Floor Statements

Mr. Speaker, I rise today to congratulate the Chicago White Sox for winning their first pennant since 1959. On the

strength of its pitching staff, clutch hitting and expert managing, the White Sox led the American League with 99 victories in the regular season and won an American League Central Division title.

Ozzie Guillen, a long-time White Sox player, managed the team to a sweep of the defending champion Boston Red Sox in American League Division Series. The team followed that impressive feat with a victory over the Anaheim Angels in five games in the American League Championship Series, led by series MVP Paul Konerko and tremendous starting pitching. Jose Contreras, Mark Buehrle, Jon Garland and Freddy Garcia pitched consecutive complete game victories for the Sox in the ALCS, an accomplishment not seen since 1956.

I'd also like to extend my personal congratulations to Jerry Reinsdorf, who is the owner of this historic franchise, and one of the most dominant teams in NBA history, the Chicago Bulls. Jerry was born in Brooklyn, New York, but he has made his mark on Chicago history, providing North and South Siders alike with years of excitement and memories. Jerry has been the head of these historic franchises for over 20 years, during which the Bulls won six World Championships, and the White Sox won 4 division titles and one pennant.

Jerry is also to be commended for his work in ensuring that these historic franchises remained where they belong, in Chicago. In an era when countless sports franchises abandoned their local fan base to move to the suburbs or new cities, Jerry oversaw the construction of new stadiums for the White Sox and Bulls, directly across the street from their former locations. He has also been instrumental in the community outreach efforts of his teams and has been a credit to the Chicago community. Jerry has also exhibited a strong community spirit and work ethic in his other work as an attorney, certified public accountant and real-estate developer.

As a lifelong North Sider I must admit that I'm a little wistful seeing the activity at U.S. Cellular Field while Wrigley Field goes into another quiet October, but I'm thrilled to join first fan Mayor Richard M. Daley and all of Chicago in hoping the White Sox can win it all for the first time since 1917. I wish manager Ozzie Guillen, general manager Ken Williams, owner Jerry Reinsdorf and all the players and loyal fans the best of luck against the Houston Astros in the World Series. Go Sox!

Mr. Speaker, today marks a solemn milestone: 2,000 American military personnel have now given their lives fighting in Iraq; 244 Americans have also fallen in Afghanistan. We owe these brave men and women and their families a debt of gratitude that can never be fully repaid.

In July of this year, I led a bipartisan group of 21 Members of Congress in reading the names of the fallen into the Congressional Record over a 2-week period of time. Tonight I continue this tribute by reading the names of some of those who have fallen most recently.

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 blessings. God bless them, and keep each of the brave Americans whose memory we honor tonight in our memory: Staff Sergeant Jeremy W. Doyle, Specialist Ray M. Fuhrmann II, Lance Corporal Phillip C. George, Private 1st Class Timothy J. Seamans, 1st Lieutenant Laura M. Walker, Sergeant Willard Todd Partridge, Private 1st Class Elden D. Arcand, 2nd Lieutenant James J. Cathey, Specialist Blake W. Hall, 1st Lieutenant Joshua M. Hyland, Sergeant Michael R. Lehmiller, Staff Sergeant Brian Lee Morris, Specialist Joseph C. Nurre, Private Christopher L. Palmer, Sergeant Joseph Daniel Hunt, Specialist Hatim S. Kathiria, Staff Sergeant Ictoir P. Lieurance, Private 1st Class Ramon Romero, Master Sergeant Chris S. Chapin, 1st Lieutenant Carlos J. Diaz, Sergeant 1st Class Trevor J. Diesing, Master Sergeant Ivica Jerak, Corporal Timothy M. Shea, Staff Sergeant Damion G. Campbell, Specialist Joseph L. Martinez, Sergeant 1st Class Obediah J. Kolath, Chief Warrant Officer Dennis P. Hay, 2nd Lieutenant Charles R. Rubado, Major Gregory J. Fester, Specialist Jason E. Ames, Captain Lowell T. Miller II, Sergeant Monta S. Ruth, Sergeant George Ray Draughn, Jr., 1st Lieutenant Derek S. Hines, Staff Sergeant Robert Lee Hollar, Jr., Sergeant 1st Class Lonnie J. Parson, Lance Corporal Ryan J. Nass, Sergeant Matthew Charles Bohling, Specialist Luke C. Williams, Hospitalman Robert N. Martens, Specialist Jeffrey A. Williams, Sergeant Franklin R. Vilorio, Staff Sergeant Jude R. Jonaus, Staff Sergeant Christopher L. Everett, Specialist Jeremy M. Campbell, Sergeant Kurtis Dean K. Arcala, Seaman Apprentice Robert D. Macrum, Sergeant Alfredo B. Silva, Lance Corporal Shane C. Swanberg, Sergeant Matthew L. Deckard.

Mr. Speaker, in the words of President Abraham Lincoln, who wrote to the mother of five fallen soldiers, ``I pray that our Heavenly Father may assuage the anguish of your bereavement, and leave you only the cherished memory of the loved and lost, and the solemn pride that must be yours to have laid so costly a sacrifice upon the altar of freedom.''

I would also like to thank the brave men and women who continue to serve our Nation in both Iraq and Afghanistan and throughout the world and serve with distinction. Our thoughts and prayers and gratitude are with you and your families at this time until you return home.

To the families whose names I have read here tonight and other nights, if I have mispronounced your names, my apology. I want you to know your family member, your son and your daughter, your brothers and sisters, your fathers and mothers, that we only meant to put your name in the Congressional Record and to always be part of our country and our community.

God bless you.

Mr. Speaker, I rise in strong opposition to S. 397, the Gun Manufacturers Liability Protection Act. Shielding gun manufacturers, dealers and distributors from liability is one of the most egregious forms of corporate welfare we've considered in this House all year.

This is George Orwell legislation at its finest--all industries are equal, but some are more equal than others. If you sell beer to a 17- year-old and he causes an accident, you can be held liable. But if you allow a 17-year-old to walk out of your store with a high powered rifle, don't worry. Congress has your back.

Mr. Speaker, this is not a hypothetical case. Last year the families of DC sniper victims settled for $2.5 million with Bull's Eye Shooter Supply and Bushmaster Firearms, because Bull's Eye allowed Lee Boyd Malvo to shoplift a military quality rifle--one of 233 guns they could not account for when investigated by the ATF. Some of my colleagues call this a frivolous lawsuit. I don't think there is anything frivolous about 233 missing guns.

In July of this year we gift wrapped a provision in the Medical Malpractice Bill that shielded the pharmaceutical industry from liability on any drug that made it through the regular FDA approval process. Coincidentally, Merck Pharmaceuticals was at the same time facing multiple lawsuits tied to its misrepresentation of the dangers of the prescription drug Vioxx.

Thanks to this Congress, Americans can continue to exercise their Constitutional right to seek redress in the court system, unless it involves guns or drugs.

I am gratified to see that this bill does include certain common- sense provisions such as child safety locks and a ban on armor-piercing bullets. We fought hard for these ideas in the Clinton Administration and I urge my colleagues to resist any pressure to have them removed.

Despite my support for these ideas I must vote no on the overall bill. Mr. Speaker, this bill denies Americans one of their most basic rights in order to provide special protections for a very special interest. I urge my colleagues to resist the gun lobby and defeat this bill.

Madam Speaker, after racking up nearly $3 trillion in new debt in the past 4 years, suddenly this Congress has decided to become

budget hawks. Tomorrow we are set to slash up to $50 billion from essential investments in America in order to cut taxes for the wealthiest 1 percent. To pay for those tax cuts, we are cutting health care, education, community investments, heating assistance, and nutritional programs. American taxpayers all the while are being asked to carry $445 billion invested in Iraq's war. In Iraq we have built and renovated 110 primary health care centers, vaccinated 3.2 million children, but right here this budget by the Republicans is cutting $10 billion from Medicaid.

In Iraq we have rehabilitated 2,700 schools, trained 36,000 secondary school teachers. In America, we are cutting $806 million from public school funding and college assistance by billions of dollars. We have funded 3,100 community development projects in Iraq, but this Congress is cutting $250 million from community development block grants.

Madam Speaker, it is our duty to rebuild Iraq, but Iraq's future should not come at the expense of America's. This Congress should be working to leave America stronger in the future, not weaker.

Mr. Speaker, I ask unanimous consent to claim the time of the gentlewoman from California (Ms. Woolsey).

Mr. Speaker, since the year 2000 this Congress has racked up more than $3 trillion in new debt. How did that happen? They tried to do what no other President has tried to do and no other Congress, to fund two wars with four tax cuts.

This Congress has served as an ATM to special interests, showering them with billions in tax breaks and handouts. Suddenly our Republican friends have become born-again budget hawks. In fact, tomorrow we may have to vote on a resolution to slash more than $50 billion from education, health care, nutritional investments important to millions of Americans and families and their future. All for what? So we can fund $70 billion in tax cuts just for the wealthy Americans.

That is what this budget package is, $70 billion in tax cuts. At the same time that these so-called new-born fiscal conservatives are complaining about the deficit, they are going to push through yet another round of tax cuts on top, close to $20 billion added to our deficit.

I ask my colleagues, are these the choices the American people asked us to do? To date, the American taxpayer has funded $445 billion in the effort in Iraq, $20 billion going to rebuild Iraq. We have built and renovated 110 primary health care centers in Iraq, vaccinated 3.2 million Iraqi children; all the while here in the United States the Republican budget has cut $10 billion from Medicaid. We have also cut community health care clinics.

In Iraq we have rehabilitated 2,700 schools, trained 36,000 secondary education school teachers. What is their budget doing for America? They cut $806 million from America's public schools, Leave No Child Behind. They have also proposed nearly $9 billion in cuts to college student aid. We funded nearly 3,100 community development projects in Iraq alone. Yet the President's budget is cutting the community development grants here for the United States by $250 million.

The Corps of Engineers in the United States has been cut by over $300 million. Yet we built a new light rail system in Iraq. We have also rebuilt their dam with a levee in it. All the while their budget cuts from America's future and American families' future while literally loading up close to $445 billion for the effort in Iraq, of which $20 billion goes to rebuilding their schools, their health care, their nutritional programs, things that we are cutting from the United States and from American families.

Every President going to war has thought about America's future. During the Civil War, Abraham Lincoln thought of the Land Grant College system. President Roosevelt in the middle of the World War II thought of the G.I. Bill. President Eisenhower at the tail end of the Korean War built the interstate highway system for the United States. During the height of the Cold War and Vietnam War, President Kennedy envisioned a man on the Moon.

What does this President propose? Eliminating Amtrak, cutting $9 billion from student aid, and cutting veterans benefits. Why? Because he has tried to do something that no other President has thought of doing, which is to cut taxes in the middle of two wars. Where has it left America? $3 trillion in debt, cuts in our future for American families.

Now Americans are faced not only with these cuts in its investments. Gas prices are nearly $3 a gallon, home heating costs are up by 50 percent this winter, inflation has increased at the fastest rate in 15 years, hundreds and thousands have lost everything in the gulf coast, and our brave men and women are fighting and dying in Iraq with no end in sight.

Yet what are we proposing to America? Cuts in their educational investments, cuts in health care investments, cuts in nutritional investments. All the while we are making those same types of investments in Iraq. That is not the choice the American people want.

I have no problem if we are going to make a commitment to Iraq and Iraq's future and the future of their children. I have a problem when we are not going to leave America stronger, but weaker, at the end of that effort, and we are not willing to make that same investment in American children's future.

We cannot afford those types of choices. Those are the false choices. All the while what we are trying to do is wall off and protect tax cuts for the wealthiest 1 percent, people making $300,000 a year, while the rest of America gets cuts in Amtrak, student aid, nutritional programs, veterans get cut from their health care benefits. That is not what the American people think of as an investment in their future. It is clearly not the one you are willing to make in Iraq where we now have a $445 billion bill due to the American people. It will get close to $600 billion before it is all over. The American people are going to be asked to pay for it.

How are they going to pay for it? With cuts in their education college loans, cuts in their communities' health care clinics, cuts in Medicaid, cuts in Medicare, cuts in their programs that have guaranteed them a middle-class future. We should find ways to balance the budget, but we should not do it on the backs of our children.

The American people expect their leaders to make the right choices. Mr. Speaker, it is time Congress changes its tune. We can do better. Building a strong America begins by building a good America here at home.

Mr. Speaker, tomorrow will mark the 4-year anniversary of our troops' deployment in Afghanistan. In honor of their service and their memory, Democrats and Republican colleagues of mine have been reading their names, the names of those who have died in Iraq and Afghanistan, into the Congressional Record so that our Nation will never forget their sacrifice. Prior to the summer recess, a number of us have read a little over 1,800 of their names into the Record. Since that time in July, an additional 188 have fallen. To date, 244 American service men and women have perished in the Afghanistan theater of combat. Additionally, 1,957 members of our armed services and fellow citizens have died fighting in Iraq. We owe these brave men and women and their families a debt of gratitude that can never fully be repaid. At the very least we must pay tribute to our fallen servicemembers.

Staff Sergeant Jefferey J. Farrow

Private Lavena L. Johnson

Sergeant Arthur R. McGill

Corporal Steven P. Gill

Petty Officer Third Class Travis L. Youngblood

Sergeant Bryan James Opskar

Sergeant Jason T. Palmerton

Specialist Jacques Earl ``Gus'' Brunson

Specialist Ernest W. Dallas, Jr.

Staff Sergeant Carl Ray Fuller

Sergeant James Ondra Kinlow

Staff Sergeant Jason W. Montefering

Sergeant Milton M. Monzon, Jr.

Sergeant Christopher J. Taylor

Sergeant John Frank Thomas

Private First Class Ramon A. Villatoro, Jr.

Specialist Adam J. Harting

Staff Sergeant Michael W. Schafer

Specialist Adrian J. Butler

Captain Benjamin D. Jansky

Specialist Edward L. Myers

Specialist John O. Tollefson

Lance Corporal Christopher P. Lyons

Corporal Andre L. Williams

Private Ernesto R. Guerra

Sergeant First Class Victor A. Anderson

Sergeant Jonathon C. Haggin

Staff Sergeant David R. Jones, Sr.

Private First Class Jason D. Scheuerman

Sergeant Ronnie L. ``Rod'' Shelley, Sr.

Private First Class Robert A. Swaney

Specialist James D. Carroll

Corporal Jeffrey A. Boskovitch

Lance Corporal Roger D. Castleberry, Jr.

Sergeant David J. Coullard

Lance Corporal Daniel Nathan Deyarmin, Jr.

Sergeant James R. Graham, III

Lance Corporal Brian P. Montgomery

Sergeant Nathaniel S. Rock

Petty Officer First Class Thomas C. Hull

Staff Sergeant James D. McNaughton

Lance Corporal Timothy Michael Bell, Jr.

Lance Corporal Eric J. Bernholtz

Lance Corporal Nicholas William B. Bloem

Lance Corporal Michael J. Cifuentes

Lance Corporal Christopher Jenkins Dyer

Lance Corporal Grant B. Fraser

Specialist Jerry Lewis Ganey, Jr.

Specialist Mathew V. Gibbs

Sergeant Bradley J. Harper

Over the next couple of weeks, I will continue to read the names until we complete the 188 that have fallen since the summer.

I want to also read the words of then 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 its blessings.''

Mr. Speaker, it is difficult to read all the names and think of the lives that have been lost in service to our country. My colleagues and I will continue to pay tribute to those who have made the ultimate sacrifice for our Nation. Your Nation thanks you and we will never forget you.

Mr. Speaker, I know we are pretty busy, so to catch everybody up here, a few of today's headlines:

``E-mail Show FEMA's Disarray.'' Documents offer a glimpse of communication breakdowns in the Federal response to Katrina.

``Inflation Soars Largest Amount in 15 years.''

``General Motors Health Care Benefit Cut Part Of A Trend.''

``Greenspan says surge in energy prices will act as a drag on economy.''

``States Protest Contributions to the Medicare Drug Plan.'' The Bush administration is requiring States to pay billion of dollars to fund the new prescription drug benefit.

``Vice President Cheney's Office Is A Focus in Leak Case. Sources Cite Role of Feud With the CIA.''

``As of Monday morning, 1,957 U.S. servicemen had died in the war on Iraq.''

Mr. Speaker, these stories serve as a wakeup call for change, or we can continue the same policies that have led us to this direction and this place. America can do better. We need new priorities. In the spirit of Edward R. Murrow, ``Good day, and good luck.''

Mr. Speaker, I ask unanimous consent to claim the time of the gentleman from Ohio (Mr. Brown).

Mr. Speaker, since the year 2000 this Congress has racked up more than $3 trillion in new debt. Mind you, at a time in which in 2000 the American budget was running a surplus, but in that time we have run deficits on average a little north of $400 billion and we have added $3 trillion to the Nation's debt.

How did we do it? We have tried to fight two wars with four tax cuts; and this Congress has served as an ATM to the special interests, showering them with billions in tax breaks and handouts. The prescription drug bill is a classic example where we are now adding close to what the American people were once told would be a $400 billion prescription drug bill, is now worth $800 billion and $139 billion in extra profits to the pharmaceutical companies over 10 years.

Yet, all of the sudden when it comes to rebuilding the lives of our fellow citizens in New Orleans and on the coast, we are talking about cutting education, health care, areas of environment and energy for the rest of America, $50 billion; and all the while we are trying to do that this Congress under a Republican majority wants to shower the wealthiest 1 percent, those who earn over $200,000, with more tax cuts and more debt. Yet, what are we saying to the rest of America? You are going to get cuts in education, health care, environment, energy, national security areas, homeland in the area of police.

Yet the interesting thing, while all of this is happening here in the United States we are trying to turn ourselves into a pretzel, trying to cut $50 billion from our education and health care. What are we doing in Iraq at this time? What are we doing in Iraq?

We are actually renovating and building 110 primary health care centers, vaccinating 3.2 million Iraqi children, rehabilitating 2,700 schools, training 36,000 secondary school teachers in Iraq. We fund 3,120 community development projects in Iraq, and we have provided housing for tens of thousands of Iraqis. And what do we tell the American people in the same area,

health care and education? We are going to cut in America.

This is the only time in American history. When you look back to it, Abraham Lincoln thought of the land grant colleges and the transcontinental railroad system. Eisenhower at the end of the Korean War thought of the interstate highway system. President Kennedy at the ending days of Vietnam was thinking of putting a man on the moon.

At this time when we are thinking about, as we have always thought towards the end of the war, every President--Roosevelt had the G.I. bill--every President said, how do we bring this peace home to America and how do we make sure we invest in America so we reap the benefits as a country? Only this President at this time in this war is thinking about rebuilding another country while cutting back in the United States.

President Lincoln thought of the land grant colleges. We are going to cut Pell grants. President Eisenhower thought of the interstate highway system. President Kennedy thought of putting a man on the moon. What are we going to do? We are going to cut Amtrak in this country.

This is not the way to invest in America. You want to make the 21st century the American century like the 20th century? You have to invest in America. What have you done? You have turned the budget into a pretzel all to protect tax cuts for the wealthiest of Americans.

They are patriots too. When it comes to America's future, every American must have skin in the game. When it comes to rebuilding the coast, that is the families and the communities of New Orleans, Mississippi and Alabama. The choice should not be cutting Pell grants and college loans, cutting student nutrition programs, cutting health care for our elderly and most vulnerable as a way to pay for that.

Yet at the same time this Congress has allocated $445 billion to Iraq and it is going to go north to $600 billion unaccounted for, unpaid for, all debt the American taxpayer has to pay for. And what are the Americans going to get for it? Cuts in education, cuts in the students loan programs, cuts in health care clinics. Our senior citizens are going to get cuts in health care.

That is the budget you have presented to the American people. The American people deserve better. We can build a stronger America. We do not and America does not deserve gas prices at $3 a gallon. Energy prices this winter are going up by 50 percent. Inflation is increasing at its fastest rate, 15 percent.

What are you providing Americans? You are providing them protection for those who earn $200,000 or more and the rest of America gets cuts in its investment for its future. Yet you have told the Iraqis. Why do we not give Iraq some cuts in their investments and provide America the schools we are talking about in Iraq?

I have no problem investing in Iraq's future. What I have a problem with is the cuts in America's future that you want to make here. We can do better for America. We can definitely do better. A stronger America around the world begins at home.

You are making the wrong choices for America's future. I hope as we deal with this budget and the time coming up for this budget that we understand that writing $445 billion of hot checks for Iraq's future and cutting education and health care in America is not the right choice.

Mr. Speaker, I rise today in strong support of H. Con. Res. 248, a resolution honoring the memory and legacy of Simon Wiesenthal, a man known as the ``conscience of the Holocaust.'' Wiesenthal was relentless in the pursuit of justice for victims of the Holocaust and the eradication of anti-Semitism around the globe.

Born on New Year's Eve in 1908, Simon Wiesenthal spent the bulk of his life fighting for those who, like him, had suffered unspeakable wrongs at the hands of the Nazis and their collaborators across Europe. He was interned at the Janwska concentration camp in 1941 and survived twelve different camps until his liberation from the Mauthausen camp in 1945. From that moment until his passing on September 20, 2005, Simon Wiesenthal dedicated his life to fighting for those who perished in the Holocaust.

He was a man of indomitable spirit and courage, and even greater was his resolve after the war. Almost immediately after leaving Mauthausen, Simon Wiesenthal set out to collect and prepare evidence for the War Crimes Section of the United States Army for use in the Nuremberg trials, thus beginning his lifelong work as a Nazi hunter.

Over the past 60 years, Wiesenthal's research and investigative work led to the capture and conviction of more than 1,000 Nazi war criminals, including the infamous Adolf Eichmann. Simon Wiesenthal was the recipient of countless awards, including honorary British Knighthood, the Dutch Freedom Medal, the French Legion of Honor, the World Tolerance Award, and the Congressional Gold Medal.

When some of Wiesenthal's fellow survivors asked him why he decided to become a Nazi hunter, he looked down at the flames of the Sabbath candles from that particular Friday evening and said, ``My dear friends, do you know what I see in the glow of the candles? I see the souls of our six million brothers and sisters. And one day when our lives are over, they will come to all of us and they will ask us, what have you done? You, my dear friend, will tell them that you went into construction to build homes. And you will say you went into the jewelry business. And you became a manufacturer of clothes. But I will have the privilege of saying to them, `I have never forgotten you.' ''

Mr. Speaker, we will never forget Simon Wiesenthal and his many years in pursuit of justice for victims of the Holocaust. I thank the gentleman from California for introducing this resolution, and I urge my colleagues to support it.

Mr. Speaker, I rise today in strong support of H.J. Res. 66, a resolution supporting the goals and ideals of ``Lights On Afterschool.'' Lights On Afterschool is a national celebration of after school programs and the dedicated people who keep them going.

After school programs play an important role in the lives of millions of school children throughout the United States. These programs provide fun and educational activities that help develop the social, emotional, physical, cultural, and academic skills of children, while giving them a safe and enriching alternative to the streets.

Students in my home town of Chicago benefit from hundreds of exciting after school options. Many of these are coordinated through After School Matters, a non-profit organization which partners with the City of Chicago, the Chicago Public Schools, the Chicago Park District, the Chicago Public Library, and the Chicago Department of Children and Youth Services to create a network of after school opportunities for teens in underserved communities.

Through After School Matters, Chicago teens take part in engaging activities that provide skills that translate to the workplace. After School Matters helps kids build positive relationships with adults and peers, providing them with access to educational and career opportunities in their neighborhoods and the city.

Programs such as After School Matters are making a difference in communities throughout the United States. These programs deserve our support, and I urge my colleagues to make after school programs a priority as we move through the budget process.

Mr. Speaker, I am pleased to take this opportunity to recognize the work of these dedicated people who help provide quality after school opportunities for children. On October 20th, I urge my colleagues to participate in ``Lights On Afterschool'' and honor the after school programs which serve their communities.

Mr. Speaker, I rise today in strong support of H. Con. Res. 209, Supporting the goals and ideals of Domestic Violence Awareness Month. Domestic violence continues to have a devastating effect on American families. It is important for Congress to take a leading role in raising awareness about this issue.

I am proud to have played a leading role in creating the 1994 Violence Against Women Act during my time in the White House. Since the passage of this important act, the rate of domestic violence in the United States has diminished. However, there is still work to be done in breaking the cycle of violence and addressing the root causes of domestic violence.

Domestic violence affects women, men, and children of all racial, social, religious, ethnic and economic backgrounds. Between 1998 and 2002, family violence accounted for 11 percent of all reported violence in the nation. 22 percent of murders in 2002 were committed by family members of the victims, and approximately 15 percent of violent crime convictions were for an attack on a family member.

Congress must support measures to stop domestic violence before it begins through education, transitional housing assistance and counseling programs. We must also make it a priority to reauthorize the Violence Against Women Act and ensure that this important legislation receives sufficient funding.

Mr. Speaker, I thank the gentleman from Texas for introducing this important resolution, and I urge my colleagues to join me in support of establishing October as Domestic Violence Awareness Month.

Mr. Speaker, I rise today in strong support of H.J. Res. 61, Supporting the Goals and Ideals of Gold Star Mothers Day. I am proud to be a cosponsor of this important resolution, which honors the mothers of those who have made the ultimate sacrifice for our nation.

We often invoke the sacrifices of our nation's fallen in general. Seldom do we take the time to thank them and their families individually. In June and July of this year, I joined 21 other members from both sides of the aisle to read the names of each of our fallen on the house floor. I am pleased to have this opportunity to recognize an thank the mothers of these individual heroes.

President Franklin D. Roosevelt once wrote to the mother of a fallen serviceman, ``He stands in the unbroken line of Patriots who have dared to die that freedom might live, and grow and increase its blessings. Freedom lives, and through it he lives, in a way that humbles the undertakings of most men.''

Organizations such as American Gold Star Mothers keep the memory of these heroes alive, as they help fellow mothers and family members of the fallen work through the grief of losing a loved one. They are also actively involved in their communities, visiting VA hospitals, helping veterans with claims to the Veterans Administration and volunteering at patriotic and memorial services throughout the year.

Mr. Speaker, I would like to echo the words of President Abraham Lincoln, who wrote to the mother of five fallen soldiers in the Civil War: ``I pray that our heavenly Father may assuage the anguish of your bereavement, and leave you only the cherished memory of the

loved and lost, and the solemn pride that must be yours to have laid so costly a sacrifice upon the alter of freedom.''

We owe gold star mothers and their families a debt that can never be fully repaid. I hope all Americans will take this opportunity to recognize and thank America's Gold Star Mothers.

Mr. Speaker, I find the debate over how we are going to pay for the reconstruction and revitalization of the gulf coast ironic because in the past few years this body has allocated nearly $400 billion for the war in Iraq, without a peep, just a rubber-stamp Congress.

We have added $3 trillion to our national debt with annual deficits at $400 billion as far as the eye can see.

This has become the Congress known for hot checks. Yet when this Congress faces a tab for rebuilding America and American lives that is less than half of what we have spent in Iraq, suddenly everyone here is wearing green eye shades.

In Iraq, we have spent millions to rebuild the Sweet Water Canal System, rebuilding and repairing the levee system; and here in America, we cut the levee construction down in Louisiana by 80 percent.

Tuesday's Christian Science Monitor reported that the National Guard's response to Katrina was hampered by a lack of equipment because two-thirds of that equipment is in Iraq.

We need a new direction with new priorities. We need a Congress that is going to put some checks and balances and not act like a rubber stump.

In the coming weeks, I intend to reintroduce the American Parity Act, a bill to ensure that, as we rebuild Iraq, we ensure that we also rebuild America.

This Congress cannot have one set of books, one set of priorities for Iraq, and another one for the American people.