Floor Statements

Mr. Speaker, I ask unanimous consent to have my name removed as a cosponsor of H.R. 4885.

Mr. Speaker, let us celebrate the entrepreneurial spirit in America by recognizing a deserving and generous member of the community--Mr. Dudley DeZonia, who has successfully been at the helm for 30 years as President of Royal Truck Body.

Businesses like Royal Truck Body are the backbone of this country and they are an enduring symbol of the American Dream. The approximately 23 million businesses of the size and scale of companies like ROYAL in the United States employ more than half of the country's private work force, create three of every four new jobs, and generate most of America's innovations.

For example, 30 years ago in my district, Mr. DeZonia had a dream to lead a truck body business in the City of Paramount. California. His long-term vision for Royal Truck Body was and still is to deliver top- quality products at competitive prices, which has enabled the ``ROYAL'' trademark to become the recognized leader and largest service body company in the Western United States.

Royal Truck Body has a 5,000-square-foot design studio and 145,000 square feet of manufacturing and warehousing space. ROYAL pushes this space even further with an additional 40,000 sq. ft. at its satellite locations in Phoenix, Arizona; Dallas, Texas; and Sacramento, California.

Royal Truck Body has had a continuing pattern of growth since its inception, and its growth recently has been at an ever-accelerating pace. In 1995, ROYAL became a bailment pool company for Chevrolet; in 1997, it became a converter pool company for both Ford and GMC; and in 2000, it added Dodge. ROYAL has also been a member of the National Truck Equipment Association since 1978.

Royal Truck Body has grown from producing four truck bodies per day to more than 35 bodies per day. ROYAL earned its ISO 9001 certification in 1999, which made it the first body manufacturer in the United States to achieve this goal. From 2001 to 2003, ROYAL was awarded General Motors Specialty Vehicle Sales Leader Award in the United States. Also, in 2002, Ford presented ROYAL with the Top Volume Pool Account Award and the Ford's Directors Award for top volume of F-Series chassis cabs.

Mr. DeZonia is a business success story, and he continues to make many contributions to the local community. He consistently donates to the local Paramount Education Partnership and to seniors at Paramount High School for college scholarships. ROYAL prides itself in its employees' successes because its employees are its family.

Today, let us honor Mr. Dudley DeZonia. By celebrating Mr. Dudley DeZonia's successes, we celebrate American enterprise. Mr. DeZonia is keeping the American Dream alive and well for future generations.

Mr. Speaker, yesterday I missed rollcall vote No. 347. Had I been present, I would have voted ``yes.''

Mr. Speaker, I rise proudly today to congratulate the city of Lakewood for being named Sports Illustrated magazine's ``Sportstown'' for the State of California. This prestigious award recognizes the city in California with the best community sports programs. And since California is Sports Illustrated's No. I state, that means Lakewood is the number one sports town in the entire country. Sports and outdoor living are part of the fabric of life in this wonderful city, which I represent, in the 39th District of California.

Every year, Mr. Speaker, more than 13,000 Lakewood citizens participate in sports leagues or volunteer as coaches or referees. Kids of all ages in Lakewood play sports in one of the many city-sponsored leagues. The city's leagues are free of charge so all kids in the city can participate, and learn the values of teamwork and sportsmanship while they are having fun and making friends. The grownups in Lakewood also join in adult basketball, softball, tennis and volleyball leagues.

And if you live in Lakewood and sports leagues aren't your cup of tea you can go to one of the 10 public parks, two public swimming pools, or two public Community Centers and get some exercise or just have a good time.

This prestigious award recognizing Lakewood's community sports programs comes during the same year that Lakewood is celebrating its 50th anniversary.

So, to the people of the City of Lakewood I say, ``Congratulations for being the best sports city in America, and Happy 50th Anniversary!''

Mr. Speaker, I would join my colleagues a little more often if they

were not up here so late at night. I know that the gentleman has already talked about a number of issues that particularly impact young people in this country. I know that I was here when we talked about the tuition increases and the rising costs of student loans, the increasingly bleak job market for recent graduates. I know that the gentleman talked about the voter suppression issue, and tonight I want to talk a little bit about the men and women who are putting their lives on the line in Iraq and in many places around the globe to protect our country.

Mr. Speaker, we are rapidly coming up to the 4th of July, our Independence Day; and I think it is timely to thank the men and women who sacrifice themselves on behalf of our country.

An interesting statistic that I ran across is that 70 percent of the people serving in Iraq are ages 18 to 30, and that is obviously a big group of young Americans. Unfortunately, while people talk a lot about patriotism and about supporting our troops, unfortunately, what we are seeing under the current Bush administration is that many of the support mechanisms for these men and women, once they come home, are being dismantled. So instead of talking and giving just lip service to how we should be supporting our troops, we should be passing legislation that stops the cuts that the President has proposed, especially cuts to VA health care.

It was not too long ago that I visited, and I have been there on several occasions, Walter Reed Medical Center, which is where the wounded soldiers come after they are stabilized from the theater in Iraq; and I had an opportunity to talk with many young men in the amputee ward, some as young as 19, 20, 21, 22, who are going to need ongoing health care for their injuries. They are going to need job retraining because the jobs that they are going back to they cannot hold anymore. And, unfortunately, what we have seen this government do is cut benefits to VA programs, especially the health care programs, at a time when out of the other side of their mouth, they are saying we need to support our troops.

So I find that there is a level of hypocrisy in what the Bush administration says and actually what they are doing. I tell people all the time, the measure of our patriotism is not just about rah, rah, and cheering the troops while they are in war, in theater; but it is how do we treat those same men and women once they come home and they need us. Unfortunately, we are seeing that this administration is bent on cuts to VA services. Veterans who have fought some of their toughest battles for this country on foreign soil then come back to fight the bureaucracy of the VA health care system and face ever-increasing delays to be seen by doctors, closing of facilities and consolidation, which means that they have to travel many, many more miles just to go and get the basic services that they are entitled to.

I just want to note, before I engage my two other colleagues here this evening in discussion, that even VA Secretary Anthony Principi publicly acknowledged that he tried in vain to secure more funding from this administration. So what kind of priorities does this administration have if they cannot meet the funding request of the VA Secretary who was hand-picked by President Bush? Mr. Principi is someone the President picked, but he is also a veteran. So he could not keep quiet about how egregiously low the funding level is for the VA administration.

So I think it is timely that young people know that we are asking them to make a great sacrifice in risking their health and their lives overseas; they are being divided from their families and, again, they are coming back to an administration that is saying they support the troops when, in fact, the services and the follow-up care that they are going to need is being cut while they are away.

I do not know what my colleagues think about that, but I yield.

Allegedly.

Mr. Speaker, I wanted to mention one thing in the hearing, you talk about the testimony in the Committee on Armed Services. It just further illustrates how unfair of a burden we really are delegating to, again, these young men and women who are going overseas with the best of intentions. They want to serve their country well. They want to do the right thing. They are doing their job under very difficult circumstances and to the best of their abilities. But their leadership at the top is failing them.

It is making the situation such that they are going to have to stay for longer and longer periods of time. They will have to endure worsening conditions and continuing instability. And these are folks that are proud Americans that want to serve this country. And, again, their leadership from our President is failing them.

I just think it is such a tragedy because we are asking these young people to take the brunt of the risk. And when they come back stateside and, hopefully, they come back safely, the way that this administration is thanking them for taking that risk is unbelievable.

I want to talk about one brief issue before I have to run, and that is called concurrent receipt. We like to call it the veterans tax or the disabled veterans tax. And what that is is people who have served in the military who have earned a military pension and they are injured in combat and they are receiving disability pay, they have their pension payment deducted by whatever amount they are receiving in disability.

So they are not receiving their disability payment and their pension payment as they should. Because they are meant to do two different things: Disability payments are meant to compensate and help people who have been injured and suffered disabilities from fighting.

A pension was meant to give them a cushion for retirement. They are actually deducting the disability payment from the pension payment so the person gets one amount of money when they should actually be getting both concurrently; and I know that there are Democrats in this body who have been fighting like hell, and pardon my French, to try to eliminate this disabled veterans tax, and we have met full on resistance from the other side of the aisle and the Bush administration.

I think that doing that to veterans who, again, have sacrificed much, have been honored for their work on the battlefield, is just a hypocrisy, and it is like slamming the door in their face after they have taken the brunt of the risk; and, again, it is a failure of leadership, things like the GI bill that were intended to help veterans come back and reestablish their lives by helping them fund a college education.

Today is actually the 60th anniversary of the GI bill. We have seen the GI bill pretty much gutted to what it initially was so that even with the GI bill help, many kids coming back from theater having served overseas in combat just do not have the kind of benefits they do to pick up their lives and move on with a college education and try to move into other fields.

Again, I just think it is shameful that this administration is failing our young people in such a way.

Mr. Speaker, excellent point, and I am going to have to leave you gentlemen now, but I just wanted to commend both of you for your excellent work in trying to bring issues to light that impact young adults in America, and I think this topic is so very timely, and I urge you to continue your great work on the issue.

Mr. Speaker, a person greatly deserving of recognition from my community is Shane K.

Thever, an inspiring leader in the South Asian Community and a real advocate for political change among the Asian population. He is not one to stand idly by and let others be the ones to speak out. He has and continues to be a pioneer in his proactive involvement for the improvement of the practice of law, minority business development, and the furtherance of social causes He was recently recognized by the California State Assembly for his outstanding achievements in community leadership, and the lasting impression he has made on those with whom he has been associated.

Among his achievements, he has an outstanding academic record from UCLA, and his first contribution to his community upon receiving his law degree was in providing Legal Aid Services to those most in need throughout the Los Angeles area. He has since established a distinguished private practice in health care and employment law.

In recognition of his strong leadership, President Bill Clinton nominated Shan to serve as the Assistant Director of the Minority Business Development Agency under Secretary of Commerce, Ron Brown.

In addition to his Federal service, Mr. Thever has been an activist at the State level as well, serving on California's medical board and adjudicating disciplinary cases against physicians, as well as chairing the legislative advisory committee for workers' compensation in 1986.

At the local level, Shan Thever served as the Mayor's appointee to the Los Angeles Airport Advisory Committee, which was charged with advising the Airport Commission and the Los Angeles City Council. He was Treasurer of the Municipal Improvement Corporation for Los Angeles, which was responsible for floating the City of Los Angeles bonds and, in 1989, he served on California Attorney General John Van de Kamp's Asian Advisory Council to recommend hate crime legislation.

Among his many other achievements, Shan Thever has served as a member of the UCLA Law Alumni Board of Directors, Steering Committee of the California Minority Counsel Program, Ethnic Advisory Group of the South Coast Air Quality Management District, California State Bar Board of Governors, and Minority Relations Committee, appointed by the State Bar Board of Governors, as well as the Asian Pacific American Bar Association of Los Angeles.

With great respect I commend Shan Thever for showing extraordinary leadership and inspiring others in the South Asian community to become proactive in their neighborhoods, churches, local organizations, the legal field and in government. He encourages everyone to get involved and make a difference. For his outstanding work, I would also like to congratulate Mr. Thever on his selection by the South Asian Bar Association of Southern California as the recipient of the Trailblazer Award. His fine example will lead many others to follow and become an instrumental force for change for the South Asian community.

Mr. Speaker, I want to state that I incorrectly voted ``no'' on H.R. 4567, the Homeland Security Appropriations Bill. I intended to vote ``yes.''

Mr. Speaker, since President Bush took office, 2.2 million Americans have lost their jobs. Americans are suffering through the longest unemployment period in 20 years and the most dismal job picture in almost 40 years.

And what is the Republican leadership doing about it? Having the House vote on tired proposals for job-training vouchers that do not actually create jobs for the millions of Americans who are out of work. Unemployed Americans need jobs and benefits immediately so that they can provide for

their families. They do not need training vouchers for jobs that do no exist.

Democrats have offered proposals that will create real solutions for Americans. We have proposed a highway bill that would create 1.8 million good-paying jobs more than the Republican bill. Democrats have also proposed enacting tax bills that will keep manufacturing jobs here in the U.S. and end incentives for shipping jobs overseas.

Americans also need Congress to extend tax cuts for the middle class, such as a child tax credit, without adding to the deficit. These are real solutions that create new jobs for out-of-work Americans and keep existing jobs at home.

We should be voting to pass these meaningful solutions to unemployment in this country and not wasting our time on gimmicks.

Mr. Speaker, envision this: an undocumented immigrant or a legal permanent resident or even a U.S. citizen suffers severe abdominal pain and finds himself in the emergency room of a nearby hospital. The first order of business for the emergency physician, nurse, or whoever is attending the patient is not to ask them where it hurts and do a physical exam to see if their life is in imminent danger, but to ask their immigration status and get a sworn statement to that effect.

If that patient at that particular moment cannot prove their legal status, that same doctor must make the choice not to provide care to this person, or they must at least report them to the immigration officials before providing lifesaving treatment. I ask you, what kind of choice is that? What happens if that same immigrant decides not to seek care because of the potential consequences and what could become a burst appendix leads to infection, more expensive care or possibly

even death? There is no humanity in the choice you are asking health care workers to make in this circumstance. They are no longer healers, but immigration law enforcers.

What is even more appalling is that the Republican leadership chooses to pursue this course of action to deal with this country's immigration problem rather than look at the comprehensive immigration reform measures that have been introduced in the House. If the Republicans are serious about reforming immigration, then take a look at the bill the Democrats introduced which would bring a sense of order and reason to the influx of immigrants into this country.

Let us not jeopardize our entire public health system in this misguided attempt to bring down health care costs and deport undocumented workers. This bill is an affront to our health care professionals and to the immigrant community in this country which would no longer be able to get care without presenting their green card first.

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

Mr. Speaker, I thank my colleague, the gentleman from California (Mr. Honda) for all of his leadership.

Today, I am proud to join him and to join Asian Pacific Americans in commemorating the 27th anniversary of APA Heritage Month. This month allows us to recognize the tremendous contributions the Asian Pacific American community has made to our State and to our Nation.

It is fitting, then, to remind others of important APA legislation. For instance, H.R. 677, the Filipino Veterans Equity Act, which would provide U.S. veterans benefits to World War II veterans of the organized military forces of the Commonwealth of the Philippines and the Philippine Scouts who fought for the U.S. and its allies. These veterans deserve to be recognized for the service they provided to our Nation in a time of need.

It is also a good time to bring attention to H.R. 333, which would amend the Higher Education Act of 1965 to authorize grants for higher education institutions serving Asian Americans and Pacific Islanders. This important bill would open doors for many underserved APA communities.

I am extremely proud my home State of California has the largest Asian American population of any State in America, and I am also extremely proud to represent a region of Los Angeles County that includes many members of the Asian Pacific American community. The diversity represented by the different APA communities of our region is a source of strength in our local economy, our culture, and the education we can provide our children.

Asian Pacific Americans are contributing to every aspect of American life, from business and government to sports, science, research and the arts. I am proud that the political landscape in my district reflects this diversity.

I want to take two seconds to recognize two important female city councilwomen in my district from the APA community: Laura Lee, of the City of Cerritos, and Michiko Oyama, of the Hawaiian Gardens City Council. They are pioneers in California's 39th District. They are smart, tough, compassionate leaders and great role models for all Americans.

As we recognize the many contributions of the Asian Pacific American community during this month, let us also celebrate where the APA community is going and the future impact it will have on our country. I urge all Americans to remember their important contributions to our country not only today but every day. The Asian Pacific American community, like the many diverse immigrant communities in this country, makes our country richer and stronger, and to them I am grateful.

It is really great to be here. We are also joined by another colleague of ours, the gentleman from Alabama (Mr. Davis). Just to catch the tail end of your conversation, I wanted to say that there seems to be something wrong when people are advocating that young people get involved in politics and express their opinions and vote, and you have 18- to 35-year-olds who want to do just that and then the rules are set up in such a way that make it nearly impossible for them to participate. There is something wrong with a democracy that does not embrace making it easier for folks to participate in the political process and exercise their right to be heard.

Not to get off topic, but one of the things that I wanted to talk about a little bit this evening is a subject that is troubling not just for students, for a lot of young adults all across America, folks that may have graduated from college and been out in the workforce for several years, but that is the need for access to health care. I can remember myself when I was at UCLA law school right after I graduated, there was this intense pressure to find a job, and I had this fear during the period when I was studying for my bar exam, I had this fear because I was not covered by any health insurance, this fear that if I did not get a job quickly after taking the bar, that I was pretty much going to be on my own where health care was concerned. I was fortunate in that when I graduated from law school, I graduated in a somewhat healthy economy and there were quite a number of employment opportunities that presented themselves.

But today students are not so lucky. They are graduating from universities and the job market is very dismal for them. Not only does that mean that they are going to have to struggle without having an income after they graduate and the thought of student loans on top of it, but chances are they probably will not be covered by any type of health care. As we rapidly approach the months of May and June, a lot of college students are going to be graduating and finding themselves in the situation that I have just described.

I know of one particular instance in which a female college student recently shared a story with me regarding her personal hardship where health care was concerned. She is about to graduate from college in California and just received a scare by testing positive for an ovarian cyst. She does not know where to turn. She does not have any idea where she is going to get the money to pay for the necessary procedures; and if this situation is not bad

enough because she is a student, currently some of the things are covered by student health, but imagine if she had just graduated and were covered by no health insurance whatsoever, she might not even be aware of the situation that she is in because she might not have gone to the doctor to be tested. I am sure she is not alone in that situation.

I do not know what it is about young people, and to young people that may be watching this, I say you absolutely have a right to affordable and accessible health care. Do not think because you are young that that is one of the dues that you have to pay. You absolutely should have access to affordable health care. Do not sell yourself short and do not demand anything less. Do not think that because you are young, the government can ignore you. You have an opportunity. You have a voice. Exercise it. You have an opportunity to try to shape the policy that this Nation abides by. Be vocal about that.

We have seen the number of people who are uninsured in this country continue to rise. That is just not the people that are uninsured, but there are many people who are underinsured, which means they have very superficial health care benefits; they are not really meaningful, they have high premiums, they have high deductibles. That means that people have just one more worry as they are starting out and embarking on what should be the rest of their lives and a positive experience.

Four years ago, the President promised us action on health care but every year since then, more and more Americans have lost their health insurance. It is particularly dramatic in young people. Young adults comprise a disproportionately large share of the Nation's uninsured. Despite only representing 15 percent of the population, young adults account for 30 percent of those who go without health care in our country.

It is a shame that an industrialized, modern society, supposedly the greatest country in the world, cannot find a way to make sure that every person in this country has access to health care. Those of you who are listening, all of us here on the floor tonight that are talking about these issues that impact young folks, we are fighting like crazy to try to make sure that big HMOs and pharmaceutical companies are not the ones that are receiving the benefits of the health care policy that we pass in this House. We are urging that 12 million young adults who currently find themselves without access to health care, to get involved politically, talk to your Representatives, let them know how critical this issue is for you.

Mr. Speaker, I just want to make this one observation: When I was young I played sports and inevitably was plagued with injuries from time to time, and my mother once told me something, and I hate to admit when my mother was right, but she was so right.

Mom, here goes. She said, ``You do not feel it now because you are young. You have energy, you are strong, you recover quickly and you think you are indestructible. But when you get older, these injuries are going to come back to haunt you.''

I do not particularly consider myself very old, but it is true. As somebody in my thirties, my soccer ankle that I broke three different times playing bothers me.

For young people who do not have access to health care, who do not have access to treatments and medicines that can help prevent a minor injury from becoming a severe injury down the road, or prevent a mild form of a disease or an illness from becoming something full-blown, the sole thing standing between them and some kind of chronic illness or really devastating health problem is early access to preventive medicine and early access to medicine and to therapies that are going to help them.

Again, it is kind of hard to think when you are 18 years old that you are going to be old and sick and frail one day, but if you do not have access to health care and you cannot get a head start and make sure that you get yearly visits so that you are checked out for any potential conditions, that is a potential that is a very real potential down the line.

So, for young folks, again, I cannot stress this enough. I think sometimes we think, well, we are young, we are just starting out, we do not have the dream job that we are hoping for, but I am working full- time to put myself through school or working full-time right now and have no health care benefits or very minimal health care benefits. You deserve better. Again, you need to exercise your voice and make sure that you are getting better.

Mr. Speaker, today we celebrate a day that represents the importance of freedom, liberty and determination for the people of Mexico and for Mexican Americans.

On May 5, 1862, untrained, out-numbered and out-gunned Mexican forces determined to protect their land, successfully defended the town of Puebla against the French.

Against overwhelming odds, they managed to drive back the French Army, achieving a total victory over soldiers that were deemed the best trained and equipped in the world.

For Mexico, this days represents a symbol of unity and patriotism.

In this country, Cinco de Mayo is also a celebration of the rich cultural heritage Mexican-Americans and all Latinos have brought to the United States. Unfortunately, Latinos do not have much to celebrate this year.

This past month the Latino unemployment rate has remained an alarmingly high 7.4 percent. This is 28 percent higher than when President Bush took office and it is significantly higher than the national average.

This administration's misguided policies continue to create economic uncertainty for all working families.

Do not be fooled by the Marachis and pinatas at the White House today. This pomp and circumstance gives no relief to the 1.4 million unemployed Latinos.

Mr. Speaker, I am here this evening to talk about an issue that is very near and dear to my heart and that is the need for access to higher education. A long time ago, a college education was reserved for the well-to-do, not something that an ordinary citizen could readily achieve. But over time, that changed and now a college education is no longer a privilege of just a few but a necessity to achieve any kind of job security in our very fluid economy.

But, sadly, just as a college education has become an absolutely crucial component of obtaining a good job, the Bush administration is making it harder and harder to access and afford a college education. As a 30-something Member of Congress, and I will admit to the gentleman from Florida I am in my 30s, I am here to speak on behalf of young people who are struggling to achieve the American dream of a decent college education. Rather than burdening today's young people with overwhelming debt, there are several things that we can do to help. We need to slow down the tuition hikes and encourage States to maintain their commitment to higher education. And we should double the Pell grant award and make it available year round.

Finally, we should implement Senator John Kerry's idea for $50 billion in tax credits to help Americans afford all 4 years of college. The typical loan debt has nearly doubled over the past 10 years for the average student, with 64 percent of students needing to borrow money to finance their college education. I too struggled to make college and law school a reality. As it turned out, all seven children in my family were fortunate enough to obtain a college degree. But we all did it with the assistance of Federal grants and Federal loans, loans, I might add, that I will be paying off until I am in my 60s.

Despite the fact that we came from immigrant parents who did not speak much of the language when they first got here and were of limited economic means, all seven of my brothers and sisters and I graduated from a college institution. Most amazingly, however, my mother returned to school after the youngest of her seven children started kindergarten and she went to night school to earn her 2-year degree and later transferred to a 4-year institution and graduated from college in her late 40s to become a bilingual education teacher. That is how strongly she believed in a quality education and in showing and demonstrating to us that education was truly the key to the American dream in this country.

I find that the current atmosphere that works against students who are trying to finance their way through school is really something that undermines many of the American values that we hold dear. Overwhelming debt

can force students to take on jobs to try to work their way through school to the detriment of their education, or in some instances students forgo college all together assuming that the expensive and exorbitant tuition hikes are far out of their reach. In the past year alone, tuition has increased an average of 14 percent at 2- and 4-year public institutions, and it has increased 6 percent at 4-year private schools. That is just in 1 year. That is not even counting the fact that the cost of living keeps rising and things like rent and food and books go up as well.

In response, President Bush has ignored the tuition problem, cut or frozen student aid, and levied higher taxes onto students. If we do not have an education President, then we definitely need to have an education Congress. I urge my colleagues on the other side of the aisle to break with their President and fight for education support for our young people. Let us send the President legislation making education more affordable and more accessible to all, and let us dare him to sign it. The bottom line is that the leadership in Congress needs to stop talking about education and actually do something about it.

I again thank the gentleman from Florida for allowing me to speak this evening.

Mr. Speaker, I have heard from a number of young people all across the United States about the burden of taking on that debt and trying to even work their way through college at the same time that they are assuming debt. It is very common now that a degree that used to take 4 years in order to complete now takes 5 or 6. I have heard of people who have actually, once they have graduated, have been so saddled with the huge debt of trying to repay their student loans. They have had to move in with their parents because the job economy and the job prospects are not bright for them.

In many instances it can take several years for them to be self- sufficient, actually land a job to where they can be self-sufficient. Meanwhile, their student loan payments come due because they can only defer them for so long, and what we are finding is many young people, after they have worked to try to either get a 4-year degree or an advanced degree, meet somebody, fall in love, and marry, they are having to wait an average of 4 years longer to purchase their first home because of the staggering student loan payments that they have to make monthly, and it is a very sad thing because I was brought up with my parents telling me that education is the key to success in this country. If one gets a college degree and a good education, the world is their oyster, and that is simply not the case for many young people today.

Mr. Speaker, if I could add a couple of things on to that, not only are the banking institutions trying to change the law to move away from a fixed rate to a variable rate, they are also trying to pass along the costs of generating these loans, more of the costs, on to students. Right now when students trying to take out students loans, they are responsible for their loan generation fees which end up being about $500 on average. So that is a further burden that is added to the students. Now they are trying to pass more of those costs on to the students.

And, sadly, if we think about this in the long term, banks get these loans

guaranteed by the Federal Government. That is our tax dollars. And every time somebody defaults on a student loan, it is the taxpayers who are coming to the rescue to pick it up. The banks have very little risk for these loans, and yet they want to make the interest rates fluid so that they can generate more profit, all the while fully knowing that if the loan becomes unbearable for a student to pay back and they default, they do not have to worry about it because the taxpayers step in and pay the bill.

I just think that is wrong fundamentally to put that burden back on the taxpayers when we should be trying to move in the other direction to make these loans affordable for students so that they do not default so that the payback rate increases, which, again, is more sound for the economy and again saves taxpayers money in the long run.

So with that, I will yield back to the gentleman and allow him to continue on the discussion on higher education this evening.

Mr. Speaker, today I rise in support of John Kerry, the Democratic presidential nominee, the only candidate who has a real plan to build a stronger, more secure America. John Kerry is committed to empowering our communities by creating good jobs, improving our public schools and increasing home ownership. John Kerry has the best combination of character, policymaking experience and national security credentials to get our neighborhoods and our country back on track.

Back on track from what, one might ask? From a dismal GOP economic record. This administration's economic plan has created the worst job loss since President Hoover. A whopping 2.8 million jobs have disappeared since President Bush took office, including 1 million jobs that have been shipped overseas. Nevertheless, President Bush says our economy is strong. He should see how his economic plan has devastated hardworking families like in my home State of California where over 1 million Californians are looking for work. Clearly we need new leadership in the White House that has a strategy to create jobs, revitalize our economy and help all working families realize their dreams. John Kerry is the man to do this.

I would like to express my strong support for H.R. 1779, the Guardsmen and Reservists Financial Relief Act of 2003. This bill would allow penalty-free withdrawals from retirement plans during the period that a military reservist or national guardsman is called to active duty for an extended period.

It is now more important than ever to work to mitigate the financial hardship we are placing on our reservists. At the outset of Operation Iraqi Freedom, both the White House and Department of Defense spoke of swiftly achieving victory in Iraq and bringing our servicemembers home within a few short months.

Despite the valorous efforts of our military personnel, it is clear that we are facing a very different picture. According to DOD, stabilizing and ultimately winning the peace in Iraq will require the mobilization of at least 100,000 to 150,000 reserve component personnel annually for the next several years. Reserve component personnel comprise nearly 40 percent of our current force, whereas they only comprised 2.0 percent of the initial force used in the invasion.

In light of the tragic upsurge in violence over the last month, 20,000 soldiers recently learned that their year-long deployments to Iraq had been extended for an additional 3 months. Nearly one-fourth are reservists.

It is apparent that our success in Iraq and Afghanistan, and in the broader war on terrorism, is dependent on the continued commitment of our reservists. And I don't think we are doing enough right now to ensure that they are being adequately compensated for their sacrifice.

According to GAO, nearly 41 percent of reservists are impacted by a pay discrepancy between his or her military and civilian salary. This is taking its toll. Not only are families racking up credit card debt, falling behind on bills, and losing businesses, but many are grappling with not re-enlisting when their service is up.

And the fear of financial hardship may be hurting recruiting efforts. In 2003, every active and reserve component achieved its recruiting goals except the Army National Guard, which fell short of its recruiting goal by 7,798 (12.6 percent).

We must begin to alleviate the financial burden on reservists, and I believe this bill is an important step in the right direction. However, it is not enough. Simply allowing our reservists to raid their retirement is not the answer.

We must provide better re-enlistment bonuses, we must secure the extension of TRICARE benefits, we must secure the continuation of hazardous duty pay and family separation allowance, and we must continue to push for pay raises for our military families.

In short, we must do everything in our power to compensate our guardsmen and reservists for their unprecedented sacrifice.