Floor Statements

Mr. Speaker, I rise in strong support of H.R. 2587, which would designate the postal facility at 555 South 3rd Street Lobby in Memphis, Tennessee, as the Kenneth T. Whalum, Sr. Post Office building. For a man who gave so many years to this facility and to the postal service, I cannot imagine a more fitting tribute.

I'm not sure if post offices in this country have been named in honor of people who worked in those facilities. If so, there have been very few. Most are named for political figures, war heroes. Kenneth Whalum was a political figure, a clergyman of great renown, but also a man who spent a career in the postal service and was respected by the rank-and- file and rose to prominence in the postal service.

For those reasons particularly, I think it's most fitting that this building be named for this gentleman as an

inspiration to the other employees at the postal service and to the postal service nationally.

Kenneth Twigg Whalum, Sr., was born to H.D. Whalum, Sr., and Thelma Twigg Whalum March 23, 1934. His lifelong dedication and service to the people of Memphis is matched by few others. He served in the United States Navy from 1950-1954 and was a Reservist until 1959. He worked for the United States Postal Service in various human resources capacities, eventually becoming the director of personnel for the main Memphis post office and director of employee relations for the southern region. He also served in Michigan, I believe, in Representative Conyers' district in the postal service as well. He served as a Memphis city councilman from 1988-1996.

And not only did he serve on the Memphis City Council, he was special. He's been special in everything he's ever done. He was first elected as a district councilman of the City of Memphis from the Orange Mound community, but dissatisfied with the representation of one of the at-large members, a Caucasian. Kenneth Whalum, an African American, ran for an at-large position, and he, like Myron Lowery, also African American, became the first two African Americans elected at-large to the Memphis City Council with a majority vote of the people, at a time when the City of Memphis was not majority African American.

His victory is a testament to his fortitude to give up a safe district seat to win an at-large seat, knowing that it meant more representation for issues of which he championed, and the fact that he risked his safe seat to make progress on progressive issues and put a progressive in that at-large position.

Rev. Whalum is well-respected as a man of faith in his community as well. He played a key role in convincing an alliance of local ministers to bring Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., to Memphis, the city, my hometown, in which we all know he would give one of his most famous, yet ultimately final speeches. In 1969, Olivet Baptist Church called upon Kenneth Whalum to serve the people as senior pastor, a position he held until 1999. During his tenure, the church thrived and grew to a membership of thousands.

I personally was in his church on many occasions. I most remember being there when J.O. Patterson, Jr., was running for mayor of the City of Memphis, a position he held temporarily in an interim appointment, and when President Bill Clinton came there and we shared the podium. President Clinton gave one of his great speeches there.

Like Dr. King, Rev. Whalum was a strong proponent of diversity in the workplace. His advocacy led to the promotion of many qualified African Americans and women to supervisory and managerial positions in the Memphis post office.

After retirement, Rev. Whalum began to experience transient ischemic attacks, TIAs or ministrokes, the most recent of these occurring just a few months ago. Unfortunately, at this time, he's in a nursing facility, but he's improving. We hope he will regain all of his faculties. He's a strong man. One year he experienced 28 such TIAs, causing his family to reach out to the Stroke of Hope Foundation, which his son knew of through their work with the late Luther Vandross. Most recently, Rev. Whalum has been featured in Stroke of Hope's Survivor of the Month Spring 2007 column.

Rev. Whalum has received various honors and awards throughout his career. In the past, he has served on the board of directors of the Memphis branch of the NAACP, the Morehouse School of Religion of the Interdenominational Theological Center in Atlanta, the LeMoyne-Owen College Board and was a founding board member of the National Civil Rights Museum in Memphis, Tennessee. He has garnered certificates from the University of Texas at Austin Graduate School of Business, United States Postal Service Advanced Management Program, as well as the University of Michigan Graduate School of Business's Executive Development Program.

I'm honored that my eight cocolleagues from the State of Tennessee's congressional delegation could lend their full support through cosponsoring this measure. Kenneth Whalum was a dedicated public servant in the best sense of the phrase, and the rest of us can learn a great deal from the example he set.

Rev. Whalum has a wonderful, loyal wife in Dr. Rosie Richmond Whalum, as well as three remarkable sons. Memphis has many great families, some of whom have served in this body, but no family in Memphis, Tennessee, has given the city more pride and more service than the Whalum family. All three of his sons, as he said, grew up right behind him. They enjoyed the church, and as he said, they didn't have any choice. They enjoyed the church.

Of his three sons, Dr. Kenneth Whalum, Jr., the oldest, has followed in his father's footsteps in becoming a pastor and a dedicated public servant. He's taken over the church where Dr. Whalum was the pastor, and he's a member of the Memphis City School Board. He was elected in December 2006.

His son Kirk Whalum is one of the great saxophone players in the United States of America. He's had many top hits. He played this Friday at an event which I attended for the National Academy of the Recording Arts and Sciences in Memphis in a tribute to Booker T. and the MGs who were being honored with other musicians. Kirk Whalum made that saxophone sing, as he always does. I know Steve Cropper and ``Duck'' Dunn were in awe of the talent exhibited there. And what was even nicer, besides the fact that Kirk Whalum played such a great saxophone, as he always does, was that his son, another generation of Whalums, played the base, and they played it on ``Hip Hugger'' and ``Green Onions,'' two great Booker T. songs. Kirk Whalum has played backup on saxophone for such renowned artists as Whitney Houston and others. He's come back to Memphis to serve as an artist-in-residence at the Stax Soul Academy of Music in Memphis, Tennessee.

Kevin Whalum, another son, is a talented musical artist and poet, having signed a recording contract with Rendezvous Entertainment this past February.

Like his father, Kenneth, Jr., has three sons: Kenneth, III; Kortland; and Kameron. Kevin has twin daughters: Kellen and Kaylah. And Kirk has five children: Courtney, Kori, Kyle, Kobe and Evan.

For the Whalum family and the great many people of Memphis who have benefited from his decade of public service, I urge my colleagues to support this legislation. This is a family of renown and a man who has had a great impact on the City of Memphis and the postal department, and it's justifiably fitting that this building be named for him.

I would like to add that Kirk Whalum's 1996 album, ``Joined at the Hip,'' earned him his first Grammy nomination. His 1998 release, For You, spent nearly two years at the top of the Billboard Contemporary Jazz Chart and yielded four Top Ten NAC hits. He earned a second Grammy nomination and critical acclaim with his self-produced album, Hymns in the Garden in 2000.

Mr. Speaker, tomorrow will be 6 years. Everybody knows where they were 6 years ago, as everybody of my generation knows where they were

when President Kennedy died and everybody of the previous generation knows where they were on December 7, 1941, a day that will live in infamy.

September 11, 2001, is a day that will live in infamy. We survived that as a country. We are together in fighting terrorism, and we are together in support for this great country and democracy.

We have differences of opinion on how best to go about preserving our great country, our homeland security and defeating the terrorists; but people on both sides of the aisle are Americans. People in this Hall are patriotic. Although we have differences in how we analyze data and information given us by different officials and see events in different ways, we all see them with the same eventual outcome, and that is to hope that we have peace and prosperity here in this country and throughout the world.

In conclusion, I take a moment to honor the people who were so heroic in Pennsylvania and remember their words: Let's roll.

Mr. Speaker, last June 6 I voted for a hate crimes bill in this session, and was proud to do it. Since that time, the black ministers association in my city has come out strongly against the hate crimes bill that provides protection to people against violent crimes.

Mr. Speaker, I addressed that group in Memphis Tuesday a week ago, and at that meeting one of the ministers got up and said to the press, ``The reason we're against this bill basically is because a white man can't represent black people.''

I represent a black district. I am one of only two Members that do. I plan to represent my people, as I have, and show this country from my district in Memphis, Tennessee, that regardless of race or color, a person should be judged by the content of their character and not the color of their skin, and they can represent people in this country, for this is indeed one country under God, with liberty and justice for all.

We recently celebrated in my city the 50th anniversary of the 1957 civil rights bill and will have the 40th anniversary of the assassination of Dr. King. That event will be in Memphis, Tennessee.

We've come a long way, and we have a long way to go.

Madam Speaker, I rise to congratulate and honor David Siegel, a lawyer in Memphis, Tennessee. Recently, the American Bar Association awarded Mr. Siegel its Edmund S. Muskie Pro Bono Service Award for his dedication to justice and public service. Mr. Siegel has been a strong and committed advocate for children's rights, devoting numerous pro bono hours to parental rights and child custody matters.

Mr. Siegel's representation of the parents of Anna Mae He in a child custody lawsuit, during which he successfully convinced the Tennessee Supreme Court to restore their parental rights, particularly highlights his commitment to pro bono work. Mr. Siegel devoted an extraordinary number of hours to the case, representing the Hes for free from trial through the Tennessee Supreme Court appeal and sacrificing what precious little free time he had. Such dedication to pro bono work is almost unparalleled. Mr. Siegel richly deserves the recognition that the ABA has bestowed on him.

I would also like to recognize Mr. Siegel's law firm, Nahon, Saharovich & Trotz, PLC, for supporting his pro bono work. Mr. Siegel's commitment to pro bono representation would have been far more difficult to fulfill without his firm's equal commitment to such representation. As demonstrated by the He case, Mr. Siegel and his firm represent the highest and noblest ideals of the legal profession, and I commend them both.

Mr. Speaker, I think it has well been addressed here the dangers that this side of the aisle and possibly some well-meaning folks on the other side of the aisle have about the encroachment on the Constitution that this bill will have. What it basically does is take judges out of the process. When we fear judges, we have got a real problem in this country, and from a court that routinely approves all requests made of it, the FISA court.

On our walls enshrined forever are the words of Judge Lewis Brandeis in 1928. Judge Brandeis said: ``The greatest danger to liberty lurks in insidious encroachment by men of zeal, well-meaning, but without understanding.''

The greatest danger to liberty lurks in insidious encroachment by men of zeal, well-meaning, without understanding. I am afraid in Attorney General Gonzales we have somebody without understanding and maybe not even well-meaning. And the problem is, he should resign, because he is jeopardizing the security of this country, because the people of this country and most of the Members of this Congress don't trust him with additional powers. He should resign.

Madam Speaker, on Tuesday, July 31, I was unable to vote on roll No. 777 to sustain the ruling of the Chair. Had I been present, I would have voted ``aye'' on this motion.

Mr. Speaker, the 110th Congress came into action with the mandate from the American people to change the way business is done in Washington, and they wanted action on policies. They want action on policies that affect their everyday lives; and this Congress gave it to them with a minimum wage increase for the first time in a decade, with an ethics bill that helps drain the swamp and change the way we do business with lobbyists and make this truly the people's House.

We also did it with the CHAMP bill that gives 6 million more children insurance and gives doctors the reimbursement they deserve, and seniors and people with disability the opportunity for health care.

We passed ethics reforms. We have done things to make this House better.

One thing the President and the people want us to do is work together. They don't want dilatory tactics by either side, and we have seen them, and the people on the other side know they have engaged in them. We need to have order in this House, respect for this House, and respect for the American people.

Madam Speaker, I rise today to commemorate the 50th anniversary of the Southern Christian Leadership Conference.

The Southern Christian Leadership Conference, SCLC, originated through the Montgomery Bus Boycott when a courageous young woman by the name of Rosa Parks refused to give up her seat and move to the back of the bus on December 5, 1955. The Montgomery Bus Boycott brought two dynamic ministers together: Martin Luther King, Jr., and Ralph Abernathy. Through the guidance of Dr. King, Dr. Abernathy and Dr. Joseph Lowery, this boycott led to a new phase of a long struggle to be known as the modem day ``Civil Rights Movement.''

The Southern Christian Leadership Conference, SCLC, is best known for its commitment to nonviolent civil disobedience as a means for securing equal rights for African Americans and other oppressed people worldwide. The Southern Christian Leadership Conference, SCLC, adopted the motto: ``Not one hair of one head should be harmed.'' This motto not only proved effective for the civil rights movement but should be applied in today's challenges in the world.

After the success of the Montgomery Bus Boycott, the Southern Christian Leadership Conference founded the Student Non-violent Coordinating Committee and cooperated with SNCC and other civil rights organizations seeking social justice for over 45 years.

I myself have witnessed the power and effectiveness of the Southern Christian Leadership Conference in the city of Memphis, when Dr. King and the Memphis Chapter of the Southern Christian Leadership Conference, SCLC, and the labor movement organized 1,300 city sanitation workers to go on strike for fair and honest wages and benefits.

I rise today and urge everyone to remember and respect 50 years of good works by the Southern Christian Leadership Conference, SCLC. It has been living, fulfilling and perpetuating the dream of Dr. King. Its legacy, vision, and commitment to nonviolent action is highly regarded by this younger generation. The Southern Christian Leadership Conference has not just served the purpose of assuring rights for African Americans but all Americans.

Madam Speaker, some time ago this House passed the Hate Crime Bill, and I was one of the sponsors and one of the supporters. Since that time, there has been a group of right-winged evangelical Republicans, national in scale, who have tried to influence preachers in my district, particularly African American preachers, and make them think that that bill will somehow quell their first amendment rights to speak what they think about the Bible and about people's conduct. That's not true whatsoever. That bill contained in it an amendment by Artur Davis that said this in no way affects anybody's first amendment right, and it doesn't. That Hate Crime Bill affects acts of violence, not acts of thought or speech; never has in this country's history and never will.

There are the Ten Commandments that we have and we've honored for many years, and one of the Commandments is, ``Thou shalt not bear false witness.'' Well, in Memphis, Tennessee, that group has borne false witness in trying to question the Hate Crimes Bill and the votes of the Members of this House and, hopefully, the Senate when they pass that bill. It only affects violence, and violence aimed at any group is wrong. And if it's aimed at a group to intimidate, it's even more wrong.

Mr. Speaker, I am astonished at what I have heard from the other side of the aisle: disingenuous talk about great deficit; the deficit caused by the Republican majority's work or lack of work over the last 12 years; giving tax breaks to the rich while sending our troops to a war that has cost us half a trillion dollars and approaching a trillion dollars. That is where the deficit has come from, and this disingenuous talk is shocking to hear.

And the admission that they are against giving children of middle- class families health care. The Republican party, Mr. Speaker, used to say they cared about the middle class. Now they say they don't want to give health benefits to their children. That is amazing. And doctors, who used to be one of their main interest groups, would get reimbursement that they are entitled so that they can continue to participate in Medicare under this plan, and they oppose that.

I would ask you to look at the wall and Daniel Webster, who says, engraved in stone here: Do something of monumental proportions. Do something that generations will remember, something great.

That is what this bill will do. I am happy to be here in support of the CHAMP bill. Hubert Humphrey was a champion of children, and I am happy to stand here for him.

Mr. Speaker, it's my privilege and honor to speak on behalf of this bill.

The New York Times and many of the other leading publications of this country has said this is something that this Congress needs to do to correct an inequity, a wrong. When there's a wrong in law, there's always a right; and when it's not one that the courts have righted, it's the duty of the legislative body to right it if it's something that's in the public good.

Indeed, when there's discrimination in the workplace in pay and disparity, as there has been for years with women, for years we've known 69 cents is what a woman earns for every dollar, and when women are discriminated against doing the same job as a male, it's wrong and it needs to be changed.

And so I think this legislation is appropriately brought before us to correct a wrong when the courts didn't, and I'm pleased to speak on behalf of it. I will be pleased to vote for it, and I am thankful that Mr. Miller and Mr. McGovern brought this and thank them for bringing it to the House of Representatives

Mr. Speaker, last night, this House had a proposal before it to prohibit the DEA from enforcing Federal laws on medical marijuana patients in the 12 States where the public has legalized medical marijuana. Unfortunately, it failed.

I voted for the proposal. Why did I vote for the proposal? Yes, I'm compassionate about people who have multiple sclerosis and AIDS and cancer who can benefit, Parkinson's disease and glaucoma who can benefit from medical marijuana. Yes, I voted for it because I believe in States' rights and I believe in Justice Brandeis and the laboratories of democracy and to see how things work in other States and be able to adjust and see how they should work in other States, but also because I believe the DEA shouldn't be busting medical marijuana houses and stores in Los Angeles. They should be working in my community to eliminate and eradicate methamphetamine, crack and other drugs that are ravaging my community and causing a crime problem in Memphis, Tennessee, and throughout this country.

The DEA has not been effective at controlling the war on drugs. We need to win it. I would like that to happen.

Mr. Chairman, I had a dear friend named Oral James Mitchell, Jr. Oral James Mitchell, Jr., was a Navy SEAL. He fought in Vietnam. Oral James Mitchell, Jr., got pancreatic cancer. He lived in Bethesda, Maryland, a 210-pound strapping man that you would want on your side in a fight, and I have had on my side in a fight, and this country had on its side in a fight in the Vietnam War.

When he had pancreatic cancer, he smoked marijuana. And his 88-year- old Irish Catholic mother said to me, ``Thank God for the marijuana. It is the only thing that makes Oral smile or eat.''

I watched that man go down to 115 pounds and die. And Mrs. Mitchell was correct. As he was dying of pancreatic cancer, if he was in a State that made it legal, States' rights say they should have some authority, and Brandeis said States are the laboratories of democracy. And as laboratories of democracy, we ought to experiment and find out if it works and if it is good for people who are dying, if it gives them some relief. If it is glaucoma, if it is cancer, whatever the illness, they should have that relief.

I would ask that we not have the Federal Government and DEA infringe on the laws of the States that have had changes in their laws, oftentimes through referenda of their people, and we allow those States to be the laboratories of democracy and not interfere with people who are dying, people who might have given their lives for this country, but who are dying and get some respite and some relief.

So I ask you to pass this and allow States to have rights and people to have some relief in their dying days.

Mr. Speaker, on the 3rd of July in my hometown of Memphis, Tennessee, I discovered there was ice being disposed of by being dumped on a driveway, more or less, at Spottswood and East Parkway. What that was about was FEMA dropping and disposing of ice.

FEMA had purchased thousands and thousands and thousands of pounds of ice after Hurricanes Katrina and Rita when they didn't have enough ice. To try to compensate, they bought way, way, way too much ice.

I have discovered that FEMA spent in purchasing, in transporting and in storing ice in 23 different American cities, Mr. Speaker, $67 million of our taxpayers' money, and FEMA is now spending nearly $4 million to dispose of that ice over a period of 11 months. That means over $70 million of American taxpayer dollars going down the drain. That is not the way an American government or any government should work, any business should work, or what Americans should expect of their government.

Fortunately, this Democratic Congress is doing what legislative branches are supposed to do; oversight. We have lacked oversight for the last 6 years, Mr. Speaker, and faults of the administration have gone unnoticed. But as I deal on the subcommittee that deals with FEMA, I will see to it on August 29th when that subcommittee meets in New Orleans on the second anniversary of that horrendous event, Hurricane Katrina, that we will ask the director of FEMA and the others about their programs, of why they buy excess commodities and excess ice, of why they spent $70 million of American taxpayers' money on an ice folly, and why

they didn't try to dispose of that ice during the period of time when it had a useful shelf life and give it to 501(c)(3) charities, Federal, State or county institutions, so it could be used and utilized by American people who could have used that ice to save some money.

The same thing happens with commodities. Chairman Eleanor Holmes Norton, the chairman of that subcommittee, had a hearing on food distribution of commodities where FEMA had wasted other precious commodities and dollars.

Mr. Speaker, this needs to stop. Our tax dollars are valuable and people expect their government to do right with their tax dollars. I will not stand by. When I see incompetence, when I see inefficiencies, when I see ineffective use of tax dollars, I will speak up. I am fortunate to be on the subcommittee to ask the questions on August 29th of FEMA.

It seems like the horrendous events that we had when Brownie didn't know what he was doing and the people in New Orleans were left in a tragic circumstance are replicating themselves. FEMA has not been cleaned up.

We will try to see that FEMA spends our money properly and responds properly. They haven't responded to the American people and they haven't responded to Congress. This is a wrong that needs to be righted.

Mr. Speaker, last night the Senate stayed in session and they're probably still in session because they can't get an agreement to discuss the resolution, the bill that this House has already passed, a similar one to end the war in Iraq and redeploy our troops and bring our troops home.

This House, on several occasions, has passed bills with benchmarks to respond to the American people's wishes and end this horrific war. The Senate hasn't been able to do it because they need 60 votes to avoid filibuster. That's what they have going on now.

And that's the problem, Mr. Speaker, is the procedures in the Senate, and that's why we're still in this horrific war, a war where the Prime Minister of Iraq has said he can provide for the security of his country by January 1 and he does not need our troops.

Mr. Speaker, I would suggest that Emily Post's rule should be invoked. When you're a visitor and your host says you're no longer needed and no longer wanted, you pack your bags and you go home. I would advise the President, Mr. Speaker, to listen to Emily Post and be a good visitor and bring our troops home and stop losing lives needlessly.