Floor Statements

Mr. Chairman, I rise to join in the discussion on a matter of grave concern I think to every American taxpayer, every American worker, every American that relies on a Federal program that is essential to them, to every American that relies on the Federal Government for our safety and security, and that is the issue of fiscal responsibility by our Federal Government, an issue that is really long overdue as we look back. And I stand here and I commend the efforts of the gentleman from Iowa (Chairman Nussle) for the work he has done on this committee to bring us a budget that is now responsible.

Right now we are spending $521 billion in deficit spending. That, very simply put, means we are spending every year $521 billion more than we are taking in on the other side. I may be relatively new to Washington, being a freshman as I am, but I can tell the Members back in my State of New Jersey, there is not one business that could operate that way. There is not a State government that could operate that way. As a matter of fact, most States have to have a balanced budget at the end of the year.

And yet when I come here to the House, it seems that Members on the other side of the aisle just barely take notice to the problem. And I say that because I serve on the committee, and it was just a week ago when we were in that committee discussing these very same issues and amendment after amendment after amendment was proposed by the other side of the aisle. A total of $28 billion was proposed in additional spending. I do not know whether those amendments, when they were doing that, whether they were simply playing politics at the time or whether they simply do not care about all this excessive deficit spending. Either way it is not a good example for this House to be setting for the American public. At the end of the day, what all that means is that we are adding to the fiscal drag on the American family budget. We are already looking at some $20,000 per household, $20,000 that the average household would say that they would love to be able to spend as they see fit, whether it is on their kids' education, on their kids' health care, or other such priorities as they deem fit instead of Congress deciding how they are going to be spending their money.

We are stuck under their proposal of spending additional funds even though in the past we have been spending more in Washington at a rate greater than inflation. Opponents on the other side of the aisle agree, I would assume, that deficits are caused by spending more than we are taking in. But they will argue that it is not because we are spending too much money; it is because we are taking in too little revenues. So their answer to the problem, as it has been all day and repeatedly during the committee as well, is that we do not cut spending, we increase taxes.

Mr. Chairman, I strongly disagree. I believe that the American public is already taxed far too much. We are just learning now that there is a correlation between cutting taxes and job growth and an expansion of the economy. Now would be the absolute wrong time to go in the opposite direction and raise taxes. When more people are working because we have cut taxes over this past year in the budget this committee put out last year, when more people are working, when there is more job creation, when consumer confidence is increased, when there is more consumer spending, there is more economic growth. That relates and that causes more revenue to come in. And that also causes people to be less dependent on the Federal Government, which means on the other side of the ledger, we can spend less, all those good things.

But however we look at the issue of making the economy grow, I think that one thing we can agree on is we are in the midst right now of a war on terrorism. We have potential daily threats on every side of us. We have deficit spending in the past years that we have to reconcile. Now is not the time, as the other side of the aisle suggests, that we should be raising taxes. Now is the time that we should move forward with a fiscally responsible budget, as has been proposed by our chairman, to put this House back in order.

Madam Speaker, will the gentleman yield?

Madam Speaker, I rise today to discuss and join the discussion on a matter that I think should be of grave concern to every American taxpayer, every American worker, every American that relies on an essential Federal program that they look to on a daily basis and any American that basically looks to our Federal Government to provide for our safety and security, and that is, I join with my colleagues in discussing this issue of fiscal responsibility on the Federal level. It is one that you and I agree is long overdue, as Washington begins to put its house in order, and that we need to do it obviously in the sense that if we want to continue to provide those essential services back to our districts, those services that people have a right to under the Constitution and look to the Federal Government for, we have to put those processes in place.

So, Madam Speaker, I appreciate the chance to join with my good friend from Illinois (Mr. Kirk), and thank him for all the work he has done on this issue in the past, basically, this evening to bring to the American public's attention the issue of fiscal responsibility and process to the system.

Madam Speaker, it has been discussed already here and in the past that we are looking at a $521 billion budget deficit right now, meaning we are sending out $521 billion more than we are taking in at the end of the day. I stand up here as a freshman, and $521 billion is an awful lot of money to me. I come from the good State of New Jersey, where when I go back and talk to businesses there, they obviously would never be able to operate their business on a basis like we do in Washington.

Even in our State government, where I had the honor of serving for the last 12 years, we did not have the opportunity to operate in the manner that Congress has over the years. We had to do the fiscally responsible thing, and that is to end up at the end of the year with a balanced budget.

I have the privilege and honor of being on the Committee on the Budget, and we just went through 2 days of hearing, and this past week we passed through the budget that we will soon be considering in this House. We discussed the issue of fiscal responsibility during the course of that markup. But I think it is interesting to know that during the debate and during that time we got that bill out of committee, the Members on the other side of the aisle, still understanding where we stand with regard to the budget deficits, still proposed spending and sending out $28 billion more than we see in the budget that will be coming before us.

I do not know whether those tactic were simply playing politics or whether the other side of the aisle honestly does not care about spending more than we are taking in, but I think it sets a bad example either way.

Exactly. Each and every one of those amendments came up, and Members on the other side of the aisle made their best case as to why we should be spending more money than we are taking in. Fortunately, members on this side of the aisle said it would not be fiscally responsible to do those programs and at the end of the day not have money available to provide the essentials.

It cuts that deficit in half, which goes in the correct direction. That is to say what we talked about, the area of trying to get to a balanced budget some day, we have to do it by reining in spending, and this goes to doing that not by raising taxes.

Exactly. That is an important point we need to get to as well. At the end of the day, we want to grow the economy. One of the points that I think I have learned here and in State government, when you cut taxes, you return those dollars from Washington back to the family budget. Families have the ability to spend more; consumer confidence goes up. They spend more locally, businesses are able to expand, jobs are created; and at the end of the day, not only do you expand the economy, but by putting more people back to work and expanding the economy, you reduce the amount of the reliance on the Federal Government, and so you reduce the amount of money that we have to spend. So eventually you will be able to reduce taxes even further.

Actually we are doing a level funding plan. If a program had this much money this year, we are going to keep it level going into the future.

That is absolutely not a cut. A cut is when you are spending this much this year, and next year you go down to here. That is a cut. If we keep it level, I do not know how anyone can call that a cut.

Mr. Speaker, when in power, Saddam Hussein posed a grave and great danger to the Iraqi people, the region's stability, and the worldwide community. He ruled by oppression, deception, and fear; and the President's decision to go to war with Iraq was the right one, and the world is safer and better off without Saddam Hussein in power.

For 12 years, Saddam Hussein used tactics of denial, distortion, and delay to prevent the world from enforcing the 1991 cease-fire agreement that ended the Persian Gulf War and numerous other U.N. Security Council resolutions demanding complete disarmament. It proves Saddam Hussein's stance against a peaceful resolve in the region.

Now, while some skeptics continue to suggest that military action in Iraq was wrong, their answer never is that Iraqis or the world would be better off left with him in power.

Mr. Speaker, I stand here today in support of the President and his decisions, for I know his one overriding responsibility is to protect and defend the American people, and our President is working to do just that.

Mr. Speaker, I rise today to bring both attention and admiration to a program that truly has had lifesaving results.

The Community Blood Services, located in Paramus, NJ, within my fifth Congressional District, has working partnerships with many hospitals in the New York metropolitan area to supply cord blood. This cord blood is used in the treatment of leukemia, breast cancer, lymphoma, Hodgkin's Disease, Aplastic Anemia, various other cancers, blood diseases, hereditary/genetic conditions and immune system disorders.

The Elie Katz Umbilical Cord Blood Program at Community Blood Services recently and generously announced it will donate one of its umbilical cord units to St. Joseph's Regional Medical Center in Paterson, NJ, to assist an uninsured patient in need of a lifesaving transplant.

The patient is suffering from Burkitt's Lymphoma, a non-Hodgkin's disease which is rare in most of the world, but is the most common childhood cancer in Central Africa.

The Elie Katz Umbilical Cord Blood Program was inaugurated in 1997. Since then, it has accepted more than 1600 donated cord blood units. To date, 24 of those units have been used for transplants in children throughout the world. The unit being donated to St. Joseph's will be the twenty-fifth.

Stem cells obtained from placentas and umbilical cords, have been proven to successfully aid in the treatment of many life-threatening diseases. Researchers have found that umbilical cords especially are a rich source of stem cells. This discovery could make the use of embryonic stem cells unnecessary. The cells are easily attainable and can be expanded in vitro, maintained in culture, and induced to differentiate into neural cells. They are a potential source of multipotent stem cells that may serve many therapeutic and biotechnological roles.

In order to identify possible genetic diseases or past illnesses that could jeopardize the patient, when collecting donated cord blood there is a wide-ranging parental history considered. Once the parents agree to the donation, a technician working closely with the delivery team collects the residual blood from the umbilical cord after it has been detached from the baby, ensuring no risk to the mother or child. The cord blood unit is then transferred to the processing laboratory at Community Blood Services, where the red blood cells are removed and the remaining stem cells are frozen in liquid nitrogen for long-term storage.

Let me close by portraying just how proud I am that such a worthwhile organization is located within my community. It is an honor for me today to bring attention to Community Blood Services on the floor of the House. We thank you for everything that you do.

Mr. Speaker, I rise today in full support of H.R. 1997, the Unborn Victims of Violence Act. I commend those who have come before me in previous years for their work, and I commend the gentlewoman from Pennsylvania for her work now in bringing this issue to the floor.

Violence against a woman who is pregnant with an unborn child is a hideous and tragic act that must be punished accordingly. To my left here is a photograph, this is the first time I have seen this photograph recently, of Tracy Marciniak and her little baby. I would challenge anyone who knows the story, that she was beaten, she survived the beating but her little baby did not. I would challenge anyone from the other side of the aisle who would look at this photograph and say that this is a fetus in her arms. No, I would say this is her baby in her arms. And when a baby, born or unborn, is taken away from her mother, the offender must be punished.

This is commonsense legislation. Once it is passed, it will work to deter violence against women and their unborn children as well. As has been stated by other people already, one of the leading causes of violence and death to women in many States is in fact homicide of pregnant women.

I would urge all Members of good faith on both sides of the aisle to do what is right for society, right for women, and right for the innocent victims in this Nation and vote in favor of this legislation.

Mr. Speaker, since 1948 the State of Israel has constantly been under attack from inside and outside her borders, from neighbors on all sides. Innocent Israeli citizens, including women and children and seniors, have become terrorist targets. Israeli shops, streets, and schools have become the battleground. There are always threats in the country and always a cause for alarm.

Today, the threat to Israel's security has never been greater. On the eve of the U.N.'s hearing this week on the West Bank barrier, a Palestinian suicide bomber blew apart a Jerusalem bus, killing himself and eight passengers. This strike, which injured 60 others, was in protest of the security barrier constructed by Israel to foil terrorist attacks such as this.

This terrible and painful bombing in Jerusalem has brought new urgency to the claim of Israeli leaders that a security fence is desperately needed in order to prevent terrorists from entering from the West Bank and proves that Israel is under a new wave of violence, one that the Palestinian leadership is unable and unwilling to stop.

For this reason, I support Israel's construction of a security fence and will support that additional miles be built should Israel so decide to continue this self-defense option. The security fence is a proven way to impede terror, which in turn will help advance the peace process. It is situated to protect the lives of Israelis. The separation barrier has proven itself by preventing 50 percent of the attempted terrorist attacks against Israel, and the fence around Gaza has prevented all Palestinian suicide bombers from entering the country.

There are Palestinians who are working now to disrupt this pursuit towards peace. Monday, the Palestinians presented their case to the United Nations International Court of Justice, the ICJ, standing against the Israeli separation barrier in the West Bank, while Israel appealed to world opinion and moral common sense to ignore the proceedings that are unfair.

Israel only began the construction of this fence after 3 years of near daily terrorist attacks that killed 919 Israelis and left thousands more wounded for life. Now more than 40 nations, including the United States, the European Union, and Australia, have joined Israel in protesting the court's consideration of this matter because it falls outside the court's traditional mandate to serve as a mediator between a willing state and, more importantly, because it undermines Israel's, and for that matter any nation's, right to self-defense.

The Palestinians and their supporters have now manipulated the U.N. General Assembly to request the ICJ to issue a legal advisory on the security of the fence. Though it is not legally binding, this advisory opinion could prompt anti-Israel resolutions at the U.N. later this year and will reinforce efforts to isolate Israel internationally.

Manipulation of the ICJ is only the latest attempt in many attempts by Israeli detractors to use every arm of the U.N. to delegitimize Israel. The U.N. has been a source of anti-Israeli activity, passing more resolutions against Israel than any other subject matter, over 400 since 1964. In contrast, that body has never investigated the Palestinian terror campaign against Israel, nor has it investigated the abuse, torture, and other human rights violations by nondemocratic states in the Arab world. The U.N. is the same body that voted against removing Saddam Hussein and ending his evil regime over his own people.

The international community and Arab states in the region must come together now and strongly discourage further Palestinian terrorism. Nations around the world must support Israel in their right to defend their land and their people. Israel has every right and must have every right and ability to protect their people and their country. Those who say otherwise, that Israel's self-defense is an impediment to progress, they miss the point entirely. The destruction of Palestinian terrorism is not an impediment to progress; rather, it is the definition of progress.

Where the violence stops, the peace process can move forward. And until it does, Israel's efforts to build a security fence on their own borders are a necessary and justified response to the perils that this nation faces. As Israel is a free and democratic, peace-loving nation and our only real ally in a region filled with unrest and American hatred, our Nation must do everything we can to support Israel and not stand in the way of the Israeli leaders doing what they feel is necessary to protect their citizens and their homeland.

Mr. Speaker, I rise today to honor a distinguished citizen from the Fifth Congressional District from New Jersey, which I represent. Mr. John Redden has been named Pascack Valley's Citizen of the Year.

John is deserving of such acclamation for his many contributions to his community. He serves on the board of the Pascack Community Services. He has owned a Westwood-based business for over 20 years. And John, who has a wife and three children, has generously given of his time and money to donate to many community organizations. He has used his passion of sports to encourage athletic involvement in the community for having coached both basketball and baseball.

I might add that John is a worthwhile recipient of this award not only for the many contributions but in the way that he undertakes them. He supports his community silently, asking no credit whatsoever for his charity to his community. He supports his hometown organizations simply because he loves his neighbors and the community means so much to him.

I commend John for his dedication to his community, and I ask my colleagues to join me in congratulating him on receiving this prestigious award.

Mr. Speaker, I rise today in honor of a recently fallen soldier, Chief Warrant Officer Aaron Weaver. Aaron was a member of the Army's 82nd Airborne Division and was stationed in Iraq.

A little over two weeks ago, Aaron got on board a Black Hawk medevac helicopter to go to Baghdad for a routine medical check up. Aaron had recently undergone a serious bout with cancer and critical surgery. In fact, he could have remained in the states while the doctors continued to monitor his progress.

Instead, Aaron volunteered for Iraq and requested and received the medical waiver necessary to deploy. He wanted to join his younger brother, Ryan and his comrades. He heard the call of duty and he answered it.

His brother, Ryan, was also stationed in Iraq. Ryan and Aaron had plans to meet when Aaron was to arrive in Baghdad, but that moment never happened. The medevac that Aaron was traveling in was shot down by enemy fire and all nine soldiers, including Aaron, were killed.

He is survived by his wife, Nancy, and his one year old daughter, Savannah.

Aaron, already a decorated war hero who fought in the streets of Mogadishu in 1993 to rescue his friends after their Black Hawk had been shot down, set the highest example of someone who is willing to risk their own life to save others.

His dedication to his country and fellow soldiers represents his tremendous sense of loyalty and selflessness. Aaron Weaver is a true American hero. Aaron will never be forgotten by his family, friends or the country he fought for.

Mr. Speaker Taiwan and the United States have a long and fruitful relationship. Taiwan's democracy is modeled after ours and its economic prosperity depends much on the mutual trade between Taiwan and the United States. Taiwan's leaders were mostly educated in the United States and Taiwan has nearly 30,000 students studying in America colleges and their tourists' number one overseas destination is the United States.

So despite the lack of formal diplomatic relations, Taiwan is a close ally of our government. It has supported our global war against terrorism and has pledged humanitarian-assistance to postwar Iraq.

On the other hand, we have the Taiwan Relations Act, a law of the land which is designed to provide Taiwan with adequate weapons to protect itself against invasion from China. The U.S. policy on Taiwan- China relations is to maintain the status quo in the Taiwan Strait.

Taiwan's planned March 20 referendum, contrary to what Chinese leaders have said about it, is designed to maintain the status quo in the Taiwan Strait. It is not to provoke Chinese leaders. It merely asks Taiwan voters whether their government should buy more anti-missile weapons if China refuses to withdraw its 496 missiles targeted at Taiwan and whether their government should open up talks with China about other issues.

I feel the 23 million people of Taiwan have a right to hold such a referendum. We mustn't allow China to intimidate Taiwan with talks of overtaking Taiwan by force and other verbal threats.

Mr. Speaker, I rise tonight to share with this body the extraordinary work being done by a constituent company of mine, BD, the Becton, Dickinson and Company of Franklin Lakes, NJ in combating the spread of HIV/AIDS in Africa.

First, I would like to applaud the Senate's efforts in passing the McConnell-Sessions-Leahy amendment, as part of the Foreign Operations Appropriations bill for fiscal year 2004 that will provide funding to combat unsafe medical practices in Africa as a means to preventing the spread of HIV/AIDS on that continent.

This bipartisan effort directs the Bush administration to spend at least $75 million on injection and blood safety programs in 12 African countries as part of the President's overall $15 billion HIV/AIDS initiative. This funding is an important first step in addressing the issue of disease spread through unsafe medical practices in Africa, and I urge my colleagues who will be participating in the conference committee to preserve this important amendment.

Which brings me to the work of BD. In business for over a century, BD, is a global medical technology company that serves healthcare institutions, life science researchers, clinical laboratories, industry and the general public. BD manufactures and sells a broad range of medical supplies, devices, laboratory equipment and diagnostic products and employs over 25,000 people in 18 states and around the world.

BD has a long, distinguished history not only in the development of medical technologies but also in partnering with global and domestic health entities and governments to tackle some of the major public health issues of our time. An example: BD pioneered the development of sterilization technology for medical devices and provided the first mass-produced sterile disposable syringes--at cost--to Dr. Jonas Salk for his nationwide polio vaccination efforts in 1954.

BD is currently working with the WHO, UNICEF, the International Red Cross and other organizations to provide low-cost ``auto-disable'' needles and syringes that are specifically designed to combat the spread of HIV/AIDS and other infectious diseases by preventing reuse in the developing world.

BD has devoted years of dedicated effort and innovation to this issue, even though BD does not manufacture the vast majority of injection devices utilized in the developing world. Still, the company's commitment to this issue has manifested in many ways, including development of low-cost technologies specifically designed to address this developing world need, collaboration with international agencies in development of appropriate safe injection policies for mass immunization programs, and substantial philanthropic commitments in support of international vaccination efforts utilizing safe injection technology for deadly diseases such as maternal and neonatal tetanus and measles.

These commitments and investments occurred because BD believes their expertise and resources can have a very positive impact on these significant global health issues. In fact, their commitment to the global health arena is part of the company's overall mission: ``Helping all people live healthy lives.''

As a result of BD's efforts and the leadership of international agencies, U.S. government agencies and the work of some other medical equipment manufacturers of auto-disable syringes that prevent reuse are already in broad use for childhood immunization programs in Africa and some other developing countries.

Efforts were first focused on childhood immunization because these injections are generally administered simultaneously to large groups of children, increasing the potential for disease spread. And to date there has been significant progress. It is estimated that 75 percent of immunizations in Africa are administered safely with auto-disable devices. However, immunizations represent only approximately 10 percent of all injections given in Africa. The need exists to expand reuse prevention technologies to the larger number of injections given for therapeutic purposes.

To accomplish this, BD and other manufacturers are expanding the application of low-cost reuse prevention technologies to a broad array of injection devices. These devices are designed to physically disable after a single use, preventing spread of disease from reuse. And while effective technology is critical for success, it is not enough.

To get these devices into broad use, government and non-government agencies, international aid organizations, health ministries in developing countries, and manufacturers must collaborate to ensure that these reuse prevention devices are made broadly available in developing countries. Also, healthcare providers will need to be educated about the risks of injection device reuse, and trained on the proper use of reuse prevention technologies. This will require a larger investment compared with the successful effort to ensure safe immunization of children in Africa.

Injections administered in Africa and the developing world are often unsterile and may transmit infectious disease, due to either improper reuse of disposable syringes and needles designed for single use or to ineffective resterilization of reusable glass syringes. World Health Organization (WHO) and U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) estimates indicate that approximately 40% of injections in the developing world are administered with reused, unsterile medical devices. In the year 2000 alone, WHO estimates that 500,000 new HIV/ AIDS infections, 2 million new hepatitis C infections, and 21 million new hepatitis B infections resulted from improper reuse of injection devices.

The global HIV/AIDS disease burden is staggering, growing exponentially, and can no longer be ignored. Last year alone, 3.5 million people in Sub-Saharan Africa were infected with the disease. Since 1981, an estimated 20 million people worldwide have died from the disease--and another 42 million around the globe may already be infected.

The passage of the McConnell-Sessions-Leahy amendment and its preservation by the conference committee will give a tremendous boost to global efforts to further prevent the spread of HIV/AIDS in Africa and the rest of the developing world due to this unsafe medical practice. But make no mistake about it; the McConnell-Sessions-Leahy amendment is only a first step in a long journey toward resolving this issue. We need to remain steadfast in our support to improve Privileged and Confidential-DRAFT ReRelease] 113103 medical conditions in Africa, and committed to working with all of the necessary parties to ensure the outcome that we know is possible.

I am proud of BD's involvement and commitment to this issue, and I commend them for their efforts and leadership. To me it is a glowing example of what a good global corporate citizen can and should be.

Mr. Speaker, 2 days ago the President of the United States signed into law a historic piece of legislation, a bill that would end partial birth abortion, a law that will now end this heinous and truly gruesome, barbaric act of killing innocent little boys and girls.

But as was all too expected, a lawsuit was immediately filed and a court immediately prevented this life-saving law from going into effect. Most appalling is the fact that the court did so not on any sound basis of law, but on what is becoming all too often the case with courts in this Nation, a decision by the court to simply impose its feelings on the issue over the findings of a legislative body, this United States Congress.

As has been reported in the press, the U.S. Department of Justice asked the court, as courts should do, to give deference to the finding of fact by Congress. Instead, the court replied to that request that it could find no record of any doctor who performs abortions in the last trimester to testify before Congress. The court stated: ``Isn't that important if Congress was really interested in knowing about this procedure?'' Indeed, if this court was truly being honest, it would realize that no abortionist would ever want to testify before Congress because in so doing, the awful truth about this heinous act would be revealed before the opponents of this act, before this House. It is telling that no abortionist of such late-term abortions would want to testify about such horrific acts that they do.

It is so patently clear that the court here was searching for a way to impose its personal view instead of abiding by the law of the land, a law which is supported by the vast majority of the people of this Nation, as well as most State governments. The court simply refused to abide by the findings of this Congress that a health exception was not necessary. The court stated: ``While it is also true that Congress found that a health exception is not needed, at the very least it is problematic whether I should defer to such a conclusion when the Supreme Court has found otherwise.'' Problematic, court?

If the court was indeed wanting to uphold the law of the Nation and not its personal views, it would have recognized that the Supreme Court's holdings were not its own, but were the opinions of a lower court that the Supreme Court simply did not have sufficient legal basis to overrule.

Congress, however, very clearly and upon substantial hearings and evidence set out its findings of fact of no need for a health exception. This court, however, as past Supreme Courts have stated, should have abided by the findings of facts by this Congress. This court has failed to uphold the findings of this Congress. This court has failed to abide by the precedent of the Supreme Court in granting due deference to such findings of fact. And most tragic of all, this court's actions may well result in more deaths to innocent little children.

Mr. Chairman, I rise in support of Mr. Pence's amendment which will provide the funding necessary through 50 percent of the funding for the emergency funds that are needed today. The question has been raised if those funds are 80 percent and this is just 50 percent, I would ask this administration do what all families have to do, and that is prioritize. So when it comes to issues like water resources, perhaps we do not have to spend the money right now on marsh restoration. When it comes to transportation, perhaps we do not have to spend the money right now on escalators, parking lots, and esthetic improvements at airports as far as transportation needs.

So we must prioritize these issues and put the rest of the money into a loan. The American public and my constituents know that this is an oil rich nation and they will be able to bear the burden of paying this money back, if not today, then at least some time in the future.

My constituents also realize that this is a nation that we want to stand behind and stand with to provide for liberty and security, but we know, as well, that liberty and security is not free and the price of freedom is not free. Some of this burden must be borne by the people of Iraq.

Mr. Speaker, I rise today in support of what is perhaps one of the most significant pieces of legislation that this House will ever consider. Why so significant? Because this bill will save lives. But even more than that, more than saving lives, it would save the lives of innocent children. And that is why I support the passage on the ban of partial-birth abortion.

This procedure, as some would like to call it, is a cruel, unusual, heinous, inhumane way of murdering our children.

As we pass this bill today, we will be doing so with the support of the American public. We will be doing so with the support of the people back in my State of New Jersey and with some 30 other States as well, who have tried as well to ban this heinous conduct. And the reason why they are supporting us in this endeavor is because they know we must save the lives of this and future generations of the American family.

Mr. Speaker, I rise today in memory of a man who dedicated his life to public service and once sought to become a Member of this House as well. Mr. Speaker, the people of Bergen County and the rest of New Jersey lost a dedicated public servant, a devoted father and husband and family man and a friend of mine when Jim Sheehan lost his battle to cancer.

Mr. Sheehan spent the majority of his career in public service. He worked for a while for the people of Bergen County for a period of time. In 1976 and 1978 he was the Mayor of Wyckoff, and after that he became a freeholder, from 1991 to 2002, the Board of Chosen Freeholders of Bergen County.

After serving as freeholder for the county, he took on the very difficult task of being the chairman of the Republican party in Bergen County. Bergen is the last largest Republican organization in the State of New Jersey, and though he worked very hard and tirelessly strengthening the party of Lincoln, he did so while remaining friends and having the respect of people on both sides of the aisle.

So, Mr. Speaker, on behalf of the people of the 5th Congressional District, particularly the folks over in Bergen County, I offer my prayers and condolences to the friends and family of Jim Sheehan.

Mr. Speaker, I rise today to speak about our efforts towards reducing waste, fraud and abuse in the Federal Government. It is a problem that has been plaguing the American taxpayers for far too long. With so little accountability on the Federal level, our government has grown like an unchecked cancer, basically ransacking and pick-pocketing the taxpayers pocket, wasting taxpayer dollars so the Federal Government does not have the dollars it needs to get the job done.

How does this happen? It happens by disregarding erroneous tax returns; by Medicare making thousands of overpayments, refusing to improve their bookkeeping system; in effect having the government waste, fraud and abuse occurring so that we do not have the taxpayer dollars necessary in those areas we want to have it.

Before I begin, allow me to address some specific areas that are of interest to me so we can begin the process to start to reform the Federal Government to address the issue of the deficit and hopefully bring our budget back in line to balance.

Go back, if you will, and imagine if the Federal Government was actually able to account for that $17.3 billion back in 2001 or that $20 billion in overpayments that they made in that same year. If we were able to do that, we would be able to bring our Federal deficit that year within eight points better than we did that year. Eight points, eight percent, it is not that much, but at least it is a step in the right direction.

Today we have already heard of the creation of a new organization of dedicated freshmen members of Washington's Waste Watchers. This is a group that is dedicated to literally cut the fat to address the issue of waste, fraud and abuse, to try to reverse the years of neglect on the Federal level when it comes to Federal spending.

When I go back to the folks back in the 5th Congressional District in New Jersey where I represent, I hear countless times from those people of how hard it is to send in their tax dollars from their hard-earned paychecks that they make each week, to send it down to Washington only to hear all the stories in the press of how we spend the money down here. When they hear that money is being misspent, wasted, their response is shock and disappointment.

Mr. Speaker, Americans did not send us to Washington just to spend their money. They sent us here to spend their money in the right way, not to waste their money, not to abuse their money, not to lose their money, but to spend it to help those needed recipients, as we intended to.

It is time that we in Congress start putting some pressure on those Federal agencies to get their books in order, to crack down on fraud and abuse, to cut the waste.

I sit on the Committee on the Budget, and we had the Inspector General folks from the Department of Education come in, and they spoke of improper loan forgiveness for false death and disability claims and questionable handling of student loan funds. What this means is that there is less dollars to go into the classroom for the textbooks and overcrowded classrooms because we sent the Federal dollars we want to there.

But this is just one example. There are so many more that we are going to hear as we go on in this program.

Examples on the Medicare program, which pays as much as eight times the cost of other Federal agencies for drugs and programs, Medicare that when you compare it to programs like the VA, the VA spends $130 for a wheelchair, Medicare $571. Medicare versus the VA, VA spends 700 bucks for a bed. Medicare spends around 1,700 bucks, a 230 percent increase for the same program. Medicare from 1996 to 2002 spent $83 billion in improper payments.

We also had some testimony from some other people, people from the Inspector General's office in the Department of Health and Human Services. They told us that upwards to 5 percent or more of all funding that goes into Medicare is misused and wasted. This House just voted on a $400 billion package for prescription drugs. Five percent of $400 billion comes to a potential $20 billion of more waste, fraud and abuse.

How do we avoid this problem in that area? There is a couple of recommendations. One is to have accounting mechanisms in place for all the money that is spent. It is not there. Secondly is to have verification mechanisms for the employees and have those employees be held responsible and accountable and, thirdly, have more resources for the Inspector Generals to conduct the audits to find that waste, fraud and abuse that we are talking about here. That is just another example that our constituents back home hear about of waste, fraud and abuse on the Federal level.

Mr. Speaker, I remind my colleagues that the American people did not send us to Washington, the American people did not elect us to be Members of Congress to spend their money ineffectively. They sent us here to make sure that the money is spent efficiently and effectively. They sent us here to make sure that there is not that waste, fraud and abuse.