Floor Statements

Madam Speaker, I rise today to honor the life of physician Linkwood Williams, a famed Tuskegee Flight instructor and Memphis physician. He was born to Mr. and Mrs. Elbert and Bessie McNeal Williams on August 29, 1918 in Bonita, Louisiana. At the age of three, he and his family moved to Madison, Illinois where he attended school through the twelfth grade, then worked with his father at a local steel mill.

Having encouragement from his father to pursue higher education, Dr. Williams applied and was accepted to study industrial arts at Tuskegee Institute in Alabama, which was one of six colleges where pilot training was offered and the only facility in the country for training black military pilots. After two years of studying, he decided to pursue full-time training in the Civilian Pilots Training Program, a program that would prepare him to quickly adapt to military aviation in the event of a national emergency. Successfully progressing through all Civilian Pilots Training courses, Dr. Williams became part of the Tuskegee Experience and went on to train many of the 450 pilots who served in the 332nd Fighter Group. The Tuskegee Airmen were the first combat group of African American pilots and flew with distinction during World War II.

At the end of the war, Dr. Williams married Katie Whitney, moved to Cleveland, Ohio, and became the third African-American to join the carpenters union. He later enrolled at Western Reserve University to complete the required pre-med courses for acceptance into medical school. Afterwards, he applied to and was accepted to Meharry Medical College in Nashville, Tennessee. During the third year of his residency, he was hired as a part-time instructor to teach Air Force ROTC cadets at Tennessee State University.

After completing his residency, Dr. Linkwood Williams moved to Memphis, Tennessee and began his OB-GYN practice, becoming the first African American OB-GYN in the city. He worked for 31 years until his retirement in 1995.

Dr. Linkwood Williams was a member of Mississippi Boulevard Christian Center, where he served in the Community Outreach Group, the American Medical Association, The Memphians, Kappa Alpha Psi Fraternity, and Sigma Pi Phi (Delta). Dr. Linkwood Williams passed away surrounded by his family on Saturday, February 20, 2010 and was laid to rest on Saturday, February 27, 2010. He was 91 years old. Dr. Williams truly left his mark on the world through his service to the citizens of Memphis, Tennessee. We are grateful to have had the pleasure of his dedication and perseverance in the community.

Mr. Speaker, recently Forbes magazine ranked what they called the most miserable cities in the country. Memphis, Tennessee, was third on that list. They considered certain issues but they didn't consider others.

They didn't consider the best barbecue in the United States of America; some of the greatest music; Beale Street; the great tourist center; gorgeous sunsets on the Mississippi River. They didn't consider the people of Memphis and the creativity that's emanated from there; Fred Smith and the greatest delivery of goods in the world, a system of freight delivery unrivaled; St. Jude's Children's Hospital that provides the gift of life and research into cancer and Nobel prize winners.

Opportunities for innovation are prevalent in Memphis. In music, Sam Phillips and Elvis Presley created rock-and-roll. And Willie Mitchell and Isaac Hayes and David Porter, and Stacks and Soulful.

I invite Chris Buckley, my friend, and Forbes magazine to come to Memphis and visit for themselves. Memphis has also got a great optometry school. Beauty is in the eye of the beholder. Maybe they'll leave with 20/20 vision.

Madam Speaker, many speakers have preceded me today in speaking about Mr. Murtha--and I will always call him Mr. Murtha because that's how I referred to him here in the House and that's how I will refer to him in memory.

I only had the opportunity to serve with him for 3 years, and I feel certainly inadequate in being the last person to speak, but this man was my friend. He was like a father figure to me.

When I was thinking about running for Congress, I came up here to view Congress and think about it. I wasn't sure if I was going to run or not. I went up in that gallery and I sat on this left side of the aisle, Madam Speaker. I looked at the floor and all the people down here and I thought about whether or not I wanted to run. But coming up here, I was in Rayburn, and I walked up by the train that comes from Rayburn to the Capitol. And this man came up to me, this gentleman--I didn't know him--and he put his arm around me and we talked on the way up and walked all the way down the path. And he said, Young man, this is going to be like 1974. It's going to be a great year for Democrats.

We got up the elevator--and I was so proud to be in this building-- and we got to the top and he went to the left where you enter the Speaker's lobby and come onto this floor and I went around the way to this gallery where visitors go. He said, Next time you come up here, I hope you can come in here with me. And it was the next time I got to come in here with him.

I was so proud every time I got to go over--I read about ``Murtha's Corner'' in The New York Times, and then I find myself over there with mostly folks from Pennsylvania, but also the different people that were fond of Mr. Murtha. I was standing there and I thought, I remember reading about Murtha's Corner, now I'm in Murtha's Corner. And I was in his corner and he was in mine. When I needed help for my community and learning about appropriations, defense appropriations and how they could benefit this country and my community and my universities, he helped me. He always helped me. And I helped him when he was in need in his last election.

I made the trip to Johnstown for his funeral, and I am so happy I did and I am happy to be here. I could not let this opportunity pass to speak about this great American. It has been talked about he was a marine and he was the first from Vietnam to be elected--he was part of that class--and he stood up and received the John F. Kennedy Profiles in Courage Award. All is true. But the bottom line is he was a good human being.

``Avuncular'' is a word I learned when I was in high school, uncle- like figure, and I guess he was an uncle-like figure. He was just a grand, good human being. I will miss him. This House will miss him. And I am just fortunate that I passed this way at the same time he did and got to change time with him in life.

Thank you, Jack Murtha.

Mr. Speaker, indeed, it's been 1 year since the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act passed without a Republican vote in this House and maybe only one in the Senate, and we've heard a lot of vitriol here today about it. The fact is almost every economist, including Mark Zandy who advised the Republican candidate for President, have said it helped. It helped in a major way our country from falling off a precipice into another Great Depression. A difficult vote, but a needed vote. And 95 percent of Americans received tax breaks, things that the other side of the aisle normally is much in favor of, but for 95 percent of America they didn't care and they didn't vote for it.

The fact is there were three-quarters of a million jobs lost in the last quarter of President Bush's administration; in the last quarter of President Obama, there were just 35,000. The stock market has gone up by 50 percent since President Obama came into office and the jobs stimulus program was passed. There has been improvement.

We had a great crisis, and we were in a ditch, and we are digging our way out, but we are only doing it in one part of the House. We need to work together in a bipartisan measure for jobs.

Mr. Speaker, last week we were honored, in the State of the Union, to hear President Barack Obama address in this hall a joint convention, and then he met with the Republican Caucus this week in what was a remarkable political instance of reaching out to the other side. Not since Bill Russell controlled the center for the Celtics have questions and thoughts been deflected in such a marvelous and a deft manner.

The President is concerned about health care and jobs, and in my community of Memphis, Tennessee, we need both. And each interest is represented in the MED, our charity hospital, our community hospital that's in danger of closing. It's the trauma center for the Midsouth. Because of the cuts in Medicaid, or TennCare in Tennessee, and the lack of disproportionate share for our State which we could have taken care of in a conference committee report and gotten equality with Hawaii, the MED's in danger of closing. It will have ripples throughout the health community and the hospital community in the entire Midsouth, and it will threaten jobs.

Health care is jobs. Jobs are important. This administration and our government needs to put our economy in the right direction and do it and preserve health care and trauma centers and emergency rooms like the MED.

I rise today to honor the sacrifice of Navy Hospital Petty Officer Second Class Xin Qi, who died in Helmand Province in Afghanistan on the 23rd day of January. Petty Officer Qi was assigned to the Operational Health Support Unit in Dallas, Texas, when he volunteered to deploy to Afghanistan with the Fourth Light Armored Reconnaissance Battalion out of Camp Pendleton. He was there for three months in his first tour in Afghanistan when a suicide bomber attacked while he was on a foot patrol in Helmand Province.

Simply 25 years of age, Petty Officer Qi is survived by his mother and his father. They are residents of my county, Shelby County, and he is the third casualty from Shelby County in the last few months and the second this year in Operation Enduring Freedom. We've had 13 heroic soldiers die in the Middle East since 2002.

Mr. Speaker, I ask that this House take a moment to remember the sacrifices of our Armed Forces, including the ultimate sacrifice of Petty Officer Xin Qi. I thank the family for their wonderful son and the sacrifice he's made for his country.

Mr. Speaker, I just heard my colleague from east Tennessee make those remarks, and I had to add something because it's typical of what happens up here. The people from east Tennessee forget about the fact that Memphis exists in Tennessee, and Dave Loos started his career and played basketball at the University of Memphis, started his coaching career at the University of Memphis, and is a Memphian as well as a graduate of Austin Peay. And while he attended your school, he coached and attended my law school. He is a class act and wonderful gentleman. I wanted to set the record straight.

Mr. Speaker, I rise today to pay tribute to a Memphis, Shelby County citizen who gave his life in service to our country in Afghanistan, Staff Sergeant Daniel Merriweather. He was the second soldier from Shelby County to die in Afghanistan since the beginning of Operation Enduring Freedom and our 12th in the Middle East since 2002. Staff Sergeant Merriweather, who was with the 118th Military Police Company, died when his convoy ran over an improvised explosive device.

He graduated from Overton High School in Memphis, Tennessee. He studied broadcast journalism, played football, loved sports, cowboy hats, boots, and country music. And you can see from his picture and from the reflections of his friends how much he loved life and how popular he was.

He wanted to serve his country, and he did so. He did two tours of duty, one in Afghanistan and one in Iraq. At 25 years of age, he is survived by his wife, Rachelle; his two children, 3-year-old Kale and Daniel Merriweather, Jr., just 3 months old; his parents, Pamela and Darryl Finnie; his sister, Adrienne; and his brother, Darryl Finnie, Jr.

These are the 12 soldiers who died from Shelby County, and unfortunately Staff Sergeant Merriweather joins that company.

Mr. Speaker, let us take a moment to honor the service and memory of Staff Sergeant Merriweather.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. And thank you, Sergeant Merriweather.

Madam Speaker, as the world watches the crisis, the tragedy in Haiti, many people are coming forth with charitable contributions to help different organizations that are sponsoring efforts, and it is commendable and wonderful. But what was discovered is that the credit card companies are charging their customary 3 percent fee on those credit card contributions. That is wrong. And the credit card companies, I believe, saw it was wrong, and they put that off for 60 days on contributions given to certain groups.

What I am looking into introducing is legislation, and-or through a letter of request to the administration, suspending credit card fees, except those for processing, on contributions to 501(c)(3) charities.

When people make contributions to charities, and contributions are down now because of the recession, the full amount should be going to that 501(c)(3). Complete charitable contributions should be permitted, and the credit card companies should work with us, at least if it is a disaster like Katrina, like what we have experienced in Haiti or with the tsunamis or with tornados in our Nation.

Madam Speaker, I rise today to honor the life of Willie Mitchell, a great Memphis music performer, producer, icon, and patriarchal figure to many jazz and R&B artists. Willie Mitchell was a great trumpeter, bandleader, and early in his career had worked with talented artists, including Otis Clay. After the passing of Joe Coughi, Willie Mitchell took over Hi Records on Lauderdale Street in South Memphis where he assembled house band Hi Rhythm and defined the sounds of O.V. Wright, Syl Johnson, Ann Peebles, and many others.

Willie Mitchell's greatest find could, arguably, be singer Al Green. As a great horn player and musician, Willie Mitchell was performing in Texas and Al Green was on the bill. He told Al Green, ``Come back to Memphis and I'll make you a star''--and Willie Mitchell made it happen for Al Green. That happened often in Memphis someone saying,--``Come to Memphis and I'll make you a star.'' And then Al Green helped to unite the sounds of jazz and R&B to meet the demands of a new era of music. Speaking about Al Green, Willie Mitchell marveled that ``. . . of all the singers, he was the only one that could hear jazz changes and really sing in that style . . . and it was just hit after hit.''

Willie Mitchell's contributions and influence transcends the boundaries of place and time. Detroit's distinguished Motown Records, headed by Berry Gordy, Jr., sent a team down to Hi Records to learn the secret behind Willie Mitchell's sound. These sounds can still be heard in recent string and horn arrangements on Rod Stewart's newest album ``Soulbook,'' a soon-to-be released album by legend Solomon Burke and in the current artistry of pop singer John Mayer, hip-hop artist Anthony Hamilton, and others.

Willie Mitchell received many awards including the 2008 GRAMMYs Trustees Award for a lifetime of achievements. In 2004, the portion of Lauderdale Street in front of Royal Studios in Memphis, which Willie Mitchell retained after the sale of Hi Records in the late 70s, was renamed ``Willie Mitchell Boulevard'' by the City.

Willie Mitchell was laid to rest today in Memphis. He gave people lots of love and happiness and reasons to stay together--he and Al Green. We'll all miss Willie Mitchell. I appreciate the fact that he came our way and helped produce the Memphis sound and became part of that great Memphis legend of soul music. He was loved by his musical community and by his family. He leaves two wonderful daughters, two grandsons who became his sons, a step-son and a musical history and tradition that will live on forever.

Madam Speaker, last week, a lady died, named Miep Gies, a Dutch lady. She died at age 100.

The reason her death is worth noting is that she was a Dutch Catholic who, with her husband, hid the Frank family--Anne Frank, Otto Frank, that family--and another Jewish family for 25 months in Amsterdam when the Nazi regime came and was taking Jewish people from Amsterdam and throughout Europe to concentration camps. For 25 months, their family protected the Franks. They were then betrayed, the Frank family, and sent to concentration camps where all died but Otto Frank.

Ms. Gies found the diary of Anne Frank. She preserved it and gave it to Otto Frank when he was released from his concentration camp--the only surviving Frank. It was published, the story of a young girl and her hopes during the Nazi occupation of Amsterdam and the persecution of Jews.

There are people today who do not believe that the Anne Frank diary was real. It was indeed real. This lady saved it. She saved history and taught us what people can do, just ordinary citizens, in acts of heroism to protect others in the face of injustice. I am pleased to recognize her in the United States Congress. We are lucky she came this way. She had a significant impact on the world.

Madam Speaker, I move to suspend the rules and pass the bill (H.R. 3237) to enact certain laws relating to national and commercial space programs as title 51, United States Code, ``National and Commercial Space Programs''.

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

I yield myself such time as I may consume.

H.R. 3237 codifies into positive law as title 51, United States Code, the laws related to national and commercial space programs. It was jointly introduced by Judiciary Committee Chairman John Conyers from the great State of Michigan and Ranking Member Lamar Smith from the great State of Texas, where many of these space programs are located. It was prepared by the Office of Law Revision Counsel as part of its functions under 2 U.S.C. 285(b), which it performs in coordination with our committee.

This bill is not intended to make any substantive changes in the law. As is typical with the codification process, a number of nonsubstantive revisions are made, including the reorganization of sections into a more coherent overall structure, but these changes are not intended to have any substantive effect. The bill has been subject to extensive public review in the previous two Congresses, including by relevant congressional committees, agencies, practitioners, academic experts and whoever else is left. The current bill is substantially identical to the bill Chairman Conyers and Ranking Member Smith introduced 2 years ago, with a few additional technical clarifications suggested by interested parties.

I urge my colleagues to support this legislation, and I reserve the balance of my time.

Madam Speaker, at this point I ask everybody to vote unanimously in support of H.R. 3237 and pass it, and I yield back the balance of my time.

This past week, the city of Memphis and the world lost a great musical producer and musical icon, Willie Mitchell.

Willie Mitchell was laid to rest today in Memphis, Tennessee. He produced a sound that included O.V. Wright, Syl Johnson, and Ann Peebles; but his most famous find was Al Green.

A great horn player and a great musician, Willie Mitchell was in Texas and Al Green was on the bill. He told Al Green, Come back to Memphis, and I will make you a star, and he did that. It happened so much in Memphis: Come to Memphis, and I will make you a star, and it happened.

Willie Mitchell was part of that great Memphis legend and soul music. He was loved by people in the studio and by his family. He received the Trustees Award from the Grammys in 2008 for a lifetime of achievement. He gave people lots of love and happiness and reasons to stay together, he and Al Green.

He leaves two wonderful daughters, two grandsons who became his sons, a stepson, a musical history and a musical tradition that will live on forever. We will all miss Willie Mitchell and appreciate the fact that he came our way and helped produce the Memphis sound.

Mr. Speaker, today ends the first year of the 111th Congress, a Congress that's done much to try to preserve this country's economic security, improve its place among the nations of the world, worked against the global warming problems we have, and protect our planet.

So much of what we've accomplished has been a group effort, and one of the people that's been a part of that group is Congressman Robert Wexler of Florida. I was privileged to sit next to Congressman Wexler in the Judiciary Committee. Congressman Wexler served 13 years in this House, and today he cast his last vote and walked off this floor.

I watched him as he walked off. I was sad to see him leave because he was an outstanding Member of Congress like so many people are here who are dedicated to making this country better, working hard, speaking his opinion to try to make this country a better place. I'm proud to have served in this Congress and to have served with Robert Wexler. I'm proud to be a Member of this Congress, and I want to say to Robert Wexler, you've been an outstanding Congressman, and this Congress will miss you.

Mr. Speaker, The New York Times and CBS released a poll recently that showed what the feelings are and the effects of unemployment on Americans. We've had 10 percent unemployment and many people that are long-term unemployed. The effects are devastating.

People who are unemployed are more likely not to have health insurance and have difficulty and give up getting medical care. That costs the public later with emergency room visits and costs us more money. They have more problems with depression and anxiety, and yet can't afford medical treatment. Again, problems arise. They have lost their homes, neighborhoods suffer, crime increases, neighborhood values decrease.

The loss of jobs has hurt millions of Americans and others because of the effects on the economy, on government, and on neighborhoods. But the people who have lost their jobs know why they have lost their jobs. Twenty-six percent specifically say the reason they've lost their jobs is because of President Bush and the policies that were brought about during the time he was President. That is obvious. The second largest group is Wall Street bankers. We need to help the unemployed. We need to find jobs.