Floor Statements

Mr. Speaker, I rise here today to pay tribute to a special couple from Caraway, AR, Ode and Beatrice Ward, who will celebrate their 75th wedding anniversary on September 20, 2005. This is a significant milestone and one that only a very few are fortunate enough to celebrate in their lifetime.

Ode and Beatrice Ward met in Leachville, AR, and decided to marry in the fall of 1930. The couple made their home in northeast Arkansas and spent the next 42 years growing cotton, soybeans, and milo. Throughout the years, the Wards were blessed with three children, James E. Ward, Vondella W. Davis, and Lois M. Meadows, and now have the pleasure of spending time with six grandchildren and nine great-grandchildren.

Their love for each other and their family extends to their neighbors as well, where they continue to stay involved in their community. They remain active members in the political process and are often seen participating in local activities and events. Their energy is truly remarkable and perhaps the secret to a long and fulfilling life.

A 75th wedding anniversary reminds us that marriage is not an instant achievement but a covenant that requires love, patience, and respect. Ode and Beatrice Ward have perfected this commitment to each other and are truly blessed to have a strong marriage, their family, and a lifetime of memories. As they live each day by their wedding vows, they continue to inspire all who are fortunate to know them.

On September 20, 2005, Ode and Beatrice Ward will join many of their family and friends at a celebration to honor their 75 years of marriage. I ask my colleagues to join me in congratulating them on this joyous occasion and sending our best wishes for many more years of love and happiness.

Mr. Speaker, I rise here today to pay tribute to a great businessman, Mr. Jack Stephens, who spent a lifetime helping Arkansas gain a competitive edge in the global economy. His talent and generosity led to important advances in business, transportation, medicine, and the arts that have left a lasting mark on our state.

Jack Stephens was born on August 9, 1923 in Grant County, Arkansas, the youngest of six children. He grew up on a farm near Prattsville during the great Depression. Coming from humble beginnings, the hard times and his parents taught him the values of self-reliance, diligence, integrity and hard work. His father, A.J. Stephens once told his young son, ``It's no disgrace to be poor, it's a disgrace to stay poor.'' His father also advised, ``Success is not a destiny to be reached, but the quality of the journey we make.''

The advice from his father stayed with him throughout his life. In his younger years Jack Stephens worked on the family farm behind a mule drawn plow and picking cotton. By age 15, he held summer jobs as a bellhop and shoeshine boy at the Barlow Hotel in Hope, Arkansas. He added the delivery of telegrams to his duties when he realized he could do so after his normal hotel shift was finished.

A bright student, Mr. Stephens attended public schools in Prattsville and graduated high school from Columbia Military Academy in Columbia, Tennessee. He attended the University of Arkansas in Fayetteville and graduated from the United States Naval Academy in 1946. (Class of '47.)

Poor eyesight prevented Mr. Stephens from active duty in the Navy so he took a job offered to him on his graduation day by his brother W.R. ``Witt'' Stephens. With a simple handshake in his room at Annapolis, Mr. Stephens agreed to join his brother in Little Rock at a municipal bond house.

Witt was outgoing, a natural salesman. Jack was quiet, unassuming and studious. A decade later, in 1956, Jack became an equal partner with his brother and became President and Chief Executive Officer the following year (1957). The two brothers acquired the Fort Smith Gas Company and renamed it the Arkansas Oklahoma Gas Company.

The pair also acquired an oil and gas exploration firm and named it Stephens Production Company.

Both investments proved to be the catalyst for expansion from a municipal bond business to a diversified financial group that became Stephens Inc.

Jack Stephens served as President and CEO of Stephens Inc. from 1957 until 1986 when Stephens Group, Inc. was formed and became the parent company of Stephens Inc. His son, Warren, assumed the leadership of Stephens Inc. at that time. Mr. Stephens became Chairman of Stephens Group, Inc. that year, a title he carried for the remainder of his life.

Over the decades, Mr. Stephens led the company to great heights. Under his leadership, Stephens Inc. invested or assisted in many enterprises including the former Union Life Insurance Company, the former Systematics, Donrey Media (now Stephens Media Group), Dillards, Alltel, Wal-Mart, Tyson Foods and many more. Jack Stephens' leadership and business acumen was responsible for the creation of hundreds of businesses in America and thousands of jobs. Many of those enterprises have become Fortune 500 companies, and a number of them are located in his native Arkansas.

In recent years, Mr. Stephens has been recognized for his philanthropy but it is something he did all his life. He once told a reporter, ``There are only two pleasures associated with money, making it and giving it away.'' For over 20 years Jack Stephens has been the principal benefactor for The Delta Project, a program designed to assist and educate underprivileged children in Arkansas' delta. When he sold the Little Rock cable franchise in 1985, he put the profits into the City Educational Trust Fund. For 20 years the Trust Fund has provided scholarships for students and incentive awards for innovative teachers. His gift of $48 million built the Jackson T. Stephens Spine and Neurosciences Institute on the campus of the University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences (DAMS) campus and financed the purchase of equipment for the institute as well as support programs and research.

The Stephens family has been a life long supporter of the Arkansas Arts Center and Jack Stephens donated a portion of his personal art collection to the Center as a permanent display. The Stephens Gallery currently boasts the works of Degas, Monet, Picasso, Wyeth and more. The Stephens display, valued at $22 million at the time of the gift, has been recognized as one of the most important art collections in the country. It is perhaps the finest art collection in the nation for a city the size of Little Rock. Mr. Stephens was also the lead contributor for the construction of a new 30,000 square foot wing at the Arkansas Arts Center.

The Episcopal Collegiate School, the campus of which bears his name, occupies 31 acres near downtown Little Rock. The total amount of this gift has never been made public but Mr. Stephens donated the money to purchase the land that comprises the campus. In April 2004, he donated $20 million of the announced $30 million endowment for the school. His son Warren and Warren's wife, Harriet, donated the remainder of the gift. Mr. Stephens also donated $20.4 million for the construction of the Jackson T. Stephens Special Events Center on the campus of the University of Arkansas at Little Rock (UALR). The facility will become the home court for the UALR Trojan basketball team.

The list of contributions to his community also includes a $5 million dollar endowment to Harding University, establishment of the Fulbright College of Arts and Sciences at the University of Arkansas, and the Bill and Skeeter Dickey Scholarship at the University of Arkansas Athletic Department.

Mr. Stephens's love of sports (football and golf in particular) led to a $10 million gift to the U.S. Naval Academy Foundation in Annapolis, Maryland. The donation funded the recent renovation at the Navy Marine Corp Stadium near the campus which has been renamed Jack Stephens Field. The gift is the largest ever made to the Naval Academy.

When asked by the PGA Tour if he would support the launching of a new program to teach golf and its values to children by creating affordable and accessible golf facilities, Mr. Stephens surpassed their expectations with a $5 million donation to help start The First Tee. The program serves children who have not previously been exposed to the game of golf.

Mr. Stephens loved the game of golf and once told a reporter, ``Golf is a great teacher in life. The same skills needed to master this game are the same skills needed to master life, a life full of unseen obstacles and excitement.''

In 1962, Mr. Stephens was invited to become a member of the Augusta National Golf Club. Mr. Stephens served as its fourth Chairman (1991- 1998) with the responsibility of overseeing the golf club and the most prestigious tournament in golf, the Masters. After turning over the duties of chairman to Hootie Johnson in 1998, Mr. Stephens was named Chairman Emeritus.

Mr. Stephens won numerous awards and recognitions during his lifetime. He was honored with the Horatio Alger Award in 1980 and he was the first recipient of the J. William Fulbright Award given for international trade development in 1989.

Mr. Stephens served on the board of the Little Rock Boys Club, The Quapaw Council of The Boy Scouts of America. He served 10 years on the University of Arkansas Board of Trustees and was awarded an honorary Doctor of Law Degree and a University of Arkansas Distinguished Alumnus citation. He was inducted into the Arkansas Business Hall of Fame, the Arkansas State Golf Hall of Fame, and the Arkansas Sports Hall of Fame.

Jack Stephens was a proud and loving father and grandfather. He is survived by two sons: Jackson T. ``Steve'' Stephens, Jr.; Warren Stephens, and his wife, Harriet Stephens; six grandchildren: Caroline Stephens, Jackson T. Stephens III, Mason Stephens, Miles Stephens, John Stephens and Laura Stephens; two great-grandchildren: Sydney Stephens and Bruce Stephens, Jr.; and two adopted children: Kerry LaNoche and James Stephens. Mr. Stephens is also survived by two sisters: Jewel Mays of Prattsville, Arkansas and Wilma Thornton of Searcy, Arkansas.

Jack Stephens was an original American success story with roots deep in the soil of his home state of Arkansas and his other great devotion, the Augusta National Golf Club. His life was filled with many successes and his compassion, commitment and dedication resulted in an extraordinary journey that touched many lives.

He was a great Arkansan, American, and friend.

Mr. Speaker, I thank the gentleman from Florida for yielding me this time.

Mr. Speaker, I continue to be amazed as I listen to this debate. I can tell you this, I know the difference between butter beans and turnip greens, and I am wondering if these folks from Georgia have figured that out. They said they passed tort reform, and still the insurance companies cannot make any money. They might need to retrain their docs.

I do not know what is going on in Georgia, but I can tell you this, you guys pass this bill and you are going to live under it too. It is going to be the law of the land, and you are going to have to live under it. When your people get hurt, when your family gets damaged, when somebody that does not know what they are doing hurts your family, when a drug company sells you a bad product and kills somebody in your family, you are going to live under this bill, too. Think about it. Is that what you really want to do?

Are you so in bed with the drug companies and the insurance companies that you just cannot pass up, as my colleague from Illinois just talked about, you just cannot pass up another opportunity to give them money? It is absolutely amazing.

The pharmaceutical industry in this country has proven beyond a shadow of a doubt that they do not care about people or anything else. All they care about is money. Give us more money. And this Republican Congress and this Republican President have given them money in the most unashamed possible way that I can imagine.

If you all really believe this is going to solve the health care cost problems in the United States, I have some ocean front property in Arkansas I would love to talk to you about.

This is the most incredible thing I have ever seen. How you have the audacity to come before this body and even make the claim that that is going to happen is beyond me, and then criticize me and my side of the aisle because we are protecting trial lawyers? My goodness alive, that is just absolutely amazing.

The bottom line here is this: just like the gentleman from Massachusetts said, the Committee on Rules is where democracy goes to die in the U.S. House. You will not even let us have an up-or-down vote. Let us have a vote. If you want to protect the drug companies, let it stand alone. Let us let you be on the voting block. Let your name be public and say, I protected the drug companies, I protected the insurance companies, I want to do all I can to help those people. Be accountable.

You are so proud of this, boy, I would get up here and I would really talk about it a lot. And when you go home, you are going to meet that person that you kept from having their day in court and that you ruined their life and there was nothing they could do about it because of this law. They are going

to be all over the place. Let us just hope it is not someone that is near and dear to you.

For me, there is not enough money to repay if you hurt my children or grandchildren. My grandson is sitting out here today. I have got three other grandchildren. There is not enough money in the whole wide world. And yet you all would limit their ability to be repaid to $250,000. That is, on its face, absolutely and utterly ridiculous; and why you would want to do that is beyond me.

And why you would want to do that is beyond me, and why you would want to do it for the drug companies is certainly beyond my ability to understand. But if you do it, you will ultimately be held accountable.

Mr. Speaker, we are going to be back here this week and try to convince the American people that we are trying to help them with their health care costs by passing yet again a medical malpractice insurance relief act.

The really sad thing about this is it does not help the cost of health care in this country. It does improve the bottom line considerably for the insurance companies. But the most egregious parts of this is the way it protects the irresponsible drug companies. We are going to provide tort protection. We are going to provide protection from lawsuits to Merck who knowingly put a product on the market that caused 139,000 Americans to have hearts attacks unnecessarily. And they knew it would do that when they put it on the market.

We are going to provide protection to an industry that cares nothing about the health of the people. It cares nothing about anything but making a few million more dollars.

I urge this House to defeat that measure.

Mr. Chairman, I thank the gentlewoman from Texas (Ms. Eddie Bernice Johnson) for yielding me time, and I appreciate the great job that she and the gentleman from Tennessee (Mr. Duncan) have done with this bill along with the gentleman from Alaska (Mr. Young) and the ranking member, the gentleman from Minnesota (Mr. Oberstar).

I rise in support of this bill and the good work it does with the environment and with environmental restoration, but I must speak against the Flake-Blumenauer amendment. I know that these gentlemen have good intentions and good will in their hearts, but I have to tell you that I think they are terribly misguided.

It is interesting to me that we have two folks opposed to something on the Mississippi River that live a thousand miles from there and live in States where they do not have any water. There are rivers in their States that are empty. They are just nothing but a hole in the ground. Those of us in the Mississippi River Valley understand what a critical, essential thing it is to our economy to have a navigable Mississippi River, and that is what we are talking about here is maintaining and improving the ability to have a superhighway into the international marketplace at a time when we are moving into a world economy for that part of the central United States.

It would be absolutely insane not to complete the restoration of the navigation capacity of the upper Mississippi River, and that is why you should oppose the Flake-Blumenauer amendment.

This is a good thing. It would make just as much sense for me to offer an amendment to do away with the maintenance on the interstate highways in the States of Arizona and Oregon. I would not do that. What we need to do is to expedite the repair and maintenance and restoration of the capacity to navigate the upper Mississippi River and the entire navigation system of this country. It is absolutely essential to our economic growth and our economic well-being in today's worldwide economy.

Mr. Chairman, I thank the gentlewoman from Connecticut for yielding me this time. She has provided great leadership on this matter, and I think it is the right thing to do.

This amendment very simply would prohibit companies that have renounced their American citizenship in an effort to avoid their responsibilities as American citizens from taking part in getting contracts where they would be paid with taxpayers' dollars.

At a time when we have men and women on the battlefield and they have to pay taxes on the monies that they receive for their families; at the time when they are on the battlefield to protect this country in the most unselfish way you can imagine, we are going to say, if you renounce your American citizenship and avoid taxes and get an advantage, then come and bid on our contracts and take taxpayers' dollars. That makes me want a dip of snuff.

I cannot imagine why anybody would do anything like that. I cannot imagine why this government would do it. I know the gentleman that opposes this. I know several of them. They are good people. They have good sense. I do not understand why we cannot as a body deal with this issue and stop people from getting good hard-earned taxpayers' dollars when they have renounced their United States citizenship. If they do not want to be citizens of the United States, as far as I am concerned, good riddance. Let them go. Excenture can go to Bermuda or wherever in the Sam Hill they want to go. And I say, good, let us be rid of them, but do not give them U.S. contracts in the government. Do not give them government contracts. That is all we are talking about doing here.

Mr. Chairman, it is time to hold these people accountable, and it is time for us to be responsible to our men and women on the battlefield.

Mr. Speaker, Chief Warrant Officer Matthew C. Laskowski.

1. Chief Warrant Officer Stephen M. Wells

2. Specialist Michael R. Woodliff

3. Petty Officer Second Class Michael J. Gray

4. Captain Gussie M. Jones

5. Private First Class Matthew G. Milczark

6. Sergeant First Class Richard S. Gottfried

7. Specialist Edward W. Brabazon

8. Private First Class Bert Edward Hoyer

9. Specialist Christopher K. Hill

10. Staff Sergeant Joe L. Dunigan Jr.

11. Specialist Jason C. Ford

12. Captain John F. ``Hans'' Kurth

13. Specialist Jocelyn ``Joce'' L. Carrasquillo

14. Private First Class Joel K. Brattain

15. Sergeant Daniel J. Londono

16. Sergeant First Class Clint D. Ferrin

17. Sergeant William J. Normandy

18. First Lieutenant Michael R. Adams

19. Master Sergeant Thomas R. Thigpen Sr.

20. Specialist Tracy L. Laramore

21. Sergeant Ivory L. Phipps

22. Private First Class Ricky A. Morris Jr.

23. Private First Class Brandon C. Smith

24. Private First Class Ernest Harold Sutphin

25. Corporal Andrew D. Brownfield

26. Specialist Doron Chan

27. Specialist Clint Richard ``Bones'' Matthews

28. Corporal David M. Vicente

29. Private First Class Jason C. Ludlam

30. First Lieutenant Michael W. Vega

31. Specialist Matthew J. Sandri

32. Major Mark D. Taylor

33. Private Dustin L. Kreider

34. Private First Class Christopher E. Hudson

35. Lance Corporal Andrew S. Dang

36. Private First Class Bruce Miller Jr.

37. Staff Sergeant Wentz Jerome Henry Shanaberger III

38. Lance Corporal Jeffrey C. Burgess

39. Specialist Adam D. Froehlich

40. Lance Corporal James A. Casper

41. Private First Class Leroy Sandoval Jr.

42. Master Sergeant Timothy Toney

43. Private First Class Sean M. Schneider

44. Specialist Jeremiah J. Holmes

45. Master Sergeant Richard L. Ferguson

46. Lance Corporal William J. Wiscowiche

47. Private Brandon L. Davis

48. Private First Class Cleston C. Raney

49. Specialist Michael G. Karr Jr.

50. Specialist Sean R. Mitchell

51. First Lieutenant Doyle M. Hufstedler

52. Private First Class Dustin M. Sekula

53. Private First Class William R. Strange

54. Lance Corporal Aric J. Barr

55. Private First Class John D. Amos II

56. Corporal Tyler R. Fey

57. Private First Class Geoffrey S. Morris

58. Specialist Philip G. Rogers

59. Sergeant Michael W. Mitchell

60. Sergeant Yihiyh L. Chen

61. Specialist Robert R. Arsiaga

62. Specialist Stephen D. Hiller

63. Specialist Ahmed Akil ``Mel'' Cason

64. Specialist Israel Garza

65. Corporal Forest Joseph Jostes

66. Specialist Casey Sheehan

67. Specialist Scott Quentin Larson Jr.

68. Sergeant David M. McKeever

69. Private First Class Christopher Ramos

70. Corporal Jesse L. Thiry

71. Lance Corporal Matthew K. Serio

72. Lance Corporal Shane Lee Goldman

73. Private First Class Moises A. Langhorst

74. Private First Class Christopher R. Cobb

75. Private First Class Ryan M. Jerabek

76. Lance Corporal Travis J. Layfield

77. Lance Corporal Anthony P. Robert

78. Private First Class Benjamin R. Carman

79. Lance Corporal Marcus M. Cherry

80. Second Lieutenant John Thomas Wroblewski

81. Lance Corporal Kyle D. Crowley

82. Staff Sergeant Allan K. Walker

83. Private First Class Deryk L. Hallal

Mr. Speaker, when this President was reelected, he announced proudly that he had political capital and he intended to spend it. He intended to replace Social Security. All of his proposals provide that we would replace Social Security with something less: ``Let us give the working people of this country less than we promised.''

Social Security is a covenant between our working people and the United States Government. They are entitled to get what they have paid for. They have worked all their days and paid honorably into the system. Now this President and some of my colleagues on the Republican side say, I am sorry, we just do not want to do that anymore, so we are not going to pay you. You paid into the system; that is just your tough luck. We are just not going to do that.

We do not need to replace Social Security, we just need to fund it.

Mr. Chairman, I thank the gentlewoman from Connecticut for yielding me this time. I certainly think that of all the discussions we have had on this floor, everyone on both sides of the aisle has nothing but the best intentions, and I respect that. I think that as we move forward in the protection of our food supply, it is important for us not to burden an industry with requirements and costs that go above and beyond what is necessary for us to protect the public health and safety. I think that this bill goes too far when it absolutely requires mandatory labeling of the products.

I think that we can do this on a voluntary basis, give our producers the right to put the label that they wish as far as the origin of their product on their product, and put it on the grocery store shelf and see what happens. We have no indication that just labeling the country of origin makes a significant difference in the marketing of these products, and I think it is an unnecessary extra layer of regulation that we are about to put on an industry that many times has a very difficult time staying in business anyway.

I rise in opposition to this amendment and recognize that everyone on both sides of the issue has nothing but the best of intentions and certainly wishes the industry well and especially our grass-roots producers. We want to do what is necessary to help them all we can. But I still would encourage a ``no'' vote on this amendment and look forward to seeing this issue at some date, maybe long after I am gone from this place, resolved, because it has been around a long time.

Mr. Chairman, I thank the gentleman from New York for yielding me this time.

As I hear this discussion move forward, I find it nothing short of absolutely amazing that anybody can rise to defend the current system.

The pharmaceutical industry in this country is corrupt from top to bottom. They have corrupted the Food and Drug Administration. They have corrupted academia to the point where they pay anybody that might ever issue an opinion about any of their products, and this continues to get worse day by day. We have evidence to all of these things, and it is absolutely and utterly ridiculous that we do not hold FDA accountable to provide a system of unbiased opinions so that the American people can get a safe product. We have seen the results of this corrupt system and the willingness of our own government to allow the pharmaceutical industry to continue to rob our own people, and it goes on and on and on. It is wrong. It does not make any sense. It puts the public health at risk.

We just had a big debate on whether or not to label meat and where it comes from. We know what these drugs will do, we have plenty of people that know what they will do, and when we put the information out there, anybody can figure it out. You do not have to be all broke out in brilliance to know when this stuff is bad. But when you are on the payroll of these companies, folks just kind of seem to have a little trouble saying, this is a terrible drug and we do not want to put it on the market. It is a bad idea.

I am the only registered pharmacist in the United States Congress, and it is astounding to me to see what has happened to this industry in the last 30 years and the willingness for them to take advantage of the American people over and over and over again.

Mr. Chairman, if this body is going to do anything to serve the public health and welfare of our people on this day, we should pass this amendment, and I thank the gentleman from New York for courageously bringing it to the floor of this House.

Mr. Chairman, I thank the gentleman from Texas (Mr. Bonilla) for the great job the gentleman has done on the appropriations bill, along with the ranking member, the gentlewoman from Connecticut (Ms. DeLauro). It is kind of surprising that we have this many controversial amendments on the floor today after we worked things out in subcommittee pretty well.

I think it is an amazing thing that we are one of the few countries in the whole world that is still able to feed itself, and we arrived at this point because we had a government that supported programs that guaranteed and made sure that we always had an adequate supply and processing capacity of food and fiber so we never had to worry about whether or not we were going to have enough.

These programs do not enrich farmers. They may keep them in business in hard times, but they do not enrich them, but they do provide for adequate production of food and fiber.

Now we bring an amendment to attack the sugar industry. The last time we did away with the sugar program, the price of sugar went wild, absolutely wild.

We hear those that are opposed to the sugar program come to the floor and talk about how cheap sugar is in the world market. The fact is, all of the sugar production in the world is supported by the countries where it is produced. What is in the world market is what is excess to their own needs. It is a matter of fact that it is essential to our own well-being to have the ability to produce enough sugar in this country to take care of our own needs. Any country that cannot supply adequate food and fiber production and processing capacity is at risk in a far greater way than we have ever faced in the United States of America. Over and

over again these very modest programs that keep this production at a safe level are attacked over and over by those that just simply do not understand what it is all about.

Now I hear them talk about how farm programs enrich people. I happen to have been involved with farm programs my entire life. If anybody thinks it is a way to get rich, let me encourage them to go buy one. They are for sale every day because people go broke trying to make a living on them. Go buy one and get just rich with them. I do not know anybody who would tell Members that is the best way to make a dollar in this country. These people do it because they love it and because they are good at it, and they do not ask the government to take care of them.

It is for the well-being of the American people that we provide these programs that guarantee an adequate production of not only sugar but a lot of other food and fiber products that are necessary for our own national security. It is not a give-away program or an enrichment program for a few, as it has been described. Let me encourage this body to follow the recommendations of the subcommittee and to vote against this amendment.

Mr. Chairman, I offer an amendment.

Mr. Chairman, I yield myself such time as I may consume.

Mr. Chairman, I first of all want to thank the gentleman from California (Mr. Cox) and the ranking member, my good friend and the distinguished gentleman from Mississippi (Mr. Thompson), and the gentleman from New Jersey (Mr. Pascrell) for the wonderful work they have done on this bill and the very responsible way they have developed it.

It is a good thing when we come together in this House in a bipartisan way to try to make things better for the country. I compliment them on having that goal and objective.

The amendment I offer would simply add the administrator of Animal, Plant and Health Inspection Service to the first responders grant board.

Food safety is a very important thing. It was acknowledged as a serious

matter by the outgoing Secretary of DHS, Mr. Ridge. And I think what this does is makes it possible for the people that have the greatest expertise in this matter to have some say in the way that this is handled.

Mr. Chairman, I reserve the balance of my time.

Mr. Chairman, it is most appropriate that this amendment will be accepted because it will give the Department of Agriculture their rightful place at the table in representing agriculture in this country in the protection of our homeland.

Mr. Chairman, I yield such time as he may consume to the distinguished gentleman from Mississippi (Mr. Thompson).

Mr. Chairman, I have no further requests for time, and I yield back the balance of my time.

Mr. Chairman, I offer an amendment.

Mr. Chairman, I yield myself such time as I may consume.

Mr. Chairman, I too represent a small rural State. We always struggle to have enough resources to deal with some of the possible threats that we have, and one of the important resources that the gentleman from Mississippi (Mr. Thompson) and I share is the Mississippi River. It is an incredibly important resources to this Nation and to our national security and to our homeland security.

It is for just that reason that I offer this amendment, to draw attention to the fact that sometimes as we make public policy we tend to lose sight of the things that may be more important than the number of people involved. But most of all, when we do things in Washington, D.C., it is so very important to be in touch with the people at home.

What this amendment does is call for the Department of Homeland Security to coordinate with State, local, and tribal governments in establishing the criteria for prioritizing applications for the first responders grant. This is something that I think is critical, that we take the information and have a coordination between our local governments and the Department of Homeland Security as they make the critical decisions about where these resources will be placed.

I appreciate, again, very much the chairman and the ranking member on the subcommittee being friendly towards this amendment and receiving it well. Certainly it is something that will prevent the States from devoting significant time, resources, and funding to establish a State homeland security plan in accordance with this bill, only to find out after they apply for a grant that they have completely missed the mark on what the grant board established as its priority.

Mr. Chairman, I yield such time as he may consume to the gentleman from Mississippi (Mr. Thompson).

Mr. Chairman, I reserve the balance of my time.

Mr. Chairman, I yield such time as he may consume to the gentleman from New Jersey (Mr. Pascrell), the distinguished ranking member of the Subcommittee on Emergency Preparedness, Science, and Technology.

Mr. Chairman, I have no further speakers. I thank the chairman and the ranking member of the committee for their consideration, and I yield back the balance of my time.

Mr. Speaker, when I came here in 1997, we passed the first balanced Budget Act in 30 years. That was a result of the work of a lot of people. I do not take credit for making that happen. But then after having a balanced budget and running a surplus until the year 2001, beginning in January of that year, when we turned over this great country to the Bush administration and a Republican majority in the House and the Senate, and let us be very clear about that. The Republicans have controlled the House, the Senate, the White House and the Supreme Court for all of this time. And we have turned over a $5 trillion surplus to these people.

Now, as we just saw a few minutes ago from one of our conscientious Blue Dogs, they have turned that $5 trillion surplus into an $8 trillion debt. And just last week when the budget was passed that I voted against and most of the Democrats voted against, as far as I know all of them did, they raised the debt ceiling again to $9 trillion.

We are having to raise the debt ceiling almost $1 trillion a year to keep up with the total mismanagement of the people's affairs by the Republicans. It would be hard to imagine a greater fiscal disaster than the Bush administration has led us to.

Over and over and over again, we tried to reach out and we tried to say, let us reestablish the budget rules that got us to a surplus back in the 90s. Let us admit that we have got a problem. Let us require a balanced budget. Let us require pay-as-you-go. If you cannot pay for it, you cannot spend it. Let us make borrowing money from our children and grandchildren much more difficult to do, and it should only be done in cases of great national emergency.

Recently, the President has gone before the Nation and declared he wants to save Social Security. Regardless of the outcome of what he wants to do, if we do not take care of the debt and the deficit, all we are doing is rearranging the deck chairs on the Titanic. It is a ridiculous exercise to talk about changing the Social Security system

when we do not know how we are going to pay the interest on the national debt 5 years from now.

If nothing is done by the time the Social Security so-called crisis occurs, it will take every nickel of the income of the Federal Government just to pay the interest on the debt. And my question to the Republicans that have created this situation, and I remember so well how they told us back in 2001, if we just do this, if we just cut taxes on the richest people in this country, the economy will just bubble up out of the ground. It will be the land of milk and honey. Nothing but free Bubble-Up and rainbow stew everywhere for everyone.

What a ridiculous thing that has been proven to be. But they told us if you will just do this, everything will be wonderful.

The fact is they have borrowed nearly $5 trillion from our children and grandchildren and do not have a clue as to how they are going to pay it back. And the great mystery to me is why. Why would you want to do that? Why would you deceive yourselves into thinking that that is something good for this great Nation?

I can tell you this, the United States of America is the most wonderful thing ever done by man with a divine inspiration of God Almighty. And if we would be so foolish as to spend ourselves completely bankrupt and not take any action to deal with this in a responsible way while we may still have time to do it, it will be the greatest tragedy of mankind.

Mr. Speaker, I am honored to rise today on behalf of Congress to honor the town of Calico Rock, AR on its 100th Anniversary.

Located in a strikingly beautiful section deep in the Ozarks and directly on the banks of the famous White River, Calico Rock affects all who visit it.

Calico Rock has grown from its roots as an important river port on the Upper White River as early as the first half of the 1800s. Legend says the town was named when an early explorer of the White River Valley saw the limestone bluff and called it ``The Calico Rocks'' because it resembled the calico fabric used to make women's dresses.

Today, Calico Rock is a picture of rural American community with good schools, a hospital, an historic downtown area and world-renown fishing. More importantly, Calico Rock is a place where ``community'' is not merely a term tossed around on the political stump, but a living, breathing entity acting as an umbrella of protection in the turbulent storm of these times.

Calico Rock lives up to a moral standard based on helping those in need and celebrating life's victories as a neighborhood, a congregation and a society.

On behalf of the Congress, I congratulate Calico Rock on their 100th Anniversary. The community that has been built during that time is a model society should take note of. Calico Rock has shown Arkansas and the entire country that a growing Rural America does not mean abandoning the ideals and values that make a group of people a community.

Mr. Speaker, I am honored to rise today on behalf of Congress to commend Captain Jon Stubbs of Searcy, AR, commanding officer of Charlie Company of the 39th Infantry Brigade's 3rd Battalion for his leadership in Iraq over the past year.

Managing a delicate balance between ambassador and soldier, Captain Stubbs has served his nation by bringing hope to a country encompassed by war. He led his company with the strength necessary to win the trust of those in his command and with the compassion needed to bring aid to the Iraqis he bravely protected.

From Searcy and Little Rock, Arkansas to Camp Taji and Adhamiyah, Iraq; amidst machine gun fire, roadside bombs, rocket propelled grenades, the loss of fellow soldiers and friends, Captain Stubbs served as a faultless example of what it means to be a soldier, a leader and an American.

Focused under pressure and diplomatic with the Iraqi people and the media, we could ask for no better ambassador in these most trying times than Jon Stubbs. His efforts led the 39th to reconstruct Iraqi schools, hospitals, irrigation and sewage systems, and new recreational projects for children; none of this would have been possible without Captain Stubbs' leadership.

As Jon Stubbs' wife Jane and daughter Susannah welcome him back, his community has also regained a strong leader. The son of a Methodist preacher, Jon Stubbs epitomizes his faith through his involvement in church youth programs, Sunday school and his continued participation in the education of his daughter and her fellow students. While the men and women in his company willingly follow him into battle, his community can look to him again as a friendly and optimistic voice in their lives.

On behalf of the Congress, I thank Captain Stubbs, Charlie Company and the entire 39th Infantry Brigade for their bravery, diplomacy and strength on behalf of the Iraqi people. The courage demonstrated by Charlie Company reflects considerably on their commanding officer; America's debt to Captain Stubbs' is immeasurable and will never be fully repaid.

Mr. Speaker, I am honored to rise today on behalf of Congress to thank Arkansas' 39th Infantry Brigade for their service in Iraq and to welcome them home.

A Over the last year, the men and women of the 39th have worked to make a positive difference in the lives of the Iraqi people. They have faced their duties bravely, performed honorably and made a difference in the development of an emerging country.

Many years ago, the 39th chose to be represented by a Bowie knife laid over a diamond on their patch. The knife serves both as a tribute to The Bowie State and as a symbol of their aggressive spirit, while the diamond symbolizes the only diamond field in North America located in Arkansas.

There is no doubt the 39th has lived up to the badge it proudly bares. Forceful and strong is why Iraq is better today than it was in April of 2004 when our brave men and women first pulled into Camp Taji. Forceful and strong is how they did their job in the most hostile environment, every day, for a year. Forceful and strong is why their families can wrap their arms around them now and welcome them home.

The efforts of the 39th have resulted in reconstructed Iraqi schools, hospitals, irrigation and sewage systems, and new recreational projects for children. The footprint they left in the Iraqi sand is far deeper than their boot size; and the sacrifice made by too many not coming home will never be forgotten.

We must take a moment, as we celebrate the return of our loved ones, to think of those less fortunate. Those who gave their lives defending strangers to ensure peace have made the noblest of sacrifices. They will be missed by their families and friends and honored by their country. We pray every day for those who loved them and thank them all for what they've left us with.

On behalf of the Congress, I thank all the members of the 39th Infantry Brigade for the immeasurable contributions they have made to peace, democracy and the Iraqi people. Their bravery and courage stand as a shining example of American ability and our debt to them can never fully be repaid.