Floor Statements

Madam Speaker, the American people have made it very clear that they do not like or want this bill. How arrogant is it for the other side of the aisle to say to them, We know what's best for you, and we're going to pass it anyway. And then how arrogant is it for the other side of the aisle to say, We don't have to take a vote on this bill. We'll just deem it law.

In both cases the other side of the aisle is grossly underestimating the intelligence of the American people. The American people know that deeming is a vote on a bill that they don't like. Let's just have an up-or-down vote if we have to have a vote on this, and I vote ``no.''

Madam Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may consume.

I rise today in support of House Resolution 1145, recognizing the University of Arizona's 125 years of dedication to excellence in higher education.

The University of Arizona, located in Tucson, Arizona, was founded in 1885, and first opened its doors to students in 1891. Thirty-two students applied for the first semester, but only six were admitted to the freshman class. The remaining 26 students were enrolled in a specially established prep school, since there were no high schools in the area.

Today, the University of Arizona has 29,719 undergraduate students, 6,962 graduate students, and 1,376 professional and medical students. The university is ranked number 16 among all public universities by the National Science Foundation. The university has a three-fold commitment to education, research, and community service, and offers more than 300 undergraduate degrees through 20 colleges and 11 schools.

The university boasts excellent academic programs, but its students also excel in athletics. The university houses 18 NCAA athletic teams. The University of Arizona Wildcats basketball team has reached the NCAA tournament for the last 25 consecutive years.

The women's softball team is among the top programs in the country, and has won eight Women's College World Series.

The University of Arizona is designated as both a land-grant and space-grant institution, and research conducted at the university has led to advances such as the development of Pima cotton and new artificial hearts, and has helped in the building of the largest telescopes in the world. The mission of the university is ``to discover, educate, serve, and inspire,'' and the accomplishments of its students reflect this.

I extend my congratulations to the University of Arizona for 125 years of excellence in higher education, and wish all of its faculty, staff, students, and alumni continued success. I would ask my colleagues to support this resolution, and I thank the gentlelady from Hawaii for being the manager of this bill.

I yield back the balance of my time.

I yield myself such time as I may consume.

Madam Speaker, I rise today in support of House Resolution 1170, congratulating the winners of the Voice of Democracy national scholarship program. The Voice of Democracy national scholarship program is an audio essay scholarship contest for American high school students across the world. Students in grades nine through twelve enter the contest by recording an audio essay on a selected theme. Since its beginning, the program has provided more than $3 million in scholarship funds to student winners. This year alone, $149,000 in scholarships was awarded to the winners. The Voice of Democracy's national competition is designed to foster patriotism by providing students with the opportunity to voice their opinion on selected themes. The 2009-2010 school year's theme was, ``Does America still have Heroes?'' America's youth responded with a resounding ``yes.''

Veterans of Foreign Wars began sponsoring this event in 1947 and also sponsor similar national essay competitions for middle school students. For example, Patriot's Pen encourages American students in grades six through eight to write an essay expressing their views on democracy, based on an annual theme. The VFW's 2.2 million members have fought for America's freedom and continue to give to our Nation through programs such as Voice of Democracy.

The first, second, and third place winners of the 2009-2010 voice of America's national scholarship competition are Madison Mullen, Anthony Zendejas IV, and Lena Savell, respectively. The winners were selected from over 50,000 student entries based on originality, content, and delivery of their audio essays. Finalists were invited here to Washington, D.C., to deliver their oral essays. Participating students' essays described today's heroes in America, and I'm sure that many of these students will grow up to become tomorrow's heroes.

I'd like to congratulate all the winners, finalists, and participants in the Voice of Democracy national scholarship program and thank the VFW for providing students with this opportunity. I'd also like to thank my colleague from California, Congressman Duncan Hunter, for sponsoring this resolution and thank the gentlelady from Hawaii for managing this bill, and I ask for my colleagues' support.

Having no further speakers, I yield back the balance of my time.

At this time I yield such time as she may consume to my friend and colleague, the sponsor of this resolution, the gentlewoman from Washington (Mrs. McMorris Rodgers).

Madam Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may consume.

I also rise in support of House Resolution 1163, recognizing Washington State University's Honors College for 50 years of excellence. For 50 years, the Washington State University Honors College has offered an enriched liberal arts curriculum with an international context. Undergraduates seeking challenges can optimize their academic experience; and they're known for accomplishments in undergraduate research, leadership skills, and service to their local, national, and international communities.

The honors thesis allows students to develop their own mentored undergraduate research project. Scholarship support is available to help cover college expenses, undergraduate research, and study abroad thanks to the support from the Honors' alumni and friends. Students from any major may follow the Honors curriculum and expect to graduate in 4 years because the curriculum works within each student's major. All coursework at Washington State University Honors College is designed to promote the six learning goals of the Honors College.

Washington State University Honors College is an accomplished institution that contributes to the economic and civic vitality of the State, Nation, and world. Today we congratulate the faculty, staff, students, and alumni for 50 years of excellence.

I ask my colleagues to support this resolution.

I yield back the balance of my time.

Madam Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may consume.

I rise today in support of H.R. 2377, to direct the Secretary of Education to establish and administer an awards program recognizing excellence exhibited by public school system employees, providing services to students in pre-kindergarten through higher education. In short, this bill would create a national recognition program for classified school employees in nine categories, including transportation, food, security, and health and student services.

As you may well know, classified school employees provide the support services necessary to keep our Nation's schools open and running on time. These awards would be given annually by the Secretary of Education. Despite the fact that a school's support staff is often overlooked, they are an important part of the education team that we entrust our children to each day. These school employees provide transportation services that enable students to safely arrive to and from school, prepare and serve the food students eat each day, and keep the school facilities in which students learn clean and safe. Those classified school employees who go above and beyond deserve to be recognized for their efforts, and this bill would do just that.

I urge my colleagues to support H.R. 2377.

I reserve the balance of my time.

I yield back the balance of my time.

Madam Speaker, I yield such time as he may consume to my friend and colleague from New Jersey, the sponsor of this bill, Mr. Garrett.

Madam Speaker, I yield myself such time as I consume to close. Let me just say that Sergeant Christopher Hrbek died preserving the lives of his fellow soldiers and the freedom of this Nation. And I urge that we support this bill to honor that spirit of sacrifice of a true hero embodied by Sergeant Hrbek.

I yield back the balance of my time.

I yield myself such time as I may consume.

Madam Speaker, I rise today in support of House Resolution 267 and join my colleague from California (Mr. Honda) in expressing appreciation to Iranian Americans for their contributions to society and wishing the people of Iran a prosperous new year.

Nowruz, meaning ``new day,'' is a 3,000-year-old tradition that marks the beginning of spring and is celebrated by over 300 million people worldwide. Originated in ancient Persia, Nowruz is not limited to a specific ethnicity, religion, or creed. To commemorate the ideals and principles of Nowruz, families decorate a special table called the Haft Seen or Seven S's with items that symbolize significant characteristics associated with Nowruz such as love, life, prosperity, beauty, health, happiness, honesty, and faith.

In congratulating Iranian Americans and Iranians throughout the world on this momentous holiday, I think it is important to acknowledge the many significant contributions of these fellow citizens and neighbors to the framework of our great Nation. Ostad Elahi, an Iranian philosopher, believes that it is everyone's duty to be useful in society and placed such importance on service to society that he considered it to be the true meaning of piety and altruism. Iranian Americans continue to hold true to this principle as evidenced by their many noteworthy contributions to this Nation. From science and technology to commerce and trade; academia and medicine to music and the arts, Iranian Americans continue to enrich the social and economic fabric of American society.

Madam Speaker, I hope that our colleagues will join in recognizing this holiday by strengthening the ties of mutual respect with one another while advancing a harmonious exchange of ideals with our neighbors. We should mark the coming year with a revival of our shared values, principles, and ethics in the spirit of Nowruz.

I have no further requests for time, and I yield back the balance of my time.

Mr. Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may consume.

I thank the gentleman from Georgia (Mr. Scott) for his kind words and all he does in the Financial Services Committee on this type of issue and for his management of this resolution.

I rise today to join not only Mr. Scott but also my good friend, the gentlewoman from Texas (Ms. Eddie Bernice Johnson), in support of this year's resolution making the fourth annual America Saves Week. I am pleased to join Congresswoman Johnson as a cosponsor of the resolution, and I urge my colleagues to give it their full support.

Mr. Speaker, as most of my colleagues are aware, I have been working for some years now to make financial literacy a top priority both in the classroom and here on Capitol Hill. In 2005, I joined the gentleman from Texas (Mr. Hinojosa), a cosponsor of today's resolution, to form the Financial and Economic Literacy Caucus to help equip students and consumers with the tools that they need to prosper in today's sophisticated marketplace.

Since then, the term ``financial literacy'' has become an integral part of our legislative lexicon, especially as the need for financial literacy has become clearer than ever with more and more American families relying on depleted savings to weather this period of financial hardship. When it comes to preparing against economic uncertainty, recognizing deceptive practices, building credit, or making dozens of other day-to-day financial decisions, nothing protects consumers and their financial security more effectively than arming them, even as young students, with a sound foundation in financial literacy, and that lesson begins with saving.

Sixty percent of preteens do not even know the difference between cash, credit cards, and checks; and yet only 26 percent of students are actively learning financial literacy from their parents. It is little wonder why 10 million U.S. households remain completely unbanked or without access to standard financial tools like a savings account. And that is what makes initiatives like America Saves Week important. It represents a special opportunity for financial leaders, from the FDIC and the Federal Trade Commission to the University of Illinois and the Jump$tart Coalition, to share important resources and lessons with future savers who may be able to ride out the next financial downturn, buy a home, or retire more comfortably thanks to the financial tools they gained access to today.

As the text of today's resolution suggests, the national savings rate has risen slightly as Americans spend more conservatively in the down economy. But as we recover, the next step must be to help families set goals, plan effectively, and invest wisely during those times when they are most able to build an economic buffer against future needs.

Mr. Speaker, I would like to take a brief moment here to urge my colleagues to consider joining the Financial and Economic Literacy Caucus, if they haven't already, by contacting either me or my distinguished cochairman, Mr. Hinojosa.

As my colleagues are aware, just last week, the FTC teamed with our caucus to showcase consumer protection resources available to our constituents across America. Now we are getting ready for another exciting Financial Literacy Month, this April, with events and briefings to help Americans of all ages educate themselves on how to become more confident, savvy, and safe investors and consumers. I hope every Member will be able to find time to participate or send staff to learn more about how Members of Congress can help promote financial literacy in their own way.

And I would also like to take a moment to honor a departed colleague and friend, the late Congresswoman Stephanie Tubbs Jones. In previous years, she championed this resolution in the House and was a strong advocate for financial literacy through her career. I know that I am not alone in saying that her presence is missed here on the House floor.

Mr. Speaker, let me just say once again that I urge my colleagues to join Congresswoman Johnson, Congressman Hinojosa, and me in supporting this resolution and sound saving habits during America Saves Week and throughout the year.

I reserve the balance of my time.

I reserve the balance of my time.

Mr. Speaker, having no further requests for time, I would just, in closing, say I urge my colleagues to support this resolution.

I yield back the balance of my time.

Madam Speaker, I rise today in recognition and support of National Eating Disorder Awareness Week.

Approximately five to ten million Americans, both women and men, suffer from anorexia nervosa, bulimia nervosa, and binge eating disorders. Not only do these mental illnesses have serious physical consequences, they also present substantive obstacles to students' educational achievement: 86% of affected individuals develop their eating disorders before age 20.

On behalf of my constituents who have been personally affected by these illnesses as well as struggling young women and men nationwide, I introduced H. Res. 7 on January 9, 2009. H. Res. 7 will raise public awareness of eating afflictions, expand research for treatment and cures to end the suffering of millions of Americans, broaden access to treatment, and promote healthful eating habits and healthy body image.

It is critical that we use this week as an opportunity to address this national tragedy. It's not just teenagers using whatever means necessary to achieve an ideal body image, it is a mental illness that requires treatment and compassion. I encourage my colleges to join me in recognizing the severity of eating disorders affecting millions of adolescent Americans, and beseech Congress to continue to expand funding for research and treatment as well as awareness of these diseases that plague the lives our young people.

Madam Speaker, I was absent from votes on Monday, February 22, 2010. The House considered two bills under suspension of the rules. Had I been present, I would have voted ``yea'' for rollcall 49 and ``yea'' for rollcall 50.

Mr. Speaker, I rise today in opposition to this closed rule for H.R. 4626, the Health Insurance Industry Fair Competition Act. Last night, I offered an amendment to crack down on fraud in Medicare, which costs taxpayers as much as $50 billion a year. My language, an update of my bill, the Medicare Fraud Prevention and Enforcement Act of 2009, was actually endorsed by President Obama in the White House blueprint that was released early Monday. It was most recently included in the Medical Rights and Reform Act, introduced by my good friend Mr. Kirk.

This amendment would have reduced waste, fraud and abuse by strengthening the Medicare enrollment process, expanding certain standards of participation, and reducing erroneous payments. The amendment also provides additional tools to pursue fraudulent healthcare providers, suppliers and billing agencies. These are bipartisan goals, and my language has true bipartisan support. Unfortunately, Democrats on the Rules Committee refused to even allow an up-or-down vote on the House floor that would have added this important, cost-cutting measure to a bill that is otherwise lacking in substance.

I expect more political healthcare votes in the coming weeks, and I am prepared to offer my piece of the Obama healthcare plan as an amendment each time. If Democrats are serious about reducing costs and passing stand-alone bipartisan solutions, then I ask them to accept my language. The billions in waste that we save could go a long way toward providing health insurance for the millions of Americans who cannot afford it.

I urge my colleagues to oppose this closed rule.

Mr. Speaker, I rise today to pay tribute to Army Specialist Kyle Wright, a 22-year-old from Romeoville, Illinois, who was killed in combat on January 13 while serving our country during his first tour of duty in Afghanistan.

Specialist Wright followed in his father's and grandfather's military footsteps by enlisting in the Army, and did so out of a strong desire to advance the freedoms and liberties of women in Afghanistan, a cause very close to my heart.

He joined the Army after graduating in 2006 from Romeoville High School, where, even as a young man, he demonstrated his love for this country by serving in the Marine Corps Junior Reserve Officers Training Corps.

He was passionate, honorable, and loved by all who knew him, his family, his girlfriend, and his fellow soldiers. His dedication to women's rights in Afghanistan was inspired by his sisters, his mother, stepmother, and grandmother. And his dedication to upholding the American ideals and freedoms he believed in knew no bounds.

I would like to extend my deepest condolence to the Wright family and to all who knew this brave soldier. Our Nation lost a true hero with Specialist Wright's passing. He will be missed.

I thank the gentleman for yielding.

Mr. Speaker, I rise today also in strong support of House Resolution

1004, a resolution recognizing the 150th anniversary of the Northwestern University Feinberg School of Medicine. I thank the gentleman from Illinois, Congressman Danny Davis, for introducing this resolution.

I am an alumni of Northwestern University School of Law, and I am pleased to see that the School of Medicine is continuing the Northwestern tradition of excellence. As was mentioned, according to U.S. News & World Report, Feinberg is now ranked in the top 20 medical schools in the country. When I attended law school, in the downtown campus was the School of Medicine, the School of Law, and then the business school, which moved out to Evanston. But the complex has grown, certainly in the medical school, since 1859 as the Medical Department of Lind University, then the Feinberg School of Medicine becoming a part of Northwestern University in 1870. People now that would see the complex in Chicago, it is huge and continues to grow and to provide the excellence for education for so many students.

A couple of other notable alumni that went to the school there are Charles Mayo, one of the founders of the Mayo Clinic, which is certainly well known--it's nice to have that distinguished type of graduate from the school--and John Cooper, the first president of the Association of American Medical Colleges. So the illustrious 150-year history of Northwestern University Feinberg School of Medicine is such that we have to commend the administration, the doctors, the faculty, and all that are involved in making the School of Medicine one of the best in the country. I am proud to have gone to the school, and I am proud to support this resolution.

I thank the gentleman for yielding me this time.

Madam Speaker, I rise today in strong support of H. Res. 862, which congratulates the Illinois Mathematics and Science Academy, commonly known as IMSA, which is located in Aurora, Illinois, for winning the 2009 Star Innovator award. And I would like to commend the gentleman from Illinois (Mr. Foster) for offering this resolution and also for all of the work he has done in math and science and in education. We really do need to continue to work to have more scientists, more engineers, and more mathematicians if we are going to compete in the global economy.

IMSA was founded in 1985. It does enroll the most talented 10th through 12th graders in the State of Illinois. Since its founding, it has graduated 4,000 students, including many from nearby communities. I have had the opportunity to have many of those students come from my district. IMSA students go on to pursue exciting careers in the latest cutting-edge fields: mathematics, engineering, and science. And just a few more facts on where these IMSA alumni have gone. They were founding teams for many Web sites, many Web site innovations, including Netscape, PayPal, and YouTube, as the gentleman from Illinois recognized.

Each year Intel gives this Star Innovator award to a school that provides high quality, cutting-edge math and science instruction in a unique and enriching environment. It is a boarding school, but the kids have the opportunity to go home on the weekend, but they work really, really hard and concentrate on their studies and they come out with a great education and are able to move forward.

I am a long-time advocate also of science, technology, engineering, and mathematics, or STEM education, and I have been since my tenure here in Congress. I am really delighted to see that this school is recognized for its innovative curriculum, its administration, its teachers, and the high caliber of graduates that it produces. If we are really to strive to develop a workforce for the 21st century and be able to participate in the global economy--we always think of our country as having the innovation and the creativity--well, this is where it comes from. It is from schools like this that produce the graduates that are able to carry forth in these fields.

I hope that IMSA will be a model for other schools throughout the country. I think the more recognition it gets, the more we will find that these schools are so important to our economy.

Please join us in supporting this important resolution in encouraging excellence among our Nation's schools and giving those best students the opportunity to participate in something like this.

I thank the gentleman for yielding.

Madam Speaker, I rise today in support of House Resolution 1001, recognizing North Central College in Naperville, Illinois, my district, for exceptional athletic and academic achievements.

On November 21, 2009, the North Central men's cross country team won its 13th NCAA Division III National Championship. Team members, and I am going to go over their names again because I think this is so important, Neal Klein, Michael Spain, Ryan Carrigan, Nathaniel Hird, Kyle Brady, Nathan Rutz, and Sean Carlson earned All-American status, placing them in an elite group of national athletes. Additionally, head coach Al Carius was named 2009 NCAA Division III National Cross Country Coach of the Year by the U.S. Track and Field and Cross Country Association.

These dedicated young men of the team spent countless hours training and preparing for their outstanding cross country season, ultimately winning nearly every meet in which they participated. The success of the North Central men's cross country team is but one example of the high caliber of the college students in both athletic and academic pursuits.

I think this resolution is a great opportunity to encourage excellence among our Nation's best students. When you think of sports, they say, oh, this is athletics, this isn't academics. But they really go hand in hand. I think as we have learned how important exercise is, it doesn't really have to be athletics, but exercise is in improving the capabilities of our brains. And I think that so many times that you think, oh, well, this is just kind of a little aside. But it really is important.

I am proud to say that Illinois really is the only State in the Union that requires gym or some sort of athletics for every student in the State. And I wish more States could have the same opportunity for the kids to pursue their sports. So this is a great opportunity to talk about excellence in both athletics and academics. I would urge my colleagues to join me in recognizing the North Central men's cross country team for their victory at the NCAA Division III National Championship.