Floor Statements

Mr. Speaker, certainly my heartfelt thanks go to my colleague the gentleman from California (Mr. Cardoza) for bringing this important issue to the attention of the United States Congress.

The gentleman from California (Mr. Cardoza) himself is the beneficiary of quality health insurance, yet he is standing here tonight on behalf of the millions of Americans who do not have adequate insurance, who are either under-insured or have no insurance, and the $6 billion that this bill spends on vouchers certainly could be put to better use.

Let me explain very briefly about the Nation's DSH hospitals that need help right now. Let me use my own hospital as an example. Wishard Memorial Hospital, located in Indianapolis, is a Disproportionate Share Hospital and the fifth largest provider of outpatient indigent care nationwide. It is 144 years old and had some 850,000 patient visits in 2002, and that included a 19-percent increase over the prior year for indigent care.

Nine out of every ten of Wishard's patients receive health care through Medicaid or Medicare or are completely uninsured. Wishard collects, on average, 10 cents on the dollar from people who have no insurance. As a result, Wishard has one of the lowest private pay rates in the country. This fact makes it almost completely dependent upon the funding that it receives from the Disproportionate Share Hospital formula, leaving the hospital with virtually no means to make up for the financial losses.

Without Wishard Memorial's services, Indiana's healthcare system would be plunged into crisis. The magnitude of the ripple effect caused by its collapse would be felt by hospitals and clinics throughout Indiana as Wishard's indigent patients seek care elsewhere.

Wishard Memorial's demise would do significant damage to medical education, homeland security, and indigent care in Indiana.

Wishard's indigent care comprises of almost 850,000 annual patient visits.

The hospital contains one of only two adult level-one trauma centers in Indiana.

The hospital operates the largest adult burn unit.

The hospital provides the most mental health and psychiatric services to indigent patients.

The hospital is the medical facility in Marion County for bioterrorism and smallpox preparedness and response.

Two-thirds of Indiana's medical students are trained at the hospital.

The hospital expects to end this year with a shortfall of about $35 million and has started next year planning to spend $54.3 million less than this year.

Wishard provided $66 million in care to uninsured people in 1996. That figure jumped to $118 million last year.

I want to thank members of the Indiana delegation, Representatives Burton, Souder, Pence, Chocola, Visclosky and Hill for their continued support of Wishard Memorial Hospital.

I urge everyone to support this motion to Instruct. Our nation's Disproportionate Share Hospitals are in desperate need of your help.

Mr. Speaker, this is why I am so grateful to the gentleman from California (Mr. Cardoza) for bringing this issue before the ears and eyes of America, and certainly before the United States House of Representatives, who can, in fact, see something that is broken and can fix it.

Mr. Speaker, this past week we sent the largest supplemental appropriations bill ever written to the President. The majority of the money is to be used for the men and women serving in Iraq.

A total of $64.7 billion in military funding was included 1n the bill. This includes:

A total of $64.7 billion for military activities in support of military operations mainly in Iraq and Afghanistan.

$39.2 billion for activities related to military operations in Iraq and Afghanistan, including: $24.0 billion for the Army, $2.0 billion for the Navy, $1.2 billion for the Marine Corps, and $5.4 billion for the Air Force. The total includes an extra $100 million to find and destroy conventional munitions in Iraq.

The agreement appropriates $17.8 billion for military personnel, including: $12.9 billion for the Army, $816 million for the Navy, $753 million for the Marine Corps and $3.4 billion for Air Force personnel costs.

The funds are meant to cover the costs associated with the mobilization to active duty of reserve and National Guard personnel, including pay, travel, per diem, and health care and personnel necessary to maintain critical manning at authorized levels.

Extends TRICARE--the military's health care system--health coverage system to National Guard members and reservists and their families who lack health insurance and do not have access to employer-provided plans.

The measure authorizes continued payment of per diem for travel of family members of military personnel who are ill or injured as a result of active duty service, and continues the increased monthly rate of Imminent Danger Pay and Family Separation Allowances through Sept. 30, 2004.

The agreement includes $55 million for travel costs of troops on rest and recuperation leave, including the cost of travel home from disembarkation points in the United States.

The measure provides $32 million for family counseling, domestic violence prevention, and readjustment counseling and $10 million for similar programs specifically for the National Guard.

Finally, the measure retroactively and permanently exempts servicemembers with combat-related injuries from the requirement of paying for subsistence meal charges while hospitalized.

The agreement appropriates $5.5 billion to replenish equipment and munitions expended during military operations in Iraq and in the global war on terrorism. The total includes: $142 million to repair or replace Bradley fighting vehicles, M1 Abrams tanks and other related equipment used in Iraq and Afghanistan; $239 million for more armored High Mobility Multipurpose Wheeled vehicles, or HUMVEEs; $300 million to purchase additional body armor suits and modern flak jackets and to clear unexploded ordnance; and $46 million for radio jammers to disrupt attempts by Iraqi dissidents to explode remote controlled bombs and mines.

The measure also directs the Defense Department to increase the availability of modern hydration systems to soldiers in Iraq and to provide quarterly reports to Congress on department efforts to address equipment shortages.

The agreement provides $525 million for military construction funds-- $112 million more than requested.

Most of the funds will go to construct new Air Force and Army facilities in Qatar, the United Arab Emirates, Iraq, and other facilities providing support for operations in the Middle East and the global war on terrorism.

Defense Health Program--Provides $658 million for military health care costs.

When these young men and women return from the Gulf, they are going to leave the service in droves. Morale is low, and these people cannot get home quick enough.

At the same time, the Republican leadership refused to include $1.3 billion dollars in emergency veterans health funding, claiming that it will be included in the regular VA-HUD appropriations bill.

This severe funding shortfalls has resulted in health-care rationing among our veterans.

Over 200,000 are currently waiting 6 months or longer for initial and follow-up medical appointments; many are reporting that they are waiting 1 to 2 years.

The Veterans Administration, in order to meet this crisis, has taken steps to stop veterans from seeking care. The VA refuses to enroll any new Category 8 veterans.

Funding shortfalls are putting veteran safety and the quality of their care at ever greater risk. An April 2001 study sponsored by four Health and Human Services agencies confirmed that inadequate direct- care nurse staffing increases risks of urinary tract infections, pneumonia, shock, intestinal bleeding, and lengthy hospital stays.

Doctors and nurses under greater stress risk injury, too, as their increased workloads cause slower mental processing, diminished memory, and improper responses to patients.

Mr. Speaker, I would commend my colleague the gentleman from Indiana (Mr. Hill) who represents the district that the Honorable Frank McCloskey represented so well, and certainly appreciate very much the fact that he has expedited this measure to the floor today on behalf of a great man.

Congressman Frank McCloskey passed away Sunday after a long battle with cancer, and as my colleagues already know, the Honorable Frank McCloskey served more than 10 years as mayor of Bloomington and was an elected Member of Congress for 6 years.

What I think, Mr. Speaker, that I would emphasize today is that this country has produced great scientists. When I fly back and forth from Indianapolis on a weekly basis, I think about the incredible brilliance of the Wright brothers who taught us how to annihilate space and circumscribe time, and I am wondering when and where and how we will be able to amass that same kind of talent to eradicate this deadly, deadly disease called cancer.

Frank McCloskey was a very strong man who brought to the ears and eyes of America the problems with ethnic cleansing among the Balkans in Bosnia, a very courageous and decent individual, and I know that his wife Roberta is full of pain, even though she would not want to see him in pain any longer. His congressional career, the leadership that he exhibited, the fact that he worked at the local bases and was just an ordinary person, a reporter for the Star and the Herald-Telephone in Bloomington, and the City News Bureau in Chicago, named director of the Kosovo programs for the Democratic National Institute for International Affairs, where he was teaching leaders how to govern democratically.

I am pleased to support this effort by the gentleman from Indiana (Mr. Hill) on H.R. 3379 designating the Frank X. McCloskey Post Office in memory of the former Frank McCloskey, to the citizens of Bloomington and, yes, to the entire State of Indiana, and I urge all of my colleagues to support this legislation and keep Frank and his family very near and dear in our thoughts and prayers.

Mr. Speaker, October is National Breast Cancer Awareness Month, and I rise to address the issue of the early detection and prevention of breast cancer.

Breast cancer is the most common form of cancer in women in the United States, aside from cancers of the skin. Both its cause and cure remain undiscovered.

In my home State of Indiana, the American Cancer Society estimates that 5,000 new cases of breast cancer will be diagnosed and approximately 900 women will die of breast cancer in 2003.

With early detection, breast cancer can be treated effectively with surgery that preserves the breast, followed by radiation therapy. Local therapy is often accompanied by chemotherapy and/or hormonal therapy.

Raising awareness and promoting the continuation of breast cancer research has contributed to more than 2 million breast cancer survivors in the United States today.

In Indianapolis, we have benefited by the 2003 Komen Indianapolis Race for the Cure that registered 37,000 individuals and the BMW Ultimate Drive to donate one dollar on each mile driven during BMW test-drives.

We must continue to raise awareness and support legislation that will aid in the prevention and eventual development of a cure for breast cancer.

Mr. Speaker, I do not want to be redundant in terms of the eloquence of my predecessor, the gentleman from Massachusetts (Mr. McGovern), and what he has already so adequately articulated, but I rise in support of what was initially the McGovern bill, referred to as the Fallen Patriots Tax Relief Act, and I will support, of course, the Renzi bill, which I understand will be considered on the floor tomorrow, also known as the Fallen Patriots Tax Relief Bill.

Mr. Speaker, I want to commend the gentleman from Massachusetts (Mr. McGovern) for bringing this subject matter to the ears and eyes of America, and particularly to the House of Representatives, which has responsibility for its passage. The bill will increase the military benefit to $12,000 and make it tax exempt, an idea certainly that is long overdue in terms of its implementation.

We cannot be concerned about the cost of the bill. I have been reading the CQ reports and other analyses of what this bill will eventually cost, particularly that section that suggests that it go back retroactively to September 11, 2001 and provide exemption for those who were in the service at that time forward.

Currently 340 American military personnel have lost their lives in Operation Iraqi Freedom, and 92 in Operation Enduring Freedom in Afghanistan and in the Philippines. While an examination of the bill shows it does in fact impose a great cost on the American people, the cost of the lives cannot be measured in terms of dollars.

The death tax gratuity payment of $6,000, of which $3,000 is taxable, is proposed to be increased to $12,000 in terms of the gratuity payment, and the entire amount would be tax-free, which is, of course, no less than right. The deceased's surviving spouse, parents, children, brothers and sisters should not have to worry about running afoul of the IRS because their loved one just lost their life in the line of duty. The bill also extends the filing deadline for income tax purposes, an idea, of course, whose time has come and passed.

I want to commend the authors of both bills for bringing this very needed legislation to the House, Mr. Speaker, and also the fact that it provides the National Guard and Reserve members an above-the-line tax deduction for overnight transportation, meals and lodging expenses for those who travel more than 100 miles.

The National Guard is indeed a vital aspect of our military operation of this Nation and should be treated with respect and with the kind of exemptions that they so rightly deserve.

I understand that the bill also, Mr. Speaker, eliminates the qualifying 5-year period from capital gains on the sale of the residence while the taxpayer or taxpayer's spouse serves on qualified official extended duty as a member of the Armed Forces or the foreign services.

Again, Mr. Speaker, I am proud that the House of Representatives has come to this point to rectify an injustice that has existed in law insofar as it has affected the military men and women who serve and who sacrifice and so many of them who lose their lives as a result of preserving the freedom of this Nation. I support the legislation, and I encourage Members of the House to do likewise.

Mr. Chairman, as I was listening to the debate on the other side in support of this $87 billion throwaway, I was reminded of a fact that a head of household would have wife and children and probably a grandmother in need of prescription drugs, but instead they would take all of their earnings and give it to their mistress. In this particular situation, it seems as though we have some mistress out there that we are going to support and not support our own family. When you travel back and forth by air, you hear the speaker come on and the lady tells you that in the event of a problem, to be sure you secure yourself and then if you have any opportunity, secure others.

I have no doubt that this bill will pass, Mr. Chairman, but I am concerned about what happens to our troops. This bill, on its face, is purportedly supporting our troops when, in fact, we sent thousands of troops into Iraq unprepared, unguarded, without the proper equipment, without bullet vests, without food, without weapons that they needed. We just rushed and went to Iraq for whatever reason which still remains a mystery to me. The $87 billion in my opinion does not have any accountability or responsibility. What happened to the money that the Bush administration has already expended? Where is the report on that? We ask those with earned income tax credit to be audited. Why can we not audit these people who want to spend more money for this conflict that I could not understand why we initiated in the first place? $87 billion is going to cost my State $1.4 billion. It is going to cost us $246.3 million for local and State roads and bridges which would have created 6,672 new jobs, 5,955 new firefighters, and health care coverage for 88,000 people.

Mr. Speaker, certainly I would add my praise and congratulations to the honorable gentlewoman from California for bringing this incredible, this very vital and very necessary and much deserved issue before the United States Congress, and that is to award a Congressional Gold Medal to the Honorable Dorothy Height. Dorothy Height, the president of the National Council of Negro Women, succeeded in that position from an icon of this world, that was Dr. Mary McLeod Bethune, who created the National Council of Negro Women, who was adviser to several Presidents and so was Dorothy Height. It is not a coincidence, I do not believe, that Dorothy's last name is Height, because she has scaled great heights in this country to enable people of color to get their rightful place at the tables of justice and equal opportunity. There are countless branches of the National Council of Negro Women around the country and around the world and their emphasis is phenomenal. It is very scriptural in terms of doing for these, the very least of these. In Indianapolis, we have a Mental Health Gift Lift which allows the community to come together to give gifts to those who are mentally challenged.

Mary McLeod Bethune, and then Dr. Height, talks about love, leaving love as a testament. Dorothy Height is an individual that I feel very blessed that I am able to touch her hand in my lifetime. She was there when we conferred a medal on Rosa Parks. She was a very generous and very giving person, a very inspirational individual, very visionary individual in terms of how we could move this country forward in the right way. The gentleman from Massachusetts talked about her being there in the forefront so that we could ban injustices against people of certain sexual orientations. That was a very bold move on her part, but it was a very right move on her part. And that is what Dorothy Height did. She lived not just because, she lives for a cause. There are not too many people that I know who are more deserving of the Congressional Gold Medal, the highest honor that this House could convey on an individual, than Dorothy Height.

I want to commend the gentlewoman from California for bringing this matter to the House. It is much deserved. It is long overdue. I felt compelled to come here and support her in this manner, for doing her good work, commending somebody for their good work.

Mr. Speaker, those of my colleagues who probably were unable to stay up and watch the Monday night football game certainly by now know that within less than 4 minutes a miracle occurred at the Bay. I am not talking about the weather in Tampa Bay or perhaps the latest diet fad, but I am talking about a history-making, Indianapolis Colt-stomping that occurred at Tampa Bay on Monday night, October 6, on national television, a little show called ``Monday Night Football.''

The miracle at the Bay, a 38 to 35 overtime win, and no miracle to Indianapolis Colts fans, was lead by quarterback Peyton Manning and receiver Marvin Harrison.

I want to commend the Indianapolis Colts team, the Indianapolis Colts organization, and certainly the coach, the unflappable, the dignified gentleman, fired, dismissed, former Tampa Bay Coach Dungy, now with Indianapolis, and he makes us extremely proud.

Coached by Mr. Dungy, the Indianapolis Colts wiped out a 21-point deficit late in the fourth quarter and won 38 to 35 in overtime. The Colts trailed 21 to 0, 28 to 7, and 35 to 14. But in the fourth quarter, the Colts scored 28 points against the NFL's best defense and Super Bowl champion, the Buccaneers.

The ``less than 4-minute-miracle'' was led by Indianapolis quarterback Colt Peyton Manning and Colt receivers and running backs James Mungro, Marvin Harrison, and Ricky Williams over a span of less than 4 minutes; 3.37 minutes to be exact.

The Colts gained 455 total net yards against the Buccaneers' vaunted defense. Peyton Manning passed for 386 yards and two touchdowns. Marvin Harrison had 11 catches for 176 yards and two touchdowns.

It was a total team contribution, and the Colts are now 5 and 0 and, hopefully, Super Bowl-bound. An inspired Colts team gave Indianapolis fans a hard-fought victory. This win also gave Tony Dungy an unforgettable gift on his 48th birthday and his return to Tampa, a 38 to 55 victory in overtime against his old team, the Buccaneers.

Tony Dungy, when others may have given up because the ABCs of a comfortable victory did not seem to be in the cards, Coach Dungy does what he does best, the 3 Cs: calm, coaching, and confidence.

I want to say, Mr. Speaker, tonight that the Colts indeed make Indianapolis proud and Coach Dungy, who gives so much of his time with the NFL fatherhood project and a lot of other great things that he does in the Indianapolis community, as well as in Tampa, and the fact that he is such an example, a shining example of fatherhood, of what a husband is, what a family unit should be about, being a dad, he lives what he teaches.

Coach Dungy is the NFL face and coordinator of the All-Pro Dad, a nonprofit program that offers practical fathering assistance updated daily, available 24 hours a day, 365 days a year. At the heart of the program is the All-Pro Dad team. Its members include active NFL players and coaches and retired NFL standouts. Through TV, radio spots, and 2,000 nationwide billboards, these men speak to fathers about their most important job, and that is being a dad.

So again, Mr. Speaker, Coach Dungy is tops with Indianapolis and, in many ways, tops with the Nation, and with my favorites, and that is fatherhood, advocacy, and the Indianapolis Colts.

Mr. Chairman, I thank the chairman and the gentleman from Illinois (Mr. Costello), ranking member, and certainly the gentleman from Minnesota (Mr. Oberstar), et cetera.

I rise today to speak in favor of the Water Resources Development Act and to share with my colleagues an experience that I have had in Indianapolis, Indiana of the transformative power of this legislation. As this poster will reveal, it is almost like a tale of two cities, what used to be the worst of times and which is now the very best of times because of the incredible assistance that we received in Indianapolis, that we benefitted from funding from the committee, and in August of 2002 the gentleman from Oregon (Mr. Blumenauer) was in Indianapolis; the gentleman from Minnesota (Mr. Oberstar) was there just a couple of months ago. I was happy to share my experience with my constituents and my colleagues and countless other visitors who have come. We can tell before we received the water appropriation for Indianapolis, the picture to my right revealed the old city that had the dilapidated landscape. The walls of the waterfront were sort of falling down. And because of the yeoman's work of the gentleman from Tennessee (Chairman Duncan) and the gentleman from Illinois (Mr. Costello), ranking member, and the gentleman from Minnesota (Mr. Oberstar), we have been able to transform the city. And I thought it was imperative that I came down and said thanks on behalf of the city to these incredible, wonderful gentlemen who were very beneficial in seeing to it that we got the appropriation, and now that we have the White River there that will carry commerce back and forth from the Ohio River and connecting us to the rest of the world.

From the days we have come a long way, finally turning our attention to the river, and I just wanted to thank them so very much, everybody that was involved in ascertaining that this happen.

Mr. Speaker, I thank the gentleman from Chicago and certainly my colleague from Indiana for bringing forth this resolution today in tribute to a young man whose service to his family, to the State of Indiana, and to this Nation is unsurpassed.

The Governor just 3 weeks ago met the President at the airport in Indianapolis when he came out to Indianapolis for disaster relief, and the Governor had just hosted the National Governors' Association there.

Frank O'Bannon was the type of guy who gave of himself, who lived for a cause, not just because.

Frank O'Bannon even in death contributed his organs so that somebody else may have a quality of life. Since his passing, I was telling his wife yesterday, I spent an enormous amount of time with the widow, ``Wouldn't it be great if Frank from on high could hear all of the attributes that are being given to him now that he did not hear when he was living?''

Unlike many other Governors in the United States, he came under a great deal of pressure because of the economic crisis that Indiana faced, a problem over which he had no control and had nothing in fact to do with it. But time and time and time again he came under a heap of criticism for Indiana's woes. I think he reminds all of us that even though we may not have control over something, it is unjust, it is like man's inhumanity to man, to heap that kind of pain and frustration on an individual who had done so much in improving the lives of the people in the State of Indiana.

I remember when Frank O'Bannon first decided he wanted to be a Governor. I was a member of the Indiana State Senate along with him. And because Evan Bayh decided he too wanted to be the Governor at that time, Frank O'Bannon in his own genteel way stepped aside and allowed our now junior Senator to become the Governor of Indiana and Frank yielded to become the Lieutenant Governor in the State of Indiana. I was telling his wife yesterday that fate had undoubtedly orchestrated that, because he was not Governor just for 8 years, he was almost Governor for 16 years. He served as Lieutenant Governor for 8 years and almost completed 8 years as Indiana's Governor.

Frank O'Bannon served over 6.15 million people and he served them well.

Politics, economic situations, religious denominations all paled under Frank O'Bannon's leadership. Today is a very difficult day for me, because I had so much respect for Frank O'Bannon, but then I remember the words of Ecclesiastes that reminds us that there is a time for all things.

Frank O'Bannon, I suppose, could have continued to suffer, but God would have it another way. Danny, your hospital took great care of our Governor. I want to thank you and your hospital for that. They had one of the best neurosurgeons that this country has right there at Chicago hospital. So I want to thank you and yours. And certainly to Judy O'Bannon, who has been a yeoman throughout this ordeal, who has been very stately, like a stateswoman throughout the pain that she and her family endure, my heart, my prayers go out to Judy, to Jennifer, to Polly and to Jonathan. I know in due time that pain will pass but precious memories never fade into eternity.

Mr. Speaker, I rise to share with my colleagues and with the Nation just a glimpse of what Indiana has been going through in recent days.

Last week our Governor Frank O'Bannon, a gifted and gentle man on loan from God, suffered a massive stroke while hard at work for Indiana. Through the week, as he lay stricken, we thought of him, remembered him, worried about him and prayed for him. Then, on Saturday, we lost him.

My Governor, ``Frank'' as everyone called him, was a kind and intelligent man of great substance. A gifted man with many choices before him, he made a selfless choice: to spend a lifetime in public, a lifetime in service.

Now in public life, as we know--borrowing a bit from James Taylor-- `we see fire, we see rain, and sunny days we thought would never end'. Our duty is serve our way through, keeping the people and the responsibility ever in mind, looking again to reach those sunny days.

For My Governor, it was ever so. The sunny days were many--his work in our Senate, as our Lieutenant Governor, and as Governor the last 6\1/2\ years, saw great leadership and many sunny days, great prosperity and great progress, turning finally to fire and rain, as economic suffering reached Indiana and the blame was laid at his feet. Through it all, Frank never stopped working for Indiana, knowing, as we all do, that we would reach sunny days again.

As we know, too, public service can be lonely, wearying at its worst. As he soldiered on, this fine man absorbed the dismay, the frustration, the anger. Wherever I was, I spoke to him each week, not so much as our Governor but as a man I had known many years, whose friendship I treasured and whose commitment I admired, to remind him not to be ground down, that his commitment was a wise one, that sunny days would come again. And he returned the favor, with good counsel about the heart of public service.

He is gone now, recalled in a way. Indiana is in good hands, but we shall miss him greatly.

To My Governor, our ``Frank'', our prayers on the way. And, to Judy, ever his active partner and helpmate, to the kids, Jennifer, Polly and Jonathan, it is my prayer that your precious memories of all that was so fine will help to sustain you through these mysterious days and hours of our farewell.

Frank

You can do an article about Governor Frank O'Bannon, but

you can't do it justice, not in any language I know. But I

have to try.

In the prefaces of The 1600 Killers and Slander and Sweet

Judgement, the two volumes of my memoir, I wrote: ``One of

the principal and principled inspirations for this work was

the Honorable Frank O'Bannon, forty-seventh governor of

Indiana. He, his wife Judy and his lieutenant governor, war-

hero Joe Kernan, brought a refreshing wholesomeness and down-

to-earth wisdom to the people of Indiana, of whom I am

privileged to be one. The headline on The Indianapolis Star/

News story that reported Frank's 1996 Election was, `Nice guy

finishes first.' Amen''

The name of our dearly departed governor is O'Bannon, but

his face was not ``the map of Ireland;'' it was the map of

Indiana. His voice inflections, the twinkle in his eyes, the

generous smile made him the personification of all that is

good in what we call Hoosier.

An old cake ad read and said, ``Nobody doesn't like Sarah

Lee.'' Noboby didn't like Frank. And nobody doesn't like the

superlatively eloquent Judy.

Several years ago, Hoosier Congressman Pete Visclosky was

seated inside a banquet hall, awaiting the arrival of the

principal speaker, the slightly behind schedule, then-Lt.

Governor Frank O'Bannon. Suddenly, someone told Pete that his

nearly octogenarian father had slipped and fallen on the ice

outside. Pete rushed to his father's side and found Indiana's

second highest elected official helping the elderly man to

his feet.

We use the word ``gentleman'' over and over, but how often

do we stop to realize what it means? A gentleman is a man who

is gentle and the heroine of the play Love is a Many

Splendored Thing, declares, ``There is no greater strength

than gentleness.'' By that definition and declaration, Frank

O'Bannon was a person of towering strength. John F. Kennedy

said it: ``Civility should not be confused with weakness.''

Michel Eyquem de Montaigene wrote, ``Sit ye never so high

upon a stool, yet sit ye but upon your own tail.'' Frank

intuitively knew, felt and lived this. He was no big shot. He

did have a stuffed shirt, though, stuffed with a warm, caring

and giving heart.

Hoosier journalist William Miller Herschell asked, ``Ain't

God good to Indiana?'' When I think of Frank O'Bannon, I know

the answer.

Andy Jacobs, Jr.,

Former Member of Congress.

Mr. Speaker, I extend my heartfelt gratitude to the honorable gentlewoman from New York for yielding me this time. I do not believe that there is any Member of all of us who does not love veterans. I really believe that you genuinely love veterans and that you probably have some of them in your district. So I believe that you love them. I am here simply to say, help my disbelief.

We have hospitals closing that were inspired and created specifically to accommodate health care for veterans. We have veterans in my district, if you would care to talk to some in yours, who have endured long waits just to have an opportunity to see a doctor in a VA hospital. If you really love your veterans, give up your seat in Congress to a veteran so that they can go down to the attending physician's office and go out to Walter Reed or Bethesda whenever they have a toe ache or a headache and then that would be showing your love for a veteran.

In 1789, General and President George Washington, whose picture hangs on the wall here in the Chamber, said: ``The willingness with which our young people are likely to serve in any war, no matter how justified, shall be directly proportional as to how they perceive the veterans of earlier wars were treated and appreciated by their country.''

We pass feel-good legislation not to desecrate the flag. We pass resolutions to support our troops. If we truly, genuinely, without hypocrisy want to support our troops, vote against the rule. If any of you care to notice, many of our young women and men who are in war right now will come back hopefully in this country, but many will be maimed, many will be without limbs, many will suffer post-traumatic stress disorder, in need of dire medical care. We are closing down veterans hospitals around this country. That is just devastating that we are shutting out the people who fought for the freedom of the United States of America. We come in here and pledge allegiance to the Flag on a daily basis, pretending to support those who preserve the freedom for this country.

The President's budget requested a $1.4 billion increase when it really needed at least $2.5 billion, even to meet its own definition of current services, which includes serving fewer veterans and further rationing services like nursing home care. It meets the shortfall by proposing poorly defined management efficiencies, including outsourcing a significant part of the workforce. The President's budget also contained a number of legislative initiatives designed to limit veterans' use of health care services by increasing copayments for medication and outpatient visits and levying a new enrollment fee. Give me a break.

This rule is atrocious. It reeks with hypocrisy. It reeks with inhumaneness. I would encourage anybody in the name of the veteran to vote against the rule.

In 1789, General and President George Washington spoke these words:

The willingness with which our young people are likely to

serve in any war, no matter how justified, shall be directly

proportional as to how they perceive the Veterans of earlier

wars were treated and appreciated by this country.

This bill shortchanges veterans.

I do not believe we should be balancing the budget on the back of veterans. By not allowing priority 8 veterans to claim the benefits they deserve for serving this nation only because they were lucky enough to escape combat without injury is wrong.

The President's budget requested a $1.4 billion increase when it really needed at least $2.5 billion even to meet its own definition of current services, which includes serving fewer veterans and further rationing services like nursing home care.

It meets the shortfall by proposing poorly defined management efficiencies, including outsourcing a significant part of its workforce.

The President's budget also contained a number of legislative initiatives designed to limit veterans' use of health care services by increasing copayments for medication and outpatient visits and levying a new enrollment fee.

Congress has not had the stomach for the Bush legislative initiatives, but hasn't replaced the funds they were designed to create.

Ultimately this body agreed to accept the Senate budget numbers that increased VA discretionary funds, including medical care by $1.8 billion in fiscal year 04.

This level of funding would allow VA to fill the funding deficiencies left from our rejection of Bush's legislative initiatives, restore a vital nursing home program and fund much-needed construction.

We must not break our promises to veterans. The VA-HUD appropriations bill will not meets veterans' needs. Its increase from last year is $1.4 billion, which does not keep pace with hospital inflation or the growth in the numbers of veterans enrolled.

Even the President's own Task Force to Improve Health Care Delivery for Our Nation's Veterans acknowledged the problem, stating that ``There is persistent concern about the inability of VA to provide care to enrolled veterans . . .''.

The President's Task Force also noted that ``the Federal Government has been more ambitious in authorizing veteran access to health care than it has been in providing the funding necessary to match declared intentions.''

Mr. Speaker, I thank the gentlewoman for yielding me time and for allowing me to address the House on the Chile and Singapore trade agreements, which, in my opinion, represent another attack on American working families. But this administration and people in this House do not understand the abominable effect that trade agreements have on the working people of our country. Neither agreement contains basic labor standards to protect workers' rights, freedom of association, freedom to bargain collectively, freedom from child labor, freedom from forced labor, freedom from discrimination. These agreements contain no labor law enforcement mechanism.

Let me further explain why I am opposed to this bill. Indiana working families and manufacturers simply cannot afford any more trade agreements. I find it unconscionable that the manufacturing industry, Indiana's gift to the American economy in more prosperous times, suffers the indignity of unfair competition from unfair trade agreements negotiated by our own government.

U.S. manufacturing job losses from August 2001 to 2002 numbered 606,000. Indiana lost 16,200 manufacturing jobs in the same period of time; 45,000 manufacturing jobs lost in November 2002. Unemployment in this country, Mr. Speaker, is 3.6 million.

Since NAFTA was enacted 10 years ago, there has been the loss of more than 100,000 jobs in Indiana, all attributed to NAFTA. Trade agreements undermine Indiana's businesses, working families, decent wages, and strong environmental protections that Americans have fought so hard for.

I would urge defeat of this measure.

Mr. Speaker, today, I would like to take the opportunity to recognize Reverend Charles Williams for his exceptional leadership. Indiana Black Expo celebrates 33 years of extraordinary service in Indiana, the last 20 under the dynamic leadership of Reverend Williams. Reverend Williams' work dates back to the late 1970's when he was special assistant to the Mayor of Indianapolis. During that time he was responsible for creating and organizing the first city-wide Black History Month Celebration. In addition, he was very vocal in making Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.'s birthday a legal holiday in Indianapolis, and organized and promoted the first Annual Indianapolis Jazz Festival.

In the early 1980's Reverend Charles Williams became president of Indiana Black Expo, Inc and Founder of Circle City Classics, Inc. Throughout various entities, Reverend Williams promotes harmony among people of all races. He was instrumental in raising public awareness about prostate cancer when he discovered he had become a victim and that it was in advanced stages. Although he has extensive knowledge about health issues he had neglected to follow his own advice.

In his book entitled, ``That Black Men Might Live,'' Reverend Williams uses his own personal battle against cancer to address the important, but often neglected, issues of Black men and prostate cancer. It is particularly important to African American men, a segment at special risk for the disease. They have the highest rate of prostate cancer in the world. In fact, the incidence rate in African Americans is 60 percent higher than in white males and double the mortality rate, according to a report done by the National Prostate Cancer Coalition.

He encourages men to get early and regular physical exams to prevent or detect the disease while in its early stages. We must join Reverend Williams in this mission to save humanity. Reverend Williams exudes the type of leadership that is both rich and rare. He is worthy of high praise.

Mr. Speaker, I will be brief, and I appreciate the opportunity to speak about how the Medicare bill fails to provide women with the real prescription drug coverage that they need, especially to senior women of this Nation.

Mr. Speaker, it is with a great sense of pride that I rise today to extend heartfelt congratulations to Anne Elizabeth Smith, 2003 Presidential Scholar, Indianapolis, IN.

Anne is a recent graduate of North Central High School, Indianapolis, IN. Her myriad achievements include the prestigious Indiana Honor Diploma and the North Central Honor Diploma. Anne will continue her education at Williams College, Williamstown, MA.

The United States Presidential Scholars Program was established in 1964, by Executive Order of the President. This program was established to recognize and honor some of our Nation's distinguished graduating high school seniors. In almost 40 years since this program was implemented, 4,000 students have been recognized for their outstanding

achievement in leadership, scholarship, and community.

I would like to welcome Anne to Washington, DC, for National Recognition Week, where scholars are recognized for their academic achievements.

I would also like to thank Anne's parents, David and Alyson Smith, for providing Anne with the exceptional parental guidance that has contributed to her success.

I ask the House of Representatives to join me in saluting this extraordinary young woman for her academic excellence.