Floor Statements

Mr. Speaker, a man from Butts County, Georgia, Carl Kelly of Pepperton Cottonmill Village, has recently been reintroduced to his community and to new generations as a true hero.

Just prior to World War Two, First Sergeant Kelly was a member of the Jackson Rifles of the Jackson National Guard. 1st Sgt. Kelly was sent to Europe with very little training and very little equipment. While he was there he was one of the thousands of Americans who went ashore on Utah Beach during the Normandy Invasion. He was later wounded in St. Lo, France and awarded his first Purple Heart and the first of his three Bronze Stars for gallantry.

Following the war, Kelly remained in the military and was deployed very shortly thereafter to Korea, where he was given a field promotion to 2nd Lieutenant. While in Korea, Lt. Kelly was wounded a second time. Once he returned to action, he repeatedly risked his own life to cover the retreat of a pinned down artillery unit, ultimately receiving a mortal wound.

Lt. Carl Kelly is, from all available records, the most highly decorated veteran of Butts County. While bravely serving his nation he was awarded three Purple Hearts, three Bronze Stars, the Silver Star, and dozens of other honors.

What has brought Lt. Kelly's actions to the attention of the public is a book chronicling the life of an infantryman in World War Two and Korea. In his recently published book, Warrior By Choice in World War Two, By Chance in Korea, author Jack M. Anderson tells Kelly's story in an excerpt describing the first man he ever saw die.

As we prepare to send our young men and women into combat, I think that it is fitting that we remember the sacrifice of men like Carl Kelly, and finally give him the honor that has been so long overdue.

Recently my hometown newspaper, the Jackson Argue-Progress, published an article about Kelly's life of commitment, and I would like that article and these comments to be submitted together for the Record. In this way, I wish to honor the memory of a hometown hero, a father, a husband, and an example of valor to all Americans, on behalf of a grateful nation.

[From Jackson Argus-Progress, Jan. 29, 2003]

Remembering Butts County's Lt. Kelly

(By Herman Cawthon)

In the recently published Warrior By Choice in World War

II, By Chance Korea, author Jack M. Anderson tells of his 24-

plus years of service as a United States Infantryman.

In his book Anderson includes an excerpt of a Butts County

warrior, Carl Kelly. Anderson describes Kelley as follows:

``From Butts, Georgia 1st Sgt. Carl Kelly, Hq Co, 1st Bn,

38th Inf was wounded the same time I was. He would return to

duty and be killed the day before I was captured. He was the

first man I would watch die. We started to move him to the Bn

Aid Station, but he said not to, but wanted us to get a

hometown friend of his who was the Bn S4 Sergeant.

``Carl told Stewart (I hope that name is right) that things

were going slowly dim and he wanted Stewart to be sure to

tell his wife and kids that he loved them and would meet them

in heaven. He talked for a few minutes more, then just closed

his eyes and was dead. I had seen others killed and would see

more, but that was the first time I watched a man die.''

Anderson and Kelly both had very similar military careers

up to the death of Kelly. Both were in the National Guard

when World War II started and both were sent into action with

little training and even less to work with; not only guns and

ammunition, but food and lodging. Kelly went to the European

Theater and Anderson to the Pacific. Both were wounded and

decorated several times. Anderson details how the US troops

improved and how they wound up with so much more than the

enemy.

After World War II, both joined the regular Army, so when

the Korean Conflict started, they were sent into battle

immediately. Again Anderson tells how the U.S. was very short

on supplies and had very few men with any training and

experience. At the beginning, he describes the hardships

experienced by the troops as they fought the larger, better

trained enemy troops. Both men were prisoners and escaped.

Again, the U.S. wound up with superior troops and equipment.

After reading the book, Cary Kelly, son of Lt. Carl Kelly,

wrote the following letter:

``To Whom It May Concern: The following is a brief military

history of Lt. Carl Kelly from Jackson, Georgia.

``Carl Kelly began his military career by joining the

Jackson National Guard, then called the Jackson Rifles, while

still in his teens. When WWII started, the Jackson National

Guard was called upon to train for the war in Europe. Carl

Kelly was made 1st Sergeant before leaving for Ireland to

wait for the invasion of Normandy.

``After landing on Utah Beach the 8th Army division fought

their way inland to France. There in St.-LoFrance, then 1st

Sergeant Kelly was wounded in action and was awarded his

first of two bronze stars for gallantry. He also received his

first Purple heart for being wounded in action. As soon as he

was able he rejoined his outfit and continued fighting into

Germany until the Germans surrendered.

``By this time Sgt. Kelly had made the decision to enlist

in the military for a career and was a full time military

personnel.

``When the Korean Conflict began Sgt. Kelly was immediately

sent to Korea. (How President Harry Truman could call it a

conflict when over 50,000 American soldiers were killed is

beyond me). It was a terrible war, often fought in hand-to-

hand combat in temperatures of 20 degrees below zero,

fighting against not only North Koreans but Chinese as well.

``After distinguishing himself on the battlefield as being

a leader of men, Sgt. Kelly was awarded a battlefield

commission to 2nd Lieutenant. Soon after he was again wounded

in action.

``After recuperating from wounds, Lt. Kelly returned to

active duty and soon after was involved in a battle involving

an artillery unit that had been ambushed and was trying to

retreat. According to records, intense enemy fire was

preventing the withdrawal of the field artillery battalion.

``Lt Kelly reconnoitered the enemy positions and organized

the artillerymen into fighting groups. With complete

disregard for his personal safety, Lt. Kelly repeated

aggressive actions, wiping out enemy forces and weapons.

Besides instilling confidence in the artillerymen, his

conspicuous actions served to center the fire of the enemy on

himself. Although enemy fire became more intense and deadly,

Lt. Kelly continued to expose himself in leading the

assaults. Finally he was struck by enemy fire and fell

mortally wounded.

``Before he died he told a friend to tell his wife and

children that he loved them very much and would see them in

heaven someday. He received the Silver Star Award

posthumously.

``Lt Kelly was in service for eleven years. He received

three Purple Heart Medals, three Bronze Star Medals and the

Silver Star medal, as well as the many service medals awarded

by the United States Army, during the period of time served.

``I feel my father is a forgotten Hero from Butts County.

From all the records I can find, he was the most decorated

soldier from Butts County. He was also the only military man

and officer to serve in both World War II and the Korean

Conflict who was killed in action. He received a battlefield

commission from 1st Sgt. to 2nd Lieutenant. Our family also

received a letter of condolence from General Douglas

MacArthur (which we still have).

``To me this is not a bad resume for a young man from

Pepperton Cottonmill Village who started out in the Jackson

National Guard and died a hero at the ripe old age of 32.

``I believe that every young man and woman form Butts

County who gave their life in defense of their country are

heroes and should be recognized. In a time when roads,

highways and buildings, are named after people at the drop of

a hat, none of these young heroes even have a small plaque on

a park bench in Butts County. Even on Veterans Day and/or

Memorial Day their names are only brought up by family

members. I feel that other counties in Georgia are way ahead

of Butts County in this matter.

``Very Sincerely, Cary V. Kelly''

Carl Kelly is not the only hero in the family. His wife,

Edna is a hero to many of her friends.

At the time Carl was killed she had three young sons, Cary,

Tim and Pat. All three served in the military. Tim was killed

in a motorcycle accident in California after being discharged

and on the way home. Pat was a disabled Vietnam Combat

Veteran and was killed a couple of years ago in a truck

accident.

A few years after Carl's death, Edna married Ed Daniel,

another Veteran and they had two sons, Chip and Joe. Both

sons are now veterans, too. Ed passed away a few years ago

after an extended illness.

When asked how she had handled so much tragedy and could

still have a smile and her special laugh, she pointed upward,

and said she had a lot of help from above.

Mr. Speaker, for security reasons our delegation trip departed prior to the conclusion of legislative business. Had I been present for the conclusion of legislative business, I would have voted ``nay'' on the Motion to Recommit (rollcall No. 29), and ``yea'' on Final Passage (rollcall No. 30) of H.R. 4--Personal Responsibility, Work and Family Promotion Act of 2003.

In addition, Mr. Speaker, I would have voted ``nay'' on the Motion to Recommit (rollcall No. 31), and ``yea'' on Final Passage (rollcall No. 32) of H.J. Res. 2--the Fiscal Year 2003 appropriations Conference Report.

Madam Speaker, I have the privilege to sit on the Ways and Means Committee here in Congress with Sam Johnson. I consider him to be my friend. More than that. He is a true American Hero. You see, Sam Johnson was an F-4 Fighter-Bomber pilot in Vietnam. Sam was shot down and captured by the North Vietnamese in 1966. For the next 7 and a-half years he was a prisoner of war in what the POW's referred to as Alcatraz. This was a prison for the strongest willed of American prisoners of war. A place where the Vietcong would try to break the will of those who stood against it.

For three years of his time, Sam was in solitary confinement. Other than the frequent times when the enemy took him and brutally tortured him, he never had any contact with another human being for that entire time.

To communicate with one another, the prisoners developed a system of taps with their fingers on the walls and floors of their cells. This allowed them to provide each other their names and ranks so that if one of them should escape or be released, they would be able to tell American intelligence who was alive and in what prison they were being housed.

While in Alcatraz, Sam met another pilot. This pilot was also in the camp for 7 and a-half years, three of which were spent in solitary confinement. Colonel Jeremiah Denton also endured years of torture, abuse, degradation, untreated injuries, malnutrition, years of separation from his wife and family, and conditions that most human beings would consider impossible to survive.

Both of these men were in Vietnam to serve their country. To fight for American interests and to bring democracy to an oppressed people. While some back home were protesting the war, these men didn't let that influence their mission. They were heroes who stood strong, never renouncing their nation. They always supported the United States throughout.

During an interview with the media during his imprisonment, Denton was asked about his support of U.S. policy concerning the war. He replied: ``I don't know what is happening now in Vietnam, because the only news sources I have are North Vietnamese, but whatever the position of my government is, I believe in it, I support it, and I will support it as long as I live.''

When the prisoners were released in 1973, they were flown to Clark Field in the Philippines before being flown home. President Ronald Reagan summarized that moment best in his State of The Union Address before Congress in 1982:

He said, ``We don't have to turn to our history books for heroes. They are all around us. One who sits among you here tonight epitomized that heroism at the end of the longest imprisonment ever inflicted on men of our armed forces. Who will ever forget that night when we waited for the television to bring us the scene of that first plane landing at Clark Field in the Philippines--bringing our POWs home. The plane door opened and Jeremiah Denton came slowly down the ramp. He caught sight of our flag, saluted, and said, `God Bless America,' then thanked us for bringing him home.''

As the senior officer on the plane, Denton was asked to go to the mircrophone and say a few words. What he said that day fully captures that American spirit which so motivates young men and women to serve their country. ``We are honored to have had the opportunity to serve our country under difficult circumstances. We are profoundly grateful to our Commander-in-Chief and to our Nation for this day. God bless America.''

It is no wonder to me that the American people elected Jeremiah Denton to the United States Senate, and Sam Johnson to the United States House of Representatives. But their story is repeated countless times in the thousands of American prisoners of war who returned home after that long conflict and after other wars and conflicts throughout the years.

It is repeated in every voice of every serviceman and woman who takes an oath to support and defend the Constitution of the United States. It is echoed in every snap of the American flag as it flaps in the wind, and seen meandering through the rows of crosses in every military cemetery in which American soldiers, sailors, airmen, and Marines are buried.

You see, America has never been an oppressor nation. Each time troops have been sent to battle, it has been to carry on the ideals of freedom and liberty. Each free breath we take, every moment we live without oppression makes that sacrifice worthwhile.

Yes, serving your country can be hard. Just ask Sam Johnson and Jeremiah Denton. But if it was easy, everyone would do it. It is the fact that it is hard that makes it worth doing.

Since the fall of Saigon in 1975, we have failed to locate 1,948 Americans in Vietnam, including 38 civilians.

It is our duty, as a nation, and as a Congress, to continue pursuing every available avenue, until we have located and brought home every one of our service personnel from Vietnam.

One veteran we were able to bring home after many years summed up this duty best before he disappeared in 1970.

Major Michael O'Donnell, who flew many rescue missions in his helicopter while in Vietnam, expressed it this way.

``If you are able, save for them a place inside of you and save one backward glance when you are leaving for the places they can no longer go. Be not ashamed to say you loved them, though you may or may not have always. Take what they have left and what they have taught you with their dying and keep it with your own. And in that time when men decide and feel safe to call the war insane, take one moment to embrace those gentle heroes you left behind.''

After many years, Major O'Donnell's remains were finally returned home in 1995 and positively identified in 2001.

It is my hope that some day, we can say that every one of our men and women who have served their nation has finally come home.

Madam Speaker: It is my honor to stand on this floor today and express my profound gratitude for the service of our men and women in our armed forces. Their commitment and sacrifice are the ultimate price for our security and liberty. It is my prayer that every one of them would come home to us healthy and safe. It is my commitment that if that is not possible, we will still bring them all home so they may rest among those they served in the peace they helped to forge. To me, that is the greatest memorial we can provide for these brave souls.

In closing, I just want to echo the sentiment of my colleagues in saying to every POW and MIA; you are not forgotten.

It is home for the infantry, chief of the infantry.

Mr. Speaker, I have listened with strong interest here with the comments of the gentlemen about the numbers that came through the report today, and the gentleman here with his comments, too, and I am glad both of you all are on the Committee on Armed Services. They have put forth very good points here and made very good points of what is going on.

This was a major conversation piece in my district. As I have pointed out, the President of the United States does not want to go to war. The purpose of all the deployment to the Middle East is to deal with this issue from strength, to send the message large, loud and clear to Saddam Hussein that the decision for war is his. The President has said that he will make the decision, Saddam will make the decision. The lack of coming forward with the information that they have previously given in verifying, as so well put by the gentleman from New Jersey (Mr. Saxton), is evidence he is making a decision.

His clock is ticking. Time is running out. He has to make a decision as to own up to the disarmament, how it has been done, who did it and verify, or we, as the United States, have no choice but to follow his decision, Saddam Hussein's decision.

Mr. Speaker, I thank the gentleman for yielding. I thank the two gentlemen for their comments and their remarks in support of the United States and our freedom.

Mr. Speaker, I rise today to introduce several tax-based reform bills which will have a positive impact on our current economy. They are measures which will stimulate growth, eliminate outdated, punitive provisions of the tax code, and prepare the way for further reforms which will bring our tax code more in line with the current market conditions.

First, is the Capital Gains Tax Rate Reduction Act. This legislation will reduce the top capital gains tax rate from 20 percent to 10 percent. Additionally, the lower rate of 10 percent would be reduced to 5 percent. The measure would also repeal the five year holding rule.

This legislation is needed to spur today's ailing economy. From past rate reductions, we know that the economy responds to the lowering of rates. The impact of reducing the tax burden on investments is to increase activity in the markets. When the tax is reduced, individuals have an incentive to sell assets. These sales spur economic growth, as well as generate revenue for the Federal coffers.

Second is the Alternative Minimum Tax Repeal Act (AMT). This legislation will repeal the Alternative Minimum Tax applied to individual taxpayers. The domestic tax system has dramatically changed since the creation of the AMT regime. Consequently, this tax structure has long outlived its purpose. Today, the AMT is punitive in nature, overly cumbersome and affects taxpayers who were never intended to fall into this tax trap. Congress has taken action to address some of the concerns raised by the individual AMT. Specifically, the Economic Growth and Tax Relief Reconciliation Act (H.R. 1836) enacted in the 107th Congress made permanent the ability to offset the individual AMT calculation with the child tax credit. The measure also increased the AMT exemption amount by $4,000 for joint returns ($2,000 for unmarried individuals) effective for tax years between 2001 and 2004. In tax year 2005, the AMT exemption amount reverts back to its previous levels.

Additionally, the Job Creation and Worker Assistance Act, signed into law on March 9, 2002, provides for another temporary extension of the provisions which allow individuals to use all remaining personal tax credits against both their regular and AMT tax. These provisions expire at the end of the 2003 tax year. It is time for a permanent fix to this escalating problem. The impact of the individual AMT structure will continue to grow until these issues are addressed head on. Changes should be made on a long-term, permanent basis.

To provide a permanent remedy to the increasing problem of more tax filers falling into the AMT each year, my legislation will permanently extend the current-law provision which allows all personal tax credits to be applied against the AMT calculation. The proposal will also immediately increase the AMT income exemption level by 10 percent, and subsequently increase the exemption by 10 percent in subsequent years. In addition, the bill will repeal the income limitation that currently applies to that exemption. Finally, at the end of a ten year period, the individual AMT will fully be repealed.

The bill will also repeal the corporate AMT. The U.S. is the only nation which imposes the Alternative Minimum Tax (AMT) on businesses. It is a very complex and outdated dual tax system which essentially imposes a tax penalty for making capital investments. The legislation would also allow businesses to utilize their accrued AMT credits over the next five years.

Third is the Elimination of Double Taxation Act. Today dividends paid to investors are double taxed at the business level and then at the individual level. Today, investors are all across the economic spectrum. According to the Tax Foundation, 63.6 percent of the taxpayers who claimed dividends on 2000 tax returns earned less than $50,000 in wages and salaries. More and more, investors are men and women who are working on the front line of manufacturing firms or small businesses who have chosen to share in the benefit of their labor through investing in the business. This legislation will eliminate a cost that the government imposes on that investment.

Finally, I am introducing legislation that will begin the process of reforming current depreciation schedules in the tax code. Depreciation tax laws provide businesses the ability to deduct the costs of capital investments over time. Current depreciation schedules are dramatically out of line with the real economic life and use of the properties that are being purchased in today's markets. Often the number of years allowed for the deduction exceeds the number of years the investor may finance the capital investment. The result is a higher tax cost. This legislation will call upon the Secretary of the Treasury to make specific recommendations about how to bring the depreciations schedules more in line with the true economic life of property.

Mr. Speaker, I congratulate the President on his announcement of an economic stimulus package today. I ask my colleagues in the House of Representatives to join me by cosponsoring the legislation I am introducing. They are important first steps in addressing the need to change the tax code in ways that will provide economic stimulus across the board for American workers.