Floor Statements

Mr. Speaker, I ask for unanimous consent that all Members be given 5 days to revise and extend their remarks.

Mr. Speaker, the Congressional Black Caucus, the CBC, is proud to present this hour on issues that concern America's senior citizens. The CBC is chaired by the Honorable Barbara Lee from the Ninth Congressional District of California. I am Representative Marcia L. Fudge from the 11th Congressional District of Ohio, and I am the anchor of the CBC hour.

The vision of the founding members of the Congressional Black Caucus, to promote the public welfare through legislation designed to meet the needs of millions of neglected citizens, continues to be a focal point for the legislative work and political activities of the Congressional Black Caucus today.

Tonight, the CBC will focus its attention on the issues currently confronting our seniors. In his last speech, Hubert Humphrey said, The moral test of government is how that government treats those who are in the dawn of life, the children; those who are in the twilight of life, the elderly; and those who are in the shadows of life, the sick, the needy, and the handicapped.

The fact that some Americans work their entire life, regularly paying into Social Security and are confronted by poverty in their golden years is indeed a problem, Mr. Speaker.

The social insecurity facing our Nation's seniors is not a Democratic problem or a Republican problem; it is an American problem, Mr. Speaker. This year's news headlines tell the story: ``Seniors Struggle With High Cost of Housing and Food, Barely Getting By''; ``Seniors Struggle to Survive''; ``Single Seniors Can't Make Ends Meet''; ``Subsidized Lunches in Greater Demand Among Senior Citizens''; ``Forty Percent of Senior Citizens Not Taking Prescribed Medicines Due to Budget''; ``Senior Citizens See Largest Gain in Credit Card Debt As Recession, Medical Costs Take a Toll.''

Mr. Speaker, our country will recover from this recession, but we cannot forget the seniors who struggled before the recession began. Many live on fixed incomes and find it difficult to live under the pressure of high medical bills and the rising cost of essentials like medication, food, and housing.

One of the most disheartening news headlines of 2009 had the title, ``U.S. Is Losing Ground on Preventable Deaths.'' In this story, AARP reported that Americans are dying too soon, although the United States spends $2.4 trillion a year on medical care, vastly more per capita than comparable countries. Our Nation ranks last when compared to 19 other industrialized nations on premature deaths caused by illnesses such as diabetes, epilepsy, stroke, influenza, ulcers and pneumonia, all medical issues that disproportionately attack and weaken American seniors.

In my district, senior citizens call my office daily. Some call looking for reassurance that Medicare will be strengthened through the health care reform, and others asking questions about the future of Social Security.

One senior called just this past week. He is an 85-year-old man living in public housing. He has an artificial leg which he has had since the age of 11. He is worried that his Social Security check will not cover the cost of the medications he uses for complications caused by his artificial limb if the cost of his medications continues to climb.

I am confident, Mr. Speaker, this Congress will answer the calls and the concerns of these seniors, and I will not rest until all seniors have their answers.

Reports have been looming for years about the long-term financial problems of Social Security. The retirement program is projected to start paying out more than it receives in the year 2016. According to the Social Security trustee, without changes, the retirement fund will be depleted by 2037.

Demographic factors are accelerating Social Security problems. Life expectancy is increasing faster than anticipated. In 1940, a 65-year- old man could expect to live maybe another 12 years. Today it's 15 years, and by 2040, it will be 17 years. The fertility rate is falling faster than expected, from 3.6 children for a typical woman of childbearing age in 1960 to just two today, and a projected 1.9 by 2020.

The elderly portion of the population will likely rise from 12 percent today to 20 percent by 2050, increasing the number of retirees from 34 million to 80 million. The smaller working age population and larger elderly population

means that where there were more than five workers for each retiree in 1960 and 3.3 workers per retiree today, by 2030 there will be just two workers to pay the taxes for the benefits of each retiree.

Social Security is a pay-as-you-go system, as you know, with each generation of workers paying the benefits of current retirees. This works fine as long as the working population grows faster than the retired population; but now that the trend has reversed, the system is simply unsustainable.

Congress and the Social Security Administration are seeking solutions to this long-term problem; but at the same time, we have to work on the existing problems confronting our seniors on Social Security. Recently, the Congressional Budget Office reported that for the first time in 35 years older Americans will not receive a cost-of-living adjustment, or COLA, increase in their Social Security checks in 2010. This is bad news for many retirees living on a fixed income because although the cost of necessary goods like food will continue to rise, seniors who rely on Social Security checks will not see their budgets increase.

To compound this problem, millions of the same seniors whose budgets may be tighter than ever will also face much higher Medicare part B and Medicare part D premiums next year. Medicare part B insurance covers doctors visits, lab work, physical therapy, and other types of outpatient services. Medicare part D is the Medicare prescription drug program.

A Federal law, known as the ``hold harmless'' rule, prevents the annual cost of part B premiums from rising higher than that year's Social Security COLA. For example, if your annual Social Security income increases by 5 percent, the yearly part of part B premiums cannot increase by more than 5 percent. The problem is that, while this hold harmless rule covers some Medicare part D patients, it does not cover any of the 28 million seniors insured by Medicare part D prescription drug coverage, and it does not cover about 11 million Medicare part B seniors.

Mr. Speaker, I have been joined today by my colleague and friend, the Congressman from Minnesota. I would like to yield as much time as he may consume.

That's absolutely right. Will the gentleman yield?

I just wanted to say that, as you talk, it just really gives me some encouragement that we have put in place legislation that is going to allow us to deal with preventive care and wellness. Certainly that is an issue in our neighborhoods and all neighborhoods, especially neighborhoods of poor people and middle class people. It has become a major issue just finding the resources and the time and ability to go to the doctor and say, I have a small problem, let's take care of it before it becomes a big problem.

And I think that just what you're talking about is preserving the longevity of grandma and your uncles and your aunts based upon the fact that they are going to be healthier longer is very, very important. And I yield back.

Thank you. You are absolutely right; we cannot survive with the status quo.

And the other thing that this bill does is it allows us to say to those who have for so long not been able to really live a healthy lifestyle--not because they don't want to, but because they don't have the ability to--to now say, look, we are going to put resources in your neighborhood community clinic so that you can go and make sure that your children have the proper exams and the proper things before they go to school.

We are going to be in a position where we say to them, we are going to make this health care accessible to you, not just on Monday through Friday from 8 to 4, when working parents have to work; but because of the resources we're providing, we are now opening these clinics on Saturday. We are now saying to them we are going to make this more convenient for you because we want you to be healthy. We want to set the example, set the standard; and it's time we do those kinds of things for the people we serve because that is our job is to take care of the people we serve.

I yield back.

Thank you very, very much. I am so pleased to have you join me this evening, Mr. Ellison. I thank you for your work. You do outstanding work on behalf of people in the most need, and I am happy you could join me.

It seems as though now we have been joined by our Chair, the Honorable Barbara Lee, the gentlelady from California. I will now yield to our chairwoman. Thank you so much for being here.

Thank you so much, Madam Chair. It's always a pleasure to have you join me. Even though we generally do this on Monday nights, this is a special Wednesday night for us, so I appreciate your taking the time to stop by. Thank you very much.

Mr. Speaker, as I mentioned, I believe this Congress is willing to take a stand for seniors. I am proud to be a cosponsor of several pieces of legislation and to be a signatory on a number of letters to congressional leadership and Federal agencies which were authored to help seniors who are facing mounting financial and medical concerns.

One important bill, the Social Security COLA Fix for 2010 Act, ensures that seniors receive their COLAs for 2010. This legislation will help offset rising costs by providing seniors with a one-time $150 payment in lieu of the Social Security COLA. The offset is fully paid for, and the legislation would not affect other Federal programs. For example, the one-time $150 payment would not count as income, and as a result, it would not push seniors who are too young to qualify for Medicare out of the eligibility for Medicaid.

I want to talk just a bit about end-stage renal disease, Mr. Speaker, which is a disease that affects many seniors in my district and around the country. They are those who experience kidney failure. Last year, Congress passed legislation to provide up to six sessions of pre-end- stage renal disease education to Medicare beneficiaries experiencing kidney failure.

I joined a number of other Members of Congress and sent a letter to the directors of the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services, urging them to reconsider the proposed physician fee schedule, which would reimburse a 60-minute kidney education service, provided by a licensed physician, at the same rate as a 15-minute session provided by a nutritionist. The letter also requests that CMS reconsider the restriction on who can administer pre-end-stage renal disease education. Currently, only physicians can provide this service, although, licensed practitioners, such as nurses and nutritionists, are available and are trained to provide this education as well.

Adjusting the reimbursement rate and allowing multiple types of licensed practitioners to educate seniors with kidney failure will ensure that seniors facing end-stage renal disease will get the care and education they need.

For many seniors, their major concern about aging is the fear of losing their mental capabilities. That is why I am a cosponsor of the Alzheimer's Breakthrough Act of 2009, which is a bipartisan piece of legislation that includes an authorization of $2 billion for Alzheimer's funding at the National Institutes of Health, for support for caregiver programs and for a national summit on Alzheimer's.

Another piece of legislation which is essential to the welfare of America's seniors is the America's Affordable Health Choices Act of 2009. While some seniors have received misinformation and have voiced suspicions that health care reform would cut Medicare benefits, many know the truth about this bill. Medicare will be absolutely strengthened under the proposal.

As we all know, the health care reform bill is not yet complete, and many more changes will be made before it becomes law. While I cannot predict how the bill will be structured once it is finalized, I can tell you that I am fighting to ensure health care for seniors will not be diminished in any way.

Under the House proposal, seniors should notice a number of improvements in services. To be more specific, the House proposal will protect Medicare by shoring up funding for the program across the board so that all Americans will have this benefit as they grow older.

The bill will lower drug costs by eliminating the Medicare part D doughnut hole for prescription-drug coverage. The doughnut hole refers to a costly gap in the Medicare part D prescription drug plan. The plan currently covers up to $2,700 per year in prescription-drug benefits. Then it stops. Coverage does not begin again until a recipient's drug cost exceeds $6,100 annually, thus, leaving the recipient responsible for paying all drug costs between $2,700 and $6,100.

Under the proposed legislation, seniors could receive a 50 percent discount on brand name drugs in the doughnut hole immediately after the bill passes. This is a measure that would provide immediate relief for seniors who must choose to either purchase medication or food--a choice no American should be forced to make.

The legislation provides free preventative care. Seniors would pay nothing on preventative screenings and services designed to keep them healthier longer.

The bill improves primary care by ensuring that seniors are able to spend more time with their primary care doctors.

There are provisions to enhance safety by developing national standards that measure medical care quality by investing in patient safety and by rewarding doctors and nurses who administer high-quality care.

The legislation increases oversight by cracking down on waste, fraud, abuse and medical overpayments.

There are provisions that encourage hospitals with high readmission rates to provide transitional and coordinated care services.

Finally, Mr. Speaker, the bill has new initiatives to improve nursing home quality and transparency.

Seniors should not be fearful. Change, we know, is difficult, but as Henry Ford said: Don't find fault; find a remedy.

Experts who have studied the House health care reform legislation found that the proposed changes actually strengthen Medicare and improve beneficiaries' care and access to physicians. Passing legislation that improves the lives of seniors is the number one priority in this Congress. Seniors should not have to fear or wait any longer. I say to all of the seniors: We are fighting for you. Every day, we are fighting for you, and we will not let you down.

Mr. Speaker, I ask unanimous consent that all Members be given 5 legislative days to enter remarks into the Record on this topic.

Certainly I appreciate the opportunity to join my colleagues of the Congressional Black Caucus, the CBC, for this Special Order. Currently, the CBC is chaired by the Honorable Barbara Lee from the Ninth Congressional District of California.

My name is Congresswoman Marcia L. Fudge, and I represent the 11th Congressional District of the State of Ohio. CBC members are advocates for the human family nationally and internationally and have played a significant role as local and regional activists. We continue to work diligently to be the conscience of the Congress, but understand all politics are local. Therefore, we provide dedicated and focused service to the citizens of the congressional districts we serve.

The vision of the founding members of the Congressional Black Caucus, to promote the public welfare through legislation designed to meet the needs of millions of neglected citizens, continues to be a focal point for the legislative work and political activities of the Congressional Black Caucus.

As Members of Congress, CBC members also promote legislation to aid neglected citizens throughout the world. We understand that the United States, as a bellwether, has the ability to positively impact our neighbors abroad.

The United States is a leader in advocating for the underprivileged at home and abroad. Americans understand that if we uplift others, then we, too, will be advanced.

With this in mind, tonight's CBC hour will focus on poverty reduction and the economic, social and political outlook for the continent of Africa. Specifically, I will discuss increasing access to both education and financial services in Africa.

As a member of the Education and Labor Committee, I know well the far-reaching effects of education on individuals' quality of life and a nation's economic competitiveness. In the context of improving developing nations such as many African countries, the basic education offers the hope of a more prosperous world.

The benefits of basic education are innumerable. For instance, we know that when all citizens receive a good education, their nation's economic prosperity is increased, preventable illness is decreased, democratic ideals are spread, violent conflicts are reduced, and women are able to advance further than if they were discouraged from pursuing their studies.

Mr. Speaker, I see we have been joined by our Chair, the Honorable Barbara Lee from California. I would now like to yield to the gentlelady, Mr. Speaker.

Thank you, Madam Chair. Mr. Speaker, I would just very much like to thank our Chair for being here at every Special Order, for the support that she has given to me personally but, more importantly, for the leadership she gives to the CBC. I thank you, Madam Chair, for being here.

Mr. Speaker, if I may continue, I wanted to just talk about the economic prosperity on the African continent. Many African countries do still, indeed, struggle to achieve economic sustainability and growth. This pursuit is undermined in part by the large number of citizens who have not received a basic education. Not a single economically viable nation achieved its prosperity without implementing near universal primary education. Additionally, education increases a Nation's gross domestic product. Adults with a primary school education earn twice as much as adults without any schooling.

In the areas of health, education and behavior changes are also the most effective way to address preventible diseases, including smallpox, tuberculosis, diarrhea and other water-borne illnesses. According to some estimations, if all children completed primary education, 700,000 new cases of AIDS and HIV could be prevented each year.

We also need to improve the political stability and reduce conflict. Education and the free exchange of ideas also encourages democratic styles of government. When citizens are well informed, they are more likely to participate in their democracy. As it relates to violent conflicts, education that teaches tolerance, the value of each individual, and respect for different beliefs is the best method to reduce violence and extremism.

Basic education provides girls and women with expanded employment opportunities, which is important for the overall advancement of families. Women's employability is especially crucial if they are the family's sole support. Children of educated women are in better health and are twice as likely to be enrolled in school.

Mr. Speaker, 75 million children worldwide are not at school; 55 percent of them are girls. Sub-Saharan Africa accounts for nearly one- half of the world's school-age children who are not enrolled in school. Twelve percent of the developing world's primary school-age population is not in school; more than 80 percent of them are in rural areas, and the vast majority are poor. Globally, 134 countries account for two- thirds of the out-of-school children, and current projections show that those countries will have 29 million out-of-school children by the year 2015.

Among African nations, there are various barriers to basic education. The lack of school buildings, shortage of teachers, prohibitive compulsory fees, and unique challenges faced by girls all limit many Africans' abilities to access formal education. However, these challenges are not insurmountable. Nearly 80 million new places of instruction must be created in order for all school-age African children to be accommodated. This will be a large undertaking, to say the least.

I applaud African governments for making progress towards the goals advanced in the Dakar Framework for Action in 2000. That framework was a statement signed by 164 countries during the 2000 World Education Forum stating that their commitment to universal education was strong. But without diligent support from the international community, these great goals will remain elusive.

In addition to the need for new schools, it is estimated that an additional 3 million teachers are needed in Africa in order for the continent to reach its goal of universal education by the year 2015. In Nigeria, which is the most populous country in Africa, there is a shortage of 1 million teachers.

Not only are workforce shortages caused by the difficulty to obtain thorough education, the availability of teachers on the continent is also impacted by the HIV/AIDS epidemic. The disease, itself, has robbed education systems of manpower and knowledge and continues to drive up cost. In a report released by the World Bank in 2002, an estimated 860,000 children in sub-Saharan Africa lost teachers to AIDS in 1999. In some cases where there has been an increase in class enrollment, the loss of one teacher can affect hundreds of students. The cost of replacing these instructors is prohibitive for many countries. If the nation of Swaziland hired and trained enough staff to replace the teachers lost to HIV and AIDS, the estimated cost would be $233 million, more than half of the government's budget for 2001-2002.

Again, there are too many primary and secondary schools in the developing world that are forced to rely on student fees to supplement government funding. These fees, while modest by American standards, often prevent children from enrolling. Similarly, some families cannot afford the uniforms commonly required by the schools.

In 2003, Kenya eliminated primary school fees in a step towards universal primary education for its entire population. In Kenya alone, 1.5 million students who had not previously attended school then enrolled, increasing the average class size from 40 to 120. Kenya

took a step in the right direction, but these actions must be coupled with greater investment by local governments and donors to address the issues of quality that arise when access to education is increased.

While this statistic represents an improvement in the rate of primary school enrollment during the early nineties of over 10 percent, we should also be aware that the problems still remain. In countries such as Djibouti, Ethiopia, Niger and Mali, less than half of all school-age children go to school, and there is a disparity in enrollment rates between boys and girls. Forty-two percent of girls as opposed to 38 percent of boys are out of school.

As the international community and donors discuss the importance of quality education, we must remember the vast numbers of teachers who will need to be trained and what this means to the international partners who work with African governments and civil society groups. Education is a long-term path to economic viability. Stimulating small businesses through microlending is another method of improving the economies of developing nations, which will ultimately lead to expanded trade and business opportunities for all of the world.

I and several Members recently returned from a congressional delegation to Tunisia, Rwanda, Zimbabwe and Senegal. Our goal was to educate Members on the impact that the global financial crisis has had on the continent of Africa. Additionally, we examined the regional impact of multilateral development banks, international financial institutions, and the International Monetary Fund.

The codel spent significant time examining the effect of the global economic crisis on local economies. We were especially interested in how the multilateral development banks and the United States supports, particularly the African Development Bank, are helping countries to obtain grants, loans and technical assistance. We also explored the role and impact of the IMF on the region during this period of economic crisis.

Africa is of increasing strategic interest to the global economy. The continent is expected to soon provide the United States with more petroleum than the Middle East. Again, I will repeat. The continent of Africa is expected to soon provide the United States with more petroleum than we get from the Middle East.

Several reports state that more than half of all Africans are estimated to live on a dollar or less a day. The nations we visited were interested in help up, not a handout. Well-intentioned countries and organizations have poured billions of dollars into improving conditions for Africans, but their efforts have repeatedly failed to stimulate large-scale sustainable growth. This is, in part, because many of these groups do not fully incorporate local traditions, values and attitudes into their assistance programs. Assistance can only be successful if it is culturally sensitive and adapts to the needs of the local community.

The direct impact of the global crisis on Africa, however, has been relatively contained. Many African nations have not been severely affected by the crisis since African banks generally are not well integrated into the global financial system. Nonetheless, African countries still are at risk of indirect adverse effects, such as reduced worldwide demand for African exports, a dampening of economic growth, a tightening of credit, and reduced remittance flows. Despite these setbacks, Mr. Speaker, African countries can greatly benefit from programs that both encourage productivity and promote economic independence.

Access to formal financial services is a key component of economic development. One method to facilitate development is microfinance. Microfinance is when banking institutions or even individuals grant small loans to other individuals, usually to establish or expand a small or self-sustaining business. When individuals gain access to credit, they can start a business, hire their neighbors, and stimulate local economic growth. For example, a loan made to a woman to buy a sewing machine can yield an income when she offers her sewing and tailoring services. Or if a loan helps a family purchase a cow, the milk produced from the cow can generate both nourishment and income.

The average microfinance loan amount ranges from $50 to $5,000, and the repayment cycle can range from 90 days to 18 months. Repayment of microfinance loans is 98 percent compared to regular business loans by traditional lenders. Official microfinance organizations are currently only reaching 5 to 8 percent of the businesses who are in dire need of loans. Access to credit for the poor is in dire need as well. Microfinancing institutions also provide access to savings accounts.

Microfinance has proven to be successful because of its ability to reach the poor, especially women with highly sustainable programs that have a positive impact. As the United Nations Office of Special Adviser on Africa reports, women are a better credit risk than men and more responsible managers of meager resources. Furthermore, women are, and I quote, more committed to using their loans for the benefit of their household rather than self-gratifying consumption, as is common among many African men. Empowering women sets families on the path toward economic independence. This case study demonstrates how microfinance can help alleviate poverty.

In 2007, Absa Bank Group in South Africa established a dedicated microenterprise finance unit to make funding more readily available to businesses that are formally excluded from getting regular bank loans. It has been estimated that as many as 97 percent of microentrepreneurs in South Africa had no access to loans prior to receiving funding through the AMEF. Today, more than 4.5 million people on low incomes use Absa Bank services for everything from microloans to saving accounts and transactions, leading the way for microenterprise loans in South Africa.

In addition to providing loans, microfinance institutions can also support individuals by keeping savings in a secure manner and by helping to accumulate interest on deposits.

This allows the poor to lift themselves out of poverty.

Self-reliance, Mr. Speaker, is the key. I've seen both the despair and the resiliency of Africans. In Rwanda I met a woman who was given a cow. Shortly after she received the cow, the cow had a calf, which she was then obligated to give to her neighbor. But based upon the cow she had and the milk that she could harvest from that particular cow, she was able to not only feed her family but to sell enough milk to then buy a bicycle.

She bought a bicycle, Mr. Speaker, so that she could ride the 3 miles it took to get clean water. So instead of walking, now she could ride and send her children to get clean water. She then made enough money to send her children to school and pay the fees. She then took out a loan and bought another cow, and with that cow she is able now to buy food and clothing. She is able to do much more than she was before. She is really quite an entrepreneur. And, by the way, Mr. Speaker, this woman has AIDS. But she is raising five children on her own because someone gave her a cow and she had the ability to go from there.

Mr. Speaker, in the very near future, microloans that support small- scale entrepreneurship will improve the lives of Africans and empower them to work their way out of poverty. Microfinance is already proven in India and Bangladesh to be an effective economic development strategy. According to World Vision, one loan, just one loan, can create 40 jobs in a community of approximately 600 to 700 people.

The difficulties faced by African nations should not deter us from providing assistance. Through America's support of expanding basic education and access to financial services, we can assist African leaders and people in creating a more vibrant continent and, in turn, a richer world. My recent experience has confirmed for me that both of these approaches can empower people by providing them with confidence, self-esteem, and the financial means to contribute to their economic advancement. Our leadership and our moral strength is only enhanced when we help others. Truly, Mr. Speaker, we lift as we rise.

Mr. Speaker, I ask unanimous consent that all Members be given 5 days to revise and extend their remarks on the subject of this Special Order.

Mr. Speaker, I would like to just set the record straight. I've listened to my colleagues from across the aisle, and I do want to make clear to the American people that, if you have health insurance now and you want to keep it, you can. You don't need to change.

I also want to say to the American people that this plan is, one, about choice. It's not about government-run anything. It's about choice. It's about making sure that we spend more time worrying about the people than we do about the insurance companies. So I just want to make sure that people understand.

I'm very curious to understand and to know what my colleague meant when he kept saying ``they,'' ``they,'' ``they.'' I don't know if he was talking about retirees or about the working poor or if he was talking about minorities or if he was talking about people who have been laid off or about people who have lost their jobs because their companies have closed. I don't know who ``they'' is, but certainly, at some point, I'd like to know who that is.

Now to my remarks, Mr. Speaker.

The Congressional Black Caucus, the CBC, is proud to present this hour on health care. The CBC is chaired by the honorable Barbara Lee from the Ninth Congressional District of California. I am Representative Marcia L. Fudge from the 11th Congressional District of Ohio. I am the anchor of this CBC hour.

The vision of the Founding Fathers of the Congressional Black Caucus to promote the public welfare through legislation, designed to meet the needs of millions of neglected citizens continues to be a focal point for the legislative work and for the political activities of the Congressional Black Caucus today.

Tonight, the CBC will focus its attention on health care reform. I am proud to serve on one of the three House committees that authored H.R. 3200, the America's Affordable Health Choices Act of 2009.

The public health insurance option--also known as the Public Plan--is an essential part of H.R. 3200. The Public Plan is an innovative tool that will move America's health insurance system beyond the status quo and into a system that provides choices and forces private insurance companies to compete. Competition guarantees that all Americans will be able to access quality coverage while preserving what works in today's system and expanding choices and containing costs.

Some argue there is no need for a public plan, as did our colleagues on the other side of the aisle. Others say that a public plan will put private insurance companies out of business. I say this: Today's health insurance companies are operating in a manner that is making health coverage increasingly out of reach for the average American. Premiums are soaring higher and higher, and health insurance choices are becoming fewer and fewer.

For example, in my home State of Ohio, since 2000, the average family premiums have increased by 92 percent, that's 9-2, 92 percent. When faced with such an increase, you would think that Ohioans would have a number of choices and could decide to move to another insurer that offers a more competitive premium.

Well, it's not that easy, Mr. Speaker, because the choice of insurance companies is severely limited in the State of Ohio and across America.

In Ohio, the top two insurance providers controlled 61 percent of the health care market in 2008. In fact, 94 percent of the metropolitan areas in the United States are highly concentrated, meaning that one insurance company or a small group of insurance companies dominate the majority of the market.

And the problem is even worse for small businesses. In Ohio, the top 5 insurers control 85 percent of the market that provides health insurance to small businesses. This is what we call a consolidated health insurance market. There is no real competition. So the companies that are monopolizing the market are setting the prices and the standards that have led to more than 1 million uninsured Ohioans and 46 million uninsured Americans.

A public plan will be one of several options within H.R. 3200, the new health exchange that it will provide that is needed to reform our health insurance market.

As I mentioned earlier, H.R. 3200's public plan offers competition. Currently, our health insurance system is inefficient and expensive. Without competition, private insurers have no incentive to improve. By forcing market reforms in the area of administrative costs and through better delivery of services, the public plan will serve as a real competition and set the standard by which other insurers are measured.

The public plan will operate as a guaranteed backup that will ensure everyone that everyone has access to affordable health care no matter what happens. A public plan will give millions of hardworking families peace of mind. Both the public plan and competing private plans will offer a standard benefit package that covers essential health services such as inpatient and outpatient hospital care and maternity and mental health services. The package will also offer preventative services like Well Baby and Well Child Care and screenings for diseases like diabetes and hypertension.

Preventative care is a benefit that is important to cutting the cost of health care. Providing preventative care will allow us finally to spend less by keeping healthy people healthy, instead of waiting until someone is very ill and then providing more costly treatment.

Under the standard benefit package, patients will no longer pay for preventative services, and the annual dollar amount spent on health care by consumers will be limited to $5,000 for an individual and to $10,000 for a family. Therefore, no one should ever again face bankruptcy from health care costs.

The private insurance market must be reformed. We cannot afford to do nothing. $100 billion of America's $2.5 trillion in health care spending goes to the cost of administering private insurance. Projections have shown that it is possible to save more than $3 billion in 2009 alone and $40 billion over 10 years simply by reducing administrative spending in health care.

The status quo is unacceptable, Mr. Speaker. Things will only get worse if we continue to let private insurance companies set the standards. Every American risks losing their health insurance and/or seeing their costs skyrocket without action. Families will continue to spend a disproportionately large amount of money on health care expenses.

The cost of an employer-sponsored family health insurance plan will reach $24,000 in the year 2016, an increase of 84 percent if we do nothing to fix our broken system. American businesses will continue to fall behind. Employers' spending on health care premiums will more than double to $885 billion in the year 2019. And one in five employers will stop offering health benefits altogether because of rising costs in the next 3 to 5 years.

Further, our government will not be able to keep up with the rising cost of health insurance. As Americans lose their private insurance, many will be added to the already strained government programs. Combined with the rising cost of care, spending on Medicare and Medicaid will double from $720 billion in 2009 to $1.4 trillion in 2019.

It is time to level the playing field with the public plan.

The public plan will be required to meet the same benefit requirements and comply with the same insurance reforms as private plans. Individuals and families will qualify for financial assistance in purchasing health insurance and will have the option to choose among the private carriers and the public plan.

Today's health insurance companies can either be more efficient and provide the coverage that Americans need

or make way for the insurers that will agree to be responsive to the financial and health care needs of millions of Americans.

In closing, I would like to highlight two important pieces of health reform legislation. The first, to address the needs of the poor and those with low incomes, I recently introduced the Health Information Technology Public Utility Act of 2009 to facilitate nationwide adoption of electronic health records, particularly among America's free clinics. Although health care IT funding was included in the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009, America's free clinics are not eligible for funding under the Act. This piece of legislation has also been introduced in the Senate by Senator John Rockefeller, a Democrat from West Virginia.

Lastly, recognizing the health care needs of our Nation's underserved populations, the CBC introduced the Health Equity and Accountability Act of 2009 under the leadership of delegate Donna Christensen. Along with other CBC Members, I urge our colleagues to include this legislation in the America's Affordable Health Choices Act of 2009.

With that, Mr. Speaker, I would now like to yield to the distinguished Member from the Virgin Islands, my friend and colleague and an expert in health care reform, Representative Christensen.

Thank you very much. Let me just, again, thank my colleague, Dr. Christensen.

I just have to say that there are so many of us in this House who look to you not just because you are a physician, but certainly because you have studied health care for many, many years and have advocated for reform. And we thank you for your work and certainly want to support your efforts in making sure that this gets done the way that it should.

We have now been joined by our colleague and friend from the great State of Texas. I would now like to, Mr. Speaker, yield to the Honorable Sheila Jackson-Lee, the gentlelady from Texas.

Mr. Speaker, I just want to again thank Representative Jackson-Lee. She is always well prepared. She understands the issues, and she talks very clearly to the American people.

So I thank you again for participating.

I now yield to our colleague, the gentlewoman from California, who this, I think, may be her first time joining us in the last couple of months, Representative Diane Watson; and we are looking forward to her remarks.

Mr. Speaker, I do indeed want to thank my colleague and friend Representative Watson from California. Certainly she presented to us information that I think is important to the American people, well thought out and well said. I thank you so much for being a part of this hour.

Mr. Speaker, I yield to Representative Jackson-Lee from Texas.

I thank the gentlewoman.

Mr. Speaker, in closing, I would like to say just two things.

One, of course, is we all know health care needs to be reformed. We all know that the time is now to do it. We know that the cost to not do it is going to be significantly higher the longer we wait.

I just want to say that, people who think that those who are uninsured shouldn't be given an opportunity--nine million of the uninsured today are children. We need to do something about that. Many uninsured are seniors, and we need to certainly do something about that.

So I would hope that all Members of this House would look at the needs of the people we represent and move to do the right thing.

Mr. Speaker, I ask unanimous consent that all Members be given 5 legislative days to revise and extend their remarks on the subject of my Special Order.

The Congressional Black Caucus, the CBC, is proud to present this hour on health care. The CBC is chaired by the Honorable Barbara Lee from the Ninth Congressional District of California. I am Representative Marcia L. Fudge from the 11th District of Ohio, and I am the anchor for this hour.

Mr. Speaker, I would now like to yield to our Chair, the Honorable Barbara Lee, the gentlewoman from California.

Thank you very much, Madam Chair.

Mr. Speaker, we have the honor of being joined this evening by the majority whip. I would at this time yield to the gentleman from South Carolina (Mr. Clyburn).

Mr. Speaker, I would now like to yield to my friend and colleague, the gentlewoman from Texas (Ms. Eddie Bernice Johnson).

Mr. Speaker, CBC members are advocates for families nationally, internationally, regionally, and locally. We stand firm as the voice of the people. We continue to work diligently to be the conscience of the Congress. We are dedicated to providing focused service to citizens that elected us to Congress. The vision of the founding members of the Congressional Black Caucus--to promote the public welfare through legislation designed to meet the needs of millions of neglected citizens--continues to be the goal of our legislative work.

Tonight, the CBC is going to focus all of its attention on health care. I am proud to serve on one of the three House committees that are working on health care reform legislation. I serve on the Education and Labor Committee. The other two committees are Ways and Means and Energy and Commerce.

While each member of the CBC has his or her own area of concern, I will focus on two categories which directly affect the most vulnerable citizens: the poor and those with mental illness. I will examine how the House's health care reform bill, H.R. 3200, the America's Affordable Health Choices Act of 2009, assists these two groups.

I will begin by examining the problems people with low incomes and those in poverty face while attempting to access our current and expensive and broken health care system.

One quote comes to mind, Mr. Speaker. This statement was made by Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., more than 40 years ago. Dr. King said, Of all the forms of inequality, injustice in health care is the most shocking and inhumane. Sadly, Dr. King's statement is still relevant today.

Statistics prove that the high cost of health insurance causes or deepens financial hardships. The Service Employees International Union reported that in 2004, half of all people filing for bankruptcy cited medical costs as the reason; and in 2008, half of all home foreclosures were due, in part, to the high cost of coverage and care.

The numbers also prove that the high cost of health insurance causes people to remain or become uninsured. Due to the high cost of health care coverage, one in six--or 43.6 million Americans--under the age of 65 do not have any type of health insurance. That comes from the Centers for Disease Control. The Children's Defense Fund reports that 9 million children are uninsured in America.

Statistics demonstrate that the high cost of health insurance and lack of access to quality health insurance disproportionately affects African Americans. According to a new report issued in June of 2009 by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, minority and low- income Americans are much more likely to suffer from a chronic, debilitating illness than whites, and are far less likely to have the kind of coverage that will ensure quality care.

For example, nearly half--or 48 percent--of black adults suffer from some form of chronic condition compared to 39 percent of all adults. Yet, one in every five black Americans lack health insurance compared to one in every eight whites. Considering the statistics that I mentioned, I'm glad to report that affordability and access to quality health care are two problems that are addressed by the America's Affordable Health Choices Act. Effective in 2013, assistance will be available for individuals and families that fall below the 133 percent to 400 percent of the Federal poverty level. Financial assistance will limit individual and family spending on premiums from a minimum of 1.5 percent of income for those with the lowest income and maxing out at 11 percent of income for those at 400 percent of poverty or more. Also effective 2013, people with incomes at or below 133 percent of poverty will all be eligible for Medicaid.

In addition to the financial assistance provided by our bill, while vitally necessary, monetary help will only address part of the problem. Prevention and wellness measures need to be a part of the solution as well. Fortunately, there are measures that are included in our legislation to address this gap.

I was speaking with a constituent the other day, Mr. Floyd Perry from my district, who was born in 1938. He is in good health and does not take any medication. Mr. Perry attributes his good health to preventative health care, and he wanted me to share with everyone that preventative health care works.

H.R. 3200 authorizes additional funding for existing community health centers and creates community-based programs to deliver prevention and wellness services and waives cost sharing, both co-insurance and deductibles, for preventative services--which means that you will no longer have to pay for cancer screenings or adult and child immunizations or vision screenings or hypertension treatment.

I would like to turn my attention just for a moment to citizens with mental health issues.

In my most recent town hall meetings, many constituents were concerned about health insurance, the affordability and the coverage. Some questions were fairly general, of course, and others were fairly specific.

One woman in particular was concerned about mentally ill felons who are released from jail without access to the medications they need to remain mentally stable. My constituent found that ex-offenders with mental and emotional problems are more likely to commit crimes again due to the lack of treatment. Fortunately, access to mental health care will be improved under the current House health reform bill, but the distinct needs of ex-offenders are not explicitly addressed. Among others, my office is currently working on this issue with Representative Rush of Illinois.

The following statistics will help us understand the current problems felons and ex-offenders with mental illnesses face.

According to the Bureau of Justice Statistics, at mid year 2005, more than half of all prison and jail inmates had a mental health problem, including more than 700,000 inmates in State prisons, more than 78,000 in Federal prisons, and almost 500,000 in local jails. More than two- fifths of State prisoners--43 percent--and more than half of local jail inmates--54 percent--reported symptoms that met the criteria for mania. About 23 percent of State prisoners and 30 percent of all local jail inmates reported symptoms of major depression.

We also have problems with mental health hardships with our children.

According to the American Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry, while almost one in five children in the United States suffers from a diagnosable mental disorder, only 20 to 25 percent of affected children receive treatments for illnesses such as attention deficit hyperactivity disorder, eating disorders, depression, and substance use disorders.

The Department of Health and Human Services reports that serious emotional disturbances affect one in every 10 young people at any given time, and our general population faces many more problems with mental illness. One in four uninsured adult Americans has a mental disorder, substance use disorder or both. Adults with serious mental illnesses die 25 years sooner than those who do not have mental illness. Almost 1 in 4 stays in acute care hospitals involve depression, bipolar disorder, schizophrenia, and/or other mental health and substance abuse disorders.

Treatment for mental health and substance use disorder is very effective. Recovery rates for mental illnesses are comparable to and even surpass the treatment success rates for any physical health conditions. For example, up to 85 percent of people with depression

who are treated with a combination of medication and therapy experience substantially reduced symptoms, enhanced quality of life and increased productivity.

Mr. Speaker, I see I have been joined by my colleague and friend, the gentlelady from Texas, Ms. Jackson-Lee.

Thank you so much. I found very interesting the charts that you have there. I'm certainly hoping that people at home will see what we are trying to do for them. Certainly, I think it's important that they understand that our job is to represent them. Our job is to make sure that we can provide the best plan that is possible, and I believe that we are moving in the right direction to do that.

I certainly do want to talk a little bit more about small businesses. That has been a real issue in this Congress, as to what is going to happen with small employers once we move to a plan such as this.

Let me just say that I do sit on the Education and Labor Committee and was able to include an amendment, a very important amendment, that will provide small employers, those who have 100 employees or less, tools that can give them the resources and counseling to help them make better health care plan choices once this plan takes effect.

We want to keep our small businesses very strong. We know that small businesses represent 99 percent of all businesses in America and employ more than 53 percent of our Nation's workforce, so we cannot afford to not help our small businesses.

I don't know why people continue to say, Oh, we're not going to help small businesses. We indeed are. We all understand how important it is. We're going to help them when they have to make the important decisions about affordable health care and coverage for their employees.

I believe that this assistance will greatly reduce the chances of a small business choosing a health care plan that does not serve their interest or that of their employees.

I, too, want to thank the Congressional Black Caucus for their work, and Dr. Donna Christensen, who has worked so tirelessly on our bill, which is the Health Equity and Accountability Act of 2009, which was under her leadership.

But what they're talking about is making it easier for people who live in underserved communities to be a part of America and a part of what it means to be a healthy and well-rounded person in this country.

We're going to talk about improving workforce diversity, strengthening and coordinating data collection, which is so very, very important. We're going to ensure that there is some accountability, and we're going to improve the evaluation and information that comes back to us so that we can say, Yes, we are doing well, or, No, we need to change, or, We can get better at this area.

So we're going to work very, very hard to improve all health care services for all Americans.

I want to just thank you for spending some time with me. I certainly do believe that if we put together the kind of plan that is on this chart, then we're going to do what the American people want us to do.

We know that 72 percent of all Americans today want health care reform. I believe that if we want to do the job that people have sent us here to do--they have given us a direction. They have said we want health care reform, and I believe that it is incumbent upon us to provide that.

Let me say this as well as we talk about preventive health care. I do live in a community where we do have some of the best health care in the world. But what I also know is it costs three times as much to go to a hospital emergency room as it does to your doctor's office.

What I envision with this preventative care is people who now only see a doctor when they are so sick that they have to go to an emergency room will now go to see a physician on a regular basis, that they will go and have annual physical exams, they will go and have their mammograms, they will go and have their cancer treatments.

They will do that because it will be less expensive. They will have the health care to do it. We're going to make sure it is accessible because we're going to put money into these community clinics so that they can get to these clinics and go on a regular basis.

I just believe that if we do this, we're going to see a much healthier and happier America. We're going to be able to take care of our seniors, to take care of our children. I think it's going to make a huge difference in where we go as a Nation.

So I just want to be as supportive as you have been and as all of us are as we look at where we're going to take this country as it relates to health care.

With that, Mr. Speaker, I so much thank you for the opportunity to address you and this body, and I yield back the balance of our time.

Madam Speaker, on Thursday, July 9th and Friday, July 10th, 2009, due to unavoidable circumstances, I missed the following votes: rollcall No. 520, making appropriations for the Agricultural, Rural Development, Food & Drug Administration and Related Agencies programs for fiscal year 2010; rollcall No. 525, making appropriation for the Department of State, foreign operations and related programs for fiscal year 2010; and rollcall No. 529, making appropriations for military construction, Department of Veterans Affairs and related agencies for fiscal year 2010. Had I been present, I would have voted ``yea'' on all of the aforementioned votes.

Madam Speaker, I rise today to honor the memory of Frank Kucinich, Jr., brother of Representative Dennis Kucinich, and recognize his service to our country and his dedication to the City of Cleveland, Ohio.

Frank Kucinich, Jr. was a United States Marine Corps combat veteran of the Vietnam War, who was promoted to lance corporal on the battlefield. After leaving Vietnam, Frank continued his service in the Mediterranean in support of the U.S. Navy's Sixth Fleet in Europe. He was honorably discharged from the United States Marine Corps in September 1968.

Frank Kucinich received many military awards for his service. He was also one of the founding members of the Vietnam Veterans of America, Chapter 15, in Cleveland, Ohio, and was nominated to the Ohio Veterans Hall of Fame.

Frank had retired and lived at the Ohio Veterans Home in Sandusky, Ohio when he passed away on June 30. Frank was the beloved brother of Dennis, Gary, Theresa, Larry, the late Perry and the late Beth Ann.

Madam Speaker and colleagues, please join me in celebrating the life of Frank Kucinich, Jr., and in recognizing his service to our community and our country. His patriotism and contributions to society serve as an inspiration to all of us.

Madam Speaker, I am pleased to congratulate Mr. George Dalley on his exemplary service to the United State House of Representatives. Mr. Dalley is retiring this year after thirty years of service to Chairman Rangel. Throughout his tenure in Congress, Mr. Dalley provided a wealth of information to CBC members and was a strong advocate for a more responsive approach to Africa, the Caribbean, and Central America.

Having an informed, passionate and committed staff makes a significant difference for a Member of Congress. Mr. Dalley has been such a staffer for Chairman Rangel. As a journalist once wrote, ``Dalley is the guy in Rangel's office who sees every piece of paper the boss sees. He's the one Rangel seeks out when he needs an answer.'' The trust and collegiality between these two men is indeed a rare and valuable commodity.

Even in his well-deserved retirement, I am sure he will maintain a busy schedule advocating for the causes in which he so passionately believes. As Mr. Dalley continues to raise his voice in support of human rights around the world, I wish him the best in his retirement from the House of Representatives.

Madam Speaker, I ask for unanimous consent that all Members be given 5 days to revise and extend their remarks.

Madam Speaker, the Congressional Black Caucus, the CBC, is proud to anchor this hour.

Currently, the CBC is chaired by the Honorable Barbara Lee from the Ninth Congressional District of California. My name is Congresswoman Marcia Fudge, representing the 11th Congressional District of Ohio, and I will anchor this hour.

CBC members are advocates for humanity, nationally and internationally, and have played a significant role as local and regional activists. We work diligently to be the conscience of the Congress. But understand, all politics are local; therefore, we provide dedicated and focused service to the citizens of the congressional districts we serve.

The vision of the founding members of the Congressional Black Caucus--to promote the public welfare through legislation designed to meet the needs of millions of neglected citizens--continues to be a focus for our legislative work and our political activities. Tonight's hour will focus on the unemployment crisis in this country.

Just last week, Madam Speaker, the national unemployment numbers were released and the situation is dire. The Bureau of Labor Statistics reported that nationally another 345,000 people lost their jobs in the month of May. The total unemployment nationally has risen above 9 percent. For African Americans, Madam Speaker, that statistic is much greater. African Americans suffer unemployment at a rate of almost 15 percent.

Over one-quarter of the 14.5 million individuals who are jobless have been unemployed for at least 6 months. Not only are they concerned about finding a job, but they are now fearful their benefits will soon expire.

In my home State of Ohio, the situation is even worse. We have entered double-digit unemployment with a rate of over 10 percent. Not only must we work to help the newly unemployed, but we must assist the chronically unemployed who are many times forgotten.

On Friday, I heard from economist Dr. Paul Harrington at the Center for Labor Market Studies at Northwestern University. He gave three recommendations to deal with the job crisis: number one, radically expand the job training; number two, establish a connection between schools and jobs; and, number three, engage in direct job training activities.

We need to assist the unemployed by retooling them, preparing them for employment opportunities now and for the future. We must always remember that when we work on health care reform, energy, tax legislation, we too must focus on the economy. Our national attention must remain focused on job creation and saving sustainable jobs for our workforce and to prepare them for new or better employment as opportunities present themselves because it is most important that we say to our people that there is a future.

And that is why the topic today is so very important, Madam Speaker. Nationally, we have a unique opportunity through these difficult times to help our workforce. We must reinvent and reenergize our workforce with new training opportunities in existing and emerging industries. In my district, doing so involves investing time, money, and energy into health care, bioscience, advanced manufacturing, logistics and transportation, advanced energy and information technology.

As of April, the State of Ohio's unemployment rate reached 10.2 percent, up from 6.2 percent the same time last year. There are thousands of unemployed and underemployed individuals who must enhance their skills to become competitive in this knowledge-based economy which has now defined our Nation's economy. A strong public consensus supports enhancing the skills of America's workers especially through high-quality education and training. In today's environment, the demand for workers to fill mid-level jobs is quite high and will likely remain high in key sectors of our economy. These mid-level jobs require more education than a high school diploma or a GED but less education than a 4-year degree. In Ohio, nearly 55 percent of all jobs are mid-level jobs, and many of these jobs receiving the new Federal job creation dollars are in health care, green jobs, infrastructure, and construction. Unfortunately, only 45 percent of workers in Ohio have the skill sets for these jobs.

Alarmingly, Madam Speaker, the National Commission on Adult Literacy recently reported that 30 million adults score at ``below basic'' levels on assessment tests, meaning they can perform

no more than the most rudimentary literacy tasks. Another 63 million adults are only able to perform only simple, basic everyday literacy tasks. Consequently, Madam Speaker, we have a mismatch between skills of our Nation's workforce, and we must have the ability to succeed and the skills our Nation's workforce actually possesses. What we need to do is match those skills and the people who need jobs.

Years ago, our Nation established a number of workforce development programs to meet this demand by preparing workers for mid-level jobs. Since that time, Federal education and training policies have invested very little in these jobs. Investments in the programs that prepare middle-skilled workers have plummeted. As a result, too many workers struggle to find decent jobs, and too many employers struggle to find skilled employees.

Education and training institutions like community colleges are at the forefront in identifying emerging market demand and training workers to meet 21st century employer needs for professional or career- path opportunities. It is critical that our Federal workforce development policy support the kind of work they are doing.

Cuyahoga Community College, or, as we call it at home, Tri-C, established the Center for Healthcare Solutions, which specializes in fast-track training, allowing displaced workers an opportunity to quickly transition into living wage occupations such as State-tested nursing assistant, dental office assistant, the medical coding specialist that provides stackable credentials and opportunities for rapid career advancement. To meet the needs of a growing health care sector, Tri-C has partnered with the Cleveland/Cuyahoga County Workforce Investment Board to offer State-tested nursing assistant training at the Employment Connection, which is our local one-stop career center. The partnership removes barriers to success for clients by providing wraparound services, which are fundamental skills job training and placement services.

With over 60 hospitals, 30 colleges and universities, strong manufacturing capabilities, and billions of dollars in public and private investment, northeast Ohio is poised to become a biomedical hub. The business development organization BioEnterprise reports that the biomedical industry has grown more than 30 percent in the last 5 years, helping northeast Ohio become home to over 600 biomedical companies. Tri-C offers training for all facets of this growing industry through its one-of-a-kind bioscience laboratory featuring medical device manufacturing, pharmaceutical drug manufacturing, and business startups through its Key Entrepreneur Center for Sustainability.

In 2007, approximately 1,500 positions were unfilled in the bioscience industry due to the lack of a trained workforce. It is estimated that approximately 900 of the unfilled positions are in the functional areas of manufacturing and quality control. We have to bridge this disconnect, Madam Speaker, and help obtain the skill set for this job and others like it. Tri-C's Advanced Manufacturing & Engineering Center was honored with Team NEO's Economic Development Impact Award for developing a remedy for this workforce shortage. The center has more than 12,000 square feet of renovated space and more than $6 million of modern equipment and tooling simulators.

Although manufacturing jobs have decreased significantly over the last 30 years, the manufacturing sector in and around my district provides nearly 300,000 jobs, which is 15 percent of the total workforce. It also generates $36 billion in gross regional product, which is 20 percent of the total gross regional product. Many of the low-skilled occupations have left the region, but there is a significant number of high-skilled, high-wage-paying jobs in advanced manufacturing. This increasingly computerized sector requires a new set of skills. Model job training would work hand in hand with employers to develop customized training for state-of-the-art equipment. Locally, we have developed a Ford Manufacturing Technician Program that is offered for Ford workers at the regional plants for college credit.

Transportation and logistics is also an in-demand sector because of our local regional concentration of warehouses and factories. Utilizing labor market intelligence, the Regional Transportation Institute features a truck driving institute and radio frequency identification lab that sits on the cutting edge of logistics and material tracking systems. Cleveland, Madam Speaker, is within 500 miles of 43 percent of the United States population and is ideally situated as a transportation and logistics hub. The occupations are high tech and hands on.

Recognizing the increasing need for construction contractors to interpret green job specifications, the Green Academy and Center for Sustainability was developed in the fall of 2008. The academy offers both professional development training in the areas of sustainable business practices, Leadership and Energy in Environmental Design accreditation and certification along with a multitude of other offerings in the new green economy requested by businesses and the community. Through GACS, the Pathways to Green Jobs programs will transition at-risk populations into green occupations through training opportunities in deconstruction, weatherization, wind turbine components, manufacturing, and solar panel installation. The first Pathways class, consisting largely of formerly incarcerated individuals and people lacking permanent homes, provide soft skills training along with contextualized hands-on training in a green job.

Federal workforce development programs have faced extremely deep funding cuts over the past 8 years. The Workforce Investment Act, or WIA, and the Wagner-Peyser Employment Services lost more than $9 billion in funding since 2001, reducing the capacity of our national workforce system to respond even to normal levels of demand for skilled workers, let alone the extraordinary demands for job training and reemployment services we now face.

The American Recovery and Reinvestment Act made nearly $4 billion in new funding available through the Department of Labor for jobs training programs. Just under $3 billion of this funding has already gone out to States through formula grants under the Workforce Investment Act. Speaking with the Deputy Director of Workforce Training in Cuyahoga County, I learned that the county will receive nearly $14 million in training. The money will help dislocated adults and youth workers. Another $750 million is due to go out in the form of competitive grants to train people in green jobs, health care, and other high-demand sectors.

There are funds from the Recovery Act that are available to agencies to create jobs in the energy efficiency and renewable energy fields, build roads and bridges, create a new broadband infrastructure, address our Nation's ever-growing health care needs, retrofit public housing and government buildings, and weatherize hundreds of thousands of homes for low-income homeowners. While some of these jobs can be filled by displaced workers already in the affected sectors, many more will be filled by workers dislocated from other sectors like young people entering the labor market for the first time and disadvantaged individuals who previously lacked the skills and opportunities. We cannot expect untrained workers to simply show up at a work site ``shovel ready.''

It is essential that institutions and training facilities have the capacity and resources necessary to identify the emerging needs of the region in order to best prepare the workforce for lifelong employability. Tri-C is currently serving as a regional co-coordinator for the Ohio Skills Bank initiative through Governor Strickland's Turnaround Ohio plan. The Ohio Skills Bank shares Tri-C's goals of having seamless career pathways and certifications that allow adult workers to earn college credit while increasing their job skills and, ultimately, their wages. Employers must create and implement these programs. Through the Ohio Skills Bank, northeast Ohio has decided to first focus on the health care, manufacturing, and information technology sectors as key industries that have immediate workforce needs.

My region is poised to leverage funding made available through the American Reinvestment and Recovery Act

with an existing and nimble infrastructure focusing on career pathways, industry partnerships, and increased training. To best address emerging industry needs with a new kind of workforce that requires a high level of transferrable skills, it is necessary to adjust funding structures so that training opportunities are accessible and usable. The United States Department of Labor has asked that each State revise their State Workforce Investment Act plans to reflect the strategies they intend to pursue and implement these goals. States have the opportunity to increase training capacity through the reauthorization of the Workforce Investment Act with a few key shifts in how the funding is structured.

To increase training, as prioritized by Congress, funding must directly support educational training facilities. This will allow institutions like Tri-C to increase capacity and provide a more effective, less expensive way of receiving immediate training. A few ways to achieve this would be for Congress to eliminate the mandatory sequence of services that very often hurts individuals seeking job training, thereby slowing down the process by which people access the services they need most. In the majority of cases, strong worker training would be the answer. An increased emphasis on training must be coupled with direct support for the development of additional training at community colleges.

A second way to improve the program is through the authorization of Community-Based Job Training Grants created in 2004. These grants build the capacity of community colleges to train workers and develop the skills necessary for success in high-growth and high-demand industries. Finally, Congress should give local workforce investment groups greater flexibility to utilize training contracts. This is especially helpful with low-tuition training providers. We have the opportunity to think broadly about the most effective ways to deliver Workforce Investment Act funds at the regional and local levels. This would ensure the proper mix between participant access to training and the development of training capacity. The Community-Based Job Training Grants provide a model for examining possible reforms of service delivery under the adult and dislocated worker program.

It appears that we are moving toward a pyramid economy, with a small number of highly skilled jobs at the top, a large number of low-skill, low-paying jobs at the bottom, and relatively few middle-class, mid- level jobs, which actually drove the unprecedented growth of our Nation's economy in the 20th century and made the American Dream a reality for millions of families. But the reality is that mid-level jobs still account for almost half the jobs in this country and will continue to be the largest job segment in the economy for years to come. As we look to reform our workforce development system to meet the demands of the 21st century labor market, we need to make sure we focus on proven strategies that help workers acquire the skills necessary to fill these jobs and ensure that employers have a skilled workforce which is able to compete in today's global economy. Two strategies emerged as best practices at the State level--sector partnerships and career pathways. Both can help us achieve this goal, and we should ensure that a reauthorized WIA supports these strategies.

Sector partnerships work by bringing together multiple stakeholders in a specific industry with the interest in developing and implementing workforce development strategies that can contribute to local and regional growth. These stakeholders include firms, labor organization, education and training providers, community-based organizations, and State and local agencies. Sector approaches draw upon the experience of many partners who improve worker training, retention and advancement by developing cross-firm skill standards, career ladders, job redefinitions, and shared training and support capacities that facilitate the advancement of workers at all skill levels, including the least skilled. An emerging body of research demonstrates that sector strategies can provide significant positive outcomes for workers, including increased wages and greater job security.

Sector strategies have become an integral part of the way some States respond to local and regional workforce needs. For example, as discussed earlier, the Ohio Skills Bank is implementing workforce development efforts across a broad range of industries in each of the State's 12 economic development regions. Another example is Congressman Fattah's State of Pennsylvania, which has more than 6,000 firms participating in nearly 80 partnerships, and 70,000 workers receiving training services since 2005.

To date, at least 39 States have adopted industry or sector strategies; but for the most part they are doing so in spite of the Workforce Investment Act, not because of it. As written, the Workforce Investment Act does not adequately support the hard work of convening multiple stakeholders and allowing a local area or a region to develop targeted depth and capacity in high-growth and emerging industries in a way that complements broader workforce development efforts. The SECTORS Act, introduced in the House, of which I am a cosponsor, would establish a separate title under WIA to support industry or sector partnerships and strategies. As a supporter of the legislation, I am working to ensure that the principles set forth in this bill are included in a reauthorized WIA.

Federal workforce development policy also needs to recognize that different workers enter the job market in different ways, from young people entering apprenticeship programs or community colleges, dislocated workers seeking new skills to transition to new careers, to low-income adults enrolling in adult education courses to obtain the basic skills and the literacy needed to pursue an industry-recognized credential. For reasons of both equity and economic necessity, we must work to provide every individual interested in improving their skills with the means and the opportunity to do so while removing barriers they may face along the way.

Career pathways accomplish this goal of easing individuals into the job market by aligning adult education, job training and higher education systems to create seamless transitions for workers at all points of their educational and career trajectories. Successful career path models allow individuals to easily move between institutions and programs to acquire the skills and credentials they need to take advantage of new career opportunities while continuing to work and support their families.

As with sector partnerships, States have tapped into career pathways models as a way to provide economic opportunities for citizens while supplying businesses with new sources of talent. Washington State has had significant success with its own I-Best model, which combines occupational skills training, college-level coursework, and English language and basic skills education to prepare workers for a broad range of occupations. Research indicates that I-Best participants are more likely to continue into credit-bearing coursework and earn occupational credentials than other adult education students. Congressman Bobby Scott's State of Virginia just recently announced the implementation of a statewide strategy to facilitate student transitions between education and employment systems and expand the provision of supportive services to ensure success.

Unfortunately, current law across a number of Federal programs-- including WIA, the Higher Education Act and Temporary Assistance For Needy Families--presents significant obstacles to the development of career pathways, establishing different funding streams for various educational and employment programs and often creating conflicting performance measures between systems.

Even within a single program such as WIA, we often see disconnects in the system. For example, one outcome measure for an individual receiving adult basic education services under WIA title II is the attainment of a GED. However, simply having a GED does not mean that a person has the skills he or she needs to enroll in a job training program funded under WIA title I. Unfortunately, far too often people confronted with such obstacles get frustrated and drop out of the system and never get the skills they need to succeed in the workforce. We must

work to reduce the barriers between systems under current Federal law and create incentives for States to better align and connect their workforce development, education and human services systems. WIA authorization is certainly one great place to start.

Madam Speaker, with that, I would now yield to the distinguished Member from California, our Chair, the gentlelady from California, Barbara Lee.

Thank you, Madam Chairman.

I would again like to thank our Chair for her leadership. Certainly Congresswoman Lee has kept the focus of the CBC on those who have the least, and that is very, very important. She has kept our focus on job creation and has allowed us to be the voice for the voiceless. With her leadership, we know that we represent more of the poor than any other group of people in this House, and it is just refreshing to know that our focus as a caucus is on poverty and jobs. I thank you again for your leadership.

Thank you, Madam Chairman. I would say there are so many things we need to be addressing. Certainly what I have found in my home district is that as you look at what is happening with women and children, it is really appalling. Right now, the fastest growing group of children in schools today are homeless children. That means their parents are homeless, and more times than not it is just a mother. So these are people who most of the time don't have jobs and don't have the ability to take care of their children, and we have to do what we have to do as a government. We have to make sure we provide.

So I am really happy that in the Recovery and Reinvestment Act we put significant money in there for shelters, for meals for children, for food stamps, for many things that I think are going to make their lives better. We have done what we think we needed to do to at least get them back moving in the right direction.

So I think you are right. As we look at where women are today, not just in equal pay, not just in benefits, but in how we live as people in this society, I think it is very, very important that we focus on where women are going in this society. I know that because of your leadership, that is one of the things the CBC has been looking at.

So I thank you again for all that you do to make sure that women get equal treatment, that women have the ability to raise their children in a positive and safe place, because if we hadn't done some of the things that we have done with this recovery package, where would they be? Certainly you may be poor, but you still deserve a decent place to live. You still deserve to be able to feed your children and send your kids to school in a safe environment.

Again, I thank you just for the kind of leadership that you have given to us that makes us really take a look at what is happening in our communities.

Again, Madam Chairman, I think that we have done a lot of work in a very short period of time. And I thank you for your leadership, and certainly I thank our leadership, the leadership of our caucus, as well as the leadership of the administration of our Nation for their vision.

I yield back the balance of my time, Madam Speaker.

Madam Speaker, I move that the House do now adjourn.

The motion was agreed to; accordingly (at 9 p.m.), under its previous order, the House adjourned until tomorrow, Tuesday, June 9, 2009, at 10:30 a.m., for morning-hour debate.

Thank you very much, Mr. Speaker. Good evening.

Mr. Speaker, I am here this evening to anchor the hour for the CBC for our Special Order tonight, which will be health care.

The Congressional Black Caucus, the CBC, is proud to anchor this hour. The CBC is chaired by the Honorable Barbara Lee from the Ninth Congressional District of California. My name is Congresswoman Marcia L. Fudge, and I represent the 11th Congressional District of Ohio.

CBC members are advocates for families nationally, internationally, regionally, and locally. We continue to work diligently to be the conscience of the Congress. We stand firm as the voice of the people, and we provide dedicated, focused service to the citizens and to the congressional districts that elected us to Congress.

The vision of the founding members of the Congressional Black Caucus is to promote the public welfare through legislation designed to meet the needs of millions of neglected citizens. It continues to be a beacon and focal point for the legislative work and political activities of the Congressional Black Caucus today.

Tonight, the CBC will focus its attention on health care reform. Specifically, we must ensure access to quality health care for all Americans. We must control health care costs and eradicate health care disparities.

At this time, Mr. Speaker, I yield to our Chair, the gentlelady from California, the Honorable Barbara Lee.

Thank you, Madam Chair, and thank you for your leadership and your vision as well as your focus.

Mr. Speaker, I would now like to turn the podium to my colleague from the State of California, the gentlelady from California, Diane Watson.

I thank the gentlelady from California. I would now, Mr. Speaker, like to yield to my colleague, the gentleman from Virginia (Mr. Scott).

I would like to, Mr. Speaker, again thank Representative Scott for his vision. To put in place an act that really does address the needs of babies and children is very significant for this Congress, and I thank you as well.

General Leave

Mr. Speaker, I ask unanimous consent that all Members may have 5 legislative days in which to revise and extend their remarks and include extraneous material on health care reform.

Mr. Speaker, I would now like to yield to my colleague, the gentleman from New Jersey (Mr. Payne).

(Mr. PAYNE asked and was given permission to revise and extend his remarks.)

Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Payne. Thank you for always continuing to fight for those who are most in need.

Mr. Speaker, I would, at this time, yield to the gentleman from Illinois (Mr. Davis).

(Mr. DAVIS of Illinois asked and was given permission to revise and extend his remarks.)

Thank you, Mr. Davis. I just want to say that you have always talked of the need to make sure that we have community health clinics and how it probably does in many ways serve our communities better. I thank you for discussing that with us this evening.

Mr. Speaker, I would now like to yield to the person that we have all talked about this evening, our go-to person, our expert, our Chair, and the person that we really do look to as we tackle health care, and that is my colleague from the Virgin Islands, Dr. Christensen.

Thank you so much again to our expert, Representative Christensen.

Mr. Speaker, I would like to close this session by saying a few things. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. said, ``Of all the forms of inequality, injustice in health care is the most shocking and inhumane.''

Mr. Speaker, I come from the 11th District of Ohio, a place where arguably you can find the best health care providers in the world, but still people cannot see a doctor. There is something wrong with what is going on in America today.

Anytime we have a health care system that is more reactive than proactive, something is wrong in America today. Anytime we look at a health care system whose cost is rising so rapidly that our paychecks can't keep up, something is wrong with what is going on in America today, Mr. Speaker. If your health is determined by where you are born or the neighborhood you live in, something is wrong with what is going on in America today.

And I say to you that the members of this caucus are going to fight in every way we know how to ensure that every American, be they rich, be they poor, be they minority is going to have a right to have health care that is going to be not only affordable but is going to take care of their needs in a preventive way, in a cost-effective way and in a humane way.

Because right now if you can get to see a doctor if you are poor, they may make you sit in an emergency room for 5 or 6 hours. They don't really take you seriously when you come in with serious problems, and that is why we have all of these hospitalizations that we really shouldn't have because these issues should have been treated early on in the process.

So I say to you, Mr. Speaker, that as members of the Congressional Black Caucus, we are determined to make sure that by the time health care is approved in this country, every single person who wishes to have health care will have it. Every single person who has a job will be able to afford it. And for those who are not, we are going to take care of those people.

Now they can call it anything they want to call it, but government's job is to take care of its people. That is what we intend to do, and that is what we intend to help our President do. We are going to continue to fight as hard as we can to make sure that every American in every district we serve has health care.

Good evening, Mr. Speaker.

I ask unanimous consent that all Members may have 5 legislative days in which to revise and extend their remarks and to insert supplementary materials on the topic of my Special Order this evening.

Mr. Speaker, the Congressional Black Caucus, the CBC, is proud to anchor this hour. Currently, the CBC is chaired by the Honorable Barbara Lee from the 9th Congressional District from California. My name is Congresswoman Marcia Fudge, representing the 11th Congressional District of Ohio.

CBC members are advocates for the human family, nationally and internationally, and have played a significant role as a local and regional activist. We continue to work diligently to be the conscience of the Congress. But understand, all politics are local. Therefore, we provide dedicated and focused service to citizens of the congressional districts we serve.

The vision of the founding members of the Congressional Black Caucus, to

promote the public welfare through legislation designed to meet the needs of millions of neglected citizens, continues to be the focal point for the legislative work and political activities of the Congressional Black Caucus today.

This week, the Caucus has joined to discuss one of the most important topics facing our country: the energy crisis. Rising global oil prices, concerns over energy security and the urgent need to address climate change has made energy a central concern of the 111th Congress and necessitated this message hour.

Mr. Speaker, I would now yield to our Chair, the honorable Ms. Lee from California, the gentlelady from California.

Thank you, Madam Chair.

I just want to say, Mr. Speaker, that our chairwoman has been so very supportive of this hour and of me continuing to be the anchor. But I also want to say to our chairwoman that I appreciate your kind of setting the record straight because I know that one of the things that our President talked about is, his priorities were education, health care, and energy. And he didn't say any of it would happen overnight, contrary to what our colleagues across the aisle said, that they thought it was going to happen right away. As a matter of fact, the President said it would take time. So I do thank you for helping me set the record straight, and I thank you for being here this evening. Thank you, Madam Chair.

Mr. Speaker, reliable predictions indicate that by the year 2050, the world's population will have nearly doubled from its present level. It will rise from around 6 billion to about 10 billion people. Most of this growth and much of the increase in energy consumption will occur in developing countries. Future increases in energy demand will exert even greater pressure on our finite reserves. If we are largely dependent on one fuel source, we risk price rises and supply disruptions. It is imperative for us to use our energy more efficiently and develop an energy supply that is both sustainable and diverse in order to improve our quality of life and protect our environment.

As a country, we can no longer depend on the cheap conception of gas and other finite resources. It is in the interest of our national security to become independent from our foreign sources of oil in politically unstable regions of the world. If we continue to invest in other finite resources, what is to prevent those costs from skyrocketing when the supply runs low? If we don't invest in renewable technologies now, we could be on the brink of a catastrophe, not to mention the health and environmental cost.

The best way to lower energy costs is to make homes, buildings, vehicles, and infrastructure more energy efficient. In the process, we create jobs. Doing nothing to curb carbon pollution means rising surface temperatures, rising sea levels, adverse health effects, and displaced populations. The longer we delay, the higher the cost.

As global warming becomes more threatening, addressing the future of America's environment becomes increasingly urgent. According to the United Nations Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, the average global temperature could rise by an additional 2.5 to 10.5 degrees Fahrenheit by the year 2100. If the amount of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere doubles as expected, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency has acknowledged that without emission control policies, the amount of carbon monoxide in the air will far exceed today's levels with a 30 to 150 percent increase.

According to an assessment by the World Health Organization of possible health impacts of climate change, more than 150,000 deaths may have been caused in the year 2000 alone by global warming as a result of disease, malnutrition, and loss of shelter. This negative impact on world health will only increase as the climate changes.

Experts predict that one-fourth of the Earth's species will be headed for extinction by 2050 if the warming trend continues at its current rate. More than $100 billion worth of homes, businesses, and public facilities are at risk from extreme coastal storms if sea levels rise as anticipated. When we invest in renewable energies, we are not only creating jobs and strengthening our economic prospects for the future, we are protecting our increasingly more fragile environment as well.

The Congressional Black Caucus recommends that we support science- based legislation to reduce domestic greenhouse gas emissions at least 80 percent below 1990 levels by the year 2050. The United States must be a leader on this global issue, and this target is consistent with the proposals of the Obama administration.

Any public investment in the green economy should include serious efforts to train, employ and provide public service opportunities that lead to full-time employment in these industries. We must develop a career pipeline, particularly in low- and middle-income communities, through training, job readiness, and entrepreneurship programs to ensure that people who most need work are prepared for the family- sustaining jobs and careers in energy efficiency and energy service industries.

When we talk about consumer protection, we have heard a lot about cap-and-trade. And sometimes I agree and sometimes I disagree with all of the things that are out there, but let me just say two things about cap-and-trade. A cap-and-trade system must be fair and must not be to the detriment of manufacturers and businesses. A cap-and-trade system will increase the cost of energy derived from high-polluting production processes for all households. Low- and middle-income households spend a greater share of their budget on energy costs than higher income households. To help prevent climate change policies from being unfairly burdensome on these households, we must remember to promote and support vital projects such as the Low Income Home Energy Assistance Program, better known as LIHEAP.

The LIHEAP program helps to pay the winter heating bills or summer cooling bills of low-income and elderly people. During extreme weather conditions, people living in poverty and low-income elderly should not have to choose between fuel to heat or cool their homes and buying food for themselves or their families. Two-thirds of the families receiving LIHEAP assistance have incomes of less than $8,000 a year, Mr. Speaker, $8,000. This program clearly helps the people who need help the most.

The Congressional Black Caucus recommends that we provide measures to offset the disproportionate impact of increased energy costs that could take the form of a climate rebate equal to the loss in purchasing power extended to the lowest quintile, the second quintile, and partially extend it to the third quintile. For households that file no tax returns, the rebate could be administered through the Electronic Benefit Transfer System. For all others the rebate could be extended through a higher earned income tax credit or alternative tax and make the connection with this increased cost.

In my home State of Ohio, Mr. Speaker, Ohio has lost more than 213,000 manufacturing jobs since the year 2000. In my neighboring State of Michigan, the figure is almost 497,000 jobs lost. Its industrial sector ranks fourth for energy consumption after Texas, Louisiana, and California. According to the Environmental Defense Fund, manufacturing is poised to grow in a low-carbon economy because economic opportunities exist within the supply chain that provide parts and labor for these industries. States that stand to benefit most from jobs in these sectors include Pennsylvania, Ohio, Indiana, North Carolina, New Mexico, Arizona, Nevada, and California.

Ohio receives about 86 percent of its electricity from coal. We also have some energy-intensive industries in Ohio such as paper, plastics, and fertilizer that rely upon abundant and economically viable sources of energy to help them keep their prices competitive, which is especially important during this troubling economic time. A cap-and- trade program will likely gradually raise electricity rates over time for consumers and especially manufacturers like those in northeast Ohio. When developing legislation, it is critical for us to work to minimize the effect and to sustain the competitiveness of our crucial industries and not only provide my district with jobs but also provide the world with products.

Mr. Speaker, the President had the opportunity to visit my district the day before he was inaugurated. He came to the city of Bedford Heights. He visited a community in my congressional district. He came to visit the Ohio wind energy component manufacturer Cardinal Fasteners. President Obama pointed to Cardinal Fasteners

as an example of how a company struggling through tough economic times can reinvent itself and recover by recognizing opportunities in the renewable energy market. Rather than falling victim to the slumping economy, Cardinal has become the Nation's largest manufacturer of bolts, screws, and double-ended studs used in wind towers. Each wind tower installed requires approximately 1,000 products made by Cardinal. As a result, the company now earns half of its revenue selling products that support wind energy products. Driven by sales of wind turbine projects, Cardinal projects will add an additional 40 or more individuals to its workforce in 2009, increasing its total to more than 100 employees.

I tell you this story because it tells you of the potential that Ohio has to be an oasis of wind energy. Ohio has made enormous strides to take advantage of its wind potential and create good green energy jobs throughout the State. In fact, there are over 220 businesses in Ohio that are involved in the development and manufacturing of wind energy and over 440 companies involved in the renewable energy sector. The Ohio Department of Development estimates that there are more than 1,000 Ohio businesses that already have the capacity to become part of the wind turbine supply chain.

Comprehensive energy legislation will revolutionize our economy and energy infrastructure, spurring us to become more innovative and efficient. The growing green economy presents an opportunity to create large numbers of quality green collar jobs for American workers, to grow emerging industries, and to improve the health of low- and middle- income Americans. Any public investment in the green economy should include serious efforts to train, employ, and provide public service opportunities that lead to full-time employment in these industries. We must assure that we train and prepare our workforce for green jobs and technology. An item that I truly support from the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act is the nearly $3 billion in workforce investment formula grants and $750 million for green and health care training. Lori Atkins, the deputy director of the Cuyahoga County Department of Workforce Development, informs me that to make sure that my community is ready for all jobs that are coming our way, training dollars they will receive will go to approved advisers for in-demand occupations, including green energy. My community will stand ready for this significant opportunity to make cost-effective public and private investments to rebuild and retrofit our Nation. The CBC recommends the following:

We must develop a career pipeline, particularly in low- and middle- income communities, through training, job readiness, and entrepreneurship programs to ensure that people who most need work are prepared for the family-sustaining jobs and careers in energy efficiency and energy services industries. Ensuring local hiring practices will be critical to engaging these distressed communities. It is also extremely important that we do not leave minority- and women- owned businesses behind in this new industry. Therefore, we must be assured that they have their place at the proverbial table. This will also ensure that the work is spread to all citizens.

We must as well develop Green Energy Centers of Excellence at predominantly black institutions to research and develop new green technologies as well as train implementers in the development of green innovation. These institutions maintain unique relationships with communities of color, and we should use their expertise to educate these communities on the opportunities in green industries and the techniques needed to succeed.

We must ensure local and national certification standards for technical jobs to ensure appropriate levels of expertise. We must also apply large-scale energy-saving measures to the Nation's building stock, which will create hundreds of thousands of green collar jobs while dramatically reducing America's energy costs and greenhouse gas emissions.

It is important for us to remember that the only way we can achieve our goals as a country is to become more energy independent, and that can only happen if we have a skilled workforce proficient in science, technology, engineering, and math. I would like to briefly discuss and highlight the MC Squared School in my district, which is the first STEM facility in our Nation that is located in a corporate complex. The facility provides an environment fostering intellectual growth and stimulating curriculum geared toward science, technology, engineering, and math. The students are mentored by GE employees from a broad array of disciplines ranging from research, technology, and engineering to marketing, finance, global product management, and human resources. Most importantly, the teachers and staff are exceptional. It was no small feat to make the MC Squared STEM School a success. It took the hard work, ingenuity, and commitment of local civic and business organizations who came together and contributed nearly $3 million for the classroom renovations on the Nela Park campus in order to bring this idea to fruition. It also took the vision of the CEO of the Cleveland Public Schools, Dr. Eugene Sanders.

The STEALTH team of the MC Squared School meets once a week after school and is headed up by a science teacher who was the vice president of Johnson Controls for 26 years. They have created an apparatus called ``the thing,'' which collects sunlight and stores it in batteries which can be used to charge your cell phone, laptop, and any daily household item. They have refined it to do something that works effectively. Additionally, the STEALTH group has implemented green renovations to General Electric solar panels on the roof of its own facility.

The STEM School recently held a conference focusing on renewable energy at the Great Lakes Science Center in my district where many students came and were responsible for researching a specific topic. The STEM School then invited other children from the community to conduct a town hall discussion on energy issues.

The STEM School works in conjunction with the Washington Park Greenhouse, which is connected to the Cleveland Public School District through South High School. The STEM School students recently made some recommendations to increase energy efficiency of the greenhouse. General Electric staff worked with them hand in hand while using the suggestions of the students to renovate the greenhouse. The students then took measurements of humidity, temperature, and other levels before and after and compared the result to measure the progress of their work. The STEM students are currently working on developing automated watering systems for the greenhouse pumps to conserve energy and water for the plants. They are in the process of creating designs and testing to see which one works best.

I believe that the MC Squared STEM School has the ability to be a catalyst for change across our Nation. Children who are taught by educators with proper certification and mentored by professionals are more likely to succeed and prosper in an increasingly technologically advanced society. It is for this reason I plan to offer an amendment to the STEM Coordination Act of 2009 in the Committee of Science and Technology, which I am a member, with the intent to increase the members of certified teachers in low-performing areas of our country. Increasing the number of qualified teachers in our country in science and math will only help our Nation spur the renewable energy revolution.

In conclusion, Mr. Speaker, I would like to thank Congresswoman Barbara Lee, the chairwoman of the Congressional Black Caucus, for allowing this important discussion on energy during our message hour. We must work to strengthen all facets of our society when discussing an unfolding energy revolution in the 111th Congress. We have a great opportunity to protect our environment and strengthen our economic interest through the creation of additional sources of energy such as biofuel, wind, and solar.

Mr. Speaker, I yield again to our Chair, the gentlewoman from California (Ms. Lee).

Thank you so much, Madam Chair.

Madam Speaker, good evening.

General Leave

I ask unanimous consent that all Members may have 5 legislative days in which to revise and extend their remarks and to insert supplementary materials on the topic of my Special Order this evening.

The Congressional Black Caucus, the CBC, is proud to anchor this hour. Currently, the CBC is chaired by the Honorable Barbara Lee from the 9th Congressional District of California. My name is Congresswoman Marcia Fudge, and I represent the 11th Congressional District of Ohio.

CBC members are advocates for families nationally and internationally, and we have played a significant role as local and regional activists. We continue to work diligently to be the conscience of the Congress, but understanding that all politics are not local, we provide dedicated and focused service to the citizens and to the congressional districts we serve.

During this Special Order, we have the honor of speaking about the life and legacy of a great man--Professor John Hope Franklin. It is with sadness and pride that the CBC members are here this evening to commemorate the passing of Professor Franklin, who was a great historian and a true conscience of the Nation.

During this month of March, we are also privileged to celebrate Women's History Month. Members of the CBC will join with me on the floor and will offer their reflections on women trailblazers and the impact women have had on this Nation as a whole.

Madam Speaker, I would now like to yield to our Chair, the Honorable Barbara Lee.

I would again like to thank the gentlewoman from California for her leadership and for her vision for the Congressional Black Caucus.

Madam Speaker, I would now like to yield to the gentleman from North Carolina, Mr. Watt.

Madam Speaker, I thank the gentleman from North Carolina for his remarks.

At this time, I would like to yield to the gentleman from Virginia, Mr. Scott.

Madam Speaker, I thank the gentleman from Virginia for his remarks and would now like to yield to the gentleman from New Jersey (Mr. Payne).

Thank you. Madam Speaker, I would like to thank the gentleman from New Jersey for his continued participation in our CBC hours, our Special Orders on Mondays, and I would now like to yield to the gentlewoman from the Virgin Islands (Mrs. Christensen).

I'd like to again thank the gentlelady from the Virgin Islands, who has really been of such help to me as I continue to anchor these hours. I thank you again.

I would like to close, Madam Speaker, by talking about some special women to me as we celebrate Women's History Month. I would talk about those who are on the rolls of this very House, people that I have followed over the years. I'd like to begin with the Honorable Shirley Chisholm.

Shirley Chisholm was the first African American woman elected to Congress. She was the first African American and the first female to run as a major party candidate for President of the United States in 1972.

Chisholm was born in Brooklyn, New York, of immigrant parents in 1924. She earned her BA from Brooklyn College in 1946 and later earned her master's from Columbia University in elementary education in 1952.

From 1953 to 1959, she was director of the Hamilton-Madison Child Care Center. From 1959 to 1964, she was an educational consultant for the Division of Day Care.

In 1964, Chisholm ran for and was elected to the New York State legislature. In 1968, she ran as the Democratic candidate for New York's 12th District congressional seat and was elected to the House of Representatives. Defeating Republican candidate James Farmer, Chisholm became the first black woman elected to the Congress of the United States. Chisholm joined the Congressional Black Caucus in 1969 as one of its founding members.

As a freshman, Chisholm was assigned to the House Agricultural Committee. Given her urban district, she felt the placement was irrelevant to her constituents, and shocked many by asking for reassignment. She was then placed on the Veterans' Affairs Committee. Soon after, she was assigned to the Education and Labor Committee, which was her preferred committee. She was the third highest ranking member of this committee when she retired from Congress.

All those Chisholm hired for her office were women--half of them black. Chisholm said that during her New York legislative career she had faced much more discrimination because she was a woman than because she was black.

In the 1972 U.S. Presidential election, she made a bid for the Democratic Party's Presidential nomination. Chisholm's base of support was ethnically diverse and included the National Organization for Women. Chisholm said she ran for the office ``in spite of hopeless odds to demonstrate the sheer will and refusal to accept the status quo.''

Among the volunteers who were inspired by her campaign was Barbara Lee, chairman of the Congressional Black Caucus, who continued to be politically active and was elected as a Congresswoman 25 years later. Betty Friedan and Gloria Steinem attempted to run as Chisholm delegates in New York.

From 1977 to 1981, during the 95th Congress and 96th Congress, Chisholm was elected to a position in the House Democratic leadership as Secretary of the House Democratic caucus.

Throughout her tenure in Congress, Chisholm worked to improve opportunity for inner-city children. She was a vocal opponent of the draft and supported spending increases for education, health care and other social services, and reductions in military spending.

She announced her retirement from Congress in 1982. After leaving Congress, Chisholm was named as the Purington Chair at Mount Holyoke College. Today, her portrait hangs in a very prominent place--a place of honor in the U.S. Capitol.

Barbara Jordan. Barbara Jordan was a congressional Member from Texas's 18th Congressional District from 1973 to 1979. Jordan campaigned for the Texas House of Representatives in 1962 and 1964. Her persistence won her a seat in the Texas Senate in 1966, becoming the first African American State Senator since 1883, and the first black woman to serve in that body. She served until 1972.

She was the first African American female to serve as president pro tem of the Senate, and served for 1 day as acting Governor of Texas in 1972.

In 1972, she was elected to the United States House of Representatives, becoming the first black woman from a southern State to serve in the House. She received extensive support from former President Lyndon Johnson, who helped her secure a position on the House Judiciary Committee.

In 1974, she made an influential televised speech before the House Judiciary Committee supporting the impeachment of President Richard Nixon.

Jordan was mentioned as a possible running mate to Jimmy Carter in 1976, and that year she became the first African American woman to deliver the keynote address at the Democratic National Convention. Her speech in New York that summer was ranked fifth in a list of Top 100 American Speeches of the 20th Century.

Jordan retired from politics in 1979 and became an adjunct professor at the University of Texas at Austin's Lyndon B. Johnson School of Public Affairs. She again was a keynote speaker at the Democratic National Convention in 1992.

In 1995, Jordan chaired a congressional commission that advocated increased restriction of immigration and increased penalties on employers that violated U.S. immigration regulations. President Clinton endorsed the Jordan Commission's proposals.

She supported the Community Reinvestment Act of 1977, legislation that required banks to lend and make services available to underserved poor and minority communities. She supported the renewal of the Voting Rights Act of 1965 and expansion of that act to cover other ethnic minorities.

Jordan was awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom in 1994. It was only one of many honors given to her, including election into both the Texas and National Women's Hall of Fame. In 1995, she was awarded the prestigious United States Military Academy's Sylvanus Thayer Award, becoming only the second female awardee.

Upon her death on January 17, 1996, Jordan lay in state at the LBJ Library on the campus of the University of Texas at Austin. She was buried in the Texas State Cemetery in Austin, and was the first black woman interred there.

The main terminal at Austin-Bergstrom International Airport is named after her, as are a middle school in Texas and a high school in Houston.

The Kaiser Family Foundation currently operates the Barbara Jordan Health Policy Scholars. This fellowship is for people of color who are college juniors, seniors, and recent graduates, and it is designed to provide them with a summer experience working in a congressional office.

Carrie Meek. She is a former U.S. Congresswoman from Florida's 17th Congressional District from 1993 to 2003. She was the first African American elected to Congress from Florida since Reconstruction. Meek was born on April 29, 1926, in Tallahassee, Florida. The granddaughter of a slave and the daughter of a former sharecropper, she spent her childhood in segregated Tallahassee.

Meek graduated from Florida A&M University in 1946. At this time, African Americans could not attend graduate school in Florida, so Meek traveled north to continue her studies, and graduated from the University of Michigan with an MS in 1948.

After graduation, Meek was hired as a teacher at Bethune Cookman College in Daytona Beach, Florida, and then at her alma mater, Florida A&M University.

Meek moved to Miami in 1961 to serve as special assistant to the vice president of Miami-Dade Community College. The school was desegregated in 1963 and Meek played a central role in pushing for integration. Throughout her years as an educator, Meek was also active in community projects in the Miami area.

Elected as Florida State representative in 1969, Meek was the first African American female elected to the Florida State Senate in 1982. As a State Senator, Meek served on the Education Appropriations Subcommittee. Her efforts in the legislature led to the construction of thousands of affordable rental housing units.

In 1992, Meek was elected to the U.S. House of Representatives from Florida's 17th Congressional District. This made her the first black lawmaker elected to represent Florida in Congress since Reconstruction.

Meek has received numerous awards and honors. She is the recipient of honorary doctor of law degrees from the University of Miami, Florida A&M University, Barry University, Florida Atlantic University, and Rollins University.

Meek was a member of the powerful House Appropriations Committee, in addition to serving on the Subcommittee of Treasury, Postal Service, and General Government and the Subcommittee on VA, HUD, and independent agencies.

Stephanie Tubbs Jones. She was a U.S. congressional Member from Ohio's 11th Congressional District; the first black woman to represent Ohio in the House; former chairman of the House Ethics Committee since 2007; first black woman to serve on the House Ways and Means Committee.

Born in Cleveland, Ohio, in 1949, Tubbs Jones graduated from the city's public schools. She earned a degree in social work from Flora Stone Mather College of Case Western Reserve University in 1971. In 1974, she earned a JD from the Case Western Reserve University School of Law.

Tubbs Jones was elected a judge of the Cleveland Municipal Court in 1981, and subsequently served on the Court of Common Pleas of Cuyahoga County from 1983 to 1991. She then served as the Cuyahoga County prosecutor from 1991 until resigning early in 1999 to take her seat in Congress.

In 1998, Tubbs Jones won the Democratic nomination for the 11th District after 30-year incumbent Louis Stokes announced his retirement. She was reelected four times.

Tubbs Jones was a cochairman of the Democratic National Committee. She opposed the Iraq war, voting in 2002 against the use of military force. Despite representing a heavily unionized district, she was a strong proponent of free trade. Tubbs Jones most recently took a lead role in the fight to pass the U.S.-Peru Trade Promotion Agreement in November, 2007.

In 2004, she served as the chairwoman of the platform committee at the Democratic National Convention and as a member of the Ohio delegation. She strongly supported Senator John Kerry in his campaign to become President of the United States.

On January 6, 2005, she joined U.S. Senator Barbara Boxer in objecting to the certification of the 2004 U.S. Presidential election results for Ohio. As the sponsor, she was one of 31 House Members who refused to count the electoral votes from the Ohio House in the 2004 election.

She was selected by Speaker Nancy Pelosi as chairperson of the House Ethics Committee to watch over the standards of ethical conduct for Members of the House.

Tubbs Jones was popular in her district and was routinely reelected against nominal Republican opposition.

She received 83 percent of the vote in her final general election in 2006 against Republican Lindsey String. She faced no opposition in the 2008 Ohio Democratic primary.

I want to say that all the women I have recognized today are certainly people that I have a great deal of respect for. I have followed them to this House. And I want you also to know that they are all my sorority sisters.

With that, Mr. Speaker, that would close this hour of the CBC Special Order, and we hope to see you again on next Monday as we continue our work in being the conscience of the Congress.

I yield back the balance of my time.

Mr. Speaker, the Congressional Black Caucus, the CBC, is proud to anchor this hour. Currently the CBC is chaired by the Honorable Barbara Lee from the Ninth Congressional District of California. My name is Congresswoman Marcia Fudge, and I represent the 11th Congressional District of Ohio.

CBC members are advocates for families nationally and internationally. We have played a significant role as local and regional activists. We continue to work diligently to be the conscience of the Congress. But understanding that all politics are local, we provide dedicated and focused service to the citizens and congressional districts we serve. The vision of the founding members of the Congressional Black Caucus, to promote the public welfare through legislation designed to meet the needs of millions of neglected citizens, continues to be a focal point for the legislative work and political activities of the Congressional Black Caucus today.

As Members of Congress, CBC members also promote legislation to aid neglected citizens throughout the world. We understand that the United States, as a bellwether, has the ability to positively impact our neighbors abroad.

Mr. Speaker, at this time I yield to our chairwoman, the Honorable Barbara Lee.

Thank you. Mr. Speaker, I would very much like to thank our Chair for her leadership, for her vision, and certainly for her support of this special hour for the CBC.

Mr. Speaker, I would now like to yield to the gentlelady from Maryland (Ms. Edwards).

I want to thank my colleague for her very moving remarks and because she is here and even though she doesn't feel well, because it is such a very important issue. So I want to thank her.

Mr. Speaker, I would now yield to the gentlelady from Wisconsin (Ms. Moore).

Thank you very much.

Mr. Speaker, I would very much like to thank my friend and colleague, the gentlelady from Wisconsin, for her passion and for her insight.

At this time, I would now like to yield to the gentleman from New Jersey who, indeed, is the dean of the CBC as it relates to matters of Foreign Affairs, especially those in Africa.

Mr. Payne.

Mr. Speaker, I would very much again like to thank our teacher, our dean, our resident expert for his remarks this evening.

And now, Mr. Speaker, I would yield myself as much time as I may consume.

Mr. Speaker, the United States is a leader in advocating for human rights and humanitarian assistance. These ideals are embodied in the desire to assist and guide others that have lost hope.

At the United Nations World Summit in 2005, 191 members of the UN expressed support for the idea of a responsibility to protect. This responsibility to protect proclaims that mass atrocities that occur in one country are the concern of all countries. This echoes the great Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.'s, declaration that injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere.

With Dr. King's words in our hearts, I rise today to speak about the grave tragedies affecting individuals in Darfur and the temporary protective status, better known as TPS, for individuals from Liberia and Haiti.

I begin with the humanitarian emergency that is taking place in Darfur.

The history of the information in the Darfur region of Sudan is long and complicated. Sudan has been embroiled in a civil war for decades. The conflict took a turn for the worst in 2003 when the Sudanese government mobilized militias known as Janjaweeds to attack opposition groups. The militia has brutalized the people of Darfur with murder, rape, torture, and pillage. They have burned down entire villages forcing people to flee their homes and their livelihoods. Entire portions of the region are now ruled by roving bands of armed gunmen.

Since 2003, 300,000 Darfuris have died as a result of a conflict, and approximately 2.7 million have been forced from their homes.

The conflict in Darfur is also having a devastating effect on its western neighbor, Chad. Nearly 200,000 refugees from Sudan have joined the 90,000 persons displaced by the civil war in Chad. To further complicate matters, both Chad and Sudan have accused each other of supporting rebellions in their countries. Last week, however, the situation in Darfur took a grave turn for the worse.

Sudan's President, Omar al-Bashir, expelled 13 nongovernmental organizations, or NGOs, and 6,500 aid workers from the country. This was in direct retaliation for Bashir's indictment on war crimes and crimes against humanity by the International Criminal Court, better known as the ICC, on March 4, 2009. Bashir's unsubstantiated accusation that the NGOs were cooperating with the ICC investigation only heightens the urgency and necessity for an international response.

The civilian population is composed of two million people who are spread out among 200 refugee camps in Darfur, and in 12 refugee camps in eastern Chad. The UN estimates that 40 percent of Darfuris depend on outside assistance for their survival. This expulsion of humanitarian groups, such as Oxfam and Doctors Without Borders, will adversely affect millions of civilians who rely on NGOs for their most basic food and medical needs. Who will continue to provide these urgent services, Mr. Speaker?

The Sudanese government has clearly demonstrated that it is unwilling or unable to assist its citizens throughout this very conflict. The expulsion of the NGOs is only the most recent act that endangers millions of lives. This is why the international community must unite and forcefully declare that Sudan's government not hold its citizens hostage.

Last week, I and nearly 80 Members of this Congress sent letters to the Secretary General of the League of Arab States, the chairman of the African Union and the President of China urging them to insist that the government of Sudan allow humanitarian organizations to re-enter the country.

President Bashir must separate the ICC action from the charity relief efforts of relief groups. The expulsion violates international humanitarian law and damages efforts to resolve the conflict. Without the NGOs, more than one million Darfuris will be left vulnerable to disease and starvation. These are civilians, Mr. Speaker. They are caught in the cross hairs of a conflict they did not begin and they have no power to end.

By sacrificing his people for political gain, President Bashir has shown a call as disregard for human life that the international community cannot ignore. President Bashir must reverse the expulsion order and allow NGOs back into Sudan. The people of Darfur have suffered enough. To compound their anguish at this critical time is unconscionable.

I applaud President Obama's appointment of a special envoy to Sudan. President Obama named retired Air Force General Scott Gration last week as a special envoy to Sudan, choosing a close adviser with broad experience in the region. The President has indicated that the conflict in Darfur is a priority for his administration. The CBC is encouraged by the administration's stance, and we look forward to working with the President and the Special Envoy Gration.

At this time, Mr. Speaker, I would like to yield to my colleague from the State of Texas, the gentlewoman from the State of Texas, Ms. Sheila Jackson-Lee.

Mr. Speaker, I would like to thank my friend and colleague because she always does bring great focus and great insight, and I thank you so much.

Mr. Speaker, I will close with a few comments.

Mr. Speaker, the suffering of the people of Haiti and Liberia are pressing issues. The United States has more options available in dealing with Haitians and Liberians. It is time for the United States to exert that control and extending temporary protected status, or TPS, for individuals from Haiti and stand by our TPS for Liberians.

As a signatory to the United Nations protocol relating to the status of refugees, the United States has agreed that it will not return an individual to a country where his life or freedom would be threatened. U.S. immigration law employs TPS designations to address this very issue. TPS protects individuals from being deported to a country where that person would be threatened on the basis of race, religion, nationality, membership in a particular group, or political opinion.

TPS is also sought by those aiming to flee extreme poverty, depravation, violence, and the dislocation brought on by famines or natural disasters in their home countries.

Mr. Speaker, I think that it is time for this country to understand the significance of helping those who cannot help themselves.

I began this hour talk about a quote from Dr. Martin Luther King, and I will close with the same one, that injustice anywhere is injustice everywhere.

Mr. Speaker, I just ask that this Congress and the Members who are hearing this or who will read this at some other point do make themselves aware of the plight of the people who we spoke about today.

Mr. Speaker, I ask unanimous consent that all Members may have 5 legislative days in which to may revise and extend their remarks and insert extraneous materials on the topic of my Special Order.

The Congressional Black Caucus, the CBC, is proud to anchor this hour. Currently, the CBC is chaired by the Honorable Barbara Lee from the Ninth Congressional District of California. My name is Congresswoman Marcia Fudge, representing the 11th Congressional District of Ohio.

CBC members are advocates for the human family, nationally and internationally, and have played a significant role as local and regional advocates. We continue to work diligently to be the conscience of the Congress. But understand that all politics are local. Therefore, we provide dedicated and focused service to the citizens and congressional districts we serve.

The vision of the founding members of the Congressional Black Caucus to promote the public welfare through legislation designed to meet the needs of millions of neglected citizens continues to be the focal point for our legislative work in political activity.

Mr. Speaker, I would now like to yield to our chairperson, the gentlewoman from California (Ms. Lee).

Thank you. Mr. Speaker, I would like to thank our Chair, the gentlewoman from California (Ms. Lee), for her leadership, for her ability to keep the issues that are really pertinent and pressing on the CBC agenda. Madam Chair, I thank you.

I would now like to yield to the gentlewoman from New York, Ms. Yvette Clarke.

Mr. Speaker, I would certainly like to thank my friend and the outspoken representative from the 11th District of New York. She stands for her people, and I am so appreciative of her participation this evening.

Mr. Speaker, I would now like to yield to one who has been so helpful during the CBC hour, who has provided me guidance and support, and I call my co-anchor. And that would be the gentlewoman from the Virgin Islands (Mrs. Christensen).

Thank you so very much. I would very much like to thank my colleague for all of her help and support during the CBC hour, and look forward to working with her as well.

Mr. Speaker, at this time I would like to yield to the gentlewoman from the State of Texas, Ms. Sheila Jackson Lee, who has been a strong voice in our Congress for years for the people who are most in need.

There are a couple of things that I would like to address. Many people know that Cleveland, which is a major part of my district, has been one of the poorer cities in America for the last 3 years. So when we are talking about more than 10,000 vacancies in a city, which is the case in the city of Cleveland, not only does it destroy neighborhoods, but there are less resources to go to the school or to go to the city for city services, and all of the things that go along with tax dollars. As well, it deflates and devalues all of the property around it.

And it clogs the courts. The foreclosure process is a timing issue because of all the notice requirements. It is a domino effect. It hurts everything that you can think of that has to do with housing. But most importantly, it puts people on the street. We have thousands and thousands of people waiting to get into public housing. We have people who have moved in with other family members. Where do these people go? No one addresses the issue where do these people go. Everyone doesn't have a family that they can move in with. Everyone cannot get a voucher or stay with a friend. Where do these people go?

And then what is compounding the problem is we are now having landlords who have renters in their homes, and haven't told the renters they are in foreclosure. One day the renters wake up and they have a notice on their door saying that they have to move in three days. Or the sheriff saying you must move from these premises. So it becomes a very difficult experience to watch someone lose their home.

I am hopeful that some of the things that we have done in this Congress will stop the bleeding. We may not cure the problem over the short run, but I am very confident that we will over the long run. I certainly hope that some of these things are given a chance. We have given 8 years of opportunity to make things work and they haven't. Give us the same opportunity. I do believe our President is doing the right thing. It is just going to take some time.

I want to thank my colleague who is obviously an outstanding lawyer and leader for participating in this hour.

Mr. Speaker, certainly, as you have listened to my colleagues this evening, helping the economy recover is foremost in all of our minds. At this time in our Nation's history, it is important that Congress ensure that Americans have jobs to support themselves and their families, as well as homes to raise these families in. To fix the economy, we must address the foreclosure crisis.

Foreclosures affect all races and incomes. It doesn't just stop in the poor

cities, it affects every community in every State. However, the effects on the black community are especially pronounced because of the lower level of homeownership. For many black families, home equity is the main source of wealth because most have lower incomes, little to no savings or investments, and no life insurance policies.

The decline of the housing market is at the center of our economic crisis. Home prices have dropped 18 percent in the last quarter of 2008. It is estimated that each foreclosed home reduces surrounding property values by as much as 9 percent, causing increased concern for even those who are not directly affected by the housing crisis. Nearly 6 million homes are facing foreclosure, and nearly one in five homeowners owes more than their home is worth, and many cannot afford to refinance.

The foreclosure crisis affects every sector of the population, and nearly every person in this Nation. Cities across the Nation are experiencing a crisis that imperils communities and cripples the economy. In my district, the Center For Responsible Lending projected 5,500 foreclosures in 2009--just in the 11th District--and 18,500 foreclosures over the next 4 years. Within the State of Ohio the projection is very grim: 87,500 foreclosures in 2009. In Cuyahoga County, 13,858 were foreclosed in 2008. Cleveland is one of the Nation's big cities in the most need due to its large population of poor families. The city has set aside nearly $11 million to handle some 10,000 homes that have been abandoned primarily due to foreclosure. Much of that money, about $7.5 million, goes to demolition, while the remainder takes care of vacant lots, boarding up windows, picking up trash, and mowing lawns. This money could be used to hire more police officers and to keep more teachers. But because of the risk that goes with abandoned neighborhoods, money needs to go towards foreclosed properties.

As we see far too often, for communities with foreclosed homes, it is a short road from nuisance to blight to crime. Blight affects a city's morale and slows economic growth and development. Abandoned homes also become harbors for criminal activity.

Typically, it is our inner cities that bear the brunt of vacant homes and community blight. But now it can be seen in each and every community, in every development and in every neighborhood. Even the affluent suburbs face the same problems. The suburb of Shaker Heights spent nearly $1 million on foreclosed properties. The city of Euclid had to tear down 18 homes, and Cleveland Heights spent a great deal of money on maintenance on over 250 properties.

I spoke recently with Ms. Arnetta Parker, a long-time resident of Richmond Heights, Ohio, a nice, upper-middle-class suburb. She and her husband have resided in the area for over 35 years and are currently doing fine. However, their community is struggling greatly. Her subdivision has about 80 homes, and on her street alone, four of those homes are vacant. She recalled one of the first times she saw a family be required to move out of their home and how much it hurt her to see a hardworking couple lose their home. The displaced couple had two kids, a teenage son who was very involved in sports and a very young girl. They were uprooted from what was familiar to them, from their schools, their friends and community. They became a part of the crisis.

Just this month, foreclosures.com, a Website that looks at the rise of foreclosures in the United States, found an increase in foreclosures of over 60 percent from January to February. The organization's president, Alexis McGee, opined if foreclosures continue unabated, then the United States could see 1.2 million homes back in lenders' hands by the end of this year.

The Center For Responsible Lending estimates there are 6,600 new foreclosures every day, and that equates to one foreclosure by one family that loses their home every 13 seconds.

This Nation cannot sustain a system in which mortgage servicers prefer foreclosure over mortgage modifications. The Homeowner Affordability and Stability Plan creates incentives for lenders to modify mortgages by bringing mortgages more in line with the value of the home and should reduce the number of home foreclosures. It also encourages servicers to modify mortgages for at-risk homeowners before they are delinquent.

Recent reports show that homeowners are not the only ones suffering in this crisis. Renters are also becoming victims as their landlords lose property to foreclosure. Usually renters are not aware of the foreclosure proceedings. Once the lender has foreclosed, they often provide little notice to tenants before demanding that the tenants vacate the property. Forced from the property, renters may lose their security deposit and everything else they have.

To help insure that similar crises are averted in the future, regulations must be developed that combat mortgage fraud and predatory lending practices. In general, predatory lending covers those practices that are deemed deceptive or fraudulent, that manipulate borrowers through aggressive sales tactics, or that unfairly seize on the borrower's lack of understanding about loan terms.

Predatory lending strips borrowers of home equity, increases the homeowner's chances of foreclosure, and destabilizes communities. Vacant properties invite criminal activities and affect neighboring property values.

The most common predatory lending tactics include excessive fees and abusive prepayment penalties. For example, borrowers with high-interest loans have a strong incentive to refinance as soon as their credit improves. However, as the Center for Responsible Lending estimates, up to 80 percent of all subprime mortgages carry a prepayment penalty. Homeowners become trapped by such provisions, leaving them unable to make cost-effective decisions.

Moreover, studies have shown that predatory lenders often target vulnerable groups, including minority groups, females, elderly, and low-income borrowers. The evidence is clear by the concentration of predatory loans in low-income and minority neighborhoods. Congress and President Obama have both designed legislation to curve the downward spiral in foreclosures. These plans are coordinated among major government and regulatory agencies to bring targeted relief to the American housing market and to homeowners.

The Helping Families Save Their Homes Act, H.R. 1106, is designed to stabilize the housing market by reducing foreclosures, and to help responsible, hardworking Americans who are losing their homes during this economic downturn. It could reduce foreclosures by 20 percent.

The bill ensures that those who seek recourse via chapter 13 can do so through a uniform process. Several important points about the bill are that it protects lenders from lawsuits, it fixes the Federal Housing Administration's HOPE for Homeowners Program by lowering the fees paid by borrowers and lenders, and by providing $1,000 payments to servicers for each successful refinance of existing loans. It reduces current fees that have discouraged lenders from voluntarily participating. As a last resort, it allows bankruptcy judges to modify the terms of loans for families with existing mortgages, just as investors in vacation homes, real estate speculators, and corporations have been able to do for years. And it helps veterans, and others, to avoid foreclosure by allowing the Department of Veteran Affairs, the FHA, and the U.S. Department of Agriculture to guarantee or ensure mortgage loans modified either out of court or in a bankruptcy case.

Mr. Speaker, I thank you for allowing the CBC to have a Special Order this evening. It is my pleasure to have anchored those hours.

Madam Speaker, I ask unanimous consent that all Members may have 5 legislative days in which Members may revise and extend their remarks and insert extraneous materials on the topic of my Special Order.