Floor Statements

Mr. Speaker, it is an honor to stand on this floor in the midst of Military Appreciation Month and be from a State that had the highest numbers of young men and women returning from Afghanistan and Iraq, comparing to States like California and certainly some others. We are grateful for all, in all States, who have gone and put on the uniform unselfishly and stood in the line of danger for us.

Let me thank the Veterans' Affairs Committee of this Congress. I have never seen a more bipartisan and dedicated group of men and women. If the committee was opened up to all of us, we would all stand up and serve.

Today, as a family in the United States Congress, we have a problem. We have a disease problem, whether it is a heart attack or stroke or cancer, or whether or not it is the terrible injuries of war, posttraumatic stress disorder, or those who have lost limbs, who have suffered traumatic brain injury. We have men and women who have worked, and our veterans have now come in their later years who suffer the illnesses of age.

All of us will take our fist and bang on this podium to be able to say that they are first and our priority. No one counters or accepts the death of those that may have died in Texas, died in Arizona, or places elsewhere.

If this is a measure to begin that healing, to give the Secretary the ability to be able to focus in on those beyond the surgeons that are in the operating rooms, the nurses that I visit with along the hallways when I go to the veterans hospital in my area, then we should go forward.

I stand with this legislation working toward making the system work. I want to make it work by curing the systemic and the problematic way that we have veterans wait on services. Let's cut it out, cut the red tape out. Embrace them this weekend, one of the most emotional days we serve with our veterans, and tell them we will not rest until we answer the concerns of families, until we pray over those who have lost their lives, until we cure this, not by one person or another. They may have to go, but let's fix the system that they will have no waiting time when they come with lung cancer or last stage, with their life to be extended if they just get in the door. I want all of them to be able to get in the door and to use those resources that we have expended, those large numbers that my colleague and friend from Florida, both from Florida, and from Maine, have spoken about, and we use those resources to break the barrier of confusion and red tape, and when they walk through those doors someone says: Come in, we are ready to serve.

Thank you so very much.

Mr. Speaker, let me indicate that there are many reasons to be concerned about the rule. I am certainly concerned that we are not able to debate a very important issue dealing with Afghanistan.

Having spent almost a decade-plus in dealing with provision 215 under the PATRIOT Act and in helping to construct the Uniting and Strengthening America by Fulfilling Rights and Ending Eavesdropping, Dragnet Collection, and Online Monitoring Act, it is imperative that we move the USA FREEDOM Act forward.

For example, I introduced H.R. 2440, the FISA Court in the Sunshine Act of 2013. Specifically, my bill would require the Attorney General to expose the FISA Court, allowing Americans to know the broad, illegal authority it had, even having an advocate for the American people in sections 402 and 604. This is in the bill.

In addition, I strongly support this act because section 301 of the bill continues the prohibition against reverse targeting, which is an amendment that I had in the RESTORE Act; then, of course, it goes forward with ensuring that this megadata--this bulk collection--does not occur.

I am grateful that the Jackson Lee-Wilson-Lee amendment that deals with Boko Haram is in this national defense bill because we have to stop the tragedy that is going on, but more importantly, the devastation of Boko Haram.

Finally, I would have wanted the amendment that deals with the contracting out of our intelligence services. I believe it is too extensive. I believe that my amendment would have been effective in determining how much we use outside contractors. This is a rule that is, unfortunately, without a lot of point to it.

Mr. Speaker, I rise in strong support of H. Res. 590, the rule governing debate on H.R. 3361, the ``USA Freedom Act,'' and amendment to H.R. 4435, the National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2015.

Regarding H.R. 3361, I support the rule and am a co-sponsor of the the underlying bill, the USA Freedom Act, which stands for ``Uniting and Strengthening America by Fulfilling Rights and Ending Eavesdropping, Dragnet-collection, and Online Monitoring Act.''

The USA Freedom Act is the House's unified response to the unauthorized disclosures and subsequent publication in the media in June 2013 regarding the National Security Agency's collection from Verizon of the phone records of all of its American customers, which was authorized by the FISA Court pursuant to Section 215 of the Patriot Act.

Public reaction to the news of this massive and secret data gathering operation was swift and negative.

There was justifiable concern on the part of the public and a large percentage of the Members of this body that the extent and scale of this NSA data collection operation, which exceeded by orders of magnitude anything previously authorized or contemplated, may constitute an unwarranted invasion of privacy and threat to the civil liberties of American citizens.

In response, many Members of Congress, including the Ranking Member Conyers, and Mr. Sensenbrenner, and myself, introduced legislation in response to the disclosures to ensure that the law and the practices of the executive branch reflect the intent of Congress in passing the USA Patriot Act and subsequent amendments.

For example, I introduced H.R. 2440, the ``FISA Court in the Sunshine Act of 2013,'' bipartisan legislation, that much needed transparency without compromising national security to the decisions, orders, and opinions of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court or ``FISA Court.''

Specifically, my bill would require the Attorney General to disclose each decision, order, or opinion of a Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court (FISC), allowing Americans to know how broad of a legal authority the government is claiming under the PATRIOT ACT and Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act to conduct the surveillance needed to keep Americans safe.

I am pleased that these requirements are incorporated in substantial part as Sections 402 and 604 of the USA Freedom Act, which requires the Attorney General to conduct a declassification review of each decision, order, or opinion of the FISA court that includes a significant construction or interpretation of law and to submit a report to Congress within 45 days.

Significantly, the USA Freedom Act contains an explicit prohibition on bulk collection of tangible things pursuant to Section 215 authority. Instead, the USA Freedom Act provides that Section 215 may only be used where a specific selection term is provided as the basis for the production of tangible things.

Finally, I strongly support the USA Freedom Act because Section 301 of the bill continues the prohibition against ``reverse targeting,'' which became law when an earlier Jackson Lee Amendment was included in H.R. 3773, the RESTORE Act of 2007.

``Reverse targeting'' is the practice where the government targets foreigners without a warrant while its actual purpose is to collect information on certain U.S. persons.

The Jackson Lee Amendment, codified in Section 301 of the USA Freedom Act, reduces even further any such temptation to resort to reverse targeting by requiring the Administration to obtain a regular, individualized FISA warrant whenever the ``real'' target of the surveillance is a person in the United States.

I support the the USA Freedom Act because it will help keep us true to the Bill of Rights and strikes the proper balance between liberty and security.

I urge my colleagues to support the rule and the underlying USA Freedom Act.

Finally, I am pleased that the rule also makes in order the Jackson Lee-Wilson-Lee

Amendment to H.R. 4435, the National Defense Authorization Act for

I thank both the distinguished ranking member and the distinguished chairman for their courtesies and as well my fellow cosponsors of this amendment, Congresswoman Barbara Lee from California and Congresswoman Frederica Wilson from Florida.

This is a crisis. A couple of weeks ago, as you well know, across America we were stating these words, to find the girls, bring the girls back, #bringthegirlsback. Now we come some weeks later and we recognize that Boko Haram has to be a priority for the world.

This amendment causes this issue to be a priority listed in the Defense Department to determine the extent of the crimes against humanity committed by Boko Haram in Nigeria. But as you can see, this is a larger issue, and now we face the idea of where these girls might be. So, in essence, this amendment expands the opportunity for the United States to work with clean battalions and Rangers that we know are established in Nigeria but also other resources around to rescue the girls but to also deal with the emerging terrorism of Boko Haram.

This is a crucial issue. And if anyone knows many of the stories, one that I know of is where a little girl was placed between two dead bodies.

A little girl that I met today tells her story all the way from Nigeria, where her father was killed refusing to deny his faith, the brother was killed because they thought he might become a pastor, and the little girl was placed between the two bodies.

The killing is going on, 300, 118--this amendment will focus our Nation and allow and continue the resources to collaborate with Nigeria and these other nations to bring the girls back to their families.

It is a crisis. It is a crisis for the United States as it is for this entire region because Boko Haram is a terrorist group, and they must be brought to justice. The girls must be found. My amendment establishes that priority today, and I ask my colleagues to support it.

I thank Chairman McKeon and Ranking Member Smith for their work on this bill and their devotion to the men and women of the Armed Forces.

I also thank them for including in En Bloc Amendment No. 1 the Jackson Lee-Wilson-Lee Amendment, which makes three important contributions to the bill:

1. First, it strongly condemns the ongoing violence and the systematic gross human rights violations against the people of Nigeria carried out by the militant organization Boko Haram, especially the kidnapping of the more than 200 young schoolgirls kidnapped from the Chibok School by Boko Haram;

2. Second, it expresses support for the people of Nigeria who wish to live in a peaceful, economically prosperous, and democratic Nigeria; and

3. Third, it requires that not later than 90 days after the date of the enactment, the Secretary of Defense shall report to Congress on the nature and extent of the crimes against humanity committed by Boko Haram in Nigeria.

This is about religious oppression and killing innocent women, men and children.

Since 2013, more than 4,400 men, women, and children have been slaughtered by Boko Haram. Boko Haram kills because of religion and holds little girls as slaves.

The victims include Christians, Muslims, journalists, health care providers, relief workers. And schoolchildren.

I am confident that the international community working with the African Union will assist

the Government of Nigeria in bringing and end to Boko Haram's reign of terror and ensuring that its crimes against humanity are documented so its leaders can be held accountable.

The Jackson Lee-Wilson-Lee Amendment affirms that the United States stands with the civilized world in solidarity with the people of Nigeria.

The Jackson Lee-Wilson-Lee Amendment affirms that the United States is fully committed to the fundamental principle that women everywhere have a right to be free, to live without fear, and should not be forced to risk their lives to get the education they want and deserve.

The violent modern day slavery and killing must end.

I thank the Chairman and Ranking Member for including this amendment in En Bloc Amendment #1 and all Members to support it.

Congress of the United States,

Washington, DC, May 8, 2014.

President Barack Obama,

The White House, 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue, NW., Washington,

Mr. Speaker, I rise in support of the Conference Report to H.R. 3080, the Water Resources Reform and Development Act. I support this conference report because it makes smart investments in water infrastructure that are critical to the nation's economic future and the economy of my home state of Texas.

I thank Chairman Shuster and Ranking Member Rahall for their work in shepherding this legislation to this point, which is just one step away from presenting the bill to the President for signature.

Mr. Speaker, the last water resources bill signed into law was six years ago, making this one long overdue.

We need to keep America's economic recovery moving forward by ensuring that when American workers make products, we can efficiently move them through our ports to overseas markets.

American international trade accounts for more than one quarter of Gross Domestic Product. More than 99 percent of our overseas trade moves through America's seaports.

Cargo moving through our seaports is responsible for more than 13 million American jobs and generates in excess of $200 billion annually in federal, state, and local tax revenues.

Water infrastructure is critical to the Port of Houston, one of the major economic engines not only for my congressional district but also the nation.

The Port of Houston is home to more than 100 steamship lines offering services that link Houston with 1,053 ports in 203 countries. It is also home to a $15 billion petrochemical complex, the largest in the nation and second largest worldwide.

For America to remain on top the global economy, we need to be competitive internationally so that global consumers increasingly purchase American-made goods.

This bill takes an important first step in addressing an issue of key concern to not only the Port of Houston and Galveston in Texas, but to all of our nations' ports, the collection and use of the federal Harbor Maintenance Tax.

Specifically, the Conference Report provides for increased expenditures from the Harbor Maintenance Trust Fund (HMTF) for harbor maintenance activities each year.

Under the agreement, the target expenditure for Fiscal Year 2015 is 67 percent of the funds collected in 2014, with the rate rising to 100 percent of the funds collected in 2024.

The conference report also measure requires the Army Corps of Engineers to assess the operation and maintenance needs of U.S. harbors and, to the maximum extent practicable, to prioritize future trust fund spending on an equitable allocation among all harbor types.

The Conference Report also requires that any increase in annual Corps project operation and maintenance expenditures, which come from the HMTF, be accompanied by an equal increase in total appropriations provided for the corps' civil works program.

Mr. Speaker, I am particularly pleased that the Conference Report retains the provision inserted by an amendment I offered and which was accepted during the initial House consideration of this legislation.

That Jackson Lee amendment provides that in making recommendations pursuant to Section 118 of the Act, the Secretary shall consult with key stakeholders, including State, county, and city governments, and, where applicable, State and local water districts, and in the case of recommendations concerning projects that substantially affect underrepresented communities the Secretary shall also consult with historically Black colleges and universities, Tribal Colleges and Universities, and other minority-serving institutions.

I also am pleased that the Conference Report retains the provision permitting non-federal entities to invest in their harbor maintenance and step in when the Army Corps of Engineers cannot.

This legislative provision particularly benefits ports like the Port of Houston which have invested substantial amounts of their own funds to complete critical infrastructure in order to provide for safe navigation of larger vessels, and to assure its terminals remain competitive in the world market.

I believe the WRRDA bill would be even better if an amendment I offered directing the Secretary of the Army to encourage the participation of minority and women-owned businesses in Corps projects and for GAO to submit a report to Congress within 2 years on the participation of minority- and women-owned businesses in such projects.

Mr. Speaker, America's public ports and their private sector partners plan to invest more than $46 billion in seaport infrastructure in the next five years.

Maintaining America's link to the global marketplace by creating and maintaining modern and efficient seaport and waterway infrastructure will provide significant benefits to our nation's economic vitality, job growth, and international competitiveness, as well as create sizable tax revenues from cargo and trade activities.

For these reasons, I support the Conference Report and urge my colleagues to support it.

Madam Speaker, I thank the gentleman from Massachusetts for his leadership and as well the manager, the distinguished gentleman from Georgia, both distinguished members of the Rules Committee.

This is always a tough bill because many of us are aware of the extensive amendment process that occurred during the markup. But let me speak to one or two points that I think are very important. Our men and women in the United States military deserve our keenest support.

This is, in fact, Military Appreciation Month, and we want them to know that we truly appreciate them. We also know that they are fact- finders, and they are sometimes the front-line support on behalf of the United States without weapons to be helpful to countries that are in need.

I am introducing an amendment cosponsored by Congresswoman Frederica Wilson and Congresswoman Barbara Lee to ask for a report on the status of the Boko Haram and the resources that our defense persons are using to help with respect to the girls that have been kidnapped, and as well report to the extent of the crimes against humanity with respect to Boko Haram in Nigeria. I just got through meeting with African ambassadors, and they have mentioned that this is a regional issue.

We have also introduced an amendment to make sure that the contractors that are utilized for intelligence gathering have oversight, to avoid some of the catastrophes that we saw in recent years of contractors not appropriately, for some, handling important information that they had and doing this through contractors.

As we support our military, every day we see soldiers coming home from places far away and the need for posttraumatic stress disorder treatment. And my amendment, as I have done, asked for an increase of $5 million to be able to help those individuals. It is not throwing any bad money after good. It is recognizing that these symptoms and psychological problems may cause difficulty in providing provider- patient communication.

They may appear later in time and not mostly at the time that these individuals will come home. So I think it is important that we have the opportunity for diagnosing at a later period of time. These numbers are going to grow. There are over 200,000 veterans of military service who live and work in Houston, more than 13,000 of whom are veterans of Operation Enduring Freedom.

Let me finally say that we must stand with the repair of the Veterans Administration health system. I know that it tracks this bill, but it is not this bill per se, but we want to support our troops. And then I want to make sure that we heighten again the Iran negotiations and that we have no gap in the time that Iran is to report on what they are doing to not have war nuclear weapons as opposed to civilian use.

Let us also get re-engaged in the discussions on the Palestinian peace discussions, with the discussions going forward with Israel and Palestine, in spite of the fact that there are some very difficult things that we have to overcome. I believe it is important that we stand ready and are ready, that our negotiations are going forward to secure this Nation.

Finally, Madam Speaker, if I might just indicate that we hope to keep at Ellington Field--keep our helicopter units in Texas, and we hope that the legislation provides that opportunity without closing out the National Guard without a further review. I think that is extremely important.

Madam Speaker, I rise to speak during House consideration of the rule for the Howard P. ``Buck'' McKeon National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2015.

I thank Chairman McKeon, and want to express my appreciation for his years of service to our nation as chair of the House Committee on Armed Services. This year's appropriation bill's title reflects the dedication you have shown to our men and women in uniform in defense of our nation.

I also thank Ranking Member Smith of the Armed Services Committee for his work on this bill.

Thank you, Chairman Woodall and Ranking Member McGovern I appreciate for allowing me the opportunity to speak on the Rule for H.R. 4435.

This is the 53rd consecutive National Defense Authorization Act, which speaks to the long-term commitment of the Congress and successive Administrations to provide for National Defense. This bill encompasses a number of initiatives designed to modernize our nation's military to combat threats defined by the last decade of war in Afghanistan and Iraq, while dealing with dramatic cuts in funding; along with sequestration; and the federal government shutdown last year.

The National Defense Authorization Act's purpose is to address the threats our nation

must deal with not just today, but in the future. This makes our work vital to our national interest and it should reflect our strong commitment to ensure that the men and women of our Armed Services receive the benefits and support that they deserve for their faithful service.

Our men and women in uniform are ending the longest military conflict in the history of our nation. The lessons learned are hard, but solutions to improve our ability to provide the tools our troops will need to protect themselves were developed based on their experiences. Now it is our obligation to be sure that these new tools for the defense of our troops are available for their use when and where they are needed.

The bill will provide for resources to address the threats posed by improvised explosive devices, chemical agents, drug interdiction and dangerous drugs entering our nation.

The military needs the funding in the bill that would address munitions destruction, support the Joint Urgent Operational Needs Fund and support our work with the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) to make more efficient the work of protecting America and our interest.

We do live in a dangerous world, where threats are not always easily identifiable, and our enemies are not bound by borders. The Boston Terrorist Attack last year reminds us of how fragile our nation's security could be without a well-trained and -equipped military.

The definition of war has changed and with it our understanding about what is needed to combat a unique type of enemy that fights under no flag or for any nation.

U.S. Special Operations Command, a vital part of our military, provides much of the special skills needed to defend our nation. This legislation continues to build on previous efforts to support their important work.

There are several Jackson Lee amendments before the Rules Committee for consideration. These amendments are simple, straightforward, and are intended to improve the underlying bill. I believe they would command the support of a majority of the House, and I urge the Rules Committee to make them in order.

Madam Speaker, I thank my friend and colleague of the Judiciary Committee for managing this bill, and I acknowledge the ranking member, Mr. Conyers, and our chairman, Mr. Goodlatte, for the expeditious way in which we have moved forward on some very crucial bills.

I also thank both of my friends, my colleague, a former judge, Ted Poe from Texas and, as well, my colleague Carolyn Maloney from New York for their astute collaborative work which is so very important for really what we are trying to do here today.

Let me lay the groundwork for all that has been done, and that is that we want to stamp out human slavery that has been an epidemic and a plague and a cancer on this country and certainly around the world.

I am glad my friend mentioned the tragedy in Nigeria. Being in meetings on this issue today, it is obviously an epidemic and one that emphasizes a very special point, and that is young girls underage cannot consent to marriage, they cannot consent to be kidnapped or to be associated with someone that is going to do them harm on the basis that they are married. They are enslaved. They are being trafficked. They are being threatened unto their lives. Therefore, it is crucial for us to acknowledge what it is. Boko Haram is clearly a dastardly example of the tragic thugs that participate in human trafficking. They may be that group in Nigeria, but certainly we know that there are those here.

On the day that we had a Homeland Security field hearing on human trafficking, the day before there was a massive finding of individuals who had been trafficked. Certainly it was a question of whether they had been trafficked or whether they were smuggled, but sometimes, our law enforcement says, it meshes together.

It says that one study estimates that over 290,000 American youth are at risk of becoming a victim of sex trafficking. The National Center for Missing and Exploited Children estimates that one of every seven endangered runaways reported to the center is likely a victim of minor sex trafficking.

I am glad the Judiciary Committee and the Homeland Security Committee are working together and, under this legislation initiated by Mr. Poe, who does bring his experience as a man who has seen these victims come and cry out for help, that there are certain elements of this bill that are so very important, and that is the availability of sums in the Crime Victims Fund.

The testimony we heard in the Homeland Security field hearing in Houston indicated that victims go unnoticed sometimes in terms of getting help. I am glad to be able to have grants awarded to the establishment of the enhancement of specialized training programs for law enforcement officers, first responders, and health care officials to identify victims and the acts of child human trafficking.

I thank Mr. Poe for looking forward to working with me for some additional training regarding visas. I am also grateful that we have a place of refuge for these individuals so that they are not the criminal, but they are in fact the victim.

We are going a long way to embrace these victims, to get their lives standing up, and to get those dastardly persons that would sex traffic, human traffic, child traffic, and, in essence, hold them in slavery. This is a very important step going forward.

I look forward to this body discussing our efforts going forward and more such bills coming to embrace those who need our help and to save lives. It is now long overdue, and I am very grateful the Judiciary Committee has taken this step forward. Congratulations to the sponsors of this bill. I am delighted to be a cosponsor.

Madam Speaker, I rise in strong support of H.R. 3530, The Justice For Victims of Human Trafficking Act of 2014.

Let me offer my appreciation and thanks to my colleague from Texas, Judge Poe, for his work on this legislation and decades long commitment and advocacy on behalf of victims of crime, especially child victims, who are the most vulnerable and innocent victims.

Both Judge Poe and I along with our colleagues on the House Homeland Security Committee held a field hearing in Houston on ``Combating Human Trafficking in Our Major Cities.'' It was a fitting venue because, regrettably, Houston is the human trafficking capital of the United States.

Trafficking in humans, and especially domestic child trafficking, has no place in a civilized society. Those who engage in this illicit trade should be prosecuted to the fullest extent of the law.

That is why I was pleased that my Judiciary Committee colleagues adopted my amendment during the markup of this important legislation last month.

My amendment stated what should seem obvious in a modern, open society which in many ways is benevolent:

It is the ``Sense of Congress that child human trafficking has no place in a civilized society, and that persons who commit crimes relating to child human trafficking should be prosecuted to the fullest extent of the law.''

That means we need to ensure that state and local law enforcement agencies have the tools, resources, and training necessary to identify, apprehend, and prosecute criminals who ruthlessly traffic in children and young persons.

And one of the most effective resources in bringing criminals to justice is the cooperation and assistance of their victims.

Perpetrators of crime know that they are more likely to evade detection and punishment when their victims refuse to assist or cooperate with law enforcement. That is why they make it a point to instill fear in their victims--for their own safety or that of family and loved ones.

My second amendment offered during the Judiciary Committee Markup would have strengthened the bill's enforcement regime but was withdrawn in an effort to further refine it. The amendment complements the bill by providing another tool in law enforcement's arsenal to tip the balance in favor of victims so that they can utilize certain T and U visas.

In 2000, Congress passed the Victims of Trafficking and Violence Protection Act (VTVPA), which created the T-Visa, and reserved it for those who are or have been victims of human trafficking.

The Nonimmigrant Status (``T-Visa'') protects victims of human trafficking and helps law enforcement by allowing victims to remain in the United States to assist in the investigation or prosecution of human traffickers.

These non-immigrant visas were established by Congress to provide temporary legal status to victims of trafficking and enumerated crimes who assist with the investigations or prosecutions of the criminal activity in order to combat human trafficking.

The Jackson Lee Amendment simply provided that:

[T]he U.S. Attorney General shall provide training for

State and local law enforcement agencies on the immigration

law that may be useful for the investigation and prosecution

of crimes related to trafficking in persons, including

education on the availability of certain nonimmigrant visas

for victims of trafficking who cooperate in the investigation

or prosecution of the crime of which the individual was a

victim.

The Jackson Lee amendment would have strengthened the ability of state and local law enforcement to identify, apprehend, and prosecute domestic child traffickers by requiring the Attorney General to make available the

training and education that will empower them to gain the cooperation and active assistance of victims of human trafficking who would otherwise refuse to cooperate out of fear of reprisal.

Unfortunately, many victims of crime and victims of human trafficking are unaware of the existence and availability of this temporary relief. And that is in part because many local and state law enforcement officers are not aware.

The Jackson Lee Amendment was intended to help fill this information gap by providing the informational resources to local law enforcement who will be able in turn to share that information with the victims.

It is important that state and local law enforcement officials receive continuous education and training that they may correctly apply the law and perform one of their most important duties--apprehending criminals. I am pleased that a number of my colleagues pledged their support of this important part of the law.

At that field hearing, me and my Texas colleagues--Judge Poe, Congressman Farenthold, Chairman McCaul--heard testimony from federal law officials about how just the day before, on March 19, they had discovered and rescued 115 people from a packed, rancid stash house on Almeda School Road in south Harris County.

Ninety-nine were men, 16 were women, one of whom was pregnant and 19 were juveniles.

All of them had been kidnapped or smuggled into the United States.

Who knows what those women and children may have faced had they not been rescued and the perpetrators caught?

By helping them, we will catch more human trafficking criminals. And we help rescue and save children from becoming victims.

I urge my colleagues to support this important legislation and I look forward to working with them on this critical problem.

I thank the gentleman very much.

Madam Speaker, I rise in support of the Stop Exploitation Through Trafficking Act, and thank Mr. Paulsen and the cosponsors for this legislation. I thank the Judiciary Committee for this historic day--and days to come. Because even as we speak on the floor of the House right now, there are children that are being trafficked. There are young girls who are being abused. There is human slavery.

I just want to give this example that I think is so much the story of what we are speaking of.

If a 45-year-old man had sex with a 14-year-old girl, and no money changes hands, she would likely get counseling and he would likely get jail time for statutory rape. But if the same man left $80 on the table after having sex with her, she would probably be locked up for prostitution and he would probably go home. He is something called a word that I don't even want to use because he is involved in human trafficking, sex trafficking, abuse, and violation of a child that cannot give consent.

In a hearing that we held in Houston, what we determined was when those young girls are violated at that age, they are destined, in many instances, for a life of prostitution and to be trafficked and held by individuals who call themselves pimps, but are literally slaveholders.

So this is a very important initiative by providing the opportunity for the growing safe harbors and to be able to track community-oriented police services grants for those States that pass safe harbor statutes for victims of minor sex trafficking.

It is so very important to stamp out the scourge of minor sex trafficking and to also improve on the issue of restitution orders in order to give these girls back their lives. We listened to Kathryn Griffin, who now offers a refuge with a program called We've Been There Done That in Houston, Texas, inside the Harris County Jail, to get these women to turn their lives around, but wouldn't it be more important if we established that these girls now are victims?

They are being exploited. And we must stop it now. We must make sure that we find the safe harbor and also be able to have the restitution orders.

I also join in thanking my colleague for the opportunity with Job Corps, so they may turn their lives around. I think this is another step in the right direction to stamp out human trafficking, holding individuals as slaves and killing off their life and their future.

Let us rescue these girls, as we want to rescue the girls in Nigeria that are being held by the terrorist thugs, Boko Haram.

I thank the gentleman very much.

Again, this is a historic day, Madam Speaker, and it is a day, tragically, when we wish we had been able to stamp out this dastardly act, if you will, collective act of trafficking of our children, the advertising and the sheer slavery of it all, holding people against their will, using them over and over again.

I, too, have had the opportunity to see firsthand the devastation of ones who have been trafficked and then ultimately feel that their life's career can only be in prostitution. These may be adults, but they started being abused

and exploited as children. Just about a year or 2 ago, we had Attorney General Holder in my district, with all of those who were gathered around the issue of trafficking, human slavery, and had a meeting in the district, and the outpouring of the crisis was enormously overwhelming.

This morning in a markup in the Border and Maritime Security Subcommittee, of which I am the ranking member, Madam Miller is the chairwoman, we discussed unaccompanied minors coming across the border, victims-to-be, if you will, 60,000 coming across our border, children who are unaccompanied who are clearly potentially victims in this horrible human trafficking.

So I am a cosponsor of the Stop Advertising Victims of Exploitation Act and am well aware of the heinousness of depicting and advertising for these sex acts with children under 14 and those over 14. And I know for a fact that this is the beginning of the end of many of their lives. We know that there are ultimate acts that are so terrible that a child cannot overcome, that the sexual acts that are being advertised, in whatever means, are life-ending in many instances. And so the idea of making this the kind of crime that shows the concern of the American public is important.

I would also say to you that I am one that is concerned about mandatory minimums, and I hope that as we make our way through, there will be further discussions of this legislation. But at this time I stand in support of it. I have always said that the weakness on the mandatory minimums for me is when you involve undermining, destroying, killing, using in an abusive sexual manner, trafficking, and holding against their will children. They are vulnerable. They are without the resources to help themselves. And let me say this. Many runaways in this country fall victim to this. Many unaccompanied children that come across the border fall victim to this. Many children who are in conditions where they do not have a family structure fall victim to this. But they fall victim to this because there are so many who will exploit.

I thank the gentleman again for his leadership.

But there are many who exploit, continue to exploit from the comfort of their home. How terrible it is to go into workplaces and find that individuals are using their computers to engage in this. How horrible it is to go into homes and find computers filled with this kind of trash, and how horrible it is to see that people will profit from the advertising and the selling of commercial acts in whatever way they do.

So I would thank the sponsors of this legislation and recognize that we have opportunities to look at how we construct this kind of remedy for these tragic and horrible acts that ultimately result in the death of our children, either at their own hand, tragically, or by those who would abuse them through commercial sex acts. This should be something that we should stamp out of our society, out of our system, and out of this Nation. We need to begin to do it as we make our way through these bills today.

Madam Speaker, this bill, of which I am a cosponsor, the SAVE Act, has a commendable purpose and I am convinced that it will help in our efforts to end exploitation of children.

H.R. 4225, the ``Stop Advertising Victims of Exploitation Act of 2014,'' amends title 18 of the United States Code to impose a criminal penalty for knowingly selling advertising that offers certain commercial sex acts.

Specifically, it provides for criminal liability for the advertisements of commercial sex acts that are prohibited under existing 18 U.S.C. Sec. 1591 if the advertiser either: (a) benefits financially or receives anything of value from that advertising, or (b) distributes the advertising.

It provides for a statutory maximum of five years' imprisonment or a fine. It does not mandate a statutory minimum sentence or fine.

And while I strongly agree with the purpose of the bill--I do wish it had gone through regular order in the Judiciary Committee on which I serve.

It is critically important that the bill allows those who might have concerns because of certain unintended consequences to voice those issues before the full committee.

My wish is that going forward; we would assume regular order in the Judiciary Committee and yield to the conventions which have made our Committee a force and one with prestige and honor throughout its history.

I ask my colleagues to support this important legislation which helps end exploitation of our precious children.

Madam Speaker, I thank Mr. Reichert and Mr. Doggett for this work, and the work of the Ways and Means Committee, which is a vital component to this holistic approach that we have now embraced dealing with human trafficking.

The foster care system that many of us have embraced that needs overhaul, as a member of the foster care task force and caucus, as a member and founder of the Congressional Children's Caucus, I have been dealing with foster care children for a number of years. In fact, I served as a cochair of the Foster Care Task Force in Houston, whose purpose was to give relief to what was then called Foster Care Grandparents, whose grandparents were involved in the foster care system. That is the friendly side of foster care.

But I think it is so very important to recognize that we are still facing that large gap of those youngsters who age out, along with youngsters who are 12, 13, and 14 who have been in the foster care system all of their life. We have heard the stories that they go from house to house, maybe some of them had 30 homes, places where they have lived, for a period of time that they have been in foster care.

What I have seen as I have been on the streets of Houston when we spend a night out on the streets going places where we knew children and young people would be sleeping, that these were children who had either aged out, who had in fact run away, or been in foster care on the streets of Houston. They are a number one target for the dastardly act of sex trafficking, child trafficking, and human trafficking.

So I rise today to support this legislation, again, as it adds to an overall omnibus approach to going after anyone who wants to hide behind the vulnerability of a child and take advantage of them. This bill provides for full resources for foster care children so that they do not find the most welcoming track someone's ugly words that, in fact, are here to undermine them and to take them into this life.

I ask my colleagues to support this legislation because, in fact, it stops those children from going into a life that will ruin their life and to make them find a place where they can find solace.

I thank the gentleman, the ranking member of the Foreign Affairs Committee, for his leadership on so many issues of compassion and passion, and certainly this issue. I thank the chairman of the full committee, as well as the author of this bill, Mr. Smith.

I was on the Judiciary Committee when Megan's Law was passed. Now I am on the Homeland Security Committee.

So I raise this paradoxical question: who equates sex trafficking and tourism? That is what is going on internationally around the world.

Individuals who may have been convicted here in the United States, may be labeled here in the United States, can secure passports and have a full and flourishing and horrific ongoing experience by utilizing and abusing the children in foreign countries.

Many times, these countries are developing nations. We can call the roll of names. Many times, law enforcement are collaborating with these sex tourists. There is an area set aside for these sex tourists. In fact, it is called that. They go there with impunity and abuse children--street children who have no other way to go.

This is an important initiative. Again, it is the round circle of addressing this question holistically.

Just today in the markup in the border security and maritime security committee we discussed, as I indicated in earlier debate, the 60,000 children that come across the border to the United States unaccompanied.

We also mentioned the need to provide enhanced training for our CBP officers at the border. That will complement this legislation, which establishes protocols to discern those individuals who are coming into our country who are convicted pedophiles.

It is Megan's Law International. It is Megan's Law relief for those who are being abused outside of our border.

I am very pleased that there is an Angel Watch Center to assist the CBP and that the effort has been made in this bill to ask our President to collaborate on bilaterals with countries to establish the link between their convicted sex predators and to be able to identify them, as we identify them here in the United States, to stop this dastardly act across and around the world.

So I congratulate the proponents of this legislation and I hope this will be one more step in saving some child's life. They may not be in our boundaries. They may not be within our borders, but they may be outside of them. And I can assure my colleagues that it is documented every day that sex tourism is a big business. Until we put a stop to it in some way, it will continue to grow.

With that, I ask my colleagues to support this legislation, H.R. 4573, and I thank the proponents of the legislation.

Mr. Speaker, I thank the gentleman from New York for his leadership, the chairman of the committee from California, and Mr. Smith from New Jersey, who is managing the bill, and I thank very much the sponsor of this legislation, Ms. Wilson, who has brought us together around a very important statement. Members of the United States Congress will have the ability to stand and to take a very public view that the thugs of Boko Haram will no longer be able to run rampant without the attention of the United States and the people around the world.

I have, Mr. Speaker, the geographic area in which Nigeria is in, from Benin and Togo, to nearby Ghana and Niger, Chad, and Cameroon. We wonder where these girls are now. So it is very important that we are condemning this horrific act. We wonder where these children are.

We have used the term ``girls'' and we want to bring them home, but these are children who cannot consent to leaving home, to marrying, to changing their religion. So in one sweep we have sex traffic girls, we have violated religious freedom, and we have taken children away from the bosom of their family.

So as I hold up in my hand these names, many whom we should call-- these are real people. I would ask today as we stand to support this resolution that we push for a relief fund for these girls, we push for Nigeria to establish its own special ops so that they can safely find these girls, and we tell the Islamic world, we tell al Qaeda in particular, to stop funding these groups. And we thank Mr. Ellison.

Let me also indicate that it is important for the United Nations peacekeepers and the African Union and others to realize this is a much larger issue. Today I stand on the floor of the House and condemn Boko Haram, but ask that these girls be rescued and brought home safely.

Mr. Speaker, as an original co-sponsor, a senior member of the Homeland Security and Judiciary Committees, and, most important, a mother, I rise today in strong support of H. Res. 573, a resolution condemning the abduction of female students by armed militants from the terrorist group known as Boko Haram in northeastern provinces of the Federal Republic of Nigeria.

I thank my colleague from Florida, Congresswoman Wilson, for introducing this bipartisan resolution and urge all Members to support it because it is important for the House to go on record in opposition to the brutal and outrageous assaults on human dignity and freedom committed by the Boko Haram, a militant group that has no respect for the rights of women and girls.

Since 2013, more than 4,400 men, women, and children have been slaughtered by Boko Haram.

The victims include Christians, Muslims, journalists, health care providers, relief workers. And schoolchildren.

I urge our government, the United States of America, to assist the Government of Nigeria in developing its own capacity to deploy specialized police and army units rapidly to bring Boko Haram leader Abubakar Shekau to justice and to rescue the more than 200 schoolgirls who were kidnapped from the Chibok School for Girls in Borno State on April 15, and the 11 schoolgirls kidnapped last night in the Warabe community of Borno, and reunited with their families and loved ones.

Boko Haram's reign of terror must be brought to an end.

I also call upon our government to work with the African Union and the international community to detect, disrupt, and dismantle Boko Haram's funding sources derived from other Islamist groups, including Al-Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb (AQIM) and to Al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsular (AQAP), the Al Muntada Trust Fund, and the Islamic World Society.

I commend President Obama on his decision to deploy American security experts and equipment in Nigeria to help locate and rescue the abducted schoolgirls and we applaud Nigerian President Goodluck Jonathan for accepting that assistance.

The leader of Boko Haram has threatened to ransom or sell the abducted schoolgirls into the human trafficking market for about twelve dollars each ($12.00 USD).

I say to him: ``Don't you dare.''

Boko Haram's outrageous conduct will not be tolerated or overlooked for not only is it a violation of the girls' human rights, it is also contrary to United States policy which supports and promotes equal access to education and economic opportunity for women and girls.

As the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. said, injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere.

So we will not stand idly by.

But we do stand in solidarity with the good people of Nigeria and especially those beautiful and courageous schoolgirls who wanted nothing more than to get an education to make life better for themselves and their beloved country.

We will not forget or forsake you.

This is what I think we should do.

First, since we know that terrorist groups cannot operate effectively without reliable and steady funding to support their criminal acts, the United States should work with the international community to detect, disrupt, and dismantle the funding networks financing Boko Haram.

Published reports in the media indicate that Boko Haram has received as much as $70 million from other Islamist groups, including Al-Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb (AQIM) and Al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsular (AQAP), the Al Muntada Trust Fund, and the Islamic World Society.

Second, as I mentioned, the United States should work with the Government of Nigeria to develop its own capacity to deploy specialized police and army units rapidly to prevent and combat sectarian violence in cities and around the country where there has been a history of sectarian violence.

The creation and deployment of an elite highly-trained rapid response unit was used to successful effect by the Indonesia Government in 2004 to neutralize the Laskar Jihad terrorist organization.

Third, the United States should also take appropriate action to help the Government of Nigeria establish a Victim's Fund to provide humanitarian relief and economic assistance to the victims of attacks by Boko Haram so that they can rebuild their lives and communities.

``People are the great issue of the 20th century,'' declared, then- Senator Hubert Humphrey in 1948.

Mr. Speaker, the well-being of people remains the great issue of the 21st century.

And there is no better measure of any society than the way its treats its women and girls.

Boko Haram understands that when Nigerian girls are educated, Nigerian women can succeed; and when Nigerian women succeed, Nigeria succeeds.

And that is why it is so important that the United States help Nigeria ensure that Boko Haram fails.

Mr. Speaker, I ask unanimous consent to include in the record a copy of the May 8, 2014 letter to President Obama from myself and 15 Members of Congress commending his decision to deploy American security experts and equipment in Nigeria to help locate and rescue the kidnapped schoolgirls urging the Administration to work in concert with the Government of Nigeria and the African Union to bring Abubakar Shekau and other leaders of Boko Haram to justice.

Mr. Speaker, I rise today to commemorate National Military Appreciation Month and to honor the extraordinary bravery and sacrifice of our men and women in uniform by celebrating.

Each May, veteran and service organizations come together to hold events around the country to demonstrate their gratitude to current and former men and women in uniform and their families for their service to our country.

From Military Spouse Appreciation Day to Memorial Day, the month of May is a time when a grateful nation acknowledges and affirms the debt owed to those brave men and women who risked their lives to preserve the freedoms we too often take for granted.

It is important that we recognize and celebrate the tremendous role military personnel have played across the globe.

Texas is home to more than 130,000 active military personnel and more than 1,600,000 veterans, 30,000 of which are from the 18th Congressional District of Texas.

It has been an honor to represent these constituents and I am extremely proud of their service.

As we acknowledge our former, current and future military men and women, it is essential that we provide them with the resources necessary to help wounded warriors, veterans, and their families transition to civilian life.

That is why I was proud to cosponsor and help shepherd to passage H.R. 1344, Helping Heroes Fly Act, that was signed into law in 2013 and which facilitates expedited passenger screening at airports for service members who are severely injured or disabled, along with their families.

I also introduced H.R. 4110, the ``Helping to Encourage Real Opportunity for Veterans Transitioning from Battlespace to Workplace Act of 2014,'' which provides strong incentives for employers to hire, retain, and employ veterans in positions that take maximum advantage of their skills and experience.

Mr. Speaker, in closing I recognize by the name the 53 brave men and women from my home city of Houston, who served in Iraq and Afghanistan and gave the last full measure of devotion to their country.

They are: Krystal Fitts, Jorge Luis Velasquez, Cody Norris, Jacob Molina, Pedro Maldonado, Edwardo Loredo, Matthew Catlett, Zarian Wood, Andrew Roughton, Edgar Heredia, Joshua Molina, Steven Candelo, Scott McIntosh, Orlando Perez, Jeremy Ray, Benjamin Garrison, Rodney Johnson, Matthew Medlicott, Alan Austin, William Edwards, Eric Salinas, Danny Soto, Roy Jones, Terrence Dunn, Hector Leija, David Fraser, Benjamin Rosales, Kenneth Pugh, Alberto Sanchez, Walter Moss, Michael Robertson, Howard Babcock, Timothy Roark, Ivica Jerak, Phillip George, Keith Mariotti, Clinton Gertson, Dexter Kimble, Jesus Leon-Perez, Thomas Zapp, Eric Allton, Andrew Houghton, Juan Torres, Pedro Contreras, Adolfo Carballo, Scott Larson, Leroy Sandoval, Armando Soriano, Keelan Moss, A. Esparza-Gutierrez, Tomas Sotelo, Brian Matthew Kennedy, and Brian Craig.

God bless them. And may God bless the United States.

Mr. Speaker, I rise in strong support of H.R. 2939, a bill to award the Congressional Gold Medal to Shimon Peres who is the 9th and current President of Israel.

I have had the honor of meeting with President Peres on many occasions, most recently in February of this year. He is indeed a person very deserving of the honor of receiving a Congressional Gold Medal for his contributions to our nation's security interest in the region and his efforts to advance peace.

A milestone in world history was reached on November 29, 1947, when the United Nations General Assembly voted to partition the British Mandate of Palestine, to create the State of Israel.

The people of the United States began a long history with the modern State of Israel on May 14, 1948, when the people of Israel proclaimed the establishment of the sovereign and independent State of Israel.

The United States Government established full diplomatic relations with Israel and this relationship has been fostered by the work of diplomacy and astute people who worked for the best interest of both our nations.

I along with millions of friends of Israel will mark the 66th year of Israel's independence in May 2014.

President Peres played a pivotal role in assuring the security and resilience of Israel during his years of service to that nation.

In 1949, when Shimon Peres was 26, he was appointed head of the naval service, and after the War of Independence he was appointed head of the Ministry of Defense delegation to the United States.

The time he spent in the United States during the formative period for the new government of Israel helped to develop strong ties within our government with the new nation.

President Peres recognized the importance of an alliance between the United States and Israel. His presence in the United States helped to develop and solidify that relationship that has grown stronger over the last 6 decades.

President Peres returned to Israel in 1952, at age 29, and David Ben Gurion, the Prime

Minister of Israel, appointed Shimon Peres to serve as Director General of the Ministry of Defense.

He worked to re-organizing the Ministry of Defense, and developing the ability of Israel to defend itself.

Israel remains America's staunchest friend in the region--a friendship that has grown stronger over 6 decades. Israel and the United States join to celebrate the accomplishments of President Peres in contributing to peace and security for the region.

Israel shares the United States appreciation for democratic values, common strategic interest, and moral bonds of friendship and mutual respect.

The establishment of a modern State of Israel as a homeland for the Jews followed the murder of more than 6 million European Jews during the Holocaust. This tragic chapter in world history will never be forgotten and the establishment of a modern State of Israel in no way relieves those responsible for that terrible crime.

The people of Israel have established a vibrant and functioning pluralistic democratic political system including freedom of speech, a free press, free and open elections, the rule of law, and other important democratic principles and practices.

Mr. Speaker, I join my colleagues recognizing the work of President Peres and look forward to his continued work to advance message of peace and security he has championed through his efforts as a statesman, scholar and leader of a great nation.

Mr. Speaker, it was quiet around the dormitory deep in the heart of Borno, in northern Nigeria, where the landscape is barren and life is hard.

In the middle of that April night, gunshots fired and then almost 300 girls were kidnapped, and they remain missing. A night that no one can forget. This picture shows it all: a mother with a candle mourning that loss.

Mr. Speaker, we can no longer remain silent in any way. I thank President Obama for the assets of the FBI and intelligence, and certainly some military assets. But to the Nigerian government, those of us who have been friends and have worked with this government, enough is enough.

We need to find every resource: U.N. peacekeepers, the African Union, and any other resource that will help strategize to find those girls. There needs to be a targeted military unit from the Nigerian military that is utilizing the resources of others to help them safely rescue those girls.

Enough is enough. The slaughter by this terrorist group must stop. Boko Haram must stop, and end it now.

I thank the gentleman very much for his leadership on this very important night and for this very important opportunity to discuss equality in America. And we are joined by our colleagues, Mr. Jeffries of New York and, of course, our chair, Chairwoman Fudge. The CBC has led on issues--topical issues but painful issues, issues that are important not only to the people of color but certainly to people around the Nation and, I might say, as they look upon the United States as a beacon of light, to people around the world. Often when I travel internationally, I will hear people speak of the work that we do on the floor of the House.

So I, too, come to celebrate the 60th anniversary of Brown v. The Board of Education and remind my colleagues that some 60 years ago, the Supreme Court unlocked the schoolhouse doors, broke down yet another barrier to equality, and beat the long arc of moral history toward justice.

But we come now 60 years later. And I just want to speak to a few points, for many of my colleagues have already been on the floor of the House. I wanted to express some of the consternations that really unwind, if you will, the goodness of the Warren Court and its efforts to make a difference in the lives of so many Americans.

Let me just read these words that were in Newsweek 60 years ago about this decision:

It was the most momentous court decision in the whole

history of the Negro's struggle to achieve equal rights in

the United States, and the result will be nothing short of

social upheaval. The challenges: Personal prejudice against

the Negro will, of course, linger on, for although a court

decision can restrain the actions of man, it cannot change

overnight the way he thinks. Prejudice, however, no longer

will become institutionalized; ``Jim Crow'' will become an

outlaw.

In the backdrop of Cliven Bundy, Donald Sterling, and the recent affirmative action decision by the Supreme Court, one would wonder how we are moving forward and how this Supreme Court decision Brown v. Topeka cannot be undermined.

Quickly, I want to say that the Court got it wrong in the affirmative action decision; and Brown lays the framework for equality and opportunity and exposure; and the affirmative action decision took away the polio vaccination, if you will, for this ongoing divide between people of color.

And as you can see in higher education at the University of Michigan and Michigan State, you will see the numbers going down of people of color, African Americans. At Berkeley, in California, the numbers are going down. So affirmative action was not a handout. It was a partner to Brown v. Topeka. It was, in fact, the opportunity to carry out the dream that Dr. Martin Luther King had.

So all of us have to come together and experience each other's experiences. We have to stand in the shoes of young people who want opportunity, whether they are Hispanic or African American or Asian or whether they are, in fact, Anglo.

In the State of Texas, there is a sizable segregation of Hispanic children, and it is because of their regional location. But what I would argue is that excellence has to go beyond that. As we stand here looking for integration, we must stand here demanding excellence in education for our children, and we need to ask the Supreme Court for its reconsideration in the affirmative action decision which undermines Brown v. Topeka.

Let me celebrate this great decision, Brown v. Topeka, and commit ourselves to working continuously to make a difference in children's lives.

Mr. Speaker, I rise with my CBC colleagues and others in commemoration of the Brown v. Board of Education decision.

As you are well aware the case that came to be known as Brown v. Board of Education was actually the name given to five separate cases that were hear by the U.S. Supreme Court concerning the issue of segregation in public schools.

These cases were Brown v. Board of Education of Topeka, Briggs v. Elliot, Davis v. Board of Education of Prince Edward County (VA.), Boiling v. Sharpe, and Gebhart v. Ethel.

These cases came about because unfortunately, as a result of the Plessy decision, in the early twentieth century, the Supreme Court continued to uphold the legality of Jim Crow laws and other forms of racial discrimination.

It was a very perilous time for Black Americans in this country.

It is one thing to allow legalized separation on a de facto basis; but the Plessy decision all but codified segregation.

This deprived Black Americans and others of the ability to pull themselves up by their bootstraps--because they could not even go into the store to buy some boots.

Or receive an education.

You may recall the case of Cumming v. Richmond (Ga.) County Board of Education (1899), for instance, where the Court refused to issue an injunction preventing a school board from spending tax money on a white high school when the same school board voted to close down a black high school for financial reasons.

The facts of each case were different, but the same principle holds: it was time that the Court revisited this issue.

The main issue in each was the constitutionality of state-sponsored segregation in public schools. Once again, Thurgood Marshall and the NAACP Legal Defense and Education Fund handled these cases.

The three-judge panel had already ruled in favor of the school boards prior to the cases going up to the Supreme Court.

When the cases came before the Supreme Court in 1952, the Court consolidated all five cases under the name of Brown v. Board of Education.

Thurgood Marshall personally argued the case before the Court.

A number of legal issues were raised on appeal but the most common one was that separate school systems for blacks and whites were inherently unequal, and thus were in violation of the ``equal protection clause'' of the Fourteenth Amendment to the U.S. Constitution.

Furthermore, relying on sociological tests, such as the one performed by social scientist Kenneth Clark, and other data, he also argued that segregated school systems had a tendency to make black children feel inferior to white children, and thus such a system should not be legally permissible.

Because of the difficulty in reaching a decision the cases were held over until the next term.

On May 14, 1954, he delivered the opinion of the Court, stating that ``We conclude that in the field of public education the doctrine of `separate but equal' has no place. Separate educational facilities are inherently unequal . . .''

Although it took many years for the Court's plan of desegration with ``all deliberate speed,'' Brown paved the way and the struggle continues in the Houston Independent Schools District and elsewhere around this great nation.

I urge my colleagues to take a moment to reflect on the importance of this great yet troubled period in our great nation.

[From Newsweek, May 14, 2014]

Newsweek Rewind: 60 Years Since Brown v. Board of Ed Desegregated U.S.

Schools

(By Rob Verger)

Sixty years ago this Saturday, the Supreme Court, by

unanimous vote, ruled in Brown v. Board of Ed that separate

schools for black and white Americans were not equal. The

decision reversed the 1896 ruling in Plessy v. Ferguson,

which had said that ``separate but equal'' was OK--and was,

to say the least, a major setback for civil rights in the

United States. While Newsweek reflected in 1954 that Brown v.

Board of Ed would ``ultimately . . . mean the end of

segregation in all public places, everywhere in the United

States,'' it would take another decade for the federal

government, with the Civil Rights Act of 1964, to make

segregation in places like restaurants illegal.

Here, in a series of excerpts, is how Newsweek responded in

an unbylined article in the May 24, 1954, issue of the

magazine. The writing style clearly reflects the attitudes

and norms of the times; the use of the term Negro, for

example, feels jarring and insensitive today.

Its initial reaction to the verdict:

``It was the most momentous court decision in the whole

history of the Negro's struggle to achieve equal rights in

the United States, and the result will be nothing short of

social upheaval.''

The challenges ahead:

``Personal prejudice against the Negro will, of course,

linger on, for, although a court decision can restrain the

actions of man, it cannot change overnight the way he thinks.

Prejudice, however, no longer will become institutionalized;

`Jim Crow' will become an outlaw.''

The reaction in the South:

``The court's decision was greeted calmly by some

Southerners, and with dismay by others. At least three

Southern states--Georgia, Mississippi, and South Carolina--

had been talking of circumventing a ban on segregation by

eliminating public schools altogether.''

Then there's the fact that the South is a diverse place:

``For there is not one South, but many. [Georgia,

Mississippi, and South Carolina] represent the plantation

South, where, in some places, Negroes outnumber whites by 10

to 1. In such places, the mold of segregation will prove

almost unbreakable.''