Floor Statements

Mr. Speaker, in celebration of Taiwan's National Day on October

10th, I believe it fitting to call to mind one of the basic elements of the Taiwan Relations Act (TRA) that has long guided America's worldwide relationships.

The TRA states in SEC 2(b)(4)

``. . . to consider any effort to determine the future of

Taiwan by other than peaceful means, including by boycotts or

embargoes, a threat to the peace and security of the Western

Pacific area and of grave concern to the United States;''

The Taiwan Relations Act is monumental in the unique impact it has had in maintaining the Peace in the Pacific and our relationship with the nations of the Region.

Congratulations to Taiwan during this exciting time in your country's history and for helping to maintain peace in Southeast Asia.

Mr. Speaker, Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. said ``everyone can be great because everyone can serve.'' I rise today to remember and honor the life of a model of service, Ida Keiper. I used to tease her and call her ``Mama Keips'' because I knew she was Italian and she reminded me so much of my Italian grandmother. She was born in Grindstone, Pennsylvania, in 1935 to the late Antonio and Emma Perazolla. She spent the majority of her adult life in the Mantua, Ohio, area. Her life cannot simply be measured by the number of years raising children, the good Italian meals prepared or the countless hours spent helping with homework. Her service went beyond the walls of her home and stretched across the community.

Ida was a member of numerous organizations such as the PTA, the Boy and Girl Scouts of America, and the Crestwood Band Patrons. She also served on the Democratic Central Executive Committee for over 20 years and was a member of the Federated Democratic Women of Portage County Ohio. In addition to her volunteer work she was also an active member of The Church of Jesus Christ Kirtland Restoration Branch.

Ida left these thoughts to those she loves: ``Goodbye to my family and friends. I hope that the paths we have traveled and passed were good ones. I pray that we will meet again in God's Kingdom. Make the most of and celebrate your gift of life. So grieve for me awhile, if grieve you must, then let your grief be comforted with trust. It's only for awhile that we must part, so bless the memories with your heart.''

Ida Keiper passed away August 6, 2012 at the age of 76. Her legacy lives on through her family and the people she touched with her selflessness and generosity. She is survived by her husband, Charles W. Keiper and their four children, Charles W. Keiper II, Faith Keiper, Linda Pallotto and Cindy Iozzia, four grandchildren, Sara, Michael, Spencer, Nathan and Lauren, and five siblings, Pete Perazzola, Nick Perazzola, Stella Nixon, Lundy Fisco and Agnes Pinkney. I offer my condolences to the family and all those whose lives who have been touched by her gentleness and grace. Italian mothers and grandmothers are a special breed and Mama Keips was as special as they come. She will be missed.

Mr. Speaker, President Kennedy said, ``A nation reveals itself not only by the men it produces but also by the men it honors, the men it remembers,'' and I rise today to remember and honor my dear friend, and a model public servant, Marc Titus.

Marc Titus was born in Cleveland, Ohio in 1966. A Warren G. Harding High School graduate, he attended Youngstown State University, and served in the United States Marine Corps as a Nuclear Biological Chemical Specialist.

In April of 1991, Marc continued to serve his community by joining the Warren City Fire Department and becoming a member of the Honor Guard. For the last 21 years, Marc has been a respected leader and role model for new firefighters joining the force.

Over the years Marc has received numerous awards for his service. In 2009, he received the State Fire Marshal's Award for Heroism after pulling 4 people from a burning group home in Warren, Ohio.

Marc served as the president of the International Association of Firefighters Local 204 during the last 8 years of his life. During the recent Issue 2 campaign, Marc showed leadership and dedication to his profession and to his fellow firefighters with tireless work on their behalf. He always went above and beyond the call of duty striving to continually keep the Warren City Fire Department moving forward.

Marc Titus passed away on June 7, 2012 at the age of 46. Marc was a great friend of mine and taught those of us that worked with him that our lives were supposed to be spent serving others. Marc spent his life teaching us that real heroes are the ones that use their time and talents improving the lives of those in their family, community, and country. Marc did this and it was most apparent with how he dedicated his life to his 3 daughters: Jennifer, Julia, and Lindsey. We offer our condolences to them and to Marc's parents. Although his life was short, he taught us much. This hero will be sadly missed.

Mr. Speaker, I rise to recognize the tremendous accomplishment of Kent State University's advancement to the semifinals of the College World Series. I wish to extend my sincerest congratulations and offer them the best of luck as they continue their extraordinary journey in Omaha, Nebraska.

The 13th nationally ranked Golden Flashes punched their ticket to Omaha after winning an exciting series in the Eugene Super Regional against Oregon. In the bottom of the 9th inning with the series tied at one game apiece, Jimmy Rider became a hero by hitting the game winning RBI and sending KSU to the College World Series. Kent State is the first Ohio team since 1980 to participate in the heralded 8-team double elimination bracket. They are also the first team since Eastern Michigan in 1976 to represent the Mid-American Conference in the College World Series.

Last evening, June 18th, the Golden Flashes advanced to the College World Series semifinals by defeating the University of Florida. Kent State opened up an early 5 run lead that they never gave up, defeating Florida 5 to 4. The Golden Flashes will go on to play the South Carolina Gamecocks, last year's champions, on June 20th.

It is an incredible honor for them to have made it this far and I am proud to offer my full support to Kent State as their Cinderella story continues in the College World Series.

Mr. Chairman, I have an amendment at the desk.

Mr. Chairman, I have a heart-wrenching story to share with the Congress and the American people, of which I would like this amendment to help take some action: the egregious 2007 case of a decorated airman's murder in my congressional district, the State of Ohio v. Claudia C. Hoerig.

According to the affidavit, Mrs. Hoerig, wife of the deceased, purchased a Smith & Wesson .357, learned how to use it, practiced in Warren, in Trumbull County, Ohio, and days later, on March 12, 2007, she allegedly shot her husband, Major Karl Hoerig, twice in the back of the neck and once in the back of the head.

After being charged with aggravated murder by the Court of Common Pleas of Trumbull County, Ohio, Mrs. Hoerig fled to her native Brazil, where she has found sanctuary for 5 years.

The issue here, Mr. Chairman, is that I have a family in my district that has not seen justice served. She went to Brazil, in which we have an extradition treaty, but the Brazilian Constitution says that Brazilian citizens can't come back to the United States. But the issue here is that in 1999 Mrs. Hoerig renounced her citizenship in Brazil, became a citizen of the United States of America. So we have every right to ask the Brazilians to send her back to the United States.

She needs to have justice served. The Hoerig family needs justice served, and Karl Hoerig deserves that as he rests in peace.

The Brazilian Government has, on numerous occasions, pledged to internally investigate this matter and investigate the possible renunciation of Mrs. Hoerig's citizenship on the following grounds: in that, in her sworn, signed affidavit, Mrs. Hoerig renounced her Brazilian citizenship on the occasion of her U.S. naturalization in 1999, and that the Brazilian Government has stated that it may, in fact, honor Hoerig's renunciation, given the serious criminal nature.

So this amendment, because I cannot seem to get the attention of the Brazilian officials, after numerous letters,

numerous attempts, working closely with the State Department, can't get the Brazilians' attention. So this amendment is saying that we shall not use money to let Brazilians into the United States and allow them visas.

1.8 million visas are predicted to Brazilians in 2013. And I hope that some of us on both sides of the aisle can say that this man served our country. We have a woman who renounced her Brazilian citizenship, came to the United States, killed this airman, and went back to Brazil and now is in sanctuary there.

So I understand there may be some issues with this potential amendment here, but I will say, Mr. Chairman, that there are defense bills that will come to this floor, and I will attempt in some way to get the Brazilians' attention with the defense bills. There is foreign ops money, foreign aid that we use with Brazil. I will come to this floor as many times as I need to to try to get the attention of the Brazilian Government to make sure that Karl Hoerig and his family have the justice that they have earned, not just by being citizens of the United States, but also by serving this country so nobly for so many years.

I yield back the balance of my time.

Point of Order

Mr. Speaker, on Friday, May 18, 2012, I missed rollcall votes No. 290 (Democratic Motion-to-Recommit) and 291 (Final Passage of H.R. 4310, ``FY13 National Defense Authorization Act'').

Had I been present, I would have voted ``aye'' on rollcall No. 290 (Democratic Motion-to-Recommit) and ``no'' on rollcall No. 291 (Final Passage of H.R. 4310).

I thank the gentlelady, who is also a graduate of the University of New Hampshire Law School--two proud graduates.

I would just like to chime in and talk a little bit because Ohio is a State that, since the inception of the State into the Union, we have always, in Ohio, made investments into our schools, our colleges, our universities through the land grant system and whatnot, because there was always this deep appreciation for education, knowing that as we move, as this country moved throughout the industrial age into the information age now, how essential it is for our kids to be able to go to school and to be able to go to community college and to be able to go to college and to be able to take a loan out, which many, many years ago they really didn't have to do because the Pell Grant was at a level that they didn't really necessarily need a loan. You could get a part- time job or a summer job or work back in your community throughout the year, over the holidays, and be able to supplement. Your parents could help out a little bit, and you would be able to get an education.

Today, because of the explosion in education costs, many of us believe that there is a responsibility for all of us collectively as a society to do something that we can't do on our own, and that's make investments in education and allow every citizen in this country, if they want to, to go to college. But knowing that not everyone wants to go to college, maybe they want to go to community college, which is fine, but it's about ramping up the education level in the United States of America, and it's about making sure that it's affordable.

This is kind of a divisive issue here in Congress. Today, it came to a head right here on the House floor, where there was one side of the aisle that said we want to make these investments and make sure that the student loan rates don't double to 6.8 percent from 3.4 percent because that will be a burden on middle class families and that

will be a further burden on parents who are cosigning or paying these student loans, or more of a burden for the student who wants to graduate from college and then maybe go out and have a decent start in life without a $20,000 or $30,000 or $40,000-a-year debt hanging over their head. That would do a lot to stimulate the economy. And we have the other side who said, well, we don't want to do that, but the political pressure got so hot that we're going to do that, and we're going to take it out of screenings for poor and middle class women to get cancer screenings.

Now, what I really dislike about what's happened in this country in the last few years, it's come down to either screw the little guy or screw the little guy. We can't do one or the other. We can't ask for the Buffett rule. We can't ask for a little bit more money from Warren Buffett so that we can invest into these kinds of things. We certainly can't ask the oil and gas industry to pay a little bit more and close a loophole so that we can afford to pay for education for all of our citizens. We can't restructure the Tax Code and make investments that are going to yield a huge benefit for early childhood, for example. So what are we doing?

This doesn't make any sense because America hasn't become successful because we failed to invest. We became successful because America always invested. We always put money into education. We always put money into research and development. We always made sure that our education level was to the level of the technology of its time.

And that's what we're talking about here. And in Ohio, we need these investments because the middle class in Ohio has been squeezed, consistently squeezed. For 30 years, wages have been stagnant.

So now, if you're sitting in Ohio, and you're a member of the building and construction trades, plumbers and pipe fitters, or cement masons or electrical workers, now in Ohio, they're trying to pass a right-to-work-for-less legislation too, which means that the average worker in a State that has right-to-work-for-less laws, makes about $1,500 a year less than a State that doesn't have it. Their health insurance is 2.6 percentage points lower in right-to-work States. Your pensions are lower.

So imagine you're this person who's trying to make ends meet in Ohio, and your wages have been stagnant for 30 years. And now they're going to say--the Republican Party is pushing--we'll do right-to-work. So you'll see lower wages, lower health care benefits, and worse pensions.

Then the Republicans in Congress, in the House, are passing a bill saying, oh, by the way, you're only going to make $1,500 a year less. But if you have a student loan that you signed on to for your son or daughter, you're going to have to pay double that interest rate. Or if you get a student loan, you're going to have to pay double the interest rate that it is now.

If you have health care, and maybe your kid was going to stay on it because he's under 26, or she's under 26 years old, the Republicans want to repeal that. So now your kid's got to go out and get health care and pay more on a student loan, while you're making $1,500 a year less, and your pension's going to be less, and your health care's going to be less.

What are we doing? This is not the kind of America that we all believe in. And the student loan issue, I think, cuts right to the heart of it.

Then you have this compounding assault on the American worker, whether it's right-to-work-for-less, or whether it's destroy collective bargaining, as they tried to do in Ohio last year. And now it's the student loans. And now we can't even ask Warren Buffett to help out.

I think it's time for us to all wake up as Americans and say, wait a minute, where's the balance? Where's the fairness? Where's the investments into our future?

Many of us are either sons and daughters or grandsons and granddaughters or great grandsons and great granddaughters of immigrants. And the value placed upon education in those families is because that was the way out. That was the way out. That was the way to have success in America.

And what scares me about this is that this is not the kind of America many of us believe in. This is not the kind of America many of us want, and this is the kind of America that is very, very shortsighted and where we're going to end up.

Let me just say, lastly, and I'll yield back to the gentlelady, do we really think, with 300 million to 400 million people in America, do we really think that we're going to be competitive with 1.3 billion or 1.4 billion people in China, 1.2, 3 or 4 or 5 billion people in India, if we're not making the adequate investments into education?

And so these folks at home who will have to deal with right-to-work, student loans, less pensions, less health care, less this, less that, at the same time the tax burden is going to be pushed onto them. They'll be forced to vote on the local property tax for police and fire. They'll be forced to vote on a local property tax for their local school levies, mental health, the whole nine yards. And it's getting continuously squeezed for the middle class. And this student loan issue, and what's happening with the rates here and the cuts that are being made here are a major part of that.

I think when you're looking at a State like Ohio, and like many States, like Maryland, like Pennsylvania, where you're retooling your economy, you've got to grow scientists, engineers, people involved in technology, in math, and you've got to grow that field so that we can generate the new generation of jobs necessary.

And you've also got to educate the workforce. So no more high school diplomas. Not even a year. But get into these apprenticeship programs that the unions have. Get into the community college so we start lifting up.

If we want to do advanced manufacturing, if we want to sell products globally to the world, and wind and solar and the new renewables, whatever the case may be, batteries, whatever, those workers on the factory floor have to have skills that they're not going to get in high school, and this is all part of that program.

So I want to thank the gentlelady for taking the time to do this Special Order and look forward to continuing to support her and the Democrats as we try to bring some sanity to this place.

I thank the gentlelady, and I'm glad I have the opportunity to follow the gentlelady from Cleveland because my district is just south of her district.

As you can see from the map of Ohio, there is severe poverty and food insecurity in the northeastern part of Ohio, but all the way down, as you can see, all the way into the south. And the SNAP program is one program that we're highlighting here tonight.

But I think it's important for us to recognize how this fits into the context of an overall budget that also cuts the Medicaid program by a third. Think about the stress, A, regarding the SNAP program if you're utilizing it. What is that family going to do if a third of the Medicaid budget is cut and early childhood is cut and Pell Grants are cut and student loan rates go up and all the way down the line? We're talking about putting a huge squeeze on the poorest people in our society when we only have 300 million or 400 million people and we're trying to compete with 1.4 billion people in China and 1.3 billion or 1.4 billion people in India. How are we going to be a competitive country? That's the question that we have to ask here if you can't even get enough food in a kid's belly before they go to school.

We need to look at this in the context of what are the investments we need to make in order to be a successful country, period. We've heard a lot of amazing stories here tonight, heart-wrenching stories of people who ended up being Members of Congress because of some of these programs. Who is the next generation of leadership? Are we going to invest in them, or are we going to say, You're on your own?

We have now on the other side, Mr. Speaker, the nominee of a major political party in the United States of America saying: ``I'm not concerned about the poor,'' and making light of us asking people with the Buffett rule to maybe pay a little bit more. You know what? They say, oh, that's not that much money. It's only 11 hours of government spending and blah, blah, blah. You know what? That Buffett rule can help put food in people's bellies. For the 175,000 people in my congressional district in northeast Ohio that are living in poverty, that Buffett rule would help pay for the SNAP program. Is it insignificant now?

I thank the gentleman. In Akron, Ohio, Summa Health Care is already implementing some of these accountable care organization methods, the medical home, and saving millions and millions of dollars because of the health care reform bill. I love this idea of we can't have a board that's rationing care.

What are the insurance companies doing today, Mr. Chairman? We act like we're living in a society where the insurance industry is okaying every procedure that needs to get done. They're rationing care right now. We have 40 or 50 million Americans who can't afford health care.

So we're going to throw our seniors now into the insurance market, and we're going to give them a premium support or a voucher--and our friend says it's not a voucher, it's premium support--to help them go out into the free market and buy insurance. But that voucher is only going to go up 3 or 4 percent a year while health care costs are going to go up 5, 10--who knows--15 percent a year. So that voucher every single year goes down and becomes worth less. That's the concern that we have on our side, and that's why we think the reform we put into place was a positive thing.

Then the Medicaid cuts, which people in Ohio use to make sure they can get into a nursing home when they're seniors, get a cut by one- third.

So we're cutting Medicaid by a third, we're basically privatizing the Medicare system into a voucher system, sending our seniors to swim with the sharks in the insurance market, hope that the insurance companies grant them coverage for what they may need. Oh, by the way, you can't really make money off insuring senior citizens. This is the kind of philosophy. This is why this debate about the budget is really a positive one because I think it articulates the two different sides.

Lastly, let me just say this is about balance. The deep, deep cuts in the Republican budget are because they can't ask Warren Buffett to pay a little bit more in taxes. All during the committee process this year and last year, we had our friends on the other side of the aisle who honor Ronald Reagan--light candles, burn incense, put his picture up.

Mr. Speaker, a long time ago in a galaxy far, far away, a world watched as a lone American sat inside a small capsule on top of an Atlas rocket waiting for blast off. Fifty years ago, after several disappointing and discouraging postponements, all systems were ``GO'' at Cape Canaveral's launch pad 14, the weather clear, and the countdown pounded as the voice of Astronaut Scott Carpenter at Mission Control wished--``Godspeed John Glenn.''

Friendship 7 lifted off with 360,000 pounds of thrust on its mission to put a man into Earth orbit, observe his reactions in space and safely return to Earth. It was the third Project Mercury manned mission and the first orbital flight. People around the world stopped and held their breath. Glenn felt six times the force of gravity on lift off and then once in space, we heard his voice crackling over the radio, ``Zero-g and I feel fine.'' ``Capsule is turning around. Oh! That view is tremendous!'' The space race had begun in 1957 with Sputnik, the sinister Soviet satellite that propelled America into the new space age. Caught from behind, the U.S. scrambled to catch up. The first federal college loans were established under the National Defense Education Act of 1958 and federal support for basic research and development and the space program dramatically increased.

NASA was reorganized from the National Advisory Committee for Aeronautics (NACA) in 1958 and began the manned space program. In 1959, NASA selected 7 military test pilots to fly in space with Project Mercury. In 1961, Soviet Cosmonaut Yuri Gagarin became the first man to orbit the Earth. America was on a mission. The Nation focused in a united cause, identified the challenge, built and organized a plan for that challenge, and rose to meet it. We pulled together. A collection of scientists, soldiers, and contractors, with tremendous public support welded together a national program without an established infrastructure that would later become the Kennedy Space Center and the Johnson Space Center. Flight tests

and training occurred at Langley, Virginia, the space capsule was built by McDonnell Douglas in St. Louis, rocket development at Huntsville, Alabama, medical examinations at the Lovelace Clinic in Albuquerque, New Mexico, and Wright Patterson Air Force Base in Dayton, Ohio, the Altas rocket was built by General Dynamics in San Diego, and rocket launches occurred at Cape Canaveral, Florida.

Tom Wolfe described the astronauts in ``The Right Stuff'' as if they were single combat warriors, our best against their best and they were worshiped as heroes even before the battle for they were sure to die. With a successful splashdown off Gran Turk Island, John Glenn in Friendship 7 had reached speeds of over 18,000 miles an hour, and in 4 hours 55 minutes and 23 seconds became the first American to orbit the Earth and rocketed the Nation back into the space race and took a vital step on man's journey to the moon. The Post Office issued the first stamp depicting a manned spacecraft. Sales of Tang, the orange flavored powdered soft drink, went through the roof when advertised as first used by Astronaut John Glenn. The number one song was ``Duke of Earl'' by Gene Chandler--West Side Story was playing in theaters. A television situation comedy, ``I Dream of Jeannie'' with Barbara Eden and Astronaut Larry Hagman was soon on the air.

John Glenn's incomparable life of service began as a Marine Corps fighter pilot flying the F4U Corsair in the South Pacific in World War II and the F9F Panther and F 86 Sabrejet in Korea. In 1957, as part of Project Bullet, he made the first supersonic transcontinental flight from California to New York in an F8U Crusader. In 1974 he became a U.S. Senator from Ohio and served for 24 years. In 1997, John Glenn announced his retirement from the Senate stating that there was no cure for the common birthday. Nonetheless, in 1998, he returned to space aboard the Space Shuttle Discovery STS 95 at age 77 to study the effects of space flight on seniors. He worked to establish the John Glenn School of Public Affairs at the Ohio State University and he served as Chairman of the National Commission on Math and Science Teaching for the 21st Century. Recently, he and Astronauts Neil Armstrong, Buzz Aldrin, and Michael Collins were awarded the Congressional Gold Medal.

Project Mercury, followed by Projects Gemini and Apollo, were the stepping stones to extraordinary and monumental accomplishment. America began a new age that day 50 years ago and we were all together. John Glenn, a hero in war, a hero in peace, remains an American hero and legend in our hearts. Once upon a time he helped unify a Nation and led us into the future. Congratulations to John and Annie Glenn.

Mr. Speaker, today I rise to remember the life of Mary Boyce, who passed away on the morning of Thursday, December 1, 2011. Mary was the mother of my good friend Barry Boyce; my thoughts and prayers are with his family. She was a wonderful woman who lived life to the fullest and always knew the importance of love and family. Therefore, on behalf of the family and friends of Mary, I would like to include her obituary, which appeared in the Public Opinion on December 2, 2011, in today's Congressional Record:

Mary T. Boyce Obituary

Mary T. Boyce, 97, of The Village of Laurel Run,

Fayetteville, died in the early morning on December 1, 2011.

Mary was born in New York City, on January 15, 1914, to

Cornelius (Neil) Gibbons, a New York City Police Sergeant,

who was killed in the line of duty in 1924, and Mary Calhoun,

both from County Donegal, Ireland. She graduated from

Cathedral High School in Manhattan, 1932. She and her future

husband, Donald C. Boyce, Jr., met while they were both

working at the 1939 World's Fair, and they were married in

New Orleans in 1941. Mary and her husband moved to

Chambersburg, where he became personnel manager of T.B.

Woods' Sons Company. Mary lived in Chambersburg from 1947 to

1949, and again from 1956 until 1982, shortly after Donald's

death. Mary returned in 2006. In addition to raising her

children, Mary worked at Sears & Roebuck and as a real estate

and economic data gatherer for the Census Bureau.

During her time in Chambersburg, Mary was active in the

Corpus Christi Catholic Church. She took part in the Red

Stocking Revue and the garden club and was a dedicated member

of the Chambersburg Country Club and played golf until age

88. She was a voracious reader and bridge player, a diligent

letter writer, and an excellent cook. She kept track of the

activities of her far-flung family on a daily basis until her

final days. In April 2009, a video interview with Mary

reflecting on her early life and memories of the Great

Depression was featured on the New York Times website. The

video may be viewed at the site's ``The New Hard Times''

section. Mary was predeceased by her eldest son, Donald, of

New York City. She is survived by six children: Brian, of

Virginia Beach; Neil, of New York City; Robert, of

Fayetteville; Mary Jane, of Fairhope, Alabama; Margaret Anne,

of Ashland, Oregon; and Barry, of Halifax, Nova Scotia. She

is also survived by 14 grandchildren and 12 great-

grandchildren.

Let me just take this from 30,000 feet for a minute and reiterate what the gentleman from Ohio said.

We have too much private money in the people's House. We can't get anything done now because it somehow may affect what Wall Street is doing.

We had a China currency bill on the floor last year, 350 votes, 99 Republicans. We can't even get it up for a vote now in the House because Wall Street doesn't want it. We're in dire straits with trying to balance our budget.

We need to ask people making more than a million dollars a year to help us close this gap so we can reinvest back in our country. Nothing is happening because Wall Street doesn't want it.

We've got oil and gas still getting benefits when profits are going through the roof. We can't close that loophole because the oil and gas industry doesn't want it closed.

There is too much private money in the people's House. We need public funding of elections. Let every citizen kick in fifty or a hundred bucks, and we run elections by letting people on the airwaves making these debates, making these discussions having a little bit of money to do it.

We've got to reform this country and set us on a path to prosperity. No wonder we can't invest in public education, public health, public infrastructure, because the private interests are running the whole show here.

Mr. Speaker, I rise today to congratulate Struthers Presbyterian Church for celebrating its 100th anniversary this past Sunday, November 13, 2011.

In 1804, the Struthers Presbyterian Church was formed in the log cabin home of Richard McConnell. In 1910, construction of the current Struthers Presbyterian Church began in order to accommodate a growing congregation.

Harold Milligan Sr. became a member of the church in 1922 and has watched the church grow over his lifetime. One of his fondest memories of the church was during World War II when the church held ``Bonds for Building'' dinners to support the war effort. The church continues to help the community grow and prosper. It has acted as a meeting place for many local organizations including Alcoholics Anonymous, Boy and Girl Scout Troops, and the Rotary Club. The congregation puts together welcome baskets for new city residents, they give hand-made fleece blankets to the Akron Children's Hospital, they coordinate food banks for those in need, and they organize clothing drives during the holidays.

I wish the church 100 more bountiful years of service to our community and thank the congregation for their generosity and commitment to the residents of Struthers.

Mr. Speaker, I rise today to honor the recipients of the New Frontier Congressional Gold Medal. I submit the following poem written in honor of these recipients:

To Such New Frontiers

(By Albert Carey Caswell)

To . . .

To Such

New Frontiers . . .

As have all of you've gone so here!

Gone, so boldly forth, all out on your course . . .

as America's most courageous pioneers!

As all out upon your most heroic ways . . .

All at speed, all in what your fine lives have so conveyed!

As so boldly forth,

as you would not so heed . . .

All without fear,

to so sow exploration's most brilliant seeds!

All but for our Country Tis of Thee . . .

All of your fine lives,

you were so ready to concede!

All so ready to so pledge indeed!

As The Right Stuff,

came so streaking upon the scene!

As so courageously onward you all so sped . . .

all at speed!

All out there on that very edge . . .

that edge of death!

All in what your most magnificent lives,

have so said!

As You So Reached For The Stars,

so courageously without fear . . .

so led!

Up to new worlds and dreams,

all in what your fine lives have so deemed . . .

All in your stead!

All to so reach those most monumental of all themes!

To Learn,

What Must So Be Learned!

To Touch . . .

What Must So Be Touched!

To See,

What Must So Be Seen!

To Hear,

What Must So Be Heard!

To Feel,

What Must So Be Felt!

To Speak,

What Must So Be Spoken!

To Dream,

What Must So Be Dreamed!

To Stretch . . .

To Ever Expand . . .

To Go So Ever So Forth . . .

To So Glean!

Right To The Very Edge,

of Exploration's Golden Sheen!

To Inspire Us All So Higher!

All So To Dare To Dream!

To Discovery,

and Beyond!

As you've so pushed that envelope,

out past its most outer limits!

As so ever forth,

as you so stayed the course . . .

moving onward and upward,

all up above the clouds!

As you were gone!

While,

streaking across the heavens all through time so now!

As to all our souls so wed!

Speaking to our hearts and souls,

all in such awe!

To So Save Woman and Mankind,

as so surely we so saw!

As out into the future,

you've so cast your most historic shrouds!

As you so gleamed,

shining so magnificently so all throughout!

To so find the answers,

that which must now so be found!

For only up to such great new heights so now,

can such hearts of courage full so sound!

Beating long,

and loud!

As to new worlds,

you've all so soared to now!

To places,

where only such hearts of faith so pound!

Whether, the first to walk upon the moon . . .

or the first American to orbit in space!

As your time upon this earth,

could not so keep up with your explorer's pace!

As all of your journeys,

have all so been filled with such amazing grace!

To discovery and beyond,

as all of those most precious seconds past you so raced!

As it was there . . .

you all so went so boldly forth all in place!

All out upon that path,

where only hearts can roam of faith!

Whether, upon primitive machines of mankind . . .

Or to the Moon and back,

while living all out on that thin line!

Riding on that very edge of death so fine!

As all of your most precious gifts of space exploration . . .

Have so blessed our world and this our nation . . .

As upon Mankind's futures past,

have so all been etched . . .

All in your explorer's quest!

As we so cry too,

all at those most precious lives so lost . . .

Of all of your Brothers and Sisters,

who so paid the price of exploration's cost!

The ones who like you so took those most heroic paths,

to climb upward to the stars!

Ever steadfast!

To answer that most noble cause of exploration as asked!

All with your journeys so unfurled . . .

The names Aldrin, Armstrong, Collins, and Glenn . . .

will out into the future forever last!

``One step for man,

one giant leap for mankind'' . . .

that which on your watch so came to pass!

As new Stars were so formed,

all by your hearts of exploration so very warm!

To such magnificent places,

all of us you have taken . . .

With your life's trajectories . . .

your life's paths,

as up to the heavens like a comet's tail so streaking past!

To all of those new frontiers,

that which you have so opened up so up here!

That which now so lies before us all so very clear!

As the possibilities seem so endless now,

so here!

For as long as we have such fine sons,

of such courage and faith as all of these ones!

Americans,

who in the name of exploration so shine like the sun!

Who,

against all odds . . .

almost like God's, will so courageously soar . . .

To distant worlds, and shores . . .

To find the answers to so explore . . .

Then, the sky has no limit anymore . . .

to such new frontiers as you soar . . .

So on this day as we place!

These gold medals,

around each one of your most courageous face!

History for you now so holds your place . . .

As something that time,

nor so distance . . .

can now so erase . . .

For as long as we have such bold woman and men . . .

Who so dare to dream, so then!

And go out towards Exploration's most farthest ends . . .

Then, we shall all go so forth Godspeed to command!

To Such New Frontiers, my friend.

I thank the gentleman.

He hit the nail right on the head when he was articulating the kind of things, whether in New York or Ohio or anywhere in the country, really what the essence is, and that's resuscitating manufacturing back in the United States. And that needs to be a goal throughout the country because of what it does for the local economy and what it does for the States, what it does for tax revenue, what it does for the creation of intellectual property, because there are many people on the factory floor actually thinking about how this product can maybe be made differently, manufactured differently, how value could be added to it. It is very important. But what it's going to take, in part, and what's been happening in Ohio is a coalition, I believe, of working class people, of small business people who recognize that we have to make investments into our States and into our country.

And what happened in Ohio last week with the referendum that was trying to dismantle the bargaining rights of public employees, police, fire, teachers--the very people that we need to protect our communities so that we can have good, strong, vibrant small businesses, the very people who are educating our kids and our students who are eventually going to go into these businesses--were under attack.

The upside to this whole thing is that a coalition formed in Ohio, a coalition of working class people who get educated, get trained, have master's degrees, protect us, go into burning buildings, we call them when we get in trouble, they deal with all of the societal problems that go into their classroom, but they are committed to educating our young people. Eighty-two out of 88 counties in Ohio helped beat back this attack, and with over 61 percent of the vote in Ohio, beat back this attack. And the real upside to this whole thing is that a lot of people who are in this coalition of police, fire, teachers, public employees, as well as the private sector unions--the autoworkers, the steelworkers, the plumbers, the pipefitters, the piledrivers and millwrights and the ironworkers and sheet metal workers, there were a lot of these people who used to watch Fox News. They used to listen to Rush Limbaugh. They used to listen to Glenn Beck. And they said, in story after story, after campaigning for this for months, that they realized what's been happening here. They've realized this assault that's been coming in and funded campaigns across the country, big money coming in to try to divide the middle class and try to dismantle the agenda. And I believe that this coalition, Mr. Speaker, is an opportunity for us to have the political coalition needed to recognize what investments we have to make back into our country. That's what happened in Ohio.

People are recognizing that they've been trying to get us divided, who's in a union, who's not in a union, who's in a public sector union, who's in a private sector union, who's black, who's white, who's gay, who's straight; just divide the middle class, divide the working class. And this coalition came together.

And I believe that if we're going to have the kind of investment, if we're going to resuscitate manufacturing in the United States, if we're going to realize that the government certainly can't do everything, but it has to do something, it has to make these investments into engineers and good, solid

public schools, and community colleges, and colleges and Pell Grants, so that you can have the work force available to ignite this kind of economic development that's needed around our country.

These are about investment. And to have 2 to $3 trillion in transportation and infrastructure investments that need to get made, we now need a political coalition to say, hey, let's make these investments. Akron, Ohio does not have $1 billion to finance their combined sewer problem, so let's put these building trades workers back to work, which is going to generate revenue for the City of Akron and Youngstown and Cleveland and Pittsburgh and all these others, which is going to increase their coffers, that they will have money to spend on police and fire and teachers and investments back into the community, and then partner with the private sector.

Ultimately, at the end of the day, the private sector has got to come in and drive this revolution, without a doubt. But it is time for us to make the investments necessary that are going to allow the private sector to come in here and make the private investments that will lead to job creation. So the bills that we have and that we're offering are an alternative vision.

I'll tell one quick story. We were having a conversation one day, a Member of Congress and I, one from the other party, talking about investments into the semiconductor industry. And they were down here lobbying, the semiconductor industry was down here lobbying on investments that need to be made.

And one of our colleagues said well, that's why we're giving you tax cuts, so that you guys in your business can make these investments. And the four or five CEOs said, you don't understand. We're talking about billions of dollars that need to get invested in order for the semiconductor industry to go in and partner and use the technology and the research that has been developed.

So it's the government's job to plant the garden, to till the soil, the sunlight, the water, to grow the plant, and then let the private sector come in and pick the fruits and the vegetables that they may need. That's what we've always done in this country, whether it was military research, NASA, NIH, that's what we did, and that's been a recipe for success for us.

So I'm excited about what's going on in Ohio because I think we finally have the political coalition that is needed to give politicians and leaders in the State and country the backing that they need to push this kind of agenda.

If the gentleman will yield, I think there's really something to this idea that there's a lot of things that happen that support our economy that we take for granted, that we don't see all the time. And I think what you're talking about, with farmers, you know, food just arrives at the grocery store. You know, a lot of us don't pay enough attention to all the intricacies that go into that getting there.

The same with the police, same with the fire, same with the teachers. You take it for granted that this is always going to be there. But these people who are sanitation workers in your city or town are essential to the functioning of our commerce, and so we've got to pay attention to this stuff and reinvest back into it.

And I don't think anybody's of the illusion that somehow a coalition like this is going to agree on every issue. But what happened in Ohio was that there was a prioritization of what really matters, of what are the fundamental issues that it means to be an American, and what's the recipe that America always had that led to our success.

It wasn't an accident that we jumped the Soviet Union in the race to space. It was a concerted effort on behalf of the government, private industry and the people in the country. And we had this recipe that was investments and infrastructure and research and education and making sure we had good regulations in the financial industry. And we were the world power for a long, long time, and we still are.

But we've seen the decrease in wages or stagnant wages for 30 years, and attacking the workers now to say, as they were in Ohio, that it's your fault. You're making too much.

There was a great placard at one of the rallies. The guy said, I make $30,000 a year, I have a Master's Degree and I'm the problem. So this is the kind of coalition I think we need.

I think it gets to, hopefully, a new alternative vision for the country and for

our government which, to me, is it's not about government being too big or too small. It's about the government working.

And if the people, the working class people see that the government is working, that it is regulating its markets, making wise investments, recognizing the value of education and the investments we need to make, then they're going to vote in who's ever doing that.

But this shrink it and drown it in the bathtub and don't make the kind of investments that we made for so many different years is not a recipe for success. It's a recipe for disaster.

And a respect for the workers who are ultimately going to elevate this. And we see that within manufacturing, how the ideas and the intellectual property that come from the factory floor are driven by those workers who are sitting there every day thinking about how this can be done better.

We have so much potential within the workforce that is undeveloped, untapped, and not utilized properly that could lift us up and help us create this whole new economy that is going to get created somewhere by somebody somehow, and it might as well be us. And if we make the proper investments, we have the talent and the creativity in the country to make it happen. But I think it gets back to having a general respect for the workers.

We had firefighters that I met make 30 runs in one day on a rig and get paid 40-some thousand dollars a year. And the runs aren't like me and you running over to vote. They're runs into burning buildings.

Carrying oxygen tanks and everything else. And there just has been a disrespect for that kind of work--the sanitation worker, the custodian, the teacher--pushing the blame of all society's problems onto these public workers in that instance.

Then, now in Ohio, for example, they're coming in and they want to make it a right-to-work State. So those building trade folks who we're going to try to get back to work, there's 20 percent unemployment in the trade. We're trying to get them back to work with the infrastructure investments that we need to make. To say to them, ``You're not going to be allowed to have a fundamental right of collectively bargaining and to be able to negotiate contracts, and it's going to diminish the wages and everything else,'' similar to what happened or what they wanted to do in Ohio--it's about respecting these people. And when you respect them, they'll come to perform, but it takes those investments and that general appreciation.