Floor Statements

Mr. Speaker, I want to address an issue that is important to all the families that I represent; and it is just being abandoned in this 2007 budget proposal submitted to Congress. I am talking about support for our local police officers and law enforcement agencies, men and women on the frontlines of homeland security, protecting our communities and patrolling our neighborhoods.

Large cities in my district like Savannah are dealing with a rise in violent crime. At the same time, many of our smaller rural communities in Southeast Georgia and all around the country are fighting an epidemic of meth labs. Mr. Speaker, we cannot afford to let drugs and violent crime continue to go up in this country. For more than 14 years, homicide was on the decline in this country. That changed last year. According to the latest figures from the FBI, homicide rose by 2.1 percent in the first 6 months of 2005, the first increase since 1991. That is unacceptable, and these cuts in this budget are unacceptable.

The COPS program, cut by $376 million. During the '90s, we figured out what works in reducing crime. More police officers on the streets makes them safer and reduces crime. The COPS program helps our community hire, train, retain and equip our police officers. But this budget cuts this program by 78 percent.

The Byrne Justice Grant Program, completely eliminated. Byrne JAG grants help State and local law enforcement agencies identify and break up regional drug syndicates. This budget completely eliminates that program. Why would anyone want to do that?

If you think that a rise in violent crime is an issue that Congress should ignore, then this budget is for you. If you think we ought to be cutting back on the tools we give our police officers to keep our neighborhoods safe, then this budget is for you.

In the short time since the President dropped this budget, I have discussed this budget with sheriffs and police chiefs all across my district; and the verdict is unanimous. These budget cuts are hurting and not helping local law enforcement. We need to do more, not less, for our police officers.

Mr. Speaker, I urge my colleagues to oppose the proposed budget cuts to the COPS program and to oppose the complete elimination of the Byrne JAG grants. Our local police deserve all the tools that we can give them to protect our families. We need to give them more help, not less.

Mr. Speaker, I offer a motion to recommit.

Yes, Mr. Speaker, in its present form.

Mr. Speaker, if bills in this Chamber required names that accurately describe their consequences, this bill would best be called the Frivolous Litigation Proliferation Act and not the Lawsuit Abuse Reduction Act.

Many of us who oppose the underlying bill do so because it will actually increase the volume of frivolous litigation. For example, some sort of Rule 11 procedure exists in virtually every State in the country. To impose a new Federal law in every State court action will make State courts conduct a minilawsuit on Federal validity before conducting a minilawsuit on State law validity, before they ever get to the merits of the case. A lawsuit within a lawsuit within a lawsuit. Mr. Speaker, that is as absurd as it sounds.

If Members think that there are too many frivolous lawsuits against good, honest corporations, and the only way to fix this is to make it harder for everyone to sue anyone, and that this bill is the only way to do it, then vote for the bill.

But if there is one area where we do not have a problem with too many frivolous lawsuits, it is with lawsuits against price gougers. And if there is any area where we want to make it easier to get to the merits of the underlying claim, not harder, it is an area of lawsuits against Federal contractors who are engaged in defrauding the public.

Right now the government is awash in government contracts awarded on a no-bid basis. Whether it is disaster relief or the war on terror, we have never done so much of the public's business on a no-bid basis. There has never been more opportunity for waste, fraud, and abuse in the conduct of the public's business than right now.

This motion to recommit gives us one opportunity to protect our constituents from price gougers. The motion to recommit is simple. It says that Federal contractors, engaged in price gouging in disaster relief work can still be sued anyplace where they can be sued now, in any State where both the laws of the State and the U.S. Constitution says it is okay to sue them.

The underlying bill gives price gougers extra protections, the same benefits that we are extending to honest corporations. One such protection, the only one addressed by this motion to

recommit, is the right to avoid lawsuits in States where the Constitution says it is okay to seek justice. Since price gougers do not deserve this protection, and since they do not need this protection, they should not get this protection.

This House has voted time and again to protect companies that are gouging consumers in the wake of natural disasters and national tragedies. If Members vote against this motion to recommit, they are voting to give the same special protections that we give to honest corporations to Federal contractors who are engaged in price gouging in public relief work.

Mr. Speaker, the folks I represent back home in Georgia want relief from price gougers, not relief for price gougers. For that reason I urge my colleagues to support this commonsense and limited motion to recommit.

Mr. Speaker, I demand a recorded vote.

Mr. Speaker, the U.S. House of Representatives and the citizens of Georgia's 12th Congressional District commend the heroism of the crews of Coast Guard Air Station Savannah for their lifesaving efforts in the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina. Thanks to Coast Guard Air Station Savannah's immediate response in a time of need, 376 American lives were saved. Our nation will remain forever grateful to the following Coast Guardsmen for their selfless and noble actions: LCDR Mark Jones, LCDR John Hollingsworth, LT Steven Foran, LT Ryan Allen, LT Chris Howard, LT Matt Walker, LT Tim Eason, LTJG Andy Kirkpatrick, AST2 Scott Beitel, AST3 Matthew Laub, AST3 Jonathon Ardan,

Mr. Speaker, I want to address a serious problem with the underlying bill, and that is that it relies exclusively on the Federal Trade Commission and its willingness and ability and resources to enforce the price gouging remedy in the bill.

I think we should all remember this is the same FTC that said, we do not have any authority to investigate price gouging in this area; we do not need any authority in this area. Everything is just fine, thank you very much; and then, when pressed further, said we do not want any authority in this area because we will just make a bad situation worse.

Well, Mr. Speaker, relying on a sorry bunch of people that do not know their job, do not care about their job, and do not believe in their job is like going hunting and having to tote the dog.

Our substitute corrects this problem by giving the States attorneys general the same authority to enforce the price gouging remedies that we give the FTC. The attorneys general of our States are elected by our constituents, they know the conditions in their States better than we do, they have the resources and the discretion under the substitute to decide whether or not it is in the best interest of their constituents, our constituents, for them to act when we do not. This is Federalism at its best.

I urge everybody to support the substitute for this reason, if none other. Any attorney general doing something is better than the FTC doing nothing.

Mr. Speaker, I rise today to honor one of Augusta, Georgia's finest community leaders. Georgia State Representative Henry Howard passed away Monday morning. A dedicated public servant and a believer in the power of gospel music, Henry Howard always served his hometown with dignity, compassion, and an endless supply of love and goodwill.

Mr. Howard was a beloved son of Georgia's Garden City. An entrepreneur with a sound business sense, he helped build up many small businesses across the city. Later he would enter public service, serving on the Richmond County Commission. Soon after

that he was elected to the State legislature, where he established himself as one of Augusta's most accomplished and hard-working State representatives. He was reelected seven times in a row.

Just before his last reelection, the local paper praised Representative Howard, saying simply: ``His goal is the same of every Augustan, the betterment of our city.''

When Henry Howard passed away Monday morning, we lost a public servant who led by example, a leader who shared the beliefs and hopes of his hometown.

The Bible says a good name is rather to be chosen than great riches, and loving favor rather than silver or gold. Mr. Speaker, Henry Howard made a good name for himself, his family; and he enjoyed the loving favor of all who knew him.

Mr. Chairman, on rollcall No. 196, had I been present, I would have voted ``aye.''

Mr. Speaker, I have every intention of supporting today's homeland security authorization bill, but I think this bill could be dramatically improved, especially regarding the rail safety standards that apply to the shipment of extremely hazardous materials in local communities all across our Nation.

Three days after I took office this year, an early morning train carrying three rail cars filled with chlorine gas slammed into a parked rail car in the town of Graniteville, South Carolina. This produced a toxic cloud of chlorine and sodium hydroxide that forced 5,400 local residents to flee for their lives. In all, over 240 people were sickened by the gas and 10 people died because of the accident. The long-term effects of the leak are still unknown and the cleanup process continues to this day.

Mr. Speaker, what happened in Graniteville was not an isolated incident. Train accidents occur frequently in the United States. Rail cars carrying hazardous, flammable or explosive materials not only pose a major health risk to the communities they travel through, they are vulnerable security threats to our Nation's homeland security efforts. These are would-be terrorist targets begging for attention.

Since the Graniteville incident, I have met with a number of safety experts, and I guarantee that if any Members of this Congress were to sit down with these representatives they would be shocked to learn how many commonsense safeguards are out there that have not been implemented to address rail safety in this country. It is time to do more to improve rail security measures.

The current safeguards for the transportation of hazardous materials are nowhere near what they need to be. That is not just a health concern for our local communities, it is a security concern for our entire Nation.

The amendment that the gentleman from Massachusetts (Mr. Markey) and I offered yesterday helps close this gap in rail security measures. It provides hazardous material training for local first responders. It implements coordination and communication plans in the event of an accident or an attack, it develops new technology to make rail cars more resistant to punctures and, most importantly, it requires prenotification for local law enforcement whenever hazardous materials are being shipped through their communities.

These safety standards are long overdue and they deserve a vote on the House floor. Local leaders and the American people should not have to beg for sound safety measures and they should not have to wait for a debate on the issue.

Mr. Speaker, today on National Teacher Day, I want to encourage all my constituents and my colleagues to take just a minute to thank those teachers who helped us get where we are today, sometimes despite ourselves.

For me those teachers included Ms. Moseley, Ms. Goodwyn, Ms. Rapley, Ms. Hughes, and a host of others. But the teacher I want to single out is Ms. Bertha Musick. She just celebrated her 96th birthday, and she is still going strong.

She was my 11th grade English teacher, and she was tough as nails. Every day it was her job to hammer an understanding and an appreciation of good English into the heads of an 11th grade class full of thick- skulled teenagers.

Ms. Musick meant business. And while she had a reputation for being tough, every one of her students came to realize that her toughness was driven by her devotion. Many of us understood that at the time. All of us came to understand it over time.

I cannot tell my colleagues how many times I have heard her describe how former students, who used to think of her as the enemy, came back to her, sometimes many years later, to thank her for being caring enough to be tough. Not just caring enough about her work, but caring enough about her students; and they were right.

Someone once defined an education as what you remember after you forget 99 percent of what you learned in school. What Ms. Musick taught me, and hundreds of other impressionable youngsters, is the value of not giving in and not giving up.

That is what defined a good teacher in Ms. Musick's day, and that is what defines good teachers today, who are overworked, underpaid, and underappreciated.

So to Ms. Musick, at 99 years strong, I just want to say ``thank you very much.''

Mr. Speaker, I rise in support of today's Small Business Bill of Rights, but I feel it necessary to address the concerns of the one small business community whose concerns are not addressed in this resolution, America's minority-owned businesses. This is not a small part of the small business marketplace. It is not a niche market, though this resolution treats the minority small business market as though it were a niche market.

Despite the fact that nearly one-third of America's population consists of minorities, these individuals own only 15 percent of America's small businesses.

Earlier this month, the gentlewoman from Wisconsin (Ms. Moore) and I attempted to offer an amendment to address this disproportion. Our amendment was simply a call for modernizing and streamlining the eligibility criteria of the Small Business Administration's 8(a) program so that minority-owned small businesses had substantially the same eligibility criteria that we use to serve the rest of the small business community.

The 8(a) program was created nearly 40 years ago, and it is the major business development program that this government offers to help minority business development.

Currently, businesses applying for 8(a) certification have to meet a number of restrictive criteria. These include a net worth cap of $250,000; a 9-year maximum time in the program; a weaning off of government contracts; having been in business for 2 years prior to entering the program; and having to show written proof of ``prospects for success.''

Today these restrictions apply only to the 8(a) program. The eligibility criteria for the 8(a) program has not been updated, revised, or changed at all in the last 17 years. During that time, we have seen many other improvements in the Federal marketplace, including three new procurement programs targeting specific sectors of the small business community: the HUBZone program, the Women's Procurement program, and the Small Disadvantaged Business program. These are good initiatives that help America's small businesses; but in order to qualify for them, they do not have to jump through the same hoops they have to jump through to get 8(a) certification.

Mr. Speaker, 17 years without a legislative update is the equivalent of repeal by neglect. Instead of ensuring that minority entrepreneurs have equal access to Federal contracts and subcontracts, this resolution does nothing to eliminate out-of-date and unnecessary obstacles for minority-owned companies.

Mr. Speaker, this amendment was not even given the chance to be considered in committee. Just when it was time for us to introduce our amendment, a motion for previous question was made, preventing us from even introducing our amendment.

Yesterday, I argued before the Committee on Rules that this amendment be considered today, and that request too was denied.

Mr. Speaker, I understand that this is a House of procedure and protocol. But the curious and unusual procedure and protocol afforded this amendment has been unfair and unjust.

This resolution offered us an opportunity to help remove antique barriers that limit the potential of our Nation's minority-opened businesses. Until this Congress addresses the fact that minority small businesses have to jump

through hoops that do not apply in other small business programs, minority small businesses will continue to be second-class concerns.

A bill of rights for small businesses ought to fix that.

Mr. Speaker, I rise this afternoon to speak of bravery, of courage, and of a war that was fought on two fronts, at home and abroad.

Over 60 years ago America was at war with totalitarianism and fascist forces spreading across Europe and the Pacific. And here at home, our country was training and building an army to answer the call, an army with a history of excluding African Americans from aviation training.

That was the case until just 3 months after the attack on Pearl Harbor, when a class of five aviation candidates finished training at the Tuskegee Army Airfield on the campus of the Tuskegee

Institute in Alabama, soon becoming the Nation's first African American fighter pilots. They were George S. Roberts, Benjamin O. Davis, Jr., Charles H. BeBow, Jr., Mac Ross, and Lemuel R. Custis.

These were the original five Tuskegee Airmen, pilots who entered into combat at a critical part of the war and was instrumental in helping to turn the tide.

Between 1941 and 1945, over 1,000 aviators trained at the Tuskegee Army Airfield. Together, fighting alongside hundreds of thousands of their fellow citizens, they helped defeat the threat of fascism, proving that America is strongest when they are not divided by bigotry, prejudice, or racism.

The military record of these distinguished airmen speaks for itself, 15,500 missions completed, 260 enemy aircraft destroyed, one enemy destroyer sunk, an unprecedented record of flying more than 200 bomber escort missions without the loss of a single bomber to enemy aircraft.

The Tuskegee Airmen returned home with Distinguished Flying Crosses, Legions of Merit, Purple Hearts and Silver Stars, but beyond the medals and accolades, these men paved the way to an important and long-overdue victory, the full integration of the U.S. military. That is the lesson of the Tuskegee Airmen, that love of country, skill, and daring are qualities that transcend race or skin color.

Today, as we face new threats from abroad, let us learn from the courage and example set by the Tuskegee Airmen. Let us recommit ourselves to putting old and inexcusable divisions behind us. America's strength lies in our unity, and to move forward, we must work together as one nation, whether it be on foreign battlefields or in our local communities.

Mr. Speaker, it is an honor to have the opportunity to pay my respects to a fellow native Georgian, especially a man like Ossie Davis.

On the stage and on the screen or in the public spotlight, Ossie Davis used his art and his talent to open America's eyes, exposing the inequality and injustice of racial segregation, fighting the witch- hunts of the 1950s, and providing a voice of strength and honor for those Americans struggling just to gain their basic freedoms.

Those of us who grew up during the turbulent times of the 1950s and 1960s will remember the challenges our country faced, and we will never forget those individuals who led our country through those years.

Ossie Davis was an activist and an artist, but he was also a leader whose life we should celebrate. Without question, Ossie and his wife of 56 years, Ruby Dee, are role models for all generations to remember.

I urge all my colleagues to pay our respects and extend our condolences to Ruby Dee and the entire Davis family by supporting H. Res. 69.

Mr. Speaker, I think it is appropriate that my first address to this body should be on a large subject, and there are few subjects larger than our national deficit.

The latest reports are forecasting a record $427 billion deficit, the largest budget deficit in our Nation's history. $427 billion is an amount so enormous that it is practically impossible for many to put it in context.

The simple fact is that we are spending more money than we are bringing in, and this is digging a hole that we are going to have a hard time getting out of.

This financial irresponsibility is punishing the prosperity for our future generations. When we are unable to pay our bills, we pass that burden on to our children and grandchildren, strapping them with a deficit that grows higher each day.

Mr. Speaker, continuing to run record deficits is dangerous, it is irresponsible, it is reckless; and we have a solemn responsibility to do better than this.

Every time we spend more money than we have or every time we borrow some record amount, we are trading short-term gains for long-term pain.

Before I was elected to Congress, I served 14 years on the Athens- Clarke County Commission. During that time I never once voted to increase taxes, and that is a record I am proud of. Not only that, I put together a perfect record of voting for balanced budgets, year after year; and that is also a record I am proud of.

On the commission, we kept taxes low, we kept the budget balanced, and we made the most out of the people's money. We treated the people's money the same way that working families and small businesses manage their money, we lived within our means.

We always kept one eye on the bottom line and one eye on the road ahead. When we made investments, we invested in the long-term future. When we borrowed money, we borrowed for long-term interests, not simply to pay that month's light bill.

Mr. Speaker, if working families can live within their means, or if a small city council of just 10 members can find a way not to spend more than they have, then the United States Congress ought to be able to do the same thing. It is not rocket science. It is just fiscal common sense and good government public service.

We have many commitments: we must continue to support our troops in the war on terror; we must keep the promise of Social Security; we must find ways to lower the tax burden for all of our working families. But we have to start keeping those commitments by using only the money that we have, without raising taxes and without forcing our children and grandchildren to pay our bills.

As we settle into the 109th Congress, we must commit ourselves to a sound policy of deficit reduction. I hope that my colleagues in the House will join me in working together to bring a new era of fiscal responsibility to this legislative body.

Mr. Speaker, on rollcall No. 3, I was unable to cast my vote on January 3, 2005. The pager provided to me by House Administration, to notify me of votes, was defective. Consequently, I did not receive the announcement that the vote was taking place in time to cast my vote on the House Floor. Had I been present, I would have voted ``nay.''