Floor Statements

I thank Chairman Miller for yielding.

Madam Chair, expanding access to an affordable college education and job training is one of the surest ways we can build a stronger and more competitive American economy for years to come.

The Student Aid and Fiscal Responsibility Act of 2009 is the single largest investment, the single largest investment, in aid to help students and families to pay for college in the history of this country.

I commend Chairman Miller, the ranking member, and the entire committee, especially in these severe and dire economic times and when there's so much stress on working families, to provide this opportunity to have America resume the preeminent position that it occupies economically, socially, culturally, and militarily in society. This means for Connecticut, as Joe Courtney, a member of the committee, reminds us, over 277 million additional dollars in funding for Pell Grants to thousands of Connecticut students.

This bill also includes legislation that I've worked on, and I thank the chairman and the members for including it, the notion of expanding opportunity to our community colleges, to expand their mission, an opportunity to reach out in these economic times for people who seek to retrain themselves and utilize the opportunities that our community colleges represent.

Community colleges reach every corner of this country with over 1,100 in urban, rural, and suburban settings. This is vitally important in this economy and as we face additional global challenges that we are able to retrain our workforce in a manner that allows them to matriculate into the job networks that will be created from the community college effort combining with the entrepreneurial and private sector to create the jobs that we need.

I commend Chairman Miller for this effort and urge support of this bill.

Madam Speaker, I rise today to congratulate the participants of the House Fellows Program. The House Fellows Program, run by the Office of the House Historian, is a unique opportunity for a select group of secondary education American history and government teachers to experience firsthand the inner-workings of Congress. These educators have demonstrated excellence in the classroom, are dedicated to educating our Nation's youth and are truly deserving of our recognition.

One of the goals of the House Fellows Program is to develop curriculum on the history and practice of the House for use in schools. During the program, fellows prepare a brief lesson plan on a congressional topic of their choosing, which is then shared with the other fellows. These plans will become part of a larger teaching resource database on the House. During the school year following their participation in the House Fellows Program, each Fellow is responsible for presenting his or her experience and lesson plans to at least one in-service institute for teachers of history and government.

Since the House Fellows Program began in 2006, 63 teachers from across the country have participated in this innovative program, with 12 more enrolled for this summer. With plans to select a teacher from every congressional district over the next several years, the

House Fellows Program will impact thousands of high school teachers and their students and will energize thousands of students to become informed and active citizens.

As a former U.S. history teacher, I believe strongly in the importance of civic education. We must continue our efforts to get our youth involved in the political process in districts across the country. Educating teachers about the ``People's House'' is one of the best ways to do that. I congratulate the following educators who are participating in the 7th session of the House Fellows Program:

Ms. Rachel Snell (Camp, MI-4); Mr. Ronald Hailey (McDermott, WA-7); Ms. Rosemary Quirk (Neal, MA-2); Ms. Jennifer S. Venable (Barton, TX- 6); Ms. Cheryl Anderson and Mr. David Martin (Lewis, GA-5); Ms. La- Shanda West (Ros-Lehtinen, FL-18); Ms. Rhonda Rush and Ms. Jessica Newman (Bachus, AL-6); Mr. Michael Feldman (Castle, DE-AL); Mr. Don Woods (Hall, TX-4); Mr. George Blackledge (Taylor, MS-4).

Madam Speaker, I urge all of my colleagues to join me in thanking the Office of the Historian for sponsoring this program. Thanks to Dr. Robert Remini and Dr. Fred Beuttler for their outstanding leadership, and Dr. Thomas Rushford, Dr. Charles Flanagan, Mr. Dave Veenstra, Mr. Anthony Wallis and Mr. Benjamin Hayes for providing the crucial staff support. Thank you also to the Office of the Historian interns: Mr. Maurice Robinson, Mr. Parker Williams, Ms. Kaitlin Utz and Ms. Debbie Kobrin.

Mr. Speaker, today, I am proud to recognize the past and present service of one of my constituents, Mr. James W. Shelmerdine, Jr., who served with great honor during the Korean War and continues to serve on behalf of Korean War veterans in the State of Connecticut.

Mr. Shelmerdine deserves our recognition not only for his service to our country in Korea, but also for his leadership and volunteerism after the war. Mr. Shelmerdine commands a local chapter of the Korean War Veterans Association and advocates tirelessly for Korean War veterans at the State of Connecticut Department of Veterans Affairs, Veterans' Home in Rocky Hill, which houses some of the state's neediest veterans.

It is with great pride that I join my colleagues in the House of Representatives in recognizing the courage and sacrifice of Korean War veterans like Mr. Shelmerdine and honoring them by designating July 27 as National Korean War Veterans Armistice Day. I fully support H.R. 2632, The Korean War Veterans Recognition Act; and, I commend Chairman Rangel for his service, both in the Korean War and in the House of Representatives.

Mr. Chairman, I want to associate myself with the remarks of Steve Israel, as the aforementioned also members of the Hydrogen Caucus who have been so critical to promoting this legislation. But I especially want to thank Chairman Pastor and especially his staff, Taunja Berquam, and also Joe Levin, who played an instrumental role in making sure that we got this important funding included in the bill.

Now, in Connecticut we pride ourselves as being the fuel-cell center. We have more than eight companies, three in my home district. But as Steve Israel pointed out--and I know Mr. Pastor knows this--the importance of being energy independent cuts to the core of what we need to do.

This is a technology that has been around for some time. We use it very successfully in NASA. We're able to power our space vehicles. We're able to use the water and be able to heat and cool and power our spacecraft. With that, can we get people back and forth to work and heat and cool our buildings? I think so.

The whole goal here is to make sure that we're able to embrace the most abundant element in the universe, which is hydrogen. If we expect to wean ourselves off of foreign dependency then we have to go with cutting edge technology.

Another young President in 1960 said we could put a man on the moon in 10 years. We did it in nine. Part of the technology in getting us there was hydrogen fuel cells.

It's long overdue for us to make the kind of investments in the public-private partnerships that Mr. Israel alluded to that are so essential to us moving this economy forward and making sure that we're no longer dependent upon OPEC countries, on Libya, on Venezuela or Russia for our source of fuel, but we make it here in America with American innovation and technology.

And with that, again, I thank Mr. Pastor for your leadership and your outstanding staff for providing us this opportunity, what I know is a bipartisan effort to move this Nation forward.

Mr. Speaker, on July 9, 2009 I missed votes because I was attending a funeral. Had I been present, I would have voted ``yea'' on rollcall votes 513, 514, 515, 516, 519, 521, 523 and 525. I would have voted ``no'' on rollcall votes 517, 518, 520, 522, 524.

I thank the distinguished chairman.

Mr. Speaker, it has been an interesting day in listening to the claims that have emanated from the other side of the aisle, claims about honesty, claims about being forthright. The President of the previous administration, President Bush, stood on the floor and claimed our addiction to oil, and everybody put their head in the sand and did nothing as we continued to send and export American dollars overseas.

We send American taxpayer dollars overseas to Russia, to Saudi Arabia, to Libya, to Venezuela, all the people that you have chimed in about today. That's the real tax that we are paying because of our increasing addiction and our need to stand up and rid ourselves of dependency on foreign soil.

So the challenge faces us once again--it was here 30 years ago, and we didn't have the courage to make the stand, nor the patriotic fervor or fiber to stand up and do the right thing.

Stop this addiction. If T. Boone Pickens can get out front across this country and talk about this awful addiction, and, as Thomas Friedman said very eloquently, if the American policy of the previous administration is to ``leave no mullah behind'' and find our funds that we pay with American taxpayers going to fund our enemies' efforts against our own troops in our efforts against terrorism, that is what this is about in the final analysis. It's about this great country of ours and making a stand for what we believe in, standing up for American dominance and superiority.

Yes, the Chinese and Indian nations are out there competing. We want to compete against them because we have better technology. We just have to make the investment here and not in Saudi Arabia and Libya and Venezuela and Russia. That's what the policy of previous administrations have led us to. And that's where it must end today, on this floor.

Mr. Speaker, on June 25, 2009 I missed rollcall votes 454 and 460. Had I been present, I would have voted ``yes'' on both.

Madam Speaker, I rise today to congratulate the participants of the House Fellows Program. The House Fellows Program, run by the Office of the House Historian, is a unique opportunity for a select group of secondary education American history and government teachers to experience firsthand the inner-workings of Congress. These educators have demonstrated excellence in the classroom, are dedicated to educating our nation's youth and are truly deserving of our recognition.

One of the goals of the House Fellows Program is to develop curriculum on the history and practice of the House for use in schools. During the program, fellows prepare a brief lesson plan on a Congressional topic of their choosing, which is then shared with the other fellows. These plans will become part of a larger teaching resource database on the House. During the school year following their participation in the House Fellows Program, each Fellow is responsible for presenting his or her experience and lesson plans to at least one in-service institute for teachers of history and government.

The House Fellows Program began in 2006, and since then 63 teachers from across the country have participated in this innovative program. Twelve more teachers will be taking part this summer. With plans to select a teacher from every congressional district over the next several years, the House Fellows Program will impact thousands of high school teachers and their students and will energize thousands of students to become informed and active citizens.

As a former U.S. history teacher, I believe strongly in the importance of civic education. We must continue our efforts to get our youth involved in the political process in districts across the country. Educating teachers about the ``People's House'' is one of the best ways to do that. I congratulate the following educators who are participating in the 7th session of the House Fellows Program:

Ms. Ashley Greeley (Buyer, IN-4); Ms. Susan Hunter Hilton (Spratt, SC-5); Mr. Wayne Williams, Mr. Gregory Cosgrove (Diaz-

Balart, FL-21); Ms. Dodie Kasper and Ms. Maria Arena (Johnson, TX-3); Mr. Jeffrey Boogaard (Andrews, NJ-1); Mr. Christopher Moreno (Lowey, NY-18); Ms. Latasha Jones (Engel, NY-17); Mr. Eric Major (Costello, IL- 12); Ms. Mollie Huber and Ms. Yvonne Jackson Pittman (Paul, TX-14).

Madam Speaker, I urge all of my colleagues to join me in thanking the Office of the Historian for sponsoring this program. Thanks to Dr. Robert Remini and Dr. Fred Beuttler for their outstanding leadership, and Dr. Thomas Rushford, Dr. Charles Flanagan, Mr. Anthony Wallis and Mr. Benjamin Hayes for providing the crucial staff support. Thank you also to the Office of the Historian interns: Mr. Maurice Robinson, Mr. Parker Williams, Ms. Kaitlin Utz and Ms. Debbie Kobrin.

Madam Speaker, I rise today to pay tribute to one of

the finest diplomats that both of us have come to know, Mr. Luca Ferrari, the Minister Counselor for Public and Legislative Affairs at the Embassy of the Republic of Italy. Minister Ferrari, who has been at the Italian Embassy here in Washington since October 8, 2005, is also the Official Spokesman at the Embassy as well. It has been recently announced that Minister Ferrari will leave Washington later this summer to become the Deputy Chief of Mission at the Embassy of Italy in Madrid, Spain.

Minister Ferrari, whose father was a career diplomat, was born in Rome and lived all over the world while growing up. As a result, he can speak five languages fluently. He received a degree in political science from the University of Rome in 1984. He joined the Italian Diplomatic Service in 1986 and served in a number of positions in Rome, including Executive Assistant to the Foreign Minister and Special Assistant in the Office of the Secretary General of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. In 1991, he was sent to Moscow where, as First Secretary, he held the position of Head of the Ambassador's Secretariat and Chief of the Consular Section until 1995. Then he began his first assignment in Washington, where he was Counselor and Chief of Staff of the Ambassador of Italy to the United States until 1999. After returning to Rome, he served as the Director for Middle Eastern Affairs of the Italian Ministry of Foreign Affairs until his return to Washington in 2005.

Given the enormous amount of diplomatic and consular activity between the United States and our critical NATO ally Italy over the years, Washington, D.C. is one of the most challenging posts for Italian diplomats. I think that you will agree with my belief that Minister Ferrari has performed superbly both as a diplomat and as a friend to both of us. Whether it has been his tireless efforts on your historic trip to Italy as the highest ranking Italian-American official, his facilitation of the recent visit of Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi to Washington, and the numerous visits of other high-level officials in recent years, his work to provide relief in the wake of the devastating earthquake in Abruzzo, his preparations for the upcoming July G-8 Summit in L'Aquila, or the energy he brought to the numerous other projects to which he was assigned; I think that you will agree with me that Luca has set an example of what it means to be a model diplomat. Many of our colleagues are aware of the historic role that the model of Italian diplomacy has played in the creation of the current worldwide diplomatic system and international law. We can easily see how Luca fits into the fine tradition of envoys that Italy has sent to other nations down through the ages.

On a personal level, Madam Speaker, Luca has been a true friend to both of us, as well as to your husband Paul and to my wife Leslie. As you have on so many occasions, Luca travelled to Hartford to participate in my annual charity Bocce Tournament, which Leslie and I host at our home to raise money for the St. Patrick/St. Anthony Church in Hartford and the East Hartford Interfaith Ministries. Although he has yet to join you in the elite group of Italian Celebrity Night trophy winners, I am sure that, with a little more practice, he will be awarded that honor at some future tournament.

Madam Speaker, I would like to conclude by urging all of our colleagues to join us in saluting Minister Luca Ferrari for all he has done to further relations between our two countries and to wish him, his wife Mariachiara Pastore Ferrari, and their 13 year-old son Alessandro Ferrari all the best as they begin their new duties in Spain.

Mr. Chair, on rollcall Nos. 377, 378, and 379 I was in the physician's office. Had I been present, I would have voted ``no.''

Amendment No. 85 Offered by Mr. Flake

Mr. Chair, on June 18, 2009, I missed rollcall votes 377, 378, 379, and 380. Had I been present, I would have voted ``no'' on all.

Amendment No. 91 Offered by Mr. Flake

Madam Speaker, on June 16, 2009, I missed roll call vote 350 due to illness. Had I been present, I would have voted ``yes.''

Mr. Chair, on June 17, 2009, I missed rollcall votes 351, 352, 353, 354 and 355 due to illness. Had I been present, I would have voted ``aye'' on all.

Mr. Speaker, on June 16, 2009, I missed rollcall votes 340, 341, 342, 343, 344, 345, 346, 347 and 349, due to illness. Had I been present, I would have voted ``yea'' on all.

Mr. Speaker, today we will vote on a historic piece of legislation that will refocus American foreign policy and forge a true partnership with Pakistan and its people. H.R. 1886, the Pakistan Enduring Assistance and Cooperation Enhancement Act of 2009, will triple U.S. economic assistance to Pakistan, with a focus on the rights of women and religious minorities, strengthening democratic institutions, and improving Pakistan's public education system.

I am especially proud to pass this bill because of its focus on public education. The Enduring Assistance and Cooperation Enhancement Act will help Pakistan develop a national curriculum for public, private and religious schools and will expand educational opportunities for women and girls. I recently read a very important book; Three Cups of Tea is an inspirational story about a journey to Pakistan and the feats of one of the most inspirational people of our generation: Greg Mortenson. Upon my visit to Afghanistan several months ago, I saw the truth in Mortenson's message: that the poverty and lack of opportunity in countries like Pakistan and Afghanistan can incite hatred against the United States and lead to acts of terrorism. That is why I am proud of my colleagues for realizing that sticks, alone, will not fight terrorism. We can also fight terrorism by building schools, buying books, and helping children--especially girls--increase life's prospects through education. I commend Chairman Berman for introducing this important bill and urge my colleagues to join me in passing it and helping bring peace, stability, and opportunity to Pakistan's people.

Madam Speaker, I rise today to express strong support for H. Res. 435--Celebrating Asian Pacific American Heritage Month. I applaud the leadership and continued efforts of Chairman Mike Honda, as well as my colleagues in the Congressional Asian Pacific American Caucus for bringing this Resolution before us today.

Asian Pacific American Heritage Month was established in 1977 by the efforts of Representatives Norman Mineta and Frank Horton, and Senators Daniel Inouye and Spark Matsunaga who introduced resolutions asking for a Presidential declaration that the first ten days of May honor the rich history and contributions of our nation's Asian Pacific Americans. In 1992 Congress expanded the commemoration to a month, in order to fully recognize the impact that Asian Americans and Pacific Islanders (AAPIs) have on our great nation.

From the early 1800s to today, Asian Americans and Pacific Islanders have played a critical role in the development of this country. This year's theme: ``Lighting the Past, Present and Future,'' is fitting as the world's attention turned to the United States to see the historic inauguration of President Barack Hussein Obama. President Obama's diversity reflects the richness and strength of our nation.

We must reaffirm our commitment to the promise of a future for all Americans by eradicating racial and ethnic health disparities, enacting comprehensive immigration reform, providing educational opportunities for the underserved and creating jobs. I am proud that we ensured full equity for the Filipino veterans who proudly served under the American flag during World War II when we passed H.R. 1, the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act. I also applaud my colleagues for the recent passage of the Local Law Enforcement Enhancement Hate Crimes Prevention Act, which enables the Department of Justice to assist the efforts of federal, state, and local law enforcement in investigating and prosecuting hate crimes based on race, ethnic background, and religion, and extends protections to more Americans.

From the construction of the transcontinental railroads to the heroic contributions in World War II and beyond, Asian Americans and Pacific Islanders have made lasting contributions in every facet of American society. We must continue to acknowledge the great achievements this vast and diverse community has provided this nation and I urge my colleagues to support to this resolution.