Floor Statements

Mr. Speaker, I rise to congratulate Northside College Preparatory High School of Chicago for its achievement on winning the first place title in the citywide Academic Decathlon and the second place position at the Illinois Academic Decathlon competition on March 13, 2004.

The Academic Decathlon is a team competition wherein students are tested through a diverse group of scholastic categories including: art, economics, essay interview, language and literature, mathematics, music science, social science and speech.

With up to nine members from each team competing in all ten events of the decathlon and representing a diversity of scholastic aptitude, the true spirit of this year's ``America: The Growth of a Nation'' theme has been advanced.

The decathlon, which was first created by Dr. Robert Peterson, has helped maximize the learning potential of young minds through competitive challenge. Northside College Preparatory has shown its ability to shine among the best and brightest of Chicago's academic community.

As winners of the citywide Academic Decathlon, the eight students from Northside College Prep High School went on to compete in the Illinois Academic Decathlon, and participated in the semifinals of one of the most prestigious high school academic competition in the United States.

I commend each of our Northside College Preparatory High School competitors: Andrew Miller, Catherine Cobb, Gathi Abraham, John Fitzgerald, Caitlin Lill, Aidan Roche, Geoffrey Kriston and Daniel Roe.

Reaching this level of competition is a tremendous achievement and one that deserves special recognition. Northside College Preparatory students set the strong example for academic excellence that the Academic Decathlon seeks to attain.

Mr. Speaker, I join with all residents of the Fifth Congressional District of Illinois in congratulating Northside College Preparatory High School on its achievement. I wish the Academic Decathlon competitors the best of luck and continued success as their education continues. I am very proud of these young and future leaders of tomorrow. It is my privilege to represent them in the U.S. Congress.

Mr. Speaker, I rise to congratulate Schurz High School of Chicago for its achievement on winning the fourth place title in the citywide Academic Decathlon and the fifth place position at the Illinois Academic Decathlon competition on March 13, 2004.

The Academic Decathlon is a team competition wherein students are tested through a diverse group of scholastic categories, including art, economics, essay interview, language and literature, mathematics, music science, social science and speech.

With up to nine members from each team competing in all 10 events of the decathlon and representing a diversity of scholastic aptitude, the true spirit of this year's ``America: The Growth of a Nation'' theme has been advanced.

The decathlon, which was first created by Dr. Robert Peterson, has helped maximize the learning potential of young minds through competitive challenge. Schurz High School has shown its ability to shine among the best and brightest of Chicago's academic community.

As finalists in the citywide Academic Decathlon, the nine students from Schurz High School went on to compete in the Illinois Academic Decathlon. I commend each of its competitors: Gloria Andujar-Garcia, Dalia Galvan, Laura Neamt, Yazmin Pulido, Arthur Lon, Ana Ponce, Edith Vazquez, Valerie Giraldez and Stephanie Losik.

Reaching this level of competition is a tremendous achievement and one that deserves special recognition. Indeed, Schurz students set the standard for scholastic excellence that the Academic Decathlon seeks to attain.

Mr. Speaker, I join with all residents of the Fifth Congressional District of Illinois in congratulating Schurz High School on its achievement. I wish the Academic Decathlon competitors continued success as their education continues. I am very proud of these young and future leaders of tomorrow, and it is my privilege to represent them in the United States Congress.

Mr. Speaker, I rise today to recognize Charles and Marjorie Benton for their selfless commitment to our community. I am particularly proud to congratulate Charles and Marjorie for winning the 2004 Distinguished Grantmaker Award at the annual conference of the Council on Foundations.

After fifty years of marriage, Charles and Marjorie are both widely recognized as active members of the community and continue to support and contribute to the many causes important to them. Charles chairs the Benton Foundation and Marjorie acts as a trustee. They are the first couple in the history of the Council on Foundations to be honored.

Marjorie co-founded the Chicago Foundation for Woman, the Woman's Issues Network and The Peace Museum. She has also served as a delegate to the United Nations special sessions on disarmament in the 1970s and then as U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations Children's Fund.

In addition, Marjorie chaired the board of Save the Children, which advocates women, children and development in countries around the world. She is also the first woman to serve on the boards of the Bernard Van Leer Foundation and the Van Leer Group Foundation in the Netherlands.

She also chaired the Council on Foundations board from 1994 to 1996.

One of Marjorie's most recent activities is co-founding the local Chicago Global Donor Network, which involves the local community in contributing to international humanitarian projects.

Marjorie continues to work hard to raise millions of dollars a year for social change and progress. She goes out of her way to include donors in the fundraising process, making them active participants in each cause.

Family has also been a priority to the Bentons. Their daughter, Adrianne Furniss, has taken over running the local family business. Their middle son, Craig, owns a recycling business in Ireland and is a strong advocate for environmental preservation. Their youngest son Scott is in the landscaping business. They are also the proud grandparents of four.

Mr. Speaker, I join with the fifth district and entire Chicago community in congratulating my friends, Charles and Marjorie Benton on receiving the 2004 Distinguished Grantmaker Award, and wish them and her extended family, all the happiness in the future.

Mr. Speaker, I rise to congratulate Lane Tech High School of Chicago for its achievement on winning the third place title in the citywide Academic Decathlon and the fourth place position at the Illinois Academic Decathlon competition on March 13, 2004.

The Academic Decathlon is a team competition wherein students are tested through a diverse group of scholastic categories including: art, economics, essay interview, language and literature, mathematics, music science, social science and speech.

With up to nine members from each team competing in all ten events of the decathlon and representing a diversity of scholastic aptitude, the true spirit of this year's ``America: The Growth of a Nation'' theme has been advanced.

The decathlon, which was first created by Dr. Robert Peterson, has helped maximize the learning potential of young minds through competitive challenge. Lane Tech High School has demonstrated its ability to shine among the best and brightest of Chicago's academic community.

As finalists in the citywide Academic Decathlon, the nine students from Lane Tech High School went on to compete in the Illinois Academic Decathlon, participating in the semifinals of one of the most prestigious high school academic competitions in the United States.

I commend each of our Lane Tech competitors: Carlos Becerril, Moiz Bhai, Rosa Alamo, Jennifer Brown, Jason Thomas, Kristin Stein, Abdulmajid Umer, Linda Ta, Xenia Basarab, Dessislavia Harizanova, Sheraz Khan, Lenny Soez Ocasio and Peter Porok.

Reaching this level of competition is a tremendous achievement and deserves special recognition. Lane Tech students set the standard for scholastic excellence that the Academic Decathlon seeks to attain.

Mr. Speaker, I join with all residents of the Fifth Congressional District of Illinois in congratulating Lane Tech High School on its achievement. I wish the Academic Decathlon winners the best of luck and continued success as their education continues. I am very proud of these young and future leaders of tomorrow. It is my privilege to represent them in the U.S. Congress.

Mr. Speaker, today's New York Times states that middle- class families are being edged out of the prestigious universities by rising costs of college education. Access to college for middle-class families has worsened over the last few years, another example of the middle-class squeeze in America.

The greatest disservice that we have done to middle-class families in America is to convince them of the necessity of college education for their children and then priced it out of reach for their children.

College tuition at public universities has increased by 14 percent last year and in certain States by 20 or 30 percent. In my home State of Illinois today, when a college graduate gets a diploma, on the backside is their first Visa bill. Every kid graduates with an average of $15,000 of debt.

College tuition is running three times the rate of inflation; but Congress has not made the investment in higher education, and costs have soared. While college costs have skyrocketed, Pell grants have been frozen for 3 years. And in the year in which we are to reauthorize the Higher Education Act which deals with Pell grants and Perkins loans, what has Congress done?

Mr. Speaker, I rise to congratulate Whitney Young High School of Chicago for its triumphant achievement on winning the first place title in the Illinois Academic Decathlon competition on March 13, 2004.

The Academic Decathlon is a team competition wherein students are tested through a diverse group of scholastic categories including: art, economics, essay interview, language and literature, mathematics, music science, social science and speech.

With up to nine members from each team competing in all ten events of the decathlon and representing a diversity of scholastic aptitude, the true spirit of this year's ``America. The Growth of a Nation'' theme has been advanced.

The decathlon, which was first created by Dr. Robert Peterson, has helped maximize the learning potential of young minds through competitive challenge. Whitney Young has repeatedly demonstrated its ability to shine among the best and brightest of Chicago's academic community.

As winners of the Illinois Academic Decathlon, Whitney Young High School will go on to represent our city and state in the national meet in Boise, Idaho. Nine of its students will compete in one of the most prestigious high school academic competitions in the United States.

I salute each of our Whitney Young High School Academic Decathlon Winners: Rachel Birkhahn-Romelfanger, Nailah Cash-Obannon, Clare Conroy, Christina Doocy, Sarah Duffy, Ikee Gardner, Lally Gartel, Deana Rutherford, Eleanor Sharp and Margaret Sharp.

Reaching this level of competition is a tremendous achievement and one that deserves special recognition. Indeed, Whitney Young students set the standard for scholastic excellence that the Academic Decathlon seeks to attain.

Mr. Speaker, I join with all residents of the Fifth Congressional District of Illinois in congratulating Whitney Young High School on its achievement. I wish the Academic Decathlon winners the best of luck at the national competition in Idaho as well as continued success as their education continues. I am very proud of these young and future leaders of tomorrow.

Mr. Speaker, Lake Michigan and the other Great Lakes are the largest body of freshwater in North America. They contain literally 20 percent of the entire world's freshwater. Twenty-eight million Americans get their daily drinking water from Lake Michigan and the other Great Lakes, and yet we treat it as just an overgrown pond. Today it is being polluted with invasive species, urban run-off, and mercury hot spots.

We have a bipartisan bill endorsed by every Governor, every Senator from the Great Lakes, and 108 Members out of 125 from the Great Lakes region to clean up the Great Lakes, dedicate $4 billion over 5 years, just like we are investing in Iraq's water and sewage system, here in the United States to preserve the largest body of freshwater in all of North America.

This issue is not an issue of left versus right. It is an issue of right versus wrong. And it is time to make our investments in our future and our environmental quality and water quality in what is truly a great national heritage, our Great Lakes.

Mr. Speaker, if my colleague would yield for a minute, you talk about the misappropriated or misallocated $700 million. One of the issues that I have repeatedly talked about, and I think has come to affect all Americans, is larger than the $700 million, although that is an adequate question, and it is we passed a budget here for $2.3 trillion that had a $500 billion deficit here at home; and in that budget, there were some priorities set for America. But it is very interesting how you contrast those priorities for Iraq, which I think raises a lot of questions about the misappropriated values by this administration.

I will give you an example. In the area of health care, in Iraq there are 150 clinics that have been rebuilt, serving 3 million Iraqis that provide 100 percent prenatal care and infant coverage in Iraq. In America, there are 43 million uninsured Americans, of which 10 million are uninsured American children of parents who work full-time. In the President's budget, we have cut the dollars for health care training for doctors and nurses and professionals.

If you expand that, in the area of veterans, we have provided Iraqi veterans $60 million for job training. Yet in the United States, the President's budget cuts $257 million for medical care for American veterans.

In the area of education, we built 2,300 schools in Iraq, rebuilt and refurbished the schools. Yet in America, under the President's budget, $8 billion for Leave No Child Behind has been underfunded by this year alone.

Iraqi universities are receiving $20 million for higher education job training, yet Pell grants here in the United States, the biggest assistance for Americans to go to college, have been frozen for 3 years in a row while college costs have risen by 10 percent on average.

In the area of law enforcement, the President has dedicated $500 million for training of law enforcement and the police in Iraq. As you know, they did not perform too well the last 2 weeks. Yet the President's own budget for the United States cut $657 million for the police program to train our police on community policing on America's streets.

In the area of housing, $470 million has been allocated for Iraq's housing program, yet we have cut $700 million out of section 8 here at home for our housing.

It is true about the environment, one last area. We are rebuilding all of Iraq's water and sewage for drinking water to the tune of $3.6 billion, yet the revolving fund in the United States for water treatment and drinking water has been cut by $500 million.

When the President said in 2000, not said, he declared he was opposed to nation-building, who knew it was America he was talking about? So as we talk about the $700 million of allocated money, where it went from Afghanistan to Iraq and the theater of war, we have allocated well over $150 billion to that mission, of which $20 billion is for rebuilding Iraq's society, and we have made a commitment.

What worries me, because the American people have been very generous and have been very committed, what worries me is when you start to talk about a future for Iraq and their children that is better than the one we are providing here at home for our own families and our own children. We will continue to be generous, we will continue to provide, but we have misallocated, in my view, billions of dollars. The $700 million on the war front in building an airport in Kuwait is only the tip of the iceberg, in my view, of the misallocated dollars that raises real questions about the commitment.

When you look at the two budgets, the one here at home for America and America's future and the one in Iraq, you realize this administration is not only running two sets of books but they have two principles and two value systems. We need to have the same values at home that we are talking about for Iraq, the same type of investments we are talking about, law enforcement, education, health care, the environment, policing; and we need to make that commitment here so the American people maintain that the future for their families and their children is one for a good tomorrow, a better tomorrow, not one that is less than the one we are talking about overseas.

Mr. Speaker, I know we want to get back to our friend from Washington State, but people remember in the first Gulf War, which cost $60 billion, the United States paid $5 billion of that $60 billion and we were part of a larger international effort that included members of the armed services of Syria, Egypt, and other Arab-Muslim countries. Today we are bearing 95 percent of the cost and well over 90 percent of the, shall we say, the blood and the force presence in Iraq. So the contrast is stark.

What is also stark is if you look at both the war in Kuwait, the first time, Bosnia, Kosovo, East Timor, all have been very successful strategies in the post-Cold War era, where America with its allies fought the war, but America was a partner in the rebuilding of the society. And it worked successfully, especially in Bosnia, Kosovo and East Timor.

Why you would take a successful playbook like that, throw it out, when everybody, regardless of what their position was on the war prior to the war, everybody said the war would be easy, the peace would be hard, you need a plan. How you commit 150,000 to 175,000 American troops, $180 billion worth of our resources, and not have had a plan on the peace, this was not Monday morning coaching. Everybody knew that peace would be hard and that you went to war with no plan, when Democrats and some Republicans, but all Democrats, regardless of what their position was, said the war will not be hard, it will be the peace and rebuilding once you own it that will be hard. And you did it without that, when the President has an obligation to have asked questions. Not to have asked questions and not have a plan was a miscarriage of responsibility, in my view.

Mr. Speaker, if the gentleman will yield, he did not do these things on his own.

Mr. Speaker, he is in constant contact with both the State Department, the White House, and Defense.

Mr. Speaker, my colleague is obviously referring to the mistakes the President was asked at his press conference, and he could not think of a mistake.

The first lesson in life your parents teach you and your first grade teacher teaches is one learns from their mistakes. That is the first lesson in life. Usually by 8 in the morning my wife has identified four of them for me. By 5 when I am heading home, I come to the conclusion she may have something there.

But to not have known, as my colleague identified four in literally a minute, the first lesson is you learn from your mistakes. Saying that he cannot think of one is why we got the situation we got both in the war and on terror. In 3 years 3 wars, and he cannot think of one thing he would do different, even if he did not want to call it a mistake.

Mr. Speaker, prior to our recess, the House voted on a $2.3 trillion budget with a $521 billion deficit, showing that it is impossible to finance three wars with three tax cuts.

This budget, the budget by the President and Republican majority, repeats the same mistakes that have resulted in a jobless economy and a health care and wage recession with the lowest growth in wages in the period of economic growth in the last 30 years.

We have 2.5 million Americans that have lost their jobs in the last 3 years, 43 million Americans without health care, 2 million Americans who were once in the middle class and now in poverty, 1.6 percent job wage growth in the areas of salaries, and $1 trillion in corporate and individual foreclosures and bankruptcies. That is the economic record of this administration as embodied by the budget the President submitted.

During the 2000 Presidential election, President Bush declared that he was opposed to nation-building. Who knew it was America he was talking about when he said he was opposed to nation-building. This budget and the President's economic vision is really a tale of two budgets. We look at his vision for the United States, and we look at his vision for Iraq. We spent more than $100 billion in Iraq on the occupation, but without promising the same promise and same future here at home to the American people.

I am not opposed to rebuilding in Iraq, but I am opposed to making the investments at home while we are making the same investments in Iraq.

Let us take a look at it. Today we provide universal health care coverage in Iraq as one of our goals. 44 million Americans are without health insurance; 33 million Americans work full time with no health care.

There is universal job training in Iraq, and yet in the President's own budget we have cut back on the funds for job training. In health, 2,200 Iraqis health professionals and 8,000 volunteers are receiving free training. In

America, health training funds in the President's budget were cut by 64 percent. 150 clinics and hospitals have been rebuilt to serve 3 million Iraqis, and yet in America community health care clinics are cut by 91 percent in the President's budget.

Under veterans, $60 million has been spent to train Iraqi veterans of past wars, but we are cutting veterans medical care here in the United States by $257 million.

In the area of education, we have built or rebuilt 2,300 schools in Iraq, but Leave No Child Behind is underfunded by $8 billion in the President's budget.

Iraqi universities are getting $20 million for higher ed partnerships; but in America, the Pell grant has been frozen for 3 years while the cost for education has gone up 10 percent.

The area of law enforcement, $500 million to train the Iraqi police, yet the COPS program in the United States under the President's budget was cut by $659 million.

In the area of public housing, $470 million is being spent for Iraqi public housing; yet here in the United States, $791 million is cut from section 8 vouchers.

In the environment, we are paying $3.6 billion for clean water and sewage systems in Iraq; and in America, under the President's budget, we cut $500 million from the clean water for safe drinking water here in the United States.

In the area of infrastructure, the port of Umm Qasar was completely rebuilt in Iraq, yet the Corps of Engineers budget under the President's budget was cut by 10 percent.

Roads, we spent $240 million on roads and bridges in Iraq. Here at home, the President has a veto threat on our highway and mass transit programs.

As President Bush seeks reelection, he can say he kept his commitment against nation-building. The problem is his opposition to nation- building is here at home. With this budget, the administration, the President is telling the American people that they have two priorities, two sets of values, two sets of books: one for the Iraqi people and one for the American people. And yet those are the wrong values.

The American people are the most generous people in the world. They are willing to commit to Iraq's future, one of a better tomorrow, but not at the expense that comes at the expense of America's tomorrow; not that comes at the expense of America's children.

America can no longer be so generous around the world if the future that we hold for the American people is less than the one we are promising in Iraq.

Mr. Speaker, the same values that we hold for Iraq we must pledge for all Americans.

Mr. Speaker, I rise to congratulate Steppenwolf Theatre Company for three decades of excellence in Chicago's fine arts community for producing highly popular and consistently first-rate theatre.

Steppenwolf Theatre Company began performing plays in a church basement of Highland Park, Illinois back in 1974. With the leadership of Terry Kinney, Jeff Perry and Gary Sinise, the group incorporated in 1975 and has now grown to include thirty-five premier theater artists with wide-ranging and nationally recognized talent.

In that time, Steppenwolf Theatre has made Chicago proud time and again by making tremendous advancements in the vitality and diversity of American Theatre--both for its actors and its audience. Today, the city demonstrates its appreciation and continued patronage with a subscription base of 25,000 members and growing.

The Steppenwolf Theatre Company has evolved effortlessly with changing times, while maintaining relationships with established playwrights such as Sam Shepard, Lanford Wilson and Alan Ayckbourn. They have reinvented classics like John Steinbeck's The Grapes of Wrath, and more recently produced and developed the world premiere of Man from Nebraska by ensemble member Tracy Letts.

With their original principals of ensemble collaboration and artistic risk still flourishing, Steppenwolf now approaches its 30th anniversary as a professional theater company. The Company has been lavished with high praise from national and international media, art critics and audiences alike.

This persistent effort has earned Steppenwolf several prestigious awards. Most recently, they include the Joseph Jefferson Award for Chicago Theatre Excellence and the 2003 Equity Special Award for leadership in national and international acclaim for Chicago Theatre, and for excellent training and outreach programs, partnership and support of theatres, playwrights and artists new to the scene.

Mr. Speaker, I join with all proud residents of the Fifth District and the City of Chicago in congratulating the Steppenwolf Theatre Company on its many achievements in thirty years, and wish it continued success as it further solidifies its unique and landmark status in our great City.

Mr. Speaker, I rise today to thank outgoing Chicago Fire Commissioner James Joyce for his 39 years of noble service to the department and to wish him well in his retirement.

Commissioner Joyce enjoyed a remarkable rise through the ranks of the Chicago Fire Department before being appointed to the top post by Mayor Richard M. Daley in 1999. During his more than four years as commissioner, Commissioner Joyce spearheaded important changes to the department, including building new firehouses, replacing and updating firehouse equipment, and improving coordination with suburban fire departments. His tenure as Commissioner was also noteworthy for the respect he garnered from rank and file firefighters throughout the department.

His steady leadership also was apparent after the Sept. 11 attacks, when Commissioner Joyce committed the department to aiding disaster prevention efforts and oversaw changes in policies and procedures to protect the people of Chicago.

Commissioner Joyce was born in 1942 and was educated at Chicago State University. He received his master's degree in public administration from Governor's State University.

Commissioner Joyce began his career within the Chicago Fire Department as a firefighter assigned to Truck 4 in Chinatown in 1965. After serving as engineer, lieutenant and captain he was promoted to battalion chief in 1979. Later his administrative posts included District Chief and Deputy Fire Commissioner.

The Joyce family's commitment to firefighting and to protecting the lives of Chicago's citizens began long before the Commissioner joined the force. Commissioner Joyce is a third-generation Chicago firefighter, whose maternal grandfather, father and brother all served. His grandfather gave the ultimate sacrifice, dying as a result of battling a 1934 blaze at the old Chicago Stockyards.

Commissioner Joyce and his wife Janet reside in St. John Fisher Parish on Chicago's South Side and are the parents of four children. I wish Commissioner Joyce the best as he begins his well-deserved retirement

Mr. Speaker, I join in all of Chicago in thanking James Joyce for his long record of achievement in serving our city. His dedication and passion will be missed.

Mr. Speaker, I would like to extend my warmest birthday wishes to Mrs. Winona Ongemach of Chicago on the occasion of her 100th birthday on April 3.

Born in Cedar Rapids, Iowa as one of ten children, Mrs. Ongemach has lived in Chicago for the past 80 years. She has been an active and influential member of the Ravenswood community, faithfully attending Ravenswood Fellowship United Methodist Church for 60 years.

At a time in her life when many might expect her to slow down, Mrs. Ongemach remains a fixture at her church. She brings smiles to the faces of churchgoers by running pancake breakfasts, collecting soup can labels, and leaning on members who have missed Sunday church.

Mrs. Ongemach has brought her same spirit of community involvement to the Bethany Retirement Community, where she currently resides. There she reads novels, organizes monthly card parties and teaches residents card games.

Mrs. Ongemach was married in 1928 to her late husband, Rudolf. She worked for many years at Time, Inc. where she operated one of the first ever IBM computers. She also spent 27 years volunteering at Ravenswood Hospital where she knitted hats for newborn babies. An avid bowler, she participated in the Time, Inc. bowling league until she turned 90. Mrs. Ongemach also loves to travel and has visited many different islands on cruise ships.

I hope Mrs. Ongemash's many friends and acquaintances will use this milestone birthday as an opportunity to celebrate her life, her friendship and all she has meant to her community.

Mr. Speaker, I join with the residents of the Ravenswood community and the members of the Ravenswood Fellowship United Methodist Church in congratulating Mrs. Winona Ongemach on her 100th birthday. She has truly made a difference in her community and her life serves as a model that we should all strive to emulate.

Mr. Speaker, when the House voted on the Medicare bill, we and the American people were told its cost was $400 billion. Later, we found out that the Bush administration and congressional leaders knew all along it would cost actually $550 billion. What is a mere $150 billion among friends?

Not a single benefit has gone to a senior citizen, and the taxpayers are stuck with an additional $150 billion on top of the misappropriated $400 billion. Beware of Bush administration officials bearing Medicare benefits.

Prescription drug costs have skyrocketed over the last several years, six times the rate of inflation. It is like a sale at Nieman Marcus: Prices are jacked up by 50 percent before the discount of 25 percent.

In 2001, drug costs increased by 16 percent; in 2002, 18 percent; in 2003, 19.5 percent. The prescription drug benefit will do nothing to protect senior citizens from skyrocketing cost increases.

Instead of depending on a flawed Medicare law that punishes taxpayers and does little to help our senior citizens, we need to lower drug prices here in the United States by allowing competition and choice to exist in the market and allow people to buy their drugs in Canada and Europe where they are 50 percent cheaper than here in the United States.

Mr. Speaker, I rise to congratulate Susan and Lew Manilow of Chicago on their recent 30th wedding anniversary.

Both Susan and Lew have been active members of the community and continue to support the many causes important to them.

Lew is a retired attorney who has wide interests in the arts, public policy and business. He grew up in Chicago and has lived there all his life, where his passion for theater continues to grow.

Lew has served as the former chair of the United States Advisory Committee on Public Diplomacy and was a key member of the Democratic Leadership Council. He is a long-time member of the board of directors of the National Democratic Institute for International Affairs and was the founding chair of its Middle East Committee.

In addition, Lew is a founding trustee and former president of the Goodman Theatre and leading advocate for the North Loop Theatre District. In addition, he is on the board of trustees for both the Museum of Contemporary Art and The Art Institute. Lew's generosity and devotion to the fine arts earned him the prestigious distinction of being one of 24 recipients of the National Medal of Arts and Humanities awarded by President Clinton in December 2000.

Dr. Susan Manilow, also actively involved in our community, has been a chairman of both the Mount Sinai Health System and the Chicago Health Policy Research Center. She is currently a chairman for the Foster A. McGaw Prize Committee, which recognizes health care organizations that are committed to community service, and to improving and expanding care.

Family has also always been a priority in Lew and Susan's life. Her two children, Edwin and John Eisendrath, are the proud parents of six grandchildren. His children, David, Karin, and John, are parents to seven grandchildren, with one more on the way.

Mr. Speaker, I join with the fifth district and entire Chicago community in congratulating my friends Lew and Susan Manilow on their 30th anniversary, and wish them, and their extended family, all the happiness in the future.

Mr. Speaker, before the House voted on the Medicare bill, the public was told it would cost $400 billion. Later, we found out that the administration knew all along it would cost $550 billion.

Congress was misled by an administration that hid the numbers from the public and Members of Congress because of the perceived political benefits of the new law, saying that the end would justify the means.

But according to today's Chicago Tribune, ``Instead of a political bonanza, the Medicare drug benefit is fast becoming an albatross around the administration's neck. Not a single new benefit has gone to a senior citizen, and the taxpayers got stuck with another $150 billion bill.

Now the administration wants to talk about the benefit that comes with a discount card. With the way prescription drug costs have skyrocketed over the past several years, this discount card will not accomplish anything. It is like a sale at Nieman Marcus. They jack up the prices right before the sale.

In 2001, drug costs increased by 16.9 percent; in 2002, 18.4 percent; in 2003, a projected 19.5 percent, and going on to another 15 percent.

Instead of depending on a flawed Medicare bill, we must literally drive prices down by allowing reimportation, allowing us to get our drugs in Canada and in Europe where prices are cheaper.