Floor Statements

Madam Speaker, it is with profound sorrow that I rise today in support of House Resolution 1246, which expresses sympathy to the people of Poland in the aftermath of the tragic events of April 10th.

On behalf of the people of Connecticut, I join the citizens of Poland and the millions of individuals of Polish descent residing around the world in mourning the death of President Lech Kaczynski, First Lady Maria Kacynski and the other 94 passengers involved in the tragic plane crash on April 10, 2010.

The death of Lech Kaczynski is a loss not only for the people of Poland but for the international community as a whole. President Kaczynski was a public servant in the highest sense. From his days as an anti-communist activist in the 1970's to his stint as the mayor of Warsaw, he brought with him a desire for change and improvement. During his time as president, Lech Kaczynski worked closely with the Russians to mend wounds from the Katyn tragedy, and on December 21, 2008 he took a historic step toward restoring relations between the government of Poland and its Jewish community when he became the first Polish head of state to attend religious services at a synagogue in Poland.

Under President Kaczynski, the bond between Poland and the United States grew. President Kaczynski was a strong supporter of American stability measures, such as missile defense systems, in the region. In losing President Kaczynski, America loses a great ally.

Once again, I would like to extend my sincerest condolences to the people of Poland and the millions of citizens of Polish descent residing around the world for this terrible loss.

Madam Speaker, I rise today in support of H.R. 4849, the Small Business and Infrastructure Jobs Tax Act of 2010. The passage of this bill will create jobs and continue to revive our economy.

In particular, I would like to highlight a portion of this bill that has proven itself as a job creator and with passage of this legislation will continue to put people back to work: the Temporary Assistance for Needy Families, or ``TANF,'' Emergency Contingency Fund. Since its enactment as part of the Recovery Act, the TANF Emergency Contingency Fund has created or maintained 160,000 jobs and by extending the fund for an additional year it will create thousands more.

This is an effort that has broad bipartisan support. Kevin Hassett, a scholar for the American Enterprise Institute, has said that ``Given the state of the labor market, it is hard to imagine how any sensible person could oppose such a move,'' and both Democratic and Republican Governors have supported extending the program.

A few weeks ago in Connecticut I met with leaders in the state government, the business community and the non-profit community to discuss their efforts to utilize the Emergency Contingency Fund. The extension that we are passing today will allow them to take full advantage of this program as they have committed to putting together a plan to use this funding to create jobs in the state.

I want to thank Chairman Levin for his hard work on this bill as well as the Caucus Jobs Task Force--particularly Dr. Judy Chu, Jim McDermott, and Co-Chairs Alcee Hastings and Betty Sutton. Each of these members has made a tremendous commitment to putting Americans back to work and I urge my colleagues to support this legislation.

I thank the chairman, and it's my honor to yield my time to someone who's always understood whose side he's on in this debate, the gentleman from Michigan, Mark Schauer.

Mr. Speaker, I rise on this momentous day in support of this historic legislation. Just as our predecessors stood up for the American people to pass Social Security and Medicare, today we affirm our commitment to families across this country by passing comprehensive health care reform. Today, Democrats are once again showing whose side they are on, the side of the American people.

While my colleagues on the other side of the aisle like to focus on those who are against this effort, I've heard from too many of my own constituents whose stories exemplify why we need health reform and encouraged me to support this bill.

Constituents like Jody from Bristol. Jody and her family had to downgrade their health insurance after their premiums jumped 30% in one year. Just a few months later Jody was diagnosed with Crohn's disease. After 12 months her medical debt was more than $30,000. Now, even after she has insurance, she is struggling to pay off the $35,000 in credit card bills her family amassed to pay her health care.

It's in stories like these, of people facing severe financial difficulty because of medical debt, being denied coverage because of a pre-existing condition, or losing their coverage when they get sick that creates the moral imperative to right these wrongs. In this bill we

will cap out of pocket costs, end discrimination based on pre-existing health conditions, and end the practice of insurance rescissions.

The American people may not like the complicated legal language of the bill or the messy process it takes in Washington to get historic acts accomplished. But after this bill is signed the parent whose children have been denied coverage because of a pre-existing condition will be able to get health insurance for them; young adults will no longer have to fear being without coverage because they will be able to stay on their parent's insurance; seniors will get relief from skyrocketing prescription drug prices; and small businesses will get tax breaks for offering their employees health.

Once this bill is signed, this country will be stronger, the economy will be stronger and the American people will be stronger than ever before. I thank the Speaker and my Democratic colleagues for their efforts on behalf of the American people and urge my colleagues to support this legislation.

Madam Speaker, on rollcall No. 124, had I been present, I would have voted ``yea.''

Madam Speaker, our colleagues on the other side say they want to start over, completely over. They would like to privatize Social Security. They would like to make sure that Medicare, a program that has served our seniors so well over all of these years, is also, well, doesn't just wither on the vine, as Speaker Gingrich wanted it to do, they want to ban it, end it for people under 55 years of age.

The other side would like to frame this issue as a matter of process. It is a matter of process, insurance process and them denying people claims even on their way to the operating table. This is why we are putting forth this bill to reform insurance and create health care for this entire country that they can depend upon and rely on.

It becomes a question of whose side you are on in the final analysis. Are you siding with the insurance industry and the great job that they have done raising rates all across this Nation? Or are you standing with the American people and fighting on their behalf? That is what the people of this great country of ours want to know.

Madam Speaker, on March 11, 2010, I missed rollcall votes 102, 103 and 104. Had I been present, I would have voted ``yea'' on all.

Mr. Speaker, on rollcall No. 102, had I been present, I would have voted ``yea.''

Mr. Speaker, on rollcall No. 104, had I been present, I would have voted ``aye.''

Madam Speaker, on rollcall No. 99, had I been present, I would have voted ``yes.''

Madam Speaker, by direction of the Democratic Caucus, I send to the desk a privileged resolution and ask for its immediate consideration.

Madam Speaker, I rise today to honor my great friend and our dear colleague, John Murtha. America has lost a true hero and patriot and the United States Congress has lost a giant. Madam Speaker, I submit for the record Keith Burris' column from the Journal Inquirer. The Journal Inquirer is a newspaper serving my home district and is the hometown voice of northern central Connecticut. Keith's words capture the essence of John Murtha, and I ask my colleagues to join with me in honoring the life of this humble man, dear friend and great American.

[From the Journal Inquirer, Feb. 13, 2010]

Much Man

(By Keith C. Burris)

In roughly 30 years in journalism I have met many

politicians. In the beginning, this was exciting. But after a

while, you realize that most of them are persons of

exceptional ambition, not exceptional conviction, skill, or

patriotism. Most people in politics are not very interesting.

But a couple years ago, U.S. Rep. John Larson, himself an

exception to the rule, brought to the Journal Inquirer Rep.

John Murtha, of Pennsylvania. Murtha's back and forth with

editors and reporters here made for one of the most

fascinating hours of conversation I can remember.

Murtha died this week at 77, of a medical mistake.

There aren't many like him in Congress. There never were.

First of all, Murtha, an ex-Marine officer, was not the

sort of fellow who needed a ``handler'' or a ``focus group''

to calculate the political tides. Instead he used three

ancient tools--study, his mind, and his conscience.

As a fine essay, reprinted from Politico on these pages,

documented, Murtha was famous for the Washington rituals he

did not observe. When asked a question, he answered it. He

did not hang with lobbyists or flacks. He did not go to

parties, but got up early and went to bed early. (According

to Politico, he would sometimes go home in the afternoon to

listen to the BBC to get a fresh slant on U.S. foreign

policy.) He did not court TV people or the Washington Post,

and didn't particularly know or care who those people were.

And he didn't back down.

He wasn't always right. And he knew that. He had the

courage to change his mind.

But he was, as the saying goes, a ``stand-up guy.'' You

could not blow him down with a poll or a David Broder column.

Murtha had the understated self-confidence that the rare

greats in politics have. I met Mike Mansfield, briefly, once,

and you felt it from him. Ditto John Stennis. I am sure that

Eisenhower had it. And maybe Ella Grasso. I know I have seen

and felt it in the presence of Eugene McCarthy, Ernest

Hollings, and John Glenn. Some public men seem to shed their

vanity as the years accumulate and they settle into their

work. They begin to internalize their love of country.

Instead of politics being more and more about them, it

becomes more and more about service. And they go about their

work with concentration and power, but minimal fuss. You felt

that with Murtha. There was no posturing in the man. He

looked you dead in the eye and he told you what he thought

was true and needed doing.

Murtha was much in the news when he came to see us. He was

known as the military's greatest friend in Congress and he

had just come out for withdrawal from Iraq. I recall him as a

big man in a dark blue suit. His hands were the hands of a

working man. He might have been a machinist or a farmer

instead of a soldier and statesman. Someone here snickered

the other day that western Pennsylvania, from whence Murtha

came, was ``not really Pennsylvania, but Ohio.'' It's true in

the sense that Murtha was from a hardscrabble world where

people are still close to land and labor and where hard work

and professionalism are what matter, not pretense, not

birthright, not wealth or college degrees. It does not matter

if you have a family name and an MBA from Harvard. If you

want to invade Iraq, you better study the history of Iraq.

Yeah, Murtha was against abortion and for the Second

Amendment and he was born in West Virginia and he owned a car

wash before he got into politics. But that old Vietnam

veteran could set Condoleezza Rice's head spinning and he

took no guff from right-wing no-nothings. If we had 50

``Ohioans'' like John Murtha in the House we would have

health-insurance reform today.

Murtha liked fellow pros. But pros who were rooted in

something. He got on well with the first George Bush and not

at all with the second. He thought Donald Rumsfeld was nuts

and Robert Gates a great man. He was a protege of Tip

O'Neill's and practiced O'Neill's adage that all politics is

local (Murtha never got over the old and honorable idea that

a congressman's first job is to provide for his

constituents), but Murtha trusted Rahm Emanuel about as far

as he could throw him.

Murtha spent his spare time visiting wounded soldiers at

Bethesda Naval Hospital and Walter Reed. He did not take

cameramen with him. When he traveled to Iraq, it was not a

junket or a photo-op. He would tell the generals and

ambassadors, ``no PowerPoint,'' none of that stuff. Just talk

to me, he would say, and tell me what is going on. And then

he would go visit with the sergeants and the specialists. He

took Larson under his wing, and to Iraq, early in Larson's

congressional career because ``he goes home at the end of the

day and studies the CIA briefing books.''

Murtha did not love the military as a concept, but as

people. Public servants like himself. His work for them in

Congress was like his work for the citizens of the 12th

District of Pennsylvania. He had a job to do. He was supposed

to take care of his people.

He was much man, John Murtha.

What a loss to the Congress and the country.

I want to thank the gentleman, the Dean of the Pennsylvania delegation, for having this opportunity for Members to speak about a great American and someone who was so near and dear to all of us.

I want to commend Mike Doyle, Bob Brady, Paul Kanjorski, the entire delegation for last week making sure that, aside from the formal services held for Mr. Murtha in Johnstown, Pennsylvania, there was an opportunity for an Irish wake afterwards. Jack, I know, would have been very proud of that. I am sure he got quite a chuckle with Tip O'Neill up in a higher place at the coming together of so many Members and regaling with so many stories of Jack Murtha.

America has lost a great patriot. The Congress has lost one of its giants, one of the most knowledgeable Members on national defense ever to serve here, whose service spanned four decades and eight Presidents and Members from both Chambers and on both sides of the aisle.

Our hearts go out to Joyce and the family. We in this body have lost a person that makes the very essence and fabric of being here so rich and rewarding; it was evident in listening to our colleagues, listening to Rodney and Bill and Jack Kingston talk about Mr. Murtha. His death is a reminder to us all that our time here and all that we hope to accomplish is fleeting. As he would say, make the most of it while you're here; become expert in a field; but most of all, stand up for what you believe.

Jack reminded me in so many ways of my grandfather, with that shock of white hair and piercing blue eyes and his way of questioning, but also his incredible Irish wit. He loved Congress. He was the epitome of what so often is talked about in terms of bipartisan cooperation and was so often demonstrated between him and Bill Young or Dave Hobson. When he gave his word, he kept it.

He was a Member's Member, ever cognizant of what he could do to help you. And while he was a tough questioner and firm in his convictions, he had an incredible heart and a deep love of history. He loved to talk about Tip O'Neill and the good ol' days here.

I was fortunate to travel overseas with Mr. Murtha four times. Sometimes I thought I drew the short straw in the Pennsylvania corner because Jack, when he took a trip, it was all work; up at 6, he was in bed by 7. There were no PowerPoints, and he looked people dead in the eye. And he always made sure that he spoke to the enlisted men because he cared most about them. A decorated hero, two Purple Hearts and a Bronze Star in Vietnam, the first Member from that conflict and veteran elected to the United States Congress.

Personally, a young man from East Hartford, my hometown, was wounded in Fallujah. He was in bad shape. He was sent back here, and his brother who was fighting alongside him, a fellow marine, was back there. Jack Murtha got on the phone and made sure that those brothers were united at Bethesda along with their parents.

I remember him counseling a father and his teenage son over at Ramstein Hospital in Germany. They had just lost a son. I don't know where Jack got the strength or that reservoir of courage to comfort and console the father and son, but he did, in almost Father O'Malley quality.

He cared so deeply about the troops that serve this great Nation. And as Bill Young pointed out, he and Bill made more trips out to Bethesda and Walter Reed with no publicity. They did it out of duty and honor and respect for those who serve.

He wrote a book, and on these flights I was privileged as he would go through it with me. His favorite book of all time was ``War and Peace.'' He cared as deeply about peace as he did about making sure that we protected our troops when they're in the field and took care of them when they came home.

He will ever stand out in the minds of Americans for standing up and speaking out against the war in Iraq, an issue that he struggled deeply with. But as so many great Americans on this floor and in this Chamber and around this Nation, he found that profile in courage to stand up and speak out.

Democrats, I dare say, would not be in the majority if it were not for Jack Murtha leading the way and speaking out, because he is a soldier's soldier. And he was respected on both sides of the aisle, as you've heard this evening. But as one commentator said, when Jack Murtha speaks, he speaks for America, and he did.

How proud he was to receive the John Fitzgerald Kennedy Profile in Courage Award. But his life was not only about speaking out; it was about the day-to-day work, the belief that he had in the men and women who serve and the people that he was sworn to serve from his district, and about the men and women who work here. He loved this institution. God, how everyone liked to come over to the corner. It seemed as though people were going over there either to hear confessions, seek advice and, most often, to check in on how their projects were doing. But he did it with wit, determination, and guile, and a deep love and abiding respect for his country.

For me personally, one of the great honors of being a Member of the United States Congress will always be to say I had the opportunity to serve with Jack Murtha, a great American.

God bless you, Jack. God bless Joyce and your family.

Madam Speaker, on February 2, 2010, I missed rollcall votes 26, 27, and 28. Had I been present, I would have voted ``yea'' on all.

Madam Speaker, it is with great respect and admiration that I rise to honor African American History Month. African American History Month was created to celebrate and remember the great achievements, advancements, sacrifices and contributions that the African American community has done for the United States of America.

This month has been, and continues to be, a beautiful and powerful reminder as to why the United States of America continues to be a beacon of freedom and success in the world. If you work hard, and stand true to what is right, to what you believe in, and heed the messages of our forefathers, you can overcome all obstacles in the face of hardship. To this, African American History Month is a testament.

The message of this month should not be unappreciated and it should not be forgotten. This month remains relevant in today's changing political and social landscape. The fruit of the African American Civil Rights Movement can still be seen today. Just forty years after the assassination of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., African Americans are now forces to be reckoned with in almost every field, whether business or academia, politics or the non-profit community. Once considered an impossible dream, an African American is now our own Commander and Chief in the White House.

It should be said, Madam Speaker, that learning about African American history is learning about the true history of America as a nation.

As such, I would like to ask my distinguished colleagues to join me in honoring and celebrating African American History Month this year.

Mr. Speaker, I rise today in support of H. Res 1022, to honor the life and sacrifices of Medgar Evers as well as his contributions to the African American Civil Rights Movement.

Evers was born in segregated Decatur, Mississippi, on July 2, 1925, and had to deal with daily threats, insults and institutionalized discrimination and racism. Like many of his fellow African Americans, Evers returned to the United States after serving in France during World War II only to learn that nothing had changed for African Americans.

Despite this, Evers went to Acorn College in Lorman, Mississippi, and received his BA in Business Administration, an amazing accomplishment for any African American at the time. He went on to marry his classmate and sweetheart, Mrylie Beasley.

The young couple moved to Mound Bayou, Mississippi, where Evers worked at the Magnolia Mutual Life Insurance Company. The president of the company, Dr. T.R.M. Howard, also served as president of the Regional Council of Negro Leadership, and helped to introduce Mr. Evers to civil rights activism. Evers became heavily involved in successful boycotts of service stations that denied Blacks to use their restrooms throughout the state.

Evers went on to work as a member of the Mississippi NAACP as its field secretary and had an instrumental role in the desegregation of the University of Mississippi, which led to constant threats against his life and his family. On June 12, 1963, at the age of 37, Medgar Evers was shot outside his home. He died 50 minutes later in the hospital. His murderer, Bryan De La Beckwith, went to trial twice before finally being found guilty of murder and being sent to prison on February 5, 1994, three decades after Evers' death.

Medgar Evers, in life and in death, left an impact on America. His death helped prompt President John F. Kennedy to ask Congress for a comprehensive civil rights bill, one that would be passed during the Johnson administration and finally ended legal segregation in the United States.

I commend Representative Henry Johnson of Georgia's Fourth Congressional District for introducing this important piece of legislation to the House and I urge my colleagues to join me in voting for this measure.