Floor Statements

Mr. Speaker, President Obama offered his first budget to this House last week, and it calls for fairness that hasn't been seen in this American government for a long time, fairness in taxes between the most wealthy and the least fortunate, people who need help and people who need to provide help, a budget that provides for health care, for energy, for veterans, most of all, for the issues that are most important to the American public. Investments in our infrastructure, which will spur this economy and stimulate the economy.

I would ask my colleagues on the other side of the aisle to join with the Democrats in supporting our President who was elected with overwhelming numbers and still has overwhelming support. Confidence and support for this President is what's necessary to give people the confidence to invest in our economy and get us out of this recession.

Mr. Speaker, I was proud to vote for the economic stimulus bill, and one of the things that it had that is most effective, timely, targeted, and temporary is unemployment compensation of people who are on the front lines and suffer because of this recession.

Money going to those people immediately go into the economy and stimulate the economy, and nobody can debate that. It also helps the people most in need.

So I was most distressed when southern governors, led by Bobby Jindal, a former Member of this House, and others and now my own governor have suggested they may not take that money. To not take that money means this recession lingers. To not take that money means the people that have been hurt the most suffer the most again.

It is wrong, and it reminds me of old, unrepentant, unreformed southern governors with interposition dripping off their lips who gave this, the South, a bad reputation because they didn't work with the Federal Government to make this a more perfect Union.

Mr. Chairman, Chairman Conyers has done a wonderful job bringing this bill to the floor with others. This is a bill that shouldn't be partisan, but the other side has tried to make it such. And obviously it's not because otherwise Jack Kemp wouldn't be wholeheartedly supporting this. Besides Jack Kemp, Nobel Prize winners in economics, Joseph Stiglitz and Paul Krugman, as well as George Soros, endorse it. In fact, this is something the American people need.

President Obama just the other night spoke about doing something worthwhile, words engraved above the Speaker's rostrum. This is something worthwhile we can do to help individuals stay in their homes, help communities, help local governments.

If we lose these people's homes to foreclosure, which otherwise we would, it's no cupcake ride into the bankruptcy court. There are strict rules about income and assets that allow a person to get in there. And the judges who are there, who might be decried by some, are judges that are appointed and sit as a decider between the borrowers and lenders for what's equitable and right. These people lose their homes and the neighborhoods' values will go down, home values will go down, tax revenues to local and State governments will go down, crime will go up. This is an effective way for neighborhood stabilizations and to keep families in their homes.

The fact is this law came out of a compromise in the Congress in 1978. And Justice Stevens might have been talking about that legislation, but it wasn't Justice Stevens' logic. And he talked about the flow of capital into the housing market. Well, there was too much flowing of capital into the housing market, and that's what's caused these foreclosures.

This bill will force modifications. People have to give 15 days' notice before they can go into bankruptcy, and hopefully banks will then have voluntary modifications, which they've refused to do up to this point. And remember, the key to this bill is FDIC insurance. And if we don't pass this bill, the banks and the community banks and the credit unions won't get $250,000 of FDIC insurance to protect the banks for what has been their profligate ways that have put us in this circumstance that we are in now in this economy and in this country.

But we need to support this legislation and see that we get the FDIC insurance for the right spot, and then we need to do something for our families and our neighborhoods.

Mr. Speaker, yesterday in Memphis, Tennessee, my hometown and the site of Tennessee 9, a great leader in our community passed away, a gentleman by the name of Alvin King.

Alvin King was 73 years old, and during his time in Memphis, he was a political leader. He was an African American gentleman. This is Black History Month. He was the third Memphian elected to the House of Representatives in Tennessee since reconstruction in 1868, and he served in the House of Representatives for 24 years, the third longest serving African American in the Tennessee House of Representatives.

I served with Representative King for 10 of those years when I was a senator and he was a very capable, well-liked and effective legislator.

He did something that is I guess embodied in our President, Barack Obama, showing that people can get beyond race. Alvin King was born in the civil rights era when it was important in his district that he was African American and that his district elect an African American.

As time went on, he saw the need for people to reach across and get votes from people, regardless of race. And he said in 1991 in a mayoral race when he supported a candidate other than the candidate I supported that black people will vote for white people and white people will vote for black people as long as race isn't the issue, and he supported a white candidate who was the incumbent mayor because he had worked with him as a State legislator, and that was the cause of his defeat in 1992. But he was early in the call for biracial voting.

When I ran for office the first time for this seat that I was successful in 2006, it wasn't particularly popular for African Americans to come out and support me openly. Many did or I wouldn't be here. But he was one of the first, and there wasn't an issue in his mind about race. It was about who could go the best job.

Alvin King was a leader. He leaves three sons and a daughter, a daughter, Esperanza, who he loved as well as his three sons, but who serves as an intern in my office and was the apple of his eye; his sons Alvin, Samuel and Ashley, and his wife, Rosalva, who he dearly loved and will miss him dearly, as will I and the City of Memphis.

Mr. Speaker, I rise to honor the life, achievements and contributions of Paul Leonard Newman--a man whose legacy remains in his films and philanthropy.

I, like, I think, every other American am a longtime admirer of Paul Newman's, and I wanted to honor him last year in Congress when he passed, but we were in the process of adjourning, and time didn't make it possible.

In 1985, while a Tennessee State Senator, I sponsored a similar resolution because he had just started his work with Newman's Own, and his philanthropy was starting to spark the Nation. He responded when I sent him a copy of the resolution with a very nice note, signed by Paul Newman, with the return address simply being ``Paul Newman.'' The understated response was typical of a man who was so understated.

Sunday night at the Academy Awards, in their tribute to artists who had passed away in the previous year, we were reminded of this gentleman when he was shown on the screen and received the greatest applause from his cohorts--members of the academy. Newman's daughter described him as a rare symbol of selfless humanity.

Paul Newman was inspirational. His acting career crossed generations. I remember my mother and father enjoying him much when I was a child, and it spanned some 50 years.

In 1986, he won two awards from the Academy--one for best actor, and the other was an honorary Oscar, in part, for his personal integrity and dedication to his craft, but then in 1994, he was awarded a third-- the Jean Hersholt Humanitarian Award for his philanthropic work. Only Frank Sinatra and Paul Newman have so been honored in history.

Newman's astonishing career took a major leap in 1982 when he and his pal and buddy, the noted writer A.E. Hotchner, founded Newman's Own food company. With that change came much moneys for charity and a new salad dressing for me and for many Americans, Mr. Speaker, and new spaghetti sauce and new popcorn--Paul Newman's Own.

They established a policy that all proceeds from Newman's Own products would be donated to charities, all of the profits through Newman's Own Foundation. That has resulted in over $250 million already going to charities around the world.

In the fall of 1988, he opened his first Hole in the Wall Camp in Connecticut for children with serious medical conditions, conditions ranging from cancer to HIV/AIDS, to hemophilia and sickle cell anemia. Over the years that camp has gone worldwide. It has gone to Africa, Asia and the Middle East--seeing children who have devastating illnesses and giving them an opportunity for a summer of enjoyment and laughter. Newman used to visit these camps just to take a look. The kids did not know who he was, but he got a great feeling from worthwhile projects by just watching these young people, and he saw how much they enjoyed the opportunity to have recreation. He served over 135,000 young people over the years.

In his charitable work, he has invested his own time in choosing the charities which go from environmental to educational to the arts, and those charities have gone all over the world. He used his fame to give away much of his fortune. While we have had philanthropic Americans like Melinda and Bill Gates and Ted Turner and in my city Danny Thomas, who came and did so much for St. Jude, I don't think anybody has given such a percentage of their fortune and continues to do so as Paul Newman.

He was one of the founders of the committee encouraging corporate philanthropy--a membership organization of CEOs and corporate chairpersons committed to raising the level of quality of global corporate philanthropy. The committee leads the business community in developing sustainable and strategic community partnerships through philanthropy.

In these times, Mr. Speaker, more people need to assume personal responsibility and contribute to those who are suffering. Paul Newman continues to do so through his charities.

At the end of the Oscars on that tribute to those who passed, Paul Newman was shown on the screen as Chance Wayne in ``Sweet Bird of Youth,'' and he was quoted as saying, ``The biggest difference between people is not between the rich and the poor, the good and the evil. The biggest difference between people is between those who have had the pleasure of love and those who haven't.''

These words were not Paul Newman's. They were the writer's, but they were Paul Newman's life. They were his life--his 50-years of marriage to Joanne Woodward and the love he had for her and for his children. He was not your typical Hollywood star, and it was also his love for people in his charitable work.

I'd like to close by using Newman's own tradition and spirit: ``Shameless exploitation in pursuit of the common good.''

Mr. Speaker, I urge everyone to go to Newmansown.com, look at Paul Newman, think about Paul Newman, and today and every day buy salad dressing, popcorn, spaghetti sauce, and other products of Paul Newman's and let his legacy live on and support the charities: Shameless exploitation in the pursuit of the common good.

Mr. Speaker, I want to thank the gentleman from Michigan (Mr. Peters) for the time.

It is with great honor that I am a Member of this House and stand today on this resolution that honors one of the great Members of this House, the Honorable John Dingell of Michigan.

As a freshman Member last year, I knew of Mr. Dingell's reputation-- which all of America should know--but I knew it from personal knowledge from a former staffer, T.J. Oden, a good friend of mine in Memphis who always referred to Mr. Dingell with great honor and great distinction and talked of stories of the past and I'd always heard of Mr. Dingell.

So when I came here, it was one of the great pleasures to meet him, and he treated me not as a freshman, not as a person who wasn't necessarily expected to win their re-election and somebody who would be here for a blip, but as a fellow Member and an equal and offered me advice and courtesies that you don't always see from a senior Member extended to a freshman. And I certainly didn't see them from every Member in this body.

But his term here in the House should be an example to young people all over this Nation who want to enter public service.

While I was a freshman in this House, I was not a freshman in the legislative process having served 24 years in the

State Senate in Tennessee. In my political career, I've seen many people who get into office and the first thing that it seems they want to do is move to a higher office. They take the position and they take votes that will extend them to a higher constituency, whether it's a Congressperson wanting to be a senator, or a State representative wanting to be a State senator, or somebody wanting to be a governor or a statewide officer or President or cabinet member. That's not the purpose, the reason why one should hold public office and be a Member of this House of Representatives.

This is a position that is worthy of dedication unto itself and to this Chamber, as Mr. Dingell has and his father has served for over three-quarters of a century. He has dedicated himself to this House and to his district and to the issues of importance and not to the advancement of John Dingell as Senator, Secretary, Governor, or President.

It is that resoluteness and that purpose that I think holds itself out as an example to young people who enter office is to enter an office and to do good in that office and know that that office, when you take an oath, is what you're sworn to uphold and the duty that you should stand to and not to seek self-promotion constantly.

Mr. Dingell has done that, and that's part of what this record of service shows: a dedication to this House and his district and to the purpose of which he was elected.

In Washington, I have experienced a little over 2 years as a Member of this House, and I have seen people in this community who revere Mr. Dingell and his bride.

And in law when a person's reputation and character is put on display for a jury, it is the reputation as they're known throughout the community. And in this community of Washington, there are no two people who are thought of more highly and more revered for their charitable works and their friendship than John Dingell and his lovely bride, Debbie.

So it's with those issues, the purpose for which he was elected in which he served for this House and for this country. And when he closed his remarks yesterday in the great Rotunda at a celebration honoring him, he closed by saying, ``God bless the United States of America.'' I think it was perfect for Mr. Dingell because he loves this country, and that's why he served so long and so well.

So I join everybody and ask you to join in voting for this resolution.

Mr. Speaker, I move to suspend the rules and agree to the resolution (H. Res. 129) recognizing the historical significance of the Merced Assembly Center to the Nation and the importance of establishing an appropriate memorial at that site to serve as a place for remembering the hardships endured by Japanese-Americans, so that the United States remains vigilant in protecting our Nation's core values of equality, due process of law, justice, and fundamental fairness.

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

I yield myself such time as I may consume.

Born of war hysteria and racial prejudice, Executive Order 9066, issued 2 months after the United States entered World War II, would come to represent a stain on America's reputation.

Pursuant to Executive Order 9066, 120,000 Japanese Americans were ordered to leave behind their entire lives, and bring only their bare necessities to an unknown place with an unknown future. They spent 3 long years in internment camps in Arizona, Northern and Central California, Wyoming, Utah, Colorado, Arizona, and Arkansas. And when the war ended and they attempted to return home, many found their houses looted. Others lost their homes to foreclosure in their absence, and many could not find jobs to feed and shelter their families.

One of those wrongly interned was our own Representative Mike Honda from California. He was a young boy when he and his family were ordered to report to the Merced Assembly Center in California, along with close to 5,000 other Japanese Americans. He and his family were sent from Merced to internment in Colorado.

Sadly, it took our government almost 50 years to formally apologize for this mistake and offer compensation to those who suffered through internment.

On August 10, 1988, the Civil Liberties Act was signed into law, offering an official apology for internment and authorizing payments of $20,000 to each person wrongfully interned.

Although there is hardly anything that can replace 3 years of freedom wrongfully lost to internment, an official apology and some compensation provided solace to those who had suffered and helped heal a Nation stained by this terrible mistake during World War II.

It is extremely important that this Nation never forget this dark chapter in American history so that it is never repeated. As part of that effort of remembrance, a memorial to that dark chapter is being placed at the Merced Center later this month. So today, with this resolution introduced by Representative Dennis Cardoza of California, we recognize the historical significance of the Merced Assembly Center to the United States, and the importance of that memorial being placed there as a pledge to national vigilance in protecting our core values of equality, due process of law, justice, and fundamental fairness. I strongly urge the House to support this resolution.

I reserve the balance of my time.

Mr. Speaker, I yield as much time as the gentleman from California (Mr. Cardoza) may consume.

Mr. Speaker, we don't have any further speakers, and I would like to know if the minority has any speakers.

Then we reserve the balance of our time, and we will return to the subject matter at hand.

I would like to inquire if the minority has any additional speakers.

With the understanding that they don't have to be germane, but with my personal concern because I think this is a solemn moment honoring Japanese Americans interned during World War II and should be respected as such, I yield to the minority to continue.

I reserve my time to speak on this important resolution that recognizes a failing of our country and the fact that we apologized and we will find times to reflect on that error to the Japanese Americans and other minorities, and that this respectful moment should conclude with my remarks.

I reserve the balance of my time.

Mr. Speaker, once again I inquire whether the minority has any more time or if they are going to yield.

I will reserve my time.

Mr. Speaker, first I would like to thank the honorable gentleman from Texas for his remarks and the bringing back to the purpose of this resolution and why we're here now.

It is, I understand, the rules of the House, and when one is in the minority, one takes the opportunity to have time on this floor to speak to the American people when they can. Although we just honored Mr. Dingell, and one of the things we honored Mr. Dingell for was his appropriateness and order and appreciation for the House and germaneness.

Now, I was a history major, Mr. Speaker, and maybe because of that I've got a certain perspective of these type of resolutions. I'm also Jewish, and being a minority, I've known discrimination in my life, and known discrimination against Jewish people all over this globe. And so, because this particular resolution recognizes a failing of our country in our efforts to become a more perfect union, and talks about the errors of the past in interning what shouldn't have to be hyphenated people, Japanese Americans, interning Americans in work camps and prison camps for 3 years, including one of our very own members, the Honorable Mike Honda. I find it a moment that should be dealt with with solemnity, and we should reflect on the errors of the past and understand that we can become a more perfect union if we remember those times and correct those injustices. This Congress did that in 1988, and now, in Merced, California, and this resolution talks about that, they are placing a marker to remind all Americans of the injustices that were done in World War II to Japanese Americans.

This Congress, in the 110th Congress, we recognized for the first time in our country's history, the errors of our ways in Jim Crow and slavery laws in this country and what we did to African Americans. There have been several incidents, with African Americans, with Japanese Americans, with American Indians, where this country has done wrong, but we've tried to correct those ways with apologies and with memorials.

It is appropriate that this resolution by Mr. Cardoza be brought and that it be considered and that it be passed. I am honored to speak in favor of it and ask that all Members vote in favor of it.

I know the other side did not mean to disrespect Japanese Americans or others who have been dishonored by errors in our country's past or, in fact, our country for taking such a noble step as to apologize, which a great country does, and the rules permit what they did. So I know they did not intend to do that, but I, as a history major and as a minority, feel somewhat concerned that Japanese Americans could feel that way.

Mr. Speaker, I am proud that this Congress in 1988 apologized. I am proud that this Congress apologized last year to African Americans. In order to become a more perfect union, we have to see our wrongs and try to correct them. The city of Merced, California, at the Merced Assembly Center, is trying to do that. They will be placing a marker, which Mr. Cardoza, I am sure, will participate in and in this House of Representatives resolution which recognizes the significance of that with an appropriate marker to remember the hardships endured by Japanese Americans so that United States, the country and its citizens, remain vigilant in protecting our Nation's core values of equality, due process of law, justice, fundamental fairness, and respect for the process and for people.

I would like to ask that all Members vote in favor of H. Res. 129.

Mr. HONDA. Mr. Speaker, I rise today to express my support for H. Res. 129, a resolution which recognizes the historical significance of the Merced Assembly Center.

I want to thank my friend, Congressman Dennis Cardoza, for taking the initiative to introduce this resolution. The Merced Assembly Center is a meaningful piece of our nation's history, and it strikes a very personal chord with me. I am grateful and honored that Congressman Cardoza asked to include me in this resolution.

Mr. Speaker, February 19th, known as the Day of Remembrance, marks the day in 1942 that President Franklin D. Roosevelt signed Executive Order 9066, which forced approximately 120,000 Japanese Americans into holding centers and subsequently internment camps. As February 19th approaches and we recognize the Day of Remembrance, we are again reminded of the lessons learned from this experience.

Internment changed the paths of many lives. Families were separated, relocated in some cases across the country, and property and businesses were lost. As some of my colleagues know, when I was a young child, my family was uprooted from California and I spent time at the Merced Assembly Center before moving to an internment camp in Amache, Colorado. This experience undoubtedly shaped my life and my career, as I have fought arduously to protect civil liberties in our nation, and make sure that no community experiences the discrimination and violation of rights that Japanese Americans did during World War II.

During my time in the California State Assembly, I authored AB1915, the World War II Internment of Japanese Americans: California Civil Liberties Public Education Act, which became California public law in 1999. This legislation provides competitive grants for public educational activities and the development of educational materials to ensure that the events surrounding internment will be remembered and taught.

As a former teacher, I place a high value on education in order to understand the mistakes our Government has made, and how we can learn from them. I firmly believe that through education, our Nation will improve itself and avoid making the same mistake twice.

The Merced Assembly Center Commemorative Committee is currently charged with establishing a memorial to recognize the historic tragedy that took place at the Merced Assembly Center. This Memorial, which will be unveiled on February 21, 2009, will also serve to educate our Nation that we are committed to healing historical wounds and replacing prejudice and fear with the American values of equality and justice.

Once again, Mr. Speaker, I commend my friend, Congressman Cardoza, for his leadership on this resolution, for personally reaching out to me, and for rightfully recognizing the significance of the significance of the Merced Assembly Center.

I yield back the balance of my time.

Mr. Speaker, I am a life member of the NAACP. In my lifetime, in the city of Memphis, there have been all kinds of activists involved in civil rights work or in political work, and the people who have always stood out as the champions have been the members of the NAACP. They have been the people who have been involved in looking out for human rights, voting rights, and civil rights for people, regardless of their color, because it was the right thing to do and not because of any political advantage to themselves.

For those particular individuals of which Maxine Vasco Smith, Russell Sugarman, A.W. Willis, Jesse Turner, and others have been leaders, I commend them and thank them for their efforts before me.

This is the 100th anniversary of the NAACP. In the African American community, there are only two other organizations that are renowned and that have celebrated 100 years of existence. The others are the Alphas, a distinguished fraternity; Alpha Phi Alpha; and the AKA sorority, Alpha Kappa Alpha. Each has celebrated its 100th anniversaries most recently.

The NAACP today is headed up by Julian Bond, one of the heroes of the Civil Rights Movement. He is a distinguished gentleman who has done a phenomenal job for 50 years in leading people toward the rights of free conscience as well as civil rights and other rights. Those are the types of activities that the NAACP has been involved in.

It was started 100 years ago by a biracial group of people who thought it was time that America lived up to its promise. It had been approximately 40-some-odd years since the end of the Civil War, and yet we still had Jim Crow laws. This country had not advanced greatly from the time of the Civil War. We had the period of reconstruction, and then after that there was a step back in civil rights. These people decided there should be a change, and they have worked assiduously to see that that happens. They

are often known or thought about with Thurgood Marshall and the work done for the Brown versus Board of Education in 1954 in bringing about that landmark decision. The NAACP Legal Defense Fund, which does so much, is a separate arm from the NAACP, but it was founded by it, and their activities in the courts have yielded great benefits to Americans throughout the years.

When it comes to hate crimes, the NAACP has been on the front lines. With voting rights, they're on the front lines. So those leaders, such as Dr. Martin Luther King, Coretta Scott King, Rosa Parks, Medgar Evers, Myrlie Evers-Williams, Benjamin Hooks from my hometown of Memphis, Jesse Turner, Jr., from my hometown of Memphis, who served as national treasurer of the late Jesse Turner, Sr., and others have fought the good fight for the NAACP, and they continue to do so as the moral conscience of this Congress in lobbying for legislation that this Congress needs to pass.

They published a report card on the work of this Congress, and it does hold people up to account for the works that they have done in these years. They helped me in passing a policy for slavery in Jim Crow. I appreciate their work. I am proud, and I ask my colleagues to join with me in voting for the resolution.

I want to thank the gentleman from Georgia for yielding the time, and the gentlelady, Ms. Waters from California, for bringing this important legislation.

My father had Alzheimer's and my mother has some form of dementia now. My father passed away at age 80, and there was a day when he disappeared from the nursing home and they couldn't find him. It took a couple of hours. They did find him walking in the neighborhood. He had no idea where he was going. I was amazed that he was not hurt or hit by a car or anything. He obviously had no idea where he was going.

This type of program is so prescient because there are so many people who have been talked about who are either suffering from this illness or will be suffering from this illness, and the needs of the police departments to identify them and to have an opportunity to maintain contact and save them before something bad happens to them.

There was a lady in Memphis named Elizabeth Ferguson. She was 86 years old. In May 2008 she went missing. She suffered from dementia. She drove away from her Memphis home after heading to a doctor's appointment. Her daughter went around and posted signs and tried to find her mother. Seven months later, she was found in a car, 24 miles away from her house. She had died in the elements. Her remains were near the car. She wandered out in some vacant fields.

So this bill is very important to people's lives. I commend Congresswoman Waters for bringing it. It's the type of activity that sometimes people don't recognize that Congress does to help people in their everyday lives. I thank you for bringing this proposal and for the time offered me.

Madam Speaker, I rise to request that my name be removed as a cosponsor of H.R. 557.

Mr. Speaker, I ask unanimous consent that when the House adjourns on Monday next, it adjourn to meet at 12:30 p.m. on Tuesday, February 3, for morning-hour debate.

Mr. Speaker, I ask unanimous consent that when the House adjourns today on a motion offered pursuant to this order, it adjourn to meet at 9:00 a.m. on Friday, January 30, 2009, unless it sooner has received a message from the Senate transmitting its concurrence in House Concurrent Resolution 26, in which case the House shall stand adjourned pursuant to that concurrent resolution.

Mr. Speaker, today's vote and today's debate reminded me much of when I was 16 years old and my father took me to teach me how to drive a car. It was very simple. He said, ``When you want to go forward, son, you do like politics and you put the `D' on the transmission and you go into drive, you go forward. And if you want to go in reverse you go to `R' and you go backwards.'' And it's the same thing in politics, and the debate today was the same. If you want to go forward, you go with the Democrats. If you want to go backwards, you go with the Republicans.

Today, Mr. Speaker, America went forward.

In the Tuesday newspapers and the Tuesday news, we had the distressing report that corporate giants, major corporations, had slashed over 70,000 jobs in America. This type of action, where 7,000 people lost their jobs at American Express and Home Depot--up to 53,000 people at Citigroup lost their jobs over the last few years--have caused great distress to many citizens. We've got more unemployed, going over 7 percent now.

But these job cuts aren't absolutely necessary to be made. Employment is disappearing from every job sector, from home building to mortgages, finance to banking, manufacturing to retail. The toll on the economy and on individuals has substantially worsened. And as President Obama stated in his inaugural address, our economy is badly weakened, the challenges we face are real, and they will not be met easily or in a short span of time.

We took action today, and we will take additional action to try to help the people who are unemployed with additional unemployment compensation and health care and whatever other benefits we can help with.

But a particular industry in my community of Memphis, Tennessee, the lead corporate citizen, Federal Express, has set an example that I wish the other corporate leaders that have cut so many jobs recently and have cuts in the past would follow. Fred Smith of Federal Express chose not to hurt people, but to take the cut as a group. They chose to have benefits and pay cuts rather than additional layoffs. With 14,000 salaried employees in Memphis and 36,000 worldwide, they decided each of these people would see a 5 percent pay cut.

They could have easily just cut 5 percent off the payroll, 5 percent of the people. But instead they kept all of those employees and had them all share the burden of a 5 percent pay cut.

The executives of Federal Express will take a pay cut of 7.5 percent. And the president, chairman, and CEO, Frederick W. Smith, will take a 20 percent cut in pay.

This is the type of leadership that I wish other corporations would look at, follow, and emulate, and spare their employees the loss of a job and instead share it throughout the corporate ranks.

This follows the $1 billion in cost reductions already in place at Federal Express, from executive bonus suspensions to personnel reductions at FedEx Freight and FedEx Office. In total, the company is cutting costs by approximately $800 million over the next 18 months without having to resort to layoffs.

I want to commend FedEx Chairman and CEO Frederick W. Smith for seeking other cost-cutting alternatives first and finding ways to help hardworking Memphis and other citizens around the world who work for FedEx keep their jobs. One can see easily why FedEx has been a leader in business creativity for over 30 years, has made the Fortune Magazine list of ``100 Best Companies to Work For'' in 11 of the past 12.

Fred Smith and Federal Express are leaders in corporate America. They're leaders in my community. And I hope that corporate America will look to them for their leadership. We cannot afford to have increasing unemployment rates, and as we have taken action today, corporate America should as well. And Fred Smith and Federal Express set the lead.

Mr. Speaker, as the economic recession worsens, millions of Americans are in financial trouble and looking for some immediate assistance, but help is on the way. Tomorrow this House will vote on the Economic Recovery and Reinvestment Act that will provide 3 to 4 million jobs here in America.

Those hit hardest by the economic crisis are the ones we need to help first, and we are doing that by extending unemployment benefits to people in America, millions who are still looking for jobs. It is difficult to find a job when thousands are being cut. Yesterday a record number of jobs were cut.

Economists say one of the best ways to stimulate the economy is to put the money in the hands of people who will spend it immediately, spend it on necessities, and that's people who are out of work. That's something we are going to do.

It's also critical to give those people health insurance, and we will provide the States with money so that they can continue to provide Medicaid to those people who need that assistance. There are nearly 7 million unemployed Americans who need health insurance through COBRA. That will also be extended.

Mr. Speaker, this economic recession has hurt millions. This Congress will respond and provide assistance.