Floor Statements

Mr. Speaker, today or sometime this week, this House will vote on additional funds for the wars in the Middle East, Iraq and Afghanistan. I wish there was an opportunity for me to vote for funds to support our troops in Afghanistan, who are making an effort in defeating the Taliban and seeking out Osama bin Laden, the perpetrators of 9/11. However, the bills are drawn together; so I will vote ``no.''

And I feel at this time we know the war in Iraq is going in the wrong direction, but I also know that there are catastrophic illnesses and diseases on mankind and womenkind in our world, and a great country should use its resources for the best purposes, not weapons of war but use our science and our intelligence to find ways to conquer disease.

I had polio when I was a child, and if we had put more money into helping Jonas Salk, maybe I would not have had polio. It was months after Salk's vaccine was introduced.

I lost a friend to cancer last week, Thomas Boggs. There will be a time when people lose friends to cancer that could have been cured if we had put more money into research earlier. Diabetes, Parkinson's, heart disease. In Memphis we have St. Jude Children's Hospital looking for cures to illnesses and diseases.

A great country should do great things. I encourage us to not fund war but to fund science.

Madam Speaker, as the State of Israel commemorates its 60th anniversary, I take this opportunity to recognize the longstanding friendship between the State of Israel and the Republic of Turkey.

Turkey was the first country with a predominantly Muslim population to step forward and recognize the Jewish State in 1949. Moreover, for three decades the Republic of Turkey remained the only Muslim country to have full diplomatic representation in Israel. This historical fact alone speaks well for the solid, special, and valuable relationship between Turkey and Israel. It is no wonder this relationship stands on its uniquely own merits--unmatched in the entire Middle East. Historical facts and recollections in the collective memories of both Turkish and Israeli peoples testify this sense of togetherness, standing shoulder to shoulder in testing times.

In recent years, more than 60 agreements have been enacted between the State of Israel and the Republic of Turkey in the economic and military fields. These have not only bolstered the bilateral relationship between the United States and these two close friends and allies, but have also created a legal framework that serves to institutionalize the bonds we have collectively developed. Since Turkey and Israel are the only two countries in the region that have embraced the principles of democracy and liberal market economy, it is easier to develop both the content and the depth of the bilateral relations in a multitude of different fronts.

Also, through a large volume of tourism and cultural sharing, countless citizens of Turkey and Israel, not just the two governments, have developed strong bonds of benevolence, a sense of togetherness, collaboration, and mutual respect.

At a time when dialogue between the parties to the Arab-Israeli conflict is needed, Turkey is once again in the unique position of maintaining positive relations with all the parties to the conflict. This is undoubtedly an asset for the region, and a great contribution to the security of Israel. The Israeli President Shimon Peres and President of the Palestinian Authority Mahmoud Abbas have addressed the Turkish Parliament last year in November and praised Turkey as an important ally in the peace process. President Peres's speech was the first to a parliament by an Israeli head of state anywhere in a predominantly Muslim country.

We also remember too well through what is known as The Ankara Forum, that Turkey has recently sustained Israeli and Palestinian joint efforts to provide support for economic development in the West Bank. Recent reports indicate that Turkey, investing on this ground of mutually earned respect, trust and confidence and taking steps at the request of both parties, has now embarked on facilitating dialogue between Syria and Israel.

Most members of the international community share the goal of a peaceful and prosperous Middle East. The security of all the countries in the region, including Israel, is dependent on this. Turkey believes that dialogue and cooperation are essential tools in working to make this dream a reality, and it is well equipped to chart its course for the benefit of Israel and her Arab neighbors, all for a peaceful and prosperous neighborhood.

On this note, the 60th anniversary of the State of Israel, I commend and encourage the strong relationship between our two allies, Turkey and Israel, which in fact stands stronger and more robust by each day offering hope for peace in the future.

I want to thank the chairman and the chairmen for the work they've done, and for the ranking member, on this bill.

I rise in support of H.R. 4279, the Prioritizing Resources and Organization for Intellectual Property Act of 2008, or the PRO-IP Act.

Our Nation's intellectual property is the basis for our economic success and security. That is something that can't be undermined by cheap labor prices overseas. It's an American product. Therefore, protecting our intellectual property must be among our highest priorities.

In addition to undermining our global economic primacy, counterfeit and pirated products can threaten the health and safety of American consumers, American pet owners, steal income from legitimate businesses, deprive American workers of good jobs, and undermine the necessary incentive for innovation and creativity which has made America the great country that it is. It is for these reasons I'm an original cosponsor of the PRO-IP Act.

The PRO-IP Act will help strengthen enforcement of intellectual property rights domestically and internationally through enhanced criminal and civil penalties for intellectual property crimes, better high-level coordination among Federal Government agencies, and increased resources to domestic and foreign law enforcement authorities.

This bill, Mr. Speaker, rightfully enjoys broad support from a wide range of industries, including the entertainment, pharmaceutical, food, automobile parts and software industries. It has such diverse partners as the Chamber of Commerce and the Teamsters. When the Chamber of Commerce and the Teamsters come together it's like E.F. Hutton--we listen. We've listened well and need to pass this bill.

This coalition that supports PRO-IP is indicative of the broad support and the need for passage of such legislation. I urge my colleagues to heed the words and vote in favor of this important legislation.

Mr. Speaker, the price of gasoline has reached another record high, nearly $4 a gallon. And yet when the Democrats, along with Speaker Pelosi and the Democratic majority, have asked the President to stop filling the Strategic Petroleum Reserve, which is 97 percent full and which experts say could lower the price of gasoline by 5 to 24 cents a gallon, the President says he doesn't believe the cost benefit analysis of immediate action for consumers persuaded him.

Well, Mr. Speaker, I would suggest that the President consider how Americans are suffering with the price of gasoline at the pump, how that's limiting their other choices in expenditures, and how it will reduce their opportunity for summer vacations.

Yesterday, Mr. Speaker, I signed on to a bill for a windfall profits tax on oil companies. Oil companies presently have subsidies given to them in the past, which this Congress tried to repeal but we didn't have bipartisan support to repeal those subsidies. So these companies making more money than ever have subsidies rather than windfall profit taxes.

Mr. Speaker, we need to look out for the motoring public.

Mr. Speaker, this morning I had a group of students from Hawkins Mill Elementary School in Memphis tour the Capitol, inner city young children. And I thought about what type of future they'll have and how Congress is affecting it.

I thought of the children's health plan that would give six million more children around this country health care, and the fact that the President vetoed their opportunity to have health care.

I thought about No Child Left Behind to help them in education. But that bill has been $50 billion underfunded, and basically teaches teachers to teach a test and not to teach these children.

I thought about the war in Iraq and John McCain's thought that it's going to be a hundred-year war, and how many of them might have to go to Iraq and maybe lose their lives and continue to suck moneys out of our economy and hinder their future with a budget that is out of balance and that they'll have to pay for.

Mr. Speaker, I'm concerned about the children at Hawkins Mill Elementary and all the other children and the future we leave them.

Mr. Speaker, November's the answer. We need to have a new Senate and a new President that think about the children and the future.

Madam Speaker, as many as 2.8 million Americans could lose their homes in the next 5 years due to the subprime mortgage crisis, yet the Bush administration refuses to properly address the crisis.

Last month the administration was willing to bail out Bear Stearns, but when they announced their plans to overhaul the regulation of financial institutions, they failed to properly address any of the needs of families who face the loss of their homes in the coming months.

The housing crisis demands bold action, and this House has already responded by passing legislation that would expand affordable mortgage loans opportunities to families at risk of foreclosure.

We've also passed bills that would raise Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac loan limits to increase liquidity in the mortgage market and that would increase the supply of affordable housing. And now we have a plan that would help 1.5 million homeowners afford foreclosure.

Madam Speaker, we hope the administration will join us in supporting these important bills that will provide necessary relief to those families feeling the impact of the housing crisis.

Madam Speaker, today is the dreaded April 15, and I, like millions and millions of Americans, have filed my returns and those for my mother and others.

This Congress has tried to provide and has provided relief for middle-class taxpayers and middle-income taxpayers and extended those tax benefits. We have also passed relief for the people who pay the alternative minimum tax.

But with the stimulus package, we provide moneys for people to get a refund. But to get that refund, people have to file their taxes. Be sure and file your taxes, and if your income is $75,000 or less or $150,000 for a couple, you can get your stimulus relief package passed by this Congress.

We wish our moneys weren't going to rebuild Baghdad and for war efforts, but with the work of this Congress, one day we will have peace, we won't be spending the money in Baghdad, and we will be spending the money in America to rebuild our infrastructure.

Mr. Speaker, as an alumnus of the University of Memphis Law School and the congressman from the University of Memphis district, I still grieve over the outcome of the game Monday night, but I want to congratulate the University of Kansas for winning the national basketball championship and thank the city of San Antonio for being such a wonderful host.

On behalf of the citizens of Memphis, I want the country to know we love our team. They brought our city together, which needed a unifying force. We are proud that our coach who made that team what it was has been named the National Coach of the Year by the Naismith Society.

Our players played valiantly. We came very, very close to a national championship. We won more games than any team in NCAA history. We will look back upon this year with fondness and appreciation and we will, like General MacArthur, return.

Mr. Speaker, every day that we spend money in Iraq means missed opportunities to invest in priorities here at home. While the Bush administration spends $339 million a day in Iraq, we are diverting money from our Nation's needs.

With that $339 million that we spend today, we could instead ensure that 2.6 million Americans have access to medical and dental care at community health centers. We can provide 955,000 families with help for their energy bills, and we could hire 50,000 more cops to protect our citizens on our streets.

With the funds we are spending in Iraq today we could also provide 937,000 grants for research into diseases like cancer, Alzheimer's and diabetes, provide 317,000 kids with vaccinations and could send 18,000 more students to school.

The millions we are pumping into Iraq today is desperately needed here at home as this country stares recession in the face. Yet President Bush continues to recommend nothing but the status quo in Iraq.

Put America first.

Mr. Speaker, during Read Across America Week, I went to Lincoln Elementary School in Memphis, Tennessee, and we read our favorite book, ``Green Eggs and Ham.'' I asked the young people if they ever watched C-SPAN, and they looked at me quizzically. Then I asked them if they ever watched Nickelodeon, and they all raised their hand and cheered. I said, ``Which show do you watch the most?'' They watch ``The Naked Brothers Band.''

The Naked Brothers Band is a show on Nickelodeon that has been an award winner starring Nat and Alex Wolff, produced by their mother, Polly Draper, and co-produced by their father, Michael Wolff. It is the ``Ozzie and Harriet,'' the Nelson brothers of the 21st century, and it shows that there is good television that gives kids good values and teaches them about the environment and how to be good young people and grow up to be great Americans.

So my congratulations to the Nickelodeon Network and to the Wolff- Draper family and Nat and Alex.

Madam Speaker, on Friday, April 4, this Nation will observe the 40th anniversary of the tragic assassination of Dr. Martin Luther King,

Jr. Dr. King was a great American who fought injustice; not just social injustice, but economic injustice. His beliefs 40 years later have not been fulfilled. His dream is still alive, but not fulfilled.

In his time, he fought a war and was against a war in Asia that this country was fighting and losing, and costing us much in terms of human sacrifice, as well as financial sacrifice. We see that same situation today, as we have the cost in Iraq taking away from our cities and our people. He fought for working people who were working hard but not moving forward. Today, we see working people in the middle-class continuing to having their power eroded and taken away from them.

I ask each person in this House and each person in America to think of Dr. King this week and to think of Dr. King every day and keep his dream alive and move this country forward with economic and social justice, for we need it more now than ever.

Thank you, Mr. Chairman.

This Friday, our Nation will recognize the 40th anniversary of a most infamous day in our country's history, the assassination of the great Reverend Martin Luther King, Jr.

It's impossible to speak about Dr. King without remembering his eloquence and powerful oratory. Dr. King brought his brilliant mind and God-given speech to bear against mighty forces, forces which were entrenched and interwoven so powerfully in the very fabric of our country that the task to overcome seemed nearly impossible. But he was not deterred. And even from the distance of 40 years, what Martin Luther King, Jr., accomplished in his short number of years on this earth is awe-inspiring. He started a march to justice that he still inspires and which moves toward fulfillment.

An assassin's shot rang out in Memphis, silencing a most beautiful and eloquent man, but it didn't silence his dream. He was a man who worked with Bayard Rustin to take Gandhi's principles of nonviolence and change a country through different forms of civil disobedience that had not been seen in this country successfully.

He brought a march to Washington that's still the greatest march known to this day, a collection of individuals demanding a change of course for this country. And he changed this country and changed, his force made this Congress and the President of the United States, at that time, Lyndon Johnson, change its course and bring about great civil rights legislation.

A man whose life and death continues to define our country and our world, his dream survives his death, and will continue to survive as long as we know what is good and just about our Nation.

The man could be killed, but not the dream. The dream lives in each of us. Though the fires of progress sometimes seem to dwindle to embers, each time we declare that all people are equal, each time we fight against discrimination and intolerance, and each time we speak truth to power, each time we do those things we fan the flame of Martin Luther King's dream and his purpose and his passion lives on in us.

Martin Luther King spoke truth to power, and that is a great thing.

Madam Speaker, on Tuesday, March 12, I was unable to vote on roll No. 126

on the Motion to Adjourn. Had I been present, I would have voted ``no'' on this motion.

Mr. Speaker, as most everybody in America knows, this is March Madness, and March Madness is a wonderful experience when people cheer for their basketball teams and watch great athletes compete for the national championship.

One of the teams competing in San Antonio for the national championship will be the University of Memphis Tigers, my home university and my alma mater. We are extremely proud of the University of Memphis. And in Tennessee, it was 173 years ago that a great group of Tennesseeans, including my predecessor from the Western District of Tennessee, Davy Crockett, went to the Alamo. This time, Mr. Speaker, it's going to be a different story. Tennesseeans will win, have a victory in San Antonio, and your Congressman who is in the House will come back to the House.

Madam Speaker, our pastor today was Pastor W. James Thomas