Floor Statements

I rise in support of the rule.

Over 20 years ago, in his 1985 book, ``For Every Idle Silence,'' Congressman Hyde wrote ``It is becoming culturally fashionable to protect the defenseless unborn.'' Those words hold even truer today as polling continually shows the majority of Americans oppose the vast majority of abortions and more Americans consider themselves pro-life more than ever.

Polls also show that a large majority of Americans oppose taxpayer subsidies for abortion and abortion coverage. An April 2011 CNN poll found that 61 percent of respondents opposed using public funds for abortion. A November 2009 Washington Post poll showed 61 percent of respondents opposed government subsidies for health insurance that includes abortion. A September 2009 International Communications Research poll showed that 67 percent of respondents opposed measure that would require people to pay for abortion coverage with their Federal taxes.

Our constituents and our conscience demand of us that we wait no longer. We must permanently end taxpayer funding of abortion and protect the lives of unborn children.

Madam Chair, on rollcall No. 288, I was unavoidably detained. Had I been present, I would have voted ``no.''

Mr. Speaker, I rise today to discuss an issue that greatly affects agricultural employment in my district and across the country. Against the backdrop of a beleaguered economy still recovering from the recession many small community banks have been unable to extend loans to farmers. Credit is needed to hire new employees, purchase seed, fertilizer, and fuel, all of which creates economic opportunity and subsequently produces jobs. The Farm Service Administration in the United States Department of Agriculture makes direct loans and loan guarantees to farmers who cannot qualify for regular credit. These loans allow farmers to continue growing rural economies and producing a safe and secure food supply.

The Farm Security and Rural Investment Act of 1992 provided banking institutions to extend credit to farmers for a 15 year period. During the 111th Congress, the extension of term limits was allowed to expire on December 31, 2010, leaving family farmers without the ability to receive much needed operating loans to run the farm and hire employees. That is a why I am proud to introduce the Creating Real Opportunities for Prosperity Act, otherwise known as the CROP Act, which suspends the term limits and extends the period for guaranteed credit to December 13, 2013. This will provide much needed access to loans for farmers.

Farm operating loan term limits will be addressed by the next Farm Bill and this suspension of term limits will allow the members of the House Committee on Agriculture to determine what solution or changes need to be made while providing the security for community banks and farmers.

Mr. Speaker, I urge my colleagues in the House (and Senate) to support me in passing the CROP Act and bring stability to rural economies.

Mr. Speaker, I rise today to remember and honor the distinguished life of a successful agri-businessman, a respected philanthropist, and a great Tennessean from Jackson, Tennessee: Monroe Dunaway Anderson. It is my pleasure to introduce a bill to honor M.D. Anderson by designating the property between the United States Federal Courthouse and the Ed Jones Building at 109 South Highland Avenue in Jackson, Tennessee as the ``M.D. Anderson Plaza''.

Mr. Anderson is a true American legend who used his fortune and influence to provide thousands of people with hope and a second chance at life. Mr. Anderson worked his entire life so that he could endow a hospital which would eventually become the largest medical complex in the world. His philanthropy and generosity were instilled in him as a boy growing up in Jackson, Tennessee. His story deserves to be told and his life commemorated for his bold vision.

Monroe Dunaway Anderson, also known as M.D. Anderson, was born in Jackson, Tennessee in 1873. After attending Jackson public schools, Mr. Anderson left his hometown to attend college in Memphis, Tennessee. Upon completing college, Mr. Anderson returned to his hometown to work at the People's National Bank.

In 1904 Mr. Anderson joined the cotton trading venture Anderson, Clayton, and Company started by his older brother Frank Anderson and Frank's brother-in-law Will Clayton. Their corporation flourished worldwide due to the rising demand of cotton during World War I, and they moved their operation to Houston, Texas to have better access to larger banks and deep water shipping. By the mid-1920's, after the company moved to Houston, they had operational trading firms in Europe, Africa, and Asia.

In 1936, Mr. Anderson established the M.D. Anderson Foundation with $300,000, which created the largest medical complex in the world, the Texas Medical Center in Houston, TX. The Foundation was set to receive an additional $19 million dollars upon the death of Mr. Anderson in 1939. The charter of the Foundation did not specify how the money was to be used, but the trustees leaned strongly in the direction of healthcare due to

Mr. Anderson's passion to help people and his desire to rid the world of cancer.

By 1945, Anderson, Clayton, and Company owned and operated 233 gins, 33 cottonseed oil plants, and 123 warehouses worldwide, and Fortune Magazine named this small start-up enterprise the largest cotton buyer, seller, storer, and shipper of cotton in the world.

The company remained private until 1945 when it was listed on the New York Stock Exchange. Because of this business strategy, it allowed the M.D. Anderson Foundation to purchase land for the Texas Medical Center through the sale of the company's stock. The Anderson, Clayton, and Company, by this time, had diversified its capital into a marine insurance company, a barge line, cotton mills, an investment bank, machine works, and even a foods division. After 1950, the multimillion dollar company was known as ACCO, or the ``BigStore'', and their international market sales reached three and half percent of all the world's production.

The positive impact of the Anderson, Clayton, and Company had on agri-business and the cotton trade as well as the M.D. Anderson Foundation's influence on medicine, research, and education throughout Tennessee's 8th Congressional district and the country is still being felt today.

Mr. Anderson's generosity through his foundation has built libraries, auditoriums, college buildings, and a planetarium on the campus of Lambuth College in Jackson, Tennessee as well as the 49 buildings at the Texas Medical Center.

Because of the positive legacy that M.D. Anderson has left, the city of Jackson, Tennessee along with Madison County passed resolutions in 2009 to honor Mr. Anderson and to rename the plaza between the two Federal Buildings in Jackson, Tennessee as ``M.D. Anderson Plaza''.

I am not alone in my effort to recognize Mr. Anderson's achievements. I would like to recognize the support of Mayor Jerry Gist of Jackson along with the Jackson City Council members Charles ``Pepper'' Bray; Ernest Brooks, II; Harvey Buchanan; Johnny Dodd; Danny Ellis; Maurice Hays; Frank Neudecker; Charles Rahm; and Randy Wallace.

In addition to the Jackson City Council, I would also like to recognize Madison County Mayor Jimmy Harris and the County Commission members Jimmy C. Arnold; Fred W. Birmingham; Katie Y. Brantley; Claudell Brown, Jr.; Gary D. Deaton; Aaron D. Ellison; Jim Ed Hart; Arthur D. Johnson, Jr.; Mark G. Johnstone; Terry H. Kuykendall; Larry V. Lowrance; William C. Martin; Luther T. Mercer; Dale Morton; John W. Newman; James W. Pearson; Joe A. Roland; Lacy R Rose; Douglas S. Roth; Billy Spain; Doug Stephenson; Bill Walls; and Arthur Wilson.

Finally, I would also like to acknowledge and thank Mr. Dickie Day of Jackson, Tennessee and Mr. Carter Edwards of Crocket Mills, Tennessee for working on this effort.

Today I join my distinguished colleagues in the city of Jackson and Madison County to rename the plaza between the two Federal buildings in Jackson, Tennessee as the ``M.D. Anderson Plaza'' by introducing this bill to recognize and honor the life and accomplishments of M.D Anderson.

Furthermore, I would like to point out that this bill will place no burden to the taxpayers of this great country due to the generosity of the West Tennessee Health Care Foundation in providing the funds necessary to rename the plaza and honor Mr. Anderson.

Mr. Speaker, I urge my colleagues in the House (and Senate) to support me in this tribute to a great American.

When the Congress passed the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act last year, it was promised that Americans would have better access, more affordable and higher quality care. Instead, ObamaCare created what we all despise and know won't work--more government bureaucracy at taxpayer expense: $500 billion in new taxes, $500 billion in Medicare cuts, more government bureaucracy, thousands of new IRS employees.

What we need for the American people is transparency and accountability. Do I need to remind our colleagues that the approval rating of Congress is at an all-time low because we're not listening to the folks?

We were sent here in November to do a job, and that's exactly what we're going to do. We're going to keep our promises we made to the American people, and we're going to hold true to that.

So I stand in favor of repealing the health care bill. We have to create jobs and get our economy moving. If we allow this health care bill to stay in effect, that will not do.

Amendment 27, originally proposed September 25, 1789; ratified May 7, 1992.

``No law varying the compensation for the services of the Senators and Representatives shall take effect until an election of Representatives shall have intervened.''