protection for his family, and the tribe and culture seeking recognition, dignity and freedom from tyranny and twisted ideologies.

In good conscience I cannot support this legislation as it stands because it risks subordinating U.S. foreign policy to highly-charged domestic social controversies and imposing controversial Western social paradigms on cultures that should have the freedom to preserve their most cherished traditions for the well being of men and women, families and children.

The approach before us risks politicizing our foreign service at a time when a strong, united, bipartisan approach to the myriad security and diplomatic challenges we face is vital. Our foreign policy should reflect our shared values as a nation, and I stand ready to work with my colleagues on that which unites us. With that said, I regret that I must urge my colleagues to vote no on this measure.

Mr. Speaker, 60 years ago, the United States embarked on a crucial operation to sustain and defend a vulnerable entrapped people. The Berlin Airlift was a colossal strategic mission that encouraged strength and fortitude in those held captive in Berlin. Today, we honor those who designed and participated in this feat.

These brave veterans struck the first major blow in the new Cold War, forcing Stalin to lift the blockade that impoverished Germany's capitol, and thwarting the Iron Curtain's fall over the Western strongholds. The efforts of these airmen embody the highest virtues of American air defense, as they fused tactical brilliance, along with innovation and with goodness in heart, in what is seen as one of the greatest American humanitarian efforts of all time.

Our veterans provided food, coal, and medical supplies to the besieged citizens of West Berlin each day, living up to the spirit of the Greatest Generation. They led a seminal goodwill offensive that succeeded in alleviating the suffering inflicted by Stalin's regime that threatened the peace and prosperity of all those in Berlin, East Germany, as well as throughout the world.

Some creative and generous pilots even found a heartwarming way to connect with the children of Berlin during those airlifts. As they carpeted the streets of Berlin with chocolates and candy, they drew the hearts and minds of many children to goodness and liberty rather than the pervasive Communist propaganda that sought to turn them against the West.

The goodwill of this so-called ``Operation Little Vittles'' has carried forward to the streets of Baghdad today, where many of our soldiers relish opportunities to brighten the lives of Iraqi children as well.

As we celebrate the 60th anniversary of the Berlin Airlift, let us remember the veterans who exemplified our highest ideals of brilliance and innovation in air defense, and whose integrity and dedication to liberty have inspired so many vulnerable people throughout the world. Their example renews our faith in the power of freedom and goodness to prevail over tyranny.

Mr. Speaker, as the memories of World War II and the Berlin blockade fade with the passing years, I believe it is even more important to commemorate the spirit of kindness that led our veterans to bring hope and to bring joy to the weary and beleaguered city of Berlin.

Mr. Speaker, a congressional resolution has been introduced to honor their legacy. I'm grateful for this opportunity to celebrate this noble endeavor, and I ask my colleagues to please join me in remembering and thanking those who served 60 years ago in the Berlin Airlift.

Madam Speaker, from Tuesday, May 5 through Thursday, May 7, 2009, I was provided a leave of absence from the House of Representatives due to the hospitalization of my daughter, and thus I missed rollcall votes Nos. 231-242. Had I been present, I would have voted ``aye'' on Nos. 231, 232, 233, 234, 235, 236, 239, 240, 241, and 242, and ``nay'' on Nos. 237 and 238.

Madam Speaker, I yield myself as much time as I may consume.

Some 54 million children and 7 million adults, Madam Speaker, spend a large part of their day in our 120,000 public and private schools. These hardworking teachers and students deserve a healthy school environment.

We share a great responsibility in shaping the future for our children, and it is critical that it is done in a clean and safe environment.

When these elements are in place, everyone's performance improves, test scores rise, and attendance levels increase. Our Nation's children, parents and educators deserve to know that their schools provide the safest and healthiest environment possible.

A National Healthy Schools Day will help promote school environments that are conducive to learning and protect student health.

In order to express support for the goals and ideals of National Healthy Schools Day, I also urge my colleagues to support H. Res. 370.

Madam Speaker, I reserve the balance of my time.

Madam Speaker, I have no further requests for time, and I yield back the balance of my time.

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

Mr. Speaker, this year marks the 11th anniversary of National Military Appreciation Month, which was first passed as Senate Resolution 33, designating May 1999 the first National Military Appreciation Month.

Although it is important that we recognize our servicemembers every year, it is during times of conflict when one can truly put their sacrifices into greater perspective. These outstanding men and women sacrifice much so that we may continue to reap the many benefits of freedom in our land. While we enjoy the comfort of our homes and families, these brave soldiers are stationed far from home across our country and throughout the entire world.

Those who serve are our mothers, fathers, aunts, uncles, cousins and closest friends. These are the individuals who comprise our Nation's Army, Navy, Marine Corps, Air Force and Coast Guard, and we salute them and pledge to them our gratitude. While expressing our gratitude to the military, it is also important to recognize the thousands of families who often endure hardship and loneliness while their loved ones are serving our country. They must relocate, often putting additional strain on the family.

On this day, we must also remember and show appreciation for those who served our country in the past and have played a critical role in making America the great country that it is today.

Mr. Speaker, we live in the greatest Nation in the world, and we owe much of our success to the men and women in uniform who answered the ultimate call of duty to serve and protect our Nation's citizens. Although this concurrent resolution serves to honor and support the goals and objectives of National Military Appreciation Month during the month of May, I hope our soldiers realize that their service is appreciated each and every day of the entire year.

I ask all Members, therefore, to join me in unwavering support of our military by supporting House Concurrent Resolution 84.

And with that, Mr. Speaker, I reserve the balance of my time.

Mr. Speaker, I have no further requests for time, so I yield back the balance of my time.

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

Mr. Speaker, first let me thank the gentleman from Massachusetts for his poignant remarks about motherhood. We appreciate that. And, Mr. Speaker, I also have the pleasure of rising today to call attention to this time-honored celebration of Mother's Day.

This past Sunday, I, along with millions of Americans, paused to uplift the women who have shaped our lives and our country because, as the House of Representatives declared in 1914, the service rendered to the United States by the American mother is the greatest source of the country's strength and inspiration. Mothers have been celebrated throughout history in many languages, religions, and cultures.

Few traditions have withstood the test of time as the social celebration of motherhood. From its earliest roots in Egyptian society to our modern American holiday, the commemoration of mothers is timeless. On May 10, we celebrated the 101st anniversary of the first observance of the modern American Mother's Day when a woman from Grafton, West Virginia, named Anna M. Jarvis, held an observance in her mother's honor at St. Andrew's Methodist Church.

Afterward, when the junior Senator from Nebraska, Elmer Burkett, rose before Congress in 1908 to propose the establishment of Mother's Day at the request of Ms. Jarvis and the Young Men's Christian Association, he, interestingly, was originally met with opposition due to sensitivities concerning the role of women in society and the role of the Federal Government in honoring them.

It took until 1914, but Congress eventually passed a resolution declaring the second Sunday in May as Mother's Day. President Woodrow Wilson then issued a proclamation directing the flying of the flag as a ``public expression of the love and reverence for the mothers of our country.''

Mr. Speaker, we now honor all mothers for their immeasurable contribution to the very core of our society. Mothers sustain and strengthen our Nation through their leadership in the family and community. And despite the dynamics of modern society, the ability of mothers to meet the challenge of raising their families with love, understanding and compassion remains constant. As we commemorate mothers for the integral role they play in shaping the course of our Nation's past, present and future, we also revere and emphasize the importance of the role of the family and the home as the true and ever- present foundation of our country.

Mr. Speaker, some may question why Congress is considering this matter at all, but I would like to say that each day here we tirelessly debate the challenges and nuances of modernity becoming mired in such a dizzying array of interventions that it is easy to lose sight of our ever-enduring core values. We don't often take the time to reflect on the essential philosophical foundations that have guided this Nation through many turbulent times, so I think it is refreshing that we now take time to pause and consider a resolution such as this that is timeless.

So I encourage my colleagues, Mr. Speaker, to join in support of this resolution today honoring the 101st celebration of the modern Mother's Day.

And with that, Mr. Speaker, I reserve the balance of my time.

Mr. Speaker, I have no further requests for time, so I will yield back the balance of my time.

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

Mr. Speaker, I also rise in strong support of H.R. 2162, a bill designating the facility of the United States Postal Service located at 123 11th Avenue in Nampa, Idaho, as the Herbert A Littleton Postal Station.

Mr. Speaker, many of my words here will repeat the commemoration the gentleman from Massachusetts (Mr. Lynch) just gave, but I think it is worth repeating because today we are honoring a man who paid the ultimate sacrifice on behalf of his fellow soldiers and on behalf of a grateful Nation.

Herbert Littleton was a private first class in the U.S. Marine Corps Reserve, Company C, 1st Battalion, 7th Marines, 1st Marine Division. He was born in 1930 in Mena, Arkansas, and attended high school in Sturgis, South Dakota, where he played basketball and football. He enlisted in the Marine Corps Reserve on July 29, 1948.

Upon joining the Marines, he trained in San Diego and at Camp Pendleton before he was shipped out to Korea on December 17, 1950, fighting in South and Central Korean operations.

Serving as a radio operator with an artillery forward observation team, he was in action against enemy aggressor forces. Private First Class Littleton was standing watch when a well-concealed and numerically superior enemy force launched a violent night attack from nearby positions against his company. He quickly alerted the forward observation team and immediately moved into an advantageous position to assist in calling down artillery fire onto the hostile force.

It was during this fierce battle that an enemy hand grenade was thrown into his vantage point shortly after the arrival of the remainder of his fellow soldiers. As Mr. Lynch pointed out, Private First Class Littleton unhesitatingly hurled himself on the grenade, absorbing its full, shattering, and explosive impact. Because of his quick action and heroic spirit of self-sacrifice, he saved the other members of his team from serious injury or death and enabled them to carry on the vital mission which culminated in the repulse of that hostile attack. His unflinching valor in the face of almost certain death reflects the highest credit upon Private First Class Littleton and the United States Naval Service. He gallantly gave his life for his country.

In addition to being awarded the Medal of Honor for ``conspicuous gallantry and intrepidity at the risk of his life above and beyond the call of duty,'' Private First Class Littleton was awarded the Purple Heart, Korean Service Medal with one bronze star, and the United Nations Service Medal.

Mr. Speaker, I urge my colleagues to support this bill in which a grateful Nation honors a man who courageously traded his life for the lives of his fellow soldiers and in service to our country.

Mr. Speaker, I reserve the balance of my time.

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

Madam Speaker, on Monday, April 27, 2009, I was unavoidably detained and thus I missed rollcall votes Nos. 207, 208, and 209. Had I been present, I would have voted ``yea'' on all three votes.

Madam Speaker, on Thursday, April 23, 2009, I was unavoidably detained and thus I missed rollcall votes Nos. 201 and 202. Had I been present, I would have voted ``aye'' on both votes.

I thank the gentleman from Georgia (Mr. Westmoreland) for the time and for recognizing our valuable partnership in this fine august body.

Mr. Speaker, today I also rise, as the Vietnamese community in my district gathers for their regular meeting, to express my support for a national Vietnamese Refugees Day.

Throughout the past years, I have listened with great interest and admiration to the poignant stories of hardship and triumph that many members of the Vietnamese community have shared with me. I am deeply moved by their dedication to the principles of liberty that have distinguished our American experience. This is expressed in the difficult decisions to leave their beloved homeland of Vietnam and to embrace our Nation's founding principles, principles that those of us who have never experienced life under oppression and communism invariably run the risk of taking for granted.

Even today, Vietnamese American refugees gather across this Nation to raise awareness of concerns affecting their loved ones back in Vietnam. Lincoln's Vietnamese American community has been particularly concerned with religious freedom and Vietnam's two-child policy. And I have tried to make it a priority to urge the Government of Vietnam to uphold its stated commitments to religious freedom. I deeply value the active civic engagement of the Vietnamese American community in Nebraska with regards to these and other important human rights issues.

It is my privilege to serve the Vietnamese American community. And I want to thank Congressman Cao, who, as he mentioned, at 8 years old, 34 years ago today, fled his homeland of Vietnam on a United States of America C-130 transport plane, for bringing this important resolution forward and allowing us to reflect on the profound commitment of the Vietnamese refugee population to the well-being of our Nation.

I thank the gentleman from Florida for the time.

Madam Chair, the American people deserve order in the fiscal house of government. America deserves a responsible, fair, creative, and smart Federal Government that protects our most vulnerable, strengthens opportunity, and protects our country. Our constituents deserve for us to say together ``yes'' to fiscal stability, ``yes'' to a balanced budget, ``yes'' to small business and entrepreneurs, and ``yes'' to creating opportunities to help families get ahead in life. But they also need us to say ``no,'' no to the concept that there is free money, free money for the government to give, to spend, and to bail out with. The only thing free here is that the government is acting free from restraint and free from responsibility.

Let's put today's debate into context. Six months ago, Congress passed a bailout for Wall Street, forcing America to buy bad corporate assets. Weeks ago, an omnibus holdover budget bill increased spending by 10 percent. Then a stimulus bill added another $800 billion. Not to mention that between the Federal Reserve, the Department of the Treasury, and the FDIC there is another $10 trillion of taxpayer dollars on the line right now. Now, today another budget adds another layer of spending.

It is a dizzying array of interventions that is reshaping the nature of the relationship between this government and our people. The result: Massive Federal debt, $2 trillion this year alone, larger than the entire Federal budget was before the year 2000.

This debt is a tax passed on to our children, or it is a sale of the Nation's assets overseas. We owe China $1 trillion. Or potentially it creates inflationary pressures. That is a particularly regressive form of taxation for the poorest and most vulnerable among us.

Madam Chair, we all know what we must do. And we know it will be hard. There is no denying that. We must prioritize. We must choose. We must be creative. We must be like a family that has to tighten its belt and steady itself during a rough period, but also look forward toward a more excellent way.