Floor Statements

Mr. Speaker, I ask unanimous consent to speak out of order.

Mr. Speaker, I would like to read a few excerpts from yesterday's Washington Times editorial entitled ``New Job Numbers.''

Now the Washington Times, everybody knows, is not exactly a progressive or liberal paper, very conservative.

And I quote: ``For the third consecutive month, the Labor Department reported disappointing numbers for job growth. June payroll employment increased by only 121,000 jobs, well below the median projection of 200,000 jobs. And that is on top of May's payrolls increased by only 92,000 jobs, which follows a disappointing 112,000 in April. Altogether, job growth during the second quarter was a disappointing 325,000 jobs, the lowest quarterly increase since 2003.

``The net increase in payroll employment since August has averaged 160,000 jobs. This is to contrast throughout the

Clinton administration where employment increased on average 237,000 jobs per month.

``On average, 25,000 private sector jobs have been created each month since January 2001. That is 25,000. During the Clinton administration, private sector employment increased on average 217,000 jobs per month.

``And then, on top of that, average real weekly earnings of the 80 percent of the private sector workers who are employed in production or nonsupervisory capacity, approximately 91 million Americans, have increased by less than 1 quarter of 1 percent since January 2001. Average real weekly earnings for these same workers have actually declined by 1 percent since August in 2003.''

American people, according to the Washington Times, neither have the jobs nor have they got an increase in their salaries. And that is all the while where energy prices are up, 75 percent, under President Bush, health care costs, the premiums for families are up 78 percent, college costs are up on average 45 percent, and incomes and wages are down. That is what it takes to make and maintain a middle-class life, all the basics, filling up your gas, health care, college education, all skyrocketing.

For the first time since World War II, American savings rates are in negative territory, and this, according to the Bush administration, is the best of times. I would hate to think what the worst of times look like.

And the Washington Times noted how under the President, Americans aren't getting the jobs at the incomes that they are expecting, and the costs for them are going up.

Now, I don't want to look back; but having been part of the Clinton administration, I don't want to have to just be a booster, I would like to remind people we had a surplus 3 years in a row. We eliminated deficit. We started paying down the Nation's debt.

What has happened under this administration? In fact, the debt has increased by nearly $3 trillion in 4 years, the largest increase in the Nation's debt in the shortest period of time in all of American history.

Second, under President Clinton, we created the Hope Scholarship. Lifetime Learning Tax Credit gave middle-class families a tax cut so they could send their kids to college.

What has the Republican Congress with this President done? They have actually had the largest cut in college assistance in American history: $13 billion.

President Clinton thought of actually negotiating a climate change, which would have given us our first energy conservation plan. This administration walked away from it; signed an energy bill. In June of 2005, gas was $2.05. Today it is over $3. Tomorrow will be the anniversary where energy in America, a gallon of gas, has doubled since President Bush has been in the White House. Doubled.

And what has happened to American family wages? Declined by 1 percent. Cost of energy, doubled.

During President Clinton's time, we actually expanded health care for all children whose parents worked full-time. Ten million children got health insurance. What has this Congress and this Republican President done? They cut 6 million kids from health care coverage. I cannot think of a worse thing to do, and this is the son of a pediatrician talking. I cannot think of a worse thing to do but to cut children from health care, from the ability to visit a doctor or a nurse.

Health care under President Clinton went up for coverage. Health care under President Bush, premiums are up and uninsureds are up. Energy costs are up, incomes are down. College costs are up, college coverage is down under the Republicans.

In addition to that, there were many attempts, and we added 20 years to savings on Social Security. And this administrations actually for the first time we are at a negative savings rate.

So it is time for a new direction for a Congress and a President who will take this country in a new place.

I find it interesting that when the 9/11 Commission gave this Congress 12 Ds, five Fs, and three incompletes for protecting America, nobody thought it was dangerous to America's national security or for protecting our citizens. Nobody wanted to get the 9/11 Commission recommendations down here for a vote.

The chairman of the Intelligence Committee said it is the Congress who will conduct oversight. When we were told this was a quick war, not a long one and it turned into a long war, where was the oversight?

When we were told that the war in Iraq was going to be conventional and became a guerrilla war, where was the oversight?

When we were told we were going to be greeted as liberators and we became occupiers, where was the oversight?

When we were told that we had enough troops and it has been clear that we needed more, twice as many, where was the oversight?

At every chance there was for the Congress to exercise its oversight, this Congress walked away from it.

On the war on terror, Democrats have given the President everything he wanted. The Republican Congress has denied the President the one thing he needed, oversight. It is in this area that oversight is most important. Every Democrat, every Republican, every Independent, every American wants to protect the country. There is

a role for the United States Congress in oversight. The one institution that is providing some accountability is a free press, and one element of it is singled out for isolation in an attempt to intimidate it.

The Congress, as my Congressman said from Alabama, if the Congress was acting in its role of oversight, you would not have to come up with a gimmick to attack the one entity, the free press, that is also doing its function. I find it almost ironic at this point that we have a political strategy being designed by somebody and we all know what is happening here. It is a political strategy to divert people's attention from the real problems facing this country, one of which is the role of the Congress to protect the American people. Its job is oversight and accountability, and it has abdicated that for 2 years.

Mr. Speaker, we are getting mixed signals from the administration on the future of the Iraq war.

Last weekend, General Myers laid out a plan for withdrawal. Then, yesterday, General Peter Schoomaker, the Army Chief of Staff, said, ``It's my belief that we're going to be in Iraq for a long time. It's open-ended.''

An open-ended commitment with an open wallet? Really? After 3\1/2\ years, 2,500 lives, nearly a half a trillion dollars, 18,000 wounded, the American people deserve better than an open-ended commitment with an open wallet.

How about a strategy for success? The President has said, when the Iraqis stand up, we will stand down. How does that happen? The Iraqi people have a constitution. They have had an election. Now, they have 325,000 of the members of the Iraqi security force trained. What is the standard for success, let alone the strategy for success?

The American people desperately need a strategy, not slogans. We do not know because the administration does not know. They have no plan, and the American people are left with an endless occupation. What they are talking about is 5 more years and $500 billion more.

It is time for a new direction for Iraq. It is time for a new direction for America.

Mr. Speaker, if there is one thing we have learned from the Republican Congress in the last 6 years, it is that slogans do not replace solutions.

On immigration, House Republicans talk a lot, but there is no action after 6 years. They thunder about immigrant families; but when it comes to forcing big business to comply with our immigration laws, they have raised the white flag. Under the Republican leadership from 1999 to 2003, work-site enforcement of immigration laws were cut back 95 percent. In 1999, the Federal Government prosecuted 182 employers for hiring illegal aliens. In 2003, that dwindled down to just four.

The Republican leaders have also raised the white flag on border security, voting against implementing the 9/11 Commission recommendations. With all their hot rhetoric about terrorism, you would think they would at least provide support for homeland security programs. But they have waved the white flag here, too, cutting $48 million from Customs and Border Security Protection. They want to run a single-issue campaign on immigration on which they haven't done a single thing. The Republican Congress has a 6-year record of failure. Hot rhetoric has not masked failed results.

Mr. Speaker, one thing is clear: when it comes to addressing real immigration challenges facing our Nation, the Republican Congress is all hat and no cattle. It is time for a new direction. It is time for results.

Mr. Speaker, if there is one thing we have learned from the Republican Congress in the last 6 years, it is that slogans do not replace solutions. On America's most pressing issues, they have failed to act, and on others they demonstrated an uncanny Midas touch.

Take the $800 billion prescription drug benefit. Rather than reducing costs for seniors, it is nothing more than an ATM machine for HMOs and drug companies. Two studies released yesterday show that the prices of medicines used by seniors are rising twice the rate of inflation. Consider the energy bill. In June 2005, a month before the bill passed, gas was $2.07; today, it is more than $3.

On immigration, the House Republicans have sent up a white flag, an issue which they have ignored for 6 years. They offer more talk, less action. They won't pass a bill. They want a single-issue election on something they haven't done a single thing on.

Even yesterday's conviction of the Bush administration chief procurement officer for influence peddling won't shame them into passing real lobbying or ethics reform. They deny an increase in the minimum wage and a vote on that legislation.

Mr. Speaker, one thing is clear: When it comes to addressing the issues important to American families, the Republican Congress is all hat and no cattle. It is time for a new direction. It is time for a change.

Mr. Speaker, we recently marked a sad milestone in the war in Iraq, as the number of Americans fallen surpassed 2,500. We owe it to each of these families to do everything we can to honor the debt of gratitude we owe them, a debt that can never be fully repaid.

Over the past year, I have led 20 other Members of Congress from both parties in reading the names of the fallen in Iraq and Afghanistan into the Congressional Record.

In the words of President Franklin Delano Roosevelt, each of these heroes stands in the unbroken line of patriots who have dared to die that freedom might live and grow and increase in its blessing.

God bless and keep each of the brave Americans whose memory we honor today: 1. 1st Lieutenant Benjamin T. Britt. 2. Specialist Cheyenne C. Willey. 3. Sergeant Regina C. Reali. 4. Master Sergeant Joseph J. Andres, Jr. 5. Sergeant Myla L. Maravillosa. 6. Specialist Anthony O. Cardinal. 7. Specialist Sergio Gudino. 8. Specialist Dane O. Carver. 9. Chief Warrant Officer Isaias E. Santos. 10. Chief Warrant Officer Richard Matthew Salter. 11. Sergeant Dominic R. Coles. 12. Private Joshua M. Morberg. 13. Specialist Lance S. Sage. 14. Specialist Aaron M. Forbes. 15. Private 1st Class George Anthony Lutz II. 16. Specialist Prince K. Teewia. 17. Staff Sergeant Ayman A. Taha. 18. Private Jonathan R. Pfender. 19. Sergeant 1st Class Shawn Christopher Dostie. 20. Sergeant Marce-

lino Ronald Corniel. 21. Sergeant 1st Class Jason Lee Bishop. 22. Staff Sergeant Christopher J. Vanderhorn. 23. Lance Corporal Ryan S. McCurdy. 24. Corporal Albert Pasquale Gettings. 25. Specialist Ryan D. Walker. 26. Sergeant Jason Lopezreyes. 27. Lieutenant Colonel Michael E. McLaughlin. 28. Sergeant Adam Leigh Cann. 29. Private Robbie M. Mariano. 30. Sergeant Johnny J. Peralez, Jr. 31. Sergeant 1st Class Stephen J. White. 32. Captain Christopher P. Petty. 33. Major William F. Hecker III. 34. Corporal Brett L. Lundstrom. 35. Lance Corporal Jeriad P. Jacobs. 36. Lance Corporal Kyle W. Brown. 37. Sergeant Radhames Camilomatos. 38. Specialist Clinton R. Upchurch. 39. Specialist Robert T. Johnson. 40. Sergeant Nathan R. Field. 41. Civilian Darren D. Braswell. 42. 1st Lieutenant Joseph D. deMoors. 43. Major Douglas A. LaBouff. 44. Major Michael R. Martinez. 45. Major Stuart M. Anderson. 46. Specialist Jacob E. Melson. 47. Specialist Michael I. Edwards. 48. Chief Warrant Officer 4 Chester W. Troxel. 49. 1st Lieutenant Jaime L. Campbell. 50. Lance Corporal Jason T. Little. 51. Lance Corporal Raul Mercado. 52. Sergeant Michael Joseph McMullen. 53. Petty Officer 1st Class Michael Anthony Jordan. 54. Lance Corporal Jonathan Kyle Price. 55. Chief Warrant Officer 2 Kyle E. Jackson. 56. Chief Warrant Officer 3 Mitchell K. Carver, Jr. 57. Corporal Justin J. Watts. 58. Specialist Dustin L. Kendall. 59. Private 1st Class Kasper Allen Dudkiewicz. 60. Chief Warrant Officer 2 Ruel M. Garcia.

This brings our total to 1,957 names read.

Mr. Speaker, I would also like to recognize and thank the brave men and women who continue to serve our Nation with distinction in Iraq, Afghanistan and throughout the world.

Our thoughts, our prayers are with you and your families both during your service and after you come home.

God bless America.

Mr. Speaker, the median income in America has dropped. What is the Republican Congress trying to do? Increase the minimum wage? Nope. Making sure that everyone in this country has access to affordable health care? Nope. Controlling energy costs? Nope.

It is making sure that the 18 wealthiest families in the Nation do not pay their fair share.

Median income over the last 4 years in America has dropped by 2.8 percent. College costs are up by 38 percent. Health care costs are up by 75 percent. Energy costs are up by over 72 percent. And yet the middle class in America are facing a wageless recovery and an endless occupation.

The heirs to the Wal-Mart, Campbell's Soup, and Gallo Wine fortunes rest easy knowing that this Congress is hard at work on their behalf.

So rather than raise the minimum wage, the GOP Congress is going to cut taxes for the likes of Lee Raymond and his family.

Mr. Speaker, ``shame'' is defined as a sense of guilt or embarrassment, and it is a condition that seems to be lost here on the Republican Congress.

It is time for a change. It is time for a new direction.

Mr. Speaker, I ask unanimous consent to speak out of order.

Mr. Speaker, last week we had a big debate about Iraq, and our battles over there continue. There were a lot of accusations about which party cut and run, yielded by those on the other side who said Democrats wanted to cut and run.

It is ironic because this is the first war in American history that a party and a President has chosen to divide Americans on the war rather than unite them.

But let's take the concept of cutting and running. In the spring of 2002, American forces had Osama bin Laden on the run in Tora Bora and Afghanistan, but the administration decided to cut and run from that fight taking resources appropriated for Afghanistan and moving them onto the field of Iraq and cutting and running from Afghanistan and its responsibilities of isolating and getting Osama bin Laden.

Then Donald Rumsfeld, the Secretary of Defense, led the charge into Iraq with a cut-and-run mentality, touting what he called the 10-30-30 strategy, to bug out of Iraq as soon as we finished invading: 10 days of war, 30 days of occupation, and 30 days of transition.

His prediction was by May of 2003 we would have less than 30,000 American troops in Iraq.

So I ask, how are we doing on Don Rumsfeld 10-30-30? His entire mentality was to get out of Iraq as quickly as possible. And we have been bogged down in Iraq because of his cut-and-run mentality, because he had too few troops, not a plan for the occupation for Iraq at all.

And when you go back and think about it, they promised a quick war, and we got a long war. When the Republican Congress cut and run from its responsibility oversight, how did that war change?

They said we were going to find weapons of mass destruction, and all we got was sand. But the Republican Congress cut and run from its responsibility of oversight.

They said we were going to have a conventional war, and we ended up with an insurgency. And the Republican Congress and Don Rumsfeld cut and run from their responsibility of oversight and changing the strategy.

They said we were going to be treated as liberators, and we became occupiers. And they cut and run from the responsibility of oversight, and Don Rumsfeld, the Secretary of Defense, cut and run from understanding the type of conflict we had.

They said we needed no more than 130,000 troops, and it has become self-evident that we needed more troops than even in the first Gulf War, and that Bremer, the then President's ambassador, and others had asked for more troops, and the administration and, most importantly, the Secretary of Defense cut and run from his responsibility to provide those troops.

And that doesn't even count the Kevlar vests, the Humvees, and the other types of equipment that the troops needed at every step of the way. The Republican Congress and Secretary of Defense Don Rumsfeld cut and run from their responsibility, and that reality that they met with in Iraq cut right into their ideology of cutting and running from their responsibilities.

And need I remind the Secretary of Defense of the words of Winston Churchill. ``Never, never, never believe any war will be smooth and easy. The statesman who yields to war fever must realize that once the signal is given, he is no longer the master of the policy, but the slave of unforeseeable and uncontrollable events.''

Or as Don Rumsfeld himself likes to say, ``Stuff happens, and it's untidy.'' Perhaps it turned out untidy because from day 1 the administration had a cut-and-run attitude towards the results of the war.

Don Rumsfeld convinced the President to cut and run on the safety of our troops when it came to Kevlar vests and Humvees. Over objections of GEN Eric Shinseki and Secretary of State Colin Powell, Secretary of Defense Rumsfeld produced a plan to invade a nation of 25 million with only 130-some-odd-thousand troops.

GEN Anthony Zinni, Commander of the U.S. forces in the Middle East, said, ``We are paying the price for the lack of credible planning or the lack of a plan. Ten years of planning were thrown away.''

LTG Greg Newbold, top operations officer for the Joint Chiefs of Staff, put it more succinctly and clearly. ``My sincere view is that the commitment of our forces to this fight was done with a casualness and a swagger that are the special province of those who have never had to execute these missions or bury the results.''

Secretary Rumsfeld's spokesman Larry DiRita visited Kuwait in 2003 and said, ``We don't owe the people of Iraq anything. We're giving them their freedom, and that's enough.''

So when it comes to the accusation of cutting and running, let's look at the record. And the record is quite clear that although the slogan is easy to throw around, that it is the mentality of the Secretary of Defense.

Mr. Speaker, across the Potomac in Arlington today, we are breaking ground for the 9/11 Memorial at the Pentagon. Our Nation is rightfully honoring the victims of those heinous acts.

It has also been 1 week since I called upon my Republican colleagues to reject Ann Coulter's vicious attacks on the widows of 9/11.

Not a single Republican elected official has stepped forward to reject her hate. So I have to conclude they are comfortable with her as their spokesman. Your silence is deafening. Apparently it is okay to exploit 9/11 to shore up your own sagging poll numbers or make a quick buck.

So rather than see 9/11 as a moment to unite America, Ann Coulter and her followers have chosen to divide and demonize fellow Americans. I am always amazed that the one casualty the American people would accept on 9/11 would be partisanship, and that is the one casualty you are not willing to give.

Ms. Coulter is threatened by the 9/11 widows. They threaten her simplistic world by daring to ask questions. Mr. Speaker, the 9/11 widows have courageously stood up to demand that we never forget the horror of September 11.

All Americans who lost loved ones should be honored, as we are doing in Arlington today, not denigrated simply because they do not fit your simplistic world view.

Mr. Speaker, since day one of the war in Iraq, Democrats have provided the President with everything he asked for, yet Republicans have denied the President the one thing he needed: Oversight.

In a post-9/11 world, the American people need the vigilance and the patriotic determination of every Member of Congress to demand answers to the questions their constituents are asking. Instead, the Republican Congress sat and watched the administration make mistake after mistake after mistake.

And don't listen to just one Member of Congress. Consider the words of Three Star General Greg Newbold, top Operations Officer for the Joint Chiefs of Staff. After a scathing critique of Secretary Rumsfeld, he says, ``The Bush administration and senior military officials are not alone in their culpability. Members of Congress defaulted in fulfilling their Constitutional responsibility of oversight.''

General Anthony Zinni, former Commander of the U.S. Central Command in the Mideast: ``We are paying the price for the lack of credible planning, or the lack of a plan. Ten years of planning were thrown away.''

Major General Batiste, who commanded 22,000 soldiers on the ground in Iraq. ``Rumsfeld and his team turned what should have been a deliberate victory in Iraq into a prolonged challenge.''

Eight generals have raised serious questions concerning Secretary Rumsfeld's leadership. I don't know, maybe the Pentagon suffers from the soft bigotry of low expectations and social promotion as a policy. Maybe these generals weren't just qualified; or maybe, just maybe, they had to speak up because the Republican Congress was silent. You have adopted an approach of ``see no evil, hear no evil, and speak no evil'' with abandon.

America was told this would be a quick war, and it turned into a long war. This Congress walked away from its oversight responsibility. America was told 130,000 troops would be enough, but more were clearly necessary. This Congress, the Republican Congress, walked away from its oversight responsibility. America was told this would be a conventional war. It turned into an insurgency. This Congress walked away from its oversight responsibility. America was told oil would pay for reconstruction, and the taxpayers are left with a $480 billion tab. This Congress walked away from its oversight responsibility. America was told we would be greeted as liberators, but they have become and are treated like occupiers. This Congress walked away from its oversight responsibility.

And when Don Rumsfeld, a man who expressed contempt for the idea of nation-building, was assigned the responsibility of rebuilding Iraq and mismanaged the war against the insurgency, this Congress, the Republican Congress, walked away from its oversight responsibility.

Mr. Speaker, the Republicans want to portray the greatest foreign policy challenge of a generation as simply the choice between more of the same or a new direction. And we Democrats welcome that. The debate today is about whether the American people want to stay the course, with an administration and a Congress that has walked away from its obligations, or pursue a real strategy for success in the war on terror.

Twenty-five hundred brave Americans, male and female, have given their lives in trying to stabilize Iraq. Last month was the bloodiest in Iraq's history. According to Major General Rick Lynch, attacks against civilians increased 80 percent since November 2005.

We cannot achieve the end of victory and continue to sit and watch, stand pat, the status quo. That is the Republican policy. Democrats are determined to take the fight to the enemy. In the words of President John Kennedy, ``We shall pay any price, bear any burden, meet any hardship, support any friend, oppose any foe in order to assure the survival and success of liberty.''

Democrats will never put American servicemembers in harm's way without a plan and without support. For that, you need the sit-and- watch complacency of a Republican Congress.

Mr. Speaker, this Congress has cut and run from its responsibility of oversight, to ensure that the taxpayer money is spent wisely. By last count, nearly $10 billion of the funds set aside for Iraq reconstruction cannot be found. Vanished. $10 billion gone.

And now the Government Accountability Office reports that 16 percent of the aid distributed after Katrina, $1.4 billion, was spent fraudulently. Some of the money went to pay for a bottle of Dom Perignon, Caribbean vacations, ``Girls Gone Wild'' videos.

That may be one heck of a vacation, but it is a horrendous use of the taxpayer dollars. Instead of rooting out incompetence and fraud and waste and abuse, the Congress has actually protected it. No oversight. No accountability.

By failing in their oversight responsibility, by failing to ask the tough questions and hold the administration accountable for their actions, the Republican Congress is a willing accomplice to the greatest taxpayer ripoff since the Teapot Dome. We just sent an additional $94.5 billion to Iraq and the gulf coast without a single act of accountability or oversight. It is time for a change. It is time for a new direction.

Mr. Speaker, Karl Rove has said that the Democrats want to cut and run on the war in Iraq. Well, let us talk about cutting and running.

When we were told this would be a quick war and turned into a long war, this Congress cut and run from its oversight responsibility.

When we were told 130,000 troops would be enough but more were clearly necessary, this Congress cut and run from doing its oversight responsibility.

When we were told this would be a conventional war and it turned into an insurgency, this Congress cut and run from its oversight responsibility.

When we were told oil would pay for reconstruction, but the taxpayers were left with a $480 billion tab, this Congress cut and run from its oversight responsibility.

When we were told we would be greeted as liberators but had become treated like occupiers, this Congress cut and run from its oversight responsibility.

Mr. Speaker, Republicans want to portray the greatest foreign policy challenge of a generation as simply a choice between staying the course and cutting and running. Democrats look forward to this debate.

Mr. Speaker, oversight requires the vigilance and patriotic determination of every Member of Congress to do the job we were sent here to do and ask the questions that their constituents want.

Mr. Speaker, it is time for new priorities in Iraq and here at home.

Mr. Speaker, I rise today to recognize and honor the Shriners Hospital for Children in Chicago on the occasion of its 80th Anniversary. Shriners Hospitals provide excellent specialized care in pediatric orthopedics without cost to the patient, parent, or any third party and without regard to race, color, creed, sex or sect.

Shriners in Chicago is an outstanding resource for our community. To commemorate its 80th anniversary, Shriners held a large celebration at the hospital. Hundreds of former patients returned to celebrate the important role Shriners played in their lives. Without the hospital's generosity, many children would have struggled to receive treatment.

Shriners hospitals also conduct research and provide for the education of physicians and other health care professionals. The hospitals treat children with congenital orthopedic deformities, problems resulting from orthopedic injuries, and diseases of the musculoskeletal system. They are also a large provider of rehabilitation therapy and plastic surgery.

The first Shriners Hospital was opened in Shreveport, Louisiana in 1922 by the Shriners of North America, a group affiliated with freemasonry. This international fraternity has approximately 400,000 men belonging to 191 Shrine centers throughout North America. Since 1922, the number of hospitals has grown to 22 including hospitals in Canada and Mexico. Their selfless dedication to children's health has made them the leading researchers in burn treatment.

The hospitals are fully funded by gifts, bequests, income from an endowment fund, hospital fund-raising events, and the annual assessment paid by every Shriner. The Shriners are proud to call the system of hospitals ``The World's Greatest Philanthropy.''

Since its foundation in 1926, the Chicago branch has treated over 57,000 patients. Originally founded to treat polio victims, many hospital stays lasted over a year. Today, the average stay is four days. The hospital specializes in treating children with spinal cord injuries. Chicago greatly appreciates Shriners service and generosity.

Mr. Speaker, I commend Shriners Hospital for Children for its history of dedication and service to the children of Chicago. I congratulate the staff and supporters of this important institution on its 80th Anniversary, and wish them every future success in their continuing efforts to meet the needs of Chicago's children.

Mr. Speaker, I rise today to recognize the distinguished tenure of Michael Scott, president of the Chicago Board of Education. Michael recently announced that he will retire from the board on July 21, 2006. Chicago's public school students and parents will miss the dedication and professionalism he has brought to the public schools and his service to the city.

Michael was raised on the west side of Chicago, attended St. Philip's High School and later earned a B.A. in urban planning from Fordham University. He first became involved in local government after spending many years as a developer. His early dedication to the betterment of Chicago's communities drew attention from the late Mayor Harold Washington. Michael went on to serve in the administrations of Mayor Washington and Mayor Richard Daley.

In June 2001, Michael Scott was appointed to the Chicago Board of Education, and elected president of the board that same month. For the past 5 years, Michael has dedicated his energy and talents to this challenging and time consuming position, working on a voluntary basis. Under his direction, the Chicago Public Schools have thrived. One of Michael's key initiatives, in partnership with Mayor Daley, was Renaissance 2010, a program that closed underperforming schools and reached out to private donors to build new ones. Together they built the first new Chicago public school in 29 years.

Michael has combined strong managerial skills with an ability to bring students, parents, and teachers together to solve problems and create opportunities. He has worked very hard for the students of Chicago and cares about them deeply. His engaging personality has also helped him build strong relationships with parents and teachers.

Michael's success can be seen in the students' improved math and reading test scores. The schools have also worked hard to reduce truancy. Michael's creativity and innovation have also resulted in new programs such as ballroom dancing and other opportunities for student creativity.

Mr. Speaker, I ask my colleagues to join me in recognizing a true public servant on the successful completion of his tenure. On behalf of all of Chicago's families, I thank Michael Scott for his dedication and wish him the best of luck in the future.

Mr. Speaker, my Republican colleagues like to say the economy is ``robust.'' But for middle-class families it's the best of times, it's the worst of times. While the gross domestic product increases, Americans are drowning in a sea of debt in this wageless recovery.

New data released by the Federal Reserve today indicated that household debt grew at a faster rate in the first quarter of this year than in the previous quarter. Why is it increasing? Because middle- class families are taking on more debt just to make ends meet.

Wages in 2006 were actually lower than they were in November of 2001 when the recovery began. Monthly job growth is a measly 0.4 percent since March 2001, the weakest of any business cycle since World War II. At the same time, the cost for gasoline is up, tuition is up 38 percent, health care premiums have increased 73 percent.

What is the end result? America has a negative savings rate.

Mr. Speaker, my Republican colleagues like to say the economy is booming, and that is certainly true for the credit card companies. But for middle-class families, these are hardly the best of times.

It is time for a change. It is time for a new direction.