Floor Statements

Mr. Speaker, the American people, especially women, are listening and watching; and they are paying close attention to how we define problems, how we address problems, and how we as a body get around to solving problems that they're concerned about. And I think they're really learning so very much.

They are learning that we have a philosophical difference in how we choose to address these problems. Some of my colleagues want to see this played out in the health care debate where they would choose to have a government-centered plan, and then there are those of us that would like to have a patient-centered, taxpayer-friendly way to address this.

And we do have lots of ideas. We, as Republicans, have brought forward so many ideas and so many bills that would do just that, to address the health care and medical concerns of our constituents.

What they want is more affordable cost, ease of access, making certain that we address access to affordable insurance for those that have preexisting and existing conditions. And we can do that and be friendly to the American taxpayer.

Mr. Speaker, I am so thrilled to be here tonight to talk about health care for women in America. Throughout this evening, you are going to see colleagues of mine join me on the floor as we talk about women's health care, to talk about the alternatives that we as Republicans have; how we would answer these questions that women and families have; how they would make the decisions; and some of the great ideas that we would bring forward.

You know, I think there is something that has become very evident to us over the last few weeks; women make most of the health care decisions in their families. Indeed, we have surveys that show that women are making as many as 85-90 percent of all health care decisions for their families, for their children, for their grandchildren many times, and for elderly parents. The Sandwich Generation is really jumping in and making these decisions. They are watching so closely the alternatives for health reform.

Of course, while we all agree that there is indeed a need for health reform, there is a big divide in this House. We have many to the left that are saying they want a government-centered plan, and then we have many of us who are on the right who are saying we want it to be patient-centered. We want the focus to stay with patients, with families, and let's not have a bureaucrat in the room.

We know that women are indeed watching. They have seen what the Democrats have to offer, and they are unimpressed. They are not impressed with this. They know that it limits and restricts their options.

Women are the drivers in the health care marketplace, and I think American women are going to be the drivers in the decisions that are made as we look at how we reform health care, because indeed it should be patient-centered, with families and individuals having control of those health care decisions. We don't want Washington and a layer of bureaucracy making those decisions.

A couple of weeks ago, I saw a story in Politico, and it said the Democrats needed to do a better job in messaging and trying to get their message out to women. I wrote a response to that, because I felt like, you know, they have gotten that message out. Women did not like what they were seeing.

So I am very appreciative that Cathy McMorris Rodgers, who is vice chair of our caucus, and Michele Bachmann from Minnesota have taken the lead for the Republican women tonight in establishing this Special Order time. We know that we have better bills, and they will put women more in charge of health care decisions and bring down the cost, because just like too much of the family budget gets spent on taxes, too much of it gets spent on health care.

We need something to bring the costs down. Even the CBO says the Democrat bill is going to drive the cost up. It is going to drive the cost of health care up, it is going to drive the cost of health insurance up, and we know also it is going to restrict access. We know that women want to have a say in this, and they don't want a bill that is going to end up hurting them and hurting their alternatives at the end of the day. So making certain that we have a plan that works for women is important.

Now, we know that in Speaker Pelosi's bill the Democrats outline how much the government will pay for certain procedures. A doctor who wants to do business with the government will have to accept that rate, and if you are an insurance company, why would you offer any more money than the going rate established by the government?

Well, we also know from what we have seen, from public option health care and the test case that took place in my State of Tennessee, that this doesn't always work. What you see is, when you have a public option plan in competition with private insurance,

the cost goes up, restriction to access takes place.

With Tenncare, the test case for public option health care that took place in our State, we saw the costs quadruple within a few years' period of time. We know that that hurt certain procedures and access to certain procedures, like cardiology, and we are very concerned about the restrictions to cardiology that are in the bill that the Speaker has brought forward.

Mammography, we are very concerned about what would happen to mammography and the ability to have those imaging tests and procedures that are needed and are necessary. The Speaker's bill does we think end up hurting women in a couple of specific areas that I have just pointed out, breast cancer health and cardiology, and we know that there is a better way to do this.

Let me touch on three bills that Republicans have that I think give the ideas that women are looking for. They bring forward great ideas that are patient-centered, that are focused on individuals, focused on reducing costs, increasing access, and making certain that more individuals have the ability to access the health care that they need.

One of those is H.R. 3218. It is by Representative John Shadegg. It would allow small businesses, churches, alumni associations and other small institutions to pool together, to come together just like you do when you join those associations, come together with that membership and then be able to look forward and say, all right, we are going to offer a health insurance plan. It also would allow for those insurance plans to be implemented across State lines. That is a pretty good idea, and that is a way, by pooling together small businesses and individuals, pooling together, then what you do is to lower that cost.

Now, there is also H.R. 3713, and this is by Representative Mike Rogers out of Michigan. He is a member of the Energy and Commerce Committee with us. He has taken an interest in and a leadership role in this issue.

What he has done is to look at the things that the President has said he wanted to accomplish, things that we all agree need to be done: Insurance market reforms, making certain that we have affordable insurance, access to affordable insurance for individuals who have preexisting and chronic conditions; making certain that individuals that are in good standing with an insurance policy are not dropped from that policy if they become ill and want to exercise that policy; making certain that portability is in place.

One of the frustrating things we hear often about, especially from women, is the fact that they may change jobs and then they find they can't take that insurance with them. How many times have you talked with a friend or a neighbor who said, you know, I have had a great job offer, but I can't take it. I have a child who has a chronic condition, or my spouse has a chronic condition, and, because of that, I would have to deal with the preexisting condition issue if I were to change insurance, if I were to change jobs. So addressing those portability issues is tremendously important.

Now, there is another component in this, liability reform. We all hear it. We hear it regularly. We hear from our physicians. We hear from our neighbors. We hear from individuals who say, you know, the practice of defensive medicine, having to make certain, having to make certain that you have a physician who is getting a validating opinion, who sent you to someone else for a second opinion, who sent you to someone else--defensive medicine drives the cost up.

Some of the physicians who are Members of the House have told us that fully they believe that this drives up the cost of medicine repeatedly to the tune of tens of billions of dollars every single year--every single year. So it increases that cost. And it is also a inconvenience to our seniors.

I had a constituent call me the other day and she said, Marsha, I just want to tell you what has happened to me as we have been going through this situation. She has a chronic condition. They were just beginning to address it. She went to her primary care physician, who ran a test and said, I think you need to see a specialist, and referred her. She went to him. He ran the test again, the same test, the same facility, ordered by a different doctor. He got the results back, and he said, I think you need to go and visit with Dr. So-and-so, so that you can get a second opinion on this.

She goes back. She sees the new physician. He runs the test again. Then she goes back to him. That is three times. And then the insurance wanted her to go for a fourth test. As she said, it was the same test run four different times. And her question was very simple. She said, Why don't they run the test once? Run it once and read it four different times, rather than having me have to get my daughter to take off work, which is a half a day for her to go to the test and then return home.

It's expensive. It is invasive. It is inconvenient. It is something that Congress could address and do something about, and I think that most people agree with that. It is of concern to us that H.R. 3962, the Speaker's bill, is 1,990 pages of bill. It is a big bill. This bill, this big huge bill--and we're going to have that bill on the floor for you to see tonight--this bill would be, really, a bill that is not fair to our seniors, and it does concern us. It's one of the primary concerns that we do have in this piece of legislation, the unfair practices that it would move forward on our seniors.

As we are going through our Special Order tonight, if you would like to log on to my Web site, blackburn.house.gov and pull down the legislation and follow along through it as we go through it, we certainly would appreciate you doing so. As I said, we feel the legislation is going to be very unfair to seniors. They're talking about making cuts to the tune of $500 billion in Medicare, basically doing away with Medicare Advantage. Then look what's happening with this, cutting Medicare by 2017. We all know the Medicare trust fund is going to be running out of money. But what we're seeing from the Democrat leadership of this House is a failure to recognize that Medicare is a trust fund. Medicare is not a slush fund. And we want to make certain that we protect our seniors as we work through this bill.

I am so pleased that we have women who are joining us on the floor tonight. At this time, I yield to the gentlelady from West Virginia, Shelley Moore Capito, for her comments on health care.

I thank the gentlewoman from West Virginia, and I thank her for those comments about women in West Virginia and how this bill would affect them.

What we are hearing all across our Nation is, This is not a bill that women want. Indeed, the blog spot, whymomsrule.com ran a survey, and it said that only 7 percent of American women think the health care proposals that have been brought by the leadership, the Democrat leadership, are proposals that reflect their concerns. We know that. We are listening. We hear them. And we have ways to solve this issue so it puts patients and families in charge of those decisions, not the Federal Government. It preserves that freedom. Indeed, for small businesses--as we all know, women-owned small businesses are a very active part in our economy, in our financial sectors, and we're very concerned about the impact for employer-based insurance that this bill would have on those women-owned small businesses.

At this time, I want to turn to the gentlelady from Illinois (Mrs. Biggert) who has been such an active voice not only in the Education and Labor Committee but in the House as a whole, as she has been a leader on this issue.

Reclaiming my time, I just want to expound on this point for just one moment because the point you're making is so relevant to this debate.

The bill that is before us now, the 1,990-page bill that Speaker Pelosi has brought forward, and we hear tomorrow there will be a manager's amendment that will be dropped or also added to this; so it's going to be more than 2,000 pages by the time we get to the end of the week, but in that bill there are the provisions that mandate that end- of-life counseling.

Reclaiming my time, that's one of those decisions that families make, that husbands and wives make, that parents and children make. It is not one that should be addressed with a ``shall'' or a ``may'' in a Federal statute. And we all know that this bill has over 3,400 new mandates in it.

I yield to the gentlewoman.

I thank the gentlewoman.

I appreciate so much that you brought up the fact that they continue to say if you like what you have, you can keep it.

The problem is you can't. Maybe you can keep it today or tomorrow or until the end of the year. But by the time you get to 2013, you're going to have to go through an exchange.

I have got a list here that is 111 new bureaucracies that are created by the Speaker's health care bill, 111 new bureaucracies. There is going to be a health choices commissioner that is going to have over 60 new directives on what kind of health care you can have. And you're going to have the exchange that has to approve the plan that your employer would possibly be able to offer. And if your employer's plan is not good enough, the employer gets an 8 percent tax.

So it's a little bit of a stretch to say if you like what you have, you can keep it when the whole playing field is going to change within just a few years.

And as you said so very well, women make those decisions. Seventy- five percent of the women are very comfortable with what they have, and women want to be able to shop for a plan that is going to best meet the needs of their families.

At this time I yield to Dr. Foxx, the gentlewoman from North Carolina, for her comments.

I thank the gentlelady for yielding back, and I appreciate that she mentioned how States need to be able to innovate, how they handle the Medicaid payments that are there. This is so very important because they are the ones that are delivering these services. This bill would increase the eligibility for Medicaid to 150 percent of the Federal poverty level. Now, what this does is to shift that burden over to our States. It takes that burden from the Federal Government and places it squarely in the lap of our States.

Now, most of our States have balanced budget amendments. Here we are handing them, and in my State of Tennessee, we know we have heard from our Governor's office that the expectation is this is going to cost us an extra $735 million per year. Every State around the country is looking to see what it would cost them. They know that by shifting that Medicaid burden, expanding that eligibility to 150 percent and then shifting that burden to the States, well, it may help them with budgeting, those that are trying to pass this bill and are looking for budget gimmicks and trying to say it is going to cost less than $1 trillion. Well,

that gimmickry might help them, but for the taxpayer who already has too much month left at the end of his money, what you are saying is get ready, your sales tax is going up. Your State property tax is going up. You are going to see State income taxes going up, and that is all because the Federal Government said, States get ready, it is coming to land in your lap.

I recognize the gentlewoman from Oklahoma (Ms. Fallin) about how this will affect the States.

I thank the gentlelady, and the gentlelady is exactly right. Much of this has been done behind closed doors by our colleagues across the aisle, and many of the great ideas that have been brought forward that do stay focused on the patient have been brought forward by the Republicans in the House, whether it is the Republican Study Committee bill, Mike Rogers' bill, John Shadegg's bill, Paul Ryan's bill, any of the number of amendments, over a hundred amendments that we on Energy and Commerce had when we were marking up the bill. So there are lots of good ideas on our side of the aisle.

At this time I want to recognize the gentlewoman from Minnesota (Mrs. Bachmann) who has been so instrumental in helping to lead the debate on health care here in the House. I yield to her for her comments on the issue.

I thank the gentlelady from Minnesota for her good work on this issue and for being here with us tonight as we have brought forward the alternatives that are there, the good, solid, positive, free-market-oriented alternatives that are there from our conference and from the women in our conference. I thank everyone for joining us, and I yield back the balance of my time.

Mr. Speaker, I ask my colleagues to join me today in welcoming Pastor Chris Williamson of Franklin, Tennessee, as he serves as our honorary chaplain for today.

He brings with him today the associate pastor from his church, Anthony Hendrix, and also a longtime friend of mine, Scott Roley, who is now the senior pastor of Christ Community Church.

The music industry is really what brought Pastor Williamson to middle Tennessee, and as his music performance career ended, however, he really felt a calling to the pulpit.

In 1995, he founded the Strong Tower Bible Church and has built Strong Tower into one of Franklin's most dynamic and well-known churches. My colleagues will be interested to know that Congressman Joe Pitts' son and his family attend Strong Tower. His commitment to racial reconciliation is evident through his work as an author, his mission work, as well as the intentional multiethnic and diverse background of his congregation. He is a devoted family man, and I appreciate the opportunity to represent his fine family in Congress.

Please join me in honoring him on his service to the House of Representatives today, and I wish him only the best in the years to come.

Madam Speaker, I ask my colleagues to join me in congratulating Pastor Chris Williamson of Franklin, Tennessee, as he serves as the House of Representatives Honorary Chaplain today.

The music industry brought Pastor Williamson to Middle Tennessee as a member of the Christian rap group, Transformation Crusade. As his music performance career concluded, however, he felt a calling to the pulpit.

In 1995, he founded the Strong Tower Bible Church and has built Strong Tower into one of Franklin's most dynamic and well-known churches. His commitment to racial reconciliation is evident through his work as an author, his mission work, as well as the intentional multi-ethnic and diverse background of his congregation. He is a devoted family man, and I appreciate the opportunity to represent his fine family in the Congress.

Please join me in honoring Pastor Williamson on his service to the House of Representatives today, and I wish him only the best in the years to come.

Madam Speaker, I ask my colleagues to join me in celebrating with the Hiram Lodge #7, Free & Accepted Masons, in Franklin, Tennessee, on the occasion of their bicentennial.

Hiram Lodge is home to the oldest continuous Masonic Lodge in Tennessee, predating the establishment of a Grand Lodge in the state. Located just off the square in Franklin, this beautiful structure has been home to many historical occasions--from President Andrew Jackson's negotiations with the Chickasaw Nation, to serving as a lookout post, barracks, and hospital during the Civil War. The Lodge is undertaking careful renovations to ensure this magnificent structure, the oldest Gothic Revival building in the state of Tennessee, survives for generations to come.

More importantly, however, is the role the Lodge has played in the life of the community over these past 200 years. So many of Franklin's leaders have been members of the Lodge, and to this day the Lodge is deeply involved in the civic and charitable affairs of the City.

Please join me in honoring 200 years of the Hiram Lodge's past, and celebrating this momentous occasion.

Madam Speaker, I do rise in support of Adult Education and Family Literacy Week.

I would like to begin by quoting one of my predecessors, a former Member from Tennessee who, while often my friends from Texas like to claim him as theirs, I think he was ours first, and that is Sam Houston. Congressman Houston said, ``The benefits of education and of useful knowledge, generally diffused through a community, are essential to the preservation of a free government.''

This week is our opportunity to enhance the preservation of that liberty

by turning a very careful eye to adult education and family literacy. As I have before in this Chamber, I would like to highlight the accomplishments of my friend and constituent, Gretchen Wilson.

Gretchen was one of 43 million American adults who had not completed high school. Inspired by her young daughter, she earned her high school degree later in life. She knew that literacy was more than just knowing how to read and write. After all, she was already a Grammy Award winning artist. Literacy is also the implementation of that skill which empowers people with worlds of new information. It is the spark that ignites curiosity.

Gretchen knew how precious that spark of curiosity could be. The children of parents who have not completed high school are far more likely to drop out themselves. Indeed, children's literacy levels are strongly linked to the educational levels of their parents, especially to the levels of their mothers. Gretchen knew that her education was also her daughter's education.

In so many cases like Gretchen Wilson's, that spark of curiosity has grown into a desire to give back. She, like so many others who have benefited from adult education, now works to expand that benefit to others.

I will close by quoting Thomas Jefferson, whose words on the matter are more eloquent than mine could ever be, and he stated, ``Enlighten the people generally, and tyranny and oppression of body and mind will vanish like evil spirits at the dawn of day.''

Madam Speaker, I join my colleagues today in joyfully rising in strong support of House Resolution 650. The cultural and financial impact of country music on Nashville and indeed our State and our Nation cannot be overstated. From the daily recording sessions on Music Row to the annual CMA Music Festival in June, and the annual awards show that takes place this month, country music is the lifeblood of Nashville and the reason we are affectionately known as Music City

If the gentleman will yield.

I thank the gentleman for yielding.

And, Madam Speaker, I find it just so unfortunate as we are seeking to address and find bipartisan agreement on an issue of paramount importance to the American people on an issue that our seniors continue to talk to us about every day because of their concerns over Medicare, what the delivery is going to be, that we would have someone, Madam Speaker, who would come to this floor and would make such a statement and would make such accusations.

And, Madam Speaker, I think that it is fully appropriate that the gentleman return to the floor and apologize to the Members of this body.

Madam Speaker, I rise today to ask my colleagues to join me in honoring world recognized, figure skating star and cancer prevention activist, Scott Hamilton, as he receives the Excellence in Cancer Awareness Award from the Congressional Families Cancer Prevention Program today in Washington.

At the age of 13, Scott began training with former Olympic Gold Medal Winner, Pierre Brunet, and was only able to continue his training because an anonymous couple volunteered their financial sponsorship. By 1980, Scott was taking the ice skating world by storm.

Over the years, Scott has claimed over 70 titles to include: national and world skating champion, 1984 Olympic Gold Medalist, professional ice skater, Emmy nominee, best-selling author, actor, and television commentator. A member of the United States Olympic Hall of Fame and a member of the World Figure Skating Hall of Fame, he was the first solo male to receive the Jacques Favart Award from the International Skating Union, and also the first figure skater to ever be inducted into Madison Square Garden's Walk of Fame.

Scott has accomplished many notable achievements in his skating career, yet he has also overcome significant challenges. Scott courageously battled and survived testicular cancer in 1997, and he is successfully recovering from his 2004 diagnosis of a benign pituitary brain tumor.

Scott is the official spokesperson for Target House at St. Children Hospital in Memphis and is very involved in the Scott Hamilton C.A.R.E.S., Cancer Alliance for Research, Education and Survivorship, Initiative at the Cleveland Clinic Taussig Center. He promotes his informative and educational website, www.chemocare.com, and he also serves on the board of directors for the Special Olympics. In his leisure time, Scott can be found on the golf course or spending time with his wife and two sons, Aidan, age five, and Maxx, age one, at their home in Nashville.

Madam Speaker, Scott is a true testament to determination and the human spirit, and I ask my colleagues to join me in recognizing his life-time of achievements and notable contributions to cancer prevention.

Madam Speaker, I rise today to ask my colleagues to join me in honoring Grammy winner and country music recording artist Gretchen Wilson as she receives the 2009 National Coalition for Literacy Leadership Award. This multi-platinum, acclaimed singer/ songwriter was one of millions of Americans who had not finished her high school education.

Gretchen left high school to pursue her music career, and has since had three number one albums. She realized, as a mother, it was important for her to lead by example and to demonstrate to her daughter just how important it is to have an education. So last year, at the age of 34, Gretchen earned her GED. She is teaming up with the Dollar General Literacy Foundation to honor GED graduates and organizations dedicated to the achievement of literacy.

I congratulate Gretchen on her hard work, on her resilience and on her many notable achievements. I ask my colleagues to join me in recognizing her dedication and contributions to adult education and literacy awareness.

Madam Speaker, I rise today to ask my colleagues to join me in honoring Grammy Award winner and country music recording artist, Ms. Gretchen Wilson, as she receives the 2009 National Coalition for Literacy Leadership Award at The Library of Congress. Gretchen is being recognized by the National Coalition for Literacy and the Center for the Book for her contributions to the advancement of adult education and literacy.

Until recently, the multi-platinum acclaimed singer/songwriter was one of millions of Americans who had not finished their high school education. Ms. Wilson left high school to pursue her music career; she has since had three #1 albums. Last year at the age of 34, Gretchen earned her G.E.D. Her friend and mentor, Charlie Daniels, was guest speaker at her graduation ceremony at the First Baptist Church in Lebanon, TN.

As a mother, it was important for Gretchen to lead by example and demonstrate to her eight-year-old daughter, Grace, just how important it is to have an education. Gretchen is currently teaming up with the Dollar General Literacy Foundation to honor GED students and organizations dedicated to the advancement of literacy.

Ms. Wilson has won Female Vocalist of the Year from both the Country Music Association and the Academy of Country Music and a Grammy Award for Best Female Country Vocal Performance. She also had her first book and autobiography, ``Redneck Woman: Stories from My Life,'' appear on the New York Times Best Seller List.

Madam Speaker, I congratulate Gretchen on her hard work, resilience, and many notable achievements and ask my colleagues to join me in recognizing her dedication and contributions to adult education and literacy awareness.

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

I rise today to support H. Res. 260, supporting efforts to reduce infant mortality in the United States.

I want to thank my colleague Congressman Cohen for his work on this resolution. It has been exemplary, and we thank him for his leadership. I also want to recognize other members of our delegation who have stood with him and with me in this work to address infant mortality, Congressman Tanner and Congressman Gordon, both of whom are original cosponsors, as is Congressman Wamp; and we thank them for their participation.

Congressman Cohen has championed the cause of prenatal care since he and I served together in the Tennessee Senate, and I am honored to stand and work on this resolution with him now. I stand in support of the legislation, and I hope that all of our colleagues will join us in this effort. It is an important issue for Memphis, Tennessee, which, as Mr. Cohen said, is a community we both represent. And I hope that our conversation on the floor today will be just one more step in a unified effort to end the staggering rates of infant mortality that plague many of our communities.

In this conversation, I am reminded of the Healthy Start program that was reauthorized and signed into law by President George W. Bush on September 3, 2008. Healthy Start provides services tailored to the needs of high-risk pregnant women, infants, and mothers in geographically, racially, ethnically, linguistically diverse communities with exceptionally high rates of infant mortality. The goal of the program has been to reduce the factors that contribute to infant mortality, particularly among minority groups, and remains a very important program to help reduce the deaths of children each year.

Congressman Cohen's work certainly builds on this goal. Adequate prenatal care should be available to all mothers in Tennessee and certainly in this country to ensure healthy infants and pregnant women.

The Department of Health and Human Services has stated that children of mothers who receive no prenatal care, and this is a staggering statistic to me, those children born to mothers who receive no prenatal care are three times more likely to be born at low birth weight and five times more likely to die than those born to mothers who receive prenatal care. Again, that is three times more likely to be born at a low birth weight which makes that first year very difficult, and five times more likely to die. This is an area where working together, we can do something.

It is important that our communities and also young mothers get the care that they need in early pregnancy. Memphis, Tennessee, has one of the highest infant mortality rates of any city in the U.S. That isn't a statistic that only impacts the neighborhoods in Memphis where infant mortality is a daily reality, it is a tragedy that all of Tennessee mourns.

By stating today that the rate of infant mortality in Memphis, Tennessee, and in America is unacceptable, we are making another important step toward solving the problem.

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

Mr. Speaker, just to add to the gentleman's comments and to talk a little bit about the efforts that we have participated in in our State, as you look at Shelby County and Memphis, you see there has been a wonderful partnership between your local, State, and Federal entities to address this. Also between the community and the not-for- profit sector, individuals who have said this is a problem. These children deserve to have a healthy start in life. They deserve to have a good solid first year.

Recognizing that you have a problem is the first important step in solving that problem. Certainly we have all worked together for many years to make certain that education is an enormous component of the step forward to address low birth weights, to address infant mortality, and to make certain that our children get that healthy start that they need in life.

I commend those who have worked with us at the local, State and Federal level, as well as the community partners in Shelby County and across the State of Tennessee, who have made this a priority. I thank the gentleman for his leadership on the issue.

I yield back the balance of my time.

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

I rise today in support of House Resolution 57 expressing the importance of swimming lessons and recognizing the danger of drowning in the United States. With almost 10 unintentional and fatal drowning deaths each day in our country, it is important to recognize those most vulnerable to drowning, and it is usually our precious children under the age of 14 who have not yet learned to swim. Swimming education programs in communities and swimming lessons for those as young as 4 years old could help lower the number of fatal drownings each and every year.

The Virginia Graeme Baker Pool and Spa Safety Act, which was signed into law in December 2007 by President Bush, has led to increased pool and spa safety requirements and education.

I thank the gentlewoman from Florida who has joined us on the floor for her excellent leadership and outstanding work on that issue. It is one that was important to all of us in dealing with the FTC and the regulations. We commend you, and we thank you for your work.

Effective prevention strategies like the Pool and Spa Safety Act and nonprofit initiatives like the U.S.A. Swimming Foundation's ``Make a Splash''

program have been successful in teaming up with local communities to offer all children access to swimming education and lessons.

I want to thank the sponsor of this bill, Representative Albio Sires from the Garden State of New Jersey, for his work on this resolution. I stand in support of the legislation, and I hope that my colleagues will join me.

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

Mr. Speaker, I have no other speakers, and I yield back the balance of my time.

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

I rise today in support of this House resolution, which, as the gentlelady from Florida said, recognizes the 15th anniversary of the enactment of the Violence Against Women Act of 1994, or VAWA.

One out of every three people in the United States has been a victim of domestic violence, and that is according to Department of Justice statistics. Legislation proposing a Federal response to this violence against women was first introduced in 1990, although such violence was identified as a serious problem as early as the 1970s. So in 1994, Congress passed the Violence Against Women Act to protect women against violent crime, including domestic abuse. The act created grant programs to be administered by the Departments of Justice and Health and Human Services.

Funding under the bill recognized enforcement as well as educational and social programs to combat violent crime targeted against women. VAWA grants provide funding for the investigation and the prosecution of violent crimes perpetrated against women and support increased pretrial detention of defendants. VAWA also imposes automatic and mandatory restitution on those convicted.

In 2000, Congress reauthorized many VAWA programs, set new funding levels, and created new grant programs to address sexual assaults on campuses and assist victims of domestic abuse. These programs continue the essential work begun by the earlier act and add important services for immigrant, rural, disabled and older women.

The VAWA Reauthorization Act of 2000 also created new stalking offenses by creating penalties for a person who travels in interstate or foreign commerce with the intent to kill, injure, harass or intimidate a spouse or intimate partner.

VAWA was reauthorized for an additional 5 years when President Bush signed the act in 2005. The legislation expanded VAWA to include initiatives to help children who have been exposed to violence and to train health care providers to support victims of abuse.

The 2005 reauthorization also provided funding for crisis services for victims of rape and sexual assault. The act also improved support services, such as transitional housing, to women and children who have been forced to leave their homes because of this violence.

As the resolution notes, over the last 15 years VAWA has provided Federal support for efforts by law enforcement officials and victim service providers to hold offenders accountable and to keep those victims safe.

I join my colleagues in recognizing the 15th anniversary of the enactment of VAWA and urge continued support of the goals and the ideals of the Violence Against Women Act.

Mr. Speaker, in yielding back the balance of my time, I would thank so many of the volunteers in our communities who have been instrumental in working with many of us in starting rape and sexual abuse centers and supporting those victims, especially the children that we've been able to reach out and provide additional help and support for over the last few years. I know many of my colleagues have served in local and State legislative bodies, and we have had this as a very important focus of much of our work to make certain that women and children were protected from this strike of violence, and so I commend all of them.

I thank the gentlelady from Florida.

I yield back the balance of my time.

Madam Speaker, I ask my colleagues to join me in congratulating Christ Church, of Nashville, Tennessee, which will be celebrating its 60th anniversary on Sunday, September 13.

From humble beginnings in 1950, Pastor L.H. Hardwick has led, nurtured, and grown this fine congregation into one of Nashville's leading churches. With over 3500 members, Christ Church impacts the entire Middle Tennessee region through its wide array of community involvement. One small example is the church's activity center, which includes fitness facilities and an indoor playground. Rather than restricting access to the church's members, the activity center is open to both friends and neighbors to utilize.

I am awed by the personal commitment Pastor Hardwick has demonstrated through his service to Christ Church. When one considers the many changes that have occurred in our country over the past sixty years, Pastor Hardwick's continuous service is real inspiration.

Please join me in honoring 60 years of Christ Church's past, and celebrating the next 60 years of Christ Church's future.