Floor Statements

Mr. Speaker, last week the Associated Press reported that Iraqis are paying 5 cents for a gallon of gas; 5 cents, a nickel. Why are the Iraqis getting such a good deal while the rest of the world has an energy crisis? Because the American taxpayer is subsidizing the Iraqis to the tune of $167 million a month so they can get discounted gasoline. This comes to $500 million every 3 months, $1 billion every 6 months, $2 billion over the year.

Here in America, hard-working families are paying close to $2, if not more, per gallon, up 50 cents since the beginning of the war in Iraq.

Since this is energy week here in Congress, what are we doing? We are bringing up a piece of legislation that a Republican Senator dubbed the ``No Lobbyist Left Behind'' bill for the energy industry. For too long, this administration has two sets of books, and values: One for Iraq and one for America.

We cannot deny Americans the same dreams of affordable health care, quality education and affordable energy that we promise Iraqis. The same values that we hold for Iraq, we must pledge to Americans.

Mr. Speaker, this week we should work to solve the Nation's energy needs, and not retread bad policy.

Mr. Speaker, here we go again. Lately around this Congress I feel like it is Groundhog Day. I never knew that Bill Murray became a consultant to the Republican Conference. As you know, in the movie Bill Murray's character relived the same day over and over again, and here in Congress we are doing the same.

Take the energy bill that we were just debating so eloquently here. The same bill, nothing has happened to the bill, same bill we took up back in November, H.R. 6. The only thing different is a new number. That is the only thing that is different about this energy bill. It never moved in the Senate, the President has not gotten behind it and gotten it passed or anything. Yet we take up again.

Here are some the things Congress has done just the same, while the American people face higher costs for college education, health care, energy costs, and their pay stubs are not getting any better.

H.R. 4280, medical malpractice bill, same as H.R. 5. We took it up in March of 2003. Nothing happened, but we took it up again.

H.R. 4281, the Association Health Plan bill, the same as the H.R. 660, which originally was taken up in June of 2003, but no action in the Senate.

H.R. 4409, the teacher training bill, the same as H.R. 2211 which we took up in July 2003, but no action in the Senate.

H.R. 4411, the graduate studies bill, the same as H.R. 3076. We took it up in October of 2003, no action in the Senate.

Ironically, there is nothing new here in the Republican plan. Somehow they have decided that motion is better than action, that rather than doing something it is better to look like you are doing something.

As the American people struggle to make ends meet, as they struggle to meet the challenges of trying to send their kids to college, they used to be able to do it with one job, now they need two to educate their children, as the American people struggle to deal with health care costs that have gone up by one-third. It used to be $6,500 for a family of four, now it is $9,000 for a family of four. What do we do? Take up bills that have gone nowhere and are going nowhere, just so it looks like this body is doing something, while you face constant challenges trying to meet the needs and requirements of your family.

Today, the Labor Department reported that consumer prices increased by nearly one point last month, the sharpest increase since January 2001. Since 2000, health care insurance premiums have increased from $6,500 to nearly $9,000. College tuition has on average increased by $1,200 a year the last 3 years in a row. In my home State of Illinois, the average graduate from the State university graduates with a diploma and, on the other side, $15,000 of debts. Who knew on graduation day you get your first Visa bill? Care costs have increased by $2,000, and average yearly gasoline costs by $1,000.

What does the Congress do, the People's House? We take up legislation that we have taken up before that is going nowhere and going nowhere fast. It is Groundhog Day here in this Congress. We have lost nearly 1.5 million private sector jobs since 2000, and family incomes have declined on average 1,500.

The average American household now carries $9,000 in credit card debt and $17,000 in overall household debt. The squeeze has resulted in 1.6 million households declaring bankruptcy in 2003, a 33 percent increase since 2000. The administration's budget, while these challenges are facing the American families, has cut job training, underfunded Leave No Child Behind, the education initiative by nearly 9 billion, and cut housing and home ownership programs.

The American people, in my view, deserve better. Rather than revisiting last year's failed energy bill, we should be working to reduce the cost of energy prices today and natural gas prices. We should be working to reduce our dependence on foreign oil. We should be working to ensure that we increase the Pell Grant, college assistance, the Perkins loans, and ensure that we pass a Higher Education Reauthorization Act.

But we are not going to do that. So what we are going to do is take up medical malpractice, which we took up before, but it is going nowhere. We are going to take up the energy bill that failed to go anywhere, just so you have the impression we are doing something here.

It is Groundhog Day, and Bill Murray has now become a member of the Republican Conference. The American people cannot afford for us to repeat the same mistakes until we get it right, nor should they have to.

Mr. Speaker, President Kennedy once said, ``To govern is to choose.'' From this day forward, we should choose to govern.

Mr. Speaker, last week the Associated Press reported that Iraqis are paying 5 cents a gallon for gas in Iraq, 5 cents. Why are Iraqis getting such a good deal? Because the American taxpayer is subsidizing the Iraqis to the tune of $167 million a month, approximately $500 million over 3 months.

Here in the United States on average Americans are paying over $2 a gallon for gas, up approximately 50 cents since the beginning of the war in Iraq. Fill up a car with gas, a little north of $50; yet in Iraq to do the same costs you about a dollar, what would cost us here $50. We are subsidizing them, the American taxpayer, to the tune of $167 million a month. Here in the United States, what have we done? Nothing.

I am not against building and rebuilding Iraq after the war, but I am opposed to providing Iraqis with a better opportunity than we provide Americans, and I am not just talking about gas prices.

Take health care. They have health care. We have opened up 150 health clinics and hospitals throughout Iraq, providing 100,000 with prenatal and infant coverage costing Americans taxpayers $1 billion. In the United States, 44 million Americans are without health insurance; 33 million Americans work full-time without health care; 10 million American children are without health care. What do we do?

In the area of jobs, in Iraq we provide universal job training. In the United States, under the President's budget we cut $238 million from job training programs.

Veterans in Iraq, $60 million is being spent to train the Iraqi veterans from past wars.

In the United States, under the President's budget, we are cutting $257 million from American veterans medical care.

In the area of education, in Iraq, we built 2,300 schools. In America, under the President's budget, we have underfunded by $8 billion the Leave No Child Behind Act. In Iraq, universities are receiving $20 million for higher education partnerships. In America, we have cut Perkins loans by $90 million and frozen the Pell grants for 3 years in a row. That is the President's budget.

Police. In Iraq, we are spending $500 million to retrain the police on security. In the United States, the COPS program for community policing throughout our country, supporting police officers, we have cut in the President's budget by $659 million.

In the area of housing, in Iraq, we are spending $470 million for public housing. In the United States, under the President's budget, we cut $791 million from section 8.

The environment, $3.6 billion in Iraq for water and sewer. In America, the President's budget cuts $500 million from the revolving fund.

For roads, in Iraq, we are spending $240 million on new roads and bridges. In America, the Army Corps of Engineers' budget is cut by 10 percent.

We could go on and on with program after program. My colleagues know that in the election of 2000, then Governor Bush, now President Bush, declared he was opposed to nation-building. Who knew it was America he was talking about when he said he was opposed to nation-building? But the good news is that in the 2004 reelection, President Bush can say he kept his commitment in opposition to nation-building. The problem is, it is here at home.

What do we have here at home? We have a higher unemployment rate than when he took office; more uninsured; college costs soaring now by 10 or 12 percent a year, on average. Health care costs for a family of four was $6,500 3 years ago; today it is $9,000. Yet in Iraq in the areas of health care, education,

job training, housing, and the environment, we are making investments that we do not promise here at home.

This administration has two priorities, two sets of values, two sets of books: one for Iraq and one for America.

Mr. Speaker, the American people are the most generous people in the world, but we can no longer afford to be so generous if our hope for a prosperous tomorrow for our children is diminished and less than the one we promise the people overseas. We cannot deny Americans the same dreams of affordable health care, quality education, a safe place to live that we promised the Iraqis, but denied the American people. The same values that we hold for Iraq we must pledge for every American as well.

It is time that we look at the energy crisis we have in this country and ask the American taxpayers to subsidize 5 cents a gallon in Iraq while we pay north of 2 bucks a gallon here in the United States, while we say to our children, you should graduate college with a $16,000 bill and yet provide universal health care and higher education to Iraqis. We can do better; we need to do better.

Mr. Speaker, I wish to extend my best wishes to everyone associated with Chicago's John G. Shedd Aquarium on the occasion of its Gala 2004 Night Tide Tango.

Chicagoans are very proud to be home to the world's largest indoor aquarium. More than two million visitors who travel to our city to visit this lakefront treasure each year discover a diverse and contemporary institution dedicated to conservation, education and family fun.

The gala event, to be held on June 12, gives me the opportunity to commend so many committed Chicagoans who have dedicated countless hours ensuring that the aquarium remains one of our city's brightest gems.

I want to specifically recognize Chairman Stephen Byron Smith, Senior Vice Chairman Philip D. Block III, President and CEO Ted Beattie, and Gala Chairmen, Paula Epstein and Linda Mengelt. Each deserves high praise for devoting their time and energy to this undoubtedly worthwhile cause.

I would also like to take this opportunity to express my admiration for the museum's originality and innovation. Visitors can enjoy the

marine mammal pavilion featuring the crowd-pleasing beluga whales and Pacific white-sided dolphins, and I continue to be particularly impressed by the aquarium's emphasis on conservation and preservation.

The Shedd Aquarium has also developed some of the most innovative preservation projects in the nation. These include breeding programs for animals such as the Tahitian land snail, African cichlids fish and West Indian rock iguanas, and Project Seahorse, which is working for the longterm survival of wild populations of seahorses in the Philippines.

Most recently, the Shedd Aquarium opened the Wild Reef, an incredible exhibit with the most sharks in captivity anywhere on the planet. And we are looking forward to the new children's exhibit on sea stars.

The Shedd Aquarium is much more than one of our city's top tourist destinations--it is also a place where students can learn about the importance of saving our environment and where researchers spend countless hours trying to preserve marine life.

Mr. Speaker, I am honored on behalf of the Fifth District and indeed all of Chicago to call attention to all of the meaningful work occurring at the Shedd Aquarium at the time of its 2004 gala event. I offer my heartfelt thanks to those officers, leaders, scientists, researchers and staff members who have dedicated their lives to ensuring that one of Chicago's favorite institutions is also making its impact felt throughout the rest of the world.

Mr. Speaker, I do not have stories like the gentleman from Indiana (Mr. Burton), personal interaction with former President Reagan, but as somebody growing up and loving politics, I obviously watched his Presidency as a student of politics.

Here was a guy known as a great communicator, an eternal optimist. It makes sense when one thinks about it: A guy who grew up in Dixon, Illinois, a troubled home, faced a series of disadvantages, and one day wakes up in the White House.

What is there not to be optimistic about? And he had that sense of optimism, and everybody can talk about different skills or techniques or tactics as a communicator; but the truth is he never left Dixon, Illinois. He had that common touch. He knew about walking-around folk, and he understood

their lives, and he could tell a great story that gave people a sense of his ideas. So he spoke of our common wisdom and our common sense.

One of the other things that I very much admired on the policy, although I do have differences obviously, was President Reagan's commitment to the earned income tax credit. In 1986, he greatly expanded the earned income tax credit; and if I can quote him, ``This is the best antipoverty, the best profamily, the best job creation measure to come out of Congress.''

That was President Reagan on the earned income tax credit; and he understood that through a tax credit we can help create jobs, help be profamily, did not have to have a government bureaucrat to do it, but it was something we could do through the Tax Code to reward work, reward responsibility, and fight poverty at the same time.

I think that was a tremendous program. We expanded it in 1993 and again later on in 1997, but Ronald Reagan in 1986 really put the muscle behind the earned income tax credit, a great program that I think lifted millions of American families and children out of poverty and did it by rewarding work, not dependency.

Lastly, Ronald Reagan spoke to our patriotism and our sense of love. He came into office at a time when people did not think you could do the job of the Presidency. It was just so overwhelming. And with his ease, his grace and his confidence, he restored people's confidence in that office.

Mr. Speaker, he has a legacy of patriotism and confidence in America and the American people, and it will endure. Our hearts go out to Mrs. Reagan and his entire family, to a great, great patriot.

Mr. Speaker, I rise today to congratulate and recognize Lester Crown on the occasion of his 79th birthday.

One of Chicago's most respected business and civic leaders, Mr. Crown Lester got an early start with the family business, the Material Service Corporation, working in the quarries as a teenager. He then enrolled in Northwestern University and earned a degree in chemical engineering in 1946.

After teaching mathematics at Northwestern for a year, Mr. Crown went on to receive his MBA from the Harvard School of Business in 1949. After working as a research chemist, he eventually returned to the family company. Today, Mr. Crown serves as the chairman of both Material Service Corporation and of Henry Crown and Company.

In addition to his achievements in the business world, Mr. Crown has been extremely active in numerous philanthropic and civic organizations. Both he and his family are strong supporters of the arts, education, Jewish interests, health care, and community development.

He serves on the boards of Northwestern University, Children's Memorial Medical Center, the Lyric Opera of Chicago, The Jewish Theological Seminary, General Dynamics, Maytag Corporation, and was recently elected chairman of the Chicago Council on Foreign Relations, just to name a few of the organizations to which he so generously gives his time and energy.

On top of his business and civic accomplishments, Mr. Crown has also become the patriarch of a large and growing family. He and his wife Renee are proud parents of seven children and 22 grandchildren.

Mr. Speaker, Lester Crown has gained well-deserved respect in both the business world and in the community. His generosity has touched many people, in Chicago and beyond. We in Chicago are proud to share our city with someone who truly values public service. I thank Lester Crown for his service to the public, and wish him and his family continued good fortune on the occasion of his 79th birthday.

Mr. Speaker, last week we learned from an internal Bush administration budget memo detailing their planned cuts.

According to the budget document, education, transportation, Social Security, the Environmental Protection Agency, National Science Foundation, and the Small Business Administration are all in line for drastic cuts in their budgets. Head Start, for example, a $177 million cut. The National Institutes of Health would be slashed by more than $600 million. The administration is planning cuts for 2006; and all the while, they are asking for an additional $25 billion to rebuild and secure Iraq. The additional $25 billion for Iraq is on top of the $165 billion the American taxpayers have already allocated and paid.

These reconstruction funds are building schools, roads, and encouraging business development in Iraq; and all the while, we are making corresponding cuts here at home. I understand that we need to rebuild Iraq and Afghanistan, but not at the expense of what we do here in the United States.

Mr. Speaker, when President Bush in 2000 declared his opposition to nation-building, who knew it was America he was talking about.

Mr. Speaker, I rise today to congratulate Mark A. Angelson for joining RR Donnelley & Sons Company and on being selected as its Chief Executive Officer and as a member of its Board of Directors.

RR Donnelley has a rich and storied history. Founded over 140 years ago in Chicago, the firm has grown to become the largest commercial printer in North America, with 50,000 employees serving clients across the globe. Aside from its unparalleled business achievements, RR Donnelley has established a reputation as a model of good corporate citizenship in the Chicagoland area and around the world.

Through the active participation of its employees in youth education projects, and through the RR Donnelly Foundation and its Corporate Giving Program, RR Donnelley has enhanced the lives of thousands of children and has made lasting contributions to the vibrancy of our communities. I applaud RR Donnelley for serving as a shining example of leadership and commitment to civic responsibility in our city.

Mr. Angelson's distinguished background as an attorney, financier and leading corporate executive will serve him well at the helm of RR Donnelley. Prior to his election as CEO of RR Donnelley on February 27, 2004, Mr. Angelson served as CEO of leading printing firm Moore Wallace Inc. He was instrumental in spearheading the merger between Moore Wallace and RR Donnelley earlier this year. Before joining Moore Wallace, Mr. Angelson practiced law for twenty-one years, including fourteen years with Sidley Austin Brown & Wood, served as a senior executive with Big Flower Press Holdings, and was Deputy Chairman of Chancery Lane Capital, a New York-based private equity firm.

Before launching his impressive career, the Caldwell, New Jersey native graduated from Rutgers University, where he received Phi Beta Kappa honors, and from Rutgers Law School. Mr. Angelson and his wife are the proud parents of three daughters.

Mr. Speaker, on behalf of the people of the Fifth Congressional District of Illinois and indeed all of Chicago, I am privileged to congratulate Mark A. Angelson for his achievements and to welcome him to Chicago.

Mr. Speaker, I rise to pay tribute to a heroic veteran of World War II, Mr. Edward L. Waytula, who at age 82 still devotes his time and continues to serve our country, most recently by participating in the Chicago World War II Veterans Anthology.

Technical Sergeant Edward L. Waytula served in the U.S. Army's Signal Corps with exceptional ingenuity, bravery and resolve. His diligence in the field helped keep supply lines open in the European theatre and throughout France.

Supplies were delivered to the general depot where Sergeant Waytula was stationed but without any precision or method of organization that could be easily or quickly extracted, as was so often needed to save American and Allied lives in the haste of war.

Among the many supplies that arrived at the depot were urgently needed components of mobile communications equipment. Under fire and tremendous pressure to meet time sensitive demands, Sergeant Waytula quickly sifted through the innumerable supplies.

Relying on sound instincts and a little good luck, he swiftly assembled this equipment vital to gathering and analysis of strategic intelligence under chain of command of General George S. Patton.

This is one story that Sergeant Waytula has shared with the Chicago World War II Veterans Anthology and the United States Library of Congress. Like so many members of ``the greatest generation,'' Sergeant Waytula has rarely spoken of his memories of the war. I am therefore particularly grateful that he agreed to recount those experiences and for his efforts to encourage his fellow veterans to also share their recollections for the World War II Veterans Anthology.

As Memorial Day approaches, Mr. Speaker, and as we prepare to dedicate the National World War II Memorial in Washington, DC, I am privileged to pay tribute to retired Technical Sergeant Edward L. Waytula of the United States Army, one of our Nation's surviving World War II heroes and honored veterans. On behalf of a grateful Nation, we thank him for his contributions to the Chicago World War II Veterans Anthology, and more important, for his service and commitment to our Nation and the liberty we enjoy today.

Mr. Speaker, I rise to pay tribute to the veterans of World War II who now make their home at St. Paul's House and Health Center in Chicago.

Their wartime experiences are as varied as the paths they took following the war, but all remain united to defend the values that shape our identity as a nation: love of freedom and respect for human dignity.

Few members of ``greatest generation'' spoke about their wartime experiences without evoking painful physical and emotional recollections of the horrors of their experiences in World War II.

Still, in their seventies and eighties, the veterans of St. Paul's House are again demonstrating their heroism and commitment to this country by recounting these memories for the Chicago World War II Veterans Anthology and the United States Library of Congress.

As Memorial Day approaches and we prepare to dedicate the National World War II Memorial in our nation's capital, it is my honor and privilege to pay tribute to the each of St. Paul's World War II veterans--and their families--who proudly wore the uniform of their country, endured the rigors of the war, and fought for our liberty and the freedom of future generations of Americans:

Betty Barouski, Lawrence Bunge, Betty Bunge, Edward Bylica, Loraine Bylica, Milton Cohen, Leslie Cousins, Hilda Cousins, spouse, Harry DeCourres, Mildred Eiman, Margret Ehmann, Sima Eckma, Henry Faeth, Alice Faeth, Henry Grantschnig, Henry Kaster, John Lasser, Heinze Ledtje, Vladan Markovic, John Persson, William Prielozny, Fred Schubert, Frank Sontowski, Bruno Solback, Lydia Sollberger, Charles Tennent, George Wahl, Albert Wood, Lucille Wolf.

Mr. Speaker, I rise today to congratulate my good friend Bruce V. Rauner of Chicago and the Rauner Family Foundation for being honored by the American Red Cross of Greater Chicago, which is awarding Bruce with its prestigious Humanitarian Award at the

Second Annual Hometown Heroes Awards breakfast.

The Chicago Red Cross Hometown Heroes Awards are presented to individuals ``whose actions went beyond the call of duty, and whose leadership and commitment made a significant difference to a person, cause or community.'' This year's special Humanitarian Award is being awarded for the ``critical support'' provided by Mr. Rauner and the Rauner Family Foundation ``for Chicago's education, health and youth development organizations.'' I applaud the Red Cross for its excellent selection of Bruce Rauner, one of Chicago's finest citizens, and a shining example of leadership and commitment to public service in our city.

Bruce Rauner's philanthropy benefits the entire Chicagoland area. In addition to supporting the Red Cross, Mr. Rauner has dedicated his time and resources to many other local non-profit organizations. Among them include his service on the board of The Chicago Public Education Fund, The Teacher's Academy of Mathematics and Science, The Ravinia Festival, The Golden Apple Foundation, The Academy for Urban School Leadership and the YMCA. The Rauner Family Foundation has also made generous contributions, to the YMCA of Metro Chicago and Pilsen, and the Chicago Public Education Fund.

Earlier this year, the Rauner Family Foundation donated $3 million for the construction of the American Red Cross of Greater Chicago's new state-of-the-art command center, which is designed to enhance disaster response capabilities for the entire state of Illinois. The new Rauner Center houses local Red Cross offices and the Illinois Emergency Management Agency to coordinate response in the event of a major disaster. The Rauner Foundation's generous contribution will go a long way toward helping establish this center as the model for the country of effective and lifesaving disaster response.

Professionally, Mr. Rauner continues to be one of the leaders of Chicago's financial center. He currently serves as the Chairman of GTCR Golder Rauner, LLC, a $6 billion private equity and venture capitol firm in Chicago. Mr. Rauner joined GTCR in 1981 after working in strategic consulting with Bain and Company and in econometric analysis with Data Resources, Inc.

Before his impressive career was launched, Mr. Rauner graduated with top honors--from Dartmouth College Summa cum laude and Phi Beta Kappa and from Harvard Business School. He and his wife Diana live in Winnetka and are the parents of Elizabeth, Stephanie, Eric, Margaret, Matthew, and Katherine.

Mr. Speaker, on behalf of the people of the Fifth Congressional District of Illinois and indeed all of Chicago, I am privileged to congratulate Bruce V. Rauner and the Rauner Family Foundation for this impressive honor, and I applaud the American Red Cross of Greater Chicago for bestowing this celebrated award on such deserving recipients.

Mr. Speaker, yesterday, the Health and Human Services rolled out a new Medicare drug card. Yet, today, seniors across America are still wondering when we in Congress will take real steps to help them afford the drugs they need and are prescribed.

The manufactured chaos, confusion and consternation all could have been avoided. This mess was created by their government and by the special interests, but we have an opportunity to open markets and allow for importation of safe, affordable drugs from Canada and Europe, where prices are 50 percent cheaper than they are here in the United States; real competition to bring prices down, not competition by the special interests between themselves, but competition that allows seniors the choice to pick on affordable prices that are 50 percent cheaper than what they are in Canada and Europe. We need that competition here at home.

A Families USA study showed that seniors in America pay four times the rate of inflation for prescription drugs. Prices have gone up 22 percent in the last 3 years alone.

This discount card is just like a sale at Neiman Marcus. Prices get jacked up 30 percent right before they offer you a 10 percent discount. We need to allow seniors access to affordable drugs their doctors prescribe.

Mr. Speaker, during the past 3 years, we have seen a tale of two economies and an unprecedented redistribution of wealth in this country resulting in one economy for the middle-class families and one for the special interests. While there have been profit booms for corporations and a compensation boom for CEOs, there is a growing wage and benefits recession for the middle class of this country.

To those who say redistribution of wealth is wrong, I agree. Whether you redistribute wealth to the top 1 percent or the bottom 25 percent, that is wrong. Middle-class families are dealing with an economy that has a wage-and-benefit recession, all the while they have increasing health care costs, college costs, job insecurity, and retirement uncertainty associated with their savings.

While this administration creates tax loopholes for corporate jet use, leaving the taxpayers to pay for billions of dollars in corporate jet use, they have frozen college assistance to middle-class families. This is the essence of class warfare. As famed investor Warren Buffett once said, ``If class warfare is being waged in America, my class is winning.''

A report last month by Bloomberg in the Chicago Tribune showed U.S. corporate profits increased by 87 percent in the last 2 years. Average CEO pay got a big boost of 8.7 percent, while salaried employees saw the most anemic wage growth since World War II, 1.7 percent.

Bill McDonough, former chairman of the New York Fed and now chairman of the Public Company Accounting Oversight Board, describes the gap between CEO and worker pay as ``grotesquely immoral.'' I think we can all agree that the former chairman of the New York Fed is not exactly a flaming socialist or liberal. He also noted that, in 1980, CEO pay was 40 times higher than the average worker's. Today, it is 400 times higher. I think he sums it up best, ``I know a lot of CEOs from the 1980s, and I know a lot of CEOs from 2000, and they are not 10 times better than the CEOs of 1980.''

At every turn, this administration tells us the economy is humming along. That may be true in the executive suites and the boardrooms, but the other economy has created the largest income disparity since the turn of the century, and today middle-class families are facing a harder time to pay for college costs, health care costs, and retirement security at the very time in

which they have had nothing but an anemic wage growth.

David Rosenberg, chief economist at Merrill Lynch, said, ``The income from the recovery has been locked up in the corporate sector. We have had a redistribution of income to the corporate sector.''

The concentration of wealth has been accelerated by the President's economic and tax policies. A study cited by New York Times found that Americans are being taxed more than twice as heavily from earnings from work as they are from investment income, even though more than half of all investment goes to the wealthiest 5 percent of taxpayers.

While this administration has been cutting taxes for the wealthy, the rest of America have been literally going from paycheck to paycheck. Health care costs have gone from $6,500 for a family of four to $9,000 in less than 2 and a half years. College tuition costs increased in the year 2001 by 10 percent; 2002 by another 11 percent; and last year, 14 percent, all the while Pell Grants and other assistance for college have been frozen. $180 billion has been lost in 401(k) net worth and savings plans, and we are putting a squeeze on middle-class families.

What we face today is the end of the middle class as we know it. We ended welfare as we know it because it was a failed system. This administration has an economic policy that is ending the middle class as we know it. As President Bush seeks reelection, he can say he has kept his commitment to the wealthiest of America, and the other 99 percent has made out just as he planned.

This administration has two books, two sets of values, two sets of priorities, a single economic strategy that divides a country along class lines. If we want to live in a country without class divisions, we cannot deny middle-class families the same dreams of affordable health care, quality education, and a safe place to live that the most fortunate in this country have today. A government that pays no heed to that gap between the rich and the middle class does so at its own peril. To quote Supreme Court Justice Louis Brandeis, ``We can either have democracy in this country or we can have great wealth concentrated in the hands of a few, but we cannot have both.''

Mr. Speaker, I missed rollcall votes 210 through 212 on Tuesday, June 1, 2004. Had I been present, I would have voted ``yea'' on each measure.

Mr. Speaker, I rise today to introduce the Discharged Combat Veterans Medical Care Extension Act. I offer this legislation with the distinguished gentleman from Illinois, Mr. Evans, the senior Democrat on the Committee on Veterans' Affairs, and 13 other original cosponsors.

Our bill would extend from two years to five years the time in which combat veterans may receive free care from VA medical facilities without having to document that their illnesses are the result of their military service. The legislation will also allow more time for medical assessments and data analysis for the returning veterans of the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan.

The lack of scientific knowledge regarding the relationship between military deployment and long-term health often hinders the VA's ability to establish the required connection between service and health consequences. Although the current two-year period allows for the collection of some health information, symptoms resulting from deployment may remain hidden until years later, as demonstrated by illnesses related to service during the Persian Gulf War.

VA physicians have never treated many types of the severe brain injuries, facial trauma or illnesses from exposure to dangerous substances that result from service in Iraq and Afghanistan. Therefore, additional time is needed to stabilize, diagnose and treat those injuries and illnesses.

We made a promise to our veterans to care for them after they returned from war. Accordingly, our troops returning from Iraq and Afghanistan deserve open access to VA medical facilities as they heal from injuries and as their service-connected illnesses begin to appear.

As this Memorial Day approaches, Mr. Speaker, I urge my colleagues to support the Discharged Combat Veterans Medical Care Extension Act. This bill will go a long way toward helping our veterans recover and entitle them to the care they deserve for their valor and service to our nation.