Floor Statements

Mr. Speaker, I rise today to recognize April as National Child Abuse Prevention Month. During this month, it is important that we acknowledge the role that we all play in promoting the social and emotional well-being of children in our communities. Unfortunately, throughout this congressional term, we've been astonished by a few high-profile child sex abuse cases; and in some situations, the abuse was unreported for years, leaving dozens of youth vulnerable to further maltreatment for decades. This is unacceptable. Adults should never turn a blind eye after seeing sexual abuse firsthand.

Sadly, failing to report child sexual abuse is not new. In 1999, Sherrice Iverson, a 7-year-old girl from Los Angeles was attacked in a restroom. A witness didn't stop the attack or even call for help. She was ultimately murdered. Fortunately, California enacted a law in her name to help ensure this never happens again.

At the end of 2011, Representative Bobby Schilling and I introduced a similar bill here in Congress. The bipartisan Speak Out to Stop Child Abuse Act requires all adult witnesses to report child sexual abuse to law enforcement or Child Protective Services. I ask my colleagues to cosponsor this bipartisan bill.

Mr. Speaker, I pay tribute to two women of exceptional talent and character--Ms. Pamela McGee and Ms. Paula McGee.

Always committed to excellence, the McGee twins, as they came to be known, are often recognized for their accolades in women's basketball. At the University of Southern California they teamed up with Cheryl Miller and Cynthia Cooper to win two back-to-back National Championships in 1983 and 1984.

Equally as impressive are the McGee sister's lives off the court after her life in basketball, Paula McGee pursed her life's calling to preach. She was also the co-founder of Christian Business Success Network, a nonprofit organization that specialized in training and providing support for Christian business leaders. After winning a Gold medal in the 1984 Olympic Games in Los Angeles, Pamela McGee served as Executive Director of the non-profit Save the Children or Perish (S.T.O.P.), a grassroots organization that helped her to become an elected official as a School Board Member in Flint, Michigan.

Mr. Speaker, Paula and Pamela McGee are two great American role models who I am proud to have in my District.

Mr. Speaker, the clock is ticking on extending the payroll tax cut and unemployment benefits for millions of Americans. In just three short weeks, people barely surviving on unemployment benefits will be out on the streets. In three short weeks, 160 million people who get paychecks would have to pay the government nearly $1,000 more.

Unfortunately, House Republican leadership insists on unrelated ideological legislation freezing the pay of middle class public servants for a third time in 3 years, slashing unemployment benefits by 40 weeks, and drug testing Americans who have lost their jobs through no fault of their own.

I don't think my Republican colleagues understand the plight of Americans who have lost their jobs through no fault of their own. So I'm asking my constituents and people from around the country to go to my Web site, karenbass.house.gov, and send in stories about their efforts to look for work. I will share these stories with my Republican colleagues to help them understand in hopes they will do the right thing.

Mr. Speaker, every 9 minutes and 30 seconds someone is infected with HIV in the United States. Today, 34 million people worldwide live with HIV, and of those infected, 60 percent do not know they are positive. These staggering facts demand that we strengthen our efforts to prevent the spread of this life-threatening disease.

Tomorrow, December 1, we will recognize World AIDS Day. World AIDS Day is an opportunity to take action and invigorate the global movement to ultimately halt the spread of HIV. Emphasizing the importance of ending this three-decade fight, this year's World AIDS Day theme is ``Getting to Zero.'' Zero new infections, zero discrimination, zero AIDS-related deaths.

In observance, starting at midnight, I will hold a 24-hour ``tweet- blast'' where every hour I will tweet facts about HIV/AIDS and ways everyone can get involved to help end this disease. I invite all of you to join me in this conversation on Twitter at Rep Karen Bass.

Madam Speaker, on rollcall No. 858 I was unable to be present as I was in California attending a family funeral. Had I been present, I would have voted ``nay.''

Mr. Speaker, I rise today in recognition of the 12th Annual National Adoption Day this Friday, November 18. As we prepare for Thanksgiving festivities with loved ones, many of us take for granted our opportunity to spend time with family and friends. But for thousands of foster youth around the country, celebrating a holiday with a permanent family remains out of reach.

In the United States today there are more than 400,000 children in foster care, some waiting years to be adopted by a permanent, loving family. Although the number of youth without a home seems discouraging, there is hope.

This week, in recognition of National Adoption Day, an unprecedented number of courts in 400 communities throughout the country will open their doors to finalize the adoption of thousands of children from the foster care system.

National Adoption Day is a nationwide effort to raise awareness of children in foster care who are eligible and waiting for adoption, as well as to celebrate families that have been chosen to make a lasting difference in the life of a child through adoption or relative-based care.

Since 2000, more than 35,000 children have been adopted through National Adoption Day activities. This year, nearly 5,000 adoptions will be finalized. In California alone, my home State, 500 youth will be adopted through these special events.

While the number of children in foster care has significantly decreased over the past decade, the number of adoptions has remained unchanged. Youth often wait years in foster care before finding a permanent family through adoption. During their time in foster care, children are moved from home to home, changing schools, losing friends, coping with separation from siblings, and wondering if they will ever have anyone to call Mom or Dad again.

What's worse is that nearly 28,000 youth age out of foster care each year never having been adopted, often going through life alone without the support systems children with permanent families have, not to mention sharing holiday traditions or a family meal.

As the cochair of both the Congressional Coalition on Adoption and the Foster Youth Caucus, I look forward to continuing to work in a bipartisan fashion to identify solutions to improve the quality of life for our Nation's most vulnerable children.

National Adoption Day reminds us that it is our responsibility and in our best interest to find solutions to ensure children have the opportunity to live in a safe and loving home. Nearly 48 million Americans have considered adopting from foster care, according to a recent national survey. If just one in 500 of these adults adopt, all the 107,000 children in foster care waiting for adoption would have permanent families to help create Thanksgiving traditions of their own.

In closing, in this spirit of giving thanks, I'd like to express sincere gratitude to all of the adoptive parents, relative caregivers, and child welfare caseworkers. Their commitment to improving the lives of today's youth is truly commendable.

Mr. Speaker, I rise today to recognize National Physician Assistant Week, which is observed annually from October 6 through October 12.

On October 6, 1967, the first PAs graduated from Duke University. Today, more than 40 years later, legions of practicing PAs have reached the number of over 83,000, and 307 million patients visited PAs last year alone. I know firsthand the key role of the PA profession in the delivery of care. Before serving in office, I worked for nearly a decade as a PA and served as a clinical instructor who trained future PAs.

Created in response to a shortage of primary care physicians, the PA profession today is crucial to developing a strong primary care workforce. Not only do PAs provide high-quality, cost-effective care in virtually all health care settings, but PAs also extend the reach of medicine to underserved communities throughout the U.S. With health care reform expanding access to 33 million Americans, PAs are needed now more than ever.

Mr. Speaker, as we mark the final day of PA week, I ask my colleagues to join me in celebrating the contribution, as well as the promise, of the PA profession.

Mr. Speaker, I rise today in strong support of H.R. 2883, the Child and Family Services Improvement and Innovation Act. As cochair of the bipartisan Congressional Caucus on Foster Care, I am proud to stand with my colleagues on both sides of the aisle in support of this important legislation.

Youth in the child welfare system fight for what so many of us take for granted--a family. In California, my home State, the Nation's largest foster care system in any given year, as many as 100,000 children can be placed in temporary out-of-home care. Foster parents and relatives are the frontline caregivers for children when their parents are unable to care for them.

A pool of dedicated, loving foster parents is critical for our Nation's foster youth as they wait to be reunited with their parents or achieve permanency with a relative caregiver or adoptive family. However, there is a significant shortage of foster parents.

In May, I introduced legislation calling for a study to find out how to best recruit and retain foster parents. This was included in the original House bill reauthorizing title IV-B child welfare programs introduced in August. I'm pleased that the modified bill before us today includes a provision that encourages States to develop and implement a plan to improve the recruitment and retention of high- quality foster family homes.

H.R. 2883 builds on some of the best practices that were shared with me as I've traveled California hearing from youth, child welfare workers, and parents. The bill also appropriately addresses challenges facing the child welfare system by requiring States to address emotional trauma in foster children and to adopt protocols for using and monitoring psychotropic medications.

I am very pleased with the comments of my colleague, Mr. McDermott, who talked about the use of psychotropics, and I would just add that, in too many cases, the children are prescribed multiple medications. And in talking with a number of youth up and down the State of California, one of the things that many youths said to me was, Can you please help me get off the medication.

I would like to thank Ways and Means Chairman Camp, Ranking Member Levin, Human Resources Subcommittee Chair Geoff Davis, and Ranking Member Doggett for their unwavering commitment to our most vulnerable youth.

Mr. Speaker, I rise to recognize the launching of the Ijaw Diaspora Convention and Education Trust Fund and the presentation of the Ijaw History Project by the Ijaw Community in the Diaspora.

From August 19 to August 20, 2011, the Ijaw Community in the Diaspora is assembling in New Jersey along with the nine governors of the Niger Delta States and scores of dignitaries and officials in Nigeria and the United States with Distinguished Prof E. A Alagoa of the University of Port Harcourt to present the ``Ijaw History Project''--A Five Year Landmark Research Project on the Izon people and to launch the Ijaw Diaspora Convention and Education Trust Fund.

The Ijaw History Project and the Ijaw Diaspora Convention and Education Trust Fund are being launched with the support and endorsement of the Special Guest of Honor for this prestigious event, His Excellency Goodluck Ebele Jonathan, President and Commander in Chief of the Armed Forces, Federal Republic of Nigeria and the Nigeria Governors Forum.

Mr. Speaker, this historic event will focus on ``Transforming Niger Delta Ijaw Communities through Investment in Education and Capacity Development''; and promote the core beliefs of the Ijaw Community in the Diaspora. The organization stands for the power of literacy to end poverty, injustice, discrimination and violence; strengthen peace, democracy and prosperity; transform lives, families, communities and societies; reduce high infant mortality and preventable infectious diseases, and adapt to the challenges of globalization and technology.

The Ijaw Diaspora Education Trust Fund will be used to support the Federal University at Otuoke Bayelsa State's current efforts to develop a library, provide University Scholarships and develop special projects such as research, education and training in Biotechnology to further the efforts of the U.S. based Corporate Council on Niger Delta Affairs in the development of a Biotechnology Industrial Park.

The Federal University at Otuoke Bayelsa State is in the heartland of the Ijaw community of the Niger Delta and is a major contributor to meeting the goals of the US-Nigeria Binational Commission on meaningful development of the Niger Delta Region in the areas of food security, regional and economic security, environmental mitigation and energy.

Mr. Speaker, the Ijaw Education Trust Fund has the potential to have a lasting beneficial influence of on countless families, individuals, and institutions in the Federal Republic of Nigeria and the Ijaw Community in the Diaspora and Bayelsa State Nigeria.

I express my gratitude for the influence and contributions the Ijaw History Project and the Ijaw Diaspora Convention and Education Trust Fund will bestow to meeting the goals of the US-Nigeria Binational Commission on meaningful development of the Niger Delta Region.

Mr. Speaker, I offer my congratulations to the supporters and donors of the Ijaw Diaspora Convention & Education Trust Fund on

being presented with the ``International Leadership Award on the Advancement of Education and Capacity Development in Niger Delta Ijaw Communities.''

Mr. Speaker, I rise in strong opposition to the Republican debt ceiling plan that will be considered later this week.

My Republican colleagues have brought a bill to the floor that would introduce statutory spending caps for the next 10 years with mandatory automatic cuts across the board to all programs if the cap is breached. Disguised as a solution, this cap would quickly become one of the most serious budgetary problems this country has ever faced. While a spending cap might sound responsible, in reality, caps don't balance budgets; caps trigger massive unsustainable cuts. We tried this in California. The Republican spending cap jeopardizes our ability to improve our schools, rebuild the Nation's crumbling infrastructure, and invest in R&D.

A global spending cap is not a silver bullet for our budgetary woes. Far from being a budgetary cure-all, a drastic ceiling on spending would undermine our recovery when the economy gets better. So I urge my colleagues to abandon this hostage-taking on raising the debt ceiling and work with the President to lead us forward with a responsible debt reduction plan.

Besides forcing significant cuts to important programs, a cap would make it nearly impossible to restore services cut over the recession as our economy recovers or step in to respond to current or future economic challenges. This is not the time to be talking about capping spending at unsustainable levels that can never be raised again.

Mr. Speaker, I rise to honor the memory and legacy of South Los Angeles activist and leader, Lillian Mobley.

Lillian Mobley was the matriarch of the African-American community and a legend in South Los Angeles. She was an inspiration for a generation of leaders that walked in her footsteps but nobody could truly walk in her shoes.

Combined tenderness with tenaciousness, Lillian Mobley spoke softly and smiled gently, but underneath it all, was a fiery passion.

Mr. Speaker, I always enjoyed watching the ritual we all practiced at events attended by Mrs. Mobley. One by one we would walk over to her in an orderly manner and pay our respects, the way one should in the presence of a revered elder.

She has left a legacy of greatness behind and the prominent roles she played in establishing and protecting Martin Luther King Hospital and Charles Drew University Medical School are accomplishments of unbelievable magnitude.

May she rest in peace and may her memory inspire others.

I would like to thank the ranking member of the Budget Committee, of which I'm very proud to be a member.

I rise in strong opposition to H.R. 2560. I have to tell you, Madam Speaker, that to me it feels like Groundhog Day again here in the House of Representatives. ``Duck, dodge, and dismantle'' is brought to the floor today for a vote. I have to tell you that I've seen this movie before. The storyline rewards the ultrawealthy while punishing working families.

I served as Speaker of the California Assembly while my State staggered from budget crisis to budget crisis. We cut spending drastically--from $110 billion to $83 billion. But every year, California is subject to national ridicule. Why does California have this problem? Well, Madam Speaker, we have a balanced budget requirement in California. We require a two-thirds vote to raise revenue. We can pass tax loopholes and breaks on a simple majority vote.

So how is that working for us in California? Well, I'd like to invite my colleagues on the other side of the aisle to come to California. Every year the State is held hostage. Every year my Republican colleagues attempt to have a cap that is passed similar to the cap that is proposed in this legislation. And every year the State reaches the brink of a shutdown. So why on Earth would we want to import the disfunction from California to the Nation?

We should be dealing with the debt ceiling free and clear. We should not force a default in order to bring about legislation that is not related to the debt ceiling. Our government should not pick winners and losers, which is exactly what will happen if we don't raise the debt ceiling--whether veterans should be paid, if IRS refunds can be honored, if Pell Grants will be available, and if food stamps can be distributed. And that's exactly what would happen if the debt limit is not raised.

I urge a ``no'' vote on this bill.

Madam Speaker, I come to the House floor today to pay tribute to a man of exceptional valor, a quiet hero, a committed family man, a successful entrepreneur, and my constituent: Leonard Earl Roberts, Sr.

Mr. Roberts lived an extraordinary life. At the age of 16, he joined the Civilian Conservation Corps and later voluntarily enlisted in the U.S. Army after the attack on Pearl Harbor. Platoon Sergeant Roberts led a special unit ashore on D-day. He and his entire squadron received the Bronze Indian Arrowhead for Assault Troopers, and he received the Purple Heart.

After he was honorably discharged at the close of the war, Mr. Roberts returned home to claim the hand of his childhood sweetheart, Dessie, and then used the GI Bill to attend the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Mr. Roberts used his MIT engineering degree to invent a machine that would revolutionize the aerospace industry. And in 1972 in Torrance, California, with his wife and family by his side, Leonard Sr. established Roberts Aerospace Manufacturing Engineering Corporation, one of today's leading companies in the industry.

Leonard Earl Roberts, Sr. was a great American born of a great generation. He was a man of service, honor, integrity, faith, and family. He lived an inspirational life, and our Nation will forever be enriched because of him.

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

Mr. Chairman, this bipartisan amendment is simple. It prohibits the Defense Department from being used to engage in or facilitate human trafficking. Thousands of private contracting defense firms, including some of the industry's biggest names, such as DynCorp International and Halliburton subsidiary KBR, have been linked to trafficking-related incidents. Thousands of nationals from impoverished countries are lured by the promise of good jobs, but sometimes end up victims of scams that leave them virtual slaves, with no way to return home or seek legal recourse.

Despite this, allegations against Federal contractors engaged in illegal labor practices ranging from contract-worker smuggling to human trafficking in Iraq and Afghanistan continue to surface in the media.

A recent New Yorker article illustrates the urgent need for this amendment. The article tells the story of two women from Fiji who thought they were going to lucrative jobs in Dubai, but ended up, quoting the article, unwitting recruits for the Pentagon's invisible army of more than 70,000 cooks, cleaners, construction workers, beauticians, et cetera, from the world's poorest countries who service U.S. military contracts in Iraq and Afghanistan.

These two women were asked to deliver resumes, hand over passports, submit to medical tests, and they had to pay $500 to a recruiting firm. They were lured to Iraq under false pretenses and then told they would be making $700 a month. That was after they believed they were going to be making $3,800 a month, 10 times the normal salary in their home country.

What they didn't realize was that they were contracted to work 12 hours a day, 7 days a week. They were also victims of sexual harassment and assault.

After complaining, they were sent off base for making trouble and held for a month while their passports and ID badges were confiscated by the subcontracting company. The company that hired them was initially reprimanded but still operates in Fiji and still has a contract with the U.S. military.

Meanwhile, allegations against Federal contractors engaged in commercial sex and labor exploitation continue.

Mr. Chair, I yield to the gentlewoman from New York (Mrs. Maloney).

I yield to the gentleman from Florida.

Thank you.

I yield to the gentleman from Washington.

I yield to the gentleman from Illinois (Mr. Davis).

I yield back the balance of my time.

Offered By: Ms. Bass of California

Amendment No. 71: At the end of the bill (before the short

title), insert the following: