Floor Statements

Madam Speaker, I rise today to mark the first anniversary of the end of the civil war in Sri Lanka. President Rajapaksa promised to promote reconciliation on the island and resettle Internally Displaced Persons (IDPs).

One year after the end of the war, there are still over 90,000 people who remain in detention and transit centers, including many women and children. Not only have they not been able to return to their homes, but they still don't have access to basic necessities. Food and medical care are scarce, and international aid organizations are still not allowed into many northern areas occupied by Tamils.

The Sri Lankan government should immediately begin resettling IDPs in their original homes. They must be allowed to return to their families, livelihoods, schools, and places of worship. Addressing humanitarian needs and protecting the basic human rights of all Sri Lankans should be the top priority of the Rajapaksa government.

Madam Speaker, I rise today to honor Mount Saint Mary College, located in

Newburgh, New York as it celebrates the 50th anniversary of its founding. Rooted in the Dominican tradition of education, the Dominican Sisters of Newburgh demonstrated uncommon vision and tremendous leadership in establishing this institution of higher learning overlooking the Hudson River and its historic Highlands. Consistent with its Judeo-Christian heritage, Mount Saint Mary College has provided rigorous and high quality educational instruction for the past five decades to generations of students in the Hudson Valley region. I am delighted to add my voice to those commemorating and marking this significant milestone, and I am proud to recognize Mount Saint Mary College on this very historic occasion.

Founded in 1959, Mount Saint Mary College has remained faithful and committed to its motto, Doce Me Veritatem (Teach Me the Truth) by fostering in its students a lifelong passion for learning and imparting the knowledge and values that enable these women and men to succeed and contribute significantly to our society. The Mount offers 50 undergraduate degree programs and three graduate degree programs, and has successfully prepared and graduated many thousands of men and women in a wide range of fields, including education, nursing, and business.

Mount Saint Mary College continues to play a significant and tremendously positive role in its local community and the surrounding region. The faculty, staff, and students of the Mount generously offer and share their expertise and skills to benefit the local community. In addition, the Mount also contributes to and strengthens the region's economy as it also prepares the well-educated men and women needed to fill the ranks of our region's businesses, schools, non-profit organizations and local governments.

Madam Speaker, it is my great pleasure to congratulate and salute Mount Saint Mary College for its 50 years of committed and distinguished service to our region. I am grateful to Father Kevin E. Mackin, the board of directors, the staff, students, and supporters of this critical institution of higher learning for their ongoing leadership and dedicated efforts to sustain and strive to continuously improve the Mount, which I am confident will remain a cornerstone of our region for many generations to come.

Well, thank you very much. I want to express to you my appreciation for you engaging and initiating this discussion here. It's something that's very important; it's something that needs attention, and it certainly needs relief. As I think we all know, we are facing-- involved in one of the most serious economic crises in the history of this country. We haven't had an economic downturn as serious as this one since the Great Depression, which happened in 1929 and ran through the thirties.

One of the most interesting things about the way in which this economic recession has come about and continues is the failure, in fact, in many ways, the refusal of responsible people to understand what happened back in the 1930s and the relationship between what's happening now, the kinds of circumstances that caused that Great Depression similar to the circumstances that are causing this deep recession that we are experiencing now. And it's only a recession because we have Social Security now, which went into place after the Depression in the 1930s as a means to sort of fight against that Depression, and a number of other things which were engaged in to try to deal with it effectively.

There are a lot of people who are trying to eliminate some of those effective things. In fact, we had a President recently come in and say that we should privatize Social Security. I think we could imagine what might have happened if we had privatized Social Security and how much worse this economic recession would be today if the Social Security system had been privatized, and it then certainly would have been lost.

So this is a serious issue, and it's an issue that needs financial regulatory reform; and that need for financial regulatory reform has never been more evident for us in the context of our lives and especially our experience here in this Congress. We are still feeling the effects of that meltdown, which began in 2007 and then hit hard in 2008 on Wall Street. And now, 2 years after that 2008 meltdown, we still have record unemployment with roughly 15 million Americans currently out of work. Obviously, much needs to be done to deal with this and correct it.

Wall Street recovered rather quickly, interestingly enough, while the jobs and housing market remain on life support. It seems that Wall Street was able to recover quickly because it knew the housing bubble was on the verge of bursting and hedged their bets appropriately. And they knew that the housing bubble was on the verge of bursting because of the subprime mortgages that they manipulated into the context of investing operations. They knew what they had done, and they knew what was happening as a result of what they had done.

As we all know, the Securities and Exchange Commission recently made claims that Goldman purposefully created an investment, a collateralized debt obligation called ABACUS 2007-AC1, that was designed to fail. The SEC suspects that a Goldman Sachs employee--and probably not just one--Goldman Sachs employees purposefully misled clients into buying investments that were not only worthless but were almost guaranteed to have a devastating effect on the great economy.

I have signed my name onto two letters that are aimed at expanding the investigation of Goldman Sachs. One of those letters is to the Securities and Exchange Commission Chair Mary Schapiro and the other to Attorney General Eric Holder. Goldman Sachs deserves to be thoroughly investigated for this suspicious activity, but we need to keep in mind that they are not solely to blame.

It's not just Goldman Sachs that was responsible for this problem. Throughout the 1990s, there was unprecedented deregulation of the banking sector, which set the stage for Wall Street to run amok. Safeguards put in place in the 1930s to deal with that Great Depression were thrown out, and that is just fascinating how intentionally that was done. Safeguards put in place in the 1930s, thrown out and unraveled by both Congress and the Federal Reserve. As they let this happen, some of us tried to stop the deregulation, but we were in the minority. We should not delay in getting commonsense reforms passed that will increase consumer protections, regulate hedge funds and the derivatives market. And let us not forget to include a stronger Volcker Rule.

The Volcker Rule, interestingly enough, puts an end to an investment bank's ability to conduct proprietary trading with their bank deposits. This proposal also prevents bank holding companies from housing hedge funds or private equity branches. The overarching goal is very similar to what I tried to achieve when I submitted a Glass-Steagall amendment to the House financial regulatory reform bill.

Restoring the Glass-Steagall Act--which of course was passed back in the context of the Great Depression--would put back in place the clean division between commercial and investment banking that was first established in that Banking Act back in 1933. The original bill was put in place as a response to the Great Depression and resulted in decades of economic stability and prosperity. Throughout the 1990s, the banking lobby worked hard to undermine the Glass-Steagall Act, and it was ultimately overturned in 1999.

Yes.

That is exactly right, and I very much appreciate you putting that form up there, Cracks in Wall Street. It's a very interesting presentation and a very accurate presentation of the set of circumstances that were put into play over that period of time beginning in 1996 with this Congress here trying to manipulate the situation.

I remember how many of us fought against those things. We fought against them. We voted against them. And, of course, we voted against that elimination of that Glass-Steagall Act because we understood very clearly

that the elimination of investments, by allowing investment banks to work closely together with commercial banks and take issues like mortgages and manipulate the mortgages into subprime mortgages, and sell mortgages to people who were not able to afford them, and to continue to manipulate that mortgage system and to include that mortgage system into large investment packages, and those large investment packages which were weak and really didn't deserve nearly the kind of attention or the funding that they received were successful based upon--largely based upon, at least, the fact that they had mortgages within them. And people had the idea that, Well, mortgages are secure. Anyone who has a mortgage is going to pay that mortgage off. Hardly anybody misses their mortgage payment.

And it was the intentional manipulation of the mortgages in those investments which led to, to a great extent, the collapse of this economy and the collapse that we're experiencing now and all of the difficult circumstances we have to deal with.

Now, a lot of these things need to be addressed. Some of them have been addressed in the context of legislation that we have passed. The Senate is now struggling with that legislation, trying to pass something similar to it so that we could agree on something that is going to begin to modify this dire situation that we're dealing with. But the fact of the matter is there is more that we're going to have to do, not just the situations that are pending right at this moment. Even though they are critically important and they need to be dealt with and completed, there is more that needs to be done. And what needs to be done, including other things, is the prevention in the future of the manipulation of mortgages and the other kind of investment manipulation that took place in the context of this molding together of commercial and investment banking.

We need honest banking in this country. We have had it for most of the time, and most of the bankers in this country are honest and strong and safe and secure and working in the best interests of the people in their community. But there are exceptions to that, and those exceptions can be deep and dire, and we've seen the results of it in the context of this economic situation that we are dealing with now. It needs to be corrected, and I deeply appreciate you for bringing this subject up in this way and for bringing attention to the issues that you have presented in the context there next to you.

So thank you very much. It's a great pleasure to be with you in this context, and I sure hope that the opponents of this bill in the Senate are going to get the kind of pressure that they need from sensible places and sensible people, conscientious people, to make sure that they stop blocking it. We need to get these things passed.

Madam Speaker, I rise today to honor and celebrate the State of Israel on the occasion of its 62nd anniversary. For 62 years, the United States and the modern State of Israel have shared a deep friendship and strong bonds of cooperation. Since the establishment of our ally in May 1948, the United States and Israel have been united by their strong ties and mutual democratic values.

This week, we pay tribute to the tremendous accomplishments of the State of Israel, which has developed a prosperous, educated, and vibrant nation since its establishment 62 years ago. During that time, the United States has stood in vigorous support of Israel's right to to exist and will continue to do so in the future. As a democracy, Israel's people enjoy freedom of speech and religion, an open political system, an independent judiciary and many other practices. Israel's colleges and universities are highly respected, which strengthens the Israeli economy and allows the country to be a leader in research and innovation.

I am also pleased to celebrate the ties between the American and Israeli people and the rich history of the American Jewish community. For hundreds of years, the United States has benefited from Jewish contributions to American culture. As a nation of immigrants, the United States is better and stronger because Jewish people from all over the world have chosen to become American citizens. When the first Jewish settlers came to this land, they sought a place of promise where they could practice their faith in freedom and live in liberty. American Jews have strengthened our country and helped shape our way of life. By recognizing those contributions to the the fabric of American life, we promote awareness and understanding.

Israel is an integral and essential partner and I look forward to opportunities to continue and enhance the strong bonds between our nations. As a defender of the inherent rights of all people and nations, I am proud to commemorate the 62nd anniversary of the establishment of the State of Israel.

Madam Speaker, I rise today to honor Dr. Marjorie Butler on the occasion of her 100th birthday. A longtime resident of the Hudson River Valley, 43 years ago Dr. Butler helped establish the Black Studies Department at the State University of New York at New Paltz. At that time in 1967, only a handful of schools had established similar departments, but today, more than 250 colleges and universities are engaged in the exploration and analysis of the history and culture of African people in the United States, Caribbean, and Africa. Dr. Butler is truly a pioneer of this important academic discipline.

Before her retirement in 1984, as the chair of the department and a professor of psychology, she drew from her life experiences to provide an enriching learning environment for thousands of students, many of whom went on to adopt her goals of human progress and equality as their own. It is because of the leadership, personal courage and dedication of individuals like Dr. Marjorie Butler that our nation has overcome many of its greatest civil rights challenges. Her contributions and devotion to this cause must be recognized and understood and cannot be overstated.

Madam Speaker, I am delighted to congratulate and honor Dr. Butler on her 100th birthday and for her many years of hard and deeply effective work and her service in the cause of social justice.

Madam Speaker, I rise today to honor the life and legacy of Dr. Margaret Wade-Lewis whose remarkable contributions to African American equality in the United States should be noted for the record.

In 1974, she joined the Black Studies Department at State University of New York at New Paltz where she worked to enrich the lives of thousands of students until her death late last December. The passing of Dr. Wade-Lewis is a major loss for the department, the college and the New Paltz community. Her contributions to our state's education system and history can be traced through her life achievements.

Dr. Wade-Lewis was born in Haskell, Oklahoma and remained in Oklahoma for her childhood and collegiate years. She attended Langston University, where she obtained a bachelors and masters degree in English. She later attended New York University and, from there, was the first African American woman to graduate with a Ph.D. in Linguistics.

During her tenure at SUNY New Paltz, Dr. Wade-Lewis' commitment to her students was unparalleled. She was involved in a variety of organizations, including the African Women's Alliance, The New Day Theatre Ensemble, and the New Paltz Voices of Unity Gospel Choir. She was also an advocate for student scholarships, which resulted in hundreds of students receiving financial support to attend and graduate from SUNY New Paltz.

Some of the most prized achievements of Dr. Wade-Lewis include being the longest serving Chairperson of the Department of Black Studies, which under her leadership obtained national recognition. Additionally, she administered the Affirmative Action Program, and held the lead position on the Scholar's Mentorship Program, which provided mentoring and networking opportunities for high achieving students of color and interested students of all ethnic groups. The program succeeded in promoting an increase in performance levels and retention rates for students of color at New Paltz.

Dr. Wade-Lewis was a friend and mentor to many in the community of New Paltz. She was a pioneer who incorporated Black Studies into many aspects of the University's curriculum. Her programs drew nationwide acclaim and attention to inequalities in education. I would like to recognize all of Dr. Wade-Lewis' achievements throughout her life and take this opportunity to express my belief that her memory and achievements will live on for many years to come.

Madam Speaker, I rise today to honor and pay tribute to the Montgomery Fire Department in Orange County, New York as its members and officers prepare to celebrate and mark its 200th Anniversary. I am delighted to add my voice to those recognizing this significant milestone, and I am proud to honor the Montgomery Fire Department on this historic occasion.

The officers and members of the Montgomery Fire Department have served their community with distinction and commitment for many generations, making this department the oldest in Orange County and one of the longest serving in the State of New York. Since its founding in 1810, this all-volunteer department has answered the call for assistance from its neighbors during a wide range of emergency situations. As this area has grown and changed, the spirit of service and leadership from the department has carried on and evolved to meet new challenges.

The 80 active current members of the Montgomery Fire Department continue to build on the legacy of this historic Department each time they respond to emergency calls to deal with local flooding, house fires, car accidents and other difficult circumstances. As its members have done for many generations, these men and women answer the calls of their neighbors throughout the seasons and at all times of day and night in order to ensure the safety and to protect the well-being of their community.

Madam Speaker, I am delighted to offer my congratulations to the Montgomery Fire Department as it prepares to celebrate its bicentennial anniversary. I extend my best wishes and deep gratitude for the selfless and invaluable service the Montgomery Fire Department has provided to our community for 200 years.

I want to express also my deep appreciation and gratitude to the chairman of the Natural Resources Committee, Nick Rahall, for working with me to move this important piece of legislation. I also would like to thank Chairman Grijalva and the staff of the Natural Resources Committee for all the support and guidance throughout this process.

I would like to mention that there are no restrictions in the context of this legislation for any of the things that were just mentioned. None whatsoever. In fact, all of those kinds of activities will be enhanced and encouraged and be much more easy to achieve

and more beneficial to the communities.

H.R. 4003 would authorize the National Park Service to conduct a special resource study of the Hudson River Valley to evaluate the area's national significance and determine the suitability and feasibility of designating the area as a unit of the National Park System, a unit of the National Park System, not a national park.

This legislation is cosponsored by each of the Members whose district is within the proposed study area. And that in and of itself of course is very interesting. They have garnered strong support locally. Twenty- four local organizations have already endorsed the bill, and I expect to see that there will be more in the coming weeks and months.

The Hudson River Valley is one of the most significant river corridors in our country. The historical, natural, cultural, commercial, scenic, and recreational resources spread throughout the region, and in the way they do so they are absolutely unparalleled. The Hudson River Valley's landscapes are known around the world. In fact, the beauty of these great landscapes inspired the first and one of America's great artistic movements, the Hudson River school of art. Painters such as Thomas Cole and Frederic Church immortalized the region's scenery for generations to come. These works and others inspired the American preservationist movement and the movement to establish in our country national parks.

Today the region is home to a rich and sensitive ecosystem that also affords ample recreational opportunities, including hiking, canoeing, and other activities. One of the most recent additions is the Walkway Over the Hudson. Initially a rail bridge that was considered a marvel of the Industrial Revolution, it was abandoned in the 1970s following a fire on one of the trains that went across that bridge at that time. It recently was restored and reopened, however, over the course of this past October, and it is now the longest and highest pedestrian overpass in the United States. It is a remarkable bridge, where people get enormous amounts of joy walking across it, over a mile across it, and give them an opportunity to get a sense of the Hudson River Valley looking north and south as they walk across this marvelous now Walkway Over the Hudson.

From a historical perspective, the Hudson River Valley has played a central role in our Nation's narrative and our Nation's development. In 1609, of course, Henry Hudson first sailed up the river that now bears his name. And we just recently celebrated the 400th anniversary of that very important trip. During the American Revolution, the region bore witness to events that determined the course of that Revolutionary War and the establishment of the freedom and independence of our Nation.

In the 19th century, the Hudson River Valley helped foster the American Industrial Revolution and became one of the commercial corridors of our country. In 1807, Robert Fulton piloted the first successful steamboat voyage up the river. Later in the century, the Hudson and its estuary, the Mohawk River, connected the Nation's greatest port, New York City, with the entire western section of the United States through the Erie Canal network and the central Great Lakes. In the last century, the region was home to Franklin Delano Roosevelt at Hyde Park. Later, the region gave birth to the modern environmental and labor movements.

Preserving and promoting the Hudson River Valley's resources has been a top priority for me dating back to my time in the New York State Assembly. While in the State legislature, I authorized legislation to lead to the creation of the Hudson River Valley Greenway, creating a process for voluntary regional cooperation among 264 communities within 13 counties that border the Hudson River on both sides, east and west. When I came to the Congress, I authorized legislation that led to the designation of the Hudson River Valley National Heritage Area, which provides technical assistance to local communities or local managers to assist them in managing natural and historic sites of national importance up and down the Hudson River. These designations have provided tremendous benefits to the Hudson Valley region, but it is clear that more can be done to protect, preserve, and promote the area's unique resources and its dramatic contribution to the historic development of the United States.

I believe an enhanced National Park Service presence is warranted completely and would have a tremendously positive impact on our local economy while at the same time preserving and protecting the region's resources. The authorization of this special resource study will begin that process.

Just to be clear, no one believes the Hudson River Valley should be turned into a Yellowstone-type park. That would make no sense for the region. In fact, I firmly believe that any eventual park unit designation should and will protect private property rights and that local governments should retain local control of land-use decisions involving all of the property up and down the Hudson River that is not Federal property. There are civil existing park units, such as the Mississippi River and recreation area, a little bit we have heard about just recently, which fit these criteria and could be models for our region.

I believe the study should examine these models and the positive impact they have had on their local economies.

Passage of this bill and the subsequent study would position the Hudson River Valley to gain the full attention of the National Park Service for all of the significant and substantial historic contributions this region has made to the development, establishment, and the continuation of the United States, as well as for the area's pristine natural beauty.

For all of these reasons and more, we are offering this Hudson River Valley Special Resource Study Act, and we have gained enormous support from everyone who has heard about it internally here within the Government of the United States, but even more importantly, widespread endorsements of this up and down the Hudson River Valley, north and south and east and west.

And so I offer this bill.

Well, thank you very much.

I just want to express my deep sense of sadness for the loss of a very dear friend, someone for whom I had a great deal of respect and admiration. I know that sense is not unique. It is shared and expressed by a great many of other people. Of course, the reasons for that are the interactions that he had with so many of the people. It is the involvement that he had and the way in which he provided leadership and direction for a great many. I knew him for a little more than 17 years but not very closely until the last year and a half or so, and that was because I now serve on the subcommittee that he chaired, the Subcommittee on Defense.

I felt a great sense of admiration for him, for the focus that he had on the work that he had to do and for the way in which he did it so very, very effectively. I could understand why, because that was the simple nature of the man, and it was the kind of thing that he had done all his life.

He served in the military, and was a great exemplary of strength, and honor, and courage, and he had done the same thing during his tenure here in the House of Representatives. He served with strength, and honor, and courage. He did a great many things for the district that he represented, a great many things for Pennsylvania, but also a great many things for many places across this country. I know that he did a great many things in helping me.

So, again, I want to express my deep sense of gratitude for Jack Murtha, my deep respect for him and this deep, unexpected sadness in his leaving us. I had thought that he would be here for a long, long time. Nevertheless, we will continue to have the strength that we have had as a result of our interactions with him. We will be much more effective, much more knowledgeable, and there will be a continuation of positive things done here. A lot of those positive things will be as a direct result of the leadership and of the examples set by Jack Murtha.

Thank you, Jack, for everything that you've done.

Madam Speaker, the elements of this bill are critically important. Pay-as-you-go is essential. It is critically essential at this point in the issues being dealt with by this country.

If you look back over the course of the last several years, you will see how this huge deficit has gone up over and over again.

Let me just give a couple of examples of the way in which the huge debt that we have now has increased under the leadership of the opposition on the other side of the aisle here, and the previous President.

One of those was the military invasion of Iraq, which was completely unjustified. There was no justification for it whatsoever. The price of that is approaching now $1 trillion.

Another issue that was dealt with in the context when they were in the majority was the tax cuts for the wealthiest people in America. Those tax cuts have now created the greatest concentration of wealth in the hands of the wealthiest 1 percent of Americans that this country has ever experienced since 1929, 1930. Now, we know what brought that about, and we know the same kind of circumstances that we are dealing with now.

Let me just give another example. They are not very much in favor of things like health care. Take, for example, what they tried to do with Medicare back in 2003 and how the price of that has gone up so much. They introduced prescription drug provisions in the Medicare program, but they would not allow for the negotiation of any price. They would just say that whatever the drug companies want to charge you, that is what you are going to have to pay. And that price is now going up to somewhere in the neighborhood of $700 billion.

All of that has created the huge deficit that we have; and if you look at the way in which that deficit has adversely affected this economy, you see it over and over again. In housing, for example: over the course of the last 1\1/2\ years, the housing situation in this country has gone desperate. All of these things need to be changed. This bill will deal with it constructively and effectively, and it should be passed unanimously.

Madam Speaker, I rise today to congratulate the Vitamin L Project of Ithaca, New York on 20 years of service, and to commend the founders of this group, Jan and Janice Nigro, on their steadfast dedication to community service.

For two decades, the Vitamin L Project has taught young people throughout New York state the power of diversity and positive character development. In 1989, Jan and Janice conceptualized and launched the Project as an innovative model for teaching character education through the magic of song. It all began in Ithaca, New York when a teacher friend of Jan Nigro's asked him to write some songs for elementary-age children about the universal human values of diversity, love, truth, peace, and non-violence. This single request blossomed in 17 songs, and the Vitamin L transformative magic of character building was underway creating a library of uplifting and inspirational music.

Over time, the Vitamin L Chorus was established, which today includes approximately 80 young performers as well as a growing group of Vitamin L alumni. Jan's wife, Janice, serves as Vitamin L Project Director and works tirelessly to sustain the Project's mission through outreach to elementary schools, recruitment and training of youth singers, organizing concerts, and serving as mentor and coach to all Chorus members. Together, this husband-and-

wife team, along with enthusiastic Chorus members, and a host of supportive parents and community members, has touched the hearts and minds of children across New York State and other locations where Vitamin L has been invited to perform.

With its focus on early childhood development, Vitamin L encourages children to think about moral issues in a non-threatening, fun, and very personal way. By singing the songs, watching the Vitamin L Chorus act out scenes of things like the consequences of ``jumping to conclusions'' and having opportunities to talk with Vitamin L Chorus members, young audiences see the importance of valuing positive character and moral behavior.

Vitamin L's first published group character-building songs titled, ``Walk a Mile,'' won the nationally recognized Parent's Choice Gold Award shortly after its release in 1989. Three more Vitamin L recordings of character building songs received similar praise from the Parent's Choice Gold Awards in subsequent years. The recordings have also received very positive reviews in numerous national publications, such as School Library Journal, Booklist, and Time Magazine.

I thank Jan and Janice Nigro for their unwavering commitment to improving their community and congratulate them on 20 successful years with the Vitamin L Project. Their contributions have touched countless people, and enriched the lives of my constituents in New York's 22nd Congressional District and well beyond. The world could use more people who contribute to their county, state, and country, like Jan and Janice and I am grateful for the work they have done, what they are doing today, and their bright future.

Madam Speaker, I rise today to pay tribute to my longtime staff member and dear friend, Daniel J. Ahouse, as he parts from his distinguished service in the Congress and embarks upon a new venture. For nearly 15 years, Dan has held several positions of responsibility in my office, most importantly as my chief of staff. Dan has served with an unrivaled commitment to the people of the 26th and now 22nd Congressional District of New York. Although he will be profoundly missed, in my office and in the communities I represent, we will continue to enjoy the benefits of his successful accomplishments.

Dan Ahouse originally hailed from Boiceville, a hamlet in the Town of Olive, in Ulster County, New York. He attended Hamilton College where he studied government and, as he had in high school, quarterbacked the football team. Dan began serving in my office as an intern in 1995 and, after quickly establishing himself as a hard worker and a team player, he was promoted to staff assistant, scheduler, legislative assistant, district representative, district director and finally chief of staff.

As with any good quarterback, Dan demonstrated his talent for calling plays and creating opportunities off the field. He is never deterred by a challenge. The great accomplishments we've recently made to establish New York as a hub for solar energy research and development would not have been achieved at the same level were it not for Dan Ahouse's hard work and determination. He has always been anchored by a sense of optimism and his belief that with hard work even the most difficult obstacles can be overcome.

Dan's level-headed judgment and strong leadership have been critically important, and his loyalty has been unfailing. But, as is often the case, his public service has come at the price of many personal sacrifices, including postponing his honeymoon in order to focus on the needs of the congressional operation and, more recently, spending a great deal of time away from his wife, Christina, and three lovely daughters, Madison, Abigail, and Julia, in order to manage my Washington and district offices.

All the while, Dan created an environment for staff and colleagues, in Washington and in the district, conducive to fresh ideas and productivity. A strong figure in his own community and an integral part of my team, from intern to chief of staff, Dan Ahouse will be sorely missed. I owe Dan my own personal heartfelt thanks, especially for his friendship, support, and counsel over the many years. I wish him a well-deserved, happy, and healthy new beginning.

Well, thank you very much for yielding to me.

I also want to express my deep gratitude to you for doing this event because John McHugh is a very good friend of all of us, and we very much appreciate the opportunity to be here and to say a few things on his behalf and on behalf of ourselves, for the opportunity that we have had to work with him and the benefits that have flown to all of us as a result of his experience, his insight, and his wisdom.

I can say that as someone who has worked very closely with him for a long, long time, as just was said a moment ago by our leader here today, he and I were elected to the House of Representatives in 1992, and we have been serving here now for about the last 16 years. In the context of those 16 years, he and I have become even closer together in spite of the fact that we were close enough to begin with because we had both served in the New York State Legislature for a good period of time.

John McHugh was in the New York State Senate from 1985 until he was elected to the House of Representatives in 1992, so he had a great deal of good, solid experience when he came here. He was nominated to be Secretary of the Army in June of this year, and he was sworn in as the 21st Army Secretary of the United States on September 23, 2009. When he was sworn in, we were very happy about that and deeply respected it because we understood that he was going to be a very good leader of the military, and we say that because of the fact that he has been directly involved in military operations in many ways for a long time.

John McHugh brought with him a great deal of the experience that he had with regard to that Army. First of all, his district included Fort Drum, which is the home of the Army's 10th Mountain Division. He worked very hard for those military forces, representing that 10th Mountain Division, and he stayed in very close touch with them. Of course, as a result of that, he learned more and more about the military operation, how significant it was and what kind of assistance that he could bring to them. So he has been known for some time as an authority on the military here in the Congress. Included in that, of course, is the fact that he served on the Armed Services Committee here in the House of Representatives for many years. When he was nominated and then sworn in, just as he was sworn in to be the new Secretary, he had served as the ranking member of the Armed Services Committee.

As I say, he and I have worked together on a number of issues and in a number of areas over the course of many years, including the fact that we both served on the West Point Board of Visitors. His service on the West Point Board of Visitors is just another example of his dedication to the military and the way in which he did everything that he could to serve the American military in the best way possible.

So I am very pleased to be able to extend to him my deep congratulations as being the Secretary of the Army and also to express to him my deep appreciation for all the things that he has done over the course of his dedication to public policy, whether it was in the State legislature in New York, here in the House of Representatives, or now as the leader of the American military in the Army.

So, John, all the best to you, and thank you for everything that you have done and everything that you will do in the future.

Madam Speaker, I rise today to honor my good friends Bill and Betty Kick of Saugerties, New York. Their kind demeanor and dedication to service work stand as a testament to the importance of giving back to the community.

Bill and Betty first met in kindergarten in Teaneck, New Jersey, where they grew up around the corner from one another. It came as no surprise when these childhood sweethearts married just days before Bill left to serve his country during World War II. During his 4 years in the Army, Bill was stationed in France, Germany, and Africa, rising to the difficult and challenging circumstances that this momentous conflict presented. Meanwhile, Betty remained in the U.S., doing her part by working for U.S. Rubber and the Syrian Embassy. Once Bill returned from the war, the couple settled in New York and soon welcomed their wonderful children, Linda and Peter. As new parents, they continued their commitment to community service by volunteering as Scout leaders.

When the time came to retire, and much to our benefit, Bill and Betty chose Saugerties, New York, as their home base. But Bill and Betty were far from homebound. Avid sailors, they have spent much of their retirement sailing around the world, going from Maine to the Florida Keys, and even as far as the South China Sea. In fact, Betty became one of the first female Celestial Navigators in the Hudson Valley. In spite of their passion for sailing, they still make time to volunteer within their community. Local organizations like Benedictine Hospital, Ulster Literacy Association, and the Winston Farm Alliance have all benefited from their time and dedication.

Throughout their lives, Bill and Betty have selflessly donated their time to help better their community. The 22nd District is fortunate to call them our own and it is with great enthusiasm that we look forward to many more years of their reminding us all of the importance of volunteerism.

I want to express my deep gratitude and appreciation for the initiation of this quadricentennial celebration of the discovery of the Hudson River by a vessel which was directed by the Netherlands after hiring a British captain by the name of Henry Hudson. It is a remarkable event. The 400 years of our direct relationship with the Netherlands is something upon which we need to be most recognizing and deeply grateful.

If you look back at the history, you see in the 1600s and even earlier how the Netherlands had become one of the most open and democratic places anywhere on this planet, how the population of that country had been so integrated and so involved with people from various places around Europe but also outside of the continent, including Africa. The discovery of the Hudson River was made by the Half Moon, led by Henry Hudson--the river now bearing his name--and the ensuing settlement of the southern part of Manhattan, how that settlement came about was so similar to the way in which the Netherlands was organized back then. That settlement, again, brought in people from all over Europe and elsewhere, including Africa as well. The integration of that settlement, the diversity of that settlement led, in many ways, to the diversity and deep understanding of the growing United States of America.

We owe the Netherlands a great honor and recognition for all that they

have done. The celebration of our relationship has been going on for a long time in a very interesting way. During the 350th anniversary celebration, the Queen of the Netherlands came to the United States and spent a good deal of time here. Of course while she was here, she was highly recognized and deeply appreciated for spending time here and engaging in that 350th celebration back in 1959. Last April I had the opportunity to meet her again and to spend some time with her in Amsterdam and to deeply appreciate all the leadership that she has provided and all the others have provided that have had such a beneficial effect on the United States of America.

This quadricentennial celebration now is going on, and it is being recognized and appreciated throughout all of New York State and many other places across our country. The Prince of the Netherlands is here, and he is engaging with us in this celebration. Again, in the context of this celebration, one of the most important things for us to remember and recognize and express a great deal of appreciation for is the influence that the Netherlands has had on the development of this country, the way in which it was settled, how lower Manhattan and New York State became the most diversely populated place on this continent and, in many ways, it still is. The initiation of that came about as a result of the exemplary way in which the Netherlands conducted its organization, its leadership, its integration, its openness. We owe them a great deal, and we express that deep gratitude to them in many ways, but particularly in the context of this quadricentennial celebration, recognizing this wonderful 400-year history of the Hudson River and the very positive contributions that that made to the settlement of the city of New York and the openness of our country.

Again, I express my appreciation to the Queen of the Netherlands, to the Prince who was here and to the exemplary way in which Amsterdam and the Netherlands have opened up their examples and led us in a very, very positive way, and that relationship continues today. I express my deep appreciation to the sponsor of this legislation. I'm very happy to participate in this event.