Floor Statements

Mr. Speaker, it is, once again, an honor and a privilege, as a Member of Congress, to talk to the Members of this House and the American people about the kinds of things that are on their minds right now. And we are doing so with a group of us who were elected in 2006 and have the opportunity, from all parts of the United States, to represent our great country and work toward the solutions that are necessary to get our country back on track.

I am joined by Mr. Yarmuth from Kentucky, Mr. Cohen from Tennessee, and a number of others.

What we are going to talk about tonight are a couple of things; and these are the things that really are a great focus to all of us. One is AIG. Another one is, of course, the small business initiatives that I was just discussing a few minutes ago and will discuss them in greater detail. And the third is the budget. The budget, of course, is the framework by which we govern ourselves as a country, the kind of money we put into our government, and the kind of resources and commitments that we take out.

And particularly at this moment in time it is absolutely essential that we are not only thinking about the short term, but we have a unique opportunity to think about the long term, about how we are going to put ourselves in a very, very strong position so that when we recover, we will have the best workforce, the best technologies, the best businesses, the most competitive environment to prosper for generations to come.

I am just going to start, if I can, with the gentlemen that are with us tonight and the gentlewoman from Ohio that is going to join us about

I thank the gentleman from Kentucky.

And I certainly agree with you. When we think about investments, we think about the word ``transparency.'' And that is, as a small investor, if you buy a stock on the New York Stock Exchange or NASDAQ or whatever, you want to know as much as you can about that company. You want to make sure the information that's presented to you is real and that, if you're buying a bond, that the ratings services, Standard & Poor's and some of the other ones that have been before us, are giving an objective evaluation.

Something has gone wrong in the system, and it's a mood and sort of an inaction that has been bred into the last 10 years where we have gotten farther and farther away from responsible regulation. I hear people say we don't want more regulation. It's not a question of more or less; it's a question of the right kind of regulation that really focuses on what the investor wants to know. Whether it's an investor like my dad, who is 80 years old and he's depending on his stocks and bonds and smaller portfolio to take care of him plus Social Security, or whether it's a very sophisticated person, it's all the same point. And we have gotten away from that, and, unfortunately, these massive billions of dollars where people are making hundreds of millions of dollars on a transaction, something went wrong here because they were not regulated, and that's where we're really focusing the attention now. It's going to take some smart people collectively, not just Members of Congress but also the public to work together to get this right.

I thank the gentleman for those comments and that introduction.

Now I would like to turn it over to the gentleman from Tennessee, who's

going to share with us some of his thoughts on this.

I thank the gentleman from Tennessee. There are obviously some strong feelings on all of our parts here.

As we move forward, Mr. Speaker, if you would consider yielding the balance of my time to Mr. Yarmuth, I would appreciate that.

Would the gentleman yield?

Mr. Cohen, a couple of the issues are out there, and some of these are fairly technical but they are very important, actually, and for those people in banks, those people in real estate, financial service issues, one of the things that all of our small businesses know right now, and the people that own homes, the people that own real estate properties, commercial properties, is the banks are not lending enough.

There's some exceptions in there. But all I can tell you is when we had the eight large banks in front of our committee 2 weeks ago, we heard, Oh, we are lending here and billions of dollars here. That may have been to Fortune 100 companies. I understand that, and that's fine. But it was not translating down to our local communities.

I know in West Palm Beach, in Delray Beach, where we do business and things like that at home, it's not happening. And the short answer is: What can we and should we be doing.

The mark-to-marketing rule basically is a way that the regulators look at the bank's balance sheet and say that a certain asset is a certain value. And that works just fine when properties are going up in value. The problem is when there's really no market, when you can't sell a piece of property because nobody wants to buy it or finance it, they get written down to not necessarily zero, but something very insignificant.

And what that does is puts lots of pressure on the banks and their balance sheet and then they say, Well, we can't lend because our balance sheet looks so small. It's a chicken-egg thing between the regulators and the bank.

To make a long story short, there's common ground that needs to be found. It's not a question the banks shouldn't be lending. They should. And the regulators may be being a little cautious right now under the circumstances.

But there is a middle ground. I think we have to find it and crank it up quickly because whether it's mark-to-market or a few other regulatory issues, we want to make sure the regulators are doing their job. It doesn't mean stopping lending. But there are a whole lot of creditworthy borrowers out there that could borrow.

Many of you have small businesses. They're making their payments; real estate owners that are making their payment. They are current but they're saying: I can't get a term loan even though I am current because they are saying the asset value is so low.

So on a simple basis we need to find that middle ground. We are pushing hard to let them put this through carefully. Lend to the appropriate people. Don't lend to people that shouldn't be borrowing for homes or anything else. But do it the right way.

So we are working on that right now, Mr. Cohen, and hopefully in the next couple of weeks they will have some answers and get the banks moving along again.

I thank the gentleman. I think you have summed it up exactly right, and that is the American people want answers. They want to make sure this doesn't happen again. It's unacceptable for there to be cycles where this happens; you clean up and it happens again. This is a very significant time for everyone, and the challenge is great.

So we are going to have to focus on them. And if I can, I will spend a last minute referencing the fact that we are now moving into the conversation about our budget for next year. But talking about the kinds of things that the American people are looking for, it is transparency and openness when we have a budget.

The last number of years, of which this group here has only been here 2 years, but the wars, which obviously we appreciate the work that our military did and all the rest of that, but 100-some billion dollars every year for the last number of years, not even on the books of the balance sheet of the Federal Government. Every year it is a supplemental budget. A supplemental budget is supposed to be when you have an emergency. God forbid you have a Katrina or something like that they didn't plan for. The war was there. It should have been planned for. It should have been accounted for.

And when you talk about a balanced budget, and all of us standing here today, we are fiscal deficit people. We are deficit hawks. We believe in it. I think every American does. It is common sense: You can only live within your means. And the Republicans didn't do it. The Democrats didn't do it in the past. But I think all of us together have got to get it right now. And it is going to take time. We inherited, unfortunately, a very difficult budget, and it is going to take some time to get through this. I think Mr. Spratt who works with us, as well as President Obama, has got a lot of ideas. We are going to put them through the mix here, and I think we will come out with something. But, most importantly, it is an honest, open conversation.

The American people are smart people. They understand the process of building a budget. They do it for themselves every day around the kitchen table or in their businesses. And I look forward to the opportunity of working with everyone, Democrats and Republicans. There may be differences of opinion and priorities. I happen to personally believe that education and health care and energy, and making this country energy independent, is a very forward-thinking way of addressing the next generation of where we need to be. But we will get through that process. But the point of it is an honest, open process where the American people can understand all the debts, all the possibilities, all the opportunities to build a stronger country.

I will turn it back over to the gentleman from Kentucky.

Madam Speaker, I rise today to honor a leader in our community. On August 1 Florida will lose a wonderful public servant, as Dr. Jean Malecki is leaving the Palm Beach County Department of Health. Dr. Malecki has been with the Department of Health since 1989, serving as its Director for the last 17 years.

Born and raised in South Florida, Dr. Malecki has dedicated herself to making Palm Beach County the healthiest community in the nation. She created the Healthy Start program in which nurses make in-home visits throughout a woman's pregnancy to provide counseling to expectant mothers. She expanded the number of primary clinics, where they now treat 67,000 patients annually.

Her leadership was most visible shortly after the attacks of September 11, 2001, when she led the Palm Beach County Department of Health through the first biological terror attack in the country. Under her direction the County diagnosed the first anthrax cases and quickly mobilized a team to help investigate the attacks.

I have personally watched and learned from Dr. Jean Malecki's extraordinary service to the people of Palm Beach County. We will miss her, but wish her the best in her new life and career.

Thank you for allowing me the time to speak about this admirable leader in my community, Madam Speaker.

Madam Speaker, on March 9, 2009, l was tending to a family commitment, for which the timing was not flexible.

Had I been able to vote, I would have voted ``yes'' on rollcall No. 110; ``yes'' on rollcall No. 111; ``yes'' on rollcall No. 112.

Madam Speaker, this Tuesday marked an historic day for science and medical research efforts across our country as President Obama lifted the ban on federally funded stem cell research enacted in 2001. With this executive order, the President has restored the federal government's commitment to funding promising medical research with the potential to treat and cure some of the most debilitating human diseases.

One of the great promises of stem cells is their potential for use in developing new therapies for life altering diseases such as cancer, diabetes, and Parkinson's. Stem cell research offers the hope of a better life to millions of Americans, and by supporting this research we will open the door for groundbreaking discoveries at research facilities like Scripps Florida. The President has been clear that stem cell research in this country will not be undertaken lightly, and will only be conducted in the most responsible, ethical manner possible, with strict guidelines to prevent misuse and abuse.

Funding stem cell research is also a great investment in our future, not only from a personal health standpoint but from an economical and cost-efficiency perspective. Finding cures and therapies may reduce the cost of hospitalization and other expensive components of our health care system. By increasing our investment in stem cell research, we can also retain and attract some of the best and brightest scientists that have, up to now, been stifled by restrictions on which stem cell lines they may use for their research. The United States has always been a world leader in science and technology, and with this ban lifted, we can once again conduct the most cutting-edge research right here in the U.S. that will bring the next big breakthroughs in the world of medicine.

From juvenile diabetes to paralysis, the potential of stem cell research in all of its forms presents one of humanity's greatest leaps toward the ultimate goal of preserving, prolonging and improving the quality of our lives. As a strong advocate of this research, I commend the President for his commitment to funding comprehensive stem cell research in the United States.

Mr. Speaker, I rise today to honor the life of George W. ``Bob'' Gill, an extraordinary resident of my congressional district who helped build Fort Lauderdale into the world-renowned tourism destination it is today.

Tourism is the economic engine of south Florida, and Mr. Gill was a pioneer in the field. After opening six area hotels over 60 years, he even earned the nickname ``the Dean of Fort Lauderdale tourism.'' Mr. Gill had a knack for marketing and a sharp business sense. His ideas helped to bring vacationing northerners to enjoy Fort Lauderdale's beautiful beaches. He created some of the most iconic hotels in south Florida, including the Yankee Clipper and the Jolly Roger, the first hotels in the area to offer air-conditioning way back in 1952.

Mr. Speaker, Mr. Gill lived a long and rich life, passing away last week at the age of 93. Our thoughts and prayers are with his daughter Linda and all the friends and family that Mr. Gill left behind. He left an enduring legacy on south Florida, and Mr. Gill will be missed.

Madam Speaker, I rise today to submit how I would have voted on March 9, 2009, when I was tending to a family commitment, for which the timing was not flexible.

Had I voted, I would have voted ``yes'' on rollcall No. 110; ``yes'' on rollcall No. 111; ``yes'' on rollcall No. 111.

Mr. Speaker, I rise today in strong support of H. Con. Res. 14, supporting the goals and ideals of Multiple Sclerosis Awareness Week. More than 400,000 Americans live with multiple sclerosis. This disease knows no gender, age, or ethnic boundaries. It strikes all in our society, even our children, with an estimated 8,000 to 10,000 who live with this terrible disease, by attacking the central nervous system. Symptoms, progress, and severity of the disease vary widely from patient to patient. Some can lead normal lives with symptoms like numbness in the limbs while others can be stricken with paralysis or blindness.

Mr. Speaker, I think everyone here can say that they know someone with MS. My wife and I know a number of people in our community in South Florida that are currently affected.

Despite the prevalence of this terrible disease, we are still a long way off before a cure is found. We still don't know what causes MS and have no definitive way to diagnose it. Physicians are forced to use a combination of diagnostic strategies, which includes ruling out all other possible diagnoses. The result is that patients can go months, if not years, without a definitive understanding of what's causing their debilitating symptoms.

Mr. Speaker, we must find a cure. As we have seen with other diseases where we have made major advances in treatment, progress starts with awareness in all levels of society and government. That's why the concurrent resolution that we are considering today is so important. Not only does it recognize the goals and ideals of Multiple Sclerosis Awareness Week, but it reaffirms our national commitment to finding a cure.

I am proud to support this resolution. I thank my colleague from California, Ms. Lee, along with Mr. Carnahan and Dr. Burgess, for introducing this resolution, and urge my colleagues to vote ``yes'' on final passage.

I thank the gentleman from Kentucky. Thanks for your leadership on the issues, as we know, we have been really faced with as we move into this next congressional session.

It was interesting. A week ago, most of us were at home, speaking to people in small businesses, speaking to homeowners. Many of us do Congress on Your Corner, which is an idea where we just meet at the local supermarket or local drug store or local 5 and 10 and just have a chance to talk to people about what they're really thinking about right now and how we can solve these problems that our country is looking at. You know, it breaks down into three things:

One is: What can we do to stimulate the economy? What can we do to generate consumer interest and business interest? Because, if we produce more, people will buy more and demand will go up, all those kinds of things. What do we do about the mortgage crisis? It's not just the people who are sort of in foreclosure. There's a very large number of people who are at jobs where maybe they're earning $50,000.

I was just at a car dealer's the other day, and they were telling me that the owner of the company came to the 140 employees and asked them to vote on whether they wanted to reduce their salaries. He, himself, the owner, had taken no salary in the last year, but he literally asked them if they'd be willing to take less compensation in order to avoid people being laid off. They took a vote and they did it. The reality is someone who's earning $50,000 may be earning $40,000 or $35,000, and someone who is willing or is able to pay $750 for a mortgage maybe now can afford $600.

Well, there are simple solutions to that, and I'm very gratified that Congress is moving forward. The Obama administration has put out a number of proposals which, I think, need quick movement because they're just commonsense, and they make sense.

Everyone understands it's not in the best interest of a street for a home to be foreclosed on on that street. The better way to deal with that is to keep that person in the home. If the person is earning a little less than he was earning before, or that $50,000 to $35,000, and he can afford $600 versus $750, well, it's simple enough. Take the difference and defer it to the end of the mortgage or amortize the mortgage 40 years instead of 30 years. Get the payments to where the person can still afford to stay in the home and can take care of that home and can have a roof over his head. Add value to the community versus having that home boarded up and having it depress every other property on the street.

That's the kind of work that we need to encourage the banks to work on with our local community folks, with our homeowners, and those are some of the proposals that are out on the table today. I think those are the kinds of things that I've been hearing from our communities. We need to know that the government is working on encouraging banks and on finding incentives to get the banks to work with us.

Of course, other than the stimulus, which is already in place--and it's going to begin to filter into the communities over the next number of weeks--the last thing, of course, is fixing the banks in a way that they will lend to small businesses. I know we're going to talk about that tonight because we're a country of small businesses. We understand that's the lifeblood of our communities--to create jobs, to create wealth and to support local communities. I know that there are a number of ideas we're going to discuss which will help get those small businesses back on track because we know that we need to get the banks to help out with that.

So, with that, I'll turn it back to the gentleman. I'm looking forward to this good discussion on how we're going to move forward over the next number of days.

Well, I thank the gentleman for the discussion today. Because I think if we think about how we plan our family budgets, whether it's sending your kids to college, whether it's planning for retirement, if you're in retirement, making sure that the investments you have, even in difficult times like this, will pay for the expenses that you have, these are all things, it's all about certainty, and it is about trying to know where you will be and plan for the future. I know a lot of small businesses I talk to, they want to know for sure about how they will be in a position to plan their capital budget, cover the expansion, make the investments in their equipment and things like that.

So one of the things we've been working on is this budget. And the budget of course is the plan for this next year's fiscal spending of our government. And of course there are a lot of fixed expenses, there are things like, everything from prisons to roads to our military and defense and veterans, which are so important to us, particularly at a time when we are fighting two wars and we are creating a new generation of veterans. So as they come home, as this Congress has demonstrated, we will make sure that anyone who wears the uniform gets the benefit of making sure that this country stands behind them and their families for all the necessary care that they need in the future, as well as jobs.

But for the rest of the country, this really is a question of times when we do plan the necessary future vision. And I think what President Obama has

offered to many of us that I think is really visionary and exciting-- and we're seeing this in the blueprint or what we call our budget--it's a focus on education, it's a focus on health care, it's a focus on energy. Each one of these is a crucial component of moving our economy forward.

Education by far--and I've believed this for a long, long time; my mom is a teacher, she is a public school teacher, she has taught second grade. She absolutely instilled in me the notion of how important education is. And as one of the first people to go to college in our family, it really has given me the opportunity to do things that have allowed me to serve in Congress. But more importantly, education is the best investment as a country that we can make. And between the stimulus plan and the budget, there is investment in college education. In President Obama's speech last week he talked about having every person who wants to be able to get a college education get one.

We see our competition around the world, whether it's Singapore or China, other places, the engineering degrees and other degrees that are coming forward; that's an investment in their future. Well, we have a great education system and a great university system, and community colleges and apprenticeship programs and vocational programs, all of these need to be nurtured and supported. And every student who wants to go to school--and every adult who wants to go back to school, particularly in a time like this--needs to have that support because that will turn into a very high productive economy.

Health care. We know health care is just the Pacman eating up the costs in our economy, not just for government, not just for Medicare and Medicaid, but for private businesses. I know that when I was in a business, we had about 75 employees. Every year--and I know many of the people who are on the floor here understand this from their businesses or people at home understand this--every year you go back and have that conversation of what it's going to cost to renew your health insurance; double-digit increases every single year--whether there has been an experience of sickness or anything in the business, that's exactly what happens, double-digit increases. So you have to make decisions; do you cut back? Do you pass off more of the costs to your employees? And at some point in time businesses say I can't afford it. And we want to give them the opportunity to provide that type of health insurance because it keeps their employees healthy. We don't want people showing up at the emergency room.

So this budget has an investment of changing our health care system to make it more efficient, better quality of medicine. And one of the ways they do this is bringing our health system into the 21st century with health technology. And this is something really simple. Think of when you go to your doctor's office, and your doctor, and all his good medicine and good advice he's given you, he writes down the information about his observations and your evaluation on a chart in pen, in many cases--not all, but many of them still do--and that's because their systems have just not kept up with. It's not a fault of the doctors, it's just that the systems have really not kept up in this business. Now, every other business in the United States, we pretty much are on computers. Well, you still see large racks of files in a doctor's office. So, God forbid if something happened, let's say I'm at home and I have my personal doctor, and that doctor has my little chart. And he takes some tests, my heart and all the cholesterol and all the normal things, and I get sick as I'm traveling--let's say I'm up here in Washington, D.C. Well, I may go to a doctor up here, and guess what that doctor starts with? Zero. Nothing. No file, no nothing. And if he wants to get information, he has to call and maybe have somebody Federal Express or some type of courier of the record up to Washington and maybe has to take tests all over again. It just adds tremendous cost into the system instead of having a very simple--with privacy, of course, secure--but a simple system to have all of the technology of health care. Plus, certainly the quality of medicine can be improved on as well; I know many of my doctor friends tell me that all the time.

There is an investment, an incentive for doctors and providers, hospitals and others. This is just common sense. Again, if we can save money it can result in better quality of medicine.

Lastly, of course, is energy, and I know many of us in this Chamber, Democrats and Republicans, most Americans, understand that we have got to get a grip on our energy policy and stop sending billions and billions of dollars to countries that are not our friends but, in many cases, our enemies. We complain about Venezuela and Hugo Chavez, rightfully so, he is very anti-American, and he is a threat. And what do we do? We send millions and millions and millions of dollars daily over to Venezuela and buy their oil.

Well, that makes absolutely no sense to me and, I think, to most Americans. Well, it's not just Venezuela, it's all the Middle Eastern countries and plenty of other places. The sooner we can get into a mode where we can develop alternative energy, and whether it's wind or wave or solar or any combination of electric powers out there, and obviously there is coal and nuclear--and there are probably some answers as we focus our technology on some of those things as well to figure out the solutions to those problems--any number of ways that we need to make this country energy independent.

What President Obama does, and I certainly support, and I know most Americans do, is to really get our attention focused and make the kinds of investments necessary to get us into alternative energy. For energy conservation, electric grid, make sure that you are home, for example, with a new technology.

I had a small businessman in my area that came to me and said he has created a device which can now purchase and store electricity at the least expensive hours of the day. We know that at nighttime there is a low demand for power and you could, if they start pricing it that way, you could buy it less expensively. Boy, that makes a lot of sense, and then you can actually get more capacity out of our existing electric power plants, common sense. And these are the kinds of things that President Obama and many of us as Americans understand are the kinds of things that we need to do.

So the gentleman from Kentucky, I am actually very excited about the kinds of things that are in this budget. Well, sure, we are going to work on some and make them a little better. Maybe some won't work out, but I think there is a blueprint here for the future, it's a blueprint that will get our budget back in line, put people back to work, make the quality of our education, the quality of our health care, and certainly an energy policy that will put us into the future. This is the kind of leadership that I am really excited about.

Mr. Speaker, I rise today to recognize an outstanding organization in my Congressional District, the Arc of Palm Beach County. The Arc works to improve the lives of children and adults with developmental and mental disabilities, as well as their families.

Arc programs, which include therapeutic education and Community Inclusion Services, are invaluable to their clients and our community. From young couples raising their children with disabilities, to aging parents working to care for their adult children, families depend on the Arc for essential services.

I am committed to standing up for children and adults with disabilities, whether it is supporting the majority leader's ADA Restoration Act or fighting for increased funds for the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act.

I'm looking forward to addressing the Arc's first annual Arc Angels luncheon this Friday in West Palm Beach. And I congratulate all of the hard-working staff at the Arc, as well as their President, Executive Director and Board of Directors. Their efforts will have a valuable and lasting impact on South Florida.

Mr. Speaker, I rise today to recognize Retired Lieutenant Colonel Leo Gray, a resident of Dania Beach and one of the original Tuskegee Airmen, the legendary African American fighter pilots of World War II.

As you know, February is Black History Month, and it is up to all of us to recognize and celebrate achievements in black history.

Lieutenant Colonel Gray and his colleagues are heroes not only of African American history but of American history. Their brave and daring missions over enemy territory contributed to our victory in World War II and helped convince President Truman to desegregate our military.

The Tuskegee Airmen received the Congressional Gold Medal, the Nation's highest civilian honor, in 2007 and were invited to witness President Obama's historic inauguration this January.

Yet despite this recognition, Lieutenant Colonel Gray remains rooted in our south Florida community, attending public events to inspire the next generation of African American, and simply American, heroes.

Mr. Speaker, it is a pleasure to be here this afternoon as I get together with a number of the members of our class of 2006. We've now finished our first 2 years, and we're beginning the third year of our service here in Washington, and it's truly an honor and a privilege to be serving on behalf of the American people, particularly at a time when the challenges are so great.

Just to boil it down very simply, all you have to do is go home, talk to your neighbors, talk to your friends, talk to the people you go to church or synagogue with, see people at the grocery store. And what you're hearing in Washington is quite different and the people that come before our committees, that represent large banks, or people that are even coming up before this Chamber. We have a respectful difference of opinion. But I think the American people know what the bottom line is. The bottom line is they are hurting, and they are hurting in numbers like we haven't seen in our lifetimes.

I spoke to my dad the other day. My dad is 80 years old. He just had his birthday, we celebrated. It was a wonderful opportunity for our family to be together. And he grew up, he was born in 1928, so he was born right at the beginning of the Depression, but he certainly lived through the 1930s and '40s, and told me what it was like and how their family had to make do, and what it took to save for that last thing that they needed, the clothes, the hand-me-downs, all the other things they did to make do.

Well, we don't live like that today, by and large. But more and more people are forced to make very, very difficult decisions about how they're going to put food on the table, pay for their mortgage, pay for their insurance, put their kids through school, buy medicine, all the most basic things.

And I'm just going to take a quick showing of a graph here that was prepared, very interesting graph. It's from our United States Bureau of Labor Statistics. And it talks about recessions, the last few recessions we had. One was in 1990, one was right after September 11, and unfortunately, the aftermath of that, and now we have the current one.

If you just look at the lines, here's the beginning of the recession. They all start at the same place, and that's zero, at the point in which there are no new jobs created but no jobs lost, what they call the beginning of the recession. And if you take a look at the blue line, that was the one from 1990, it basically, after 10, 11 months it began turning around, actually it was 9 or 10 months, began turning around; and within about 2 years it was back to normal and on its way up in a very nice steep incline, the way we like to see growth in this country. And the people that create the growth are the people that have small businesses. These are the people we're focusing on.

The one after September 11 went on a little longer, but still you saw this big increase after a period of time, a nice spectacular increase.

Well, now we take a look at this green one. This is the one, unfortunately, we're in right now. This is the recession that started a number of months ago, and it is a line that's going almost straight down. That's the level and the depth of which we're at

right now, which is far deeper than the last two recessions.

Now, you probably heard a lot of people say that this is probably the worst it's been since the Great Depression, and it certainly seems that way. Thank God that at the present time many people are still working, but more and more people are on the edge, and more and more people are making decisions on what they can buy and what they can afford and decisions about the choices on the daily life of whether they're going to make an investment as a business owner or not. And these are the things that affect the broad base of our economy.

So it's interesting when I hear people say, well, we're going to spend this; we're going to spend that. But it's also very fascinating to me that over the last number of years, there hasn't been that kind of questioning when we're spending billions and billions of dollars every month in Iraq or other places around the world.

Well, as far as I'm concerned, yes, of course we have to worry about our national security and we're going to do what it takes to protect people in America and our interests. But you know something? It's also about time we start thinking about Americans and the lives that we lead and the roads that we live on, the schools that we build for our children, and the universities and opportunities to move our country ahead. These are the important things that we're going to have to do, and we're going to work very hard, and we've been working very hard at trying to get this going.

What I'd like to do, I've got a number of members from our class to join us. I'm going to first ask the gentleman from Connecticut (Mr. Courtney) to lead off here and just share with us some of your thoughts and what's going on in Connecticut.

Well, thank you. The gentleman from Kentucky has hit it right on the mark, the gentleman from Connecticut as well.

We are joined by Members from all over the country today. Everyone is going to have their opportunity. I think I'll just highlight one point really fast:

As we've been working on this for the last number of months, in speaking to people at home, to economists, to experts, to businesspeople from the Reagan administration or from the Clinton administration, and to everything in between, I think the great thing about this opportunity is that we've gotten a very broad perspective, and the message has been very clear. There is no silver bullet. There is no one answer that is going to solve this in terms of creating consumer demand and confidence. You're going to have to try a number of things--be bold. Move it along because we're hemorrhaging--so we can get things stabilized as quickly as possible.

The great thing is that 90 percent of the jobs being created are private-sector jobs. The private sector is going to drive the economy. As Mr. Courtney clearly said, the private sector is stimulated at a time like this by the government's doing things that are good for us, whether it's enhancing school buildings, broadband technology, things like that.

We are joined by the gentlewoman from Ohio, from our Midwest, from the heartland, and she has just been a great leader on so many of these issues affecting families and small businesses. So, if you could, certainly give us your insight from the Ohio perspective.

Thank you very much. The gentlelady from Ohio has hit the nail on the head, and I think we agree with everything you said. It really is about Americans first. It is about putting aside every bit of the politics. There is a time for jousting and a time for debate, and there is a time for action. This is the time for action. The next couple of days will be a signal to the American people, to our business community, to our consumers that we are ready to turn the corner.

With that, I would like to turn it over to the gentleman from New York State (Mr. Arcuri) and get his perspective, please.

I appreciate the personal experiences and personal observations from your district. I think we share that same experience from all of the people we're talking to. And as we had in the Financial Services Committee today, we heard from a lot of the large New York banks, and they talked about how the fact that--if you listen to them, that they're lending, they're doing this, they're doing that. I don't understand why it's not translating to our communities. I mean, if you believe what they're saying, it sounds like everything is okay.

And we know the lifeblood of the economy is credit, consumer credit, people being able to buy automobiles

or consumer goods or student loans, things like that--and not to mention small businesses that needed just to invest in their small businesses to keep their business going. It's not happening. And that needs to change, and that's part of this goal of fixing the economy, stimulating it, and getting the financial system fixed.

We have a gentleman, Mr. Walz. We really appreciate your being here and being part of the explanation and the experience that you've had up to this point. I know you've been hearing from your people back home. We were just talking about it over the weekend.

And why don't you share some of that with us.

I thank you for your passion and your expression of what's going on in Minnesota.

I think we're seeing that the same situation is going on in all 50 states. For those of us who lived during recessions before, some recessions were tied to real estate, some were tied to manufacturing, different parts of the country. But you know something? People from every corner of this country are feeling this right now, which is why we have to act now. Do the right thing. We'll adjust as we go along. But every economist has told us that this is the right combination: some tax cuts, some investments, but all towards the future.

I want to express my appreciation to the President who has expressed it this way because I think he's right on the mark.

What I'd now like to do, if I could, is introduce my friend, the gentleman from Connecticut, who's been a great

leader also on small business incentives and making sure small business has all of the opportunities to grow, and we know this is the moment for that.

So why don't you give us some expression on that issue.

I thank the gentleman from Connecticut, and I think we all have a number of Angelos in our communities, whether they're little bake shops or barbershops or supermarkets or florist shops or little machine shops. I grew up in a variety store. My dad worked 6 days a week, like most of our parents did. And I worked with him alongside, like a Woolworth type of little local store, and he taught me about what it takes to make a budget, and I think most Americans understand that right now when we know that we have to get jobs back on target here.

I'd now like to add another State to the mix here. The gentleman from Maryland (Mr. Sarbanes), if you can give us your understanding and your thoughts, I'd like to yield to Mr. Sarbanes.

I thank the gentleman from Maryland.

You're absolutely right, and if we think about it, we're approximately 3 weeks from the inauguration of President Obama, and right now, we're on track for a historic Economic Recovery and Reinvestment Act that he laid out principles before, during and after that inauguration. And I think all of us are very dedicated as Americans to making sure that we get it right.

It's not a question of how much time it takes to pass the bill. It's a question of getting it right, and I think that after weeks and weeks and weeks of getting experts and lots of people from back home and up here to help us understand what we need to do, the combination of the right tax cuts, the right investments will help us get it right.

Madam Speaker, I'm going to yield back to the Chair, and I want to thank you.

Mr. Speaker, I rise today as we begin National Cancer Prevention Month to honor an extraordinary member of our south Florida community, Mrs. Nancy Brinker. Nancy is the founder of the Susan G. Komen Foundation, the largest charity in the world. Named after Nancy's only sister who succumbed to breast cancer in 1980, the foundation has raised tens of millions of dollars for research and currently includes 100,000 volunteers worldwide.

As many of you know, the signature event of the Susan G. Komen Foundation is its annual Race for the Cure. This past weekend, I was honored to participate with many others for the Race for the Cure held in West Palm Beach, where I walked in honor of my sister who was recently diagnosed with breast cancer. At this event, I was delighted to meet Nancy in person and thank her for her tireless efforts in fighting this terrible disease.

Mr. Speaker, I would like to recognize Nancy Brinker and all of the participants in the 2009 West Palm Beach Race for the Cure for their commitment to defeating breast cancer.

Mr. Speaker, I rise today to congratulate the members of the J.P. Taravella High School Marching Band and their director, Neil Jenkins.

Taravella was selected by the Presidential Inaugural Committee as the only high school marching band from the State of Florida to participate in the 2009 Inaugural Parade, and these students from Coral Springs made us all proud. Their journey was possible because business owners and citizens from across our community came together and they raised $150,000 to make the trip.

I hope that being in Washington D.C. for this historic inauguration was as meaningful to these young musicians as it was for me. I know they will carry memories of this extraordinary event with them for the rest of their lives.

Mr. Speaker, I would like to offer my congratulations to these fine students, their parents, teachers and chaperones for being part of the 2009 Presidential Inaugural Parade.

Madam Speaker, I rise in strong support of the Children's Health Insurance Program Reauthorization Act of 2009. This critical legislation will take care of unfinished business from the 110th Congress by providing health insurance coverage to 11 million children along with enacting needed reforms to the CHIP program.

I applaud Speaker Pelosi for bringing this bill to the floor so quickly and President-Elect Obama for calling on Congres to have this legislation ready when he takes office. To be frank, this bill can't come fast enough for the millions of children without basic healthcare coverage and for the low-income families struggling to make ends meet.

Never in my life has our country been in such a precarious state. Our once soaring economy is teetering, with unemployment at 7.2 percent, and the traditional pillars of our economy are struggling to stay in business. Now more than ever, the government must fill its role by helping the most vulnerable in our society meet their basic needs like healthcare.

Madam Speaker, we're not asking my colleagues to take a leap of faith on some untested program. Created a decade ago, the State Children's Health Insurance Program is a product of true bipartisanship. A Republican Congress passed it, and a Democratic President signed it into law. And it is not an entitlement program; it is an empowerment program that encourages enrollment into private health insurance programs and a sliding scale for premiums based on a working family's ability to pay.

In my home State of Florida, CHIP is administered through the Healthy Kids Program. During my tenure in the Florida State Senate, I helped oversee its implementation while serving on various committees. While we ran into some roadblocks with enrollment, I can say that people from both parties as well as the business community felt it was an innovative way to provide health care coverage to hundreds of thousands of low income children in Florida.

Madam Speaker, passing CHIP legislation today is our first test of leadership in the 111th Congress. If we fail--if we fail our children-- then we must ask ourselves what leadership means in a time of crisis and whether we deserve the trust of the American people.

Madam Speaker, today I rise to recognize the month of October as Breast Cancer Awareness Month, and to commend the Boca Raton Community Hospital for its renewed efforts to fight breast cancer and to raise awareness of this disease.

Breast cancer claims the lives of thousands of our mothers, daughters and sisters each year. The disease is the second most common type of cancer and the fifth most common cause of cancer death. Yet, if discovered early breast cancer can be treated and the victim's chances of survival greatly increased.

Currently, 61 percent of breast cancers are diagnosed at a localized stage, due largely to early detection by mammography screening and improvements in treatment.

In October, the Boca Raton Community Hospital hosts its 5th annual Go Pink Cancer Awareness Luncheon and later this year, the hospital will open the Eugene and Christine Lynne Cancer Institute at the Sandler Pavilion. This 98,000-square-foot facility will house oncology, chemotherapy and clinical research that will lead the fight against cancer in my South Florida community.

With over 20 oncology physicians, the Institute will treat over 3,000 patients each year. These outstanding physicians and early detection programs will allow more breast cancer patients and their families win the battle against this disease.

Like many other families in my community, mine has been affected by breast cancer. This month allows each and every one of us to remember those who died from this disease and celebrate the triumph of those who have survived. I look forward to continuing the fight against cancer here in Congress and at home in South Florida.