Floor Statements

Mr. Speaker, I was ill today and was not present for votes on the Mack amendment to H.R. 1262 (rollcall 122), final passage of H.R. 1262 (rollcall 123), and passage of H.R. 224 (rollcall 124). Had I been present, I would have voted ``nay'' on the Mack amendment, and ``yea'' on final passage of H.R. 1262 and H.R. 224.

Mr. Chair, I rise today in support of H.R. 1106, the Helping Families Save Their Homes Act of 2009.

Mr. Chair, my congressional district, like districts all across the nation, has been hit hard by the foreclosure crisis. In 2007 Los Angeles County had a foreclosure rate of 12%. In 2008 this number had jumped to 35%. Worse yet, while many parts of the country have already received the full brunt of the foreclosure crisis, experts agree that the full force of the crisis has yet to reach Los Angeles.

I have been concerned that previous congressional efforts to stabilize the economy and help my Los Angeles constituents have failed to address the root of the problem--defaulting mortgages.

I am pleased that the Helping Families Save Their Homes Act will make substantive reforms to end the rising tide of foreclosures and keep families in their homes.

Specifically, the measure will allow a judge to modify primary mortgages in the case of bankruptcy so that families can stay in their homes. Currently, when a family files for bankruptcy they can modify loans on second homes, and other property but not on their primary residence. It Is widely recognized that judicial modification of mortgages on primary residences is one of the most significant things that we can do to keep families in their homes.

By encouraging homeowners to work out their loans before filing for bankruptcy, the measure ensures that bankruptcy still remains a measure of last resort. The bill will also adapt federal loan modification programs to make it easier for mortgage servicers to participate.

In addition, the bill begins to address a growing concern--the growing number of organizations that aim to profit off of families who are in crisis and at risk of losing their home. This problem is highly visible in my congressional district, and is a cause of great concern. The measure increases oversight over the FHA home mortgage insurance program to better ensure that predatory lenders are barred from participating.

Mr. Chair, this legislation is necessary to help our nation's path of recovery by addressing the cause of the economic crisis.

I urge my colleagues to vote ``yes'' on this critical measure that will keep our constituents in their homes.

Madam Speaker, I rise in strong support of H.R. 1, the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act.

We are all painfully aware that our nation is in a deep economic recession. The grim numbers from the Bureau of Labor Statistics begin to tell the story. For months the unemployment rate has been rising and in January nearly 600,000 jobs were lost. This is the highest number of jobs lost in a one-month period since 1974. It is estimated that if joblessness continues at the same rate, unemployment rates will be in the double digits by summer and the highest unemployment level since the Great Depression.

Economists on both sides of the aisle agree that we need swift and robust action to counter this troubling downturn. By making needed investments in areas such as infrastructure, healthcare, and education H.R. 1 will address rising joblessness by creating jobs in areas where investment will make a long-term impact. In my home state of California it is expected that the measure will create or save close to 400,000 jobs.

As a healthcare advocate I am particularly pleased that the bill also provides $1 billion to restore state and local health department jobs that will be lost in the next year due to budget cuts. Not only will this funding keep thousands of people employed, it will also ensure that the public continues to receive critical prevention and wellness programs that these employees provide. Moreover, it is essential that we ensure the stability of our public health infrastructure which is critical to national and local responses to natural or man-made catastrophes.

I am also gratified that the bill includes funding to address critical health care workforce shortages. At a time when millions of Americans are unemployed, there are well over 140,000 unfilled registered nursing jobs in our hospitals, nursing homes and community health centers. To address this need the bill includes $500 million for nurse training.

The bill also allows governors to spend up to $10 billion for school modernization. The funding provided for school renovation and repair is essential to address the nation's crumbling education infrastructure. Our nation's students and teachers deserve to learn and work in buildings that are not crumbling around them.

There is no dispute that economic conditions will get worse before they get better. The American Recovery and Reinvestment Act is an important step forward in reversing the course of the current recession. It will provide a desperately needed boost to our ailing economy, and will provide American families with a needed social safety net as they weather the worst of this economic crisis.

I urge my colleagues to vote yes to stabilize our economy and assist Americans impacted by this crisis.

Mr. Speaker, I rise to introduce the Immigration Oversight and Fairness Act, which will help address the shameful state of immigration detention in our country.

It is unconscionable that our government holds families in conditions reserved for hardened criminals, forces children caught on their own to spend harrowing nights in border jails and incarcerates in bare cells asylum seekers who came to these shores in search of freedom. These inexcusable abuses should never have happened, and Americans never should have tolerated them.

By strengthening existing regulations and giving them the force of law, the Immigration Oversight and Fairness Act will help ensure that the Department of Homeland Security does not violate its own detention standards.

My bill ensures that all detainees can communicate with their lawyers and obtain needed medical care. It will also help to expand legal orientation programs so that detainees understand their rights and the likelihood of winning their cases.

The Immigration Oversight and Fairness Act also protects vulnerable children who are arrested on their own and held in DHS custody at border stations. A recent report by the Women's Refugee Commission found that the Border Patrol continues to hold unaccompanied immigrant children in inappropriate conditions. This bill increases training for the Border Patrol officers and facilitates speedy transfers of children to safer, better-equipped facilities.

In addition, the bill expands the use of alternatives to detention. It costs the American taxpayer nearly $2 billion a year to house detainees, yet the vast majority of detained immigrants pose no threat to their communities or our country. This legislation will make it possible for vulnerable populations--including asylum seekers, torture victims, families, pregnant women, and the elderly--to be released using secure, proven methods of supervision that come at a fraction of the cost of incarceration.

Addressing the problems that plague our detention facilities will require a new commitment to openness and transparency. This bill, therefore, has oversight and accountability provisions which will shine a much-needed light on a system that, for too long, has operated in the shadows.

Because it introduces sensible reforms to correct the many failings of immigration detention in this country, the Immigration Oversight and Fairness Act has garnered broad-based support. More than 100 faith, human rights, civil liberties, immigrant and community organizations have signed a letter endorsing my bill. I would like to specifically thank the Lutheran Immigration and Refugee Service, the American Immigration Lawyers Association, and the National Immigrant Justice Center for the important role they played in formulating this legislation and for the tireless work they do every day on behalf of immigrant detainees.

Mr. Speaker, the detention system in which thousands of detainees languish daily--frequently denied access to loved ones, legal counsel, and medical care--is incompatible with our laws and inconsistent with our American values.

The Immigration Oversight and Fairness Act will ensure that our government honors its most sacred obligations: to respect our laws and to protect the children entrusted to its care.

I look forward to working with the Obama administration to fix America's broken immigration system, and I ask my colleagues to support the Immigration Oversight and Fairness Act.

Madam Speaker, in 2006, Congress passed the STOP Act to reduce the tragedy of underage drinking in our country.

Today, I rise to introduce the Support 21 Act of 2009, which builds upon that effort. The 2006 STOP Act provided the first Federal community grants to address under age drinking as a public health crisis.

While we are encouraged by reports of localized positive results, alcohol remains a dangerous primary drug of choice among our youth. Just listen to these statistics:

In 2007, about 10.7 million teens, aged 12 to 20, reported drinking alcohol in the past month. Approximately 7.2 million were binge drinkers, and 2.3 million were heavy drinkers. According to the latest Monitoring the Future Survey, slightly over 43 percent of twelfth graders said they had used alcohol in the past 30 days. Clearly, too many children and parents are ignoring the facts or do not fully understand the dangers that under age drinking poses.

Equally alarming is a recent movement by a group of college presidents to lower the minimum drinking age to 18. These college presidents are choosing to ignore research finding that alcohol has a potentially damaging impact on adolescent brain development.

Madam Speaker, the teenage years represent a critical window of opportunity for understanding, preventing and treating alcoholism. We know that people who begin drinking before the age of 15 are four times more likely to develop alcohol dependence as an adult than those who wait until the age of 21. We know that each additional year of delayed drinking onset reduces the probability of alcohol dependence by 14 percent and that, if drinking is delayed until age 21, a child's risk of serious alcohol-related problems is decreased by 70 percent.

For all of these reasons, I am introducing the Support 21 Act, along with my lead cosponsor, Congresswoman Mary Bono Mack. Support 21 authorizes a new, highly visible media campaign to educate the public about under age drinking laws and to build support for their enforcement. Our bill directs the Institute of Medicine to report to Congress about the influence of drinking alcohol on the development of the adolescent brain.

The legislation also authorizes grants to pediatric medical organizations in educating providers on best practices and provides supplemental grants to community coalitions to work with pediatric health care providers and parents to reduce underage drinking.

Finally, the bill provides funds for CDC to establish a new focus on underage drinking, surveillance, and prevention.

Madam Speaker, we can no longer afford to address alcohol dependence exclusively as a disease of middle age. Delaying the time when our children begin drinking until age 21 is a critical public health challenge that can offer them a safer and more productive adolescence, as well as a brighter future.

I urge my colleagues to cosponsor the Support 21 Act of 2009.

Madam Speaker, I rise today to pay tribute to the Salesian Sisters of St. John Bosco for their 100 years of dedicated service to young people across the country, and particularly in our communities of Boyle Heights, Bellflower and Bell Gardens in the 34th Congressional District of California.

The Salesian Sisters, also known as the Daughters of Mary Help of Christians, were founded by one of the great Italian educators of the 19th century, Saint John Bosco, with the collaboration of Saint Mary Domenica Mazzarello. During that time, Northern Italy was becoming increasingly industrialized and both of these religious leaders recognized the great need to establish schools for the disadvantaged, as well as the many abandoned youth in working class communities.

The history of the Salesian Sisters in this country begins in July of 1908 when four Sisters made the voyage from Northern Italy to the United States, setting out to replicate the good work they had accomplished in Italy. Like millions of others who emigrated to our shores at that time, the Sisters arrived at Ellis Island in the port of New York. Knowing no English and with limited resources, these pioneering women made a living taking in orders of sewing and embroidery while ministering to the Italian immigrants at St. Michael's parish in Paterson, New Jersey.

Gradually, the Sisters began to broaden their work in this country by opening an orphanage and a small school. As more and more young women joined the Sisterhood, the reach of their mission expanded to New Jersey, New York, Pennsylvania, and Florida. In time, the Sisters opened centers in other parts of the country, including Louisiana, Texas, Colorado, Arizona, and California.

In 1921, the first Salesian Sisters arrived in California where they took over the care of an orphanage and, later, the care of the boys in the junior seminary operated by the Salesian Fathers and Brothers in the Central Coast area of California. They eventually established several schools throughout the state, and in 1950, the Sisters opened St. Margaret Mary School in Lomita in Southern California.

In the 34th Congressional District, the first educational center established by the Sisters was St. Dominic Savio School in Bellflower, opened in 1956. By 1960, the nearby aerospace plant employed thousands of workers--many of them school parents--and the school population was at a maximum. When the plant closed, many families relocated. The local population was replaced by different ethnic groups, making the area today one of the most diverse in the United States. The school adapted well to the demographic changes, and continues to thrive today serving the spiritual and educational needs of the community.

Another school in the 34th District administered by the Salesian Sisters is St. Mary's Catholic School in Boyle Heights. St. Mary's was established in 1907 by the Holy Name Sisters. During that time, Boyle Heights became highly industrialized and many people moved in from various countries seeking new opportunities. After World War II, much of the non-Latino population moved to outlying areas, and the community became increasingly populated by Mexican immigrants. By 1990, school enrollment at St. Mary's dropped significantly and the Holy Name Sisters could no longer provide personnel for the school. The Salesian Sisters were then asked to take over the school, and they have been there to this day.

The Salesian Sisters also operated St. Gertrude's School in Bell Gardens in the 34th District for 30 years.

Madam Speaker, on a personal note, I attended St. Mary's Catholic School prior to the coming of the Salesian Sisters, and I am very pleased the school continues to serve local youth today under the Sisters' devoted guidance. I might also add that my father, the late Congressman Edward R. Roybal, was a committed supporter of Salesian schools. He was instrumental in helping establish the Bishop Mora Salesian High School for young men in Boyle Heights, which many area boys attend today following their 8th grade graduation from St. Mary's.

Madam Speaker, I ask my colleagues to please join me in honoring the noble mission of the Salesian Sisters in the United States in educating our youth over the past 100 years, and I extend to all of them my fondest wishes for many more years of dedicated service.

Mr. Speaker, I rise in support of S. 352, the DTV Delay Act, which postpones the date of the analog-to-digital television transition from February 17, 2009, to June 12, 2009.

Over the last several months I have received call after call and letter after letter from my constituents who rely on their analog televisions for news, emergency information and entertainment. They are very concerned that they have been unable to obtain the converter box they need for the upcoming digital transition.

My constituents tell me that they applied for coupons well in advance of the deadline, only to be told that coupons were no longer available or that the coupons they received had already expired. My constituents who live in group homes and single room occupancy buildings have also voiced concern that they have been denied coupons because they live in housing that does not fit the program's narrow definition of a ``household.''

My constituents are not the only ones affected by arbitrary expiration dates, coupon shortages or ineligibility. According to the National Telecommunications and Information Administration, NTIA, as of January 28, 2009, more than 14 million coupons have expired. The result is that millions of Americans will lose their television signal because they will be unable to purchase the equipment necessary for the transition. The NTIA also reported in early January that the $1.34 billion that Congress appropriated for the coupons had run out. To date more than 3 million people are on the waiting list. This number includes nearly 7,000 of my constituents, who need these coupons before the transition takes effect and they lose their main source of communication.

It is clear that this country is not prepared for the February 17 transition. I am pleased that the DTV Delay Act postpones the digital transition for 115 days and will permit consumers holding expired coupons to reapply for replacement coupons. This bill is badly needed to help ensure that millions of Americans

do not lose a critical communications safety net when our country transitions from analog to digital television.

I urge the Energy and Commerce Committee and the NTIA to use this additional time to address the needs of Americans who are currently considered ineligible for the converter box program, such as those that live in single room occupancy buildings and other group homes across the nation. These are people who need the coupons most because they will not be able to afford converters without the help of this program. They are entitled to the same access to the digital converter program as all other Americans. Let's ensure that no Americans find themselves in the dark when the transition occurs.

Mr. Speaker, last week I re-introduced the Security and Financial Empowerment Act, better known as the SAFE Act, to help stop a cycle of violence that exists in many American families today.

Domestic violence, dating violence, sexual assault and stalking are serious, widespread social problems which impact all Americans regardless of race, ethnicity or social status. The reality of this violence is highlighted by the fact that 1 in 4 American women report being physically or sexually abused at some point in their life.

These serious crimes, primarily against women, have both physical and psychological consequences. Yet credible research has found that many women stay in abusive relationships because they cannot support themselves. As a result, many victims are faced with the terrifying decision of living with the abuse or leaving without financial security.

For victims of domestic violence, this choice is even more daunting during tough economic times like now, for research tells us that as the economy worsens the incidence of violence increases.

The SAFE Act will provide the safety net many need to create a safe and stable environment for themselves and their children by eliminating obstacles that may prevent them from gaining meaningful employment or seeking help.

My bill makes it possible to take limited leave from work for safety planning and necessary court appearances without the threat of losing a job. The SAFE Act also provides job protection when reasonable workplace safety modifications are requested.

To protect victims of violence who seek help against their abuser, the SAFE Act prohibits employers or insurance providers from basing insurance coverage or hiring decisions on an individual's history of abuse.

The SAFE Act also makes a survivor of domestic and dating violence, sexual assault and stalking, eligible for unemployment insurance if it is necessary to leave a job to escape the abuse.

Madam Speaker, the SAFE Act is needed to provide these victims with equal protection throughout our country. While several States have laws similar to the SAFE Act, the reality is that today a person's financial ability to leave an abusive environment depends primarily on where they live.

I thank the many dedicated advocates who daily work to empower women against the horrific crimes of dating and domestic violence, sexual assault and stalking for their invaluable input, expertise and support of the SAFE Act.

I encourage my colleagues to join me and Representative Ted Poe in cosponsoring and helping to pass the SAFE Act which, for many of these victims, can make the difference between life and death.

Madam Speaker, I rise today to recognize Rimban George T. Matsubayashi. After almost 50 years of serving as a minister for the Buddhist Churches of America, including more than nine years as head priest of the Los Angeles Honpa Hongwanji Buddhist Temple in Downtown Los Angeles in the 34th District, Reverend Matsubayashi will retire on January 31, 2009.

Rev. Matsubayashi, who is also fondly known as Rev. George or Matsubayashi-sensei, graduated Summa Cum Laude from Ryukoku University in Kyoto, Japan in 1960. Later that year, he began his ministerial service in the Jodo Shinshu tradition of Buddhism in the United States at the Honpa Hongwanji Mission of Hawaii at the Honolulu Betsuin Buddhist Temple. While in Hawaii, Rev. George studied at the English Language Institute at the University of Hawaii. In 1963, he enrolled in the doctoral studies program at the University of Wisconsin. In 1964, he transferred to the PhD program in the Department of Oriental Languages at the University of California, Los Angeles.

In 1965, Matsubayashi-sensei was appointed to the Venice Hongwanji Buddhist Temple in Los Angeles. When the temple became independent in 1976, Rev. George served as its first resident minister. He remained there until 1999. During his 34 years at Venice Hongwanji, Rev. George was active in a wide variety of community organizations. He served on the board of United Way's Western Region. He was a member of the Clergy Council for the Pacific Division of the Los Angeles Police Department. He also gave his time as a Reserve Chaplain for LAPD's Central and Pacific divisions.

In 1999, Rev. George was appointed as the Rimban, or head priest, of the Los Angeles Honpa Hongwanji Buddhist Temple, which is also referred to as ``Nishi'' to the local Japanese American community. During his tenure, Rev. George oversaw the 100th Anniversary of the temple in 2005. The event featured the addition of the new Wisteria Chapel and the Muryo Koju-do (nokotsudo-columbarium) built to commemorate the temple's pioneering members and to continue the proud legacy of the Issei--first generation Japanese Americans--for future generations.

Since joining the Los Angeles Honpa Hongwanji Buddhist Temple, Rev. George's community involvement extended well beyond the church's walls. He serves on the Little Tokyo Coordinating Council, the Los Angeles Buddhist Federation and as a volunteer chaplain at several hospitals on the west side of Los Angeles.

In addition to his spiritual and community work, Rev. George is also a devoted husband, father and grandfather. Rev. George and his wife, Kiyoko ``Kay'' Matsubayashi, have four children: Craig and his wife, Raquel; Dean and his wife, Kim; Tina and her husband, Howard; and Erik and his wife, Cindy. They are also the proud grandparents of Jared, Lindsay, Chase and Emma.

Madam Speaker, on the occasion of Rev. George's retirement, I ask my congressional colleagues to please join his dutiful congregation, his family and me in thanking him for his many years of service to the Buddhist Churches of America and our community. While we wish him well in this new phase of his life, Rev. George will always be Sensei, or teacher, in the hearts and minds of the generations of families whom he has touched during his many years of ministerial service.

Madam Speaker, I rise in support of H.R. 2, the Children's Health Insurance Program Reauthorization Act of 2009. This bill represents a strong bipartisan first step to reform our broken health care system by guaranteeing that millions of uninsured children will have the health care that they need. Its passage will bring a symbolic end to the broken promises of the Bush Administration, which twice chose to deny coverage to 4 million children in desperate need of health care.

Over the past decade the State Children's Health Insurance Program (SCHIP) has helped reduce the number of uninsured children by one-third and has made significant progress in improving the health of low-income children. H.R. 2 will reauthorize this critical program until 2013, ensuring that 7 million children currently covered by SCHIP continue to receive health coverage. Equally as important, this bill will extend health coverage to an additional 4 million low-income children who are currently uninsured.

The Children's Health Insurance Program Reauthorization Act of 2009 strengthens SCHIP by including incentives for states to develop effective outreach and enroll more eligible children. In addition, the bill improves access to both mental health services and dental health care, and offers states the option to cover targeted low-income pregnant women as a way to provide the essential prenatal care that can help reduce birth defects.

I am particularly grateful that our leadership has chosen to include the provisions of the Immigrant Children's Health Improvement Act in this SCHIP reauthorization. This provision will restore the states' option to provide coverage to legal immigrant children who meet all other eligibility criteria, thereby seizing the opportunity to address health disparities in communities of color that historically have had very poor access to health care.

Madam Speaker, I believe this bill takes a giant step forward in honoring our moral imperative to ensure that age, race and income do not determine the health status of our children. I am proud to vote for its passage today, to protect our commitment to our children, and to offer them the promise of a healthier tomorrow.

Madam Speaker, I rise to support H. Res. 34 recognizing the State of Israel's right to exist in the community of nations and reaffirming America's strong support for Israel.

Paramount among any sovereign state's rights is the right to defend itself. I voted to affirm that right for our good friend, the State of Israel against attacks from Hamas. If the Hamas-led government truly wishes to be a member of the global community, it must acknowledge and abide by all the world's rules including severing all links to terrorism and acknowledging the right of Israel's peaceful existence.

Madam Speaker, the Middle East has been plagued by chronic fighting long enough. I join my colleagues in supporting Israel and in calling on all parties to cease hostilities and focus their efforts on the Israeli-Palestinian peace process.

Madam Speaker, I rise to introduce the Achievement Through Technology and Innovation Act of 2009.

The 111th Congress begins in an era of continued shrinking school budgets, overcrowded schools, and overextended teachers. On an individual and on a national level, these factors have dire consequences. The individual consequence is that millions of American children may never realize their full potential or the promise of the American dream.

The national consequence is that our country loses the benefits of our children's talents and their potential to become our Nation's next generation of leaders in education, science, law, research, economics, engineering and all the key disciplines that have helped to make our Nation the greatest in the world.

While there is no easy or single answer to the complex problems of education in our country, there are steps we can take now to put us on the path toward a quality education for all our children. One such step is to make technology literacy a priority and an integral part of every educational system in the country.

From credible studies, we know technology can have a tremendous positive impact on student learning. This is especially evident in low income and minority communities where students are vulnerable to falling behind and learning 21st century skills critical to individual success and to America's success in today's world economy.

Whether preparing for college or going directly into the workforce, students are increasingly required to have the high-tech skills employers and the world market continue to demand.

Therefore, it is a tragedy that in the United States today we have high dropout rates that exceed 50 percent and school districts that cannot keep up with the technology needs of their students. Passage of the ATTAIN Act will help us to address these serious problems.

For example, at the School for Global Studies in my district, I had the opportunity to see firsthand the benefits and the life-changing impact teaching with technology has on a child's life.

While touring the school, I met some of the students who confided that if it were not for the meaningful technology program at Global Studies, they probably would have dropped out of school and ended up in some serious trouble. Instead, these students are excited about learning and excited about their future.

The excitement and the hope students feel at Global Studies is what every child in our country deserves to feel about their education and the promise of their future. The ATTAIN Act will help to make that possibility a reality for all our children.

The ATTAIN Act would amend the Enhancing Education Through Technology program and the No Child Left Behind Act. Currently, the No Child Left Behind Act allocates 50 percent of technology education funds to schools with disadvantaged students through formula grants. The ATTAIN Act would increase that percentage to 60 percent. This funding would be used to purchase new technology and train teachers on how to effectively use these new tools.

The remaining 40 percent of ATTAIN funds would be distributed through competitive grants that encourage schools to undertake comprehensive, technology based, reform initiatives that have been proven to increase student achievement.

Madam Speaker, we know that when teachers are properly trained and schools are properly equipped with technology, students are engaged, eager to learn, and ultimately better prepared to address and to lead our country to meet the challenges of the 21st century. We have already lost the untapped talents of thousands of our young people.

Passage of the ATTAIN Act will help to reverse this tremendous loss of unrealized potential.

I urge my colleagues to cosponsor the ATTAIN Act and help with its passage.

Mr. Speaker, I rise in strong support of the Paycheck Fairness Act and commend the House leadership for making this legislation among the first orders of business in this new Congress.

Forty-six years ago, Congress passed the Equal Pay Act to end wage discrimination against women who on average earned only 60 cents to every dollar earned by men.

Since then, women have made extraordinary achievements. Glass ceilings continue to be broken in the public and private sector; we now serve under the first female Speaker of the House, and the number of women heading Fortune 500 companies continues to expand.

I believe that these achievements have contributed to an illusion that women have reached full equality in the workplace.

The sad reality is, however, that in spite of these achievements and the passage of the Equal Pay Act, today women still earn only an estimated 78 cents to every dollar earned by their male counterparts, for equal work.

This unfairness often has devastating economic consequences on women, especially upon retirement, as pension and Social Security benefits are based on life earnings.

Wage discrimination can cost a woman anywhere from $400,000 to $2 million in lifetime earnings, contributing to the disturbing fact that today women make up 70 percent of older adults living in poverty.

I urge my colleagues to begin the process of ending wage discrimination in our Nation's workplaces once and for all by voting yes on the Paycheck Fairness Act. We need to act today to strengthen the Equal Pay Act and ensure that women in the workforce have the means to protect their economic security.

Madam Speaker, on any given day, roughly 30,000 immigration detainees are held in a mix of federal, state, local and private detention facilities. Explosive growth in the number of non- citizens in immigration detention across the country has resulted in sometimes shameful conditions of confinement and repeated incidents of detainee abuse.

Although federal immigration authorities adopted detention standards in 1998 and 2000, you wouldn't know it today. These non-binding standards, which cover access to medical care, the separation of violent and non-violent suspects, and access to a lawyer, have not been enforced.

It is long past time that Congress make the federal government abide by its own detention standards. That is why today I am introducing the Immigration Oversight and Fairness Act of 2008.

The bill establishes long-overdue legally binding detention standards for all immigration detention facilities.

The Immigration Oversight and Fairness Act also establishes legally binding standards for Customs and Border Patrol stations which, though not technically detention facilities, house immigrants for a few hours or a few days before their transfer to immigration authorities.

Finally, the Immigration Oversight and Fairness Act treats those detainees who a judge determines are not a flight risk or a threat to society in a more humane and rational way. Under this bill, these individuals would be placed in a proven program of supervised release instead of in a detention facility where the federal government must expend enormous resources to feed, house and watch over them.

Madam Speaker, I look forward to the House considering these critical reforms of the immigration detention system in the next Congress.

Madam Speaker, I rise in opposition to H.R.1424, the Emergency Economic Stabilization Act of 2008.

There is little debate that there is a real crisis in our financial markets, and I share the sense of urgency felt by my colleagues as we look to bring stability to the financial sector and ensure the availability of credit to all Americans.

I had hoped that when a new bill came to the House, it would be a comprehensive package that would include greater accountability from Wall Street, greater protections for Americans on the verge of losing their homes, and an economic stimulus package that would create jobs to strengthen our economy.

The Senate did include important and beneficial provisions. I strongly support the addition of an increase in the FDIC's insurance cap to $250,000 and favor many of the included tax provisions such as renewable energy and research and development tax credits. In addition, I have consistently advocated for the mental health parity legislation that was the vehicle for this measure.

However, despite these commendable additions, I must remain opposed to the underlying plan of committing $700 billion of taxpayer dollars to an untested plan with an uncertain outcome and inadequate regulations and oversight.

While the bill begins to address the foreclosure crisis, its provisions are far from what many economists believe is needed to have a consequential impact on the American families who are losing their homes. To truly help stop the bleeding, I believe we must get at the root of the problem by including measures such as lifting the ban on loan modifications for primary residences during bankruptcy proceedings. This would enable homeowners to stay in their homes by renegotiating their loans. Preventing foreclosures will protect families, communities, and our economy.

I am also concerned that while the measure creates a congressional oversight panel, the panel lacks teeth and can only make non-binding recommendations. If the taxpayers are expected to stomach a $700 billion bailout, we have to insist on greater oversight authority.

Finally, this bill is simply a temporary bandage if it does not include economic stimulus provisions that will create the jobs needed to strengthen our economy and improve the financial condition of the average American. While the problems on Wall Street have reached a breaking point, ordinary Americans have been feeling the pain of weakness in the economy for a very long time.

If this legislation passes it is simply a stop gap measure. I am heartened by the comments of Chairman Frank who committed to reforming our financial regulatory and oversight system and by Speaker Pelosi promise that we will come back and consider stimulus proposals that will truly help grow our economy and positively impact those who have been hurt by this crisis.

Madam Speaker, while I agree that inaction is not an option, I also believe we can, and must, do better than this legislation. I urge a no vote.