Floor Statements

Madam Speaker, I come to this floor at a time of extraordinary moment on the global stage. According to the Islamic Republic News Agency, the official news agency of Iran, President Mahmud Ahmadinejad, supposedly won the election over his primary opponent on 12 June 2009.

But from the very moment that that election result was announced, the international community and the international press called it into question, and the bases for that, even before the extraordinary demonstrations had begun to take place, is the fact that these were paper ballots, but the official government results of the election were announced literally within hours of the polls being closed.

Various media outlets around the world have questioned the authenticity of the results. Mr. Mousavi, the defeated candidate, has launched a legal appeal against the election results. On the day of the election, mobile phone communications were interrupted. Western media has reported ``heavy electronic jamming'' disturbing broadcasts. News Web sites were reportedly blocked by Iranian authorities, and the Iranian Government has allegedly arrested opposition political figures and journalists.

The Iranian Government has outlawed any protests following 2 days of extraordinary unrest. The BBC recently reported that recent rallies in the streets of Tehran were the biggest demonstrations in the Islamic Republic's 30-year history. The protests, according to news reports, became violent, and according to media reports, pro-government forces attacked demonstrators in the last 24 hours, causing at least one fatality.

We are witnessing a Tiananmen in Tehran, and the United States of America must stand in the gap on behalf of those brave Iranian citizens who are standing for free and fair elections, democracy, and basic rights. Freedom, in fact, may be flowering in Iran, as hundreds of thousands rally for democracy and free elections.

And while I appreciate President Obama's comments yesterday at the White House that he was ``troubled by the violence,'' and his belief that the voices of the Iranian people should be ``heard and respected,'' it seems by my likes that this administration has yet to express the unqualified support of the American people for those who are courageously taking to the streets for free elections and for democracy in Iran.

Let me say from my heart, the American cause is freedom, and in this cause, the American people will not be silent, here or abroad. If the President of the United States won't express the unqualified support of our Nation for the dissidents in the streets of Tehran, this Congress must.

Today, I am introducing a resolution that will do just that. It will express its concern regarding the reported irregularities of the presidential elections of 12 June 2009; condemn the violence against demonstrators by pro-government militias in Tehran in the wake of the election; it will affirm our belief in the universality of individual rights and the importance of democratic and fair elections; and lastly and most importantly, Madam Speaker, it will express the support of the American people for all Iranian citizens who struggle for freedom, civil liberties, and the protection of the rule of law.

Believe it or not, in my small town of Columbus, Indiana, I grew up next door to a Hungarian immigrant who fled Hungary in the wake of the Soviet repression of the Hungarian Revolution in 1956. I sat often with Julius Perr, now passed away, and heard of the way the Hungarian people, inspired by our calls for freedom, stood up for their own freedom. And as Bret Stephens recounts in today's Wall Street Journal, We stood by idly, we didn't want to interfere, and the Soviet tanks rolled.

We cannot stand idly by, speak of Iran sovereignty, speak of their own right to choose their own leadership at a time when hundreds of thousands of Iranians are risking their liberty, and even their lives, to stand for free elections and democracy.

Ronald Reagan said, There is no arsenal or no weapon in the arsenals of the world so formidable as the will and moral courage of free men and women. All of us desire a fresh start with Iran, and it seems from news reports and the extraordinary images coming from the streets of Iran that millions of Iranians long for a new start in their government. There is a reformist movement afoot in Iran.

Today, I will introduce a resolution. I urge all of my colleagues in both parties to join me in expressing support for these brave and courageous men and women.

Mr. Speaker, by direction of the Republican Conference, I offer a privileged resolution and ask for its immediate consideration.

I thank the distinguished ranking member of the Appropriations Committee for yielding.

Mr. Speaker, I rise in reluctant opposition to the military supplemental bill that is before Congress today. I was pleased to join many of my Democratic colleagues in supporting the bipartisan military supplemental bill that passed this House earlier in this Congress.

It seems to me, when it comes to providing our soldiers with the resources they need to get the job done and to come home safe, it's the right time to set aside politics as usual--the partisan divide--and go forward to the best of our abilities in a united front. We did that, but I cannot support this military supplemental bill today. I see it as a disservice to the taxpayers of this country and as a disservice to those brave men and women who defend us every day.

You know, in the midst of difficult economic times, it's easy for some people to forget that we are a Nation at war, and it's easy to go back to politics as usual and to spending as usual; but with American soldiers in harm's way, we must never falter in our effort to make sure those soldiers have everything they need to get the job done and to come home to us and to their families safely.

Emergency war funding bills should be about emergency war funding. This legislation, which includes $108 billion in loan authorizations for a global bailout for the International Monetary Fund at a time when this government has run up a $2 trillion annual deficit I believe does a disservice to taxpayers and to those who defend us. Passing a $108 billion global bailout on the backs of our soldiers is just not right.

I urge my colleagues to oppose this conference report. Stand with our troops. Stand with the American taxpayer. Stand against one more bailout. Let's reject this bill tonight, and let's come right back to this floor here tomorrow and bring a clean emergency war funding bill, in a bipartisan fashion, back into the legislative process.

It is time for us to reject this legislation, to reject the changes that were made in the United States Senate, to get our soldiers the resources they need, and to do it in a way that serves the broadest possible interests of the American taxpayer.

Offered By: Mr. Pence

Amendment No. 94: At the end of the bill (before the short

title), insert the following:

Sec. 535. None of the funds made available in this Act may

be used to enforce any of the amendments made by subtitle A

of title II of the Bipartisan Campaign Reform Act of 2002

(Public Law 107-155).

The American economy is hurting. Gasoline prices are on the rise. Utility rates threaten to go higher, imposing even greater hardship on working families. The American people are looking for answers in these times to the challenges we face in energy. The Democrat answer you have just heard is a national energy tax that will lead to higher energy prices and massive job losses for the American people.

The President said it best a year ago when he said, if the cap-and- trade plan were to pass, utility rates--his words now--would, quote, necessarily skyrocket.

Some estimates suggest job losses between 1.8 and 7 million. Well, Republicans have a better plan, the American Energy Act. It's an all- of-the-above plan that offers energy independence, more jobs and a cleaner environment without imposing a national energy tax. Our energy solution focuses on more domestic exploration for oil and natural gas, a renewed commitment to build 100 nuclear power plants in the next 20 years, investments in renewables, alternative energy technologies and creating incentives for conservation. You can read all about it on the editorial page of the Wall Street Journal today.

The American people want energy independence and a cleaner environment without a national energy tax. The American Energy Act offered by House Republicans is the answer the American people are looking for.

I thank the gentleman for yielding.

Mr. Speaker, I rise in strong support of House Resolution 529, condemning the violent attack on the Holocaust Memorial Museum that occurred in shocking dimensions yesterday here in our Nation's Capital.

I want to single out my colleague in the majority, Ron Klein of Florida, for his swift and thoughtful legislative work in bringing this resolution to the floor and for allowing me to coauthor this bipartisan resolution before the House today. It has been my distinct pleasure to serve together with Mr. Klein as the cochairman of the Bipartisan Congressional Task Force Against Anti-Semitism that was founded, I say with deep admiration, by the late Tom Lantos of California, who understood the importance of this body and this Nation speaking with one voice against the venom of anti-Semitism.

Today, we mourn the loss of Special Police Officer Steven Tyrone Johns, and I offer my personal condolences to his family. He lost his life while defending civilians, visitors and staff of the Holocaust Memorial Museum. Officer Johns died upon arrival at the George Washington Hospital after being shot by an assailant with strong ties to white supremacist organizations. Officer Johns died while bravely defending museum visitors from around the world, and I honor his service and courage and the sacrifice that he exemplified. He will be remembered.

We rise today to condemn the violent attacks of yesterday that ravaged Washington, D.C.'s, permanent living memorial to the victims of the Holocaust. For those who have visited, we know the U.S. Holocaust Memorial Museum serves as one of the world's leading authorities on the Holocaust. And let me say with no small measure of American pride, it has become an essential stop for every American visiting our Nation's Capital, with few exceptions.

It was dedicated on April 22, 1993, and has since welcomed nearly 30 million children, including 8 million schoolchildren and 85 heads of state.

The museum's mission is simply this: to ``advance and disseminate knowledge about this unprecedented tragedy; to preserve the memory of those who suffered; and to encourage its visitors to reflect upon the moral and spiritual questions raised by the events of the Holocaust as well as their own responsibilities as citizens of a democracy.'' Anyone who has wandered those solemn hallways knows that the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum accomplishes that mission.

This attack at the U.S. Holocaust Memorial Museum is a horrific reminder of the violence that can stem from unchecked hatred, intolerance, anti-Semitism, as well as the denial of history that is often manifested in that sentiment.

Let me be clear. No act of violence will ever diminish our determination to honor those who lost their lives in the Holocaust, and neither will yesterday.

And as we condemn intolerance and racism in our Capital City, we should ponder today, Mr. Speaker, what anti-Semitic hatred and rage could mean on the international stage. I say with a heavy heart today, with the deepest respect for the families affected by yesterday's tragic events, we would do well, as a Nation, to reflect, if one man can walk in the Holocaust museum with a rifle, motivated by anti- Semitic rage and bring about violence and death, what could a nation, armed with the same anti-Semitic rage, do with a nuclear weapon?

The American people deserve to know that the same hatred that drove this one, lonely and deranged man to open fire at the U.S. Holocaust Memorial Museum, I believe, resides in the hearts of some of the most powerful leaders in an ancient nation of the world. And I am confident that when the time comes, this Congress, this government, this Nation, and our cherished ally, will do what is necessary to prevent a global manifestation of anti-Semitic violence.

The best way to honor the lives of victims of hatred is to stand in the path of those who would continue the violence. Let Officer Johns' sacrifice be an example for each of us in our personal lives, and an example for this Nation in the exercise of courage and determination in the defense of liberty on the world stage.

Let us stand in the path of hatred, come together as a Congress and a Nation.

Mr. Chair, I rise in opposition to the Foreign Relations Authorization Act.

The American people deserve a foreign relations bill that respects our Nation's budget and our Nation's values. Sadly, H.R. 2410 does neither. At a time when ordinary Americans are struggling to make ends meet, this legislation would add billions of dollars in new funding to our foreign and State Department operations. Expanding taxpayer funding of Peace Corps and the U.N. regular budget by one-third in a single year without any U.N. reform is extraordinarily frustrating to many of us who have been fighting to use the power of the purse here in Washington, D.C., to drive fundamental reform in that body.

But beyond these extraordinary increases--a single-year increase of 35 percent in the State Department's basic salary and operations--this legislation does a disservice to the values of millions of Americans who cherish the sanctity of life and the sanctity of marriage. This legislation creates a new office and ambassador for global women's issues for women's empowerment internationally. Secretary Clinton testified before our committee that it would be the policy of this administration to protect the rights of women, including rights to reproductive health. Democrats on the committee actually rejected an amendment to clarify that it would not be U.S. policy to lobby countries to legalize, fund or promote abortion. I even offered an amendment in the committee to change language that would require State Department training, reporting, and overseas advocacy of foreign laws regarding homosexual activity. I sought to change that, to make it clear that State Department employees ought to promote universally recognized human rights, those upon which Americans agree; and that was rejected in the committee.

This legislation, in embracing abortion rights overseas, in embracing the advocacy of changes in laws regarding homosexuality around the world, advocates a set of values that are at odds with the majority of the American people. We deserve a foreign relations budget that respects our pocketbooks and our values. This does neither, and I urge its rejection.

Mr. Speaker, later today President Barack Obama will push Democrat lawmakers to follow pay-as-you-go budget rules. PAYGO rules, as they are known, in theory would require new Federal spending or tax cuts be offset by spending cuts or even tax increases elsewhere. Now, this may sound reasonable to some Americans, but the devil is always in the details, and the American people have reason to be skeptical about newfound calls for fiscal responsibility from this majority.

Under Democrat control, the Federal budget deficit is projected to approach nearly $2 trillion. In the last several years, non-defense spending has increased by 85 percent. The President and the Democrat's budget just passed will double the national debt in 5 years and triple it in 10. And now calls for new budget rules?

With Democrat plans for more borrowing, more spending, more bailouts, and more debt, the Democrat definition of PAYGO is all too clear to the American people: you pay, and they go on spending.

Madam Speaker, I was unavoidably detained and missed rollcall vote No. 295 on passage of H. Res. 490. Had I been present, I would have voted ``nay.''

I thank the gentleman for yielding.

Mr. Speaker, I come before this Chamber today at a time when millions of American families are hurting. I just spent time home in Indiana, heard from small business owners and family farmers that are struggling to make it through these difficult times. And they know, and I heard not only in Indiana but in Pennsylvania and in California as House Republicans traveled this Nation to take our case against the Democrats cap-and-trade proposal.

I heard from those Americans one simple message, and that is: The last thing we should do during a difficult recession is pass a national energy tax on every working family, small business owner, and family farm in this country. But, Mr. Speaker, that's precisely what the House Democrats are preparing to do.

Just before the break, virtually along party lines, House Democrats reported out of their committee the so-called cap-and-trade legislation, which is better understood as a cap-and-tax legislation. My colleague, Fred Upton from Michigan, says it will cap growth and trade jobs. And the truth is it will have just that effect.

According to a study done by MIT, divided by the number of households in this country, if the Democrats' cap-and-trade legislation becomes law, the energy costs of the average American household would rise by more than $3,000 per year. According to some independent estimates as well, if their legislation became law, various studies suggest 1.8 million to 7 million jobs could be lost in this country.

Why on Earth, at a time when this Congress ought to be coming together with bipartisan solutions to bring relief to small business owners, to American manufacturing, a time when we see the government reaching deeper and deeper into our financial sector, offering one bailout after another to one business after another, why on Earth would we heap more weight on the backs of Americans and on the back of this American economy in the form of a national energy tax?

But I rise today, Mr. Speaker, to say with authority that's precisely what Democrats are planning to do.

I pull out a device that helps me keep up with the news here. And I will quote, for the sake of attribution, a story published this afternoon at about 5 o'clock in Roll Call, because as we returned to Washington, D.C., there was a great deal of talk, Mr. Speaker, that we were moving on to health care reform for the summer. The majority in Congress wasn't talking any more about a national energy tax. They weren't talking any more about cap-and-trade. The focus was health care. The President of the United States gave a speech saying that it's a time for health care reform, and that should be the focus.

But I have got to tell you, I used to play a little bit of basketball back in Indiana. There was something called a head fake. You know, when you got the ball and you want to go this way, you put your head that way and you make the guy follow, and then you go this way.

I had this feeling it was a bit of a head fake, that in fact liberals here in Washington, D.C., were not going to relent in their drive to pass a national energy tax and the cap-and-trade legislation. And it turns out, according to Roll Call, I might just be right.

An article filed by Steven Dennis of the Roll Call staff reports that, ``Speaker Nancy Pelosi is kick-starting the movement on the controversial climate change bill, setting a deadline of June 19 for committee action in the Ways and Means Committee.''

The Speaker of the United States House of Representatives has told the chairman of the House Ways and Means Committee that they have until 2 weeks from this Friday, according to Roll Call, to have that bill out of committee. And it could very well be on the floor of this Congress before we break for the 4th of July.

So I think the American people have a right to know what's in this bill. They have a right to understand how this national energy tax, under the guise of climate change legislation, is going to result in an increase in their home utility costs, an increase in the costs of gasoline at the pump, an increase in the cost of virtually every good we buy, because of course energy is an input cost on virtually all the goods and services that we use in our daily lives. It's going to increase the cost of businesses. And I rise, of course, with a particular interest in this.

As we heard from the Governor of the State of Indiana, Mitch Daniels, last week, that because the cap-and-trade legislation essentially puts the heaviest burden on those States that draw the majority of their electricity from coal-burning power plants, the truth is that, rightly understood, this cap-and-trade legislation amounts to an economic declaration of war on the Midwest by liberals here in Washington, D.C., and it must be opposed.

I mean, in the State of Indiana, our households, when we flip the light switch, we draw about more than 90 percent of our electrical energy from coal-burning power plants. Very similar in Michigan, very similar in Ohio. That may well be why the Heritage Foundation recently estimated that States like Indiana and Ohio and Michigan will be the hardest hit States.

We had testimony last week from representatives of Richmond Power and Light in Richmond, Indiana. They testified at a public hearing that we held in my home State capital of Indianapolis, and they said that their utility rates in Richmond, Indiana, a city that I represent, their home utility rates would go up by 25 to 40 percent if cap-and-trade legislation became law.

We have got to come clean with the American people about the reality of this national energy tax. The American people have a right to know that this Democratic majority is preparing to pass legislation that will increase the cost of doing business, increase the

cost of their household budget, and they're preparing to do that in name of environmental priority and climate change legislation at precisely the time that American working families, small business owners, and family farmers can least afford it.

So I commend the gentleman from Utah. I commend him for his extraordinary and visionary leadership on issues involving energy. But I pledge this: That as chairman of the House Republican Conference, as one of those tasked with the American Energy Solutions Group on which my colleagues have the privilege of serving, we are going to make the fight in the weeks ahead against this national energy tax and, to the gentleman's point, we're going to offer a Republican alternative in the American Energy Act that will lessen our dependence on foreign oil, make a commitment to wind and solar and nuclear energy, make a commitment to new, cleaner technologies, more fuel efficiency. But it will not include a national energy tax that will drive this economy further down during these difficult days.

I yield back.

On his second day in office, the President announced his plans to close Guantanamo Bay in an effort to improve America's image around the world. But Republicans went to the floor of this House and we went to the airwaves. We even went to the Internet at GOP.gov to inform the American people that Guantanamo Bay holds some of the most dangerous terrorists on the planet; men like Khalid Sheikh Mohammed, the mastermind behind the September 11th attacks, and Abu Zubaydah, a key facilitator of the 9/11 attacks.

Because of the strong Republican leadership in the House and the Senate--even our Democratic colleagues in the last week joined us-- denying any and all funding for closing Guantanamo Bay in the war supplemental bill.

But now we read that the President is renewing his effort to close Guantanamo Bay, despite a recent Pentagon report that nearly one out of every seven terrorist detainees previously released from Guantanamo Bay may have returned to their terrorist activity. Yesterday, the director of the FBI raised concerns about transferring these men to our local communities.

Despite these warnings, the President continues to bow to world opinion. Let me say emphatically: Mr. President, public safety comes before public relations. The American people don't want to know how closing Guantanamo Bay will make us more popular; they want to know how closing Guantanamo Bay will make us safer.

As we stand in Congress this evening, legislation on climate change continues to move through this body. As more Americans are realizing

every day, the cap-and-trade legislation is nothing more than a national energy tax that will raise the energy costs on every American household by thousands of dollars a year. It will hit the Midwest, low- income Americans and Americans on fixed incomes the hardest.

The President, himself, said more than a year ago that, if his cap- and-trade proposal became law, utility rates would, in his words now, ``necessarily skyrocket.'' Millions of Americans are catching on.

Next week, House Republicans will go from coast to coast in this country with energy summits, taking our case against this national energy tax to the four corners of this Nation. I look forward to engaging the American people. During these tough economic times, the last thing we should do is raise the burden and the cost of energy on every working family in this Nation.

Let's say ``no'' to a national energy tax and say ``no'' to cap-and- trade.

Mr. Speaker, I thank the distinguished ranking member for yielding. I rise today in support of the military funding in H.R. 2346, the fiscal year 2009 war supplemental appropriations bill, which will provide nearly $85 billion to support our men and women serving in Iraq and Afghanistan, those that every day make the sacrifices necessary to ensure our freedom and that of our posterity.

Overall this legislation does reflect a bipartisan effort to provide necessary war funding and essential support for our men and women in uniform. I am particularly pleased that it does so without arbitrary benchmarks and timetables for withdrawal that had been so much the debate of war supplementals in recent years in this Congress. I'm also pleased that none of the funding requested by the administration related to Guantanamo Bay has been included.

And I take this opportunity to commend the distinguished chairman of this committee for his judgment and discretion in leaving out any funding for the purpose of closing Guantanamo Bay. President Obama was simply wrong to announce plans to close Guantanamo Bay without any plan for what to do with the dangerous terrorist detainees who remain there to this day. The American people deserve to know that this Congress and this government are putting their safety and their interests above world opinion in decisions about terrorist detainees. And this legislation, in failing to provide any funding for closing Guantanamo Bay, puts the interests and the security of the American people first.

I do regret that the amendment authored by the gentleman from Virginia who just spoke, Mr. Wolf, was not included in this legislation, an amendment that would have prohibited the transfer of any terrorist detainee within the next calendar year. And I hope for additional language in the conference report.

Now, while I support this war funding bill, let me say on the floor of this Congress, I believe a war supplemental bill ought to be about war funding and war funding alone. It should not include the literally billions of dollars in nondefense-related spending.

Mr. Speaker, I don't have any particular objection to Congress considering and debating spending money on international food assistance or the State Department or the staff at the NSC or wildfire or avian flu or police radios. But what are they doing in a war supplemental bill? At a time when Washington D.C. appears to most Americans to be a gusher of red ink, runaway Federal spending, stimulus bills, omnibus bills, and this Congress passed a budget that will double our national debt in 5 years and triple it in 10, we can't even seem to bring a war supplemental bill that just funds the needs of our soldiers in harm's way. I believe we can do better.

I will support this bill because I support our troops. But I will continue to call for this Congress to do a service to those heroes and future generations by practicing fiscal discipline.

Madam Speaker, the Father of our Country, George Washington, said on the occasion of the 9th of July 1776: ``The blessing and protection of Heaven are at all times necessary, but especially so in times of public distress and danger.''

Today is the 58th celebration of our National Day of Prayer. It is the day that Americans from coast to coast will set aside time to pray for this Nation, our soldiers, public safety officials and public servants, from the President of the United States to the city council.

Since first called to prayer in 1775 when the Continental Congress asked the Colonies to pray for wisdom forming the Nation, prayer has been at the center of our national life, including President Lincoln's famous proclamation for humility, fasting and prayer in 1863, through when in 1952 President Truman signed a joint resolution of Congress creating this day.

It is said in the Old Book that the effective and fervent prayer of a righteous man availeth much. What is true of man, I would say, is also true of nations.

During this National Day of Prayer, during these challenging times, let it be said again, we are a Nation of prayer.

Mr. Speaker, it is my great honor to come to the floor in support of House Resolution 401, honoring the life and recognizing the far-reaching accomplishments of the Honorable Jack Kemp, Jr.

Mr. Speaker, I have a real fancy speech here, and I would like to have it included in the Record in its entirety because I am just going to wing it.

Jack Kemp was my hero who became my friend. I had the great privilege of serving as House Republican Conference chairman in the role he held when he left this body to run for President of the United States of America. Some people have accused me from time to time of actually dying my hair to look more like Jack Kemp, and he liked that line.

He was a great man. He stood for all the things that I believe in. In keeping with Congressman Artur Davis's sentiments expressed, I just thought I might rise and tell you a story about Jack, about who he really was.

He came to Indianapolis for me about a year and a half ago, Mr. Speaker. And I knew that when you bring Jack in for an event, you don't just meet with the local political people, you have got to go into the inner city, you have got to meet with the underserved community. So I took him down to a place called The Lord's Pantry, a soup kitchen in inner-city Indianapolis run by a now-deceased black pastor by the name of Lucius Newson.

And there we were, we walked into this little food pantry, and there was Jack Kemp, former quarterback, former candidate for President, former Secretary of HUD, whips off his jacket, rolls his sleeves up, and he regaled the poorest of the poor with his vision for entrepreneurial capitalism and the American Dream. And they loved him.

And then at the very end of that, Pastor Newson looks at him--this wonderful, inner-city black pastor, and he said, Mr. Kemp, I know you're a wealthy man, so I am not going to let you leave without asking you for money for a women's shelter we are trying to build down the street. I didn't know how Jack would respond to that because I didn't know him as well as people like Dan Lungren. Not only did Jack pledge help right there on the spot, got a check out--they have a copy of it now up on the wall--Jack Kemp said to him, not only am I going to give money to that cause, but I am going to grab my friend, Mike Pence here, and I am going to grab Tony Dungy and Peyton Manning and Archie Manning, and we are going to come back here next summer and we are going to have a fundraiser and raise all the money you need to build that women's shelter. And doggone it if Jack Kemp didn't call me every 2 weeks for the next 3 months to make sure we set up that banquet. And that black pastor would die a month after that banquet took place, but it raised every penny they needed to build that shelter and Jack Kemp was there and Tony Dungy was there and hundreds of Hoosiers gathered and saw this good and decent man stand with people at the point of a need, which is where his heart was.

He called himself a ``bleeding heart'' conservative, and that is that to which I aspire as well. You know, I told Jack one time I could never imagine a future in America where Jack Kemp wasn't eventually President of the United States. And he looked at me and smiled and said he appreciated it. But you know, Mr. Speaker, I think maybe I was aiming too low. You know, sometimes there are giants among us, names like Benjamin Franklin; Booker T. Washington; in England, William Wilberforce. They are men who never held the highest office in the land, but they shaped their times by moral persuasion and political activism. Jack Kemp was such a man.

Our hearts are broken, but our gratitude is boundless. Our prayers go out to Joanne and his entire family--which really extends to the millions if you knew the man. The depth this Nation owes Jack Kemp can only be repaid by imitation of his example.

I will always be proud to have known this good and great man. And I will always, first and foremost, refer to myself as a ``Jack Kemp Republican.''

Mr. Speaker, I rise in support of H. Res. 401, honoring the life and recognizing the farreaching accomplishments of the Honorable Jack Kemp, Jr. Along with millions of Americans, my family and I were deeply saddened to learn of the passing of Jack Kemp. Jack Kemp was a hero who became my friend and I will miss him dearly.

Jack Kemp was a great man whose character, optimism and compassion will shape his party and his nation for generations.

As a legislator and a thought leader, Jack Kemp shaped a rising generation of leaders in both parties with his ideas about entrepreneurial capitalism, enterprise zones and equality. Those ideals were the driving force behind the economies policies of President Ronald Reagan and the welfare reform of the Republican Congress.

His optimistic belief in American dream--in the power of free markets and entrepreneurial capitalism--was a lodestar to millions of Americans. His devotion to ensuring equality of opportunity for every American regardless

of race, creed or color helped ground the Republican Party in the true ideals of Lincoln. His integrity and personal Christian faith showed his colleagues how to build a career in public service without compromising the people and the values that matter most.

Speaking to the Concerned Women for America in 1993--a time when Republicans were running scared and some spoke of deserting the ``social issues'' platform--Jack Kemp said: ``Every single year, there is a tragic silence of a million newborn cries that will never be heard. Talents that will never be developed. Potential that we will never see. Books never authorized. Inventions never made . . . The right to life is a gift of God, not a gift of the state. Abortion must never rest easy on the conscience of our nation.'' And Jack Kemp stood for the sanctity of life. Jack was a passionate advocate for life and the unborn of all races. His life and work had an enormous impact on U.S. foreign aid policy.

The Kemp-Kasten provision, which was in effect for more than two decades (first enacted in 1984 for the 1985 fiscal year), prohibits U.S. funding of any organization that ``supports or participates in the management of a program of coercive abortion or involuntarily sterilization.'' Under this law, the United States cut off funding for the United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA) starting in 2002 because, in the words of Colin Powell, ``UNFPA's support of, and involvement in, China's population-planning activities allows the Chinese government to implement more effectively its program of coercive abortion. Therefore, it is not permissible to continue funding UNFPA at this time.'' In 2008, the State Department again determined that UNFPA continued to support the Chinese population control program through financial support for the very Chinese agencies that enforce the policy.

Tragically, Kemp-Kasten was gutted in the recently passed Omnibus to allow funding to again flow to the UNFPA which can resume using taxpayer dollars to assist the Chinese government with their coercive population control program.

On occasion, there are giants among us--men like Benjamin Franklin and Booker T. Washinton--who never held the highest elective office in the land but shaped their times by strong moral persuasion and political activism. Jack Kemp was such a man.

Our hearts are broken but our gratitude is boundless. Our prayers go out to his beloved Joanne and his entire family. The debt this nation owes Jack Kemp can only be repaid by imitation of his example.

I will always be proud to have known this good and great man and I will always say that I am, first and foremost, a `Jack Kemp Republican.'