Floor Statements

Mr. Chairman, I offer an amendment.

Mr. Chairman, H.R. 3132, the Children's Safety Act, is a good, commonsense bill. It seeks to protect our children from sex offenders and increase the tools for law enforcement and help defend the innocence of our children.

My amendment would strengthen this bill by adding an additional tool for our State and local child protection services and by eliminating the loophole in our local laws which allow child adjudicated abusers to find sanctuary by merely crossing a State's borders. This amendment is similar to legislation I have introduced in the House, H.R. 764, which has strong bipartisan support.

Child abuse and neglect is an issue that crosses jurisdictions. It is, therefore, vital for Federal and local officials to work together to ensure necessary laws and resources to fight child abusers are in place at every level of the government.

Mr. Chairman, I yield to the gentleman from Arizona (Mr. Hayworth).

I yield to the gentleman from Wisconsin.

That is an offer I will not refuse.

Offered By: Mrs. Kelly

Amendment No. 26: At the end of the bill add the following

(and amend the table of contents accordingly):

Mr. Speaker, I rise today in support of H.R. 5. Listen to why. For many years, the world has come to New York for medical care. But between 1998 and 2002, 70 percent of New York's neurosurgeons, 60 percent of the OB-GYNs in New York, 60 percent of New York's orthopedic surgeons, and 60 percent of the general surgeons in New York were sued.

Mr. Speaker, it is impossible that all of these physicians were bad doctors. We can all agree that there are some physicians that may be better than others, but it would be difficult to come to the consensus that more than half of the physicians in several vital practice areas have performed this poorly.

This is a problem. In New York, the average jury award increased from $1.7 million in 1994 to $6 million in 1999, which was an increase of 350 percent. New York physicians are now paying 34 to 50 percent more in 2005 for the same insurance coverage they had in 2002. This is in part due to an across-the-board average rate increase of 7 percent for the 2004-2005 policy year. In 2001, six of the top eight medical malpractice awards in the United States came from New York courts. In 2002, 7 of the top 10 jury verdicts in medical negligence cases were from New York courts. And in 2003, it was four of the top six.

The cost is not just to the doctors. It is a cost we all ultimately share. There are steps this Congress can take in solving the problem. The HEALTH Act is a step that is both reasonable and fair. It is reasonable because it calls for a cap on unquantifiable damages. State laws that otherwise cap damages at specific amounts, even at higher amounts than those provided in the HEALTH Act, would remain in effect. The act is fair when it allows for the full recovery of economic damages. In other words, when damages can be quantified, they are unlimited in the HEALTH Act.

The HEALTH Act is going to help solve the national crisis we are seeing in medical malpractice. Without this legislation, doctors will not just leave the area where they practice; they will leave the profession. I urge support of the HEALTH Act.

Today, I rise in support of H.R. 5--The HEALTH Act of 2005.

Between 1998 and 2002, the largest insurer of physicians in New York state had: 70 percent of its neurosurgeons sued, 60 percent of OB-GYNs were sued, 60 percent of orthopedic surgeons were sued, and 60 percent of general surgeons were sued.

Mr. Speaker, it is impossible that all of these physicians are bad doctors.

We can all agree that there are some physicians who may be better than others--but it would be difficult to come to the consensus that more than 50 percent of physicians in several vital practice areas have performed this poorly.

There is a problem.

Just in New York, the average jury award increased from $1.7 million in 1994 to $6 million in 1999--an increase of 350 percent.

New York physicians are now paying 34-50 percent more in 2005 for the same insurance coverage they had in 2002. This is in part due to an across the board average increase of 7 percent rate increase for the 2004-05 policy year.

In 2001, 6 of the top 8 medical malpractice awards came from New York courts.

In 2002, 7 of the top 10 jury verdicts in medical negligence cases were from New York courts. And in 2003, it was 4 of the top 6.

But, there are also steps that this Congress can take towards solving this problem.

We have learned today that the HEALTH Act is a step that is both reasonable and fair.

It's reasonable because it calls for a cap only on unquantifiable damages. State laws that otherwise cap damages at specific amounts, even at higher amounts than those provided in the HEALTH Act, would remain in effect under the HEALTH Act.

The Act is fair where it allows for full recovery of economic damages. In other words, when damages can be quantified, they are unlimited under the HEALTH Act.

The HEALTH Act will help solve the national crisis that we are seeing in medical malpractice liability insurance.

Without this legislation doctors will not just leave the area where they practice, they will leave the profession. Patients, who are the real victims in this crisis, will be left to suffer and die because there is no one to provide the care.

As a member of the Medical Malpractice Crisis Task Force, I ask my colleagues to recognize that there is a problem, and this legislation is one great step in the direction towards solving that problem.

Please support the HEALTH Act of 2005.

Mr. Speaker, I rise today to urge my colleagues to support the Small Business Health Fairness Act. We will vote on it later today.

We need to increase access and lower the cost of health insurance for small business owners, their employees, and their families.

I represent New York's Hudson Valley where small business owners and self-employed workers tell me time and time again that the toughest challenge they face is finding affordable health care coverage.

Seven out of 10 small businesses do not offer health insurance because they cannot afford the overwhelming costs on their own in the private market.

The Small Business Fairness Act would provide them with the lower costs they need by giving then the same group health insurance purchasing power already being enjoyed by unions and large corporations.

Small businesses on Main Street in towns like Warwick, Goshen, Wappinger, or Mount Kisco deserve the same health insurance advantages that the large firms have on Wall Street. Let us give our small businesses the option by passing this bill.

Studies show it will give 8 million currently uninsured small business workers the affordable access to health insurance they need. Please support America's small businesses and join me in voting for the Small Business Health Fairness Act.

Mr. Chairman, I rise in support of this amendment.

Combating terror finance is a nebulous, often difficult aspect of our fight against terrorism. But strength in this area is critical to our overall success in detecting, tracking and stopping terrorist activity.

We've made remarkable progress in this area in the last 4 years in developing and sharpening our tools for combating terror finance. But we still have more work to do.

That's why I created with a number of my colleagues the bipartisan Congressional Anti-Terrorist Financing Task Force, to bring focus on the multitude of policies, agencies and jurisdictions which have a bearing on our effort to combat terror finance.

Like the task force, this amendment offered by my colleague from Pennsylvania is representative of the continuing need for improvement.

It strengthens our ability to detect and disrupt the financial lifelines upon which terrorists rely. It sets out severe penalties for terror financiers and clarifies the authority of law enforcement to investigate and prosecute illicit financial transactions.

Importantly, this measure acknowledges the vulnerability of informal value transfer systems such as hawalas to terrorist finance and money laundering.

This amendment helps the fight against terrorist finance. I encourage my colleagues to support the amendment and the underlying bill.

Mr. Speaker, I rise today with utmost appreciation and sincerest admiration to honor the inspirational life of Mrs. Rose F. Pierce of Poughkeepsie, New York. She is survived by her adoring niece, Shirley and her husband, Richard Panessa of Poughkeepsie; two sisters, Lena Lewis of Syracuse and Gaspar Peschel of Sarasota, FL; and several other nieces, nephews, grandnieces and grandnephews.

After 88 years of a life complete with civic accomplishments, Mrs. Pierce's passing concludes a remarkable chapter of a life dedicated to volunteer service, while setting a commendable standard for all other leaders and volunteers to follow.

Mrs. Pierce is remembered by all in the Poughkeepsie and Hudson Valley community as a compassionate, considerate and unwavering in her commitment to others. She overcame adversity in life with a unique energy and spirit. Her distinguishing enthusiasm and vigor was ever apparent when she would dress as Betsy Ross and make presentations about our flag in local school districts.

Mrs. Pierce became known in the community for her commitment to those who made the greatest sacrifice by serving our country. She was a volunteer for many years at Castle Point VA Hospital in Dutchess County where she was recently received the United Way Points of Life award. She aided local veterans who where homebound, often driving them to the doctor or grocery shopping for them. Rose possessed an unwavering love for her country and humbly urged everyone to cherish and remember our veterans for the sacrifice they made to preserve our way of life.

Besides her commitment to veterans, Mrs. Pierce's service to her community came via volunteering, civic activities, and selfless acts of benevolence. She was a past President of the VFW Post 170 Ladies Auxiliary in Poughkeepsie and a life member of the Ladies Auxiliary of the Italian Center. Some of her other civic activities included involvement in the Naval Fleet reserve, A.A.R.P., Dutchess Garden Club, Our Lady of Mount Carmel Church, St. Rita's Society of Mount Carmel Church, and the Lions Club.

Mr. Speaker, extremist groups in Europe are providing financial support to the insurgents in Iraq, and they will be openly gathering later this year on Italian soil to continue their plotting.

Shortly after the commencement of Operation Iraqi Freedom, they began a fund-raising campaign, asking people to donate ``ten euros to the Iraq insurgency.'' The revolting image behind me, dramatizing a violent assault on a U.S. soldier, was taken from the Web site of a group actively supporting the 10-year-old campaign.

It seems to me it conveys accurately the murderous intentions behind this fund-raising initiative. When questioned as to whether the campaign would support terrorism in Iraq, a spokesman for the fund- raising effort said, ``We support the armed struggle in Iraq. Our money is to help them. It doesn't matter to us if they use it to buy weapons, Kalashnikovs, or medicines for the people.''

The group reportedly sent supplies to the Al Anbar province as recently as February of this year. Now they are notifying comrades of a conference this October in Rome to grow support for insurgents throughout the world.

My colleagues, we hold different opinions about our efforts in Iraq, but we should all stand together in fighting those who support the insurgents, killing Americans and innocent Iraqis.

Mr. Speaker, I rise today as a cosponsor of the Teacher Tax Relief Act authored by my good colleague and friend the gentleman from Michigan (Mr. Camp). I thank the gentleman for his leadership and strongly urge my colleagues to join us in cosponsoring this important effort to expand and make permanent the teacher tax deduction set to expire at the end of this year.

America's teachers are depending on Congress to quickly pass this bill into law, and we must answer their call. Day in and day out, our teachers in New York's Hudson Valley spend remarkable time, energy and, yes, money from their own pocket to develop innovative and successful ways to motivate their students to learn. They are spending hundreds of dollars from their own paychecks to buy classroom supplies and learning materials ranging from pens and pencils to computer software programs. When teachers take such great initiative in their teaching methods, they should not be taxed on the money they are putting back into our classrooms to help our children learn.

As a former teacher myself, I urge this House to quickly pass the Teacher Tax Relief Act. Let us show our teachers we are behind their efforts to improve our classrooms. Do not leave our teachers in limbo. Let us make sure our teacher tax deduction is permanently in place before our teachers start preparing for their new classes this fall.

Mr. Speaker, I rise today seeking support for H.R. 1167, which I introduced to enable Congress to better scrutinize laws and regulations imposed on America's small businesses.

In New York's Hudson Valley I represent small business owners who tell me time and again that unnecessary paperwork and unreasonable government regulations are the most severe problem they face at work each day.

Our Nation's small businesses create 7 out of 10 new jobs and are the primary engine of economic growth for our communities. However, the burden of regulatory compliance on these same small businesses is as much as 50 percent greater than it is for larger companies. It costs the average small business almost $7,000 per employee each year. Small businesses should be

able to use this money to hire new employees to better serve their customers. Instead, they lose it because they are complying with excessive regulation.

Mr. Speaker, it is time for this body to take a strong stand in support of our small businesses in the Hudson Valley and throughout the country. By passing my legislation, we can improve the transparency of regulatory decisions from our Federal agencies.

Congress and the GAO must fully evaluate unfair costs and impacts on small businesses before new rules are implemented. Please help our small businesses and keep regulations fair by cosponsoring H.R. 1167.

Mr. Chairman, I rise today to express concerns about the recent Department of Defense study, ``Domestic Dependent Elementary and Secondary Schools Transfer Study,'' that was released in February. It is called DDESS. It calls for significant changes to a number of the 58 elementary, middle and high schools on U.S. military installations that would, I believe, be viewed as a reduction in benefits for our military personnel. These are first-class schools, all 58 of which provide prekindergarten programs, special education programs, and maintain significantly higher student achievement in national test results.

My district is home to West Point, the U.S. Military Academy. The elementary school at the academy is the finest of its kind in the Department of Defense. During a recent study, it was ranked number one out of 55 in the entire Nation. The school maintains a number of advantages that simply cannot be duplicated, including the maintenance of a federally funded pre-K program, onsite provision for 95 percent of special education services, and minority achievement scores which meet or exceed national averages. Notwithstanding these factors, the DOD study recommended the students be transferred to the local school system. Similarly, seemingly unsupportable recommendations were made for other DOD schools.

Mr. Chairman, given this, I ask that the committee and Congress give careful consideration before allowing the Secretary of Defense to implement any recommendation of the DDESS transfer study to close any Department of Defense domestic dependent elementary or secondary school or to transfer any faculty or students of the Department of Defense domestic dependent elementary or secondary schools system to an entity of a State or local government.

I yield to the gentleman from California.

Mr. Speaker, I move to suspend the rules and pass the bill (H.R. 1224) to repeal the prohibition on the payment of interest on demand deposits, and for other purposes, as amended.

Mr. Speaker, I ask unanimous consent that all Members may have 5 legislative days within which to revise and extend their remarks and include extraneous material on H.R. 1224, as amended

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

Mr. Speaker, for the fifth time in three Congresses, we are here to pass legislation to bring our banking system into the 21st century. Five times this House has passed this legislation to help our small businesses, only for it to fall in the other body. We come to the floor once again with a strong hope that the enactment of this bill will finally be enacted into law this Congress.

The Business Checking Freedom Act provides important benefits for our local small businesses and our financial system alike. First, it repeals an outdated law prohibiting banks from paying interest on business checking accounts. In our 21st century economy, no American should be losing the option of making money on their assets simply because they own a small business, yet our small business owners across the country are losing potential interest income on a daily basis until the Business Checking Freedom Act becomes law.

This legislation will allow banks to better meet the needs of their small business customers while providing a necessary phase-in period to protect existing business relationships from a sudden change, and it clarifies the treatment of escrow accounts maintained for the purpose of completing the settlement of real estate transactions, and that is not changed by this bill.

H.R. 1224 also gives the Federal Reserve the opportunity to pay interest on reserves that banks keep within the Federal Reserve system. Consumers and banks will be rewarded for saving and investment by this bill. The Federal Reserve strongly supports this change and a related change on reserve requirements to better enable banks to operate safely and soundly.

H.R. 1224 will once again ensure that banks can best meet the needs of their customers while increasing the safety and soundness of our financial system. I urge all Members to join with me in passing this important bipartisan legislation.

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

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

I simply want to say that this bill is a bill that will encourage savings. It will also encourage the banks to keep more reserves at the Federal Reserve, which is a good thing for bank stability. We have passed this bill, as I said before, five times in the Congress. It is very important, I believe, to the small businesses of this Nation that this bill be passed today and that it get passed appropriately in the Senate.

Mr. Speaker, I yield back the balance of my time.

Mr. Speaker, on that I demand the yeas and nays.

Mr. Speaker, I rise today to express my strong concerns about an EPA proposal that would allow local treatment plants to discharge inadequately treated sewage into our waterways. It is disappointing that the EPA would even consider a policy change that would worsen our Nation's water quality and threaten public health.

I am a cosponsor of the Save Our Waters From Sewage Act to prevent the EPA from finalizing this misguided initiative. The mere thought of routinely allowing human sewage that is only partly treated to be dumped into our local waterways is very disturbing.

The EPA's wastewater guidelines have generated understandable concerns among my constituents in Westchester, Dutchess, and Orange counties. They seriously undermine the protections in place for our water resources in the Hudson Valley. We have a responsibility to fully treat all wastewater.

We already face enough health and environmental risks in our local communities that are beyond our control. It is senseless to initiate a new policy that knowingly puts the public at greater health risk. When it comes to the safety of our water and our local citizens, it is far more important to do what is right than to do what is most convenient.

I want to thank my colleagues, the gentleman from Michigan (Mr. Stupak) and the gentleman from Florida (Mr. Shaw), for leading the fight to protect public health and prevent the EPA from enacting this policy. I urge support for the Save Our Waters From Sewage Act.

Mr. Chairman, I rise in strong support of this amendment offered by my colleagues which will prevent the EPA from finalizing a policy that may increase the risks of waterborne illness and harm our Nation's waterways. Thirty-three years after the passage of the Clean Water Act, the EPA should not be implementing policies which will allow more sewage into our waterways. Such a policy could result in water systems with more pathogens, viruses, bacteria and parasites that make people sick, contaminate our drinking water supplies, harm fish and other aquatic life.

I believe this is a misguided policy. The use of secondary biological treatment to remove bacteria and pathogens from sewage has been in place for decades in order to protect the public from waterborne illnesses, and I believe we must preserve these longstanding standards. Blending waste streams at times other than natural emergencies will result in an unnecessary discharge of harmful contaminants into our waters. We have a responsibility to fully treat all wastewater, and the EPA's proposal to bypass the crucial second treatment step and allow more bacteria into our local water sources is just plain wrong.

We should be focused more on strengthening the federal commitment to water infrastructure, which we all know has been stagnant for many years now.

I plan soon on reintroducing my bill, the Clean Water Infrastructure Financing Act, which will authorize funding levels in the Clean Water State Revolving Fund which better reflect the considerable depth of our Nation's wastewater infrastructure needs.

I urge strong support for this amendment because we must invest in effective sewage treatment to help ensure that our constituents are protected from health hazards. Effective sewage treatment will reduce the risk of waterborne illness and protect public health.

Again, I thank my colleagues Mr. Stupak, Mr. Shaw, Mr. Miller and Mr. Pallone for offering this important amendment and urge strong support from my colleagues.

I would also like to thank my colleagues Mr. Taylor and Mr. Dicks and their staff for their hard work with the difficult task of putting this bill together.

Madam Speaker, I rise today in strong support of H. Con. Res. 127, a resolution calling on Nigeria to turn over the former Liberian President Charles Taylor to the Special Court for Sierra Leone. The Special Court has indicted Taylor, who is allegedly responsible for the murder, rape, and mutilation of 1.2 million people during the war in Sierra Leone in the late 1990s.

It has now come to the surface that the al Qaeda operatives both before and after September 11 have viewed West Africa as an effective sanctuary and as a place to launder money. Evidence suggests that Taylor himself was personally involved in serving as a middleman between al Qaeda and West Africa's multimillion dollar diamond trade. The illicit international trade in so-called blood diamonds, an asset that is virtually untraceable and easily convertible into cash, helped fund many of West Africa's wars in the 1990s and clearly is a suspected means of finance for terrorists.

The United States estimates that between $70 million and $100 million is still smuggled out of Sierra Leone each year, despite the coming of peace and the international accords to block illicit trafficking. Taylor was a top conduit for smuggling West Africa diamonds which helped bankroll the insurgency that brought him to power in Liberia. Even though he is under house arrest, Taylor is able to use his financial resources and contacts to ensure that he has the protection of whoever wins the October election. The new government will make sure that Taylor can return home, never to face the court and allow him to continue to pose a great threat to the region.

This is a man who has been indicted on 17 counts of war crimes and crimes against humanity. We must take action to ensure justice and accountability. We can no longer allow Taylor to evade responsibility for his unconscionable actions. Taylor poses a clear and present danger to West Africa and U.S. interests. With the mandate of the court set to expire at the end of this year, we must act quickly to turn him over to the SCSL.

Removing the potential for his return to power in the region will aid us significantly in learning better the extent of his activities. This information may be of great relevance to our national security.

As a cosponsor of this resolution, I am very hopeful that with its agreement this administration will speak out actively and support Taylor's immediate extradition.

I want to thank the gentleman from California (Mr. Royce), the gentleman from Virginia (Mr. Wolf), the gentleman from California (Mr. Lantos), and the gentleman from Arkansas (Mr. Snyder) who worked especially hard on this issue; and I certainly do thank the gentleman from New Jersey (Mr. Smith), the chairman of the committee.

I encourage support of everyone for this very important measure.

Mr. Speaker, I rise today to recognize the Small Business Administration and celebrate and applaud the dedication of America's small business men and women during ``National Small Business Week.''

Small businesses are vital to our nation's economic growth and prosperity. America's 23 million small businesses represent more than 99 percent of all employers, account for more than half of all private sector workers and generate 3 out of every 4 new jobs. Additionally, small businesses account for one-third of U.S. exports and more than half of the gross domestic product. These people are the risk-takers, innovators and creators of tomorrow.

We've all heard that U.S. small businesses are the growth engine of our economy. As such, U.S. small technology businesses contribute significantly to our nation's economic security. The technological innovation and entrepreneurial spirit of small businesses such as HGI Skydyne ensure that the military, aerospace and electronics industries have access to a constant flow of unique technologies to create world class products.

HGI Skydne, a small business in my district, dates back to 1938 when it began manufacturing and selling lightweight, protective cases. Over the years it became a regular supplier of state-of-the-art fiberglass and composite-material cases. Among the company's many achievements were a patented composite-material wing for the Corsair airplane, the design and production of the transportation container for NASA's Lunar Landing Module, and the design and manufacture of the cases that brought moon rocks home to earth. Despite those successes, Skydyne's owners were ready to shut its doors in 2002. However, Hornet Group, Inc., a small, six-employee product development company decided to acquire Skydyne. Thanks to the Small Business Administration's 7(a) Loan Program, Hornet Group was able to keep Skydyne afloat and also enabled them to hire additional employees--now totaling 80. Under their collective stewardship, a second round of SBA and Key Bank financing was recently completed in order to accommodate the company's astronomical growth--sales orders that have grown to $3 million from $200,000 in just two years! Now that's a real small business success story and there are many others with similar accomplishments.

Entrepreneurship will continue to be the backbone of the American economy. Our future depends on the successful creation and expansion of small business. It is our job to increase our efforts on behalf of small business to ensure we have an environment where they can thrive. During ``National Small Business Week'' let us recognize and reflect on the hard work and dedication of all our small businesses who overcome financial and regulatory hurdles in order to help our economy run smoothly.