Floor Statements

Mr. Speaker, American taxpayers spend millions of dollars a year screening people who board an airplane. We check IDs and roll-on luggage. We check purses, pockets and computers, and we take off our shoes. We check everything that goes through the door. But the next attack on our country is probably not going to be because somebody is flying in an airplane. It will probably be because somebody has access to our airports and our airplanes who shouldn't.

Byron Burris of WFFA in Dallas reports that the San Antonio Aerospace facility in Texas has hired 767 foreign airplane mechanics over the past 2 years without a real background check. These mechanics come from 45 countries, including Vietnam, Ethiopia, Egypt, Venezuela, Nicaragua, Cuba, Jordan, China and Sudan. These people work on American airplanes.

The State Department says it does a ``criminal'' background check, but reports indicate those checks are of poor quality and sometimes are left up to a third party.

We are ignoring the obvious when it comes to airline safety. Foreign workers with shady or unknown backgrounds should not have access to American aircraft.

And that's just the way it is.

Madam Speaker, pursuant to the Republican Leadership standards on earmarks, I am submitting the following information regarding earmarks I received as part of H.R. 3288, Department of Transportation, and Housing and Urban Development and Related Agencies Appropriations Act, 2010:

Requesting Member: Congressman Ted Poe

Bill Number: H.R. 3288, Department of Transportation, and Housing and Urban Development and Related Agencies Appropriations Act, 2010

Account: Federal Highway Administration

Legal Name of Requesting Entity: Texas Department of Transportation

Address of Requesting Entity: 125 East 11th Street, Austin, TX 78701

Description of Request: I have secured $400,000 in funding to help upgrade Loop 494 from Sorters McClellan Road through Northpark Drive in Kingwood, TX. The goal of the project is to widen the existing two-lane road into a four-lane concrete boulevard with medians, curbs and appropriate drainage similar to the look of existing streets in Kingwood. The project helps the flow of traffic on this busy road and increases safety.

Requesting Member: Congressman Ted Poe

Bill Number: H.R. 3288, Department of Transportation, and Housing and Urban Development and Related Agencies Appropriations Act, 2010

Account: Federal Highway Administration

Legal Name of Requesting Entity: Texas Department of Transportation

Address of Requesting Entity: 125 East 11th Street, Austin, TX 78701

Description of Request: I, along with Reps. Gene Green and Ron Paul, have secured $400,000 in funding to help construct a flyover ramp connecting southbound Highway 146 traffic directly to Spur 330 in Baytown, TX, which is a direct connector to Interstate 10. This project will help with improved mobility in the community and is needed especially in disaster evacuations as a result of hurricanes.

Madam Speaker, let me say this, that the Mayo Clinic opposes this health care bill because it's nonsense, it costs too much, and it's going to put America more in debt.

And that's just the way it is.

Mr. Speaker, the administration is demanding that Congress pass nationalized health care before we go back to our districts for the August work period. They said it's urgent, that we have to do it or it will be the end of health care in America forever.

That's what was said about the Wall Street bailout. Congress had to pass the Wall Street bailout in 24 hours or we were all going to die. And it passed. And it's a miserable failure.

Next came the so-called stimulus bill. It was over a thousand pages long, filed in the darkness of night. Nobody had a chance to read it. We were told we had to vote on it immediately or the world would end. Well, none of that happened. The stimulus bill, too, was a disaster for our country.

Hasn't Congress learned its lesson that quickly passing legislation because Presidents say so is a bad idea?

Most Americans don't like this health care bill. They don't want it. It's going to raise taxes. So what's the rush? We need to get health care right instead of just getting it done. The very lives of the American people depend on it. Besides, the administration's current health care bill is a sick solution for America.

And that's just the way it is.

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

I rise in support of this resolution, which highlights the efforts of the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe and its Mediterranean Partners for Cooperation. Twenty years ago the OSCE and its Mediterranean Partners for Cooperation recognized that, in an increasingly globalized world, the security challenges confronting them in their respective regions were increasingly linked. As a result, they agreed to formalize a diplomatic mechanism to facilitate closer cooperation on a range of issues, including the development of a model strategy to address 21st century security threats and improve stability in the Mediterranean region. The efforts toward this cooperation have already borne fruit, with the Partnership addressing issues such as migration and integration and exchanging information on ``best practices'' in order to develop strategies which reduce feelings of exclusion and estrangement among immigrant populations which, as we've all seen, can contain the potential to motivate some individuals to embrace extremist ideologies.

I note that representatives of the OSCE and its Mediterranean Partners will meet in Washington this week to discuss further expansion of relations and to hold a dialogue on shared concerns. Dialogue on these complex but critical issues is a meaningful way to enhance the stability and economic growth of both the OSCE member-states and the countries of the Mediterranean region. I support the resolution which underlines the worthy endeavors being undertaken by the OSCE and its Mediterranean Partners for Cooperation.

I reserve the balance of my time.

Mr. Speaker, I yield such time as he may consume to the gentleman from New Jersey (Mr. Smith).

Mr. Speaker, I ask unanimous consent that Mr. Smith from New Jersey may manage the rest of this resolution and the remainder of the Foreign Affairs resolutions.

I reserve the balance of my time.

Madam Speaker, as a former judge who has had the misfortune of observing the life-shattering effects of crimes of sexual violence on the victims as well as their friends and families, I rise today to highlight the importance of the National Sexual Assault Hotline programs in supporting the victims in their recovery from these terrible crimes. An estimated 1 in 6 women will become a victim of sexual assault or rape in her lifetime; and the FBI ranks rape as the second most violent crime (second only to murder, which is classified as the most violent crime).

According to the U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ), which conducts an annual crime survey of the nation's households, we have made some progress in the fight to end sexual and domestic violence over the last two decades. But statistics also suggest that we still have much work to do: at least 200,000 Americans are sexually assaulted each and every year, and only about 40 percent of rape victims ever come forward and report the attacks against them to the authorities, according to DOJ.

Research suggests that those who receive crisis intervention support and counseling services are more likely to cooperate with law enforcement in pressing charges against their attackers. That is why it is so important that we continue to support programs, such as the National Sexual Assault Hotline programs, which help ensure that rape victims (as well as their friends and family members) can receive the information and support services that are so vitally important in one's full recovery from an assault. The National Sexual Assault Hotline, accessible toll free around the clock at 800-656-HOPE, has helped more than 1.2 million callers since the Rape, Abuse & Incest National Network (RAINN) created the telephone hotline in 1994. RAINN continues to operate this telephone hotline today, in partnership with close to 1,100 affiliated rape crisis centers located in every state and the District of Columbia, as well as thousands of volunteers across the nation.

In 2006, RAINN also launched the National Sexual Assault Online Hotline, accessible at www.RAINN.org, which has helped close to 30,000 people since its inception. It is the first web-based hotline of its kind for rape victims, offering information and support to those who might be reluctant to pick up the telephone and dial for help. The online hotline, which RAINN created and operates with the assistance of staff at its headquarters in Washington, D.C. and volunteers located around the nation, is designed to reach additional populations (particularly teenagers, males, and even people living in rural, sparsely populated areas) who might not otherwise seek out necessary information and support.

Our colleagues in the Senate specifically recommended $300,000 for RAINN to carry out the National Sexual Assault Hotline programs, which are federally authorized under Section 628 of the Adam Walsh Child Protection and Safety Act, in fiscal year 2010. Appropriations leaders in this chamber, however, omitted to include a specific amount of funding for RAINN in the House version of the fiscal year 2010 Commerce, Justice, Science and Related Agencies Appropriations Act (H.R. 2847).

I will note, however, that the full House Appropriations Committee, during its consideration of H.R. 2847, did approve report language that is directed specifically at RAINN. This language, which is part of House Report 111-149, calls on the U.S. Department of Justice to continue supporting programs, including hotline programs, that facilitate the delivery of confidential recovery services to rape victims. The inclusion of this committee report language is significant, as it signals Congress' intention that victims of sexual violence should continue to be able to access the National Sexual Assault Hotline programs and the other programs that Congress has authorized RAINN to carry out, with the support of the Office of Justice Programs at the U.S. Department of Justice.

Madam Speaker, I want to thank the members of the Appropriations Committee for accepting this report language, at the request of myself, Congresswoman Wasserman Schultz, and other members of this chamber. I also want to express my interest in continuing to work with the House and Senate leadership on a final version of the Commerce, Justice Appropriations Act that will ensure that RAINN receives the level of federal support that is necessary to continue operation of the National Sexual Assault Hotline programs in fiscal year 2010.

Mr. Speaker, the unemployment rate is in double digits around this country. Some States have the highest unemployment rate in history. The economy is bleeding jobs because the trillion- dollar stimulus bill was a jobs disaster bill.

Jobs, jobs, jobs, that's all we heard from the taxacrats as they jammed that bill through Congress. They didn't give anybody a chance to read it. They sure didn't want Members of Congress to read it. The American people didn't get to read it, and they have to suffer the consequences.

But the stimulus bill did help one city, however. Washington, D.C., has the lowest unemployment rate in the country. Now, how can that be? Well, the stimulus bill stimulated government programs funded at taxpayer expense. These aren't real jobs. Government doesn't create anything. All they do is suck money out of a private economy that could create real jobs.

The bureaucrats created more jobs for red tape regulating bureaucrats and forced citizens to subsidize it. All the trillion-dollar stimulus bill did was spend taxpayer money to create more government regulations, more government control, and more government bureaucrats. That's too bad.

And that's just the way it is.

Mr. Speaker, the women of Iran are standing shoulder to shoulder in the streets protesting against the rigged, corrupt Iranian elections. At least that's how it began. Now these legions of women, mostly wearing black, full-length Islamic dress, stand in defiance of their government's treatment of women. These women have shed their blood, suffered the same beatings and imprisonment as men. Some have sacrificed their very lives.

In America our hearts ache as we watched the video of Neda Agha Soltan. She was shot by her own government henchmen as she walked through the streets. She bled to death in that street, a martyr for democracy in Iran. Neda was only 26 years old, but her voice still cries from the grave: ``that the people of Iran demand human rights, equality and freedom from tyranny.''

Young women like a girl named Parsia told reporters, and I quote, ``This regime is against all humanity, more specifically, against all women.'' She continues, ``Lots of girls and women in these demonstrations. They're all angry, ready to explode, scream out and let the world hear their voices. I want the world to know that as a woman in this country, I have no freedom.''

The women of Iran have a rich history of fighting for freedom. In the early 1900s, in Persia, later called Iran, Britain and Russia tried to rule Persia through a puppet government.

In 1906, the Persian people fought the shah, and became a constitutional republic. They had a Congress called the Majlis to make their laws.

American economic expert Morgan Shuster was appointed to that democratic government in 1911 to organize Persia's finances. At that time, members of the Majlis were threatened or were bribed by Russia, with support from Great Britain, to disband that constitutional government. Shuster wrote in his memoirs about Persian women who armed themselves and who marched on the Congress.

He writes about those bold, brave women, ``Out from their walled courtyards and harems marched 300 women with the flush of undying determination in their cheeks. They were clad in their plain black robes with the white nets of their veils drooped over their faces. Many held pistols under their skirts or in the folds of their sleeves. Straight to the Congress they went.''

These ``Persian mothers, wives and daughters'' dropped their veils and waved their pistols, saying they had decided to ``kill their own husbands and sons and leave behind their own dead bodies'' if the Congress ``wavered in their duty to uphold the liberty and dignity of the Persian people and nation.''

Because of these courageous women 100 years ago, the Persian Congress stood firm in their struggle for liberty and freedom for the people. However, Russian Cossacks marched into Tehran a week later, disbanding the government by force and executing every constitutionalist they could find.

History speaks to the courage and bravery of Iranian women, which goes back for centuries. It is no surprise they are again at the forefront of the struggle for human rights and dignity in Iran. The women of Iran are not the property of the government, and should not be punished because they demand equality with men. These women present a great challenge for the hard-line government. They are a force to be reckoned with, and the government knows it.

My grandmother used to tell me that there's nothing more powerful than a woman who has made up her mind. Let me tell you something, Mr. Speaker: The women of Iran have made up their minds. They are not going to take it anymore. Like their sisters in freedom 100 years ago, they are not going to give into the black-booted thugs who are trying to steal freedom and human dignity from them. Iran is their country. These women are no longer going to be treated as second-class people. Woe be to those who try to stop them. The daughters of Iran have inspired the world with their bravery. Their cause is righteous. Their actions are just. May the almighty who rules the universe make them strong and courageous.

And that's just the way it is.

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

Mr. Speaker, every 40 seconds a child goes missing in this country, over 2,100 every day of each year. At least 800,000 children are reported missing each year, and another 500,000 go missing without ever being reported.

The AMBER Alert system is activated when there is evidence that a missing child has been abducted and the police have sufficient information about the abductor or the vehicle to warrant use of that system, the AMBER Alert system. But without evidence of an abduction, law enforcement cannot issue an AMBER Alert. This is where A Child is Missing steps in.

A Child is Missing assists police in the first crucial hours of searches for missing children, elderly and the disabled. The first 6 hours after an alert are the most crucial in finding someone who is missing.

To date, more than 12 million calls have been made to the A Child is Missing system, resulting in over 8,000 missing person cases nationwide. These efforts have led to the recovery of 530 missing persons since the inception of this wonderful program.

This technology is particularly useful in rural communities with small police forces assigned to patrol large geographic areas. These law enforcement agencies often lack the manpower to launch a full-scale search for a missing child. A Child is Missing compensates for this reduced manpower by notifying thousands of area residents within minutes that a child has gone missing in their community. The A Child is Missing system can launch 1,000 calls in 60 seconds to residences and businesses in the area where the child was last seen.

Law enforcement officials around the country have successfully used this system to quickly distribute valuable information about the child while launching full-scale searches in a matter of minutes. Over 2,000 of the Nation's law enforcement agencies currently use this alert system.

H.R. 1933, the A Child is Missing Alert and Recovery Center Act, expands the availability of a system that helps locate a child as soon as he or she goes missing, often before the AMBER Alert can even take effect.

The bill authorizes $5 million for fiscal years 2010 through 2015 for grants to increase the use of this alert system. This simple system can mean the difference between life and death for a child and give peace of mind to so many parents whose children go missing every day.

Children are the greatest natural resources that we have in this country, and this legislation deals with the health of our kids. There is nothing that scares a parent or even a child more than for a child to be missing and fearful of not ever being recovered.

As founder and cochair of the Victims' Rights Caucus, I would like to thank Mr. Klein for his leadership in this issue.

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

I yield to the gentlelady from Florida, the ranking member on the Foreign Affairs Committee (Ms. Ros-Lehtinen) as much time as she wishes to use.

I know of no other speakers, other than to close.

This legislation is important. As has been stated by the ranking member, Ms. Ros-Lehtinen, whose granddaughter was born, happened to be born on her birthday, Ms. Ros-Lehtinen's birthday.

Most of us have kids. I have seven grandkids, and the worst thing that could ever happen was for one of those kids to disappear.

And we're judged, as a society, not by the way we treat the rich, the famous, the powerful, the all important. We're judged by the way we treat the innocent, and that includes kids and the elderly.

This legislation will help find those kids, the elderly, the disabled if they have the misfortune to disappear from home. And the amount of money being spent is almost nothing, considering how much money Congress has been spending lately, with $5 million. But that $5 million law enforcement can use to help find those kids.

So I would urge the adoption of this resolution.

I yield back the balance of my time.

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

I yield myself such time as I may consume.

I noticed that the gentleman from New York was a little concerned when he was informed that he served in the Civil War in 1865.

But be that as it may, Mr. Speaker, H.R. 2632, the Korean War Veterans Recognition Act, amends the official Flag Code to add National Korean War Veterans Armistice Day, which is July 27, to the list of days on which the American flag should be displayed.

In 1950, the North Korean military, with the aid of the Chinese, crossed the 38th parallel and invaded South Korea. This act of Communist aggression was met by 22 countries who joined together to challenge one of the many threats that developed during the cold war challenge; a United Nations endeavor, but most of those troops were, of course, as always, from the United States.

Americans comprised the majority of that valiant force, and almost 2 million members of the U.S. military successfully drove back the North Korean forces in places such as Pork Chop Hill and the Pusan Perimeter. And during that war, 34,000 Americans never came home, 92,000 others were wounded.

Were it not for the immense bravery and sacrifice of the men and the women who served in Korea during those cold winters, even more of the world would have been denied prosperity and freedom behind the Iron Curtain.

In 1953, the Military Armistice Agreement halted the march of communism into South Korea. Today, as we once again confront a belligerent, nuclear-armed North Korea, once again backed by the Chinese, we owe it to the veterans of the Korean war and their families to honor their service by adding July 27, National Korean War Veterans Armistice Day, to the list of days in which the Flag Code encourages displaying the Stars and Stripes.

As a cosponsor of this resolution, I urge all my colleagues to join me in supporting H.R. 2632.

I reserve the balance of my time.

I yield 2 minutes to the gentleman from Georgia (Mr. Broun).

I yield myself such time as I may consume.

Mr. Speaker, the Korean war is an odd sort of name in that it was first never called a ``war.'' Back when men went to Korea, for some reason, somebody in the press decided to call it a ``conflict'' like it's a street fight or something, and because of that, I don't think that the Korean war veterans have received the recognition that they deserve.

This was a hard-fought, bloody, cold war where 34,000 Americans died and where 92,000 others were wounded. Because of history, those folks who served, and as my friend from Georgia has pointed out, we still have men and women in Korea who are protecting those borders between North and South Korea. Still, technically, those two countries are at war with each other because there was never a treaty; there was just an armistice.

We should give those people the recognition they rightfully deserve, because that was the first battle, the first war, where the free West met the Communist and was successful in defeating communism in Korea. We let people know we will fight wherever we need to go throughout the world to prevent communism from spreading. The men and women who served in Korea, who rightfully did that and who honorably did that, should be recognized.

I'm glad to see that we have finally built them a memorial on the Mall, the Korean War Veterans Memorial, a great tribute with the other memorials that we have, the World War II Memorial that we have and the Vietnam Memorial.

So this legislation is important. It's important that we, as Americans, remember our history and that we rise to a level where we understand that all of those veterans, that all of those men and women who served, deserve the rightful recognition for what they did for America when they were called to do so.

With that, I yield back the remainder of my time.

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

Madam Speaker, on July 20, 1969, America accomplished the greatest single technological achievement in the history of the world: Americans walked on the Moon. And on that July afternoon 40 years ago today, we all crowded around our TV sets and radios, listening to mission control in Houston, Texas. At 4:17 p.m. the distant word came from Lunar Module Flight Commander Neil Armstrong: ``Houston, the Eagle has landed.'' Shouts and cheers rang out at mission control in Houston, Texas, and spread out across the United States. Six hours later, kids in America, including me, were still up way past their bedtime. Neil Armstrong stepped down from the ladder of the lunar module in his big, bulky space suit and said: ``That's one small step for man, one giant leap for mankind.'' He was standing on the Moon. Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin then planted the Stars and Stripes on the lunar surface.

These men, along with Michael Collins who was circling in the command module, had done something unbelievable. By their achievement, they summed up the greatness of America. A country founded by bold explorers had, itself, boldly explored the universe. The Moon men proved that in America, no mission is impossible.

And that's just the way it is.

Madam Speaker, government-run health care leads to doctor shortages, rationing of services and long waiting lines. The United States Government has been trying to run health care for the American Indians for over 200 years. And it is a miserable failure. It has resulted in medical malpractice against Native American Indians.

Over the last two centuries, Members of Congress have spoken out about the way Indians are treated by the Federal Government. Among those outspoken critics include David Crockett and Sam Houston. The prime example of mistreatment today is the government-run health care for Native Americans.

In 1787, the Federal Government agreed to provide for the health, safety and well-being of Indian tribes on reservations in exchange for over 450 million acres of land. The United States Government has been running Indian health care ever since.

The Indian Health Services is part of the Department of Health and Human Services. They took over the Indian health care in 1954 from the Bureau of Indian Affairs. Now, Indian Health Services oversee medical care for about 2 million American Indians and Alaskan Eskimos in 35 States.

Last week, I talked about just a few of the tense tragic stories of some of the victims of this U.S. Government-run health care system. Like Ta'Shon Rain Little Light, the little girl who went to an Indian Health Service clinic in Montana. The doctor said Ta'Shon was just depressed. But she kept complaining to her mom that her stomach hurt and stopped eating and drinking. After going back to the same clinic 10 more times, her lung collapsed. She was then airlifted to a private children's hospital, where she was diagnosed with terminal stomach cancer. She died a few days later. Ta'Shon Rain Little Light was 5 years of age.

Rhonda Sandland lives on the Standing Rock Reservation in North Dakota. She had to threaten to kill herself to finally get treatment for severe frostbite on her fingers. The government health care providers wanted to cut off all of her fingers. A private doctor happened to stop by on the reservation and prevented the amputation. Instead, he prescribed the medicine that took care of the problem.

And then there is Victor Brave Thunder who had congestive heart failure. The clinic at Standing Rock gave him Tylenol and cough syrup and sent him home. He died of a heart attack a few weeks later. Then there's Harriet Archambault who died when her hypertension medicine ran out. She tried five times to get an appointment to get her medicine refilled. She never got to see a doctor before she died.

These are not isolated incidents.

The Cheyenne River Sioux tribal officials have held hearings on their South Dakota reservation to document conditions at the Eagle Butte Indian Health Services hospital. Betty Crowe worked at the reservation hospital for years. Betty said all they could do most of the time was hand out painkillers. Others testified at that hearing that people who had appendix problems were given pain medicine and sent home until their appendix burst. Betty's own son had leukemia. He used to get his leukemia medicine through his wife's private insurance, but then he got a divorce and he lost that insurance. He couldn't pay for it by himself. And Betty said that the bureaucrats at the Butte Indian Health Services hospital wouldn't allow him to get the leukemia medicine from the Federal Government.

Germaine Means says that nonmedical staff was deciding who would or would not get medical treatment. Now imagine that, Madam Speaker. In the Indian Health Services agency, a bureaucrat, not a doctor, decides who can get medical care and who doesn't. That is called ``rationing.''

On the reservations it is said, don't get sick after June because the government runs out of money and runs out of medicine. The Indian Health Service Agency itself calls their organization a ``rationed health care system.''

When the taxpayer money runs out, they can't pay for those services. So they ration. America has proven universal nationalized health care results in a rationed system of care by the way we treat the American Indians. And every nation that has tried socialized medicine has proven its results in rationing and in poor health care.

There are more problems with this universal plan. To cut costs, the government solution is to pay all the private doctors the Medicare rate for their services. It's in their 1,000-page bill. They call it ``cutting medical costs.'' The main problem with that scenario is that Medicare rates don't pay for a doctor's overhead. So they run the doctors out of business. Why would anyone want to go to medical school and spend all that money just to open up a practice that doesn't pay for itself? And to make matters worse, the American Medical Association has warned us that we are losing more doctors than we are getting.

Madam Speaker, we don't have to wonder what health care, run by the Federal Government, looks like. We have our own long, lamentable, sad, sick history to prove it doesn't work. Socialized medicine has the competence of FEMA, the efficiency of the post office and the compassion of the IRS, and results in medical malpractice against the American Indians. Just ask them. And that's just the way it is.

Madam Speaker, pursuant to the Republican Leadership standards on earmarks, I am submitting the following information regarding earmarks I received as part of H.R. 3183, Energy and Water Development and Related Agencies Appropriations Act, 2010:

Requesting Member: Congressman Ted Poe

Bill Number: H.R. 3183, Energy and Water Development and Related Agencies Appropriations Act, 2010

Account: Corps of Engineers, Operations and Maintenance

Legal Name of Requesting Entity: Sabine Neches Navigation District

Address of Requesting Entity: P.O. Box 778, Nederland, TX 77627

Description of Request: I, and President Obama, have jointly secured $13,399,000 in funding to help maintain the Sabine-Neches Waterway at its current authorized dimensions of a 40-foot channel depth for inland channels to Port Arthur and Beaumont and a 500-foot width in the Port Arthur Canal and a 400-foot width in the Neches River Channel to Beaumont.

Requesting Member: Congressman Ted Poe

Bill Number: H.R. 3183, Energy and Water Development and Related Agencies Appropriations Act, 2010

Account: Corps of Engineers, Operations and Maintenance

Legal Name of Requesting Entity: Chambers Liberty Counties Navigation District

Address of Requesting Entity: P.O. Box 857, Liberty, TX 77575

Description of Request: I have secured $1,996,000 in funding to help maintain the Trinity River Project which is a 47 mile shallow draft waterway beginning at the Anahuac Channel to the Port of Liberty. The Navigation District needs shallow draft barge access to support the current industrial residents at the Port of Liberty and to attract new business.

Madam Speaker, every day America's youth are guided, counseled and taught life lessons by their school coaches. These kids learn what it means to persevere through the tough times and the difference between right and wrong from these revered advisors.

Coach Neal Quillin is one such coach. He has any been a pillar of the Houston area community for years and has pushed many young men and women to be the best and never take losing for an answer. A true Texan Hero, Coach Quillin grew up in the Lone Star State and received his BA and Masters from Stephen F. Austin University. He has a list of honors and awards that any coach would dream of including a 4A State Football Championship, multiple state football tournament appearances, and has won 11 district championships. He has received the honor of Coach of the year multiple times by the Houston Chronicle, the Houston Post, and the Houston Touchdown Club. The most outstanding thing about this man is not his own accomplishments--it is what he has done for his players and students. Coach Quillin has coached ten NFL players and has served as a mentor to Texas' students for 44 years. Coach Quillin has served 12 Texas schools as a Coach and was at Humble High School for 15 years. He is currently the defensive line coach at Atascocita High School.

Today, July 22, Coach Quillin will receive one of the biggest honors a coach can--he will be inducted into the Texas High School Coaches Association. I would like to congratulate Coach Neal Quillin on his lifetime of community service and thank him for helping to make Texas a great place for students to learn and athletes to excel.

And that's just the way it is.

Madam Speaker, the nationalized health care bill will continue to allow illegals to get free medical services. Foreigners who are not authorized to be in the United States flood over our wide-open borders by the millions to get free universal health care. That bankrupts Federal and State health care safety nets set up for Americans.

It's very simple to understand to most people: our citizens are forced to pay medical bills for citizens of countries all around the world. These people in our country illegally use our hospital emergency rooms like it's their primary care, and it doesn't cost them anything. And what our government doesn't pay, the hospitals are forced to pay. That drives up the cost of medical care and the cost of insurance for citizens and legal immigrants. Now those problems will just get worse under the new proposal.

The nationalized health care bill will force our citizens who cannot even pay for their own health care to pay billions of dollars a year for health care for millions of illegals. That's just wrong. Citizens and legal immigrants shouldn't be forced to pay for the health care of people illegally in the United States.

And that's just the way it is.