Floor Statements

Mr. Speaker, on rollcall No. 460, had I been present, I would have voted ``aye.''

Madam Speaker, I rise today to introduce the Correction of Longstanding Errors in Agencies Unsustainable Procurements, CLEAN UP, Act. This legislation will reform the badly flawed competitive sourcing process--saving taxpayer dollars and reinvigorating our civil service.

This bill is about good government. Over the last decade, we have been much too quick to outsource many of government's most basic functions to the private sector. The desire to do so reflected a political ideology of shrinking government at all costs--even if it meant diminishing the quality of certain government services that are paid for and overwhelmingly supported by American taxpayers. This course of action negatively impacted everything from national defense and border security to the collection of taxes and the stewardship of our public lands. In many cases, work was outsourced with little or no competition--subverting the public interest and wasting billions in taxpayer dollars.

This bill is not about punishing the contractor community or criticizing the work that they do. The vast majority of these firms want to do the right thing and have performed many important functions on behalf of the government. However, there is some government work that is not appropriately awarded to the lowest bidder. Often this work is about providing a service as a matter of policy without regard to profit. The process by which we make decisions to hire government workers or to contract with the private sector for certain functions must reflect a mature understanding of the real differences between the mission of government and that of business.

More recently, the Congress has begun to reign in Administrative procurement policy by requiring more robust competition in contracting and ensuring that the core functions of government are performed by government employees. The CLEAN UP Act seeks to reverse the damage that has already been done by requiring agencies to develop plans to bring inherently governmental work back in-house and ensuring that future procurement decisions are made based on the best interest of the government and the taxpayer. The CLEAN UP Act will make the contracting process fair to federal employees and accountable to taxpayers.

Congress has heard from federal workers and advocates in and out of government and their conclusions are the same--the current system is broken. We must develop a clear, government-wide standard for what work should or must be performed by government workers and put in place a fair process for competing all other work. That is why, with the support of 50 of my colleagues of both parties, I have introduced the bipartisan CLEAN UP Act.

The CLEAN UP Act will: Impose a uniform, government-wide standard for government work, distinguishing between the functions which can and must be done by our civil servants and those functions that may be done competently by the private sector; incrementally bring work that should be performed by federal employees back in-house; encourage agencies to consider assigning new work to federal employees if they would be more efficient rather than pursuing a policy of contracting-out, frequently through sole-source or limited competition contracts; require agencies to determine where there are or will be shortages of federal employees and develop plans to address these shortages; maintain the existing suspension of the use of the Office of Management and Budget, OMB, Circular A-76 process until OMB determines that the reforms required by this legislation have been implemented; direct Agencies to implement an alternative to the A-76 process in order to continually improve and streamline services--developing a more efficient process without the costs and controversies of the A-76 process.

We have some of the best and brightest in our civil service; public servants with a deep and abiding love for this country. They have important missions--to make the next scientific breakthrough; to protect our nation from foreign threats; to keep our communities safe from crime or disaster; to maintain our critical infrastructure. By enacting the CLEAN UP Act, we have an opportunity to support our federal workforce, save taxpayer dollars, restore good government, and reduce waste, fraud, and abuse.

Mr. Speaker, I ask unanimous consent that my name be removed as a cosponsor of H.R. 874.

Mr. Chairman, I rise in support of H.R. 1728, the Mortgage Reform and Anti-Predatory Lending Act.

I want to express my thanks to Chairman Frank for incorporating into the manager's amendment a proposal we developed to fight back against a new class of predators which is emerging right now. These are third- party consultants that see the chance to make fast money promising to help people on their loan modifications.

I want to emphasize that not all counseling services by third parties are bad and not all middlemen are bad, but

there is a group that is always ready to take advantage of people. They're like sharks that are circling, and in Maryland we've seen the Department of Licensing Labor and Regulation has 70 open cases right now looking into fraudulent mortgage modifications.

What has been incorporated in the manager's amendment that we put forward would prohibit third parties from charging fees to consumers for providing or negotiating on a consumer's behalf a modification to a high-cost mortgage unless these actions result in a benefit to the consumer through a significant reduction in principal or a significantly lower annual percentage rate on the mortgage. This will protect a lot of people, and I thank Chairman Frank for including this in the manager's amendment.

Mr. Speaker, I just wanted to get up here for 1 minute and congratulate a gentleman named Tim Evans, who is from Owings Mills, Maryland. He is a constituent of mine and today he was recognized by the Partnership for Public Service for his public service.

This is the week we celebrate public service across the country and, obviously, in the State of Maryland. Tim Evans is a policy analyst at the Social Security Administration who has figured out ways to upgrade the customer-friendly dimension of the Social Security Web site so that it can respond to inquiries from current beneficiaries and potential beneficiaries, and he has won awards for this.

I want to salute him for his work, for his innovation and creativity, which reflects the kind of energy and enterprise that we have inside of our Federal workforce. So, Tim Evans, congratulations to you for the work you do. We thank you for it.

Mr. Speaker, I rise today to salute Public Service Recognition Week. This is a wonderful opportunity for us to recognize the contributions that so many who have gone into public service make. Whether it be government service or whether it be volunteering for nonprofits, serving in the Service Corps, working for a 501(c)(3) organization, there are so many ways that people across this country can commit themselves to public service. And it is important that we take a few moments out of the hectic demands of our day and our year to recognize the people that make these contributions.

I had a unique opportunity before I came to Congress to serve in the public sector and the private sector at the same time. I worked as a lawyer representing health care providers in my private sector position. But I also had the chance for 8 years to work with the State Department of Education in Maryland. And I did this simultaneously. So every day, I had the opportunity to go between the private sector and the public sector and to come to understand the perceptions and perspectives that each has of the other.

One of the things I was glad to be able to report to my colleagues in the private sector was that I had come to see the dedication, the hard work, the experience and the know-how, and just the pure smarts of people that serve in the public sector, who commit themselves to public service. It was a true inspiration for me to see that day in and day out. Then I came here to the Congress and had the opportunity in the first couple of years to serve on the Oversight and Government Reform Committee and on the subcommittee that deals with the Federal workforce. So every time we had a hearing, we would have panels of witnesses, of people, yes, the higher-up folks in these Federal agencies, but often the rank-and-file, who could testify as to what they were doing, their commitment and their dedication. And I want to salute the members of the Federal workforce for what they do day in and day out.

We couldn't be living in a more important time, a more exciting time, when it comes to public service. And President Obama has issued a call for public service, and people are responding to that across the country. The most immediate opportunity that we have seen was with the passage last week of a new Service Corps bill, Serve America. Senator Kennedy on the Senate side was very involved with this, George Miller here in the House and many others. It upgrades the capacity of AmeriCorps and other Service Corps programs, increases the number of opportunities that are going to exist, and it creates new dedicated Service Corps programs. So on this week of recognizing public service, we ought to salute Members of this House and Members of the Senate and the President of the United States for putting that bill into place and for providing those opportunities.

It is so critical right now to encourage the next generation to come into public service. And there are many ways that we can do this. One is to talk about the very good benefits and opportunities that exist, particularly in the Federal workforce. And I tell that story every day to try to encourage people to make that decision. Secondly, we have strengthened the loan

forgiveness opportunities that are available to people. I was pleased to be able to author, in the last session, the Education for Public Service Act, which now says that if you commit 10 years to public service, defined as government service or nonprofit service, during that 10-year period, you get reduced monthly payments on your Federal loans or federally guaranteed loan, and at the end of 10 years of public service, you get whatever is still owed forgiven. What a tremendous opportunity for people who want to go into public service and want to stay in public service. So that is another thing we can do to bring people in. A third thing is to increase flexibility in the workplace. I'm glad to have worked with many in the House to lead an effort on promoting telework within our Federal agencies to signal to people that we are willing to be flexible and work with those who are looking for these kinds of kind of job opportunities. That is another way to pull people in.

But the most important way is to emphasize the cutting-edge opportunities that exist in public service. I went to the Partnership For Public Service luncheon today, and the people they saluted and gave awards to, including Tim Evans from my district, from Owings Mills in Maryland, who works at the Social Security Administration and has helped to upgrade the capacity of the Web site that serves beneficiaries, these are people who are on the cutting edge and providing cutting-edge services. And they are an example of the innovation that you can bring into the public service workplace. And so I want to salute all of those people that make that contribution every day and celebrate with others in this Chamber Public Service Recognition Week.

Mr. Speaker, I rise today in recognition of Earth Day and to reintroduce the No Child Left Inside Act, which will strengthen environmental education in our Nation's schools. By enhancing environmental education, we can teach our youth how to be environmental stewards and grow the next generation of scientists and innovators to solve our energy and environment challenges.

This Earth is the only home we have. If we do not put ourselves on a more sustainable path, if we do not reach across party lines, if we do not reach out across culture, faith, class, and race to meet these challenges, our children and grandchildren will pay the price. They will inherit a planet in peril with increasingly diminished resources and even less time to act.

I rise today to call on all Americans to think locally about how they can have a positive impact on our environment, and I urge my colleagues to think globally when we consider a long-term responsible and sustainable energy strategy.

Madam Speaker, I rise today to honor pianist and conductor Leon Fleisher on the occasion of his 80th birthday. His musical contributions have touched the people of Maryland for many years, and the story of Leon's life is a testament to both the inspirational power of music and the indomitable nature of the human spirit. As a young man, Leon was acclaimed as a once-in-a-generation musical talent, and by his mid-twenties, Leon had become one of the world's most-respected and sought-after piano soloists, creating a number of timeless interpretations of classic works that are admired to this day.

When a rare neurological condition stripped him of the use of his right hand, he refused to allow the condition to limit his work and continued to contribute to classical music. As a conductor and director, Leon inspired and energized other musicians from such distinguished organizations as the Baltimore Symphony, the Annapolis Symphony Orchestra, the Peabody Conservatory, the Royal Conservatory of Toronto, and the Kennedy Center's Theater Chamber Players. As a teacher, Leon imparted his own knowledge, passion, and skill to many musicians who now carry the weight of his musical legacy. As a performer, Leon performed the definitive left-handed interpretations of numerous works, inspiring many composers to create new works for the previously underutilized left hand.

After years of special treatments, Leon returned to Carnegie Hall in a truly inspiring culmination of years of determined effort. The recipient of countless awards and accolades, Leon Fleisher has been a true gift to the people of the 3rd district of Maryland, and the field of classical music in general. His performances and personal story remain powerful, and on the occasion of his 80th birthday, I thank him for all he has done, and all he will continue to do, to advance both the world of music and the capacity of the human spirit.

Mr. Speaker, I rise today to honor the 188th Anniversary of Greek Independence Day and the valiant Greek struggle to cast aside the shackles of imperial oppression. For those who believe in life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness, March 25, 1821, resonates through the annals of history as a seminal moment in the epoch of democracy.

From ancient Greece the world came to speak of the founders of democratic thought--Cleisthenes, Themistocles, Pericles, Socrates, Plato, Aristotle and countless others. When our founding fathers contemplated the establishment of the United States of America they looked across time and geography to the shores of ancient Greece. Thomas Jefferson and others who studied the Democratic philosophies of the ancient Greeks knew that in their teachings lay the formula for a just and free society.

In 1776 the sacred flame of liberty illuminated the shores of America, and when in 1821 the mother of democracy awoke and sought to liberate herself from the dark conquest that had befallen her, America cheered her on. During the Greek struggle for independence, many Americans felt a kindred spirit with the Greeks, and gave the name of a Greek Independence War hero to the town of Ypsilanti, Michigan.

It is only natural that the fraternal bonds of liberty between America and Greece have been present from the first day of the establishment of each country. History shows that Greece is one of America's greatest allies, from the passing of the ancients' democratic philosophy to the modern Hellenic Republic's fighting alongside the USA in every major struggle since its inception.

Long before the United States took on the Nazis in WWII, the only countries standing in the way of the Nazi onslaught were Greece and the United Kingdom. Greece paid a dear price for its steadfastness, losing 10 percent of her entire population, and nearly all of the ancient Jewish Community of Thessaloniki. The heroic acts of the Greeks were evident everywhere, from the daring removal of the Nazi flag that floated above the Acropolis, to the unparalleled resistance movement that resulted in the first defeat of an Axis Army when the Greeks pushed Mussolini's troops across the Albanian frontier.

Greece has come a long way in 188 years. In 2004 Greece did an outstanding job hosting the Olympics. She has been an important ally in the war in Iraq and Afghanistan and is the beacon of democracy in the Balkans, serving as one of the largest investors, business and job creators throughout all of Southeastern Europe.

Greece is a proven democracy and proven ally of the United States. Greece is a country that can be counted on to support the high ideals of freedom and liberty, and is and always has been a staunch American ally.

Madam Speaker, I rise today to introduce the Telework Improvements Act of 2009. Telework allows workers to perform their duties and responsibilities from home or at another work site removed from their regular place of employment. The Telework Improvements Act encourages a uniform and consistent telework policy across the federal government, while imposing strict oversight and accountability that will ensure the success of this pragmatic yet innovative workforce management policy.

First and foremost, this bill is about good government. According to an estimate by the nonpartisan Partnership for Public Service, in the next five years approximately 550,000 federal employees--almost 30 percent of the federal workforce--will leave government, largely through retirement. Broadband and other technological advances have made remote work arrangements widely possible and the government should use telework as a powerful recruitment and retention tool to compete with more highly paid private sector jobs. The flexibility that telework provides will make a career in government more attractive to the next generation of civil servants.

Telework will also help mitigate congestion in high-traffic areas such as the National Capital Region--reducing carbon emissions from vehicles and improving the quality of life for all commuters. I commute from my home in Towson, Maryland to our nation's capital, tracing the length of my district. Each day, I sit in suffocating traffic with thousands of federal employees and other commuters. The gridlock results in lost productivity, less time spent with families, and pollution that poisons our air and alters our climate. If we offer an innovative alternative so that some in the federal workforce can avoid these commutes through telework, not only will we improve their quality of life, we will relieve the overall strain on our regional transportation infrastructure and improve the daily commute for all area workers.

Select agencies within the federal government like the United States Patent and Trademark Office, the Defense Information Systems Agency, and the General Services Administration have shown strong leadership-- from agency heads down to individual managers--by putting in place an efficient and effective telework policy. They have demonstrated extraordinary results and are a template for other agencies to follow. But even though telework has been available to federal employees for over a decade, there are no uniform policies in place. Agencies are hampered by a lack of guidance and training for federal employees who wish to telework. Uneven application among managers and supervisors has too often rendered telework policies ineffective. Finally, the absence of uniform data collection and meaningful oversight make the best practices employed by agencies with effective telework programs all but impossible to implement elsewhere in government.

To address these flaws, the Telework Improvements Act of 2009 will: instruct the Office of Personnel Management to develop a uniform, government-wide telework policy for federal employees; ensure that federal employees who wish to telework and are eligible to telework are able to do so for at least 20 percent of the hours they work in a two- week work period; designate a Telework Managing Officer within every agency and department to oversee telework; provide greater access to and opportunities for telework training and education to both employees and supervisors, while providing employees electing to telework with greater protection against discriminatory punitive treatment by supervisors and managers; require the Office of Personnel Management to compile government-wide data on telework; and require the Government Accountability Office (GAO) to evaluate agency compliance, produce an annual report to Congress and make that report publicly available on the internet.

In closing, I would like to salute Congressman Frank Wolf for his vision and tireless advocacy for telework in the federal government. Over the last decade, he has put telework on the map as a management option within the federal workforce and I thank him for his leadership.

I would also like to thank Congressman Gerry Connolly for joining Congressman

Wolf and myself in writing this legislation. Though Congressman Connolly is new to this body, he is not new to telework. As Chairman of the Fairfax County, Virginia Board of Supervisors, Congressman Connolly instituted a far-reaching telework policy--performing a great service to the employees of Fairfax County and offering a model solution for the federal government.

Finally, I would like to thank Congressman Danny K. Davis for his support. Congressman Davis and I introduced a similar piece of legislation in the 110th Congress. As chairman of the Federal Workforce Subcommittee of the House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform, the Congressman shepherded this crucial legislation through the House of Representatives, but unfortunately the measure stalled in the Senate. We are hopeful that we will get a bill to the President's desk during the 111th Congress.

Madam Speaker, the federal government should lead the way as a model employer and embrace innovative personnel policies that increase productivity while striking the right balance between family and work. By enacting the Telework Improvements Act, we have the opportunity to bolster the federal workforce, reduce traffic and carbon emissions, and improve the quality of life for our dedicated civil servants all in one fell swoop. I hope my colleagues will join me in supporting this pragmatic, commonsense legislation.

Chairman Miller, Americans everywhere should thank you and they should thank Congresswoman McCarthy, and all of those who are part of this GIVE Act and made it happen, because it stands for a very simple and elegant proposition and purpose, and that is that if Americans want to serve, they ought to be given that opportunity.

The GIVE Act creates many different dimensions of service that Americans can pursue. I'm very proud to have worked closely with Congressman Phil Hare in introducing the Vet Corps component of this service corps. I want to thank Chairman Miller for working to include that in the final version of the bill.

We owe so much to our veterans. We can never fully repay the debt that we owe them, but we can try. The way we can try is to create a service corps program like Vet Corps that is going to make sure that when veterans return from their service, we have an opportunity to serve them and that they in turn can serve the broader communities and serve other military families and other veterans.

The statistics are alarming. The unemployment rate for returning veterans is as high as 18 percent. We can give them the training and the opportunity to become engaged and re-engaged in our communities through service corps programs like Vet Corps. I'm so very pleased that that is part of this opportunity here.

I'd also like to say before I yield back that I enjoyed working with Congressman Jay Inslee on the Clean Energy Corps, which is going to provide opportunities for young people to get involved in improving energy efficiency and the green revolution.

Madam Speaker, I rise today to recognize Baltimore Reads--an organization that has worked tirelessly for the past 20 years to combat illiteracy. Their goal is to help participants gain the necessary skills for self-sufficiency, employment, and life-long learning in order to achieve economic and social empowerment. For 20 years, Baltimore Reads has been striving to meet these goals and, for many participants, has been a means to achieve them.

Since 1992, Baltimore Reads has distributed more than one million books to schools and disadvantaged families. At the Ripken Adult Learning Center, their educational facility in downtown Baltimore, more than 325 students attend classes at proficiency levels ranging from non-readers to GED candidates. With their programs in high demand, they have plans to expand to more locations and add Internet classes. Today, thousands of Baltimoreans have the basic skills necessary to succeed in life because of Baltimore Reads' efforts.

I strongly support Baltimore Reads' vision of a 100 percent literacy rate in Baltimore. I would like to take this opportunity to commend them on their work and wish them another 20 years of success.

Well, I thank the Representative from Florida for convening us to talk about this incredibly important stimulus package.

The Economic Recovery and Reinvestment Act is our opportunity to put America back to work in the short run and to invest in things that make sense in the long run, and I really look at that package through four different lenses.

The first is that it's going to save jobs. It's going to save a tremendous number of jobs, just the State stabilization portion of this bill. What many people don't appreciate is that all across the country States right now are making their budgets. They are constitutionally obligated under their State charters to balance those budgets. If they don't get the assistance that is represented by this stimulus package, they're going to have to make Draconian cuts to their budgets. That means police officers losing their jobs,

safety officers, fire officers and others, teachers. All the people that make the economy work, that make these States function are going to be potentially in jeopardy. So the first element of this that's so critical is that we're going to save hundreds of thousands of jobs across this country.

The second lens to be applied is that we're going to create new jobs, and that's going to be done both directly and indirectly. Directly it's going to happen, for example, through these infrastructure projects. That is going to put a lot of people to work. It's going to create a lot of new jobs, and it's also going to invest in things that we need to be doing.

We need to be repairing our bridges and our tunnels and our highways. We need to be improving mass transit. All of that can happen as a part of this stimulus package, but it's also going to create jobs indirectly because it's investing now in a green economy. It's investing in new energy technologies that are going to create the next generation of jobs in this country, and that can happen very quickly.

So, again, it meets this prescription of having two impacts: one, to create jobs in the near term; two, to invest in things that we want to do anyway in this country.

The third important element of this, of course, is to stimulate demand more broadly, and that can be done through the tax cut component of the bill. There is significant tax relief that is being offered to the working families of America. Ninety-five percent of the working families across this country are going to receive a tax cut. That means more money in their pocket. It means they can go out and they can purchase the things that they need, not purchase in excess which unfortunately was what has been happening in recent years, but to go out and purchase the things that they need and to stimulate the economy in that fashion.

And the final piece of this, which in my mind is almost the most important, is that it's going to help people get through this very, very difficult economic period that we're in. We are facing a grave situation in this country, and there are many people that are living on the edge. There are many people that have fallen over the edge.

This bill includes needed resources to support Medicaid programs across the country, to extend unemployment benefits and unemployment insurance to people who have lost their jobs. There are a lot of people that are suffering. There are a lot of families that are hurting right now across America, and one of the goals of this legislation is to help them get through this very difficult period.

Yesterday, I was with Secretary Salazar, the new Secretary of the Department of the Interior. We did an event at the Patuxent Wildlife Refuge, which is located in my district in Maryland, to highlight the upgrading of facilities that can occur at that wildlife refuge in the near term using some of this stimulus resource. It's going to create jobs there. It's going to upgrade those facilities, which is a long- term investment in our wildlife refuge system across the country. So there are many different objectives that are being satisfied as a result of this investment.

A hundred thousand jobs in Maryland are projected to be saved or created as a result of this legislation. That is too critical for me and the other Representatives of my State to look away from. That's why we're going to so strongly support this bill.

And in closing, let me say that President Obama is not going to lead us out of this economic recession, and this Congress is not going to lead us out of this economic recession. What we are going to do is we are going to give the American people the tools and the opportunity and the hope so that they can lead us out of this economic recession. I am so confident that if we put our hopes and dreams into the American worker and we give them the tools to do the job, they're the ones that will lead us through this thing. And that's what this stimulus package is all about: giving the American worker the resources, the opportunity, the tools to lead us out of this difficult, difficult economic time.

I think I have about 45 seconds. I just wanted to say this. I have been here 3 years. I don't know how long my career in this body will be. None of us do.

I am convinced that this is the most important vote I will ever cast on an economic measure that faces our country. And I will have to explain that vote for many years to come. And what I will say to people is, I did what I thought was right. And I think it is the right thing to do to pass this, for the American worker, for families across this country who are suffering, for people who just want a job so they can contribute. And that is why I am going to support the Economic Recovery and Reinvestment Act.

Madam Speaker, I rise today to introduce legislation to reauthorize the Chesapeake Bay Gateways Network (CBGN), a program that connects those who live in the Bay watershed to the natural, cultural and historic resources of the Bay and thereby encourages individual stewardship of these resources.

The legislation I am introducing today is identical to the bill that passed the House of Representatives by an overwhelming and bipartisan vote of 321 to 86 during the 110th Congress. Unfortunately, we were not able to get the bill to the President's desk but I am hopeful that we will complete our work on this legislation during the 111th Congress.

Since 2000, Gateways has grown to include more than 150 sites and over 1500 miles of established and developing water trails in six states and the District of Columbia. Through grants to parks, volunteer groups, wildlife refuges, historic sites, museums, and water trails, the Network ties these sites together to provide meaningful experiences and foster citizen stewardship of the Chesapeake Bay.

Madam Speaker, for a very modest investment, the Gateways program helps foster the citizen stewardship that will be necessary to advance Bay cleanup and maintain the gains we hope to make in the coming years. By reauthorizing the Gateways program and providing access to the beautiful sites that make up the network, we can help develop the next generation of environmental stewards, which is one of the best ways to truly ``Save the Bay.'' I hope that my colleagues will support this legislation so the Park Service can continue to play a key role in the Bay cleanup effort.

Madam Speaker, I rise today to share the award winning entry from the Meritalk ``On the Record Inaugural Speech Contest.'' Meritalk is an online community that seeks to promote civic discussion and serve as the crossroads for IT and public policy. This contest challenged American authors to write a speech highlighting what they would like to hear from the President-elect on Inauguration day. This a wonderful example of how the Internet can help Americans become more aware of and involved in government. I would like to congratulate the winner, Ms. Katherine Grayson, on writing a very eloquent speech and I hope she remains engaged in the important issues facing our country. I'd also like to share her contest entry with you today.

``My fellow citizens of the world. I cannot greet you today using the phrase ``My fellow Americans,'' for though, assuredly, America is facing its greatest challenges in half a century, we now are part of a much vaster order with challenges that put even our own, here at home, into proper perspective.

We stand at the precipice of a New Age; an age in which we clearheadedly acknowledge that the world has become a network as intricately intertwined as a web. In ways too numerous to count, we now are connected to one another across this land, across the seas, across the airwaves, across cyberspace. The era of rattling sabers at one another or constructing foreign policy as though we dwell inside fortresses, is long over. Our world today is indeed a complex and inexorably interwoven network of threads, and to survive and flourish within it, no successful international policy will ever again be identified as ``foreign.'' Once we only dreamt of such connectedness with the world; now we truly are a global network of nations, states, citizens, and the children everywhere who are our hope for the future.

Yet by clinging to attitudes of the past, we have been slashing away at this fragile new mesh of mankind and weakening it, the world at large, and our own position in that world. Shall we continue to allow this planet to become a more and more dangerous place, with aggression, resentment, and even silence between countries expanding as rapidly as their arsenals do? Or shall we at last--and with the determination of what has long been the greatest nation on this Earth--seek to strengthen the ties between the world's nations, and help to construct, finally, a lasting fabric of world peace and understanding?

All of you who hear me today, wherever you may be, must be partners in this quest to make the world a refuge for all. We are now inextricably tied to one another, wherever we are, and rather than curse the condition of our connectedness, we must protect that connectedness at all cost.

Now we are partners in the mission to end the scourge of terrorism and the outrageous inequities of life that feed it: poverty, powerlessness, the daily struggle to survive. It is just too easy for us to think of ourselves as separate ``constituencies'' of the world, nameless people lost in faceless masses hoping to be served by their leadership. From today, henceforth, we are partners in the mandate to make the world a much less dangerous place; to bring a New Age of peace and understanding to our fellow men and women, wherever they may reside on our planet. We are partners in the challenge to bring the peoples of the world together, rather than shut them out through our fear and our ignorance.

These are no small challenges. But neither are they dreams.

How shall we set about to change the world as it must change, if we are to endure in the decades and centuries to come?

First, by re-forging and strengthening the fabric of our lives here at home. To put it plainly, right now we are no example for the other nations of the world. Through a long series of misjudgments and missteps, wrongheaded international decisions and self-interested actions here at home, our nation has come to forfeit that position and that privilege. We must face the fact that we have lost our way; that in the cycles of history, we have suffered a downward turn.

Clearly, our economy--once the envy of the world--is in trouble. We must confront this truth head-on. And while quick fixes and mammoth infusions of capital are bandaids designed to temporarily stabilize floundering financial vessels like Fannie Mae and AIG, as in most critical financial downturns we need to look to the core of these very serious problems and re-examine, re-tool, and rebuild the fundamentals of our economic structure, if necessary. And I strongly believe it is necessary.

Yet what are the fundamentals of that system? They are capitalistic, to be sure. But that term, capitalism--which once had the sweet ring of democracy to it--has come to take on a sour taste indeed.

Since when do the tenets of capitalism dictate that company CEOs can become robber barons? Where is it written that employees can lose their pensions to the senior management of the corporations they have dutifully served for decades? Which principles decreed that hardworking, law-abiding folks should lose their homes and life savings because the mortgages they took out were based upon Wall Street hocus- pocus of which they could have no knowledge or understanding whatsoever? Why does capitalism preclude a government's ability to ensure that all citizens are provided adequate health care and social security so that they neither succumb to illness nor die homeless on the street? And which founding father (who had himself fled from the tyranny of taxation without representation) declared that the best way to build a financially able and resilient society was to tax the working backbone of the nation until it collapsed

under the weight of those taxes--all the while giving tax cuts and breaks to the wealthiest citizens, corporations, and conglomerates?

No nation on Earth has ever flourished for any length of time by bleeding the lifeforce of its own inception. We should know this; our nation was born out of rebellion against such tyranny; we have supported other nations of the world in their quests for similar freedoms; we have railed against such injustices thrust upon other peoples of the world.

We must return--with haste and urgency--to those principles we have fought and died for, and which we know to be just, fair, and right. We must return--without a moment's hesitation--to those principles, which we know from centuries of proof, build a strong nation of happy, prosperous, contributing citizens; that backbone that is the framework upon which any free and thriving nation must be built.

I have not been brought to this moment today, here at this podium before you, to tell you this because I believe it is what you want to hear. I am here today, telling you this, because on November 4th, you knew in your hearts that a swift, decisive return to the principles of America for all its citizens--not an America for only the wealthiest citizens--is the way to rebuild our nation, and to begin to rebuild our relationships with the other nations of the world.

Let this be the moment in history when the phrase, ``The Rich and Powerful'' is relegated to its proper, smaller place in the world scheme, and the phrase ``Power to the People'' returns to its rightful position, above all else. For it was not until the people took back their power through a fair and just democratic process--as you did this past November--that ``power'' in this country could regain perspective at last. In the world today, ``power'' simply cannot denote the right of some to profit at the expense of others. ``Power'' must stand for the ability to make change happen for the long-term health and survival of our nation, and as a model for making change happen for the health and survival of our planet and the nations of our world.

We know that it was the driving need for change that brought us here today. I did not spend these past two years chanting ``Change!'' because I thought it was the best way to get elected. I have fought for that change and will continue to fight for it because only through fearless, courageous, unmitigated change can we right our foundering ship quickly, decisively, with long-lasting results that must not be delayed. There is not one moment to waste. The need is critical, pervasive, and non-partisan, and we cannot tolerate time spent for political parties to bicker or equivocate.

You are the partners in this change. This is not Congress's change; it is yours, and your voices must be heard. My question to you is: How quickly do you need this change?

How quickly--and most importantly, how effectively, for lasting benefit--do you want your jobs, homes, livelihoods restored? How quickly and solidly do you want the United States of America to be respected in the world theater once more? How soon do you want your sons and daughters to return from wars which should never have been waged? How rapidly do you want the fear between nations to de-escalate, and fear of terrorism and nuclear arms buildups to dissipate? How soon do you want to fling wide the doors of misunderstanding between cultures that fear each other, and let in the fresh clean air of tolerance and acceptance? In what timeframe do you want to see the nations of the world cooperate with each other for mutual benefit, and thus remove the very need for state-driven or state-supported terrorism? And when is it that you would you like to see our planet's environment begin to recover from the ravages and ills which now place it in peril of ecological collapse?

I ask you now: Which day do you want to be a safer day for your children? The tomorrow after tomorrow?

Well, I have children too, and I need that day to be today.

So, today is the day that--together--we will set about to change our world. And though we will begin here at home at once, we will aggressively and immediately pursue our new international initiatives simultaneously. These next 100 days may be dizzying for Congress here on Capitol Hill, but we will expect nothing less from its members than their full and intensive attention to every new idea, every new plan, every new proposal put before them. I promise you that I will compel democrats and republicans to work together with me, hand in hand, with blind eyes to red or blue, and eyes only on the target ahead. I promise you that we will use our new connectedness with each other and the world, in ways that have never been seen before, to make change happen. And we will not rest until we make serious, impactful, and lasting headway.

I call upon you--not just the people of America, but the peoples of the world--to make your voices heard; to see these needs are met; to convey your sense of urgency for the triumph of our country, our world, this beloved planet. This time, broad, bold, far-reaching measures are needed, and we will not be held at bay by the petty prevarication or self-interest of the few, or by the endless squabbling over minutiae-- not when there is so much, and the lives of so very many, at stake. Tomorrow I lead the charge, full-throttle toward our next decade in this Brave New Age. But it is together that we will make it reality. Let no man or woman on Earth stand up before us and say it cannot be done. Yes, it can.''