Floor Statements

Thank you very much. And I thank my friend from Maine for his leadership. And as you know, you're my subcommittee chairman on Veterans Health. And you lead and you do a wonderful job on that committee. And I'm just honored to be able to serve with you.

I want to thank you, and I want to thank my colleague, Congresswoman Sanchez from California, for her great leadership on this whole issue of trade and protecting American workers and standing up for ordinary people.

I don't have a prepared speech tonight, Madam Speaker. I came here tonight just to kind of have a dialogue for a few minutes and talk about some of these trade deals from the perspective of what I'm hearing back in my district from ordinary people who get up every day, worried whether or not they're going to keep their job.

I think we take a look at Korea. Here we have a trade deal that they are asking us to take a look at and support. 700,000 vehicles entered this country from Korea, yet our automobile manufacturers were allowed, allowed to ship 2,500 cars to Korea. Now, someone tell me if that's remotely close to being a fair trade deal.

I don't have a problem in the world with saying to the Korean government, look, I'm not asking for 700 to 700,000. But when we are only allowed to bring in 2,500 vehicles, compared to importing 700,000, that trade deal is dead on arrival as far as I'm concerned.

Plus, if you look what they're doing to our beef production and in terms of importing beef from this country, that issue is basically dead. Oh, they say they'll talk to us about it. But talk is cheap. And the reality of it is we have yet seen this government be able to move on a trade deal that makes any sense.

You look at Colombia. I was at a trade press conference the other day on Colombia. As you know, as my friend from Maine knows, Madam Speaker, I'm a union member, president, former president of my clothing and textile worker local.

If I had been as vocal for my union in the 13 years that I served in that capacity in Colombia, I probably would have been shot. We've had thousands of people who have been murdered, imprisoned, tortured. This is a government that we're supposed to do business with. We're supposed to trade.

Here we are, the United States, greatest democracy on this planet, and they want us to fashion some type of a trade deal with a country that has paramilitary people go out and assassinate trade unionists and their families. We can do a lot better than that.

I notice the President of Colombia was here just last week, and I echo my colleague, Representative Schakowsky's remarks, Madam Speaker, when she said to President Uribe in her remarks saying, come back in a year. Come back in a year and prove to this Congress and prove to the American people that you're serious about these violations; that you're going to prosecute more than 39 people, which is all that's been prosecuted under this government.

My colleague from Maine mentions the loss of textile jobs and paper jobs

and steel jobs. I talked to one of my friends, Representative Butterfield, and he had, at one time, in one county, in one county in his Congressional district, he had 10,000 textile workers in one county. I said, how many do you have today? And he said, I have zero. They're all gone.

We can do a lot better than this. My basic question to those people who want these trade deals is just simply this. I understand the environmental and the labor standards, and I think those are good frameworks. What I want to know is, in every trade deal, what is the ramifications for our manufacturing base, for our workers and for our farmers?

I think it's a fair question to be able to ask anybody. When I do, I'm told by some folks, well, we're going to redo the trade readjustment for those folks who lose their jobs.

That's little comfort to somebody like Dave Bevard from Galesburg, Illinois. 32 years at Maytag. His wife has cancer. Health care runs out.

And one person suggested that I go back and talk to Dave Bevard and explain to him, if you can believe this, Madam Speaker, I'm supposed to explain to Dave Bevard that there's currency manipulation in China that's causing some of these problems.

And I remember saying to that Member, well, when I do, when I go to Galesburg and say that to Dave Bevard, I'd better be putting a catcher's mask on because I think I'm going to get poked. We can't talk to our workers like that, justify this. Currency manipulation.

I'll tell you why Dave Bevard lost his job; I'll tell you why Maytag went to Sonora, Mexico, because this Congress, under NAFTA, that passed NAFTA, helped those jobs to go to Sonora, Mexico, Madam Speaker. They outsourced those jobs, and this from a company that took $9 million in Illinois taxpayers' money; and the workers gave, not one, but two wage concessions.

And guess what? The people in Sonora, Mexico can't afford those refrigerators that they're making. In fact, they're coming across the border illegally because they're not making enough money at that factory.

So to my friends at Maytag I would say, thank you for nothing.

Look, I'm a card-carrying capitalist. I've said this many times, Madam Speaker. I want to see businesses make money. But I also want to see a system of fairness in this whole trade thing.

I think it's the minimum we can do is to expect this Congress, that when we negotiate a trade deal, and when we're looking at a trade deal, is to stand up for those very people whose jobs are on the line.

These are veterans who fought and defended this country. These are people who want to put their kids through school. They want to see their kids get married and be able to afford a home. They want to spend some time and be able to retire with some dignity.

Instead, we outsource their jobs. We give them a Trade Readjustment Act that isn't really worth the paper it's written on in the final analysis. It doesn't nearly make it up.

Now I want to say one thing about that before I just conclude here. Some of the workers at Maytag were told, well, we know you're losing your jobs to Mexico, but here's what you should do. Go into a thing like health care. Growing field. My colleague from Maine and I probably ought to take a look at that maybe some day.

But they were told, you need to get into a growing field like health care. So 300 workers, displaced workers at Maytag did just that. That was the good news. They went to school for a year. The bad news was, there was only room for 30 of those workers, 30 of those workers to continue in practicums so that they could practice medicine.

So what was the response to those 270 people who were left out?

Have you thought of going into cosmetology?

Well, that's a wonderful thing. That's a great way to treat workers.

No, they don't think about cosmetology. What they think about is what should have been and what could have been. What should have been was this Congress, this House, should have said no to NAFTA.

And when it did say yes, and I wish I was here, I could have voted against it, should have had a moral obligation to say to those workers, we're going to do everything we can to help you hold on. But it didn't.

And I am saddened that some Members in my own caucus think that every trade deal that comes down is something that we ought to take a look at.

Let me suggest this, and I will close by saying this. I ran on this issue for the United States Congress. I talked about it every candidate forum I had. I had four opponents in the primary, and I ran on this issue of trade.

I said I will support trade as long as it does not outsource our manufacturing base and that American agriculture has a seat at the table. I won that primary, and I went on to the general election, and I ran against someone who supported NAFTA, who supported GAT, CAFTA, supported all these Bush trade deals, and I walked out of that election with 57 percent of the vote. Part of that, I believe, is because the people of the 17th District of Illinois know what it is like. I had six clothing and textile plants in my district. I have three with one ready to go, soon to close.

I say, as long as I am in this Chamber, and I don't know how long that will be, I am not going to vote for a trade deal that will outsource one American job, that will take one farmer for granted, that will tell people you really don't matter because you have to look at the whole picture. So I say this to Dave Bevard and to those people who may be watching tonight, from this freshman's perspective, and I can't thank Congressman Michaud enough for his leadership on this. I met him when I was running for Congress, and I remember one phone call I made to him when I was a candidate, and one of the first questions he asked was, ``Where are you on trade?'' And I told him and he said, ``What can I do to help?'' And he has been a wonderful leader on this issue.

And this battle will go on. This hour will end, but the battle will go on. And I am not giving up, and the people that believe that our manufacturing base can be saved, we are not giving up. I am going to support the Patriot Corporation, which helps keep American jobs here and stops giving tax credits to companies that outsource overseas. I want fair trade. I will vote for any trade deal that comes down as long as it meets the criteria that it stands up for ordinary Americans.

With that, I am just honored that I was allowed to participate this evening. Thank you, Congressman Michaud.

Madam Speaker, the point is, if we're going to trust this administration to enforce labor standards and environmental standards, this is the same administration who hasn't even administered our own National OSHA program and has had one OSHA standard that they had to enforce, and that was because this administration was sued to get it.

I would hope my colleagues wouldn't just listen to us this evening. I would hope they would listen to the American people. Poll after poll say, if the American people are asked across the country, north to south, east to west, they are asked about these trade deals, the American people want to see that American workers have a right to be competitive.

I wrote down a list of some things: Steel, televisions, camcorders, clothing. The list goes on. It isn't that we don't have the workforce that can manufacture and make these things. They were quality products for years and years and years. Unfortunately, we have had a Government that felt that it was okay to take those jobs and to move them out.

I would also remind some of our colleagues that not every person that gets out of school wants to sit behind a computer terminal. There is great strength in working as a welder. It is a great task to be a fitter. It is a great task to be able to do something with your hands. God didn't create all of us to sit behind a terminal. I am convinced of that, because I am computer illiterate. I am living proof. I cut lining for men's suits for 13 years, and I know this: I know that we manufactured a marvelous product. I know my cutting room was outsourced because you can't compete against 17 cents an hour.

The unionized clothing worker back then was making a whopping $6.07 per hour when I worked in this factory. So this nonsense about American workers pricing themselves out of jobs because of collective bargaining agreements, that dog, as they say, just isn't going to hunt.

I would ask this body, this House, to pay attention to what the American people said last November. They sent us here to do something positive for them. I haven't met a worker yet who said, could you do me a favor, Phil? I hope you do the best you can when you get out there to make sure I can get some TRA funding and lose my job. People want us to stand up for them, and that is what we are here tonight for.

I want to commend the Congresswoman from Ohio, Betty Sutton. She has been a tremendous force in this issue of bringing it forward, staying with it and not being afraid to take some lumps, because sometimes we can do that in this business.

But let me tell you, this issue that we are talking about this evening is one of the most important issues this country faces. We are going to be at a crossroads with these trade agreements. We can either decide to stand up and be counted, or we can stand aside and watch these jobs go and bemoan the fact that they are gone down the road and try to solve this by throwing some money at a TRA program that not only needs to be reworked, it needs to be reworked because it isn't working, and it hasn't been working for a long time for American workers who have been displaced.

I just want to close by saying this tonight: I am for trade. I have said it before. I am for any type of a fair trade agreement that works. But I will not vote for a single piece of legislation that comes to this floor that will outsource one more job, not just from the 17th District of Illinois, the 13th District of Ohio, a district in Maine.

But from Maine to California, we have a responsibility. I am here because of the working men and women of my district. I am going to do the very best I can. And I will tell all of them that are watching, I would encourage them to talk to their Representative and to try to tell them just how important this issue is and what is at stake.

Let me again thank my colleague from Maine for his leadership on this issue. He is probably one of the most forceful voices we have in this Chamber to stand up for American working men and women. I am honored to be here tonight, and I'm honored to serve with you, and I thank the gentleman for giving me this time.

Mr. Speaker, I'd like to thank my colleague and friend, Congresswoman DeGette, for introducing the Stem Cell Research Enhancement Act and for her leadership on this important issue.

As many of you know, I came to this Congress with a bittersweet victory. And although I'm deeply honored to be a new Member of this House and represent the 17th Congressional District of Illinois, part of me is sad that my friend and my mentor, Congressman Lane Evans, is not here in my place. Lane served as a distinguished Member of this body for over 24 years until Parkinson's forced him to retire at the end of the 109th Congress, cutting his exceptional service short. Lane is just one of millions of Americans struggling with chronic illnesses that are curable with the advancement of stem cell research.

Spencer House, the son of my very good friend, Doug House, suffers from juvenile diabetes and must take four insulin shots each and every day. But Doug is encouraged with the hope that embryonic stem cell research will some day offer his son a more normal life. And he's not alone. Poll after poll shows that a majority of Americans support ethical embryonic stem cell research as a way to prevent others from having to live with illnesses like Parkinson's disease, cancer, Alzheimer's and spinal cord injuries.

Mr. Speaker, today we decide whether to give the American people hope or to continue to prolong the suffering of those who struggle with curable chronic diseases. It's time to put the people above politics by providing millions of Americans with the hope of a better day, and we will do that this day by passing this important legislation.

Mr. Speaker, according to the National Committee on Pay Equity, working women stand to lose $250,000 over the course of their careers because of unequal pay practices. While women's wages and educational achievements have been rising, there's still a sizeable gender wage gap. This is a national disgrace.

Unfortunately, last week's Supreme Court decision, Ledbetter v. Goodyear, does little to achieve fairness for American workers. In a narrow 5-4 decision, the Supreme Court threw out the case, not just because she wasn't being discriminated against but because she filed her claim too late.

This interpretation, which has been rejected by eight Federal appeals courts and the EEOC, fails to realize that employees are discriminated against every time they receive a discriminatory paycheck.

Congress needs to step in and stand up for ordinary people without delay. We should move quickly to pass Congresswoman DeLauro's Paycheck Protection Act that would provide remedies to women facing pay discrimination.

Mr. Speaker, I don't want to live in an America where my daughter earns less than my son for doing the same job.

Mr. Speaker, I come to the floor today as a cosponsor and a very strong supporter of H.R. 1051, the National STEM Scholarship Database Act. I want to commend my friend, Congressman Rush Holt, with whom I serve on the Education and Labor Committee, for introducing this vital piece of legislation.

America's global competitiveness will increasingly depend on our ability to attract more of our best and brightest students into technological careers.

Sadly, the U.S. is growing reliant on foreign talents to fulfill its science and engineering workforce needs. According to the National Science Foundation, 25 percent of all college-educated professionals in science and engineering occupations in the United States are foreign born.

The National STEM Scholarship Database addresses this problem by directing the Secretary of Education to establish a database on the Department's Web site with information on financial assistance for postsecondary and graduate programs in science, technology, engineering and mathematics. This important database will help capable students who are interested in STEM careers find scholarships to support their studies.

We all know the cost of higher education is very expensive. In fact, two-thirds of undergraduate students are on some form of financial aid. Therefore, identifying funding opportunities is critical to the recruitment of aspiring STEM students.

H.R. 1051 is endorsed by all sectors of the technological workforce, and I urge my colleagues to help the U.S. stay globally competitive by voting for this bill.

Mr. Speaker, I rise today in strong support of H.R. 2199, the Traumatic Brain Injury Health Enhancement and Long-Term Support Act. As a Member of the Committee on Veterans' Affairs, I had the privilege of working on this bipartisan bill, which I believe provides critical resources to our heroes with combat-related brain injuries. I commend Representative Altmire who initiated this effort and I thank VA Subcommittee Chairman Michaud, and VA Chairman Filner for quickly bringing this bill to the floor.

Traumatic brain injury (TBI) is the most common wound suffered by troops returning from Iraq and Afghanistan; unfortunately it is often undetected until it is too late. The bill before us today ensures we preemptively screen all veterans for brain injury and that we have the facilities and research necessary to provide the best care possible.

Additionally, this bill addresses the needs of the 44 percent of service members who live in rural areas, like those in my district, by establishing an Advisory Committee on Rural Veterans. It also creates a pilot program for mobile counseling and mental health services.

Mr. Speaker, I am proud we took up this bill in the Veterans' Affairs Committee because it is a strong investment in timely healthcare for our returning troops. I urge my colleagues to support our military heroes by voting for the Traumatic Brain Injury Health Enhancement and Long-Term Support Act.

Mr. Speaker, it's that time of year again. Just as families are preparing to hit the road for their summer vacations, the gas prices are once again hitting record highs. Drivers are paying a heavy price for the Bush administration's failure to enact a comprehensive energy strategy. And just last week, the President attempted to show that he's taking action by announcing an Executive Order that doesn't call for any action until a few weeks before he leaves office. This is simply too little, too late. Where has he been for the last 6 years when prices were hitting record numbers each Memorial Day?

The Democratic Congress refuses to ignore this problem. We passed legislation that will roll back $14 billion in taxpayer subsidies for Big Oil, and instead we would reinvest here at home in clean alternative fuels, renewable energy and energy efficiency.

In the coming weeks we will bring legislation to the House floor that will crack down on price gouging by the big oil companies so we can provide immediate relief to consumers. Unlike the Bush administration, the Democratic Congress is not simply going to ignore this problem.

Mr. Speaker, I ask unanimous consent that all Members may have 5 legislative days to revise and extend their remarks.

Mr. Speaker, we are going to be doing several 1-hour Special Orders, and we have done them since January. I can't think of an issue that is more important and more pressing to us in this Chamber than trade and the saving of our jobs back in our districts.

We are going to be hearing tonight from a number of my colleagues on the Congressional Labor and Working Families Caucus, the House Trade Working Group, and Members of our side of the aisle that believe it is time that working people have somebody stand up and be their voices when their voices aren't heard.

So, Mr. Speaker, at this time I would like to recognize a fellow Illinoisan from the Illinois delegation, a good friend of mine, someone who has took taken it upon himself to stand up for working people. So at this time I would like to yield to my colleague, Representative Dan Lipinski.

I thank the gentleman.

At this time, Mr. Speaker, I would like to recognize a member of our freshmen class, someone who has worked very hard and campaigned on this issue of standing up for ordinary people, working men and women.

It is my honor to yield to Representative Keith Ellison.

I thank my colleague for taking time out of a very busy schedule to address this issue. He is an outstanding member of the freshman class.

Mr. Speaker, you are going to hear tonight, by the way, a number of Members talking, because this literally goes from Maine to California, in terms of the Midwest. This isn't just a regional 1-hour we're having this evening.

I would like to introduce at this time a Member from California. He is chairman of the Foreign Affairs Subcommittee on Terrorism, Nonproliferation and Trade, and a very active member on the House Trade Working Group, my friend and colleague, Representative Brad Sherman from California.

I thank my friend from California. And let me just say that those who would question your intelligence and your wisdom on this issue of trade do so at their own peril.

Now, if I could, Mr. Speaker, introduce someone I have known for many years prior to coming to the House of Representatives, a person who has stood up for senior citizens, working people in her legislative district here in Congress, and someone who serves as my mentor and a great friend, someone who is never afraid to take on the tough battles, my friend I would like to introduce, Jan Schakowsky.

Thank you, Representative Schakowsky. Thank you for our leadership on the issue of trade.

Before I introduce our next speaker, I want to say one thing our colleague talked about regarding the President being able to enforce labor standards. If you look just in this country, you don't have to go to Peru, you don't have to go to Panama or Korea, in the over 6 years he has been in office, we have only had one major standard by the Occupational Safety and Health Administration by this administration; and they were sued to have to get it. So I am not about to put my eggs in the basket of this administration to enforce any type of workers' rights in other countries.

At this time, Mr. Speaker, I am honored to introduce someone who has taken the leadership role in our class, someone who ran on this issue of standing up for working people, someone who I look up to and I spent a great deal of time talking with about this issue of trade, who is not afraid to speak up on behalf of working people.

It is wonderful to have colleagues like my friend, Betty Sutton, who understands. She comes from an area in Ohio where there has been a loss of jobs. She has been a labor law attorney. She knows what working people have had to go through.

I am honored to be in her class, I am honored to call her my friend, and I am honored to introduce her this evening, Representative Betty Sutton.

Thank you, Ms. Sutton, and I hope you can stick around and we can have a little dialogue in a few minutes.

Mr. Speaker, at this time I would like to introduce someone who is one of the strongest advocates for veterans in this country. He serves as the chairman of the Subcommittee on Health of the Veterans' Affairs Committee. He is a former mill worker who saw his company shut down. He is the cochair of the House Trade Working Group and probably the leading voice in this body to stand up for working men and women. I am honored to have him as my chairman and friend, and I yield to the gentleman from Maine (Mr. Michaud).

I thank my colleague.

I worked in a clothing factory. I cut lining for men's suits. I have three plants left in my district. They are hanging on by a thread. I can't support trade agreements that are going to outsource jobs. I have done town hall meetings since I got elected. I ran on this issue of standing up for ordinary people.

I had a plant in my district, Maytag, with 1,600 workers. Two wage concessions those folks gave up. The company was given $9 million in State funds, and they bolted to Senora, Mexico. Thank you very much, Maytag.

They left people like David Brevard, whose wife has cancer, with very little, if any, health care left. I cannot go back to my district and say to the Dave Brevards, I hope you understand that we have some things, if we let Bush handle some of, if we let the administration handle some of this, we are going to be just fine. Just hang on a little longer.

I can't do that. I have drawn a line in the sand on this issue of trade. It is how I ran, and it is why I am here. I am not going to vote for a fast track bill that is going to take jobs away from this country. I'm not doing it.

Some people would say, here is a protectionist. Yes, if the definition means I'm trying to protect American jobs, then I am. I want the record to state that I'm a card-carrying capitalist. I believe in trade. I just want this thing fair.

I would ask the people and the Speaker tonight, look at the Korean trade agreement where 700,000 automobiles were shipped in here from Korea, and the United States was allowed to ship 2,500 to Korea. That isn't fair trade.

I am not asking them to be equal, I am asking for the playing field to be level. As Congresswoman Sutton said, give us a chance to produce, and we will produce it. But when we don't even have the opportunity to do that, it is never going to work.

I think we need to look at other things. I think we need to invest in something like the bill Ms. Schakowsky spoke about earlier and is going to be introducing. It is about getting companies to stay here, and they get tax credits for helping their employees with their health care and

their pensions. Instead, we give tax breaks when they outsource it. I would like to ask both of my colleagues, and maybe I just don't get it. I want you to know that I am not angry that I wasn't invited to the press conference, I am angry because I know what we can do. This is why we have this majority. If we are going to keep this majority, we have to stand up for ordinary people.

Before I turn this over, I want to end with a quote here. One of my political heroes is Hubert Humphrey, and he said in one of the last speeches he gave before he died to the Minnesota AFL-CIO, he said, ``I would rather live 10 years like a tiger than 100 years like a chicken.'' These trade agreements are going to put us back more than 100 years. We are never going to be able to recoup these jobs we have lost. That is why I am here.

I am not going to go back to my district, and I am not going to be lobbied to change my mind unless I am convinced that these trade agreements are in the best interest of our American workers, and that there are provisions built in to help keep jobs.

While I applaud the efforts of the leadership to do some things, I want to make sure that the language is in here. I don't want to go back to Dave Brevard and say, if you can just hang on, we will work on the currency exchange. That is not going to help Mr. Brevard and the people in my district and in the State of Ohio.

Let me say to my colleague, it doesn't matter if you are just from Ohio or just from Illinois, we have lost manufacturing jobs all across this country. I have yet to see, yet to see, a fast track deal that has been in the best interests of the working people of this country. So as long as I am a Member, and I know that is going to be at least another 19 months, and hopefully a little longer, I am going to work very hard to make sure that American workers have somebody.

And I have wonderful people that I am honored to have here this evening, and I would like to enter into a discussion of how are we going to keep manufacturers here.

Does anybody see anything in this bill about how we keep our jobs?

I yield to my colleague from Ohio.

Mr. Speaker, let me just say this, too. These are the very people who fought our wars, defended this country. They just want a decent pension. They'd like some health care, put their kids through school, play by the rules, pay their taxes. They're not the fat cats. These are the thin cats we're talking about

And for the life of me, I don't understand. As you said, we have both chambers, and I believe it's time that both of these chambers stand up because I'm afraid if we don't, we'll go back and our base, those folks who elected us here, are going to say what were you thinking.

I want to just close with this. I know we just have a few minutes remaining here. I want to thank you all for coming this evening, and this is going to be a tough battle. We don't make any bones about it, Mr. Speaker, but look, nothing comes easy for hardworking people, and we're going to work very hard on this. I don't care where you come from, I don't care what State, but I think we have a moral obligation.

I want to close. I did a commencement speech last night at a high school, and I ran into the grandfather of one of the kids that graduated. His father used to work with me in my factory that closed down because of trade, and he's out West now. And I got to thinking, what a shame we couldn't have the opportunity to see each other. He comes back periodically. He's a good, decent man.

I'll close by saying this. This isn't the end on this trade issue. Mr. Speaker, this is only the beginning. We're going to fight, and we're going to win this battle.

Mr. Chairman, I rise today in strong support of H.R. 1429, the Improving Head Start Act. As a member of the Education and Labor Committee, I had the privilege of working on this bipartisan bill, which I believe will help more children arrive at kindergarten ready to succeed. Not only does this bill improve teacher quality, expand access and strengthen school readiness, it also addresses the unique challenges faced by rural Head Start programs.

Much of my district is rural. Therefore, I worked with several of my colleagues to ensure Head Start providers receive the support and flexibility required to serve America's rural communities. Specifically, we provided the assistance needed to improve transportation services in rural areas, the recruitment and retention of qualified instructors for rural programs and outreach to rural families. Later today, I will offer an amendment with my colleagues, Congressmen Space, Welch and Altmire that will further expand this assistance to rural Head Start.

Head Start is the country's premier early education childhood development and education program, serving more than 900,000 of our Nation's most needy families annually. Children who attend Head Start make gains in vocabulary, early writing and social behavior and enter school better prepared than lower income children who do not attend Head Start.

It is critical that all eligible families know about Head Start and that Congress allocates the necessary resources Head Start providers need in order to continue and expand these successful programs.

I urge all my colleagues to stand up for rural and low income children by voting ``yes'' on H.R. 1429.

I thank the gentleman for yielding.

Mr. Chairman, I am honored to join Congressmen Space, Welch and Altmire in introducing this amendment to improve Head Start programs for rural communities.

Much of my congressional district is rural. Therefore, I am very sensitive to the unique challenges that Head Start centers and rural families face in providing or accessing Head Start programs. Some of these challenges include instructor shortages, access to Head Start programs and outreach to eligible families.

As a member of the Education and Labor Committee, I had the privilege of addressing these concerns during the markup of this bill. The amendment we present today expands those efforts by directing the Education Secretary to provide the technical assistance and training to remove barriers to professional development, parental involvement, home visits and health screening in rural areas.

It is my hope that with this commitment from the Secretary and with the addition of services geared towards the needs of rural families, more eligible children will enroll in and experience the benefits of the Head Start program. Rural communities consist of the low-income populations that Head Start was created to serve. Therefore, it is critical that we address the challenges these communities face in administering Head Start to ensure that those families have the access to the opportunities they need and they so much deserve.

Again, I thank my colleagues for helping me on this issue, and I urge all Members to vote ``yes'' to improve the rural Head Start program by passing the Space-Hare-Welch-Altmire amendment.

I thank the gentlewoman for yielding.

Madam Speaker, I rise in strong support of H. Res. 334, honoring the goals and ideals of National Community College Month. I am proud to have the opportunity today to acknowledge all the community colleges in my district, and I want to thank them for the invaluable contributions that they make to education, to the communities that I serve, to our State and to our Nation in general.

Community colleges offer affordable opportunities for students of all ages to receive a higher education, retraining for new jobs and other university preparation courses. In my district alone, our community colleges work directly with workforce development one-stop centers, providing critical computer literacy courses, technical training and basic education that are needed for newly emerging jobs. In particular, Richland Community College in Macon County in my district is in the process of pioneering a course to prepare workers for the biofuels sector that is quickly becoming a major industry in my home State of Illinois.

As factories and other companies leave to go overseas, or as new industries emerge, creating new jobs that require unique skills, community colleges become increasingly important to educate, train and equip the new workforce that will fill these jobs. Additionally, they cannot allow students who cannot afford to go to a 4-year university, but who have the ambition and talent to succeed at one, the opportunity to complete the first 2 years of courses at affordable prices, and then allow those students to transfer to larger schools.

For these reasons and many more, I am happy to stand today to honor Community College Month. As a member of the Community College Caucus, I am working hard with my other colleagues to make sure community colleges have the resources and funding they need to continue to offer the services that are so critical to all of our communities across our country.

I urge my colleagues to join me in celebrating Community College Month by passing H. Res. 334.

Madam Speaker, this Saturday is Workers Memorial Day, when we mourn the loss of workers who have been killed on the job or from work-related diseases. Additionally, this year marks the 37th anniversary of the enactment of the Occupational Safety and Health Act. Although there has been progress, thanks to the tireless advocacy of organized labor, many workers are still at risk. Last year, in Illinois alone, 194 occupational fatalities were recorded. Unfortunately, OSHA, under the Bush administration, has issued only one major standard in its 6-year tenure, and has either withdrawn or delayed dozens of worker protection measures.

Congress must ensure the first step of workplace safety by requiring that OSHA issue timely standards and ensure the enforcement of those standards in all areas of the workforce.

I urge my colleagues to join me in this fight, and I encourage all Members of Congress to honor our Nation's workers this Saturday.

Madam Speaker, in celebration of National Volunteer Week, I rise today to honor the many volunteers in my Congressional District and throughout the country. In 1974, National Volunteer Week was established to encourage Americans to dedicate their time and energy to improving their communities and making a difference in the lives of others. We observe these goals this week and reaffirm our commitment to supporting our Nation's volunteers.

Throughout our country, volunteers make America better by reaching out to help their neighbors in need. These caring individuals give to people who have nothing, mentor children who lack love and attention, feed those who are hungry, and shelter those who are homeless. In the aftermath of hurricanes Katrina and Rita, people throughout the country came forward to help the Gulf Coast recover and rebuild--a true testament of the American spirit.

Since the original enactment of National Volunteer Week, the number of volunteers has increased at incredible rates. The resolution before us today rightfully acknowledges the diligent efforts of these millions of individuals who care deeply about the future of our country and their fellow citizens.

I am extremely proud to be a cosponsor of this legislation, and urge all my colleagues to vote for its passage.

I thank the gentleman for yielding.

Mr. Chairman, I rise today in strong support of the Water Resources Development Act of 2007.

This bill authorizes important long-overdue flood control, dam safety and environmental restoration projects. In my district, the Great Flood of 1993 took the lives of 47 people and resulted in over $15 billion in catastrophic damages throughout much of the Mississippi River basin. I support this bill for the safety of my constituents.

Additionally, over 50 percent of our locks and dams have aged beyond their life cycle, and they are crumbling. WRDA authorizes repair of these structures and includes critical provisions to modernize seven new locks and dams on the upper Mississippi and Illinois Rivers. These improvement will expand navigation capacity, reduce shipping delays, and accommodate larger barge tows, which is critical for the $12 billion worth of products that the river transports ever year, as well as the agriculture, commercial and labor interests of my State of Illinois.

This bill includes a much-needed program to restore the upper Mississippi River ecosystem and authorizes completion of the Emiquon Wildlife Preserve in my district. This preserve is one of the largest flood plain restoration projects in the country outside the Florida Everglades, and I am proud to have sponsored its inclusion in this bill today.

I urge my colleagues to support the Water Resources Development Act. By improving our water resources infrastructure, we will make our river communities safer and strengthen our Nation's economy and environmental welfare.

Madam Speaker, this Saturday, March 31, marks the 80th birthday of Cesar Chavez. I am honored to rise before you today to pay tribute to Mr. Chavez's dedicated advocacy for workers.

As a young child, Cesar Chavez experienced the long hours, horrible wages and other deplorable conditions and discrimination faced by migrant farm workers, which emboldened him to fight for justice and fairness for all working people of this country.

In 1962, Mr. Chavez founded the National Farm Workers Association (now known as the United Farm Workers of America), through which he organized migrant workers in campaigns for safe and fair working conditions, reasonable wages, decent housing, and the elimination of child labor.

His tireless leadership and use of nonviolent tactics, such as fasts, boycotts, strikes and pilgrimages, brought awareness to the conditions of farm workers and their struggle for better pay and safer working conditions.

Mr. Chavez is credited for the passage of the groundbreaking 1975 California Agriculture Labor Relations Act, which remains the only law in the Nation that protects farm and migrant workers' rights to unionize.

Madam Speaker, I came out of the labor movement as a lining cutter at Seaford Clothing factory in Rock Island, IL. I owe Cesar Chavez a great deal of gratitude for his diligent efforts to achieve dignity, respect, fair wages, medical coverage, pension benefits, and humane living conditions for all workers, which laid the ground work for the additional labor protections I was able to fight for while President of UNITE Here local 617. Mr. Chavez has and always will be an inspiration to me, as well as a reminder of what can be achieved by the will and conviction of one person.

I am happy to see that several states have acknowledged the contributions of Cesar Chavez by dedicating a state holiday in his honor, including my home state of Illinois. For four consecutive Congresses, Congressman Joe Baca has led a movement to recognize the contributions of Cesar Chavez with a national holiday. I am honored to join the distinguished gentlemen from California and 51 of my colleagues as a cosponsor of H. Res. 76, the Cesar Chavez Holiday Act.

Not only does this legislation recognize the contributions Cesar Chavez made to the labor movement but it also aims to educate students on the life and work of this courageous man.

Madam Speaker, I urge my colleagues to honor Cesar Chavez by supporting the Cesar Chavez Holiday Act.

Mr. Chairman, I rise today in support of H.R. 1538, the Wounded Warrior Assistance Act of 2007.

As a member of the House Veterans' Affairs Committee, I am deeply concerned about the lack of a seamless transition for our servicemembers into the VA health care system.

This bill changes that broken system by creating a pilot program within the Department of Defense requiring a more efficient movement of medical records and a better process for our separated or retiring troops.

It also provides soldiers and their families with a toll-free hotline for reporting problems. Complaints called into the hotline must be investigated and a plan to remedy them must be in place within 96 hours.

Additionally, the bill requires the Department of Defense and the Veterans' Administration to work together to improve their disability evaluation systems ending a lot of backlog.

Finally, this bill authorizes $50 million for wounded soldiers' support programs, ensuring that these soldiers don't fall through the cracks without any financial support. Our soldiers have fought bravely on the battlefield, and they shouldn't have to fight for the care they need and deserve. I urge my colleagues to support this bill.

I thank the gentleman from Maine, and I also want to just commend you for your leadership on this whole issue of trade.

When I first came to this body, I campaigned on the sole issue of trade; and they said there are a couple of people you need to look up right away. I needed to look up Representative Marcy Kaptur and Mike Michaud for standing up for ordinary people.

With all due respect to the President, I don't consider this fast track legislation; it is wrong track legislation. I am a card-carrying capitalist, and I have said this many, many times. But I came out of an industry, the clothing and textile industry. But, for the life of me, I don't understand, this President just doesn't seem to get it. We keep losing good-paying jobs overseas, and for the life of me we are one of the few countries I know that actually subsidize our manufacturers for going overseas, if you look at the east coast and look what happened in your area from Maine all the way down and you look what happened in the Midwest with Maytag.

Today I sat and I listened to a person from my district, Dave Bevard, who worked at the Maytag plant. He had 32 years in and his wife had 30, 62 years between the both of them. Here, these workers gave up two wage concessions, if you can believe that, to keep this plant open, $24 million from our State of Illinois in tax breaks to this company; and at the end of the day they ended up moving to Sonora, Mexico. The CEO of the company said, ``I don't care about the workers and the community. I am here to make a dollar for my shareholders.'' It didn't matter about the health care and the pensions.

And Dave brought up today, you know, we have trade readjustment funds and things of that nature, but, as the gentleman knows, by the time you get them you have to decide between your unemployment compensation and whether you are going to be retrained. Then they tell you, well, you should go into a field that is growing, maybe like health care. So he said, of the 2,500 people that lost their jobs at that plant, 400 people tried the medical care, thinking they were going to get into medical care. Well, that worked great for the schooling, but when it came to practical exercise to go in and be able to learn the trade and be able to do it, they only had room for 30 people. So, 370 people are left out in the cold.

Another woman wanted to go through and wanted to get into daycare and needed a 1-year program at the community college. They only had a 2- year program; and they said, well, maybe she should just try being a cosmetologist instead.

When you take a look at the way we do this and the way we treat our workers, I said today this is a moral issue that I think we in this Congress have.

I support trade. I will always support trade. I know our country needs it. But I ask, at what price? And I want to know why is it that this President feels he doesn't have to basically come to Congress for anything, as you know, but particularly when it comes to the trade issue. He can outsource it, he can fast track, and he can do whatever he wants to do, and there is no congressional accountability, no oversight. We are left with a package we can't even vote up or down half the time because he has the secret back-door deals.

I, for one, as a freshman am tired. I am tired of going back to my district and seeing people like Dave Bevard and his wife who, by the way, has cancer. He is going to lose his health care.

And I ask a question very simply of this administration and for those on the other side of the aisle and maybe some within my own party who think that this is the way to go. I want you to come to Gifford, and I want you to see what is left of that Maytag plant, and I want you to see the people whose lives have been affected by this and the lack of health care.

Their prescription programs that they had, now they have lost their prescription drug program that they had, it equals for some of them their prescriptions per month, the pension that they receive. Now, they don't even get a pension, they have no health care, and somebody is going to try to convince me that this trade deal is going to work and that this was in the best interest of our manufacturing base?

Now I can't in good conscience do that. I think we had some interesting hearings today, but, ultimately, we have to be able to stand up.

And I agree with the gentleman from Maine. We had a directive I think this past election. I campaigned on this issue, as you know; and I campaigned very strongly about it. I said, look, I support trade, I support fair trade. So I am a fair trader, and I think that is what we should all be. And I think we have an obligation, as I said before, to ask this administration but also ask of ourselves: Are we here to represent the Dave Bevards of this country? Or are we here to represent the CEO that took the jobs to Sonora, Mexico?

And they are going to keep doing it. Every single day we read of another small factory going. My clothing factory that I worked in was shut down, and now I hear that the remaining 350 people that were working there are hanging by a thread. Translation: In about a year, that plant is going to go simply because nobody wants to have

the initiative and the courage to stand up for an industry that has been hit, or dumping its steel. It goes on and on.

I don't want to use up the whole hour, but if the gentleman would just let me conclude by saying this. I would like to ask some of our folks on the other side that call me a protectionist, and I looked in the dictionary, and I think that means you are trying to protect something, and I am, and I know we are. We are trying to protect a basic fundamental right for people to have a decent-paying job.

You know, these aren't CEOs. These are ordinary people who want to put their kids through school, have health care. They want to be able to work, and work very hard, and be able to retire and not have to worry about it.

I am not going to stop on this issue, and I again applaud the gentleman from Maine for courage that he has. And I will promise you this, that I have said many times: I don't know how long I am going to be in this body, but as long as I am I am going to continue to come to this floor, I am going to continue to talk about those lost jobs and say we have to start thinking differently than we have before.

We have an obligation, and our obligation is to stand up for ordinary people. That is what I have always been about. And I think the basic job of a Member of Congress, when you really get down to it, after all is said and done, is all of us are here to do the best we can to help ordinary people out, to make their lives better, not complicated.

So to my friends on the other side that might think I am off base, I am not going to support fast track. I will vote against it. I am not going to have any part of outsourcing one more job from my district or from this country. I am going to stand up for workers, whether they are from Illinois or Maine or Ohio or Florida or wherever they are from, because we have a responsibility to do it. It is the right thing to do.

And, again, I just can't thank you enough, Congressman, for taking the lead on this. You and Representative Kaptur have been great inspirations to me as a freshman here and campaigned on this issue of trade.

And, by the way, I would just say to people listening, it is okay to run on things you believe in and lead with your heart and on the right issues, and every now and then the good guys do come out on top. So I thank the gentleman for allowing me to participate this evening and look forward to any questions or discussion you might have.

Madam Speaker, one of the things that I think we need to do here is we have to start bringing some commonsense back to all of this. I think sometimes we think in too broad of thoughts. For example, some of the questions I would ask is, why can we not make a television in this country anymore, why can we not make stereos, and why can we not have textile mills in this country? We have quality workers. They were trained. They knew what they were doing.

My colleague, Representative Kaptur, and I have been talking about getting a group of Members of Congress to go around to areas that have been hit and to interview those workers who have lost their jobs and to put it on tape and to show that to people. I would appreciate the gentlewoman might want to comment about that.

But what we are talking about here, Madam Speaker, is letting ordinary people tell us what has happened to them. These are people who are our veterans. They fought in the wars. They have come back, and they are working in the factory. They lose everything they have ever had, and some of them with very little or no notice at all, and yet we are so quick to want to find work outside of this country when we have people going to bed in this country hungry. Those jobs in Ohio and in Maine and in Illinois, they are gone.

I think we have to start doing something proactive. We have to stop this hemorrhaging of jobs, and we have to start thinking about how we are going to keep the jobs that we have here and expanding them.

The late Senator Humphrey said that the American worker was the most productive worker in the world, and that has never changed. So I appreciate the gentleman for giving me a little bit of time. I thank you for allowing me to speak this evening, but perhaps the gentlewoman from Ohio might want to comment.

They are.