Floor Statements

Mr. Speaker, I move to suspend the rules and pass the bill (H.R. 4651) to designate the facility of the United States Postal Service located at 601 West Baker Road in Baytown, Texas, as the ``Specialist Keith Erin Grace, Jr. Memorial Post Office''.

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

Mr. Speaker, I yield such time as he may consume to the gentleman from Texas (Mr. Stockman).

Mr. Speaker, I urge that all Members support H.R. 4651.

I yield back the balance of my time.

Mr. Speaker, I rise today to observe 40 years passing since the division of the island of Cyprus, and to again encourage a final agreement to bring peace and prosperity to all Cypriots.

Every year, many of my colleagues call for the peaceful reunification of Cyprus citing the 1974 military action by Turkey; however, few note what precipitated that act.

Eleven years prior, in 1963, the Partnership Republic of Cyprus crumbled due to a Greek-backed coup and its ensuing violence. And, in 1974, Greek-backed military rules staged another coup in an effort to unify Cyprus and Greece, at the expense of the rights of Turkish Cypriots.

In addition to the 40th anniversary of Cyprus' division, I would like to note that this year also marks the 10th anniversary of the Annan Plan, where Turkish Cypriots showed their good faith to the international community and a desire to move forward to a bi-zonal, bi- communal federation by voting overwhelmingly for the plan. In the years of pessimism that has followed, Cypriots from both communities have maintained the hope that a comprehensive solution can be achieved. And, recent discussions between both parties has given the citizens--and me--renewed hope.

In this air of cautious optimism, I call upon both Cyprus and Greece to redouble their efforts to secure a final agreement. I also want to call on the Administration to do everything within its power to encourage and support this process. I urge my colleagues, who I know wish nothing but the best for the island's peoples, to focus on the need to resolve a problem that has gone on for far too long, for the benefit of all Cypriots.

Mr. Speaker, I rise today to congratulate the Lancaster Festival on its 30th Anniversary.

The Lancaster Festival has the mission of celebrating the artistic creativity of all cultures and serves as a foundation for year-round community efforts to promote participation in the arts. The festival is committed to encouraging the growth of the Lancaster Festival Orchestra as the cornerstone of classical music programming, as well as supporting and providing visibility for local artists, being all- inclusive in the appeal to the community, and being an advocate of arts education for children.

On August 5, 1984, The Columbus Symphony Orchestra played its first concert held at Ohio University-Lancaster's outdoor auditorium. The Lancaster Festival was first held in 1985, lasting eight days and including multiple concerts from The Columbus Symphony Orchestra and a full week of community arts and music events. By 1987, The Columbus Symphony Orchestra withdrew from the festival and Maestro Gary Sheldon was hired to create the Lancaster Festival Orchestra.

Today, the Lancaster Festival has gained increased recognition throughout the state for its excellence in promoting the arts. Over the years, the festival has expanded and today it lasts 10 days, and includes a wide variety of art and music events, including two feature performances by major music artists and the orchestra. Additionally, Maestro Gary Sheldon has continued to serve as the Artistic Director for the festival and as the Conductor of the Lancaster Festival Orchestra.

Throughout its 30-year history, the Lancaster Festival has been unwavering in the promotion of arts in our community. I would like to thank all those involved with the festival for their dedication, as well as offer my congratulations on reaching the 30th Anniversary milestone.

Mr. Speaker, I ask unanimous consent that the proceedings during the former Members program be printed in the Congressional Record and that all Members and former Members who spoke during the proceedings have the privilege of revising and extending their remarks.

Chairman Crenshaw, I rise today to address a proposed amendment I was going to offer related to the Securities and Exchange Commission's Municipalities Continuing Disclosure Cooperation Initiative, or the MCDC. This is a program that was announced by the Securities and Exchange Commission in March, which is related to the issuance of municipal securities.

Under the MCDC, the SEC is asking municipal bond issuers and underwriters to self-report potential technical inconsistencies associated with the financial information recording practices of State and local governments.

On its face, this seems to be reasonable. However, the States and localities that the SEC is trying to protect do not support this program and feel it is very punitive.

In fact, the Government Finance Officers Association, or GFOA, which represents the Nation's State and local government finance directors, supports my proposed amendment because the MCDC initiative is both costly and unreliable for government issuers, taxpayers, and underwriters. In addition, the proposal changed rules midstream, applying one standard when the regulators' reporting apparatus was not even operable.

I appreciate the chairman's time and his willingness to agree to work with me and the Financial Services Committee to find a resolution to this problem should the SEC not choose to curtail this program on their own. We want to make sure it is fair and equitable to our States and local municipalities.

Mr. Speaker, I move that the House do now adjourn.

The motion was agreed to; accordingly (at 11 o'clock and 9 minutes p.m.), the House adjourned until tomorrow, Friday, June 20, 2014, at 9 a.m.

Mr. Speaker, I rise today to recognize Dr. Joseph A. Alluto for his service as the interim president of The Ohio State University.

Dr. Alluto has served as Ohio State's interim president since July 1, 2013. Prior to this position, Dr. Alluto served as Ohio State's chief executive officer, executive vice president, provost, dean of the Max M. Fisher College of Business, and John W. Berry, Sr. Chair in Business. He also served as the executive dean for the professional colleges at Ohio State where he coordinated the activities of the Colleges of Engineering; Food, Agricultural and Environmental Sciences; Education and Human Ecology; Law, and Social Work and represented the interests of those colleges in university-wide decision-making bodies.

Prior to his time at Ohio State, Dr. Alluto was the Clarence S. Marsh Professor of Management at the State University of New York at Buffalo, focusing his research on Sino-U.S. joint ventures and the relationships between improvement processes and corporate performance. He also served as dean of the SUNY-Buffalo School of Management for 14 years and as the first international dean for the Dalian University School of Business.

Dr. Alluto is a leading authority on managerial behavior, having coauthored a book on research methods in organizational research and has more than 65 articles in academic journals. He has also been a visible and active advocate for advanced management education and research in China. He pioneered the first Sino-U.S. jointly funded MBA program offered in the People's Republic of China in 1984 and was appointed as advisor to the First Session of Council for the Dalian Behavioral Sciences Association.

Throughout his career, Dr. Alluto has been unwavering in his dedication to education and stayed true to his mission of achieving true eminence at Ohio State. I would like to thank him for his service and wish him well as he returns to the faculty of the Fisher College of Business at The Ohio State University.

Mr. Speaker, I thank the gentleman from North Carolina for his help and the gentleman from Vermont for his support of H.R. 1391. It is a bill that will rename the post office in London, Ohio, the London Fallen Veterans Memorial Post Office.

This has been an interesting journey. It started a few years ago when I found out about the tragic death of Lance Corporal Joshua McDaniels who had served in the Marines, and we started a bill that would have named the post office after him. Then I heard from some of our Vietnam veterans--17 were killed from London High School in the Vietnam war-- and they made the point very strongly and loudly that nothing had ever been named for any of them. While we can never go back and fix the inappropriate way that many of our Vietnam veterans were treated, I thought it was important to move forward in a way that honored their sacrifice as well as Joshua McDaniels' sacrifice and many other individuals from London and Madison County.

Throughout history, citizens from London and Madison County have fought bravely to defend our Nation and defend our freedoms. Unfortunately, many of them have made the ultimate sacrifice, and I would like to read a few of the names here today of the most recent casualties in the wars we are in in Afghanistan and Iraq, or have been in.

First, of course, Marine Lance Corporal Joshua McDaniels; second, Army Corporal Kevin Prince; Army Specialist Jason Lucas; Army Specialist Robert Swaney; and Army Chief Warrant Officer Matthew Ruffner. These are just the most recent members from that community to pay the ultimate sacrifice for our freedoms.

This bill was a small step to honor the memory of all those in Madison County who have made the ultimate sacrifice, our fallen heroes, including the 17 who paid the ultimate sacrifice in the Vietnam war.

Again, while none of us can go back and correct the way that our Vietnam veterans have been treated, I think it is, today, an opportunity for us to recognize those 17 as well as all past and future fallen heroes who have paid the ultimate sacrifice by renaming the London Post Office the Fallen Veterans Memorial Post Office.

I want to thank my constituent Mary Henry who came up with the idea for this name. I want to make sure that we always remember the sacrifices of our brave men and women. I think this post office in London, Ohio, can stand as a tribute to all of our past fallen veterans and the future veterans who will pay the ultimate sacrifice to preserve our freedoms.

Thank you again to the gentleman from North Carolina and the gentleman from Vermont. I want to thank Chairman Issa as well for allowing this bill to come to the floor and his support.

I would urge all of my colleagues to vote ``yes'' on H.R. 1391 to rename the London Post Office the London Fallen Veterans Memorial Post Office.

Mr. Speaker, 2 weeks ago, Dr. Mehdi Ali Qamar was gunned down and killed in front of his two-year-old son and his wife in Pakistan.

He was from Pickerington, Ohio, and was a cardiologist and humanitarian who was volunteering his time to care for folks at the Tahir Heart Institute in Pakistan.

He was also an Ahmadi Muslim, a peaceful reformist movement within Islam, which opposes jihad and radical Islam. I offer my condolences to his family and his loved ones. Sadly, he may have been targeted because he was an Ahmadi Muslim.

Today, I am calling on the Government of Pakistan to officially condemn this act and to seek an investigation to bring his murderers to justice. I am also calling on the State Department to institute a formal investigation looking into the killing of Dr. Qamar, as well as look into the increasing violence against Ahmadi Muslims in Pakistan.

I urge my colleagues to sign a letter to the U.S. State Department regarding these issues. It is important to bring Dr. Qamar's murderers to justice and ensure the Government of Pakistan protects its religious minorities.

Mr. Speaker, I ask unanimous consent that when the House adjourns today, it adjourn to meet at 1 p.m. on Tuesday, May 13, 2014.

Madam Speaker, I would thank the gentlelady from West Virginia for her support.

I rise in support of H.R. 3584, the Capital Access for Small Community Financial Institutions Act. This bill simply makes a statutory change that would allow nonfederally insured credit unions the right to apply for membership with the Federal home loan banks. It does not guarantee that they would receive membership. They would have to go through the membership application like everyone else. Similar legislation passed the House in 2006, with a bipartisan vote of 415 for, none against.

Purchasing a home is part of the American Dream, and this bill will help these small credit unions be able to make more mortgage loans as they use the Federal Home Loan Bank for liquidity and help more people live the American Dream. This bill would help those credit unions be able to have the liquidity that they don't have today.

The Federal Home Loan Bank, which was established in 1932, has been an important part of credit and liquidity for mortgage lending for the past 80 years for most Main Street institutions. Unfortunately, 132 small credit unions don't have that support right now. While most large and small institutions who are members of the Federal Home Loan Bank are able to use it every day for liquidity and to serve their customers, these 132 small credit unions in nine States with assets that total about $11 billion are left out because of a glitch in the law.

There will not be any additional risk to the Federal Home Loan Banks as a result of this. No more than $4 billion would be pledged, probably, as a result of this. So there is no real concentration risk.

I do want to thank Mr. Meeks from New York for his amendments that helped strengthen the bill. And while these credit unions don't have, I think, much risk to the institution, I think Mr. Meeks' amendments will ensure that the Federal Home Loan Bank is never put at risk by the authorizing language in this legislation.

You know, credit unions didn't have Federal insurance until the 1970s, and many small credit unions have continued to have private insurance and remain State-regulated. Those are the institutions we are talking about today, and there is precedent for institutions like them to join the Federal Home Loan Bank. So I believe that it is appropriate to allow them to not be discriminated against and allow them to use the Federal Home Loan Bank and ensure that they can serve their customers the same way other Main Street banks and credit unions can.

Again, this bill does not guarantee that any institution will become a member of the Federal Home Loan Bank; it simply gives them the ability to apply.

I want to thank Mrs. Beatty from Columbus, Ohio, and Ranking Member Waters for their support in the Financial Services Committee. I want to thank Mrs. Capito and Mr. Meeks for working with me on this bill.

As you heard, this bill passed the Financial Services Committee by a vote of 55-0. I would ask my colleagues to support this legislation and correct an oversight that doesn't allow these institutions to use the Federal Home Loan Bank and doesn't allow many of their customers to live the American Dream. So hopefully we can correct that today by supporting this.

Mr. Chairman, I move to strike the last word.

Mr. Chairman, I rise in support of the Rothfus amendment, of which I am a cosponsor.

I want to thank Representative Rothfus for his leadership on this issue. I also want to recognize the chairman of the Veterans' Affairs Committee for his leadership on legislation to ensure that no member of the Senior Executive Service can abuse their power and, in fact, that they will be held accountable and promoted and fired based on performance.

Unfortunately, our Veterans Affairs has failed to take appropriate action to increase transparency and hold Senior Executive Service employees accountable for their actions and their performance. Recent critical reports by the VA inspector general and the GAO have shown that some VA executives have continued to receive praise in their performance reviews and collected generous cash bonuses up to $63,000. Let me be clear, though. Most VA employees are hardworking, dedicated public servants, but there are a few at the top who need to be held accountable.

The Veterans Affairs Department began the month of April proudly proclaiming success in reducing the stubborn backlog of disability claims, however, they improved that number by denying incomplete claims and creating a huge appeals backlog. The backlog is causing our veterans to be denied disability compensation and access to health care, and we shouldn't allow these executives to take bonuses for false success. The VA is clearly not fulfilling its commitment to our veterans.

This amendment is simple. It ensures that senior VA officials are held accountable for their performance and

cannot be rewarded for false performance.

In addition to our backlog problem, Congress passed in 2012 in the consolidated appropriations an amendment that required the VA to share prescription information with State Prescription Drug Monitoring Programs. As many of my colleagues know, our veteran population is facing a huge epidemic of opioid addiction, and it is leading to a high number of our veterans committing suicide and overdosing.

The VA finalized the rule in April, but it has not been fully implemented to share information with these Prescription Drug Monitoring Programs. We can't wait any longer for this program. Participation in Prescription Drug Monitoring Programs will ensure that our VA hospitals, civilian hospitals, and doctors no longer overprescribe opioids to our veterans. Not having this rule fully implemented and in use by our States is just another reason to prohibit performance benefits for our senior VA officials.

I urge all Members to support this amendment and the entire Milcon-VA Appropriations bill, and I yield back the balance of my time.

Mr. Speaker, I rise today to recognize White Castle, a family-owned hamburger chain based in my district, for being the creators of Time Magazine's ``Most Influential Burger of All Time.''

Since White Castle opened in 1921 in Wichita, Kansas, White Castle has revolutionized the fast food industry. White Castle's signature 5- holed square patty has skyrocketed the company's popularity, developed an almost-cult following of self-proclaimed `Cravers' and resulted in White Castle becoming the first hamburger chain to sell one billion hamburgers.

A little over a decade after its first store opened, White Castle moved its headquarters to Columbus, Ohio--where it has resided for the last 80 years. This trailblazing company has provided hundreds of jobs in the great state of Ohio, as well as in Ohio's 15th Congressional District.

Today, White Castle is more than a hamburger chain. White Castle is now an experience which people from across the country and across the world travel great distances to get their hands on.

I offer my congratulations to White Castle for their years of success and their designation as having the ``Most Influential Burger of All Time'' by Time Magazine. Ohio's 15th District, the Buckeye State and Cravers across the nation have loved the first billion sliders and look forward to one billion more.

Mr. Speaker, this week marks the 71st anniversary of a dramatic sacrifice made by four U.S. Army chaplains during World War II on February 3, 1943. On that day, the USS Dorchester was torpedoed by a German submarine, and it sunk. Out of that tragedy came the story of the four chaplains.

Four U.S. Army chaplains of different faiths--one rabbi, one Roman Catholic priest, one Methodist, and one Baptist minister, Clark Poling, who was born in Columbus, Ohio--came together on that day on the Dorchester. As the Dorchester began sinking, they began to calm the men and organized an orderly evacuation, but it quickly became clear that there weren't enough life jackets.

In a true display of heroism and bravery, the four chaplains removed their own life jackets and gave them to others. They helped as many men as they could on lifeboats, and then they linked arms, recited prayers, and sung hymns as the ship went down. These heroic actions must never be forgotten.

I would like to thank the Wilmington, Ohio, American Legion post and the many American Legion posts and VFW posts across the country that helped tell this story this week. We must never forget.

Mr. Speaker, I rise today to raise awareness of an ongoing humanitarian crisis in southern Russia, and call on the State Department to respond to that crisis.

In 2003, the United States State Department, responding to a humanitarian crisis against Ahiska Turks in southern Russia, designated Ahiska Turks as a special humanitarian concern for P-2 processing. As a result, between 2004 and 2007, roughly 12,000 Ahiska Turks arrived in the United States as refugees and settled in over 25 States, including a sizable community in my home State of Ohio.

Ahiska Turks, discriminated against, belittled and persecuted in Russia, are model citizens in the United States. In less than a decade, they have been able to fully integrate into American society. They have learned English, adapted to their new environment, educated their children and helped revitalize our neighborhoods.

They live the American Dream and strengthen American society by investing in their people and our cities. It is proven that this group is an asset to our community, as seen by the fact that over 50 percent of them are entrepreneurs and create jobs for others, including many Americans.

Ahiska Turks have shown that refugees can thrive and live the American Dream and help us grow our communities and our country. It is puzzling to me why the State Department abruptly ended this successful program.

There are roughly 80,000 Ahiska Turks who remain in southern Russia in difficult circumstances. The latest report by the European Commission Against Racism and Intolerance cites the adverse environment for human rights organizations to even monitor the discrimination being suffered against Ahiska Turks in southern Russia, and acknowledges that the situation is ``very bad.''

I call on the State Department today to restart the P-2 program and respond to this ongoing humanitarian crisis.

I urge my colleagues to contact the U.S. State Department to restart the P-2 program for Ahiska Turks in Russia. This is a bipartisan issue where Congress can stand up for human rights and stand up for a persecuted group.