Floor Statements

Madam Speaker, I was unable to vote on February 25th and 26th in order to attend the funeral of Judge Russell B. Sugarmon, a civil rights giant from Memphis. If present, I would have voted YES on H.R. 539, H.R. 276, Motions to Order the Previous Question, H. Res. 145, and H. Res. 144.

I would have also voted YES on H.J. Res. 46, a resolution of which I am a cosponsor, to stop President Trump's unconstitutional attempt to circumvent Congress's authority.

I would have also voted YES on S. 47.

Madam Speaker, this week marks the 27th anniversary of the massacre of hundreds of people in the town of Khojaly in what was the largest killing of ethnic Azerbaijani civilians in the course of the Armenia-Azerbaijan conflict. Khojaly, which is located in the Nagorno- Karabakh region of Azerbaijan, was once home to 7,000 people. That was before Armenian armed forces massacred over 600 unarmed people-- including 106 women and 83 children--and left less than 2,000 survivors. Hundreds more became disabled due to their horrific injuries. More than one hundred children lost a parent and 25 children lost both parents. At least 8 families were completely killed.

Even though a ceasefire went into effect over two decades ago, more than 20 percent of Azerbaijan's territory, including Nagorno-Karabakh and seven surrounding districts, remain occupied and more than 1 million

Azerbaijanis remain refugees unable to return to their home villages. Ongoing violence along the line of contact surrounding occupied Azerbaijani territory reinforces the urgency of robust American participation in the Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe's (OSCE) Minsk Group as it works toward a peaceful resolution of the Azerbaijan-Armenia conflict.

Azerbaijan has been a strong partner of the United States and its allies in security and energy matters. This cooperation has included: playing a leadership role in nonproliferation issues; providing troops to serve shoulder-to-shoulder with U.S. forces in Kosovo, Iraq, and Afghanistan; allowing transit of non-lethal equipment used by coalition forces through Azerbaijan to Afghanistan, construction of the Southern Gas Corridor from the Caspian Sea to Italy, thereby providing Europe with an alternative to Russian energy sources; and supplying 40 percent of Israel's oil. Azerbaijan also has a thriving Jewish community and has outstanding relations with Israel.

As Azerbaijanis throughout the world commemorate the massacre and continue to grieve the loss of loved ones, let us commit ourselves to supporting non-violent efforts to resolve the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict.

Madam Speaker, I rise today to celebrate the life of Russell B. Sugarmon--a great American jurist, Civil Rights leader, political pioneer and elder statesman from my hometown of Memphis, Tennessee. Judge Sugarmon died Monday after a long illness at the age of 89 but will be remembered forever as a crusading legal scholar who worked to end segregation in the Memphis public schools and for being a political genius who helped behind the scenes to elect the African American and progressive candidates who reshaped Memphis. In 1959, Sugarmon was one of the first African Americans to run for citywide office when he sought to be commissioner for public works. In 1966, he was elected to become Tennessee's second African American state representative since Reconstruction and was later elected a General Sessions Court judge after serving as a partner in Memphis' and Tennessee's first integrated law firm--Ratner, Sugarmon, Lucas and Willis. Other legendary attorneys such as Bill Caldwell, Irvin Salky, Troy Henderson, Walter Bailey, Jr., Russell X. Thompson and Tom Arnold hung their hats and licenses there. From 1976 to 1987, Judge Sugarmon was a referee in the Memphis Juvenile Court system, stepping down in May 1987 when he was appointed a General Sessions Court Judge. He was elected to the bench in 1988 and was reelected in 1990 and 1998. Russell Bertram Sugarmon, Jr. graduated from the city's Booker T. Washington High School in 1946 at the age of 15. Sugarmon spent a year at Morehouse College--in the class a year behind Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.--and transferred to Rutgers University, where he received his undergraduate degree in Political Science in 1950. He received his J.D. from Harvard University in 1953 and spent the following two years in the U.S. Army based mainly in Japan. After returning to the United States, he did further graduate studies at Boston University, then came back to Memphis in 1956 to establish a private legal practice. Judge Sugarmon worked tirelessly even when victory wasn't in the cards and kept the faith, knowing that it would come in time. He was one of the most learned strategists on politics and history in our community, avoiding the limelight but holding sway as the influential wise man behind the scenes in collaboration with a biracial and tolerant group of progressive leaders. Judge Sugarmon was a mentor, supporter and friend of mine my entire life and I am eternally grateful to have been so fortunate to have shared time with this remarkably knowledgeable, judicious and beloved man. Last year, Congress

passed and the President signed into law my bill designating the post office at 1325 Autumn Avenue as the Russell B. Sugarmon Post Office. I had hoped Judge Sugarmon would be on hand for its dedication later this year but its existence will stand as a lasting physical monument to his stature in our city, in our state and in our nation. No one is more deserving. Supporting Russell Sugarmon's great work and providing encouragement and strength was the Sugarmon family. Russell was a beloved husband and father of six children, sadly preceded in death by his dear daughter Tina Spence. I extend my sincere condolences to his devoted wife and companion, Gina; his children Judge Tarik Sugarmon, Elena Williams, Erika Sugarmon, Monique Sugarmon and Carol Spence; his extended family and his many friends.

Madam Speaker, I rise today to pay tribute to Memphis businessman Mike Bowen who was killed in a car accident in Costa Rica on Saturday but who will be long remembered for his grace in giving others, including formerly incarcerated individuals, a second chance. He was 61. Mr. Bowen was the CEO of Champion Awards and Apparel, a company that grew out of Custom Print, founded in 1979, now the largest local licensee of University of Memphis-branded merchandise. Mr. Bowen was a 1979 graduate of then-Memphis State University and was active in its alumni association. He was also an active member of the Tiger Scholarship Fund, the Beale Street Merchants Association, the Greater Memphis Chamber of Commerce, the Memphis Jaycees, Leadership Memphis and the Special Olympics. For years, Mr. Bowen coordinated the Memphis Business Journal's Small Business Awards ceremony.

Growing up in Parkway Village, he said his mother taught him that the only color he and his brother should see is green, hopefully with a ``Benjamin'' on it. In 2007, Bowen made the principled decision to hire people with felony convictions for his business in a program that he called Late Bloomers, begun in 2007. By late 2016, 18 of his 48 employees had been formerly incarcerated. Mr. Bowen said he hired the men and women because his company was doing 20th Century work in the 21st Century and need people willing to work hard and sweat. In exchange, they received a living wage and a lot of guidance on staying straight, including meeting their legal obligations. Known for hugging his employees, Mr. Bowen called many of them ``heroes'' for overcoming adversity and sticking with hard work. I want to express my condolences to his wife, Suzie, and his sons Colby and Michael, his extended family and his many friends. He led a good life

Madam Speaker, I rise today to pay tribute to George Klein, a Memphis original and one of the late Elvis Presley's longest and closest friends after they met at Humes High School in 1948, both aged 13. Mr. Klein died Tuesday evening in Memphis at the age of 83. George Klein, known as ``GK,'' was Memphis disc jockey and protege of pioneering disc jockey Dewey Phillips, hosting WHBQ-TV's ``Talent Party'' (1964 to 1973) and WMC radio's ``George Klein's Rock & Roll Ballroom. `` He later hosted SiriusXM satellite radio's Elvis Radio channel until last year. Mr. Klein was inducted into the Memphis Music Hall of Fame in 2018. A member of King of Rock & Roll's ``Memphis Mafia'' traveling entourage, Mr. Klein was a groomsman in Presley's wedding to Priscilla Beaulieu in 1967 in Las Vegas (Elvis served as his best man when Mr. Klein married in 1970) and served as an Elvis pallbearer after the singer's death in 1977. Mr. Klein also had bit parts in some of Elvis' movies, including ``Jailhouse Rock'' in 1957. When Elvis was posthumously inducted into the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame in 1986, it was his loyal friend Mr. Klein who gave the acceptance speech. For Memphis, Mr. Klein was our Bob Hope, hosting many civic affairs programs and producing the annual George Klein Christmas Charity Show that people looked forward to seeing for years and which raised a lot of money for various charities. As a radio personality, he had a variety of career highlights, hosting Johnny Cash's radio debut; bringing the first African American recording artists--Fats Domino, Sam Cooke, James Brown, and Jackie Wilson--to play on live Memphis television; and introducing The Beatles when they played the Mid-South Coliseum in August 1966. Everybody loved George Klein. He was always cheerful and upbeat and made life better for all he met; you could say he helped make your day. Mr. Klein very closely followed Memphis State and later University of Memphis sports, particularly basketball. University of Memphis basketball coach John Calipari said he used to talk to Mr. Klein before basketball games and called him ``an unbelievable ambassador'' for Memphis. George and I had a mutual friend in Irvin Salky, who was his contemporary and occasionally his counselor. Priscilla, who visited my office last month, recognized Mr. Klein's influence. She released a statement Tuesday evening calling Mr. Klein ``a legendary broadcaster,'' adding ``but he was so much more to our family. George has been there from the beginning . . . He was a true Memphian and always made it feel like home on trips back to Graceland. I will forever cherish our memories together, they will stay with me always.'' George was my friend and his was a life well-lived. He will be missed.

Mr. Speaker, I thank Ms. Bass for yielding. I just wanted to stand on this bill because this is an important area and I want to commend Representative Bass for bringing it.

I am happy to be a cosponsor, but I particularly thank Congresswoman Ann Wagner. When we had a bill last year, the SOAR Act, Stop, Observe, Act and Respond, to Health and Wellness Act, a pilot program to train healthcare workers who come into contact with people who have been sexually trafficked, they oftentimes do see healthcare workers because they have either been beaten up by their pimps or they have gotten a venereal disease.

They might have to go in for birth control or for some other reason sexually related, oftentimes health related, so that we need to train health workers to observe and to know when they were seeing somebody trafficked to stop, to observe, to see if that person might be in that situation, and then to ask them, and then to send them to an agency that can help them.

This was an important bill that we were able to pass in the Senate and make law.

Representative Kinzinger helped, Representative Cardenas helped, but Representative Wagner was my star, and I want to thank her so much for working with us and helping on the Senate side, particularly, to get it passed.

I am proud to be a cosponsor of this bill. I also want to mention that Representative Burchett is a strong sponsor and supporter of this type of legislation, and a great American.

Mr. Speaker, I move to suspend the rules and pass the bill (H.R. 752) to amend titles 5 and 28, United States Code, to require the maintenance of databases on awards of fees and other expenses to prevailing parties in certain administrative proceedings and court cases to which the United States is a party, and for other purposes.

Mr. Speaker, I ask unanimous consent that all Members have up to 5 legislative days to revise and extend their remarks and include extraneous material on the bill under consideration.

Mr. Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may consume.

Mr. Speaker, I rise in support of H.R. 752, the Open Book on Equal Access to Justice Act, a bill House Judiciary Committee Ranking Member Collins and I have worked on together for several years.

The Equal Access to Justice Act was enacted to allow Americans to recover attorneys' fees and costs associated with lawsuits against the Federal Government. This has enabled ordinary citizens, such as veterans, seniors, small business owners, advocates for clean air and clean water, and any other type of citizen to fight unfair or illegal government actions without fear of court costs.

The law has been a success. In 1995, however, an important reporting requirement was removed from it, which made it harder for the public to know how much money the government has awarded. Our bill, the Open Book on Equal Access to Justice Act reinstates the Equal Access to Justice Act's tracking and reporting requirements with respect to payments awarded so that American people can have access to this important information.

It would do this by requiring ACUS, an acronym for the Administrative Conference of the United States, a highly respected, nonpartisan agency, to prepare an annual report for Congress on the fees and costs awarded in these cases. The reports would also include the number and nature of the claims involved.

In summary, H.R. 752 would promote greater transparency and accountability. Accordingly, I urge my colleagues to join me and Mr. Collins in voting for this measure today, and I reserve the balance of my time.

Mr. Speaker, today, I recognize a lady who served in this Congress named Cynthia Lummis. She was the original cosponsor I had on this bill and worked hard on it and was a very fine Representative.

We also worked with a man named Lowell Baier. Mr. Baier wrote a book called ``Inside the Equal Access to Justice Act: Environmental Litigation and the Crippling Battle over America's Lands, Endangered Species, and Critical Habitats.'' He was a great supporter of this concept, and I want to recognize his efforts as well as Mrs. Lummis'.

Mr. Speaker, I reserve the balance of my time.

Mr. Speaker, I have no further speakers, and I reserve the balance of my time.

Mr. Speaker, in closing, again, I would like to thank all the other people, all the members of the Academy and the producers and directors, but also Ranking Member Collins for his continued partnership on this bill, which passed the House last Congress and almost passed the Senate. We always have to remember the enemy is not the Republicans; it is the Senate.

Mr. Speaker, I thank Representatives Collin Peterson and Liz Cheney for their efforts as well. I urge my colleagues to pass this bill, and I yield back the balance of my time.

Madam Speaker, I rise today in support of the Private Student Loan Bankruptcy Fairness Act, a bill I introduced earlier today with my colleagues Danny Davis and Eric Swalwell. This bill would provide critical relief to Americans in severe financial distress who are struggling with overwhelming private student loan debt.

Before 2005, private student loans issued by for-profit lenders were treated in bankruptcy like most other unsecured consumer debt,

such as credit card debt. Our bill will ensure that privately issued student loans will once again be treated like other consumer debt and be dischargeable in bankruptcy.

Private student loans have much in common with credit cards and subprime mortgages. For example, private student loans often have onerous interest rates with no caps and can include exorbitant fees and hidden charges. In addition, many lenders have used aggressive marketing and high-pressure sales tactics to target particularly vulnerable people, namely, young men and women without financial experience, and older Americans seeking to re-start their careers by pursuing higher education and training.

To make matters worse, private student loans lack the critical consumer protections that come with federal student loans. For instance, private lenders are not required to--and typically do not-- provide any of the deferments, income-based repayment plans, cancellation rights, or loan forgiveness programs that are available to federal student loan borrowers.

A hallmark of our nation's bankruptcy law is to give an honest but unfortunate debtor a chance to obtain meaningful relief. To that end, the law exempts very few types of debt from elimination through the bankruptcy process, and only for principled policy reasons, such as debts for child support, taxes, criminal fines and intentional injury.

In 2005, however, Congress changed the bankruptcy law without any substantive analysis so that student loans made by private, for-profit lenders became very difficult to discharge in bankruptcy.

Currently, the Bankruptcy Code prohibits the discharge of private educational debt unless the debtor, in addition to meeting the already stringent requirements for personal bankruptcy, proves that repayment would impose an, ``undue hardship,'' on the debtor and the debtor's dependents. In practice, however, it's hard for a debtor to ever successfully meet this standard.

The current bankruptcy law unjustly punishes hardworking Americans who are simply trying to improve their lives by pursuing a higher education and became victims of predatory private student loan lenders.

We can do better.

I urge my colleagues to support the Private Student Loan Bankruptcy Fairness Act and restore the fair treatment of private student loan borrowers in bankruptcy.

Mr. Speaker, fortunately, the United States Government is open, and, fortunately, when Donald Trump comes to this Chamber on February 5, he can say the state of the Union is that the government is open. Otherwise, the State of the Union would have been different.

A lot of people lost paychecks and had great difficulties because of 35 days without many Federal employees getting paid. That should not happen again.

A lot of private entrepreneurs whose businesses are located near Federal facilities will never recover the losses. When Federal employees did not go to work, people who have grocery stores, cafeterias, and lunchrooms lost business that they can never make up.

The ability of the FAA to keep our airlines going was jeopardized. We don't need to let that happen again. That hurts commerce and hurts our country.

We need to have an agreement, but we don't need to build an unnecessary fifth-century wall. George Bush put up more barriers than any other President, but none in Texas, his home State, because the Rio Grande River is the dividing point. There is a big difference.

God bless Walter Jones

Madam Speaker, I rise today to recognize International Holocaust Remembrance Day which marks the anniversary of the 1945 liberation of Auschwitz-Birkenau. I join with people around the world to commemorate the millions of lives lost to Nazism, especially the six million Jewish lives lost.

It is imperative that we remember the loss of those six million people and, also, the people who survived and those who helped them survive. Of the 1.3 million people taken to Auschwitz, an estimated 1.1 million were killed.

In 1984, as a young State Senator, I sponsored legislation to create the Tennessee Holocaust Commission, one of the first such state Commissions. I'm very proud of the work of the Tennessee Holocaust Commission, much of which is educating Tennessee teachers so they can teach children about the Holocaust.

As we remember the lives lost, we should also remember those who survived and, also, the military that liberated the camps and the hundreds of thousands of righteous gentiles who risked their own lives to save Jews. The Holocaust showed that a society that tolerates antisemitism is susceptible to other forms of racism, hatred, and oppression.

I urge all Americans visiting Washington to visit the U.S. Holocaust Museum and I urge all Tennesseans and those visiting Nashville to go to the Memorial on the State Capitol Grounds, situated alongside six cedar trees representing six million people, to remember and to understand why we must always remember and stand up against antisemitism, racism, hatred and oppression wherever and whenever it occurs.

Mr. Speaker, today the House of Representatives has a Member in great distress, and it causes all of us who are aware of that--and I think most of us are--sorrow.

Representative Walter Jones is the Congressman from the Third Congressional District of North Carolina. He is a man of courage, a man who speaks truth to power, and has been a Member of this body since 1995.

Representative Jones has a condition that has caused him to go into hospice care. He likely will not be joining us on this floor. But he is a man who I have had the great privilege of knowing, because he is a good human being and an honorable man, who made a mistake in a vote for the Iraq war and after he realized that that was a mistake, having voted for that war, he voted against war and conflicts ever after, and wrote

personal notes to the families of the victims of military deaths.

He supported veterans. He supported our country. He was a man of conscience. He still is. Our thoughts are with him, and I thank him for his service and his friendship.

Mr. Speaker, I say to my friend: Fair winds and following seas.

Madam Speaker, I rise today to commemorate the 29th anniversary of the ``Black January'' killings which is one of the most tragic events in Azerbaijan's history.

On the night of January 20, 1990, approximately 26,000 Soviet troops stormed Azerbaijan's capital city of Baku in tanks and armored vehicles. That night, the Soviet military bulldozed innocent Azerbaijanis and opened indiscriminate fire on peaceful demonstrators, including women and children. As a result of these merciless acts 147 people were killed, around 800 were injured, 841 were arrested, and 5 went missing.

The Human Rights Watch report ``Black January in Azerbaijan'' states that ``among the most heinous violations of human rights during the Baku incursion were the numerous attacks on medical personnel, ambulances, and even hospitals.'' The report concludes that the violence used by the Soviet Army constituted an exercise in collective punishment and that the punishment inflicted on Baku by Soviet soldiers may have been intended as a warning to nationalists, not only in Azerbaijan, but in other Republics of the Soviet Union. I offer my thoughts and prayers to the families of those who gave their lives for the independence of Azerbaijan.

The United States and Azerbaijan are strategic allies and share common interests in the region and globally. I commend Azerbaijan's contributions to the security of the United States.

As the co-chairman of the Congressional Azerbaijan Caucus, I urge my colleagues to recognize the sacrifices of the Azerbaijani people in their steps toward a free market economy and encourage a recommitment to the democratic values for which many Azerbaijanis sacrificed their lives.

Madam Speaker, I thank Mr. Nadler for yielding me the time.

Madam Speaker, I want to thank Mr. Clyburn for bringing this resolution, and I want to thank the Republican leadership, Mr. McCarthy and company, who have condemned white supremacist and white nationalist language.

It is important that we come together and condemn this language because, unfortunately, in Charlottesville, Virginia, we had Ku Klux Klan people and neo-Nazis marching and saying: ``Jews will not replace us in blood and soil.'' Our President said there were fine people on both sides.

We must condemn bigotry, racial superiority, and hate whenever it raises its ugly head so that it will not come back to bite us once again.

So today, hopefully, in the House, we have done that. I commend my Republican colleagues and Mr. Collins, and I hope that when hatred and bigotry once against surface, raises its head, which it will, that we will stand together as Americans to condemn it and not see fine people on both sides.

Mr. Speaker, I rise today to pay tribute to my constituent and friend, Leonid ``Lulu'' Saharovici, a longtime member of the Tennessee Holocaust Commission, who worked in a Nazi-backed Romanian labor camp in his youth and passed away last month at age 91.

Mr. Saharovici was educated at the University of Bucharest Law School and pursued a career in administrative law and teaching at his alma mater before he and his wife of 62 years, Frida, and their children Alex (Debra), then 12, Livio (Heidi), then 8, emigrated to the U.S. Mr. Saharovici was hired by National Mortgage in Memphis in 1972 and worked there until his retirement in 1994. He also taught Romanian and Romanian Culture classes at Rhodes College.

After attending a Jewish Holocaust survivors gathering in Washington, D.C., in 1983, Mr. Saharovici wrote to Tennessee lawmakers with the idea of creating a Tennessee Holocaust Commission, which became a reality two years later. I'm proud to have been a sponsor of that effort as a Tennessee state senator. Mr. Saharovici was named as a Tennessee Holocaust commissioner and served in that capacity for 33 years. In that position, he devoted his time to educating high school students about the horrors of the Holocaust in an effort to ensure something like it could never happen again.

Mr. Saharovici was an active member of the Baron Hirsch Synagogue congregation and was a life member of its Board of Directors. Mr. Saharovici also co-founded the Jewish Historical Society and served as its second president. He also collected Passover Haggadahs. As Chairman of the Belz Museum of Asian and Judaic Art, he gave guided tours of the museum through the years.

An avid fan of the Memphis Symphony and opera in Memphis, he served as Chairman of the Belz/Parker Ascending Concerts series and invited musicians visiting Memphis to stage concerts at LeBonheur Children's Hospital, the West Clinic, Stax Museum and St. Jude Childrens Research Hospital.

In 2010, Mr. Saharovici received the Jefferson Award for his efforts to improve society, his work educating the public about the Holocaust and his work bringing cultural and historical events to the city.

Mr. Saharovici lived a storied life and contributed in important ways to the adopted community he loved so well. I wish his friends and family my best.

Mr. Speaker, I rise today to recognize Mr. G. Lincoln McCurdy, the president of the Turkish Coalition of America (TCA) who received the 2018 Gusi Peace Prize. TCA, founded by noted Turkish American Dr. Yalcin Ayasli, is an educational, public, charitable organization headquartered in Washington, D.C. whose mission is to educate the general public about Turkey and Turkish Americans and voice their opinions on critical issues to interested parties by supporting people-to-people exchanges, educating Congress about Turkish American perspectives; promoting balanced dialogue on U.S.-Turkey relations, and building bridges between the Turkish American community and other heritage communities.

The Gusi Peace Prize Foundation is based in Manila, Philippines and annually recognizes individuals and organizations working toward the attainment of peace and respect for human life and dignity.

I congratulate G. Lincoln McCurdy and the Turkish Coalition of America for receiving the 2018 Gusi Peace Prize.