Floor Statements

Mr. Speaker, we take in approximately $39 billion a year for the highway trust fund to take care of transportation needs all over this country. We have spent $103 billion over the last several years rebuilding Afghanistan. Now they tell us projects all over this country will have to stop because of a $15 billion shortfall in our highway trust fund.

Today and tomorrow we will have before us a Defense bill that has a $79 billion placeholder for overseas contingency operations over and above the regular Defense budget. It has been this amount or much more over the last several years.

This OCO account is primarily for Iraq and Afghanistan, where we are still spending megabillions. We should take at least some of this money to cover the shortfall in the highway trust fund to keep these projects and jobs going all over the U.S.

We have spent far too much blood and treasure in Iraq and Afghanistan over the last few years, and that needs to stop. Mr. Speaker, we need to stop spending all of these billions in Iraq and Afghanistan and start taking better care of our own people and our own country.

Mr. Speaker, President Kennedy said in a famous speech at the University of Washington in 1961:

With only 6 percent of the world's population, we cannot

correct every adversity or right every wrong and that,

therefore, there cannot be an American solution for every

problem.

Today, we are less than 4 percent of the world's population, and we have a national debt of a mind-boggling $17.6 trillion. We simply cannot keep sending megabillions to corrupt governments all over the world.

We should have trade and tourism with other countries, cultural and educational exchanges, and, of course, diplomatic relations; but the people in Iraq and Afghanistan are going to have to solve most of their problems themselves. We cannot do everything for them and still do what we should do for our own country and own people.

Let me repeat those words of President Kennedy:

There cannot be an American solution for every world

problem.

This is not isolationism, Mr. Speaker. It is common sense.

Mr. Chairman, I have an amendment at the desk.

Mr. Chairman, my amendment deals with the same part of the bill as Mr. Broun's, and it is very similar.

My amendment would save $10 million by reducing the increase in this program, the Watershed Rehabilitation Program. Let me repeat that, Mr. Chairman. My amendment simply reduces the increase. It is not a cut. In fact, this program would still be getting a 25 percent increase in discretionary funds even if my amendment were approved. In addition, this program has had a restriction on mandatory spending since 2002. Under this bill, this restriction is being removed.

This means that, without my amendment, spending on this program, which was $12 million this year and $13.6 million last year, will go to $117 million this next fiscal year. No other department or agency in the Federal Government is receiving this type of increase--almost 10 times what is being spent on this program during this fiscal year.

This is a program for which the President requested no funding, as Mr. Broun mentioned, and for which the Senate Appropriations Committee provides no funding, which he also mentioned. Surely, Republicans in the House are not going to allow the President or the Senate to act in a more fiscally conservative manner than we here in the House.

Most State and local governments are in much better fiscal shape than the Federal Government is with our $17.6 trillion national debt. They can carry out this program, where necessary, or farmers themselves can do some improvement.

The National Taxpayers Union supports this amendment and has announced that they will be including my amendment in their ratings of congressional votes.

Mr. Chairman, this is a very modest attempt to do at least a little something about our horrendous debt. Admiral Mike Mullen, a very respected man who was Chairman of our Joint Chiefs of Staff a couple of years ago gave several speeches and testified before several committees of the House and Senate; and he said over and over again that our national debt is the greatest threat to our national security. This amendment is a small step, but an important step toward doing something about that.

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

Mr. Chairman, I will simply repeat that my amendment does not go as far as Mr. Broun's. It would save $10 million, if adopted.

This program, if my amendment is not adopted, will receive an increase almost 10 times the amount that is being spent on this program in this fiscal year. It would seem to me that most people in this country would feel it is ridiculous to give any program a tenfold increase. I know the Congress is very generous in spending other people's money, but they are going too far on this.

I urge my colleagues to support my very minimal, modest amendment.

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

Mr. Chairman, I demand a recorded vote.

Offered By Mr. Duncan of Tennessee

Amendment No. 14: Page 26, line 18, after the dollar

amount, insert ``(reduced by $10,000,000)''.

Page 82, line 2, after the dollar amount, insert

``(increased by $10,000,000)''.

Mr. Speaker, you can never satisfy the government's appetite for money or land. They always want more. But this Nation's national debt has now reached an astounding $17.6 trillion. The only reason more people are not upset about that figure is that nobody can humanly comprehend a figure like $17.6 trillion.

Basically, what it means is that this Nation is in the shape of Detroit. The only difference is Detroit can't print money. This Nation keeps printing more money, more money, and more money. That is going to speed up in the years ahead if we don't get much more fiscal conservatism at the Federal level.

Anyone who wants to draw Social Security, our Federal pension, or our military pension that will buy very much in future years should demand much more fiscal responsibility from our Federal Government.

What we mainly need to do, Mr. Speaker, we need to stop trying to take care of the whole world and start taking care of our own country and putting the American people first once again.

Mr. Speaker, I wish today to pay tribute to a longtime friend and one of the finest men I have ever known.

Felix Gaiter recently passed away at the age of 91. He was a well- known businessman in my District and owner of the Gaiter Construction Company, which was the largest African American-owned construction company in East Tennessee.

I had the privilege to be the lawyer for the Gaiter Construction Company for just about the entire time I practiced law. Mr. Gaiter was one of the kindest, hardest working, and most honest people with whom I have ever dealt.

Mr. Gaiter was also a veteran of World War II, and he easily earned his place among the ``Greatest Generation'' with his service and honorable life.

A member of Rogers Memorial Baptist Church in Knoxville, he always lived his life by the Golden Rule.

Mr. Gaiter is survived by his loving and devoted wife of 66 years, Mrs. Margaret Gaiter, who has always been very kind to me. Mrs. Gaiter treats everyone with love and respect. She is a very bright fixture in the Knoxville community and active in countless organizations.

My wife, Lynn, and I send our condolences to Mrs. Gaiter, her three children and many grandchildren and great-grandchildren.

Mr. Speaker, Felix Gaiter was a wonderful husband, father, and citizen. I call his life and accomplishments to the attention of my Colleagues and other readers of the Record. This Nation would be a much better place if we had more people like him.

Mr. Speaker, I thank the gentleman from Florida for yielding. I can't cover all of the issues that are being raised here today, but I do want to say this: I spent 7\1/2\ years as a criminal court judge in Tennessee before coming to Congress trying felony criminal cases, and so I have interest in this question about the waiving of Fifth Amendment rights.

Let me just mention what some others have said about this. Alan Dershowitz of Harvard said Lois Lerner's statement of innocence opened a ``legal Pandora's box. You can't simply make statements about a subject and then plead the Fifth. Once you open the door to an area of inquiry, you have waived your Fifth Amendment right; you've waived your self-incrimination right on that subject matter.''

Paul Rothstein, a well-respected law professor at Georgetown University--and both of these gentlemen are very, very liberal politically. Professor Rothstein said of Lois Lerner, that she ``has run a very grave risk of having waived her right to refuse to testify on the details of things she has already generally talked about. She voluntarily talked about a lot of the same things that lawmakers wanted to ask her about in her opening statement. In that situation, when you voluntarily open up the subject they want to inquire into and it is all in the same proceeding, that would be a waiver.''

Cleta Mitchell, a lawyer who specializes in ethics laws stated, ``Lois Lerner came before the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee. She gave an opening statement in which she said, `I'm not guilty, I haven't done anything wrong.' The second way in which she waived her Fifth Amendment privilege was when she voluntarily, willingly, agreed to meet with the Department of Justice lawyers. To me, this is a pretty clear case of how she has waived her Fifth Amendment rights not to testify and not to answer questions. She just is being selective, and the one place she will not answer questions is with anyone that she thinks might ask her hard questions.''

Hans von Spakovsky of The Heritage Foundation, another legal expert, said, ``Under the applicable rules of the Federal courts in the District of Columbia, the interview she gave to prosecutors meant that she waived her right to assert the Fifth Amendment.''

If we allow somebody to come in and say they are not guilty--repeatedly say they haven't done anything wrong, if we allow people to say that and do that in these types of proceedings and then plead the Fifth, we are making a mockery of the justice system and making a mockery of the Fifth Amendment privilege in this country.

Last, I would just say this: there has been some mention about some liberal groups being targeted. There were over 200 conservative groups audited and targeted and investigated in this investigation. I think there were three that might have been classified as liberal.

It was so obvious what was intended by the IRS activities in this situation,

and so I support this rule and support the underlying resolution.

Mr. Speaker, the Taiwan Relations Act, signed into law 35 years ago on April 10, 1979 by President Jimmy Carter, officially recognizes the unique relationship between Taiwan and the United States.

Taiwan is one of our closest allies and best friends in the world.

The University of Tennessee started having a large number of students coming from Taiwan in the early 1960s because a man from that nation, Nelson Nee, was head of the U.T. International Students Program. Many of these students became, and many still are, leaders in the Republic of China.

I had the privilege of spending a week in Taiwan along with Congressman Pete Sessions and former Congressman Sonny Callahan around 10 years ago. The Taiwanese people could not have been kinder or more impressive to us than during that visit.

I am thankful for the friendship of the people from Taiwan and honored to mark the 35th Anniversary of the Taiwan Relations Act.

Mr. Speaker, today a memorial service is being held for William Dean McKamey at the United States Naval Academy.

Will was a young man for whom I had the privilege of nominating to the Naval Academy. A former Mr. Football winner from Grace Christian Academy, Will unfortunately passed away on March 25 after having collapsed during football practice the previous Saturday.

Will was one of the most outstanding men I have had the privilege of meeting. From all of the things I have read and heard, this young man had an incredibly bright future. He was outstanding in every way.

Will was only 19 years-old when he died, but, in his short life, he touched many lives personally and has inspired thousands of lives in my home state of Tennessee and around the Country as people learn about him.

Will was a committed Christian, and his mother Kara has noted that ``Will was able to change the spirit of a community, a school and a Navy football team . . . without really saying a word.''

I had the honor to attend Will's funeral service, and I saw firsthand the impact Will has had on his community.

Tennessee and the Navy football family mourn the loss of such a great young man: a son, a friend, a teammate, and a Christian.

Mr. Speaker, President Kennedy, in a 1961 speech at the University of Washington, said:

. . . We must face the fact that the United States is

neither omnipotent or omniscient--that we are only six

percent of the world's population--that we cannot impose our

own will upon the other 94 percent of mankind--that we cannot

right every wrong or reverse each adversity--and that

therefore there cannot be an American solution to every world

problem.

Today we are less than four percent of the world's population and we are over 17.5 trillion dollars in debt.

Many people are trying to prove that they are great world statesmen and are supporting policies that will commit us to spend billions we do not have on Ukraine.

I wish everyone would read a recent book called Ike's Bluff by Evan Thomas. This book is about the foreign policy of President Eisenhower and explains that he stayed out of many situations that were worse than what is going on in Ukraine, because he did not have to prove that he was a great military leader or world statesman.

We should have trade and tourism, and cultural and educational exchanges with other countries, and help to a limited extent during humanitarian crisis.

But we cannot be the policemen of the world. The Ukrainians are going to have to solve their own problems, and we need to start taking better care of our own Country and our own people.

Mr. Speaker, President Kennedy, in a 1961 speech at the University of Washington, said:

We must face the fact that the United States is neither

omnipotent or omniscient--that we are only 6 percent of the

world's population--that we cannot impose our will upon the

other 94 percent of mankind--that we cannot right every wrong

or reverse each adversity--and that therefore there cannot be

an American solution to every world problem.

The major difference now than when he spoke in 1961 is that we are only 4 percent of the world's population, and

we are over $17 trillion in debt. President Kennedy was right then, and we should carefully listen to his words today.

Many people are trying to prove that they are great world statesmen and are supporting policies that will commit us to spend billions we do not have on Ukraine. We don't need to be sending billions to Ukraine, and we especially should not escalate this situation into some type of military confrontation.

We should have trade and tourism and cultural and educational exchanges with other countries and help, to a limited extent, during humanitarian crisis; but we cannot be the policemen of the world.

The Ukrainians are going to have to solve most of their problems on their own, and we need to start taking better care of our own country and our own people. In fact, Mr. Speaker, we are long past the time when we need to start putting our own people first and stop trying to run the whole world, creating a lot of resentment toward the U.S. in the process.

Mr. Speaker, Robert Booker is a former Tennessee State Legislator and longtime columnist for the Knoxville News Sentinel. He is a man for whom I have very great respect.

His weekly column is usually devoted to the history of the African- American community in and around my hometown of Knoxville. Because I love history, and especially that about East Tennessee, I almost always enjoy his columns. They are interesting, informative and well-written and thoroughly researched.

His column of February 4th was one I particularly enjoyed. He wrote about three activist ministers in Knoxville, all of whom I have known and respected: Rev. Harold Middlebrook, Rev. William T. Crutcher, and Rev. Frank Gordon.

I was very proud of my late father for many reasons, but near the top to me was his leadership while Mayor of Knoxville to help peacefully integrate our City. He was good friends and worked closely with Rev. Crutcher and Rev. Gordon and in later years with Rev. Middlebrook.

When I practiced law in Knoxville, I represented Rev. Crutcher's church, Mount Olive Baptist. He was a great man, and his widow is still a wonderful, sweet woman.

Rev. Middlebrook stayed in our family home in Alexandria, Virginia, when he came to be my guest at the joint session of Congress honoring Nelson Mandela.

I am thankful that Knoxville has a man like Robert Booker who does so much to honor forgotten leaders from our past.

I would like to call to the attention of my colleagues and other readers of the Record Mr. Booker's recent column about activist preachers.

[From the Knoxville News Sentinel, Feb. 4, 2014]

Middlebrook in Line of Activist Preachers

(By Robert Booker)

When my friend the Rev. Harold Middlebrook retired as

senior pastor of Canaan Baptist Church of Christ, I reflected

on his civic activities and compared them to those of other

pastors who made a difference during the past 149 years. He

has shouted for justice in a sea of silence. He has stood for

equality while others just sat by. He has preached against

street violence as others gave lip service. He has led the

battle many times to help save Knoxville College as others

failed to rally their troops.

Indeed, Middlebrook is a rare breed who talks the talk,

walks the walk and gets things done. He knows how to put on a

good show, but it is not just an act. He can preach up a

storm, but the fallout is to irrigate, fertilize and

cultivate minds and hearts to bring about man's humanity to

man.

We have a number of excellent preachers today who can stir

up their congregations

with great messages. Some of them successfully push pet

projects, but it has not been easy for them to capture a mass

following across the city as has Middlebrook.

Perhaps the first one to have that kind of influence and

reverence was the Rev. George Washington LeVere, who came

here as pastor of Shiloh Presbyterian Church on Feb. 9, 1866.

He had been a chaplain in the 29th Regiment of the United

States Colored Infantry. Having been born and educated in

Brooklyn, N.Y., he came here ready to practice what he would

preach.

In 1869 he organized the Shieldstown (LeVere) School on

Linden Avenue, which provided the initial education for

William H. Franklin, the first black graduate of Maryville

College in 1880. LeVere was a charter member of the Meridian

Lodge No. 4 of the Free and Accepted Masons. He served as

their Grand Master. He helped organize the Colored Mechanics

Association in 1871. He was pastor of Shiloh for 22 years.

Another giant in the fight for human dignity was the Rev.

William T. Crutcher, who served as pastor of Mount Olive

Baptist Church for 54 years. He arrived there in 1935 and

served until his death in 1989. He attended the Baptist World

Alliance in London, England, in 1955 and went on a month-long

preaching mission to Africa in 1973.

He was a true fighter for justice here in Knoxville. In

1948 he took the lead in getting the city of Knoxville to

make Chilhowee Park available to blacks one day a week

instead of one day a year. He also led the effort to allow

blacks to play gold at the city-owned Whittle Springs Golf

Course. In the early 1960s Crutcher was a co-chair of the

Associated Council for Full Citizenship, which led to the

desegregation of lunch counters and movie theaters. Numerous

threats were made on his life.

The Rev. Frank Gordon became pastor of Shiloh Presbyterian

Church in 1952 and he, too, was a trailblazer in many

activities outside his church. He taughtBible and religious

history at Knoxville College from 1953 to 1956 and was a

candidate for the Knoxville Board of Education on two

occasions. He was a member of the Mayor's Commission on Race

Relations and a member of Gov. Frank Clement's State

Commission on Race.

Gordon was president of the Knoxville branch of the

National Association for the Advancement of Colored People

and the state president of that organization, which helped

integrate the school systems of all 95 Tennessee counties.

Middlebrook was not the first activist preacher in this

city, but he has been one of the most successful ones in his

undertakings. He has left a real legacy for those who choose

to follow his lead.

Mr. Speaker, Ambassador Victor Ashe retired in 2009 as the longest-serving U.S. Ambassador to Poland.

Prior to his distinguished service abroad, Ambassador Ashe served 16 years as Knoxville's longest-serving Mayor.

Ambassador Ashe has held many other positions in service to Tennessee and our Nation, and he has had one of the most distinguished careers of anyone from my State.

Even following his retirement, Ambassador Ashe is being cited for his expertise and continued devotion to our Nation. I call the following article from the website BBG Watch, in which Ambassador Ashe is quoted many times and is reprinted in part below, to the attention of my colleagues and other readers of the Record. I am glad to see my good friend is still working to protect the taxpayers of our Nation:

BBG Watch has learned that officials of the International

Broadcasting Bureau (IBB) at a federal agency, Broadcasting

Board of Governors (BBG), are alleged to have violated IRS

tax rules by employing thousands of private contractors as

full-time, long-term employees but failing to withhold taxes

from their salaries as they were required to do, according to

IRS and the Office of the Inspector General (OIG). . . .

BBG Watch has also learned of allegations that some IBB

officials suspected of these irregularities may be trying to

cover up their alleged violations by refusing or delaying

release of information under the Freedom of Information Act

(FOIA) requests from private individuals, including news

reporters and NGO representatives. . . .

Allegations have been made that some of IBB officials

responsible for employing thousands of poorly-paid full-time

contractors who have been denied by these officials basic

employment protections and benefits, such as vacations and

health insurance, may have also been involved in an attempt

to silence and remove from the BBG board a former member,

Victor Ashe, and to undermine reputation of some of the still

serving BBG members who have questioned their management

practices.

Alleged retaliation against Ashe is strongly suspected

because he was most active among BBG members in trying to

expose and prevent waste of taxpayers' money at the agency,

but at least two other BBG members who are still serving may

have also been a target of a smear campaign. BBG Watch has

learned that FOIA requests for documents that may show

alleged efforts by IBB officials to silence BBG members and

to undermine their reputation are the ones which are not

being answered by IBB officials who have not yet produced any

documents several months after these FOIA requests were

submitted. BBG Watch also learned that there is still a

pending FOIA request for additional information about an

incident in which a senior Voice of America executive

allegedly tried to get officials at the United Nations to

revoke a press accreditation of an independent American

journalist. BBG's mission is to support media freedom. Some

of these officials are still employed by BBG.

One of BBG Watch volunteer-reporters contacted Victor Ashe

by phone at his home at Knoxville, TN to get his perspective

on the developing scandal over violations of IRS tax rules by

agency officials where he was a board member until late last

year. Ashe is a former U.S. Ambassador to Poland and former

popular long-term mayor of Knoxville. He had served many U.S.

administrations of both parties in various federal positions.

This is how BBG Watch reporter summarized for BBG Watch the

phone conversation with Ashe:

``After years of neglect from prior management,

Broadcasting Board of Governors is now moving to remedy the

mistreatment from a pay standpoint for 35% of BBG's employees

who are on contract as opposed to being fulltime federal

employees,'' former BBG member Victor Ashe said.

``Of course this is due to the heavy pressure from the

Internal Revenue Service and the Office of Inspector

General,'' Ashe added.

``One reason BBG has ranked so poorly in Office of

Personnel Management (OPM) morale surveys is the way contract

employees are treated, as well as the fallout from the Office

of Cuba Broadcasting (OCB) Radio and TV Marti lawsuit from

former Cuban American employees in Miami who were illegally

dismissed, according to findings by an impartial Federal

Arbitrator and legal panels. This lawsuit, which management

has lost at every step along the way, continues with costs

exceeding $3.5 million. While it may last two more years,

cost may exceed $5.3 million by the time it is over. No one

seems bothered by this use of tax dollars,'' Ashe added.

``Morale at the three entities, which are Radio Free Asia

(RFA), Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty (RFE/RL) and Middle

East Broadcasting Networks (MBN), remains much higher,'' he

added.

``International Broadcasting Bureau (IBB) has a terrible

history of mistreating contract employees,'' Ashe said.

``Congress needs to act swiftly to correct these problems

and monitor carefully how BBG is handling the IRS audit and

OIG findings. BBG owes the public an explanation on why this

has occurred and how they plan on finding $12 to $18

million,'' he added.

``This is all about righting a wrong. IBB past management

thought they could get

away with this violation of federal practices and law. Now

this seems to be at an end.''

``Now the BBG board should review the Radio and TV Marti

lawsuit by Cuban Americans laid off wrongly over 4 years ago

and attempt to settle it. Otherwise, BBG may face $5 million

in legal expenses,'' Ashe added.

``I commend Jeff Shell, the new chair, for his efforts to

correct the problems he inherited,'' Victor Ashe stated.

Jeff Shell and the renewed BBG board have already announced

several key personnel and management changes at the IBB and

further management reforms are expected. Former IBB director

retired at the end of November 2013. But some remaining IBB

officials are alleged to be engaged in an attempt to cover up

their previous mistakes by unnecessarily prolonging the FOIA

process, sources told BBG Watch.

Ashe and some of his colleagues on the BBG board have been

vindicated in a number of cases where their initial concerns

were first strongly resisted by agency officials and later

turned out to be correct and their proposed solutions

embraced by other BBG members.

Among three BBG members who seem to have most annoyed IBB

senior staff with demands for accountability, Ashe is

credited along with Susan McCue and Michael Meehan with

saving Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty (RFE/RL) from a major

management and journalistic crisis last year. Ashe received

the Glasnost Award for these efforts from a Russian human

rights organization. He is also believed to have helped new

RFE/RL CEO Kevin Klose rehire Radio Liberty journalists who

had been fired by the previous management--an incident which

produced a major public relations and public diplomacy crisis

for the United States in Russia.

In a phone conversation about his previous difficult

dealings with IBB officials, Ashe recalled discovering that

flu shots were being denied to contract employees at the

agency because of their status. IBB officials declined to

correct the problem until he went public with the issue and

shamed them into recognizing it was a health risk for the

entire workforce, since contract employees and federal

employees work daily side by side. ``Today I am glad to say

all can receive flu shots,'' Ashe was quoted as saying.

Alleged attempts to silence inconvenient BBG members and

alleged attempts by IBB senior executives to remove Ashe from

the BBG board with unfounded accusations to the OIG were

described in recent editorials published by the American

Federation of Government Employees, AFGE Local 1812, a union

representing BBG's federal workforce. One OIG team sided with

IBB officials against Ashe and incredibly accused him of

being too aggressive in pursuing his oversight

responsibilities, although it did not mention him by name.

That particular OIG team repeated assurances received from

IBB executives and, also incredibly, did not discover any

substantial waste or irregularities in the agency, which has

a budget of over $700 million. It took another, different OIG

team to find widespread irregularities in the work of IBB

officials, including nonpayment of IRS required taxes.

Ashe is widely admired by rank and file agency employees

and contractors, as are Governors McCue and Meehan. Chairman

Shell has also developed a good reputation among BBG

employees for his energy, willingness to listen to critics

and some of the initial reforms he has proposed.

Ashe's departure from the board was particularly mourned by

BBG employees. Their union has arranged with the Knoxville,

TN city administration to have a tree planted in one of its

parks in honor of former BBG Governor and former U.S.

Ambassador.

In a recent article in Ambassador Perspectives, a forum of

commentary on current world issues by non-career U.S.

Ambassadors who have served presidents of both parties, Ashe

has proposed several solutions to management problems at the

BBG, including appointing a single agency head, confirmable

by the Senate, dissolving the current part-time nine-member

board, or making it much smaller. The CEO proposal, but

without Senate confirmation, is also being pursued by

Chairman Shell and the current BBG board.

Ashe has also called for bringing Congress more closely

into the process of reforming U.S. international media

outreach to those countries where independent press is either

severely restricted or completely repressed. Ashe told a

reporter that ``hopefully, Congress will start holding annual

oversight hearings on U.S. international media outreach,

which have not been held for six years.''

The key questions, however, are whether anyone among IBB's

current government executives who are still in their

positions will answer for alleged violations of tax and other

federal rules? Who will pay millions of dollars, which have

not been appropriated by Congress, to correct alleged

mistakes? Can IBB officials get away with not releasing FOIA

documents that may expose their alleged attempts to cover up

corruption and abuse of power.

BBG Watch has learned that at the urging of a least one

NGO, a member of Congress known for his support of U.S.

international broadcasting mission abroad plans to make

inquiries to the BBG to find out why IBB officials are

dragging their feet on answering FOIA requests for

information that may expose their alleged misdeeds.

It's not the first time, and not the last, that we ask:

who's in charge of this Agency?

As the new Broadcasting Board of Governors members get down

to business, we recognize their role of being in charge of

ensuring that the broadcasting arm of the United States

government carries out its mission for the 21st century.

However, we get the feeling that some in top and mid-level

management take the position that the bureaucracy is still in

charge, will remain in charge, and will make sure the BBG

understands who is really in charge.

Why should there be any concern? Flash back to the arrival

at the Agency several years ago of a former BBG Governor, the

Honorable U.S. Ambassador Victor Ashe. A politician, in

addition to a diplomat, with extensive managerial experience,

he engaged in behavior any official on the BBG should feel

comfortable engaging in: he met with the staff, listened to

their concerns, opened a communication channel by providing

his personal e-mail and started asking questions of

management.

The backlash was swift and fierce. Ambassador Ashe was

warned in private, then warned again more forcefully in

public, against assuming his full role as Governor.

Apparently he did not get the message. The General Counsel's

office--whose main purpose sometimes seems to be not to

assist management in respecting the law, but rather in how to

circumvent it--drafted new rules that essentially tried to

muzzle BBG members, trying to prevent them from freely

discussing Agency business.

But that did not silence Ambassador Ashe. He had the

courage to publicly deplore the diplomatic mess created by

the firing of most of the staff at the Russian Service of

Radio Liberty. Payback time came in many forms including a

rather silly and spiteful incident, when Governor Ashe was

refused entry to an event to which he was invited. Other

blockades were erected by the resident bureaucracy to thwart

any attempts by Governor Ashe to find out what was going on

in the Agency including a scandalous contracting-out process.

Even the OIG, in its January 2013 report, characterized

Governor Ashe's actions as somewhat of a transgression when

it wrote: ``He visits widely throughout the agency, offering

to bypass IBB management to assure Board attention to

employee concerns.''

And yet, Ambassador Ashe did not budge. He continued his

fight. So, he was disposed of thanks to a blistering and

factually-challenged OIG report that the Union described, and

still does, as a `hatchet job'. He could have stayed in his

position as a Republican Governor on the BBG. There was no

need to push out the only BBG member who had a perfect

attendance record at all meetings and seemed to genuinely

care, and was competent as well. The Agency would not stand

for that and the White House somehow found time to name

someone to replace him.

AFGE Local 1812 will always be grateful to former Governor

Ashe for his intrepid efforts to try to find out what was

wrong in the Agency and to fix it. We are also grateful that

he did not look at the Union as a pariah. For its part, the

Union has arranged with the Knoxville, TN, city

administration to have a tree planted in one of its parks in

honor of Governor Ashe where he served five terms as mayor.

We are considering another project in his honor as well.

Mr. Speaker, I wish today to honor an exceptional high school student from my District whose commonsense and eloquent words brought national attention to education policy.

Ethan Young, a senior a Farragut High School in Knox County, Tennessee, recently testified in front of the Knox County School Board against Common Core, the one-size-fits-all educational scheme being implemented across the Nation.

Ethan's speech was noticed by outlets such as FOX News and Glenn Beck, who called the remarks possibly the best case against Common Core ever made.

I have been friends with Ethan's grandmother for many years and know him to be a very passionate and intelligent young man.

Mr. Speaker, Ethan has learned through his own experience that, in his words, ``creativity, appreciation, and inquisitiveness are impossible to scale.'' I bring his powerful speech, which is reprinted below in its entirety, to the attention of my Colleagues and other readers of the Record. All education policy-makers should listen closely to his wisdom.

Speech to Knox County School Board

(By Ethan Young)

In a mere five minutes, I hope to provide insightful

comments about a variety of educational topics. I sincerely

hope you disprove the research I've compiled.

Here's the history of the Common Core. In 2009, the

National Governors Association and the Council of Chief State

School Officers partnered with Achieve Inc., a nonprofit that

received millions in funding from the Bill and Melinda Gates

Foundation. Thus the initiative seemed to spring from states,

when in reality it was contrived by an insular group of

educational testing executives with only two academic content

specialists. Neither specialist approved the final standards,

and the English consultant, Dr. Sandra Stotsky, publicly

stated she felt the standards left students with an empty

skill set, lacking literary knowledge.

While educators and administrators were later included in

the validation committee and feedback groups, they did not

play a role in the actual drafting of the standards. The

product is a, quote, ``rigorous preparation for career and

college,'' yet many educators agree that ``rigorous'' is a

buzzword. These standards aren't rigorous, just different,

designed for industrial model of school.

Nevertheless, Common Core emerged. Keep in mind, the

specific standards were never voted upon by Congress, the

Department of Education, state or local governments. Yet,

their implementation was approved by 49 states and

territories. The president essentially bribed states into

implementation via Race to the Top, offering 4.35 billion

taxpayer dollars to participating states, $500 million of

which went to Tennessee. And much like No Child Left Behind,

the program

promises national testing and a one-size-fits-all education,

because, hey, it worked really well the first time.

While I do admire some aspects of the core, such as fewer

standards and an emphasis on application and writing, it's

not going to fix our academic deficit. If nothing else, these

standards are a glowing conflict of interest. And they lack

the research they allegedly received. And most importantly,

the standards illustrate a mistrust of teachers, something I

believe this county has already felt for a while.

I've been fortunate to have incredible educators that

opened my eyes to the joy of learning, and I love them like

my family. I respect them entirely, which is why it

frustrates me to review the TEAM and APEX evaluation systems.

These subjective anxiety-producers do more to damage a

teacher's self-esteem than you realize. Erroneous evaluation

coupled with strategic compensation presents a punitive model

that, as a student, is like watching your teacher jump

through flaming hoops to earn a score. Have you forgotten the

nature of a classroom? A teacher cannot be evaluated without

his students, because as a craft, teaching is an interaction.

Thus how can you expect to gauge a teacher's success with no

control for student participation or interest?

I stand before you because I care about education, but also

because I want to support my teachers. And just as they

fought for my academic achievement, so I want to fight for

their ability to teach. This relationship is at the heart of

instruction, yet there will never be a system by which it is

accurately measured.

But I want to take a step back. We can argue the details ad

infinitum. Yet I observe a much broader issue with education

today. Standards-based education is ruining the way we teach

and learn. Yes, I've already been told by legislators and

administrators, Ethan, that's just the way things work. But

why? I'm going to answer that question. It's bureaucratic

convenience. It works with nuclear reactors, it works for

business models, why can't it work with students? I mean, how

convenient calculating exactly who knows what and who needs

what. I mean, why don't we just manufacture robots instead of

students? They last longer and they always do what they're

told.

But education is unlike every other bureaucratic institute

in our government. The task of teaching is never

quantifiable. If everything I learned in high school is a

measurable objective, I haven't learned anything. I'd like to

repeat that. If everything I learned in high school is a

measurable objective, I have not learned anything.

Creativity, appreciation, inquisitiveness--these are

impossible to scale, but they're the purpose of education,

why our teachers teach, and why I choose to learn.

And today we find ourselves in a nation that produces

workers. Everything is career and college preparation.

Somewhere our founding fathers are turning in their graves,

pleading, screaming, and trying to say to us that we teach to

free minds, we teach to inspire, we teach to equip. The

careers will come naturally.

I know we're just one city in a huge system that excitedly

embraces numbers, but ask any of these teachers, ask any of

my peers, and ask yourselves, haven't we gone too far with

data?

I attended tonight's meeting to share my critiques, but as

Benjamin Franklin quipped, any fool can criticize, condemn,

and complain, and most fools do. The problems I cite are very

real. And I only ask that you hear them out, investigate

them, and do not dismiss them as another fool's criticisms.

I'll close with a quote of Jane L. Stanford that Dr. McIntyre

shared in a recent speech:

``You have my entire confidence in your ability to do

conscientious work to the very best advantage to the

students--that they be considered paramount to all and

everything else. We're capable of fixing education, and I

commit myself to that task. But you cannot ignore me, my

teachers, or the truth. We need change, but not Common Core,

high-stakes evaluations, or more robots.'' Thank you.

Mr. Speaker, I wish today to honor an exceptional high school student from my District whose common-sense and eloquent words brought national attention to education policy.

Kevin Young, a senior at Farragut High School in Knox County, Tennessee, recently testified in front of the Knox County School Board against Common Core, the one-size-fits-all educational scheme being implemented across the Nation.

Kevin's speech was noticed by outlets such as FOX News and Glenn Beck, who called the remarks possibly the best case against Common Core ever made.

I have been friends with Kevin's grandmother for many years and know him to be a very passionate and intelligent young man.

Mr. Speaker, Kevin has learned through his own experience that, in his words, ``creativity, appreciation, and inquisitiveness are impossible to scale.'' I bring his powerful speech, which is reprinted below in its entirety, to the attention of my Colleagues and other readers of the Record. All education policy-makers should listen closely to his wisdom.

Speech to Knox County School Board

(By Ethan Young)

In a mere five minutes, I hope to provide insightful

comments about a variety of educational topics. I sincerely

hope you disprove the research I've compiled.

Here's the history of the Common Core. In 2009, the

National Governors Association and the Council of Chief State

School Officers partnered with Achieve Inc., a nonprofit that

received millions in funding from the Bill and Melinda Gates

Foundation. Thus the initiative seemed to spring from states,

when in reality it was contrived by an insular group of

educational testing executives with only two academic content

specialists. Neither specialist approved the final standards,

and the English consultant, Dr. Sandra Stotsky, publicly

stated she felt the standards left students with an empty

skill set, lacking literary knowledge.

While educators and administrators were later included in

the validation committee and feedback groups, they did not

play a role in the actual drafting of the standards. The

product is a, quote, ``rigorous preparation for career and

college,'' yet many educators agree that ``rigorous'' is a

buzzword. These standards aren't rigorous, just different,

designed for industrial model of school.

Nevertheless, Common Core emerged. Keep in mind, the

specific standards were never voted upon by Congress, the

Department of Education, state or local governments. Yet,

their implementation was approved by 49 states and

territories. The president essentially bribed states into

implementation via Race to the Top, offering 4.35 billion

taxpayer dollars to participating states, $500 million of

which went to Tennessee. And much like No Child Left Behind,

the program promises national testing and a one-size-fits-all

education, because, hey, it worked really well the first

time.

While I do admire some aspects of the core, such as fewer

standards and an emphasis on application and writing, it's

not going to fix our academic deficit. If nothing else, these

standards are a glowing conflict of interest. And they lack

the research they allegedly received. And most importantly,

the standards illustrate a mistrust of teachers, something I

believe this county has already felt for a while.

I've been fortunate to have incredible educators that

opened my eyes to the joy of learning, and I love them like

my family. I respect them entirely, which is why it

frustrates me to review the TEAM and APEX evaluation systems.

These subjective anxiety-producers do more to damage a

teacher's self-esteem than you realize. Erroneous evaluation

coupled with strategic compensation presents a punitive model

that, as a student, is like watching your teacher jump

through flaming hoops to earn a score. Have you forgotten the

nature of a classroom? A teacher cannot be evaluated without

his students, because as a craft, teaching is an interaction.

Thus how can you expect to gauge a teacher's success with no

control for student participation or interest?

I stand before you because I care about education, but also

because I want to support my teachers. And just as they

fought for my academic achievement, so I want to fight for

their ability to teach. This relationship is at the heart of

instruction, yet there will never be a system by which it is

accurately measured.

But I want to take a step back. We can argue the details ad

infinitum. Yet I observe a much broader issue with education

today. Standards-based education is ruining the way we teach

and learn. Yes, I've already been told by legislators and

administrators, Ethan, that's just the way things work. But

why? I'm going to answer that question. It's bureaucratic

convenience. It works with nuclear reactors, it works for

business models, why can't it work with students? I mean, how

convenient calculating exactly who knows what and who needs

what. I mean, why don't we just manufacture robots instead of

students? They last longer and they always do what they're

told.

But education is unlike every other bureaucratic institute

in our government. The task of teaching is never

quantifiable. If everything I learned in high school is a

measurable objective, I haven't learned anything. I'd like to

repeat that. If everything I learned in high school is a

measurable objective, I have not learned anything.

Creativity, appreciation, inquisitiveness--these are

impossible to scale, but they're the purpose of education,

why our teachers teach, and why I choose to learn.

And today we find ourselves in a nation that produces

workers. Everything is career and college preparation.

Somewhere our founding fathers are turning in their graves,

pleading, screaming, and trying to say to us that we teach to

free minds, we teach to inspire, we teach to equip. The

careers will come naturally.

I know we're just one city in a huge system that excitedly

embraces numbers, but ask any of these teachers, ask any of

my peers, and ask yourselves, haven't we gone too far with

data?

I attended tonight's meeting to share my critiques, but as

Benjamin Franklin quipped, any fool can criticize, condemn,

and complain, and most fools do. The problems I cite are very

real. And I only ask that you hear them out, investigate

them, and do not dismiss them as another fool's criticisms.

I'll close with a quote of Jane L. Stanford that Dr.

McIntyre, shared in a recent speech:

``You have my entire confidence in your ability to do

conscientious work to the very best advantage to the

students--that they be considered paramount to all and

everything else. We're capable of fixing education, and I

commit myself to that task. But you cannot ignore me, my

teachers, or the truth. We need change, but not Common Core,

high-stakes evaluations, or more robots.'' Thank you.